Table of Contents
Comparison Cloud OCR SDK vs. FineReader Engine SDK
The following tables list the major differences between ABBYY's Cloud OCR Service with API and a “traditional” ABBYY OCR SDK. This comparison is rather technical and compares the “service” with the “deep integration approach”.
Usage
| Cloud OCR SDK | FineReader Engine | |
|---|---|---|
| Target Audience | Developers with need for OCR as a service; ISVs developing in the Cloud, Companies, Libraries | Developers, ISVs, Integrators, Scan Service Providers |
| Integration | “High level” integration via web service; REST web-service calls | “Low level” integration via (COM) API |
| File Management | Upload document images to the “cloud” | local processing custom made application or service |
| Processing | “Asynchronous” out of the system upload, process, receive the results, re-ocr if needed | “Synchronous” in the system open image, processing, “on the fly” result check, re-process right away, export |
| Scalability | Cloud based, ABBYY's responsibility | Own IT infrastructure, Custom upscale implementation |
| Hardware | Microsoft data centers in Europe | Own hardware or data center |
| Security | HTTPs, Azure infrastructure, Azure security | Custom implementation, own hardware |
| Maintenance | none, just use the service | custom set-up and administration |
Features
| Cloud OCR SDK | FineReader Engine | |
|---|---|---|
| OCR | yes | yes |
| Barcode Recognition (OMR) | yes | yes |
| ICR | yes | yes |
| Zonal/Field Level OCR | yes | yes |
| OCR Languages | all available recognition languages without additional costs | all standard languages + language add-ons (Arabic, CJK, Hebrew, Thai…) |
| Historic Font OCR (Fraktur/Gothic) | yes | yes, when licensed for the project |
| Forms Matching | no | yes, with FlexiCapture Engine |
| Document Separation | no | yes, own code or with FlexiCapture Engine Fix-Form Templates or FlexiLayouts |
| GUI Elements | none, processing only | yes, available as Visual Components |
| Export | TXT, XML, ALTO Office Formats PDF, PDF/A | TXT, XML, ALTO Office Formats PDF, PDF/A Internal Engine Format some formats offer granular export settings |
| Core Technology | Version 11 | Windows, Linux, OS X: Version 12 |
Development
| Cloud OCR SDK | FineReader Engine | |
|---|---|---|
| Trial | simple online subscription not yet available in the closed beta | TSLA to be signed |
| Development Tools | all development tools that can interact with a web-service | native OS tools that can integrate programming libraries |
| API | compact API, suited for web-service implementation | rich (COM) API with many objects, API gives low level access to a lot of objects settings and parameters Object Diagram of FineReader Engine 11 |
Operation
| Cloud OCR SDK | FineReader Engine | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | none, ready to integrate | custom application roll out |
| Maintenance | provided by ABBYY | own Admin / IT staff |
| Hardware | Microsoft Azure Data Centers in Europe | own hardware |
| Scalability | built in, controlled by ABBYY | custom code |
Business Models
| Cloud OCR SDK | FineReader Engine | |
|---|---|---|
| Payments | as you go subscription | Developer & Runtime Licensing |
| Maintenance | not needed | yes |
| Project Licensing | low volume pricing available online Contact ABBYY for high volume production licenses or subscriptions Cloud OCR Business & Pricing | yes, on request |