C++

Tesseract

The classic OCR engine
by tesseract-ocr · Apache-2.0
75 403stars10 692forksC++language100 days agolast push
Document AI & OCROCR engineApache-2.0Runs locallyC++Beginner
🛡 Published security advisories
A high count usually means the project is heavily examined. A low count usually means it is little examined — not that it is safe.
No public activity signals for this tool — it has no open repository we can measure.
Olud Pulse ⓘ ★★★★★★★★★★ /100 signals tracked
🐳 Docker pulls 📦 PyPI downloads / month 📦 npm downloads / month 🚀 Latest release ·
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What is Tesseract?

Tesseract is the long-standing open-source OCR engine, supporting over 100 languages and still the baseline for text extraction from images.

Why people choose Tesseract

Tesseract at a glance

CategoryDocument AI & OCR
TypeOCR engine
LicenseApache-2.0
Runs locallyYes
Built withC++
Skill levelBeginner
Best forsimple, reliable OCR in any language
See GitHub stats & activity

Open-source alternatives to Tesseract

Other open-source document ai & ocr tools worth comparing:

MarkItDownTurn any office document into clean MarkdownMarkerConvert PDFs to clean Markdown fastDoclingIBM-grade document understandingSuryaModern OCR with layout detectionPaddleOCRIndustrial OCR with tiny modelsUnstructuredTurn any file into LLM-ready dataFirecrawlTurn websites into LLM-ready MarkdownCrawl4AIOpen-source LLM-friendly crawlerolmOCRTurn PDFs into clean training-grade textMinerUPDF to Markdown with formulas and tablesPDF to MD ConverterTurn a text-layer PDF into Markdown without uploading itRemoveHandwritingErases handwriting from images and PDFs, printed text keptTransmonkeyTranslates documents, images, audio and video files

Tesseract head-to-head

Tesseract vs MarkItDownTesseract vs MarkerTesseract vs DoclingTesseract vs SuryaTesseract vs PaddleOCRTesseract vs UnstructuredTesseract vs FirecrawlTesseract vs Crawl4AITesseract vs olmOCRTesseract vs MinerUTesseract vs PDF to MD ConverterTesseract vs RemoveHandwritingTesseract vs Transmonkey

FAQ

Is Tesseract free?

Tesseract is free and open-source (Apache-2.0 license), so you can use, self-host and modify it at no cost.

Can I run Tesseract locally?

Yes. Tesseract is designed to run on your own machine or server, keeping your data private.

What is the best alternative to Tesseract?

Popular open-source alternatives include MarkItDown, Marker, Docling. See the comparisons above to choose.

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