Flatbed scanners are great for anyone who needs to scan documents or photos, but needs to keep a low profile. The best flatbed scanners are versatile, high-resolution, and have stellar software. We’ve got a list of 10, but first, here’s our choice for the best flatbed scanner of 2023.
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Our Choice for the Best flatbed scanner of 2023
The Good
- Professional-quality scans
- large scanning area
- works with negatives and slides
The Bad
- expensive
- difficult operation
The Bottom Line:
The Epson Expression 12000XL-PH is a fantastic flatbed scanner. This flatbed scanner has amazing scan quality. It also has a large scan area.
No matter what you are looking for in a flatbed scanner, you’ll find it in the Epson Expression 12000XL-PH. That’s why it’s our choice for the best flatbed scanner of 2023.
Want to skip our list? Here are all the scanners that made our list of the best flatbed scanners of 2023.
- Best Flatbed Scanner of 2023 | Epson Expression 12000XL-PH
- Best Cheap Flatbed Scanner of 2023 | Canon CanoScan Lide 400
- Best Flatbed Photo Scanner of 2023 | Epson Perfection V850 Pro
- Best Flatbed Document Scanner of 2023 | HP ScanJet Pro 2500 f1
- Best Portable Flatbed Scanner of 2023 | Doxie Flip
- Best Professional Flatbed Scanner of 2023 | Epson Perfection V600 Color Photo
- Epson Perfection V550 Color Photo
- Canon CanoScan LiDE 300
- Epson Perfection V19
- Epson Perfection V39
Best flatbed scanners of 2023 | Some Quick Background Info
What is a flatbed scanner?
A flatbed scanner is a standalone scanner with a flat scanning area and a lid. These are considered to be traditional scanners by those who have used scanners for a long time. They are primarily geared toward scanning photos and negatives.
Are flatbed scanners good for document scanning?
Yes, flatbed scanners can scan documents. Some even have software for multi-page files. However, scanning a lot of documents at once with a flatbed scanning will be really slow, because you’ll be scanning one page at a time. For a lot of documents, you’re better off with a dedicated document scanner.
Top 10 Best flatbed scanners of 2023 | Here's Our List
There’s not a lot of background to keep in mind for this list, so let’s stop wasting time. Here are the best flatbed scanners of 2023.
Best Flatbed Scanner of 2023
The Good
- Professional-quality scans
- large scanning area
- works with negatives and slides
The Bad
- expensive
- difficult operation
The Bottom Line:
As we said above, the Epson Expression 12000XL-PH is a fantastic flatbed scanner. This flatbed scanner works with photo negatives and slides. It also is a trusted model by professionals and it has amazing scan quality. It’s just a great flatbed scanner. That’s why we chose the Epson Expression 12000XL-PH as the best flatbed scanner of 2023. We highly recommend you go and check it out.
Best Cheap Flatbed Scanner of 2023
The Good
- USB-C connection
- EZ buttons
- 8-second scans
The Bad
- cheaply built
- bad driver
The Bottom Line:
The Canon CanoScan Lide 400 has been one of our favorite flatbed scanners for a long time.
This flatbed scanner can connect with USB-C. It also is super simple to use and it is very thin.
The Canon CanoScan Lide 400 is a great flatbed scanner, and we highly recommend you check it out. That’s why it’s so high on our list of the best flatbed scanners of 2023.
Best Flatbed Photo Scanner of 2023
The Good
- Professional-quality photo scans
- sturdy flat-bed construction
- Dual-lense scan system
The Bad
- expensive
- poor software
The Bottom Line:
If you are looking for the Best Flatbed Photo Scanner, then the Epson Perfection V850 Pro is exactly what you are looking for. This flatbed scanner can connect with USB-C, and it uses a dual-lense system to ensure consistent image duplication. Even though the Epson Perfection V850 Pro has bad software, it’s still a great option, and it’s our choice for the Best Flatbed Photo Scanner.
Best Flatbed Document Scanner of 2023
The Good
- flatbed with ADF
- 20 pages per minute
- 2 sided scanning
The Bad
- doesn't work with mac
- poor software
- poor customer support
The Bottom Line:
The HP ScanJet Pro 2500 f1 is an awesome flatbed scanner. It is a flatbed with an auto-document-feeder and it has two-sided scanning. The HP ScanJet Pro 2500 f1 is the Best Flatbed Document Scanner, and it’s well worth your time to give it a look.
Best Portable Flatbed Scanner of 2023
The Good
- lightweight
- portable flatbed option
- versatile
The Bad
- buggy software
- frequently unavailable
- not durable
The Bottom Line:
Our choice for the Best Portable Flatbed Scanner is the Doxie Flip. Here’s why.
The Doxie Flip is a portable flatbed scanner. It also is easy to use and is very light. While the Doxie Flip is hard to find in stock, it’s still a great flatbed scanner. That’s why it’s our choice for the Best Portable Flatbed Scanner of 2023.
Best Professional Flatbed Scanner of 2023
The Good
- Ultra-high resolution
- scans slides and negatives
- OCR software included
The Bad
- doesn't work with mac
The Bottom Line:
If you are looking for the Best Professional Flatbed Scanner, then you’ve found it. The Epson Perfection V600 Color Photo is a great flatbed scanner. It has super-high resolution scanning. While it is a little expensive, the Epson Perfection V600 Color Photo works with slides and negatives and includes OCR software to make your documents searchable. It’s a fantastic option for anyone looking for a flatbed scanner in 2023.
Best flatbed scanners of 2023 | Other Great Options
The Good
- great photo scanning
- 6400DPI Resolution
- scan multiple photos at once
The Bad
- doesn't work with mac
- slow scanning
The Bottom Line:
The Epson Perfection V550 Color Photo is a great flatbed scanner . It has great photo scan quality. It also works for professionals and is relatively affordable.
The Epson Perfection V550 Color Photo doesn’t work well on Mac computers and it is pretty slow. However, It’s still a very solid flatbed scanner. Check it out!
The Good
- simple
- fast
- 2400 DPI
The Bad
- cheap lid
- doesn't work with mac
- buggy software
The Bottom Line:
No list of the best flatbed scanners of 2023 would be complete without mentioning the Canon CanoScan LiDE 300. This flatbed scanner is affordable. It also doesn’t take up much space and scans up to 2400 dpi. While it feels cheap, the Canon CanoScan LiDE 300 is still a great option for anyone looking for the best flatbed scanners of 2023.
The Good
- affordable
- simple
- high-resolution
The Bad
- cheap
- poor software
- computer use only
The Bottom Line:
When we were testing the best flatbed scanners of 2023, we were pleasantly surprised with how much we liked the Epson Perfection V19.
This flatbed scanner is super affordable and is very simple. There are definitely better options on this list, but this just might be the right flatbed scanner for you.
The Good
- Easy push-button operation
- scan to google drive
- compact
The Bad
- cheap parts
- not built for volume
- terrible driver
The Bottom Line:
If you haven’t liked the other flatbed scanners on our list, then check out the Epson Perfection V39. It can scan directly to Google Drive and has a simple push button operation. It’s a great flatbed scanner, so go check it out!
Top 10 Best flatbed scanners of 2023 | Final Thoughts
That was our list of the best flatbed scanners of 2023. We hope you liked it! Our top choice was the Epson Expression 12000XL-PH, but all of these flatbed scanners are great options. We hope you found one that works for you.
If you liked this list, let us know in the comments. Also, be sure to check out our other articles like this one!
