CamScanner alternative for iPhone, iPad and Mac

What the CamScanner sources say

CamScanner is a scanner app. Its listing offers scanning, OCR, e-signatures and a membership with “unlimited access to all features”, billed weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly.

What carries over

• Your PDFs. PDF is a standard format. Share or export the files you need from CamScanner to the Files app (see CamScanner’s own help for its export options) and open them in VARAK.
• What is in the file stays in the file. Text, form fields and a scan’s OCR text layer belong to the PDF itself, not to the app that made it.
• Signatures. A signature you drew in CamScanner stays inside the PDFs you already signed. To sign new documents in VARAK you draw, type or photograph a signature once.
• Subscriptions do not transfer. Plans bought through the App Store are managed in Settings, your name, Subscriptions (Apple Support); cancel CamScanner’s plan there when you no longer need it. VARAK’s free tier needs no plan.

What VARAK does

Free: edit existing text in the document’s font, sign, fill forms, scan with edge detection, OCR on the device, annotate, organize pages, compress, merge. VARAK PRO (optional): Word and Excel export, redaction, compare, batch, headers, footers and Bates numbering, certificate signatures, sanitize. No account, no watermark, and files are never uploaded. VARAK runs on iPhone, iPad and Mac.

What this page does not claim

This page does not claim that VARAK matches every feature of CamScanner. Points from CamScanner’s own sources that you may need:

• You need QR code scanning in the same app or a one-page fax: the listing mentions a QR code mode and a One-page Fax in-app purchase (US$0.99).
• You collect comments from several people online: the listing describes sharing files for comments, activity notifications and links, and uploading to Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote and OneDrive.
• You use an older iPhone (the listing requires iOS 15.0 or later; VARAK requires iOS 17.0 or later) or want an app in many languages (the listing says English and 57 more).

A five-minute test

1. Export or share one real PDF from CamScanner to Files and open it in VARAK.

2. Tap a line of text and change one word. Check that the font, size and colour stay the same.

3. Fill a form field and sign it with your finger or Apple Pencil.

4. Scan one page of paper and run OCR; search for a word in the result.

5. Note every moment either app asks for money, an account or an upload. Then decide.

The fact table

Prices, plans, platforms and App Store details, with dates and sources: VARAK vs CamScanner.

Sources (read 10 November 2026)

• CamScanner on the US App Store
• Cancel a subscription from Apple (Apple Support)

CamScanner is a trademark of its owner; VARAK is not affiliated.