Comparison

Best Copyfish Alternative

Updated 23 October 20263 min read

On this page · 6 sections

The short answer

Copyfish alternative that reads text on your device: Copyfish is free and open source, but it reads text through OCR.space's online OCR service; its local option needs a separate desktop helper. PickText OCR, our free Chrome extension, reads text from images and screenshots inside the extension with Tesseract, in 16 languages. English works offline; other languages download once. Copyfish also runs in Firefox and Edge.

Copyfish, from a9t9 software (about 600,000 Chrome users), lets you mark text in an image, video or PDF on screen and copy it, and can translate it. It sends the image to OCR.space's online service to read it, unless you install its desktop helper for local OCR. PickText OCR does the reading inside the extension instead.

PickText OCR vs Copyfish at a glance

Copyfish facts are taken from Copyfish’s own pages, checked in October 2026 (sources at the end of this page). Prices and limits change; check theirs before you decide.

PickText OCR vs Copyfish at a glance
FeatureCopyfishPickText OCR
Where the text is readOCR.space online service (local with a desktop helper)Inside the extension, on your device
PriceFree, open source (GPL)Free
BrowsersChrome, Edge, FirefoxChrome
LanguagesOver 25, across two engines16
Works offlineWith the local OCR helperEnglish; others after first download
Translate the textYesNo
Table detection + CSVNot listedYes

When to pick Copyfish instead

Pick Copyfish if…

  • You use Firefox or Edge: Copyfish runs in Chrome, Edge and Firefox; PickText is Chrome only.
  • You want the text translated, or to read text from your whole desktop (Copyfish's helper adds desktop capture).
  • You want open-source code you can inspect: Copyfish is GPL-licensed.

Why pick PickText OCR

  • Text is read inside the extension (Tesseract, WebAssembly): the image isn't sent anywhere.
  • 16 languages; English is built in and works offline, others download once from jsDelivr (a public CDN) and are kept for next time.
  • Table detection with CSV export, and low-confidence words highlighted so you can check them.
  • Right-click an image, take a screenshot, select a region, or upload a picture.
  • Free, no account.

Why people look for a Copyfish alternative

  • OCR runs on OCR.space's online service; the developer says images are deleted after processing.
  • Local OCR needs the separate UI.Vision XModule app (Windows and Mac).

Copyfish is a well-liked, open-source OCR extension, and its developer says uploaded images are deleted straight after processing. Still, the image you capture — maybe a screenshot of an email, a contract or a bank page — goes to an online OCR service unless you install the separate desktop helper.

PickText OCR keeps that step on your device: the Tesseract engine runs inside the extension, so the image isn't sent anywhere. English is built in and works offline; the other 15 languages download once from jsDelivr (a public CDN) and are kept for next time. It also finds tables (export as CSV) and highlights words it isn't sure of.

For whole scanned PDFs rather than images, OneClickPDF's OCR tool does the same in the browser and can make a searchable PDF.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a Copyfish alternative that works offline?
Yes. PickText OCR reads text inside the Chrome extension, so English works with no connection; the other 15 languages need one download each, then work offline too.
Does Copyfish send my images to a server?
Copyfish uses OCR.space's online OCR service, so the captured image is sent there to be read; the developer says uploads are deleted after processing. A local OCR option needs the free UI.Vision XModule desktop app (Windows or Mac).
Is Copyfish free?
Yes. Copyfish is free and open source (GPL) for Chrome, Edge and Firefox. PickText OCR is free too, with no account.
Can PickText OCR read tables?
Yes. It detects tables in an image and lets you export them as CSV for a spreadsheet.
How do I get text from a scanned PDF instead of an image?
Use OneClickPDF's OCR tool: it reads scanned PDFs in your browser in 16 languages and can save a searchable PDF, a text-only PDF or a .txt file.

Where these facts come from · checked October 2026

Other comparisons

See PickText OCR