PDFQBO vs BankScan

BankScan Alternative: BankScan Software vs a PDF to QBO Converter

BankScan is not one product. Searching the name turns up at least three different tools, and the difference between them decides whether you end up with a file QuickBooks will actually accept. The original BankScan comes from Gee Whiz Software, LLC in San Diego. It is Windows software, it was originally developed for use at the Department of Justice, and it is used today by the IRS, the DEA, ATF, Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the SBA, the State Department, Veterans Affairs and US Attorneys' offices. It is very good at what it does. What it does not do is write a QuickBooks file: its own feature list says it outputs .csv, .xml for Excel, or .qif for Quicken. BankScanPro, at bankscanpro.com, is a separate web app with a similar name that does export QBO. PDFQBO is a browser based BankScan alternative built for one job, turning a PDF bank or credit card statement into a .qbo or .iif file for QuickBooks. This page separates the three, quotes the vendors' own words, and says plainly where BankScan is the better buy.

Quick verdict

BankScan from Gee Whiz Software is Windows forensic software that exports CSV, Excel XML and QIF, so it does not produce a QuickBooks file. QuickBooks Online accepts CSV, QBO, QFX and OFX, not QIF. BankScanPro is a different web tool that does export QBO, priced at $19 and $75 a month. PDFQBO is a browser based converter that outputs .qbo and .iif for $49 a month, or $24 a month billed yearly, with a free conversion first.

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Last updated September 2026

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Drop in a PDF bank statement and get a QBO or IIF file back, with no OCR add on to buy and no quote to wait for.

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PDFQBO vs BankScan: side by side

An honest, feature-by-feature comparison so you can match the tool to how you work.

Feature	PDFQBO This tool	BankScan (Gee Whiz Software) Windows forensic tool	BankScanPro Similar name, different company
Type	Browser based web app	Windows desktop expert system	Browser based web app
Vendor	PDFQBO	Gee Whiz Software, LLC, San Diego CA	BankScanPro (bankscanpro.com)
Runs on	Any OS with a browser (Mac, PC, Chromebook)	Windows only	Any OS with a browser
QuickBooks file out	Yes, .qbo Web Connect and .iif	No	Yes, QBO
Export formats	.qbo, .iif	.csv, .xml (Excel), .qif (Quicken)	CSV, Excel, QuickBooks QBO
Separate OCR purchase needed	No, OCR is built in	Yes, OmniPage or the vendor OmniScan add on	No
Pricing published on the vendor site	Yes	No, quoted by email	Yes
Price (September 2026)	$49/mo, or $24/mo billed yearly	Not published. Yearly subscription or pay as you use, quoted by email	$19/mo for 200 pages, $75/mo for 3,000 pages
One off option	No, monthly or yearly	Vendor mentions a pay as you use service, no rate published	100 pages $15, 500 pages $59, single statement unlock $3.99
Try before you buy	Convert a statement free	30 day money back guarantee after purchase	Free tier: 1 page plus up to 10 first statement pages
Statement layouts covered	Any US bank or card statement we can read, extended free on request	Federal version recognizes over 3,000 formats	Vendor states multi region layouts
Multi account statements	Handled	Separates transactions in multi account statements	Not stated
Accuracy checks	Totals checked against the statement before export	Over 150 checks for common OCR errors, skipped line review and AutoBalance	Validated extraction with review flags
Check payee and memo capture	No	Yes, via the FileScan add on	No
Where the file is processed	Our servers	Your own Windows computer	Their servers
Page caps	No monthly page cap on paid plans	Depends on the quoted license	200/mo Starter, 3,000/mo Pro, unused pages roll over
Built for	Bookkeepers and accountants importing statements into QuickBooks	Federal, state and local investigators, auditors and forensic accountants	General statement conversion
Independent reviews	None yet	None found on the major software directories	None found on the major software directories

BankScan product details and the licensing wording were read from bank-scan.com on 2 September 2026, and Gee Whiz Software publishes no price: its licensing page states only that options run from a flat yearly subscription to a pay as you use service and that cost depends on seats, support level and data volume. BankScanPro prices were read from bankscanpro.com/pricing on the same day. Our own prices come from our pricing page. For the tools that publish their numbers side by side, see the full PDF to QBO converter roundup.

