Mar. 07, 2024
Consumer Electronics
Tyler Cross
Updated on:
February 20, 2024
Good online virus scanners are really hard to find. There are very few truly online scanners available — most are just trial versions of paid antivirus software, or much worse, phishing scams designed to steal your data or convince you to download malware.
However, there are a few genuinely useful online scanning tools out there. I spent weeks testing and researching, and while I could only find 2 scanners that are truly online with no download required, my other recommendations are still very lightweight and offer a simple way to check for infections or vulnerabilities on your system.
But you need to keep in mind that none of these products make a substitute for a good premium antivirus. A full internet security suite like Norton 360 will give you significantly more protection than even the best online virus scanner. Norton’s advanced malware scanner can detect 100% of malware, and unlike online scanners, it can remove that malware from your system. Plus, Norton and other top antiviruses come with lots of extra features to keep you safe online, like anti-phishing protection, virtual private networks (VPNs), password managers, and more.
Try SafetyDetectives Known Vulnerabilities Scanner Now
The SafetyDetectives Known Vulnerabilities Scanner is one of the only truly online tools that let you perform a quick scan of your device — with no downloads required — to see if you have any unsafe programs running or if any of your software needs a security update. The Known Vulnerability Scanner doesn’t scan for viruses, but as hackers and malware commonly exploit systems via outdated software with vulnerabilities, scanning for outdated software and system vulnerabilities and keeping software updated is one of the most important actions you can take to prevent cyberattacks.
It works with the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures database (the world’s largest database of known cybersecurity threats) to identify any vulnerabilities or unsafe programs running on your device. Each time IT professionals find and fix a vulnerability issue in a program, they report it to the database, meaning all of the information is kept up-to-date.
When I tested the scanner, I found it was able to detect the vulnerabilities on my computer with 100% accuracy. I really like how simple the scanner is to use, too — it runs automatically when you visit the website, so non-technical users won’t have any issues with it at all. While there aren’t any customization options or more detailed scans offered, the scan itself takes just seconds; it’s even cross-platform and automatically detects the device you’re using. Once the scan is done, the Known Vulnerabilities Scanner gives you useful advice on how to fix any security issues it has detected.
Being fully online, the Known Vulnerabilities Scanner can’t offer any tools to remove malware. It’s a really useful way to do a quick on-demand check of your device, but it’s definitely not an alternative to a full antivirus. I’d suggest choosing a premium antivirus like Norton 360 to remove malware and keep your device fully protected.
Bottom Line:
The SafetyDetectives Known Vulnerabilities Scanner is the best truly online scanner around. It requires no installations, it works in seconds, it uses the world’s largest database of known cybersecurity threats, and it’s completely free to use. While it doesn’t offer virus removal tools like an antivirus does, it’s a convenient way to quickly check for problems on just about any device, and it gives you useful advice on how to solve those problems too.
Try SafetyDetectives Known Vulnerabilities Scanner Now
VirusTotal is a web-based tool that can scan individual files and URLs for security issues. Its scans are very detailed, and it analyzes files using the engines of over 70 different antivirus scanners including Bitdefender, Malwarebytes, and Avira.
Because it’s fully web-based, VirusTotal can’t scan your entire device. But it’s a really useful tool if you have particular files that you’re not sure about and want to analyze. It’s simple to run a scan — you just upload a file or paste a URL into the online portal on the VirusTotal homepage.
The scans are very fast and offer an impressive amount of detail, showing you the results from each of the antivirus engines VirusTotal uses. I tested VirusTotal’s scanner with a bunch of sample malware files, and it was able to identify all of them. What’s more, the issues it identifies get shared with the VirusTotal community, helping other users in the future.
VirusTotal is an online virus scanner only, so it doesn’t have the tools to remove viruses. And unlike my top online scanner, the SafetyDetectives Known Vulnerabilities Scanner, it can’t scan your computer’s software and running programs, just individual files and URLs. That said, VirusTotal is very straightforward, easy to use, and completely free, so if you have a few files you’re concerned about and want to scan, it’s a good choice.
