Adobe Acrobat Reader vs. Adobe Express

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Acrobat Reader is a PDF viewer and converter, available as a free download from Adobe. Users can view, sign, collaborate on and annotate PDF files, or edit and convert PDFs into file formats like Excel and Word.N/A
Adobe Express
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Creative Cloud Express (formerly Adobe Spark) is a task-based, web and mobile product used to create and share rich multimedia content – from social media posts and stories to invitations to marketing materials like logos, flyers and banners.
$0
Pricing
Adobe Acrobat ReaderAdobe Express
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Free
$0.00
Premium
$9.99 / $99.99
per month
Teams
$9.99
per month per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe Acrobat ReaderAdobe Express
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsContact Adobe directly for Enterprise pricing plan details.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe Acrobat ReaderAdobe Express
Best Alternatives
Adobe Acrobat ReaderAdobe Express
Small Businesses
Tungsten Power PDF
Tungsten Power PDF
Score 9.2 out of 10
Pexels
Pexels
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
pdfFiller
pdfFiller
Score 9.0 out of 10
Pexels
Pexels
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Bluebeam
Bluebeam
Score 9.0 out of 10
Pexels
Pexels
Score 10.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe Acrobat ReaderAdobe Express
Likelihood to Recommend
9.2
(74 ratings)
8.8
(33 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.2
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(1 ratings)
9.4
(10 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.9
(10 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
9.5
(6 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe Acrobat ReaderAdobe Express
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
After creating a document, converting it into Adobe Acrobat Reader is usually very easy for storage in my computer, sending/sharing via emails, etc. This also saves a significant amount of unnecessary printing and paper waste, which is great for reducing waste. I don't have to worry about not having the right software/app to view, edit, and share with anyone.
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Adobe
Express is a great product for anyone that is more of a design novice than a seasoned designer. The tools can help you do lots of complex things that used to take lots of work very quickly. For example the 'Remove Object' and 'Remove background' tools work very well amazingly fast. You don't need to painstakingly trace around objects or worry about accidentally including something you didn't want.
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Pros
Adobe
  • It has all the tools that individuals need for reading/doing light editing of PDF files.
  • It is the most secure PDF reader on the market, and it tends to get patched with timely updates on a regular basis.
  • It usually works very well, as far as the software itself. It doesn't crash a lot, or is particularly an error prone software platform.
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Adobe
  • Out-of-the-box templates save a lot of time and effort for designers and new users.
  • Collaboration to share resources and monitor task status centrally.
  • Great design elements bring a wow factor to digital content.
  • Single design tool for all types of content design.
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Cons
Adobe
  • Being able to add image "stamps" to a document is a little tricky as the stamp has to already be in PDF format (at least on Mac) to work. This mean you have to convert the image to PDF before you can use it as a stamp.
  • Being only able to save one signature and one set of initials is a bit of a pain but you can actually use stamps if you need different versions frequently used scribbles for various reasons. The stamp won't secure the document and prevent future changes the same way the signature would though.
  • All of the other features you might want to use are only included with Acrobat Pro but the options are all displayed in the Reader app. When clicked they will offer the free trial that leads to a paid subscription. This is more of an annoyance but you can't fault Adobe for trying to make a sale.
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Adobe
  • Canva has a better interface, in my opinion... I like that this one is friendly to Adobe users, but I would likely recommend Canva to someone who's never used design software for a complete beginner.
  • Removing the background from images doesn't always work well. I almost always need to switch to Photoshop for this.
  • The touch screen interface could be better; graphics on mobile apps are tough in general but specifically, the iPad interface could use some improvement.
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Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
To be honest, I do not have any say in the renewal of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. It is managed at an enterprise level, and the decision to renew or not renew is handled well above my pay grade as an external consultant.
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Adobe
I use it daily for almost all my marketing needs. So far it is the program that has the most and best to offer for what I need and is the easiest to use
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Usability
Adobe
Again, Adobe Creative Suite is widely used and backed by an industry leader, making the experience very familiar and common for anyone who has used a PDF and wants more features to interact with it. It also makes copy text a lot easier than just previewing the file.
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Adobe
The overall usability of the software was strong. The application, especially relative to other Adobe services like Photoshop that can demand a lot of knowledge and skill, was highly easy to use. At the same time, that also speaks to the somewhat limited amount of customization opportunities that allow content designers to truly create content that is dynamic, engaging, and different than the standard stuff that floods our vision every day.
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Support Rating
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
Because adobe is so widespread the community support is amazing. I have never actually used adobe support short of their website, but I go to youtube a lot to get my questions answered. You can google any problem you have and not have any issues finding an answer. In my opinion, community support is much more meaningful and helpful than support directly from the company
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Implementation Rating
Adobe
The application is pretty much "plug and play"
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Adobe
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Adobe
We have reviewed DocuSign in comparison to [Adobe] Acrobat Reader [DC's] e-sign capabilities. We found that DocuSign has more robust options when creating contracts and consent capabilities. DocuSign's online UI is much more suited to this type of task as well. However, we decided to stick with [Adobe] Acrobat Reader DC because of the price (DocuSign is more expensive) and we felt we didn't need all of the bells and whistles for contract signature and consent.
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Adobe
The Adobe Express Creative Cloud (premium) version is all you need. But even the free version is so much easier to edit than in Canva. Canva is cool for certain projects that don't need too much editing (editing in Canva can cause migraines). But, almost no matter what I think up to create, I will almost always open up AE rather than struggling through the learning curve in Canva.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
Adobe Creative Cloud Express is included with an Adobe Creative Cloud account. Our company has a corporate team membership so it is nice to have a professional and powerful tool that anyone on our team can use for free. The pricing structure of giving the tool away for free will be fundamental to users utilizing the tool. Similar tools, such as Canva, cost significantly more but do not offer the same features
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Professional Services
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
The professional services for Adobe Creative Cloud Express is top notch and should be highly commended. I am thoroughly impressed with how far Adobe has come. In the past, I had several issues with how something were handled, but in the past few years things have been better than ever and they get no complaints from me
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Return on Investment
Adobe
  • It's available for free, so there is no excuse to not install
  • Contains features that you would normally have to pay for in competitor software, so it has a positive impact on ROI
  • Reduces the amount of printing
  • Decreases the amount of time spent on regulatory and governance documentation
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Adobe
  • It has allowed us to complete more demos and projects in less time by being so flexible.
  • It has positively impacted our efficiency in delivering creatives such as YouTube thumbnails, event poster designs, Instagram story posts, etc to clients in a timely manner no matter where work takes us.
  • I would say the ROI has been seeing more projects completed and invoiced per month. I would estimate overall a 20% increase in volume on deliverables.
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ScreenShots

Adobe Express Screenshots

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