Adobe Acrobat Reader vs. IronPDF

Adobe Acrobat Reader

Adobe Acrobat Reader

257 Reviews and Ratings

IronPDF

IronPDF

0 Reviews and Ratings

Overview
Product	Rating	Most Used By	Product Summary	Starting Price
Adobe Acrobat Reader	Score 8.7 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
IronPDF	Score 0.0 out of 10	N/A	N/A	$749 one-time fee

Pricing

Adobe Acrobat Reader

IronPDF

Editions & Modules

No answers on this topic

Lite: $749
one-time fee
Professional: $1,499
one-time fee
Unlimited: $2,999
one-time fee

Offerings

Pricing Offerings
Adobe Acrobat Reader	IronPDF
Free Trial
No	Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No	No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No	No

Entry-level Setup Fee

No setup fee

No setup fee

Additional Details

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More Pricing Information

Community Pulse
	Adobe Acrobat Reader	IronPDF
Considered Both Products	Adobe Acrobat Reader Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader I didn't use Chrome Data Autoplanner Incentivized Helpful? LG LAURIE GRZEJKA Payroll Manager Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader Microsoft Office works hand in hand. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader The Word app included with Office 365 offers similar collaboration functionality when compared to Adobe reader but with the option to fully change the original document while reviewing. This is both an advantage and disadvantage when compared with the Adobe reader app. … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader I like Adobe better due to its ease of use and the ability to set it as a default. Incentivized Helpful? SW Shelly wylie FACILITY AUDITOR Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader Microsoft Excel can seem busy and antique compare to Adobe [Acrobat Reader DC]. Adobe [Acrobat Reader DC] is easier to use and has a modern style [for] the visual eye. Incentivized Helpful? Katie McKinlay Manager of Talent Acquisition Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is easier to use, more accessible, and has a stronger functionality than my experience with DocuSign. It's more intuitive for our recipients of the documents. Incentivized Helpful? AL Anatoly Lubarsky Founder and lead developer Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader I use mobi format for reading on Amazon devices. Mobi is better on mobile than Adobe Acrobat but Adobe is better on PC and Mac computers. Incentivized Helpful? JM Jeff Montgomery CTO Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader 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 … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is the best PDF writer hands down. It is much better in terms of being able to quickly read/do very light editing of PDF's. It tends to do better at conversion of PDF's too, and it's tools within the program tend to be easier to use and more familiar … Incentivized Helpful? Dr Gardiner Jones Engineer, IT Operations Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader I do a lot of work on a second job where I need to create and use forms in PDF format that contain a lot of JavaScript in the backend to make calculations based on values entered into form fields. If I am working on a PC or a MAC computer, these all work great for JavaScript … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader Adobe Reader DC feels like the complete package. I actually have the Pro version which gives me even more options, but the reader is very impressive as well. The main benefit is the user interface. It's extremely easy to use at all ages and within cross functional teams. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader We have not evaluated other products, as we are primarily an organization that uses Adobe products. Incentivized Helpful? Matt LeMaire, B.A., M.A. VP, People & Operations Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader One of the main appeals of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is that it is part of the Adobe suite of products and works well with all of their other products. Additionally, the support is second to none and given the large backing of Adobe, we can rest assured that the application will … Incentivized Helpful? LH Lourie Holl Digital Marketing Manager Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader Adobe Acrobat Reader [DC] works well with all the other applications in the Adobe Suite but does not replace Adobe Acrobat Pro, which allows detailed editing of PDF documents. Because it's free, it can be installed company-wide and ensures everyone in the organization can read … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader Adobe Acrobat Reader DC offers so many more features in the free version than its competitors and is way easier to use. Incentivized Helpful? AF Andrew Folts YouTuber Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader The Apple Preview app is simplistic and convenient for viewing PDFs, but it lacks the advanced features of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, such as document signing, customizable exporting of individual frames, and document protection. I also chose Acrobat because it comes with my … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader I have tried many alternatives and while many of them are definitely useable, I ultimately decided that Adobe Reader DC created the PDF file format and they understand best how to make the format work. The biggest difference to Adobe Reader DC versus the alternatives is … Incentivized Helpful? Ai Ashe Instructor Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader Both DocHub and Kami are online apps with features similar to Adobe Acrobat Reader DC but required sign-in, and some of Kami's features are locked in the free version. I am not sure if DocHub is free to non-educational institutions. Incentivized Helpful? Brian Burge Creative Media and Ideation Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader While Adobe Illustrator and Indesign are great for graphics and layout work, Adobe Acrobat Reader DC it great for more pdf specifics. There are some exporting options and things in Ai and Id but that's about it. Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is great for doing things after it's all … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader I have found Abobe Acrobat [Reader DC] to be a niche product that solves a variety of business needs. It does not replace something like DocuSign, but can serve as a light version. It is more secure for sharing than something like Dropbox, and also has the ability to edit PDFs. Incentivized Helpful? BC Bryan Crowe Digital & Video Specialist Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader Actually none. Incentivized Helpful? Ravinder Beniwal Sr. Consultant Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is the most trusted and widely used tool as compared to tools from other competitors. Tools has all the requisite feature needed for an organization such as document storage to the protection of documents using passwords. Pdf files created by the tool … Incentivized Helpful? WA Walter Aho Creative Director Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader I haven't spent any real time looking into alternatives because there is no need. I've used Apple Preview for basic view, which works fine. But when it comes to doing any sort of creation or modification, this is a must. Working in photoshop works... sorta. For visual things at … Incentivized Helpful? Heather Miller Senior Graphic Designer Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is the fastest and most accurate representation of files compared to the other programs. The only downside in comparison is that Adobe Illustrator CC has the ability to edit PDFs, where the ability to edit PDFs is not available in Adobe Acrobat Reader … Incentivized Helpful? AR Adrian Romero Brand designer Chose Adobe Acrobat Reader Adobe is the "big boy" when it comes to PDFs and I love being able to Sign my documents here. Being able to edit, rotate and otherwise modify a pdf is also nice. I would recommend using it if you have a large caseload or need to process a lot of documents. Incentivized Helpful?	IronPDF No answer on this topic