Bottom Line:
VirusTotal is an online-only scanner that can scan files or URLs extremely quickly using the engines of over 70 antiviruses. The scanner is simple but effective and requires no downloads or installations. While you can’t run a full system scan, if you’re suspicious of a file or website and want a highly detailed scan done of it, VirusTotal is a great option.
Norton Power Eraser is a simplified, Windows-only version of the Norton antivirus, containing a scanner and virus removal tools. It’s free, easy to use, and it was able to find all of the malware samples hidden on my PC.
Unlike the SafetyDetectives Known Vulnerabilities Scanner, Norton Power Eraser requires a small download. The installation itself was very easy and only took a few seconds, but if you’re looking for an online scanner with no download required, I’d recommend the SafetyDetectives Known Vulnerabilities Scanner instead.
Once you’ve installed Norton Power Eraser, you’re offered 4 scan options:
There’s also a full rootkit scan you can select in the Options menu, which provides an extremely in-depth scan that took about 60 minutes to finish and detected all of the malware on my PC. All the scans are super simple to run, with no tech expertise required.
Unlike the first two scanners on this list, Norton Power Eraser does come with threat removal tools, so if any viruses are found on your device, you can actually deal with them. However, while it’s more effective at dealing with threats than a truly online virus scanner, Norton Power Eraser still doesn’t work as a substitute for a full antivirus package. Without the real-time protection offered by premium antivirus suites like Norton 360, you’re not protected from getting malware in the first place.
If you’re looking for more than a one-time scan, I recommend checking out one of Norton 360’s low-cost plans. Norton Antivirus Plus only costs $29.99 / year* and includes Norton’s excellent scanner, real-time protection, a firewall, a password manager, and 2 GB of secure file storage for 1 device. My favorite plan is Norton 360 Deluxe, though. It covers 5 Windows, Mac, Android, or iOS devices, and adds an unlimited-data VPN, parental controls, dark web monitoring, 50 GB cloud storage, and more, all for $49.99 / year*. All of Norton’s plans come with a 60-day money-back guarantee.
Bottom Line:
The Norton Power Eraser is a free Windows-only scanner that comes with threat removal tools and uses the same high-quality scanner as the full Norton antivirus. While it does require a download, it’s very lightweight and offers full system scans, something a website simply can’t do. That said, if you’re considering the Power Eraser, it’s worth checking out the full Norton 360 antivirus for enhanced security features like real-time protection and scheduled scans.
ESET Online Scanner is a free Windows-only virus scanner that offers customizable and in-depth system scans. It’s a simplified version of ESET’s premium antivirus and offers a great malware detection rate. Like Norton Power Eraser, it uses anti-stealth technology to help detect rootkits buried deep in your system.
The ESET Online Scanner can quarantine or delete infections it finds during the scan (unlike a web-based scanner). It does require a small download, but it’s very lightweight. Once you’ve downloaded and installed it, you’re offered 3 scan options, including a full scan, a quick scan, and a custom scan.
When I tested the full scan, it took about 30 minutes to complete. I was impressed with how thoroughly the scanner searched every part of my system in that time. The quick scans only take a few minutes, providing a more basic scan of key areas of your PC. You can also scan individual folders, files, or removable media if you have specific things you want to check. However, there isn’t an “Unwanted Application” scan like Norton Power Eraser offers.
I like how ESET’s scanner offers scheduled monthly scans and will run an automatic scan of your device each month if you enable it. It’s the only product on my list to offer this feature (apart from my bonus premium picks, Norton and Bitdefender, which offer a range of scheduling options).
