Adobe Acrobat vs. Adobe Acrobat Reader

Adobe Acrobat

Adobe Acrobat

3214 Reviews and Ratings

Adobe Acrobat Reader

Adobe Acrobat Reader

257 Reviews and Ratings

Overview
Product	Rating	Most Used By	Product Summary	Starting Price
Adobe Acrobat	Score 8.8 out of 10	N/A	Adobe Acrobat DC is the current version of the well-established document / PDF management solution, part of the Adobe Document Cloud (the other part being Adobe's eSign services based on technology acquired with EchoSign in 2011).	$19.99 per month
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

Pricing

Adobe Acrobat

Adobe Acrobat Reader

Editions & Modules

Acrobat Pro for Individuals: $19.99
per month
Acrobat Pro for Teams: $23.99
per month per user
Acrobat Studio for Individuals: $24.99
per month

No answers on this topic

Offerings

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

Entry-level Setup Fee

Optional

No setup fee

Additional Details

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More Pricing Information

Community Pulse
	Adobe Acrobat	Adobe Acrobat Reader
Considered Both Products	Adobe Acrobat GM Gina Monthes Operations Manager Chose Adobe Acrobat Both read documents through Adobe, which is better for security and because the service is more optimized. Incentivized Helpful? David Vasquez Associate Chose Adobe Acrobat They perform similary but Adobe Acrobat is a better swiss army knife then most platforms. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat Adobe Acrobat is the gold standard and you pay for it. It is easy to use and works how you expect it to. The alternatives are cheaper, but don't offer as many features, and require retaining everyone to switch applications. Incentivized Helpful? Amanda Khan Client Coordinator / IT Recruiter Chose Adobe Acrobat In comparison to Smallpdf and iLovePDF, inevitably, Adobe Acrobat is the most popular and higher marketed software. Additionally, Smallpdf and iLovePDF are online conversion software, so your document needs to be uploaded to a cloud where it is converted and then you need to … Incentivized Helpful? Jennifer Blair Creative Director and Owner Chose Adobe Acrobat This isn't really a good comparison, but Adobe Acrobat is more of a program that works among all of these, and I'll keep using it as long as it's a part of Adobe CC. Otherwise, I see DocuSign as suitable for secure/private documents, and Dropbox file previews allows a pretty … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat It offers functionality that the office suite just doesn't really seem to dabble in e.g. locking down documents or proper redaction abilities. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat Adobe Acrobat is light-years beyond GIMP. Not only is it a better way to view photos for documents, it is far easier to use at it is visually pleasing and easy to navigate. Adobe is more robust than Canva. Though Canva has more creative capabilities, Adobe has more … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat Adobe stacks up very well against Microsoft 365. In addition, it also integrates well with many of the tools offered through our Microsoft 365 subscription and in many cases increases the value and functionality of those tools and programs. Adobe Acrobat serves to fill out our … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat There's no comparison; Adobe does it better, faster and more reliable. It's interface is simpler, more intuitive and easier to use. Acrobat is an industry go to solution for business needs. We value its solid foundation, limited issues and dependability. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat I don't use any of the aforementioned anymore, so that pretty much says it all. They don't stack up. I use Salesforce, but not for document saving. Only for it's other CRM features. Microsoft 365 Business I use, but there is always a needed add on when it comes to document … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat The team has been able to streamline patient management using Cerner’s practice management tools. As a result, scheduling, billing, and documentation have become more efficient, reducing administrative burden and improving overall patient care. The team has been able to enhance … Incentivized Helpful? Muhammed Ronaq BS Founder of Finite X Reality Chose Adobe Acrobat Adobe Acrobat stands out because its more powefull and feature rich as compared to these free tools. and it offers more compatibilty, security and many other editing options in a single software. which is much suitable for professional work rather than these cheap alternatives. … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat Not applicable. Acrobat is a legacy product for us. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat I have never used another product other than Adobe Acrobat and there is a reason for it. Adobe Acrobat is the best and it works with every system globally. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat Great at what it does Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat Adobe Experience Manager and Asset Data Manager Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat AdCreative.ai Incentivized Helpful? DF Danielle Fujii Librarian Chose Adobe Acrobat Adobe Acrobat has more functions that a lot of the PDF converters and editors that are web based. It's also easier to use than the Microsoft one. Incentivized Helpful? Vic Piano SVP, Global Executive Creative Dir Chose Adobe Acrobat Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Illustrator CC and Adobe InDesign Incentivized Helpful? CL Chris Lee Tech Coordinator Chose Adobe Acrobat Foxit PDF Editor Incentivized Helpful? Madison Kevorkian Senior Project Manager Chose Adobe Acrobat Adobe Firefly Incentivized Helpful? VN Vanessa Noesi Visual Art Teacher Chose Adobe Acrobat Adobe InDesign, Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe Illustrator CC and Firefly Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat Microsoft 365 Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Adobe Acrobat It was provided as a tool by company so no evaluation was done personally by me Incentivized Helpful? PS Peter Strand Dept Chair Chose Adobe Acrobat Adobe Express and Adobe Experience Manager Forms Incentivized Helpful?	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?