PDFQBO and BankScan, honestly

BankScan (Gee Whiz Software)

Windows, forensic grade, exports CSV, Excel and QIF

BankScan describes itself as a professional grade expert system for converting bank and credit card statements into Excel or other electronic formats, and the pedigree is real. It was originally developed for use at the Department of Justice, and Gee Whiz Software lists the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Customs and Border Protection, the Defense Department, the DEA, Homeland Security, ICE, the IRS, the Justice Department, the SBA, the State Department, US Attorneys' offices and Veterans Affairs among its users. The federal version recognizes over 3,000 statement formats, it separates transactions inside multi account statements, and it runs over 150 checks for common OCR errors with quality control features the vendor calls skipped line review and AutoBalance. There is a companion product, FileScan, that pulls payee and memo data off scanned checks, and a newer in house OCR upgrade called OmniScan with a 30 day trial. Two things matter if you are a bookkeeper rather than an investigator. First, BankScan does not produce a QuickBooks file. The feature list is explicit: output is .csv, .xml for Excel, or .qif for Quicken. Second, it is not standalone. The vendor says BankScan is used in conjunction with an off the shelf OCR program called OmniPage, sold by Tungsten Automation, so there is a second purchase before you convert anything. Pricing is not published. The licensing page says options run from a flat yearly subscription to a pay as you use service, and that the cost depends on seats, support level and data volume, so you email the company for a quote. There is a 30 day money back guarantee on a license.

BankScanPro

Web app, similar name, different company, exports QBO

BankScanPro is a separate web application at bankscanpro.com, and it is worth naming clearly because the name collision sends real buyers to the wrong product. It is a browser tool that reads PDF bank statements and exports CSV, Excel and QuickBooks QBO. Pricing is published: Starter is $19 a month for 200 pages with rollover up to 400 pages while the plan is active, and Pro is $75 a month for 3,000 pages with rollover up to 6,000. There are also one time page packs that do not expire, 100 pages for $15 and 500 pages for $59, plus a $3.99 single statement unlock covering up to 25 pages and a free preview of 1 page with up to 10 first statement pages, no card required. That page pack model is genuinely useful if you convert in bursts, for example a cleanup engagement twice a year, because you are not paying a subscription in the months you do nothing. The trade is the page cap: on Starter, 200 pages a month is roughly a dozen statements a month once you count multi page PDFs, and a single year of a busy checking account can eat a large part of that in one upload.

PDFQBO

Browser based, .qbo and .iif, published prices

PDFQBO does one job and prices it in public. Upload a PDF bank or credit card statement in any browser, built in OCR reads scans and photographed pages, you check the extracted rows against the statement total in a table, then you export a .qbo Web Connect file for QuickBooks Online or an .iif file for QuickBooks Desktop. There is nothing to install, no OmniPage or second OCR license to buy, no per device activation, and it works the same on a Mac, a PC or a Chromebook. Paid plans are $49 a month or $24 a month billed yearly, and you can convert a statement free before deciding, so you find out in about two minutes whether your bank's layout reads cleanly. Be clear about what it is not. It has no forensic analysis layer, it does not read checks for payee and memo data, it will not touch Quicken or Xero, and it is not the tool for a federal investigation with boxes of subpoenaed statements. If your statements are going into QuickBooks, that narrowness is the whole point.

