Our 3 favourite Portable Scanners under 100$ to buy in 2020

After taking on the challenge to find the best document scanner under 50$, the challenge to find the best document scanner under 100$ feels like a breeze. 100 is not much but it will certainly get you a decent and cheap portable scanner

At this price point, you can afford some pretty decent models from Brother and Epson with good connectivity, portability and decent speed

We present to you below, our list of the Best Portable Scanners under 100$.
Our 3 favourite Portable Scanners under 100$ to buy in 2020
ProductImages / MinuteFormatConnectivityMax. document sizeADF TrayWeightPrice
Our choice

Brother DS-620

Brother DS-620
16 IPMA4Hi-Speed USB 2.08.5 in. x 32 in. (215 x 812 mm)No0.88 lb. (0.39 kg)Click for more info

Epson ES-50

Epson ES-50
22 IPMA4USB 2.08.5 in. x 72 in. (215 x 1828 mm)No0.59 lb. (0.26 kg)Click for more info

Canon imageFORMULA P-215

Canon imageFORMULA P-215
30 IPMA4Hi-Speed USB 2.0, USB 3.08.5 in. x 39.4 in. (215 x 1000 mm)Yes2.2 lb. (0.99 kg)Click for more info


Let’s have a look at each product in particular.

Brother DS-620

ProductImages / MinuteFormatConnectivityMax. document sizeADF TrayWeightPrice

Brother DS-620

Brother DS-620
16 IPMA4Hi-Speed USB 2.08.5 in. x 32 in. (215 x 812 mm)No0.88 lb. (0.39 kg)Click for more info
The Brother DS-620 is our first cheap portable document scanner under 100$. It can scan 16 images per minute. This may not be very fast but considering its size, it is a pretty decent speed. It comes with a CIS (Contact Image Sensor) that can provide an optical resolution of 600dpi. This image resolution makes this a decent photo scanner as well. The scanner supports Hi-Speed USB 2.0 connectivity. The scanner is also powered by USB.

The Brother DS mobile scanner has a maximum document size of 8.5 in. x 32 in. (215 x 812 mm). This means that it can scan documents that are up to 32 inches long. In terms of size, the scanner’s dimensions are 11.4 in. x 1.4 in. x 2.1 in. (28.9 x 3.5 x 5.3 cm) and it weighs 0.88 lb. (0.39 kg). This is a very compact and lightweight design for such a scanner. It’s going to be easy to carry on-the-go, it will even fit in a jacket pockect and certainly in your backpack and briefcase.

The Brother DS-620 offers optical character recognition (OCR) which enables it to create searchable PDFs. It, however, does not come with a lot of image-enhancing features such as automatic color photo detection meaning the scanner will switch between black & white and color seamlessly, background removal and automatic deskew. This may compromise the quality of the scans and you might find yourself spending more time editing in Adobe Photoshop more than you wanted to.

The Brother DS-620 scanner may not be efficient for heavy-duty scanning since it does not offer duplex scanning and it does not come with an automatic document feeder (ADF) tray. This may make the scanning process time-consuming when scanning double-sided documents or a lot of documents. You integrate this portable color document scanner with Google Drive, DropBox, OneDrive and other cloud storage platforms using the Brother WebConnect app.

Nevertheless, the Brother DS-620 document scanner is a great portable scanner. It gives great value for money, it is affordable, lightweight and very efficient. If you are looking for a scanner that you can carry wherever you go, this could be what you are looking for. People use it to scan receipts, business cards and ID cards.




Pros: It is very lightweight and portable, it has a high resolution.

Cons: It is a little bit slow, it does not offer image-enhancing features, it does not offer duplex scanning and it does not come with an ADF tray.

Epson ES-50

ProductImages / MinuteFormatConnectivityMax. document sizeADF TrayWeightPrice

Epson ES-50

Epson ES-50
22 IPMA4USB 2.08.5 in. x 72 in. (215 x 1828 mm)No0.59 lb. (0.26 kg)Click for more info
The Epson ES-50 is our second cheap portable document scanner under 100$. It has moderately fast scan speeds of 22 images per minute. It has a pixel density of up to 600dpi making it also a good scanner for photos. The scanner only supports USB 2.0 connectivity, it is not a wireless portable document scanner scanner. This means that you can use a USB connection to scan directly to your computer. The scanner is also powered by USB, like most office products.

This portable image scanner comes with a maximum document size of 8.5 in. x 72 in. (215 x 1828 mm). Therefore, it can scan documents that are up to 72 inches long. The scanner measures 10.7 in. x 1.3 in. x 1.8 in. (27.1 x 3.3 x 4.5 cm) and weighs 0.59 lb. (0.26 kg). This makes the scanner very portable. You can put really thick paper through it and it will even be a great ID card scanner.

The Epson ES-50 offers several image-enhancing features such as automatic color detection, automatic image cropping and automatic deskew. This enables the scanner to produce very clean and high-quality scans.

