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 ABBYY FineReader Engine.

This comparison is rather technical and compares the “service approach” with the “deep integration approach”.

Usage

	Cloud OCR SDK	FineReader Engine
Target Audience	Developers who need to add an OCR service to their applications; ISVs developing in the Cloud, Enterprise 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	Uploading document images into the “cloud”	Local processing of files by the 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 within the European Union and the United States of America	Own hardware or data center
Security	HTTPs, Azure infrastructure, Azure security	Custom implementation, own hardware
Maintenance	No own maintenance by the developer. Regular updates conducted by ABBYY after pre-announcement	Regular updates and maintenance releases by the developer, custom set-up and administration

	Cloud OCR SDK	FineReader Engine
Image & PDF import	yes	yes
Office formats import	no	yes
OCR	yes	yes
OBR (Barcode recognition)	yes	yes
ICR	yes	yes (Windows & Linux platforms)
Zonal/Field Level Recognition	yes	yes
Business Card Recognition	yes	yes
MRZ Recognition	yes	yes
Receipt Recognition	yes	no
AI-based Document Classification	no	yes
OCR Languages	all available recognition languages without additional costs	all standard languages + several 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 12	Windows, Linux, OS X: Version 12

	Cloud OCR SDK	FineReader Engine
Trial	No trial needed - Online subscription to the OCR service for free	Trial Software License Agreement can be signed online
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

	Cloud OCR SDK	FineReader Engine
Setup	No own setup necessary, ready to integrate	Own application rollout
Maintenance	Regular updates provided by ABBYY - customer informed	Regular implementation of new releases by own Admin / IT staff
Hardware	Microsoft Azure Data Processing Centers in the European Union and the USA	own hardware
Scalability	Built-in scalability, controlled & maintained by ABBYY	Custom code - provided by the developer

	Cloud OCR SDK	FineReader Engine
Payments	Payments for the OCR Service are based on number of processed pages	Developer & Runtime Licensing
Payment for Software Maintenance	No extra payment - the OCR service is maintained by ABBYY on regular base	Extra charge for Software Maintenance allows access to the latest software version and technical support.
Project Licensing	Low to mid-size page volumes can be purchased online. Contact ABBYY directly for high volume pages Cloud OCR Business & Pricing	Contact ABBYY to receive a pricing proposal

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