Readiris Alternative for Converting Scanned PDFs to Excel Tables
Readiris is a desktop OCR and PDF editor sold per computer. If the job you bought it for is getting scanned statements, invoices and reports into Excel, drop one here and check the table you get back.
Plans from $49 a month. Plus covers 5 seats, Pro adds the REST API.
Drop your PDF here or click to browse
PDF files up to 50MB
Use the same scan you would test in the Readiris trial.
The short answer
Readiris PDF 27 costs $79 (Essential) or $149 (Elite) once per computer and is a full desktop PDF editor with OCR in 138 languages. It is the cheaper buy for one person who edits PDFs and converts the odd scan. When the real work is turning many scanned financial documents into Excel tables across a team, PDFxlsx detects each table, joins it across pages, writes numbers as numbers and runs in the browser, from $49 a month.
What Readiris costs in the US store
IRIS sells Readiris PDF 27 as a perpetual license, one per PC or Mac, with a 30 day money back guarantee. The store shows each edition against a higher struck list price, so the discount is part of how it is sold.
Volume packs are Elite only and include one year of maintenance and support. Past 50 computers, IRIS asks you to contact sales. Full edition details are in our Readiris pricing breakdown.
Readiris PDF 27
Essential
$79 $129
One time
Scan, OCR, convert, edit, fill forms
Readiris PDF 27
Elite
$149 $189
One time
Adds barcodes, page separation, auto naming, PDF/A
Readiris PDF 27
Elite 5 pack
$581
One time
Five computers, one year of maintenance
Readiris PDF 27
Elite 10 pack
$1,073
One time
Ten computers, one year of maintenance
Reading a scan and getting a usable table are two jobs
OCR software turns pixels into characters and then recreates the page in Word or Excel. That works well for letters and contracts. A bank statement or a vendor invoice needs one more step: deciding which characters belong to which row and column, keeping the header once, and carrying a table across a page break.
| ACCOUNT ACTIVITY (continued) | ||
| Date | Description | Amount |
| 03/14 | ACH VENDOR PMT | '(2,750.00) |
| Page 2 of 4 | ||
| Date | Description | Amount |
| 03/15 | DEPOSIT 8841 | 6,100.00 |
Shaded cells are the usual cleanup: page furniture, repeated headers, amounts stored as text.
| Date | Description | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-03-14 | ACH VENDOR PMT | -2750.00 |
| 2026-03-15 | DEPOSIT 8841 | 6100.00 |
| 2026-03-18 | CARD 4471 SUPPLY CO | -318.40 |
| =SUM(C2:C4) | 3031.60 | |
One header, rows joined across the page break, real dates and numbers. Same engine as the OCR to Excel converter.
Year one cost for a five person office
On license price alone, Readiris wins. Five Elite licenses cost $581 once, and our Plus plan for 5 seats is $588 a year. We show that plainly because the license is rarely the bigger number.
What moves the total is cleanup. If each converted statement or invoice takes ten minutes of fixing before it can be totaled, an office doing 100 a month spends more than 16 hours a month on it. That is where a converter built only for tables earns its price, and why you should time both on your own files before buying either.
one time, yours to keep
5 seats, 500 files a month
1 seat, 50 files a month
Readiris price from the IRIS US store. Ours from the pricing page.
Readiris vs PDFxlsx for PDF and scan to Excel
Readiris does far more with a PDF than we do. Rows where it is the better pick are in bold.
| Question | Readiris PDF 27 | PDFxlsx |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | $79 or $149 once per computer | $49, $99 or $199 a month, half that per month on yearly billing |
| Works offline, files stay on the PC | Yes, desktop software | No, browser service |
| Edit, sign, redact, scan from a scanner | Yes, full PDF editor with TWAIN, WIA and network scanning | No, conversion to Excel and CSV only |
| OCR languages | 138 | 25 |
| Tables joined across pages, one header | Test on your files | Yes, every table on its own sheet |
| Install and updates | Install on each machine, major versions sold as upgrades | Nothing to install, Windows, Mac or Chromebook |
| Team use | One license per computer, packs of 5 to 50 | 5 seats on Plus, unlimited on Pro |
| API for your own systems | None listed | REST API on Pro |
| Trying it | Free trial download, 30 day money back | 3 whole files on a new account, files up to 50 MB |
Weighing the other desktop OCR suite too? The ABBYY FineReader alternative page runs the same comparison against FineReader PDF, and the OmniPage alternative page covers the Windows only OCR suite from Tungsten.
