A CamScanner alternative without the watermark, with signing built in

What CamScanner keeps behind Premium

CamScanner says scanning is free on mobile and the web, and that some features need Premium. Its FAQ is specific about which:

• The watermark. The FAQ answers "How do I remove the Created by CamScanner QR code/watermark from a PDF?" with: upgrade to Premium.
• Text recognition. Basic accounts can run image-to-text recognition up to 10 times; Premium gets 1,000 recognitions a month and 20 Word conversions a month.
• ID cards and signatures. The ID card layout, the Signature tool and PDF page numbers are listed as Premium features.
• The price. CamScanner's pages don't list one. On the US App Store, Premium is $9.99 for a month or $59.99 for a year, with a weekly option too, and subscriptions renew automatically unless you turn renewal off at least 24 hours before the period ends.

The privacy questions, with sources

CamScanner is made by INTSIG Information Co., Ltd. Its privacy policy, last updated July 20, 2026, says data for US users is stored in the United States and data for users in the European Economic Area in Ireland, and that CamScanner shares limited personal data with advertising partners, without names or direct identifiers. On its App Store listing, the data used to track you is identifiers and usage data. Its security page lists ISO/IEC 27001, 27701 and 20000 certifications.

Two older events still come up in searches. In August 2019, Kaspersky reported that an advertising library in the Android app on Google Play contained a malicious dropper, and Google promptly removed the app. On June 29, 2020, India's Ministry of Electronics and IT blocked 59 apps, CamScanner among them, under section 69A of the Information Technology Act. Judge them for yourself; the sources are linked below.

SignMaster and CamScanner side by side

CamScanner figures come from its home page, FAQ, security page and privacy policy, and from its US App Store listing, read on November 9, 2026. App Store prices can differ by country.

Where CamScanner is the better choice

• You need Word, Excel or PowerPoint files. CamScanner converts scans to Office formats. SignMaster exports PDF, JPG pages or plain text.
• You work in many languages. CamScanner says it extracts text in 41 languages. SignMaster's text recognition is set up for English and Spanish.
• You're on Android, Windows or a Mac. CamScanner has apps for all of them. SignMaster's app is iPhone and iPad only; Android phones scan through the browser, without searchable text.
• You scan whiteboards, slides or test papers. CamScanner has modes for each.
• You want your scan library on every device. SignMaster's scan library, with its folders and text search, lives in the app, not on the web.

What SignMaster's scanner does

The SignMaster app scans with Apple's document camera, which finds the page and captures it on its own. Pick a mode first: ID card puts the front and back on one page at the card's real size, Receipt keeps a long receipt's shape in grayscale, Book splits an open spread into two pages, and Business card reads the card into your SignMaster contacts. Text is read on the phone and stored invisibly in the PDF, so you can copy it and find the scan later by a word inside it. No scan gets a watermark, and SignMaster doesn't count scans on any plan.

Then it keeps going where a scanner stops. Sign the scan yourself, or send it for signature: signers get an email link and sign on any phone or computer without an account, and everyone gets the signed PDF with a certificate of completion. Need to hide an account number first? Redact it in the editor; the page is rebuilt so nothing under the box survives.

Moving from CamScanner

1. 1

   Keep your old scans as PDFs

   Export the CamScanner documents you want to keep as PDFs and save them to Files. Do it before a Premium subscription lapses if you rely on Premium exports.

2. 2

   Sign up and open the app

   Create a free SignMaster account. New workspaces get 14 days of Crew free, and you don't add a card until you choose a plan.

3. 3

   Bring in what you need

   In the Scan tab, tap Files to import a PDF into your Documents. Imported PDFs are kept as they are, so a CamScanner PDF without a text layer stays unsearchable; import its page images instead, or rescan the paper, to have the text read.

4. 4

   Scan new paper in SignMaster

   Pick the mode, scan, name it and choose a job or customer folder. From there, sign it, send it or share it.