IronOCR vs Azure OCR PDF: Which Solution Extracts Text Better?

Optical Character Recognition Tool Comparison

What Are the Key Differences Between Cloud and Local OCR Processing?

The fundamental distinction lies in where text extraction occurs. Azure AI Document Intelligence (formerly Azure Form Recognizer) processes documents on Microsoft's cloud infrastructure. Users upload files to the Azure portal, and the Read API analyzes images and scanned documents remotely. This approach requires internet connectivity and incurs per-page costs.

IronOCR operates entirely on your local machine, making it a powerful tool for organizations with data privacy requirements or air-gapped environments. The library runs without external API calls, giving developers complete control over their document processing pipeline. For real-time user experiences in desktop or web applications, local processing eliminates network latency and ensures responsible use of sensitive documents.

Note that Azure Vision and Azure Form services both fall under the broader Azure AI services umbrella. Computer vision capabilities in Azure can analyze images for general purposes, while Document Intelligence specifically handles text extraction from documents with mixed languages and complex layouts.

How Do You Extract Text from PDF and TIFF Files?

using IronOcr;
var ocr = new IronTesseract();
using var input = new OcrInput("document.pdf");
var result = ocr.Read(input);
Console.WriteLine(result.Text);

using IronOcr;
var ocr = new IronTesseract();
using var input = new OcrInput("document.pdf");
var result = ocr.Read(input);
Console.WriteLine(result.Text);

IRON VB CONVERTER ERROR developers@ironsoftware.com

var client = new DocumentAnalysisClient(
    new Uri(endpoint), new AzureKeyCredential(key));
var operation = await client.AnalyzeDocumentAsync(
    WaitUntil.Completed, "prebuilt-read", stream);
var result = operation.Value;

var client = new DocumentAnalysisClient(
    new Uri(endpoint), new AzureKeyCredential(key));
var operation = await client.AnalyzeDocumentAsync(
    WaitUntil.Completed, "prebuilt-read", stream);
var result = operation.Value;

IRON VB CONVERTER ERROR developers@ironsoftware.com

Which Solution Creates Better Searchable PDFs?

Converting scanned documents to searchable PDFs is essential for archival and indexing. IronOCR excels here with its dedicated SaveAsSearchablePdf method:

using IronOcr;
var ocr = new IronTesseract();
using var input = new OcrInput("scanned.pdf");
var result = ocr.Read(input);
result.SaveAsSearchablePdf("searchable-output.pdf");

using IronOcr;
var ocr = new IronTesseract();
using var input = new OcrInput("scanned.pdf");
var result = ocr.Read(input);
result.SaveAsSearchablePdf("searchable-output.pdf");

IRON VB CONVERTER ERROR developers@ironsoftware.com

How Does Pricing Compare for Document Processing?

Azure's pay-per-page model charges based on the specific information extracted. The Read API costs approximately $1.50 per 1,000 pages, while prebuilt models for forms and invoices range up to $10 per 1,000 pages. High-volume users can access commitment-based pricing, but costs accumulate continuously.

IronOCR offers perpetual licenses starting at $749 for a single developer. This one-time investment provides unlimited page processing with no ongoing fees, which is a significant advantage for applications that analyze thousands of documents per month. For complete details, refer to the IronOCR licensing page.

Both solutions support optical character recognition (OCR) for printed and handwritten text across numerous supported languages. IronOCR provides 125 language packs, including support for mixed languages within single documents. Error handling and image analysis features help process even low-quality scans.

Conclusion

For .NET developers seeking to extract text from images and convert scanned PDF documents into searchable files, IronOCR delivers a more streamlined experience. Its local processing model eliminates cloud dependencies, while the simple API reduces implementation time. The perpetual licensing structure provides predictable costs regardless of processing volume.

Azure Document Intelligence remains relevant for organizations already invested in Microsoft's ecosystem or requiring specific prebuilt form models. However, for straightforward OCR tasks and searchable PDF creation, IronOCR's capabilities and developer-friendly approach make it the stronger choice.

Purchase an IronOCR license to unlock unlimited document processing for your applications.