The cheapest paid ESET plan is Essential Security, which costs $38.09 / year. In addition to the scanner, it offers anti-phishing protection and a gamer mode for PCs, and it also works with Mac and Android. However, ESET’s offering is pretty minimal compared to Norton and Bitdefender’s lower-tier plans, which offer a wider range of extra features. But ESET is an ok choice if you just want a lightweight scanner and good protection against viruses, and its premium plan has a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Bottom Line:
The ESET Online Scanner is a quality lightweight scanner that only requires a small download. Its full scan only took 30 minutes, detected all the malware on my PC, and was impressively thorough. ESET also gives you the option to run automatic monthly scans, which is a useful extra.
Bitdefender Virus Scanner for Mac is the only scanner on my list (apart from my bonus premium picks) that can do a full scan of your Mac. It uses Bitdefender’s cloud-based scanner to check for viruses and other malware on your machine, and it’s completely free to use.
It requires a small download, but this means it can remove threats as well as detect them. Downloading and installing the scanner is very quick and simple, and the interface is extremely user-friendly. There are 3 scan options, including Deep System Scan, Critical Locations Scan, and Custom Location Scan.
The Deep System Scan took around 30 minutes and detected 100% of the test malware on my MacBook. I was really impressed by how thorough the scan was, and I liked the straightforward way the results were presented, detailing the threat name, the action Bitdefender had taken, and the path to the infected file.
Bitdefender Virus Scanner for Mac is a quick and reliable tool for identifying infections, but it’s only a scanner, not a full antivirus. There’s no real-time protection, firewall, system optimization tools, or any of the other tools you need to stay fully protected online. If you like Bitdefender but want more than just one-time scans, you’d do far better to take a look at Bitdefender Total Security.
Bottom Line:
Bitdefender Virus Scanner for Mac is a great free tool to check for infections on your Mac and safely remove them. It offers 3 types of scans, including Deep System Scan, Critical Locations Scan, and Custom Location Scan, and it’s really easy to use. Bitdefender’s full scan took only 30 minutes and was able to find 100% of the test malware on my MacBook.
Norton 360 is the best antivirus on the market in 2024, with a flawless scanner and a lot of extra security features. Unlike its more basic counterpart, Norton Power Eraser, it works across all operating systems and does a lot more than just scan and remove viruses. For example, its excellent real-time protection means malware will be blocked and removed automatically before it can harm your device.
In my tests, Norton’s scanner was able to detect 100% of the test malware I’d put on my computer, including viruses, worms, keyloggers, rootkits, and more. The full scan took around 40 minutes, and I was able to use my computer as normal while it was running. You can also run quick scans and custom scans on specific folders and locations, and the Norton Insight tool even flags suspicious files you should run a custom scan on.
Norton offers many extra features to protect you against viruses and other online threats, including:
Norton’s 360 plans start at $54.99 / year*, but the best value plan is the 360 Deluxe plan, which includes real-time threat protection, Norton’s quality scanner, a firewall, an unlimited-data VPN, 50 GB of cloud storage, parental controls, dark web monitoring, and more. It costs $49.99 / year* and gives coverage for up to 5 devices across all major operating systems. All of Norton’s plans come with a 60-day money-back guarantee too.
Bottom Line:
Norton is the best antivirus on the market, with a flawless malware scanner and a great kit of cybersecurity tools. It does everything an online virus scanner does and much more, offering a 100% threat detection rate and real-time protection as well as extra security features like a VPN and anti-phishing protection. You can try Norton’s paid plans with a 60-day money-back guarantee.
Read the full Norton review here
Bitdefender Total Security offers an advanced and highly customizable malware scanner along with some excellent internet security tools. Like Norton’s antivirus, you can run full, quick, or custom scans that will detect and remove threats from your device.
Bitdefender’s scanner operates on the cloud, so it’s less likely to slow down your system when compared to some other antiviruses. In my tests, it was able to detect 100% of the test malware on my PC. At around an hour, its full system scans do take a bit longer than Norton’s. However, that’s not a big deal because the scans are so lightweight you can use your computer as normal while they’re running.
