android credit card scan library or any API (Except Card.io)

Question

I need to scan a credit card and get details like Card Holder name, CVV, Expiry Date and Card Number etc. I had tried with card.io library but I am only able to fetch expiry date and card number. Can anyone suggest me any other library or other useful resources?

Answer 1

We've done an extensive research on card scanning SDK's available in the market, let's see what are the options available for you with pros and cons:

1. Card.io (Pricing: Free) Download Sample

This is one of the most trending SDKs till now since it was developed by PayPal. But that's long time ago, things have changed now. The SDK is no longer maintained. And the irony is even PayPal is not using it in their own app.
However, this SDK is being used by Uber (India) app in Android currently.

Pros:

• Easy to integrate
• Easy to customize

Cons:

• Not able to scan expiry dates for some cards.
• Not able to detect cards with plain surface number. Able to detect embosed number cards easily.

2. pay.cards (Pricing: Free) Download Sample

This is an alternative of card.io in the universe of free SDKs. But my observations led me to believe that it's similar to card.io in terms of scanning capability.

Pros:

• Simple plug and play

Cons:

• Didn't find any more benefit than card.io, same limitations and sometimes taking more time than card.io. Also not much customization options available.

3. MicroBlink SDK (Pricing: Paid) Download Sample

This SDK seems to be able to scan everything including card number, card holder name, expiry, cvv. I was impressed by its scanning capability and is able to scan most types of cards. But it comes at a cost!

Pros:

• Able to scan mostly all type of cards with all details.

Cons:

• Didn't see any (except the fact it's paid!), though sometimes I oveserved some delay in scanning, and it's required to align your card with rectangle, edge-to-edge, not far, not close. Otherwise it won't scan it. This doens't work like a QR code which can be scanned at any angle and distance.

4. Cardscan.io (Pricing: Kind of Freemium) Download Sample

This SDK seems to be better than all other SDKs that are mentioned above. It is able to scan all type of cards easily, and able to recoginze most details from the card. The reason why its Freemium is because it allows us to use the SDK for free for non-commercial purpose. If you plan to use it commercially, you need to purchase the license.

Pros:

• Better in terms of scanning capability than other SDKs, unlike MicroBlink, its not required to align your card edge-to-edge with the rectangle .

Cons:

• Didn't find anything disappointing.

---

So, these are the available options from which you can choose from based on your requirements. You can easily compare each by trying out samples.