Best Document Scanner 2024: High-Quality Scanners for Offices

Our top pick for today’s ranking is Canon’s imageFORMULA R40. This document scanner combines convenience, efficiency, and durability in a sterling model; making it a perfect choice for both home and office use.

The scanner doesn’t disappoint in terms of speed: it can scan 40 one-sided documents or 80 two-sided documents in a minute. On top of that, it features an automatic document feeder that can take up to 60 sheets, and you can get it up and running with only one touch of your fingers. To accommodate more specialist business needs, the R40 features a Long Document Mode that enables you to scan documents up to 118 inches long. It also comes with free licenses for OCR software to ensure the best clarity from scanned documents.

Whilst the R40 is compatible with both Windows and MacOS, you’ll have to make do with a wired connection as this printer doesn’t come with WiFi support. However for most uses, this shouldn’t affect the overall value of this scanner. We still highly recommend the imageFORMULA R40 as the best document scanner on the market!

For a more affordable scanner solution, the Canon imageFORMULA range offers the DR-F120, a budget document scanner for general-purpose use. Boasting a gamut of useful features at a low price point, this scanner is ideal for documents of any kind.

An impressive feature the Dr-F120 boasts that isn’t often seen in budget scanners is the ability to scan two sides of paper in a single pass. Combined with an automatic document feeder, this makes for easy and quick turnarounds on large scanning loads. Text and documents come out with high clarity and legibility and can be easily saved to a cloud-based storage system. To prevent paper jams, the ADF roller can be removed for adjustment and cleaning.

Though this has a lot of the hallmarks of the best document scanner, there are some drawbacks. The power cable comes with a chunky external power brick, contrasting the slim design of the scanner with a cumbersome power supply. And though most will only need it for documents, the ability to save to more varied file formats rather than PDFs or images would be welcome. These don’t detract from the overall value of this document scanner, however, and it’s still one of our top choices!

We’re big fans of Brother products here, and the highly-portable ADS-1700W wireless document scanner proves exactly why. Boasting impressive scanning features in a tiny footprint, this scanner is ideal for the office on-the-go.

With an automated document feeder of up to 20 pages, you’ll be able to easily handle medium loads of scanning quickly and efficiently. The wirelessness of the ADS-1700W cannot be overstated enough as a bonus to its productivity, making the scanner easily transported and activated within moments. You don’t even necessarily need to download any kind of driver for this scanner, as it can be operated from any web browser. There’s a lot to like about this fantastically portable scanner.

That said, there’s a lot to dislike. Though the upfront price of this model is lower than our budget offering, several arguably essential accessories are sold separately, which can quickly hike up the cost. Components such as a USB cable for wired connections aren’t included, which can hamstring productivity for those not wanting to use wireless connections. However, for a highly portable scanner that can be set up practically anywhere, the ADS-1700W is hard to beat!

The Epson WorkForce ES-50 is a budget-friendly and compact document scanner that proves perfect for home use. It’s the smallest scanner on our list, easily mistaken for a TV soundbar, but this compact scanner packs a lot into its tiny package. 

Instead of running on a power cable or batteries, the ES-50 powers itself via a single USB cable that plugs into your PC or Mac. The tiny footprint of this device makes it easy to position, and easy to use. Scanned documents can be converted to standard PDFs or editable Microsoft Office templates thanks to Epson’s own ScanSmart software. Color photos, as well as documents, are easily scanned and digitized, making the ES-50 the best scanner for home use – allowing for the most versatile scanning solution.

However, there’s a reason a business may struggle with this unit. With slower-than-average scan speeds and no automation, busy businesses will struggle to efficiently run with this scanner. It’s still ideal for home use, and the ES-50 earns its spot on our list as the best document scanner for home use!

For businesses that deal in heavy loads of receipts as well as documents, consider the ScanSnap iX1600 Receipt Edition. Up-and-running practically out of the box, this business-minded document scanner is ideal for commercial environments.

The iX1600 is robustly designed: hardly small, but with a sturdy build quality. For added accessibility, the accompanying software is compatible with tools such as ABBYY FineReader and QuickBooks. Documents come out with great OCR accuracy and can be quickly saved, printed, or uploaded. You can even set up user profiles so that coworkers can use the scanner in multiple instances without interference. And of course, as the name suggests, receipts are also easily scanned.

So why isn’t this the best document scanner? Aside from the premium price, we also found the iX1600 made combining multiple pages into a single document difficult – having to undergo a time-consuming process of individually scanning then saving each page separately. Though this will vary from organization to organization, some businesses may find this too cumbersome a task. For day-to-day commercial scanning, however, the iX1600 Receipt Edition is still one of the best document scanners on the market!