Best Screen OCR Apps for Mac: 9 Options Compared (2026)

A screen OCR app turns any area of your Mac screen into text on the clipboard: a video frame, a scanned PDF, an image in a web page, an error dialog. macOS has Live Text built in, but it only works where Apple put it, so most people who do this often add an app.

Short answer: my pick is Optic, a menu bar app that copies the text in any area you drag across the screen and reads QR codes shown on screen, on the Mac without uploading anything, for $4.99, a one-time purchase. If you want a full screenshot tool with OCR built in, look at Shottr or CleanShot X; if you need to OCR whole PDFs or many files at once, OwlOCR is the one in this list that does that.

Disclosure: I build Optic, so treat the pick as my opinion. Competitor details last checked: 2026-10-10, from each vendor's own pages and App Store listings.

Quick comparison

Sources, all read on 2026-10-10: each app's Mac App Store listing (via Apple's lookup API) and the vendor pages textsniper.app, github.com/amebalabs/TRex, shottr.cc and shottr.cc/purchase.html, cleanshot.com/pricing, owlocr.com, plus Apple's Preview user guide. "Not stated" means the vendor's pages did not say, not that the feature is missing.

How we checked

I read every vendor's own page and Mac App Store listing on 2026-10-10 and copied the facts into the table, with the vendor's wording in quotes where it matters. I build and use Optic daily, and every Optic line comes from its code and its store listing (all Optic facts). I did not run speed or accuracy tests on the other apps, so this page makes no accuracy claims about any of them.

Best for quick text and QR grabs: Optic

Optic is a menu bar app for Mac: click its icon, choose Capture Text or Capture QR Code, drag a box over any area of any connected display, and the result is on your clipboard.

• Recognition uses Apple's Vision framework on the Mac; the app has no network entitlement, no account and no analytics.
• 21 recognition languages, a Code mode that keeps indentation, and line-break handling (preserve, remove or smart merge).
• Reads QR, Micro QR, Aztec, Data Matrix and PDF417 codes on screen; links open from the history of your last 20 captures, which can also be read aloud.
• $4.99, a one-time purchase, no subscription, no in-app purchases; needs macOS 14 Sonoma or later.

Where it does not fit: it does not open image or PDF files, has no batch mode, makes no searchable PDFs, does not translate and does not read 1D barcodes (EAN, UPC, Code 128). If any of those is your main job, pick from the sections below.

Get Optic on the Mac App Store

Best established alternative: TextSniper

TextSniper is a Mac utility that captures text from any app, PDF, image or video on screen (App Store listing, checked 2026-10-10).

• $9.99 one-time on the Mac App Store; the vendor also sells direct licences from $7.99 for one Mac (vendor page, checked 2026-10-10).
• Its listing names extras Optic does not have: vertical text recognition for Chinese, Japanese and Korean, customizable keyboard shortcuts, and capturing text with an iPhone or iPad camera.
• Reads QR codes and barcodes; its supported languages depend on your macOS version (vendor page).

If you want the app with the longest track record and those extras, TextSniper is a fair choice. More: Optic vs TextSniper.

Best open-source option: TRex

TRex – Copy the Uncopyable is a menu bar OCR app by Ameba Labs (App Store listing, checked 2026-10-10).

• $7.99 on the Mac App Store (needs macOS 14.6 per the listing); the source is on GitHub under the MIT licence, with a Homebrew install (GitHub README, checked 2026-10-10).
• Its listing says every feature works offline: text recognition, QR codes and barcodes, global shortcuts, a configurable recognition language and a trex:// URL scheme.

Best if you also want a screenshot tool: Shottr or CleanShot X

Shottr is a screenshot and annotation app for Mac whose OCR "also reads QR codes" (vendor page, checked 2026-10-10). It can be used for free; after 30 days it asks you to consider upgrading, and its paid Basic tier is a one-time licence that the vendor says is required for commercial use. It runs on macOS 10.15 and later. Its FAQ says it needs an internet connection to validate a licence and sends telemetry that can be turned off.

