Desktop OCR software installs on one computer and processes files on that computer's CPU, which makes it a good fit for occasional, private work on a handful of pages. A shared workspace like BusinessDone processes batches on a server, so a whole team can send documents at once, watch them progress, and work from the same set of results, with retention rules and an audit trail the desktop model has nowhere to put.
| Desktop OCR software | BusinessDone | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | On one workstation, using that machine's processor. It is unavailable when the machine is off. | In the browser. Anyone on the team can start a batch from any machine, including a laptop that is about to be closed. |
| Batch size | Usually one file, or a queue that runs while the application stays open. | Send the whole bundle in one upload. The batch keeps going whether or not the tab is open. |
| Team access | Whatever the shared drive allows. Access is a folder permission, not a document permission. | Files belong to an organisation and can be grouped into projects, so access follows the matter rather than the folder. |
| Retention and holds | Whatever someone remembers to delete. | A retention window of at least 30 days that deletes processed files automatically, and a legal hold that suspends deletion for a matter. |
| Audit trail | None beyond the operating system's file timestamps. | Administrative actions and document access are recorded, so you can answer who opened what, and when. |
| What you pay for | A per-machine licence, whether or not it is used that month. | A monthly page allowance, starting with a free tier of 10 pages a month and no card. |
One person converting one file is a solved problem, and a desktop tool solves it. The difficulty starts when a second person needs the searchable copy, when the batch is 400 pages rather than four, or when someone has to say, a year later, who opened a client's file. Those are the questions a shared workspace exists to answer.
Both approaches add a text layer behind the scanned page rather than re-flowing it, so tables, columns and stamps stay where they were. Judge on what happens around the conversion: how many files you can send at once, who can reach the output, and what happens to it afterwards.
If documents must never leave a specific machine, a desktop tool is the right answer and we will say so. Our processing happens on our servers; that is the trade you are making for batch throughput and shared access.
Free tier: 10 pages a month, no credit card.
Updated August 2026