What actually decides this one: BankScan does not write a QuickBooks file

The decision here is not really cloud against desktop, and it is not price. It is file format, and it is settled before you compare anything else. BankScan's own feature page lists three outputs: .csv, .xml for Excel, and .qif for Quicken. QuickBooks Online accepts CSV, QBO, QFX and OFX. It does not accept QIF, which is a Quicken format, and QuickBooks Desktop's Web Connect import expects a .qbo file while its general purpose import format is .iif. So if you buy BankScan expecting to hand QuickBooks a bank feed file, the answer is that you cannot. You can get a CSV out of it and then map that CSV into QuickBooks Online by hand, choosing which column is the date, which is the description and which is the amount, on every import. That works. It is also the manual step the software was supposed to remove, and it is the step that breaks when a bank writes debits and credits into two separate columns or puts the running balance where the amount should be. None of that is a criticism of BankScan. It was built for a different reader. When your deliverable is a flow of funds analysis for a criminal case, Excel is the right destination, and the features that matter are the 3,000 recognized formats, the multi account statement splitting, the 150 OCR error checks, the AutoBalance control and the FileScan add on that reads payee and memo off scanned checks. An IRS or DEA analyst does not want a QuickBooks file. They want defensible rows in a spreadsheet, processed on a machine inside their own network, which is exactly what BankScan delivers and what a browser tool cannot. The second thing to weigh is total cost, not headline cost. BankScan needs an off the shelf OCR program, OmniPage from Tungsten Automation, or the vendor's newer OmniScan upgrade, before it converts anything. That is a real second purchase and it is easy to miss when you are comparing quotes. On top of it, BankScan's price is not published at all. The licensing page says options range from a flat yearly subscription to a pay as you use service and that the figure depends on seat count, support level and data volume, so the only way to a number is an email and a conversation. For a government unit with a procurement process that is normal. For a bookkeeper with fourteen PDF statements and a catch up file due Friday, the sales cycle costs more than the work. Then there is the name problem, which is the cheapest mistake to avoid on this page. BankScanPro is a different company with a similar name and it does export QBO, at $19 a month for 200 pages or $75 a month for 3,000, with one time page packs at $15 and $59 that never expire. If you buy in bursts rather than monthly, those packs are a genuinely good structure and worth a look. Just do not assume a review or a recommendation you read about BankScan applies to BankScanPro, or the reverse. They are unrelated products. The practical test takes two minutes. Open a statement you actually need to import and ask what has to come out the other end. If the answer is a spreadsheet for analysis, and especially if the work is investigative or the files cannot leave your network, BankScan is the stronger product and this comparison is over. If the answer is a file QuickBooks will take without column mapping, you need something that writes .qbo or .iif, and you should test it on your own bank before you pay, because the only accuracy number that matters is the one on your statement layout.

Which one should you choose?

Match the tool to your volume, your operating system, and how you like to pay.

Pick BankScan if

Your output is a spreadsheet, not a ledger entry. If you are an auditor, a fraud examiner, a forensic accountant or a government analyst working through large volumes of statements, BankScan is built for exactly that: over 3,000 recognized formats, multi account splitting, 150 OCR error checks, AutoBalance, and the FileScan add on for scanned checks, all running on your own Windows machine so nothing leaves your network. Budget for OmniPage or OmniScan on top, and email the company for a quote since no price is published.

Pick PDFQBO if

You need a file QuickBooks accepts and you do not want to map CSV columns every time. Converting a PDF statement to .qbo for QuickBooks Online or .iif for QuickBooks Desktop costs $49 a month, or $24 a month billed yearly, it runs in any browser on any operating system, and you can test your own bank free first. Accept the trade: no forensic analysis, no check payee capture, no Quicken or Xero.

Look at BankScanPro if

You convert in bursts rather than every month. Its one time page packs, 100 pages for $15 and 500 for $59 with no expiry, fit seasonal cleanup work better than any subscription, and it does export QBO. Watch the page caps on the monthly plans, 200 a month on Starter, and remember it is not the same product or company as BankScan despite the name.

Skip all three if

Your bank still offers the statements as CSV or QFX downloads inside online banking. QuickBooks will take the bank's own export and you do not need a PDF reader at all. Statement conversion earns its keep when the file is a scan, when the account is closed, when the bank only keeps 90 days online, or when a client hands you a paper folder.