Best Alternatives
	Adobe Acrobat	Adobe Acrobat Reader
Small Businesses	Square 9 Softworks Score 9.1 out of 10	Tungsten Power PDF Score 9.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies	MSB Docs Score 9.4 out of 10	pdfFiller Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises	Tungsten Capture Score 8.0 out of 10	Bluebeam Score 9.1 out of 10
All Alternatives	View all alternatives	View all alternatives

User Ratings
	Adobe Acrobat	Adobe Acrobat Reader
Likelihood to Recommend	9.1 (0 ratings)	9.2 (0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew	9.7 (0 ratings)	7.2 (0 ratings)
Usability	9.3 (0 ratings)	9.0 (0 ratings)
Availability	10.0 (0 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Performance	8.1 (0 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Support Rating	7.8 (0 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Online Training	9.0 (0 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Implementation Rating	9.6 (0 ratings)	10.0 (0 ratings)
Configurability	8.5 (0 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Ease of integration	9.0 (0 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Product Scalability	10.0 (0 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale	4.0 (0 ratings)	- (0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale	5.5 (0 ratings)	- (0 ratings)

User Testimonials
	Adobe Acrobat	Adobe Acrobat Reader
Likelihood to Recommend	Adobe Acrobat is well-suited for editing documents and combining them into a single document if you have such a need. It is super easy, and you can even rearrange the order in which you combine them by simply dragging the documents into the desired order. Adobe Acrobat is great for adding contact documents to your website that customers fill out and complete. Adobe sends it to your email and alerts you so you can then manage the contact from there. Incentivized DB Dennis Blocker Office Manager Read full review	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
Pros	The edit PDF tool is a game changer for our business. There is no other tool that is as easy to use for small, quick PDF edits. Adobe Acrobat makes adding, deleting, and combining PDFs very simple and seamless. The comment tools, and the function to share for my comments with my colleagues, makes it easy to collaborate with my team on the same PDF document. Incentivized Adam Montgomery Business Development Manager Read full review	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
Cons	Maintain the layout when converting; sometimes, it loses the layout, and things are misaligned. This makes it easier to write in custom text on a PDF, but sometimes I have to convert it from a PDF to a doc to achieve. Menu could be easier to find things. Incentivized Jeffrey Lange PHP Web Developer and Linux Server Administrator Read full review	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
Likelihood to Renew	Adobe Acrobat works seamlessly with the other Adobe products we use that are industry-standard. We will certainly continue to use Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator, meaning it will always be convenient to work seamlessly with Adobe Acrobat for our organization. We are happy with the performance of Acrobat and it's meets our expectations. Incentivized Avery Chipman Interior Designer Read full review	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
Usability	The features on the desktop version are all toolbar based, which makes it a little more cumbersome on a smaller device (and much simpler on a large screen). The web forms adjust well to different screen size so work well on mobile, tablet and computer Incentivized BG Bryan Grant Head of Product & Portfolio Management Read full review	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
Reliability and Availability	We have not had availability issues with Adobe Acrobat, or at least none that I am personally aware of. Some may encounter crashes of the software during outages of electricity in their city or neighborhood, which no one can plan for, but with generators in our organization, we have been lucky not to have outages Incentivized Rod Lott Manager of Marketing Strategy Read full review	No answers on this topic
Performance	One of the best features of Adobe Acrobat is its speed and stability. When dealing with massive multi-page files, having to reload a crashed program over and over again would slow down progress unnecessarily. And expanding on that, having the table of contents generated allows me to skip to different pages with ease, a necessary feature with exceptionally long files. word searches are even more helpful with text recognition. Incentivized Daniel Epstein Senior Clinical Quality Analyst Read full review	No answers on this topic
Support Rating	For a while, Acrobat DC crashed pretty frequently. I contacted Adobe Acrobat support about the problem. At first support was unable to provide a solution. After about a month Adobe's software engineers provided a fix. I just wish it had taken less than a month to solve the problem. Incentivized BP Bradley Pearce Managing Member Read full review	No answers on this topic
Online Training	Easy to follow and understand Incentivized Dave King Director of IT Read full review	No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating	I was not involved with the implementation process, so I cannot answer this question. However, when it was installed on my computer system, they did so virtually. I just sat there while they took control of my computer over the network and watch them install it, lickety split Incentivized Rod Lott Manager of Marketing Strategy Read full review	The application is pretty much "plug and play" Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
Alternatives Considered	In my opinion, both complement each other. Microsoft clearly has with Copilot the AI Edge. However, the visual dynamics of Adobe Creative are Outstanding and provide a balanced approach to creativity, utilizing both Excellent, user-friendly Tools. Incentivized JR Joe Reddix President and CEO Read full review	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
Scalability	I find that many users aren't aware of many features of the software they use, nor may they be comfortable with learning multiple-step processes. For the simplest of PDF purposes (scanning, downloading, exporting), it gets a thumbs-up. For anything involving electronic signatures, meh--causes eyes to glaze over, or forgetting what all is involved. Incentivized Jamie Caroland Independent Consultant Read full review	No answers on this topic
Return on Investment	Automation of contract offer generation enabled the HR team to reduce the time to process contracts by 97%. The automated workflow is more accurate and decreased document errors by up to 90 percent. The signature collecting process was cut from a minimum of 30 minutes to only 2 minutes. Incentivized HS Hemant Salunkhe Sr. Associate Human Resource Read full review	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
ScreenShots	Adobe Acrobat Screenshots