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Head-to-head · OCR API Software

Tesseract OCR vs Surya

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 2 checks side by side
Higher score Tesseract OCR #3 in OCR API Software 8.8/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 1 of 4 features Visit Tesseract OCR
Surya #8 in OCR API Software 7.8/10 Open source ✓ 0 of 4 features Visit Surya

Tesseract OCR leads on 0 checks, Surya on 0, and 2 are even. Who comes out ahead on the 2 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scoreTesseract OCR · 8.8/10
  • Free planonly Tesseract OCR
  • Most featuresTesseract OCR · 1 of 4

Tesseract OCR scores higher on our rubric for ocr api software: 8.8 against 7.8 out of 10; our editors rank them #3 and #8.

Tesseract OCR is the better fit for reliable free OCR infrastructure. Surya is the better fit for open-source layout-aware OCR.

  • Tesseract OCR fits best

    Reliable free OCR infrastructure

  • Surya fits best

    Open-source layout-aware OCR

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Side by side

Feature Tesseract OCR 8.8/10 Visit ↗ Surya 7.8/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 8.8 7.8
Ranking #3 in OCR API Software #8 in OCR API Software
Best for Reliable free OCR infrastructure Open-source layout-aware OCR
Pricing model Free Free
Starting price Free plan Open source
Free plan ✓ (best) Not checked yet
Free trial — —
Deployment Self-hosted, Desktop, Mobile Self-hosted, Desktop
Platforms Windows, Linux, iOS, Android Linux, macOS
Support Docs, Community Community
Built for Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Solo, Small business, Mid-market
Features Tesseract OCR 1/4 · Surya 0/4
Structure extraction ✓ (best) Not checked yet
Handwriting OCR Not checked yet Not checked yet
Table extraction Not checked yet Not checked yet
Asynchronous processing Not checked yet Not checked yet
Specs
Maximum file size Not checked yet Not checked yet
SDK languages C, C++ Not checked yet
Our review
Pros
  • Recognizes more than 100 languages with LSTM and legacy engines
  • Provides hOCR, TSV, searchable PDF, ALTO, and PAGE outputs
  • Supports local command-line processing and C/C++ integration
  • Processes images and PDFs with structured HTML output
  • Adds layout, reading-order, table, and OCR error analysis
  • Supports 91 languages with local inference options
Cons
  • Does not include a built-in graphical interface
  • Does not provide hosted processing
  • Verified table and handwriting support are absent
  • Platform coverage centers on Linux, macOS, and self-hosting
  • Integration coverage is narrower than broader OCR platforms
  • It is a package and model, not a conventional hosted SaaS product
Our verdict

Tesseract OCR is an open-source text-recognition engine and developer library for applications that need local image-to-text processing. It is available as a command-line program and through the libtesseract API, with support for Windows,…

Read the review →

Surya is an open-source OCR model and document-analysis toolkit from Datalab for developers and teams that need local processing of images and PDFs. It combines full-page OCR with structured HTML output, document layout analysis,…

Read the review →
  1. Tesseract OCROCR API Software 8.8Free plan
  2. SuryaOCR API Software 7.8Open source

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Tesseract OCR — where it wins

    • Recognizes more than 100 languages with LSTM and legacy engines
    • Provides hOCR, TSV, searchable PDF, ALTO, and PAGE outputs
    • Supports local command-line processing and C/C++ integration

    Where it doesn't

    • Does not include a built-in graphical interface
    • Does not provide hosted processing
    • Verified table and handwriting support are absent

  • Surya — where it wins

    • Processes images and PDFs with structured HTML output
    • Adds layout, reading-order, table, and OCR error analysis
    • Supports 91 languages with local inference options

    Where it doesn't

    • Platform coverage centers on Linux, macOS, and self-hosting
    • Integration coverage is narrower than broader OCR platforms
    • It is a package and model, not a conventional hosted SaaS product

More comparisons

All OCR API software comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update