Frequently asked questions

What is BankScan?

BankScan is Windows software from Gee Whiz Software, LLC in San Diego that converts bank and credit card statements into electronic formats. The vendor describes it as a professional grade expert system, originally developed for use at the Department of Justice, and lists federal, state and local agencies among its users. The federal version recognizes over 3,000 statement formats.

Does BankScan export to QuickBooks?

No. BankScan's own feature list gives three outputs: .csv, .xml for Excel, and .qif for Quicken. None of those is a QuickBooks bank feed file. You can export a CSV and then map its columns into QuickBooks Online by hand on each import, but BankScan will not produce the .qbo or .iif file QuickBooks imports directly.

How much does BankScan cost?

Gee Whiz Software does not publish a price. Its licensing page says several options exist, from a flat yearly subscription to a pay as you use service, and that the exact cost depends on the number of license seats, the level of support required and the volume of data processed. You email the company for a quote. There is a 30 day money back guarantee.

Is BankScanPro the same as BankScan?

No. They are different products from different companies with similar names. BankScan is Gee Whiz Software's Windows program that outputs CSV, Excel and QIF. BankScanPro is a web app at bankscanpro.com that does export QuickBooks QBO, priced at $19 a month for 200 pages or $75 a month for 3,000 pages. Reviews of one do not apply to the other.

What file formats does BankScan output?

Three, according to the vendor's feature page: .csv, .xml which opens in Excel, and .qif which is a Quicken format. There is no QBO, QFX, OFX or IIF output. If your destination is QuickBooks rather than a spreadsheet, that format list is the constraint you need to plan around before you buy a license.

Can I import a QIF file into QuickBooks Online?

No. QuickBooks Online accepts CSV, QBO, QFX and OFX files for bank imports. QIF is a Quicken format and QuickBooks Online does not read it. QuickBooks Desktop imports .qbo through Web Connect and uses .iif as its general import format, so a QIF file needs converting before either version of QuickBooks will take it.

Does BankScan work on a Mac?

Not natively. BankScan is Windows software, so a Mac needs Boot Camp on older Intel hardware, a virtual machine such as Parallels, or a separate PC. It also depends on OmniPage, which is Windows software as well. A browser based converter avoids the problem entirely because it runs the same on macOS, Windows and ChromeOS.

Do I need OmniPage to use BankScan?

The vendor says BankScan is used in conjunction with an off the shelf optical character recognition program called OmniPage, sold by Tungsten Automation. Gee Whiz Software also offers OmniScan, an in house upgrade to OmniPage that automates most of the image to text step, with a free 30 day trial. Either way, budget for OCR separately.

Who uses BankScan?

Gee Whiz Software lists the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Customs and Border Protection, the Defense Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the IRS, the Justice Department, the Small Business Administration, the State Department, US Attorneys' offices and Veterans Affairs. It is aimed at investigators and auditors rather than bookkeepers.

What is the best BankScan alternative for QuickBooks?

If your goal is a QuickBooks import rather than a spreadsheet, pick a converter that writes .qbo or .iif directly. PDFQBO does that in the browser for $49 a month, or $24 a month billed yearly, with a free conversion first. BankScanPro also exports QBO with published monthly plans and one time page packs. Both skip the CSV column mapping step.

Is BankScan free to try?

Gee Whiz Software offers a free evaluation and a 30 day money back guarantee on a purchased license, and a free 30 day trial of its OmniScan OCR upgrade. There is no self serve free tier you can sign up for online the way there is with the web based converters, because the buying process starts with an email to the company.

What is the difference between a QBO file and a QIF file?

A .qbo file is QuickBooks Web Connect, a Microsoft OFX based format QuickBooks imports as a bank feed with transaction IDs that stop duplicates. A .qif is Quicken Interchange Format, an older personal finance format QuickBooks Online does not accept. Both hold transactions, but only the QBO file drops into QuickBooks without manual column mapping.

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