10 Best Image to PDF Converters for Creating Searchable Documents in 2025
Want to turn pictures into searchable documents?
The problem with some office document scanners is that they create image-based files.
Since these images don’t actually contain any text, scanned documents can become invisible to your small business, making information harder to find.
A survey by Gartner revealed 47% of employees struggle to find information they need for work. Many of them make poorly-informed decisions because of it.
However, you can easily get around this issue with the help of the best PDF converters. Some of these tools come with advanced optical character recognition (OCR) technology, which extracts textual data within scanned images.
It’s a feature that’s particularly useful when you want to efficiently search and retrieve specific information in text-heavy documents such as invoices and legal contracts.
If you’d also like to improve your bookkeeping processes, check out this article I wrote about the best invoice scanning software for improving cash flow.
In this article, we’ll discuss the best image to PDF converters for creating searchable documents in 2025 and improving your small business’s productivity and efficiency.
Quick summary:
1. FileCenter – Best for bulk image to PDF conversion tasks.
2. NetDocuments – Best for automating image conversions.
3. DocuPhase – Best for multi-language OCR support.
4. UPDF – Best for fast and efficient PDF file conversions.
5. M-files – Best for its image enhancement capabilities.
Let’s get started.
1. FileCenter
Need to convert several files into PDF documents?
FileCenter offers a robust batch document scanning software, which lets you automate the bulk scanning and conversion of images to PDF documents. It automatically scans your system to detect new image-based documents for conversion.
With our software, you get excellent file optimization features, which ensures great image quality retention, giving you high-resolution PDFs after conversion.
FileCenter is also a cloud-based document management software, and offers integrations with cloud services like Dropbox & Google. This allows you to save the final PDF to the cloud to share easily with colleagues.
Best features:
- FileCenter integrates with a variety of network document scanners, automatically monitoring them for new additions to convert to PDF documents. This frees up your time from repetitive scanning tasks so you can focus on your business.
- It comes with powerful OCR-driven conversion features, enabling you to edit text in pictures and create searchable PDFs from scanned images. As a result, it greatly improves document accessibility and usability for your small business.
- FileCenter supports PDF encryption and password protection, enabling you to add an extra layer of security to generated documents. It’s a feature that’s useful when you’re converting files containing sensitive information like personal data.
Pricing:
- 15-day free trial.
- Starting plan: $97/user per year.
Verdict
FileCenter offers powerful batch PDF conversion controls, which massively boost efficiency and productivity for your business. In addition, you get PDF OCR features that enable you to create searchable files from scanned images to prevent information silos.
2. NetDocuments
NetDocuments streamlines both conversion & collaboration.
This is due to important document management features that it comes with right out of the box, such as the ability to add links, comments and suggested edits to content. Therefore, it improves teamwork during PDF conversion and document work in general.
Thanks to a dedicated native mobile application, NetDocuments also enables you to view, share, edit and even convert PDF files on the go more efficiently.
Tired of constantly converting files manually?
NetDocuments offers an AI-driven patternbuilder, which allows to create a workflow for automating vital legal documents management tasks. So it’s one of the best image to PDF converters, particularly for automating naming & conversion to boost efficiency.
Best features:
- Its optical character recognition technology can digitize and index documents during conversion, making them much easier to sort, organize and retrieve.
- NetDocuments automatically searches your systems to spot non-searchable images and documents so you can convert them into searchable files.
- It offers automated PDF version control, allowing you to track conversion histories and revert back to a previous iteration in case of unwanted changes.
Pricing:
- No free trial.
- Contact NetDocuments for pricing.
Verdict
NetDocument’s patternbuilder can help you automate PDF conversion and other document work to increase your productivity. However, it offers very basic PDF customization options so you may need to use third-party tools for advanced editing.
3. DocuPhase
Need mutil-language support for image to PDF conversions?
DocuPhase’s OCR functionality offers support for languages like Arabic, making it one of the best document management software for the UAE, especially when your small business wants to convert multil-language scanned images into searchable PDFs.
Furthermore, it has automated document routing and classification, ensuring that images are organized and filed in the right locations for further processing.
DocuPhase also offers customizable output settings for adjusting quality, orientation and page sizes. This helps improve regulatory compliance with both your organization’s and your industry’s specific requirements as well.
Best features:
- DocuPhase lets you add page numbering to converted PDFs, thereby offering a standardized system that makes it easy to reference and locate information.
- It offers a very easy to use interface that lets you convert images to PDFs by simply dragging and dropping the files into the system for quick conversion.
- DocuPhase integrates with popular ERPs and CRMs, enabling you to sync information and centralize all your PDF conversion needs in one place.
