Clean Scan review

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Clean Scan is an open-source Android app for turning paper documents into PDF files. It is intended for people who want a free, ad-free scanning tool with practical document processing built in. The workflow combines automatic image enhancement, document-edge detection, scan cropping, OCR-based text extraction, categorization, search, and sharing through email, messaging apps, or social links. Its Apache 2.0 license also makes the project relevant to users who value open-source software.

The pricing model is straightforward: Clean Scan is free and does not use subscription models. The published feature set covers the main steps from capture to distribution, including PDF conversion, image cleanup, OCR, organization, and sharing. That makes it a suitable choice for individual Android users who want more than a basic camera-to-PDF workflow without adding a paid tier to manage. There are no paid plans to compare, and no AI features are part of the product’s stated capabilities.

Clean Scan’s main trade-off is focus. It supports Android rather than offering a cross-platform mobile experience, and its stated workflow is narrower than mobile scanners built around automatic capture, multipage scanning, or broader integrations. Its strengths are the combination of open-source licensing, OCR, search, categorization, enhancement, and PDF export in a free app. Choose it if you want a focused Android scanner for digitizing and organizing documents. Choose an alternative if iOS access, wider platform coverage, or a more extensive capture and integration workflow is central to your needs.

Clean Scan pros and cons

• Where it wins
  • Open-source and free with no subscription model
  • OCR extracts text from scanned images
  • Enhances images, detects edges, and exports PDFs
• Where it doesn't
  • Available on Android only
  • Does not include AI features
  • Narrower than scanners with broader capture and integration workflows

Clean Scan fact sheet, pricing and score →

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Last updated 7 Oct 2026 · How we research and update