Free image to text that compares, not just converts
Most free image to text tools run your image through one engine and hand back a result with no way to judge whether it was right. ExactRead's free image to text does more: sign in to claim 100 free OCR credits every month, then use them to run the same image through multiple AI models at once. Seeing two or three outputs side by side — with confidence and warnings on each — is the fastest way to catch a free image to text extraction error before it reaches your workflow.
What the free plan includes
Every ExactRead account receives 100 free OCR credits on sign-in, refreshed every month. Each model run on an image costs that model's per-document credit amount — lightweight native engines like PaddleOCR cost fewer credits, while frontier vision models like GPT-5.4 cost more. On the free plan, a single-model run stretches those 100 credits further, while compare mode — running two or three models at once — spends them faster but yields richer results for free image to text evaluation. Free credits never require a payment card.
Spend free credits where they count
Free image to text credits go further when you start with a single model on routine images and switch to compare mode only for hard cases — dense tables, mixed scripts, handwritten annotations, or small text. Run one inexpensive model first, review the output, and only add a second model if the first result is ambiguous. That workflow lets 100 monthly credits cover a useful amount of free image to text work, not just a handful of tests.
Free image to text on any supported format
The free image to text workbench accepts PNG, JPEG, and WebP images. After upload, the model list is filtered to the engines that actually support your file, so every listed option can run without wasting a free credit on an incompatible route. You can set a language hint (auto, en, zh, ja, and more) before running, which helps on images with non-Latin scripts, bilingual labels, or small printed text. Format does not affect the credit cost — PNG, JPEG, and WebP all draw from the same free 100 monthly credits.
Export free image to text output as TXT or JSON
Once you review and accept an output from the free image to text workbench, export it as plain TXT for quick reuse or as structured JSON that keeps the full text, confidence, warnings, and any detected tables. Free plan results export identically to paid plan results — no watermark or truncation. Because the review step happens before export, you decide what leaves the tool; free image to text OCR assists the check, it does not auto-publish anything.