PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing.

The Best Portable Document Scanners

 & Tony Hoffman Senior Writer, Hardware

Our team tests, rates, and reviews more than 1,500 products each year to help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.

Our Expert
LOOK INSIDE PC LABS HOW WE TEST
65 EXPERTS
43 YEARS
41,500+ REVIEWS

You Can Trust Our Reviews

Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. Read our editorial mission & see how we test.

Buying Guide: The Best Portable Document Scanners

Canon imageFormula P-150 Scan-tini

With the aid of a portable scanner, business travelers can easily manage receipts, business cards, and any other documents or scraps of paper they need to digitize. Many of today's mobile scanners include advanced features traditionally found on desktop document scanners, such as duplexing and/or an automatic document feeder (ADF).

We've seen a lot of devices with docks, but the Visioneer Strobe 500 is the first scanner we've reviewed that comes with one. Primarily a desktop document scanner, it can be removed from its dock to function as a portable scanner as well.

The Canon imageFormula P-150 Scan-tini isn't as teeny as its name implies, but it makes up for its relative bulkiness (for a portable scanner, at least) with high speed and features such as duplexing and an automatic document feeder (ADF). The Fujitsu ScanSnap S300 also duplexes and has an ADF, but software issues make it a less appealing choice.

Connected Traveler Although NeatReceipts can scan business cards and other documents, its forte of course is scanning receipts and managing them using the included NeatWorks 4.0 software, which lets you export the data to various financial management programs.

The PlanOn DocuPen Xtreme X05 is the most portable scanner featured here. It's larger than a true pen scanner, but it's easier to use, letting you sweep vertically down a page rather than highlighter-style.

Today's portable scanners provide enough features and functionality so that many businesspeople are adopting on them as their sole scanner in lieu of traditional desktop scanners.


FEATURED IN THIS ROUNDUP

Canon imageFormula P-150 Scan-tini

Price: $295 direct
The Canon imageFormula P-150 Scan-tini more than justifies its large size with fast speed, an automatic document feeder, and the ability to scan both sides of a page. Read the full review ››



Fujitsu ScanSnap S300

Price: $295 direct
The Fujitsu ScanSnap S300 scanner brings the convenience of duplexing and an automatic document feeder to scanning on the go. Read the full review ››



NeatReceipts

Price: $195 direct
NeatReceipts combines a portable scanner with software designed to scan and manage receipts, business cards, and documents. Read the full review ››



PlanOn DocuPen Xtreme X05

Price: $369.99 direct
The DocuPen Xtreme X05 is easier to use than a true pen scanner, but it stubs its toe on an unusually large number of minor flaws. Read the full review ››



Visioneer Strobe 500

Price: $399.99 direct
The Visioneer Strobe 500 is a personal desktop document scanner complete with an automatic document feeder, but it's also portable if you need it to be. Read the full review ››


About Our Expert

Tony Hoffman

Tony Hoffman

Senior Writer, Hardware

Since 2004, I have worked on PCMag’s hardware team, covering at various times printers, scanners, projectors, storage, and monitors. I currently focus my efforts on 3D printers, pro and productivity displays, and drives and SSDs of all sorts.

Over the years, I have reviewed smart telescopes, iPad and iPhone science apps, plus the occasional camera, laptop, keyboard, and mouse. I've also written a host of articles about astronomy, space science, travel photography, and astrophotography for PCMag and its past and present sibling publications (among them, Mashable and ExtremeTech), as well as for the former PCMag Digital Edition.

The Technology I Use

I have a Lenovo ThinkPad T14 laptop that's my work daily driver, an HP Pavilion Aero 13 as my primary personal laptop, and an Asus ProArt P16 for detailed photo work. (I also have an older Dell XPS 13, which now stays at home full-time.) For storage testing, I rely on our three custom-built Windows testbeds in PC Labs, as well as a 2024 MacBook Pro.

My primary home monitor is a BenQ EX2780Q, a gaming monitor with a great sound system and excellent image quality. I use that panel for writing, watching videos, and working with photos. I also have an HP 27 Curved Display—one of the first general-purpose curved monitors—which I have paired with an Acer Aspire desktop computer. My multifunction printer is an Epson Expression Premium XP-7100 Small-in-One. I also own an Epson Perfection V39 flatbed scanner, which I use for photos and short documents, and a Canon Selphy CP1300 small-format photo printer for turning out snapshots.

My first cell phone, in 2006, was a Motorola Razr; since then, it’s been all iPhones—I currently have an iPhone 15 Pro. I use my iPhone a lot for casual photography, though I also use a Sony DSC-RX100 VII and a Canon G5 X Mark II for everyday shooting. For much of my travel photography and astrophotography, I use either a Sony A7r II or A7 III, paired with a variety of lenses ranging from a Sony 14mm f/1.8 prime to a Sony FE 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G OSS zoom lens. I also pair the A7r with a RedCat 51 for deep-sky star shooting. For astrophotography, I also use the Seestar S30 and S50 and the Unistellar Odyssey smart telescopes, which are essentially astronomical cameras controlled through one’s mobile device.

Read full bio