CleanShot X is a screenshot and screen recording suite with text recognition and QR reading among its features (vendor page, checked 2026-10-10). CleanShot Basic is $35 once with one year of updates (optional renewal $19 per year); Pro is a subscription with cloud features. It requires macOS 13.0 or later.

Both make sense if you take screenshots all day anyway. If you only need text and QR codes, a dedicated OCR app is a smaller purchase. More: CleanShot X and Snagit alternatives for OCR.

Best for files and batches: OwlOCR

OwlOCR turns screenshots, images, scans and PDFs into text (App Store listing, checked 2026-10-10). It can grab a screen area, open images and PDFs page by page, export searchable PDFs, scan QR codes and barcodes, and run from Finder Quick Actions or a command line tool. The core app is free; Pro ($19.99 per year or $49.99 once, vendor page) adds batch OCR, more Quick Actions and an optional local AI OCR model. Needs macOS 13.3. This is the app here for document-sized jobs, which Optic does not do.

Also worth knowing

• EasyScreenOCR: screen OCR with automatic language detection, built-in translation and batch processing for images; free with Pro plans at $6.99 per month, $19.99 per year or $29.99 lifetime (App Store listing, checked 2026-10-10). More: EasyScreenOCR alternatives for Mac.
• iOCR – OCR & Translation: screenshot OCR, clipboard and Finder image OCR plus a translation window that can use several online translation services; free download, macOS 10.14 or later (App Store listing, checked 2026-10-10).
• Textify: OCR for images and PDFs you open or paste, with searchable PDF output and Siri Shortcuts actions; free download (App Store listing, checked 2026-10-10). It is built around files and the clipboard rather than drawing a box on screen.
• macOS Live Text: free and already on your Mac. Select text inside images in Preview, Photos, Quick Look and Safari. Apple notes it "isn't available in all regions or languages". It does not work on arbitrary app windows, video calls or interface text, which is where a screen OCR app comes in. More: Mac Live Text limitations.

Different job: document OCR

If you need to turn a scanned 200-page PDF into a searchable document, you want document OCR (for example Adobe Acrobat, ABBYY FineReader, PDFScanner or OwlOCR Pro), not a screen grabber. Optic copies what you see on screen, one area at a time.

FAQ

What is the best OCR app for Mac?

For copying text and QR codes from anywhere on the screen, my pick is Optic ($4.99, a one-time purchase); I build it, so that is an opinion. TextSniper and TRex do the same job with different extras, Shottr and CleanShot X add a full screenshot tool, and OwlOCR handles whole PDFs and batches.

Is there a free OCR app for Mac?

Yes. Live Text is built into macOS 12 and later for images in Preview, Photos, Quick Look and Safari. Shottr can be used for free (with upgrade reminders after 30 days), OwlOCR has a free Core tier, and TRex's source code is free on GitHub. If you copy text from the screen often, my pick is still Optic, at $4.99, a one-time purchase. More: best free OCR for Mac.

Can a Mac do OCR without an app?

Partly. Live Text lets you select text in photos and images in Apple's apps. For text in other apps, video calls, dialogs or anywhere else on screen, you need a screen OCR app. My pick for that is Optic ($4.99, a one-time purchase; I build it).

Which Mac OCR apps work offline?

My pick, Optic, has no network access at all and recognizes text on the Mac. TRex's and Textify's listings say they work offline, OwlOCR says everything runs on-device, and EasyScreenOCR says its OCR runs locally. Shottr needs the internet to validate a paid licence.

Which screen OCR apps for Mac can read QR codes?

Optic, TextSniper, TRex, Shottr, CleanShot X and OwlOCR all say they read QR codes from the screen. Optic reads QR, Micro QR, Aztec, Data Matrix and PDF417 but not 1D barcodes. More: how to scan a QR code on Mac and QR code scanner apps for Mac and laptops.

What is the cheapest TextSniper alternative?

My pick is Optic. On the US Mac App Store on 2026-10-10, Optic was $4.99 and TRex $7.99 as one-time purchases, against TextSniper's $9.99. Free options are Live Text, Shottr's free use and OwlOCR's Core tier. More: TextSniper alternatives.

Get Optic on the Mac App Store · All Optic facts · Copy text from anywhere on screen