Solution · Receipt OCR

Receipt OCR for Structured Expense Data Extraction

Use receipt OCR to extract merchant, date, subtotal, tax, tip, total and currency from photographed or scanned receipts. Try one receipt free, process batches in the workspace, or automate with the API.

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Receipt OCR API

What is Receipt OCR?

Receipt OCR uses optical character recognition and AI to read a receipt image and return structured data instead of plain text. Instead of retyping merchant, date, totals and tax by hand, you define the fields you need and receive them as keys and values that can be exported to CSV or Excel for expense reports, bookkeeping and reimbursement workflows.

Fields

Fields You Can Extract from a Receipt

Define any of these fields in the extraction tool and the AI will return a value for each one. Field names are free-text, so you can adapt them to your expense workflow.

Merchant

Date

Subtotal

Tax

Tip

Total

Currency

Line items: you can add a field such as "Line Item" and the AI will return multiple values (one per item) in the result. Each value is captured as free-form text rather than separately structured description, quantity and price columns.

Inputs

Real-World Receipt Inputs

Receipts rarely arrive as flat, high-resolution scans. The extraction tool is built to handle the kinds of input that show up in real expense workflows.

Phone photos

Receipts photographed on a phone with uneven lighting, shadows or slight motion blur.

Scanned receipts

Flatbed or document-scanner output, including black-and-white scans with low contrast.

Faded thermal receipts

Thermal-printed receipts where the ink has faded, common with older grocery and gas station receipts.

Tilted and skewed images

Receipts photographed at an angle or cropped unevenly, so the text lines are not horizontal.

Low-light and high-glare photos

Receipts captured under dim lighting or with flash glare on glossy paper.

Folded and crumpled receipts

Receipts stuffed in a wallet or pocket, with crease lines running across the printed text.

Example

Sample Receipt and Structured Output

Sample for illustration only — the image and values below are not from a live extraction.

JPG

Sample receipt image used as input for receipt OCR

Field	Extracted Value
Merchant	Marina Coffee Roasters
Date	2024-11-08
Subtotal	18.40
Tax	1.66
Tip	3.00
Total	23.06
Currency	USD

When you run the extraction, results render in a table like the one above and can be downloaded as CSV or Excel.

JSON

[
  { "key": "Merchant", "values": ["Marina Coffee Roasters"] },
  { "key": "Date", "values": ["2024-11-08"] },
  { "key": "Subtotal", "values": ["18.40"] },
  { "key": "Tax", "values": ["1.66"] },
  { "key": "Tip", "values": ["3.00"] },
  { "key": "Total", "values": ["23.06"] },
  { "key": "Currency", "values": ["USD"] }
]

CSV

"Merchant","Date","Subtotal","Tax","Tip","Total","Currency"
"Marina Coffee Roasters","2024-11-08","18.40","1.66","3.00","23.06","USD"

Three Steps to Extract Receipt Data

Upload a receipt photo or scan

List the fields to extract, such as merchant, date, total, tax and tip

Review the structured results and export to CSV or Excel

Compare

Single Receipt Free vs. the Workspace for Batches

Use the free tool for occasional single receipts, or switch to the workspace when you need to process receipt batches under one field schema.

Capability	Free (single receipt)	Workspace
Input	One receipt image at a time	Upload many receipt images in one job
Volume	Daily free quota, designed for trying the tool	Batch processing for expense reports and monthly close
Field schema	Define fields per session, saved in your browser	One shared schema applied to every receipt in the batch
Export	CSV and Excel (XLSX) download	Download a separate CSV or Excel file for each receipt
Access	No sign-up required to try	Account required; runs in the workspace

Use Cases

Common Use Cases for Receipt OCR

Receipt OCR is most useful where structured data from many paper receipts is needed in a spreadsheet or downstream system.

Expense reports

Turn receipt photos into merchant, date and total rows that drop into an expense report template.

Bookkeeping

Capture tax and total from receipts so they can be posted to bookkeeping records without retyping.

Reimbursements

Collect the fields your reimbursement form requires, such as merchant, date, total and currency.

Data entry automation

Replace manual keying of receipt totals and dates with an AI-extracted CSV or Excel file.

Workspace

Batch Receipt OCR for Expense Reports

Upload many receipt photos and extract merchant, date, subtotal, tax, tip, total and currency in one workflow, using the same field schema for every receipt.

Upload many receipt images at once(Useful for expense reports, bookkeeping and monthly close)
One field schema for every receipt(Merchant, date, subtotal, tax, tip, total, currency and custom fields)
Download a separate CSV or Excel file for each receipt(Download files individually or packaged in a ZIP archive)

Start Batch Receipt OCR

Honest Scope

Limitations and Human Review

Receipt OCR reduces manual data entry but is not a fully autonomous accounting system. Treat the output as a draft and have a human review it.

•Faded, crumpled or partially cut-off receipts may produce missing or incorrect values.
•Currency, tax and tip are read from the receipt text; verify them against the printed total before relying on them.
•Line items are captured as free-form text values, not as structured description / quantity / price rows.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

What information can receipt OCR extract?

Receipt OCR can extract fields such as merchant, date, subtotal, tax, tip, total and currency. Because fields are free-text, you can also request values like payment method, receipt number or store address.

Can receipt OCR extract individual line items?

You can add a field such as "Line Item" and the AI will return multiple values, one per line item, from the receipt. Each value is captured as free-form text, so a line like "Coffee 2 x 3.20" is returned as a single string rather than separate description, quantity and price columns.

Can I export receipt data to Excel or CSV?

Yes. After extracting fields from a receipt, you can download the results as a CSV file or an Excel (XLSX) file. You can also copy all rows to the clipboard as tab-separated values to paste into a spreadsheet.

Does it work with photographed receipts?

Yes. The extraction tool accepts receipt photos taken on a phone, as well as scanned images. Tilted, low-light and faded thermal receipts are supported, though very low-quality images are more likely to need a human review of the extracted values.

Can I process multiple receipts at once?

Yes. Single receipts can be processed free in the Extraction tool. To process many receipts in one job under a shared field schema, use the bulk extraction tool in the workspace.

Is there a receipt OCR API?

Yes. The FreeOCR API exposes the same extraction engine used by the web tool. You send a receipt image and a list of fields, and receive structured JSON, CSV or XLSX back. See the API page for endpoints, code examples and authentication.

Ready to Extract Data from Your Receipts?

Try one receipt free in the Extraction tool, process batches in the workspace, or integrate with the Receipt OCR API.

Try One Receipt Free Process Receipts in Bulk

No credit card required to try the free tool.