I’m a big fan of Bitdefender’s real-time protection (Bitdefender Shield), which actively scans all your files and email attachments and blocks malware before it has a chance to infect your system. More advanced users can even customize real-time settings to include scans of archives and scripts. Overall, Bitdefender has the most customizable scanner on the market.
The extra features Bitdefender offers include:
I was really impressed with Bitdefender’s OneClick Optimizer, which was able to clear nearly 2 GB of junk files from my PC. It’s a pretty basic tool, but it’s effective and very easy to use, and I saw a real improvement in my PC’s running speeds after doing the cleanup.
I’m not so keen on how Bitdefender’s VPN is restricted to 200 MB per day on all but the most expensive plan — this is barely enough for light browsing. Norton offers an unlimited VPN with all its paid plans. That said, if you’re happy to pay the extra for Bitdefender’s unlimited VPN, it is really fast and good for torrenting.
Total Security is Bitdefender’s best plan — it costs $49.99 / year and includes all of Bitdefender’s features, coverage for 5 devices, and compatibility with Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. All plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Bottom Line:
Bitdefender offers a cloud-based scanner that detects 100% of malware and has excellent customizable real-time protection. On top of this, it has great extra features like a system optimizer, VPN, parental controls, and a password manager. You can try Bitdefender risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Read the full Bitdefender review here
Try SafetyDetectives Known Vulnerabilities Scanner Now
An online virus scanner simply scans your files from a remote server and detects viruses for you. While an online scanner can’t scan through your full computer, it can work to detect threats in individual files.
If you haven’t already got an antivirus and suspect a file might be infected, you can use an online virus scanner to quickly identify what kind of threat it is. Some downloadable virus scanners, like the Norton Power Eraser, will include ways to remove the threats, but a truly online virus scanner cannot remove viruses or malware from your device. It can only tell you what the issues are and offer advice on how you can solve them yourself.
However, online scanners can’t completely replace a full antivirus software. To fully protect your system from malware and other online threats, you should install antivirus software like Norton or Bitdefender.
There are some good free virus scanners, but they’ll never give you as much protection as a premium antivirus program like Norton 360. Truly online scanners lack virus removal tools, and even free downloadable virus scanners that do remove malware can’t offer real-time protection. However, if you’re just looking to run a quick scan because you think you might have an infection, a free virus scanner is a convenient choice.
It’s also important to know that there are a lot of fake cybersecurity companies that offer ‘free’ scanners that will steal your data while scanning your device. I made sure to only include truly reputable scanners on my list.
No — the most an online scanner can do is scan files or active programs on your device, flag any malware, and offer advice on how you can deal with it yourself. Some of the scanners on this list, like the Norton Power Eraser and the Bitdefender Virus Scanner for Mac, do have the ability to remove malware and viruses, but this functionality always requires a download.
As a rule of thumb, if a website claims it can remove viruses from your computer, it’s lying. A purely online scanner is simply not capable of accessing your system in that way.
The short answer is no, but it can still be a helpful tool if you’re looking for a second opinion on a file — though at that point I’d recommend a better antivirus. A decent antivirus does everything an online scanner can do, and so much more.
With a premium antivirus suite like Norton 360, you get a great virus scanner, threat removal tools, and real-time protection from viruses before they become a problem. Norton also offers a heap of useful extra features like parental controls, a VPN, a password manager, and dark web monitoring, and you can try it risk-free with a 60-day money-back guarantee.
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We've outlined below the top scanners that we have tested across a range of categories and possible usage scenarios. "Scan" the list for the kind of work you do, then read on below that for a deeper dive into scanner specs and how to choose the right model for what, exactly, you scan.
Settling on a scanner that meets your specific day-to-day scanning needs can be challenging. Most flatbed and sheetfed scanners on the market today are geared toward everyday office tasks or photo image capture, but they come in a wide variety of types and sizes, some fine-tuned for different purposes. Document scanners, photo scanners , receipt scanners, film scanners: That list is just a start.
Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
4.5 Outstanding
It doesn't have Ethernet, because it's not built for a corporate network—just for connection to a single PC or handheld in a small office via USB or Wi-Fi—but otherwise the Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1600 is pretty much a model desktop document scanner. This sheetfed unit offers an easy-to-use color touch screen, a 50-page automatic document feeder, and a hefty 6,000-scan daily duty cycle. (To overwork it, you'd have to load the ADF to capacity more than 120 times a day.) Best of all, it comes with first-class scanning, workflow-profile, and optical character recognition (OCR) software.
If you juggle a variety of pages, the iX1600 automatically recognizes and organizes documents, receipts, and business cards—and even items with different orientations and color settings—in the same batch. It's a superb way for a home office or small office to get a handle on piles of papers.
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$399.99 Amazon
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Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1600 Review
4.0 Excellent
Brother's scanners hold up well in a highly competitive, crowded market. That fact is more than enough to render the ADS-4900W our current favorite mid- to high-volume sheetfed document scanner for small to medium-size offices, workgroups, and enterprises. It stands out not because of any ground-breaking features or firsts, but because this is a terrific, rock-solid machine.
A whopping 9,000-scan daily duty cycle means you'll have to have a very determined paper-feeding person (and some really big jobs) to stress this scanner out. It's accurate, efficient, and reasonably priced (well under a grand) for what it is.
For medium- to heavy-volume scanning in all but the largest offices, the Brother ADS-4900W serves as an industrial-strength desktop option. Some competitors from the likes of Raven operate via big touch screens, but if you just need reliable, basic bulk document digitization for your business, this model is a great option.
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$672.49 Amazon
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Brother ADS-4900W Review
4.0 Excellent
The Epson DS-30000 laughs at your mere letter- and legal-size pages—this enterprise-class document manager and archiver can handle tabloid (11-by-17-inch) sheets, despite taking little more room than a standard sheetfed desktop scanner. Its automatic document feeder holds up to 120 letter- or 60 A3-size pages, and its daily duty cycle is a juggernaut 30,000 scans. Epson backs it with a three-year warranty with next-business-day replacement and bundles it with state-of-the-art document-management and scanner-interface software. The latter not only scans to a plethora of file formats and cloud and archiving sites, but it offers friendly Home, Office, and Professional modes for different levels of user expertise.
It's far from cheap at $2,499, but the DS-30000 is only half the cost of some of the copy-machine-size corporate scanners it competes with. Of course, it's overkill for a small or even midsize office, but it stands almost alone as a high-volume, large-format desktop document scanner.
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$2,499.00 Dell
$2,499.00 B&H Photo Video
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Epson DS-30000 Review
4.0 Excellent
See also:Most nonprofessional photographers can't afford a dedicated photo scanner. That's why the flatbed Epson Perfection V39 II doubles nicely at scanning document pages and turning them into editable text, although to be honest you'll want a higher-priced scanner with an automatic document feeder (ADF) for handling more than occasional multipage jobs. The V39 II saves desk space with a vertical kickstand and comes with impressive photo scanning and touch-up software. It can even stitch together multiple scans of photos too big for its scanning area.
The V39 II captures vibrant color and crisp detail and ably serves a single small-office PC connected via USB. (It lacks wired networking or Wi-Fi for mobile devices.) Considering its affordable price, it's a great solution for light-duty photo-quality scanning.
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$99.99 Amazon
$99.99 Walmart
$99.99 Best Buy
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Epson Perfection V39 II Review
4.0 Excellent
The FastFoto has been on the market for some time, but this speedy, compact unit continues to be one of a kind. If you have stacks of old family snapshots, or similar card-size items to be scanned in bulk, the FastFoto can process them with speed and care. It's gentle on photos and can even scan both sides of a print without flipping it over, capturing possible date data or back-scrawled notations with the image. It can also pinch-hit as a perfectly workable document scanner for digitizing bills and those old tax records.
