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OCR Software Pricing and Costs

Learn more about OCR software pricing and costs

By Carol Francois
Explore the OCR software and equipment that you will need to purchase to implement this product into your firm. OCR software pricing and costs are comprised of three components, purchasing software, hardware and service. Make a list of what types of features your require and the basic functions the hardware must perform.

Take the time to read through the details of the sale agreement. Check the length of the manufacture warranty and any service contract offered. Follow the three steps below to learn more about OCR software.

1. Locate optical recognition software.

2. Identify optical text scanning hardware.

3. Determine a short list of optical document scanning software suppliers.

 

Find optical recognition software

Identify the features required from the optical recognition software you are considering purchasing. Talk with colleagues and contacts within your industry about the type of OCR software they are using and their experiences. Issue a request for proposal to suppliers of optical document recognition software in your area.
Try: Review the submitted responses to the request for proposal. There are three kinds of solutions, out of the box, stand along and server based. Review the responses to see what fits. Simple OCR is a free OCR software product and Iris Link provides a link to a directory of OCR software providers. Read about the scanning software offered by Microsoft. When purchasing this software, the costs are between $250 and $3,000. Installation, training and customization are extra.

Price optical text scanning hardware

Optical character recognition software requires optical text scanning readers and scanners. This type of hardware is often available from the same supplier as the software. Evaluate the type of hardware that you need and negotiate a competitive price for the package. This improves compatibility between the hardware and your optical document scanning software systems, as any issues need only be addressed once.
Try: The cost of OCR hardware for your optical character recognition software ranges from $200 to $600 for handheld scanners or $500 to $10,000 for flatbed optical text scanning equipment. Obtain quotes from multiple suppliers to get the best value. Scanoptics and Scanstore both provide OCR hardware. Check the warranty on these units before making a purchase.

Find optical document scanning software suppliers

Installation of an optical document scanning software system is not included in the purchase price. Ask specifically what this cost will be, in addition to the service contract on the hardware. Obtain quotes for the ongoing maintenance of your optical document scanning software system.
Try: Ask for and check references from suppliers of OCR software and hardware. Check the standard hourly rate and ask about travel time, equipment expenses and any other item that might increase the costs. The cost for this type of service ranges from $2,000 to $25,000 per year, depending on the number and type of units. The more complex the set up, the higher the installation costs will be, due to the additional expertise required. Plan On Store and OCR Limited are both well known OCR service providers. Read about the different options available with software provided by Executive Assistant.

 

  • Weight the price of optical text recognition software and hardware against the service and maintenance costs. It is false economy to purchase the cheapest solution, but be without the benefit of the equipment due to recurring service calls.

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