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API documentation

API Overview

Integrate text recognition and table extraction into your applications. Share one API key and account balance, with usage-based billing.

APIAPI KeysAPI billing

Choose an API

  • Image to Text

    Extract document content as Markdown JSON, plain-text JSON or editable Word.

    POST /api/v1/image-to-text
  • Image to Table

    Extract table structure as JSON, CSV or Excel.

    POST /api/v1/image-to-table

Use the FreeAIOCR API to recognize text or extract tables from images. Select an API reference above for endpoint-specific inputs and output formats.

Quick Start

  1. Verify your account email address
  2. Create an API key in the API key settings. Copy it securely when it appears: it is shown only once
  3. Add $5 to your API balance. The balance is shared by all your keys, separate from website subscriptions, and does not expire
  4. Send the example request below from your server, replacing YOUR_API_KEY and document.png
  5. Read the response to check recognized text, token usage and billing

Authentication

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY

Send your key as a Bearer token over HTTPS. Keep it on your server; browser cross-origin API calls are not supported. Never expose the key in public code.

Make Your First Request

Use POST with a Bearer key and exactly one image file in the image field. Replace YOUR_API_KEY and document.png below. Let cURL set multipart Content-Type and its boundary. Only the optional format query parameter is accepted; no extra form fields or model settings are allowed. Call from your server; browser cross-origin calls are not supported. Never publish your key.

curl --silent --show-error --include --max-time 150 \
  'https://freeaiocr.com/api/v1/image-to-text' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' \
  -H 'Idempotency-Key: example-request-0001' \
  -F 'image=@document.png'

Read the Response

The JSON is an example; the recognized text and token usage depend on your image.

{
  "request_id": "b2c8ec98-2a36-4f87-99d2-3d7839b92518",
  "text": "# Document title\n\nRecognized paragraph.\n\n| Item | Count |\n| --- | --- |\n| Books | 12 |",
  "usage": {
    "input_tokens": 2000,
    "output_tokens": 4000
  },
  "billing": {
    "currency": "USD",
    "price_version": "2026-10-26-v1",
    "base_usd": "0.002000000",
    "input_overage_usd": "0.000000000",
    "output_overage_usd": "0.002400000",
    "total_usd": "0.004400000"
  }
}

Retry Safely

For a network retry, reuse the same Idempotency-Key and original image. A new business operation needs a new unique key. Do not start another operation while the previous result or charge is uncertain. For details, see the retry strategy.

These shared guides apply to Image to Text and Image to Table. Check each API reference for its supported inputs, formats and specific errors.