Scrapbookers, family archivists, or folks looking to reproduce or digitize photo albums to the cloud will find the FastFoto a godsend. It can process a stack of snaps in mere minutes, and even tweak them on the fly and name them according to filename sequences that you specify in the software. It may not be cheap, but it will pay for itself in time savings many times over for big scan jobs.
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$593.00 Amazon
$599.99 Best Buy
$599.99 Epson
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Epson FastFoto FF-680W Review
4.0 Excellent
Compact, easy to use, and accurate at OCR, the ScanJet Pro 3600 f1 is a winning hybrid flatbed/sheetfed design. As a flatbed, it can digitize photos, book or magazine pages, or fragile items that might not survive a trip through a sheet feeder; with its roomy 60-page auto-duplexing ADF, it's ready to process lengthy documents lickety-split. You can use it and control it from a PC, or scan straight to flash drives or other USB drives without one.
Doctor's offices, real estate or travel agencies, banks, and other small organizations and workgroups that need to stay on top of the ebb, flow, and occasional tidal wave of paper will find the ScanJet invaluable. Plus, its support for scan profiles and workflows makes repetitive scan tasks easy.
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$599.00 HP
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HP ScanJet Pro 3600 f1 Review
4.0 Excellent
A cross between a desktop and a portable sheetfed document scanner, the Fujitsu fi-800R takes only about 12 by 4 inches of desk space but delivers robust performance thanks to unique Return Scan and U-Turn Scan technologies that move documents in and out without requiring multiple slots or paper trays. Its Active Skew Correction lets you be careless about placing documents in the feeder, and its speed and 4,500-scan daily duty cycle are closer to its desktop than portable rivals (though its 20-sheet ADF is on the skimpy side).
The fi-800R is a little pricey considering it supports only a USB instead of network connection and lacks a battery for portable scanning, but it fills a nifty niche as a front-desk document manager for handling customer and client paperwork. Its PaperStream Capture software is just the ticket for digitizing IDs, passports, and miscellaneous pages.
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$597.99 Amazon
$713.33 Walmart
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Fujitsu fi-800R Review
4.5 Outstanding
With no automatic document feeder, the Brother DSmobile DS-940DW obliges you to feed pages manually, so it's better suited to one- or two-page documents instead of lengthy reports or stacks of sheets. But otherwise, it's the very model of handy scanning on the road, complete with a rechargeable battery and the ability to scan to a microSD card for later transfer to a PC, so you don't even need to bring your laptop—just throw the 1.5-pound scanner into your briefcase and you're all set. The Brother is rated for 100 scans a day and comes with software for smartly managing business cards and receipts.
It's obviously not a high-volume, heavy-duty document manager, but the DSmobile DS-940DW's convenience, speed, and accuracy make it a standout in a crowded field of single-sheet portable scanners. Don't leave the office without it.
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$199.98 Amazon
$199.98 Walmart
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Brother DSmobile DS-940DW Review
4.0 Excellent
Overhead scanners are specialized devices with elevated cameras for scanning book or magazine pages. The CZUR ET24 Pro comes with a foot pedal or desk button that frees your hands for turning book pages or placing new content (up to tabloid size) on the scan platform. It also features automatic focus and page-turn detection, and you can even use the device in a Visual Presenter mode, with an HDMI port for playing video captured by the CZUR directly to monitors or HDTVs or livestreaming.
In many ways, the CZUR ET24 Pro and its ilk resemble old-fashioned overhead projectors. Capturing book and magazine pages, however, is just one of many possible uses, ranging from capturing objects for presentations to classroom or online teaching. Its everyday book or magazine scanning speed depends more on your placement and page-turning hustle than its hardware, but the ET24 Pro is ideal for small and midsize offices, presenters, teachers, and others in need of its very specific talents.
