Scanner-bundled OCR converts pages as they are captured, on the machine attached to the scanner, and that is genuinely convenient for a small daily flow. It runs into limits when the backlog is historical rather than incoming, when several people need the same searchable file, or when a client asks how long you keep their documents. BusinessDone takes PDFs you already have, including everything scanned before today, and processes them in batches with retention rules and an audit trail.
| Scanner-bundled OCR | BusinessDone | |
|---|---|---|
| What it can process | Pages going through the scanner now. | Any PDF you already hold, including years of scans sitting on a shared drive. |
| Throughput | The speed of the scanner, one operator at a time. | A queue anyone on the team can add to at the same time, from their own desk. |
| Where results live | A folder on the machine that did the scanning. | A workspace the team shares, reachable from any machine they sign in on. |
| Deletion | Manual. | Automatic after the retention window you set, with legal hold when a matter needs it. |
| Records of access | None. | Administrative actions and document access are logged. |
Keeping capture-time OCR for the daily post and using a workspace for backlogs, bundles and anything the whole team needs is a perfectly sensible arrangement. Replacing the scanner software is rarely the goal; getting the archive searchable usually is.
The free tier processes 10 pages a month with no card, which is enough to check the output on your own documents: the stamped, skewed, photocopied-in-1998 kind rather than a clean sample. If it holds up on those, the rest is a question of volume.
If your entire flow is a dozen freshly scanned pages a day and nobody else needs them, the software already on the scanner is doing the job. Add a workspace when the backlog or the team makes it a shared problem.
Free tier: 10 pages a month, no credit card.
Updated August 2026