Offices that need tables more than a PDF editor
Bookkeepers with scanned statements
Client statements arrive as phone scans. Bank statement PDF to Excel keeps dates and signed amounts.
AP clerks keying invoices
Line items from paper invoices into one sheet with the invoice PDF to Excel converter.
Mixed Windows and Mac teams
No license per machine to track. 5 people share Plus in the browser.
Month end stacks
A folder of PDFs once a month through the batch PDF to Excel converter, 20 files at a time.
How to test both before you buy
Pick the scans you fight with
A faxed bank statement, a two column vendor invoice, a long report where the table runs over several pages.
Run them through Readiris and here
Use the Readiris trial and the converter at the top of this page on the same files.
Total a column in both workbooks
If SUM works without Text to Columns or deleting blank rows, the export is usable as is.
Count the cleanup minutes
Multiply by the files your office handles a month. That number decides which tool is cheaper.
Most of your files are scans? The scanned PDF to Excel guide covers resolution and skew. Comparing several paid tools at once, the best PDF to Excel converter roundup lists prices side by side, and the Adobe Acrobat PDF to Excel alternative covers the subscription route. For system reports that used to go through a report mining tool, see the Altair Monarch alternative.
Readiris alternative questions
It depends on the job. For a desktop PDF editor with OCR, ABBYY FineReader and Adobe Acrobat Pro are the usual alternatives. If the reason you looked at Readiris is getting scanned statements, invoices or reports into Excel, a browser converter such as PDFxlsx gives you table detection, team seats and an API instead of a per computer license.
On the IRIS US store, Readiris PDF 27 Essential is $79 and Readiris PDF 27 Elite is $149, both shown against higher list prices of $129 and $189. Both are one time perpetual licenses for one PC or Mac. Elite volume packs run $581 for 5 computers and $1,073 for 10.
Yes. IRIS sells Readiris PDF as a perpetual license with no subscription, and its volume packs include one year of maintenance and support. Major new versions are sold as upgrades, so a one time purchase covers the version you bought rather than every future release.
Yes. Readiris lists Excel among its output formats and converts both scans and digital PDFs after OCR. What to check on your own files is whether each table comes out as clean rows with numbers you can total, especially when a table runs across pages or the scan is skewed.
They target the same buyer: a desktop OCR and PDF editor. Readiris is cheaper up front at $79 to $149 one time. FineReader costs more and is often chosen for OCR accuracy and its compare tool. Neither is built mainly for table extraction, so test both on your own scans.
Yes. IRIS lists Readiris PDF 27 for Windows 10 and 11 (64 bit) and macOS 11 up to macOS 26. Each license covers one computer, so a mixed Windows and Mac office buys one license per machine or a volume pack.
The Readiris PDF product pages describe a desktop application and list no web API. Teams that want conversions to run from their own scripts or systems need a separate service. PDFxlsx Pro at $199 a month includes a REST API that returns the same workbook as the browser converter.
For one person converting a few documents a month, Readiris is cheaper: $79 to $149 once. PDFxlsx costs $49 a month or $288 a year. The gap closes when several people convert statements and invoices every week and the time spent cleaning OCR output into usable tables is counted.
Other PDF to Excel alternatives
Altair Monarch Alternative for Converting PDF Reports to Excel
Altair Monarch is now Rapidminer Monarch at Siemens, priced by quote per user. If you only need PDF reports in Excel, compare a web converter from $49 a month.
AlternativesOmniPage Alternative for Turning Scanned PDFs into Excel Tables
OmniPage Ultimate is $499 per Windows PC and Standard $149. If you mainly need scanned PDF tables in Excel, compare a browser converter from $49 a month.
AlternativesSmallpdf Alternative for PDF to Excel and CSV Conversion
Smallpdf alternative focused on PDF to Excel and CSV for business. Auto-detects tables, OCR on scans on every plan, numbers kept numeric, no daily cap.
AlternativesiLovePDF PDF to Excel Converter Pricing, File Size Limits and OCR Compared
iLovePDF PDF to Excel compared plan by plan: the free tier caps files at 15 MB, OCR for scans needs Premium, and Business raises no conversion limit.
Scanned PDFs to Excel tables for the whole office
Convert a real scan, total a column, then buy by card. Plus covers 500 files a month and 5 seats at $99, Pro adds the API at $199.