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$649.00 Amazon
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CZUR ET24 Pro Review
4.5 Outstanding
The Epson RapidReceipt RR-600W is a powerful desktop document scanner with an automatic document feeder (ADF) that lets you capture up to 100 two-sided documents in one batch; it supports USB and Wi-Fi, and has a port for scanning directly to USB flash drives. Plus, its 4.3-inch graphical touch screen makes it easy to access scanning options or workflow profiles. But you're not going to buy a device named RapidReceipt for general-purpose scanning—you're going to take advantage of its ScanSmart Accounting Edition software that gets more intelligent as you use it, learning to identify recurring data like vendor names and monthly expenses. The app recognizes information, saves it to the appropriate fields in its built-in database, and exports to QuickBooks, TurboTax, or Excel-compatible CSV files.
As we said, the RR-600W is a fine choice for any kind of office document management, with respectable speed, impressive accuracy, and a robust 4,000-scan daily duty cycle. But if receipts and invoices are your company's bread and butter, it's a better than fine choice.
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$399.99 Amazon
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Epson RapidReceipt RR-600W ReviewBuying Guide: The Best Scanners for 2024
The first step in scanner buying comes down to a simple thing: what kind or kinds of media you'll be scanning. Knowing what (and how often) you expect to scan will tell you everything you need to know about the features you'll need.
Photos, unbound documents, receipts, and business cards are the most obvious things to scan, but you might also need to scan bound books, magazines, film (slides and negatives), or easily damaged originals like postage stamps. Somewhat less common are objects such as coins or flowers.
You should also consider details such as the maximum size of the originals and whether you'll need to scan both sides of document pages. This will tell you the kind of scanner you should be looking at: a classic flatbed, a model with a sheet feeder, or something else.
For photos or other easily damaged originals, bound material, and 3D objects, you need a flatbed scanner, which has a large glass platen on which you place the documents, photos, books, or items. (When we talk about scanning objects, here we're talking about scanning three-dimensional objects to two-dimensional images. 3D scanners—which digitize objects to special 3D files for display or printing on a 3D printer—are a different beast entirely.)
Books, magazines, and objects thicker than a sheet of paper or driver's license are good candidates for an overhead scanner, which resembles an old-fashioned overhead projector with an illuminated scanning head that looks down on a flat surface. These work like cameras, snapping pictures of items and feeding them to suitable software for optical character recognition (converting images to editable text) or flattening the curve near the spine of a book.
Delicate originals such as photos and stamps can go through a sheet feeder, but you risk damaging them. If you need to scan this sort of original only once in a while, you may be able to get by with a sheetfed scanner that comes with a plastic carrier to protect the originals. Keep in mind, however, that even brand-new, unscratched plastic carriers can degrade scan quality somewhat. Direct-to-glass is always better.
(Credit: Xerox)
Scanner models tend to stay on the market for a long time between iterations, and this is especially true of flatbed photo scanners. We regularly update our Best Scanners roundup, so should you encounter an "oldie but goodie," it simply means that no similar model that we've reviewed has yet surpassed it.
If your main scanning need is scanning documents on a regular basis—particularly those longer than one or two pages—you almost certainly want a document-centric scanner equipped with a sheet feeder. Having to open a flatbed lid and put a page on the glass is a minor chore, but having to repeat the process 10 times for a 10-page document is tiresome. Some sheetfed scanners can also handle thick originals such as ID cards.
(Credit: Fujitsu)
If you'll primarily be scanning one or two pages at a time, a manual sheet feeder is probably all you need, or you can get by just fine with the scanning capability of an all-in-one (AIO) printer. If you'll be scanning longer documents on a regular basis, however, you'll want an automatic document feeder (ADF) that will scan an entire stack of pages unattended. Pick an ADF capacity based on the number of pages in the typical document you expect to scan. If you occasionally have a document that is more pages than the ADF capacity, you can add more pages during the scan as the feeder processes them. Some ADFs can also handle stacks of business cards well.
