The Best PHP API for Global License Plate OCR (Free Image Testing)

<?php

// Get 200 free credits:
// 👉 https://structocr.com/register

$apiKey = "YOUR_API_KEY"; // Replace with your actual API key
$imagePath = "path/to/your/vehicle_image.jpg"; // Replace with the path to your image

// 1. Read image and encode to Base64
$imageData = file_get_contents($imagePath);
if ($imageData === false) {
    die("Error: Unable to read image file.\n");
}
$base64Img = base64_encode($imageData);

// 2. Create JSON payload
$payload = json_encode(['img' => $base64Img]);

// 3. Build the HTTP request via cURL (Requires application/json)
$ch = curl_init("https://api.structocr.com/v1/license-plate");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $payload);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, [
    "x-api-key: " . $apiKey,
    "Content-Type: application/json",
    "Content-Length: " . strlen($payload)
]);

echo "Uploading Base64 image to StructOCR API...\n";

// 4. Send the request and receive the response
$response = curl_exec($ch);

if (curl_errno($ch)) {
    die("cURL Error: " . curl_error($ch) . "\n");
}
curl_close($ch);

// 5. Parse the JSON response
$jsonResponse = json_decode($response, true);

// 6. Extract the License Plate data
if (isset($jsonResponse['success']) && $jsonResponse['success'] === true) {
    $data = $jsonResponse['data'];
    echo "✅ Extraction Successful!\n";
    echo "Plates Detected: " . count($data['plates']) . "\n";
    
    $countryGuess = isset($data['country_guess']) && $data['country_guess'] !== null ? $data['country_guess'] : "N/A";
    echo "Country Guess: " . $countryGuess . "\n";
    echo "Confidence: " . $data['confidence'] . "\n";
    
    echo "\n--- Raw Data ---\n";
    echo json_encode($data, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT | JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE) . "\n";
} else {
    $errorCode = $jsonResponse['code'] ?? "Unknown Code";
    $errorMsg = $jsonResponse['message'] ?? "Unknown Error";
    echo "❌ Error [{$errorCode}]: {$errorMsg}\n";
}