The Epson ES-50 scanner may not be great for heavy-duty scanning. This is because it does not come with an automatic document feeder (ADF) tray and it does not support duplex scanning. This may make the scanning process tiresome when scanning a lot of double-sided documents. This document scanner is powered through the USB cable, it doesn’t need a rechargeable battery.

The Epson ES-50 document scanner is still a great portable scanner. It offers great value for money, it is affordable and it offers several image-enhancing features. If you are looking for a portable scanner that produces high-quality scans, this could be what you are looking for. This is a document scanner for PC and Mac. If your budget is bigger, you can go for the Epson Workforce ES-60W or ES-300W which offer greater speeds and more features.



Pros: It is very lightweight and portable, it is fast.

Cons: It is not duplex and it does not have an ADF tray.

Canon imageFORMULA P-215

ProductImages / MinuteFormatConnectivityMax. document sizeADF TrayWeightPrice

Canon imageFORMULA P-215

Canon imageFORMULA P-215
30 IPMA4Hi-Speed USB 2.0, USB 3.08.5 in. x 39.4 in. (215 x 1000 mm)Yes2.2 lb. (0.99 kg)Click for more info
The Canon imageFORMULA P-215 is our third cheap portable document scanner under 100$. It is very fast with a speed of 15 pages per minute. It has a scanning resolution of 600dpi, so it will double as a document and photo scanner. This image quality is great not just for scanning photos but for OCR and even more than you need. In our tests we have noticed that there is no significant improvement in Optical Character Recognition accuracy on document scanning from 400 dpi to 600 dpi. For office documents, we recommend no more than 300dpi. The scanner supports Hi-Speed USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 connectivity but it does not have a wifi connection, so no wireless mobile scanning. At this price it is difficult to find a wireless portable scanner. This means that you can scan directly to your MAC and PC via a USB connection. The scanner is also powered by USB.

This portable sheetfed document scanner can scan a variety of documents up to A4 size. It supports a maximum document size of 8.5 in. x 39.4 in. (215 x 1000 mm). This means that it can scan documents that are up to 39.4 inches long. In terms of size, the scanner measures 11.2 in. x 1.6 in. x 3.7 in. (28.4 x 4 x 9.3 cm) and weighs 2.2 lb. (0.99 kg).

This sheetfed scanner offers some digital ICE features such as automatic deskew and background removal. This enables the scanner to produce very clean and high-quality scans. It, however, does not offer punch hole removal and automatic image rotation. The software bundle includes: Canon CaptureOnTouch, CaptureOnTouch Lite (built-in), Nuance PaperPort, NewSoft Presto! BizCard (Windows), NewSoft Presto! Page Manager (Mac), Evernote

The Canon imageFORMULA P-215 scanner is very efficient for heavy-duty scanning despite the fact that it is a portable scanner. This is because it is a color duplex scanner and it comes with an automatic document feeder (ADF) tray. Having a sheet feeder is not common in most portable scanners and they give this scanner a great advantage over the other scanners in this list. This intuitive portable scanner can save your digital images to JPEG, Bitmap, Full-text Searchable PDF and TIFF format. Obviously since these are cheap portable scanners, there is no color LCD on them

This mobile color duplex document scanner is a great portable scanner. It gives great value for money, it is very affordable, it is portable and very efficient. If you are looking for a portable scanner that you can use for heavy-duty scanning, this could be what you are looking for.



Pros:It has a very high speed, it offers duplex scanning, it comes with an ADF tray

Cons: It is neither the smallest nor the lightest.



What is the best cheap portable document scanner under 100$ ?

In conclusion, all the cheap portable scanners on this list are great portable scanners. Based on your needs, it is important to choose a scanner that best meets your needs. If you are looking for a simple portable scanner, the Brother DS-620 could be the best choice. If you are looking for a simple portable scanner that will produce very high-quality scans, then the Epson ES-50 could be the best choice. If you are looking for a very efficient portable scanner that you can use for heavy-duty scanning, the Canon imageFORMULA P-215 could be the best choice. Based on the users’ reviews, all these scanners offer great value for money and they are very easy to use. We also did an article where we reviewed portable scanners under 50$. Some of them even scan to SD Card and they come with an included memory card. Some notable models of portable color scanners were not included here like the Fujitsu ScanSnap IX100, the ScanSnap IX1500 Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i Brother ImageCenter ADS-2800W, epson fastfoto ff680w, hp scanjet pro 2500, Canon Imageformula R40, Doxie Go Se, VuPoint solutions Magic Wand Portable Scanner and Epson Workforce ES-300W because at the time of writing, the price was not under 100$. We did not include flatbed scanners such as Canon CanoScan Lide 220 , Epson Perfection V600 Color & V550, in this comparisson because these are not portable. They do have some advantages, one that they are great photo and document scanners, some of them can also scan film negatives. You can buy these products on amazon and you can also buy on best buy, Walmart or any major online store, they are not rare products by any means,
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