Duplex scanning means scanning both sides of a page. If you expect to frequently scan documents that are printed on both sides, you'll want a duplexing scanner, a duplexing ADF, or a scanner with a driver that includes a manual-duplex feature.
The best, swiftest duplexing scanners have two scan elements, so they can scan both sides of a page at the same time. A design like this will be faster than a scanner with a simple duplexing ADF, but it will likely also cost more. A more ordinary duplexing ADF will just scan one side, turn the page over mechanically, and only then scan the other.
In contrast, a scanner with a driver that supports manual duplexing will let you scan one side of a stack and then prompts you to flip and re-feed the stack to scan the other side, with the scanner driver automatically interfiling the pages. Manual duplexing in the driver is the most economical alternative, and it is a good choice if you don't scan two-sided documents very often or you're on a tight budget.
For most scanning, having a high enough resolution at your disposal for the job at hand isn't an issue. For, say, tax documents, even a 200-pixel-per-inch (ppi) scan will give you good enough quality for most purposes. A 300ppi scanning resolution is almost always sufficient, and it's hard to find a scanner today that maxes out at less than 600ppi. For photos, unless you plan to zoom in on a small part of the photo or print the photo at a larger size than the original, 600ppi is more than enough.
(Credit: Canon)
Some kinds of originals, however, require higher resolution. If you're scanning 35mm slides or negatives, or something small and finely detailed like a postage stamp, you'll need a scanner that claims an optical resolution of at least 4,800ppi.
Then there's the issue of the maximum scan size you can take. Picking a scanner that can handle the size of the originals you need to scan seems like an obvious point, but it's easy to overlook. For example, most flatbeds have a letter-size platen, which will be a problem if you occasionally need to scan legal-size pages. Most flatbeds with ADFs will scan legal-size pages via the ADF, but not all do, so be sure to check. You can also find scanners with larger flatbeds, but they will, of course, take up more desk space.
Most scanners come with basic scanning software. Depending on what you plan to scan, some of the features to look for include optical character recognition (OCR), text indexing, photo editing, and the ability to create searchable PDF documents. The days of platform-specific scanners are over; any modern scanner will work seamlessly with both macOS and Windows, and many of them can also scan to your phone or a cloud drive.
Specialized scanners have software with specialized functions. Receipt scanners come with accounting software for organizing your financial data. Scanners that handle business cards can usually extract the card data into a contact database (assuming the cards aren't too ornately designed for the OCR software to read).
If you're planning to scan photos or other images and then edit them in a program such as Adobe Photoshop, look for a scanner with TWAIN drivers that can scan directly into your photo editing app.
Finally, consider whether you need a special-purpose scanner. Among the most common special-purpose choices are scanners for business cards (small and highly portable) and receipts (small and equipped with specialized software). Specialized slide scanners are smaller than flatbed scanners, but they're no better at scanning slides than flatbed scanners with equivalent features.
(Credit: Epson)
If you travel often, you might want a portable scanner that's small enough to fit in your laptop bag, or a handheld scanner that you hold and trace over text. Some portable models can operate without a computer attached, scanning to a memory card or smartphone. You can also find some that function as both portable and desktop document scanners by combining a portable scanner with a docking station that includes an ADF.
Depending on what you need to scan, any one of these may be a good choice, either as your only scanner or as a supplement to a general-purpose scanner. We've highlighted a few of our favorite special scanners in the picks above.
All-in-one or multifunction printers have built-in scanners, nearly all with flatbeds and many with ADFs. That may be sufficient for light scanning needs. To get the most out of your scanning, however, you'll probably want to get a single-function scanner. Fortunately, there are many models to choose from, and the models below are among the best we've tested. For more focused advice, check out our roundup of the top scanners for photos, as well as our list of the best all-in-one printers, if having a scanner attached to your printer is more appealing. (And finally, after you've digitized all that paper, take a look at the best shredders we've tested.)
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