Pricing:
- No free trial.
- Contact DocuPhase for pricing.
Verdict
If you handle files in different languages, DocuPhase’s multilingual OCR feature makes it great for converting these documents. Nevertheless, I’ve noticed its OCR functionality produces inconsistent results, sometimes leading to omissions in the converted text.
4. UPDF
UPDF is a very lightweight PDF conversion tool.
So if you’re looking for a small business document management software that can convert JPG to PDF very quickly, this is one of the best image to PDF converters to use.
Moreover, you can perform several conversion tasks at the same time, greatly improving productivity if you run a high-volume document workflow.
Just like FileCenter, it has powerful OCR scanning technology, which enables it to recognize text within scanned images. This means that you can convert these types into fully searchable documents to break down data silos.
Best features:
- UPDF links with various email management platforms to let you upload and share converted documents directly from its interface to boost your efficiency.
- You also get a compare PDF feature that enables the side-by-side comparison of converted documents so you can double check to ensure output accuracy.
- UPDF enables you to export files to a total of 14 formats, enabling conversions of HTML, JPEG, PNG, PPT, and Excel into PDFs that are easier to work with.
Pricing:
- 7-day free trial.
- Starting plan: $39.99/user per year.
Verdict
If you need a lightweight tool for fast PDF conversion, I recommend UPDF which is a conversion powerhouse that increases productivity. However, it has limited cloud integration, which is a deal breaker if the cloud is a key part of your document workflow.
5. M-files
Need to first merge several images before conversion?
Well, M-Files is also a great PDF merging software that lets you combine several different scanned images, and then export them to a single document to make related information available in one place.
You also get robust page order control, allowing you to determine the sequence in which images appear in the final PDF document to ensure logical organization.
M-Files also comes with image enhancement tools.
For instance, you get pre-conversion image editing like contrast, cropping and rotation adjustments. This makes it one of the best PDF to OCR conversion software, since it massively enhances the overall quality of the converted document.
Best features:
- M-File’s powerful noise reduction features help to reduce blurring and other issues in scanned images to improve the quality of PDF document conversions.
- It allows you to convert and compress PDF documents, making it one of the best image to PDF converters for making files smaller and easier to store and share.
- M-Files offers your small business vital workflow automation features that ensure documents are structured and organized intuitively & efficiently after conversion.
Pricing:
- 30-day free trial.
- Contact M-Files for pricing.
Verdict
M-Files’ image enhancement features enable you to rectify noise and other issues in images to export high-quality PDF documents. However, I’ve realized that it struggles to accurately convert images with complex layouts like tables & heavy graphical elements.
6. PDF Expert
PDF Expert is a mobile-friendly conversion tool.
It lets you scan documents on your iPhone and convert them into PDF documents. Consequently, it ranks among the best image to PDF converters to help perform on-the-go document conversions on your iPad or iPhone.
Additionally, PDF Expert offers multi-image import support, allowing you to import & merge several images concurrently into a PDF for maximum efficiency.
Need to share converted files via email?
It also offers several export options, including the ability to export to email or cloud storage, helping you improve email document management and file sharing.
Best features:
- PDF Expert has image scaling and resizing features, enabling you to ensure images conform to a desired PDF page size for easy printing or sharing.
- It offers image-based OCR text recognition with multi-language support, allowing you to perform versatile conversion when working with international documents.
- You can choose to sync converted PDFs to the cloud, enabling your small business to edit and work on these documents on multiple devices seamlessly.
Pricing:
- 7-day free trial.
- Starting plan: $6.67/user per month.
Verdict
If you need to scan PDF files on the go on your iPhone or iPad, PDF Expert is a great option that can boost your productivity. However, it’s a tool dedicated specifically for Apple users so it’s not the right fit if your document workflow runs on Windows.
7. Tungsten Automation
Ready to make PDF conversion even easier?
Tungsten Automation leverages the power of AI in document management, with its generative AI co-pilots giving you intelligent summaries. This helps you to make informed PDF conversion decisions when working with large documents.
With Tungsten Automations’ image to PDF invoice scanning features, you can reduce manual data entry by automating the extraction of key invoice data.
Just like FileCenter, it offers on-premise and cloud storage options for converted files, making it one of the best M-Files DMS alternatives to get around it being cloud-based. This enables you to store converted files as per your business’s preferences.
Best features:
- Tungsten Automation offers mobile support for both iOS and Android, enabling you to read, sign, markup and convert PDFs across several platforms.
- It offers automatic metadata data extraction and document indexing, which can be used to automatically classify the converted file to make it easier to locate.
