Acrobat Reader is suitable for users who need to view, sign, and annotate PDFs. Acrobat is better for users who need to create, edit, and extensively manage PDFs, particularly in professional settings.
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Adobe Acrobat Reader is the standard program for viewing, printing, signing, and sharing PDF documents. It's free to use and allows you to fill out forms, add comments, and use digital signatures. While you can't edit the content of a PDF with Reader, you can collaborate with others and ensure everyone is viewing the document in the correct format. For additional features like editing PDFs, you'll need a paid Adobe Acrobat subscription.
Adobe Acrobat is a software solution that lets you create, edit, convert, share, sign, and combine PDF documents. Popular with large companies, Acrobat offers robust security features to protect your documents and ensures compliance with industry standards. You can integrate Acrobat with Microsoft 365, Teams, Outlook, Google Workspace, and other popular apps to streamline your workflows. It also offers mobile functionality so you can work from anywhere.
Summary
Main difference
Adobe Acrobat Reader is a free PDF viewer for basic tasks like viewing, signing, and annotating PDFs. Adobe Acrobat is a paid software for creating, editing, and managing PDFs, offering advanced features and integrations.
Relative strengths of Adobe Acrobat Reader (compared to Adobe Acrobat)
Free to use for basic PDF tasks.
Easy to use interface for viewing, signing, and annotating.
Widely accessible and compatible across various devices.
Relative weaknesses of Adobe Acrobat Reader (compared to Adobe Acrobat)
Limited editing capabilities.
Cannot create or convert PDFs.
Fewer advanced features compared to Acrobat.
Who is using Adobe Acrobat Reader and Adobe Acrobat?
Who should use Adobe Acrobat Reader VS. Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat Reader is the free standard for viewing, signing, and sharing PDFs. Users love its seamless PDF management and user-friendly interface. However, some have reported recent performance issues and file size restrictions. It's ideal for anyone needing to interact with PDF documents, from filling forms to adding comments.
Adobe Acrobat is a robust PDF solution for creating, editing, and managing documents. Users praise its e-signature options and visual editing features but note occasional issues with scanned image conversion and formatting. Ideal for businesses of all sizes across various industries, Acrobat seamlessly integrates with popular platforms like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Ideal for individuals and businesses of all sizes.
Suitable for most industries needing to work with PDFs.
Excellent fit for small, medium, and large businesses.
Suitable for businesses across all industries.
Adobe Acrobat Reader and Adobe Acrobat features
Supported
Partially supported
Not supported
Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need
Document Template Creation
10
sources
Not supported
Acrobat Reader does not support creating document templates.
Partially supported
Acrobat Sign supports templates with form fields, but advanced features like calculations and conditional logic are not explicitly mentioned.
PDF Management
10
sources
Supported
Acrobat Reader enables viewing, sharing, and storing PDFs locally or via cloud services.
Supported
Adobe Acrobat supports viewing, storing, and sharing PDFs, especially with cloud integration.
PDF Fill and Sign
10
sources
Supported
Acrobat Reader lets you fill, sign, and share PDFs using the Fill & Sign tool.
Supported
Adobe Acrobat lets you fill, sign, and share PDF documents, including forms.
Annotate PDF
10
sources
Supported
Adobe Acrobat Reader lets you add annotations, comments, and highlights to PDFs.
Supported
Adobe Acrobat allows adding annotations, comments, and highlights to PDF documents.
Sign document
10
sources
Supported
Acrobat Reader lets you sign PDFs electronically using the Fill & Sign tool.
Supported
Adobe Acrobat supports electronic signatures through its integration with Acrobat Sign.
Zooming and Scrolling
10
sources
Supported
Zooming and scrolling are supported.
Supported
Zooming and scrolling are supported.
Browse all features
Qualities
Value and Pricing Transparency
-0.43
Rather negative sentiment
-0.61
Rather negative sentiment
Customer Service
No data
+0.33
Rather positive sentiment
Ease of Use
+0.96
Strongly positive sentiment
+0.71
Strongly positive sentiment
Reliability and Performance
+0.33
Rather positive sentiment
+0.2
Neutral sentiment
Ease of Implementation
+1
Strongly positive sentiment
+0.29
Neutral sentiment
Scalability
No data
+0.6
Rather positive sentiment
Adobe Acrobat Reader and Adobe Acrobat Pricing
Adobe Acrobat Reader is free. Paid plans offer additional features like editing PDFs.