Best Alternatives
	Adobe Acrobat Reader	IronPDF
Small Businesses	Tungsten Power PDF Score 9.4 out of 10	Tungsten Power PDF Score 9.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies	pdfFiller Score 9.0 out of 10	pdfFiller Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises	Bluebeam Score 9.1 out of 10	Bluebeam Score 9.1 out of 10
All Alternatives	View all alternatives	View all alternatives

User Ratings
	Adobe Acrobat Reader	IronPDF
Likelihood to Recommend	9.2 (0 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew	7.2 (0 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Usability	9.0 (0 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Implementation Rating	10.0 (0 ratings)	- (0 ratings)

User Testimonials
	Adobe Acrobat Reader	IronPDF
Likelihood to Recommend	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. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	No answers on this topic
Pros	Edit PDFs. One of the biggest challenges faced in document heavy workflows is editing a PDF. Adobe Reader DC does a fantastic job of allowing you to edit pdfs on the fly without having to go back to the original form and reconverting it. Sign PDFs. I spend a lot of time signing contracts and approval forms. Adobe Reader DC allows me to do that quickly without having to use my mouse or another third party platform. I can do all I need right in the Adobe Reader DC workflow. Merge PDFs. I find quite often that I need to put two or more documents together in one form. I can do that with just a few clicks in the Adobe Reader DC merge workflow. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	No answers on this topic
Cons	Accurately exporting all fields correctly (including UI design) of a PDF into various formats. There tend to be quirks with some exports. Choosing the right encryption type. This can get a little tricky. Getting picky with Acrobat custom fields when you're trying to do something out-of-the-box (during PDF creation). JM Jeff Montgomery CTO Read full review	No answers on this topic
Likelihood to Renew	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. Incentivized Dr Gardiner Jones Engineer, IT Operations Read full review	No answers on this topic
Usability	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. Daniel Berry Copywriter Read full review	No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating	The application is pretty much "plug and play" Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered	The Word app included with Office 365 offers similar collaboration functionality when compared to Adobe reader but with the option to fully change the original document while reviewing. This is both an advantage and disadvantage when compared with the Adobe reader app. Documents left in the Microsoft Word format also have a tendency to appear different depending on screen size and device used and this can be frustrating for some users. Basically, if you need what you have created and formatted to stay put and to appear as you intended and be printed as you intended if needed, use the Adobe PDF format. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	No answers on this topic
Return on Investment	It has had positive impact in that it has save considerable costs vs. investing in cloud-based/subscription based software. In terms of security, it also has had a positive impact, in that it doesn't really require IT staff to take the time to patch the software or work on issues with the software. It has also had a positive impact in that it has not required formal training for users to be able to use the software. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	No answers on this topic
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