- Tungsten Automation offers both on-premise and cloud storage options for converted files, giving you flexibility according to your storage preferences.
Pricing:
- 15-day free trial.
- Starting plan: $129 lifetime fee.
Verdict
If you need to be able to edit and convert PDF documents offline, Tungsten Automation is a great option to consider for your business. However, its pay-once pricing structure requires a huge upfront investment, making it a costly tool if you have a tight budget.
8. Box
Box is a large-scale content management platform.
In addition to being one of the best enterprise document management systems, it’s also a reliable image to PDF converter. Its OCR technology can even identify and extract handwritten text within scanned images.
Box also offers automatic image cropping and edge detection, which takes out unnecessary borders to give your final PDF a cleaner and neater look.
Want to be able to also sort converted documents?
It also has file sorting automation, which enables you to organize images by document type, e.g. invoices or receipts, to improve file management processes for your startup.
Best features:
- Box lets you preview the final PDF before conversion, enabling you to make the necessary adjustments to achieve the desired document layout or output quality.
- It supports multi-format and batch processing, allowing your small business to process several images at the same time for increased speed and efficiency.
- You also get predefined and customizable compression options, allowing you to improve image quality and easily balance document clarity and file size.
Pricing:
- 14-day free trial.
- Starting plan: $17.30/user per month.
Verdict
Box is a top PDF converter, which I recommend if you’re dealing with handwritten text in images since it can extract this data accurately. However, its mobile app lacks basic PDF editing functionalities and can be very slow to use when processing large files.
9. iLovePDF
Want an offline PDF converter for your business?
Just like FileCenter, iLovePDF lets you manage business documents efficiently offline through its desktop or mobile application, which doesn’t require an internet connection.
It also supports image to PDF/A conversions, which is often the standardized and regulatory compliant format for long-term document archival in many industries.
Does your image contain sensitive information?
iLovePDF lets you redact a document or image with its redaction tool, allowing you to block out images and text in these files. With this feature, you can protect sensitive information like intellectual property, trade secrets and personally identifiable data.
Best features:
- It gives you web accessibility so you can convert PDFs online quickly, and also a dedicated desktop app to use when you’re not connected to the internet.
- iLovePDF lets you add customized numbering to PDFs after conversion, which makes your small business documents easier to read, navigate and manage.
- You also get a powerful OCR PDF functionality that lets you convert non-selectable image & PDF documents into selectable & searchable files.
Pricing:
- Unlimited free version.
- Starting plan: $4/user per month.
Verdict
iLovePDF is one of the best image to PDF converters if you’d like to edit and convert PDFs offline more efficiently. That said, I’ve realized you can only convert 80 images per day with its business plan, which is limiting for a high-volume scanning workflow.
10. FileHold
FileHold is a Microsoft Office-friendly PDF converter.
Its document management system integrates well with MS Office and Microsoft teams. This integration enables you to import files directly from Teams, Word and Excel, among other tools, and convert them into PDFs efficiently in one place.
On top of that, it integrates seamlessly with TWAIN-compliant scanners and other capture tools, enabling you to import files directly for efficient conversion.
FileHold also offers document naming automation, like other top image to PDF converters on this list, enabling you to set pre-defined rules for naming, which standardizes your document management workflow to ensure consistency.
Best features:
- FileHold supports efficient batch image to PDF conversions and can even automate repetitive scanning and conversion tasks to boost efficiency.
- You can convert images directly into PDF & PDF/A file formats, which are a common industry standard for compliant long-term storage of information.
- It offers a web-based PDF converter enabling you to convert images to PDFs on web-enabled devices, including your phone, to increase productivity on the go.
Pricing:
- 14-day free trial.
- Contact FileHold for pricing.
Verdict
If you’re looking for a great image to PDF converter for Windows & Microsoft Office, FileHold is a great option to consider. However, I’ve noticed that it experiences huge performance dips, more so when you’re converting large volumes of images to PDFs.
Conclusion
Your business may need to store documents long-term.
This can be as a result of mandatory file retention requirements in your industry.
However, if you store electronic documents as images instead of iso-standardized formats like PDF/A, you run the risk of non-compliance.
A survey by Navex discovered that 63% of businesses experienced compliance issues in 2023. While some of these difficulties arose from poor compliance program maturity, document archiving issues contributed significantly.
If you need to store electronic documents long-term, the best image to PDF converters can help you create compliant-friendly file versions. In particular, you should get FileCenter for bulk and efficient conversions.
So improve ISO-compliance and start your free FileCenter trial to convert images into suitable formats for efficient archiving for your small business.
With our software, you can also merge images into PDF documents to create beautiful business presentations that help you win over investors and customers alike.