Plans
$12.99 per user/monthAcrobat Standard
Simple PDF tools for editing and converting documents.
$19.99 per user/monthAcrobat Pro
The highly secure PDF & e-signature solution with advanced tools to edit, convert, protect, and sign documents.
Adobe offers a free tier for their PDF Services API with 500 free document transactions per month. For higher volume needs, they offer enterprise pricing with custom quotes. Adobe PDF Embed API is free to use with unlimited access.
Plans
FreeFree Tier
500 free Document Transactions per month. Access to all 15+ PDF Services including PDF Extract, PDF Accessibility Auto-Tag API, and Document Generation.
CustomEnterprise Pricing
Volume and multi-product discounts. Access to all 15+ PDF Services including PDF Extract, PDF Accessibility Auto-Tag API, and Document Generation. Technical Support included (different tiers available). Scalable for high volume needs.
Adobe Acrobat Reader and Adobe Acrobat review insights
Users love
Seamless PDF management.
User-friendly interface.
Easy document signing.
Document accessibility and organization features are highly appreciated.
Easy to use electronic signature options
The visual options and editing features are great
The convenience of saving to the Adobe Document Cloud and accessing files from all devices
Long trial period
Users dislike
File size restrictions can be frustrating for users.
Recent updates have introduced performance issues and complexity in usage.
Customer service is not consistently available for support.
The new version of the platform is considered more complicated to use.
Scanned images sometimes don't get converted well in Acrobat Pro
The software is lagging and requires high system configuration
It can be difficult to incorporate certain features and third party features
The cost is a bit higher than what I like
Recent document editing issues with format changes
Adobe Acrobat Reader and Adobe Acrobat Ratings
G2
4.5/5
(1693)
Capterra
4.7/5
(2424)
Glassdoor
4.3/5
(10097)
G2
4.5/5
(2513)
Capterra
4.7/5
(2384)
Glassdoor
4.3/5
(10097)
Company health
Employee growth
4% increase in the last year
4% increase in the last year
Web traffic
1% decrease in the last quarter
1% decrease in the last quarter
Financing
June 1984 - $3M
June 1984 - $3M
How does Acrobat's PDF editing compare to Reader's annotation features?
Acrobat allows full PDF editing (changing text, images, formatting, etc.), while Reader focuses on annotation features (adding comments, highlights, sticky notes, etc.) without changing the original PDF content. Reader's annotation tools are designed for feedback and collaboration, whereas Acrobat offers more extensive modification capabilities.
Which product best integrates with existing cloud storage solutions?
Adobe Acrobat (Product B) integrates better with existing cloud storage solutions. Its description explicitly mentions integration with popular platforms like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and other apps, suggesting more robust cloud integration capabilities compared to Adobe Acrobat Reader (Product A), which only mentions local or cloud storage via unspecified services.
What are the advantages of Adobe Acrobat Reader?
Adobe Acrobat Reader's main advantage is its free access to essential PDF functionalities like viewing, printing, signing, and sharing. This makes it highly accessible for individuals and businesses of all sizes. It also boasts a user-friendly interface praised for ease of use and seamless PDF management.
What are the disadvantages of Adobe Acrobat Reader?
Adobe Acrobat Reader's main disadvantages include limited editing capabilities, occasional performance issues and complexities introduced by updates, file size restrictions, and inconsistent customer service availability. Some users find the newer versions more complicated than previous iterations. While it excels at viewing, signing, and sharing PDFs, the free version lacks the robust editing features found in paid software like Adobe Acrobat.
Alternatives to Adobe Acrobat Reader and Adobe Acrobat
PDF Reader Pro
Edit, annotate, convert, and sign PDFs. Powerful, yet affordable.
Michal has worked at startups for many years and writes about topics relating to software selection and IT
management. As a former consultant for Bain, a business advisory company, he also knows how to understand needs
of any business and find solutions to its problems.
TT
Tymon Terlikiewicz
CTO at Gralio
Tymon is a seasoned CTO who loves finding the perfect tools for any task. He recently headed up the tech
department at Batmaid, a well-known Swiss company, where he managed about 60 software purchases, including CX,
HR, Payroll, Marketing automation and various developer tools.
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