In today’s digital era, documentation has become more manageable than ever before. The ease of creating and sharing documents across various platforms has revolutionized the process. Among the various document formats available, PDF stands out for its exclusive features. While Adobe Acrobat is synonymous with PDF, there are alternative solutions that offer comparable functionalities and benefits. These Adobe Acrobat alternatives cater to a wide range of user needs, providing efficient and effective PDF document-handling capabilities.
Adobe Acrobat has long been the industry standard for developing, converting, editing, and managing PDFs. However, it faces competition from alternative solutions that offer similar functionalities for free. Before exploring these adobe alternatives, let’s understand what PDF actually means.
What is PDF?
PDF is the acronym for ‘Portable Document Format’. It is a file format for presenting, creating, and exchanging documents without using any particular software or hardware platform. For instance, you can generate a document that contains text, infographics, and a specific layout. To make it suitable for sharing, viewing, and printing across modern devices, you can convert it into a PDF without fearing any distortion of its presentation.
In this context, PDF is chosen as the perfect format to preserve and share documents in their suitable or required forms. Hence, the PDF format is used for creating contracts, resumes, manuals, reports, e-books, product descriptions, handbooks, etc.
What is Adobe Acrobat?
Adobe Acrobat is the forerunner developed by Adobe Inc. It is a comprehensive software suite that enables users to develop, edit, convert, and manage PDF documents. It offers a comprehensive range of features covering documentation, scanning, creating forms, adding digital signatures, and collaborating with various tools. Frequently available in useful versions such as Adobe Acrobat Pro and Adobe Acrobat DC (Document Cloud) to cover different requirements.
Best Adobe Acrobat Alternatives
Here are the top 10 Adobe Acrobat alternatives renowned for their high ratings and comprehensive content. These best adobe alternatives offer a wide range of features to handle PDF documents efficiently and effectively. Whether you’re looking for PDF editing, conversion, or collaboration tools, these adobe alternatives have got you covered.
1. Nitro Pro
Nitro Pro, as the name suggests, adds more inertia to your PDF generation with a comprehensive set of exclusive features. It has a remarkable user interface that allows you to create, edit, sign, and even annotate PDF documents. This PDF tool also has excellent tools integrated into its interface that allow teams, partners, and employees to connect and harmonize PDF documentation. It serves as one of the best Adobe Acrobat alternative for users.
Features
- Exclusive inbuilt tools that allow easier PDF generation, sharing, annotating, and signing
- Connected with cloud storage service to get PDFs on the go
- Integrates Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
Price: Starts from $9.99/month for over 20 users
2. Foxit PhantomPDF
Foxit PhantomPDF is an excellent Adobe Acrobat alternative free to try. It offers a free version with limited features to understand its usability. It offers a wide range of user-friendly inbuilt tools to create, edit and secure PDF documents. It also includes the advanced features of collaborating functionalities such as OCR, document integration, document signing, etc. It can also be integrated with leading cloud services.
Features
- Creation, merging, and conversion of document formats such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, HTML, XPS, RTF, etc. to PDF
- Easy text recognition with OCR from scanned PDFs
- Reads compressed PDFs and enables optimization
- Easy editing of texts, paths, and images
Price: Starts from $8.99/month
3. PDFelement
PDFelement is considered one of the best Adobe Acrobat alternatives due to its wide range of PDF services created by Wondershare. It offers PDF editing and annotation tools included in the architecture. With such tools, users can create forms, use OCR, merge documents and even convert files into different formats. This service provider delivers plans that match well with business, as well as, individual users. PDFelement offers a free version for interested users to check the interface. It is available for Windows and Mac users.
Features
- Easy text, image, style, font, and shape editing
- Inserting links and watermarks can be easily done
- Available for desktop and mobile users (Android and iOS devices) with cloud services
Price: Services start from $69.99 a year with various flexible plans
4. SmallPDF
Like the other names on this list, SmallPDF is a powerful PDF suite that offers users to convert various file formats into PDFs and vice versa. It also offers a user-friendly platform to merge PDFs, convert images into PDFs, e-sign PDF documents, and edit and compress files. Users will also find various tools that enable them to convert PPT, Excel, etc to PDF or vice versa. You can delete specific PDF pages, insert numbers and even read, display, and share files with others.
Features
- Comes with a scanner and file protection tools
- Splitting and merging PDF files becomes a lot easier
- Easy streamlining of generating and sharing PDFs across users
- Offers free templates for invoices, contracts, business, etc
Price: The Pro service comes @$8.99/month. It also offers customizable business solutions.
5. PDF Expert
PDF Expert is one of the top alternatives to Adobe Acrobat which offers a vivid software suite for PDF users. It makes editing, annotating, signing, merging, and organizing PDFs easy for users. You can also markup and make notes out of the PDFs. This suite offers to convert Word, Excel, PPT, and other popular document formats into PDFs and vice versa. Users can also sign, comment, add images, and recognize text in PDFs using this tool.
Features
- Available for desktop and mobile devices
- Fits into the screen resolutions without distortion
- Offers templates for personal and business purposes
- Only available for Mac and iOS devices
Price: The pro version is $7.99 a month. Users can also purchase a lifetime plan but it does not come with updates.
6. Sejda
Like the other contenders on this list, Sejda is a full-fledged PDF software suite that offers editing, merging, splitting, and converting tools. It also has digital signing, OCR, and form-filling options along with page extraction, split, compressing, alternating, bookmarking, and mixing tools. Sejda is ideal for splitting, merging, and editing PDFs according to page size, range, bookmarks, text, etc.
Features
- Users can create forms, fill forms, sign and delete specific pages in a PDF file
- Offers security, locking, watermarking, and one-step print & scan documents
- Offers a free version for trial
Price: The service package starts at $7.50 per month. Users can also choose a yearly plan for $63.
7. PDF Architect
PDF Architect is a full-fledged PDF editing tool that comes in three plans. This PDF suite is probably the only one that offers the right customizable solution for users. It offers the Standard, Professional, and Professional + OCR versions. Users can download the right suite considering their requirements. It offers tools to create, convert, edit, review, and comment on PDF files. It can also be used for converting various other document formats into PDFs and vice versa.
Features
- Excel files print-ready
- Editing capabilities for modifying text and images in PDFs
- Conversion and export options to convert PDFs to different file formats
- Form creation and management for interactive form fields
- Security features including password encryption, permissions, and digital signatures
- Page organization and management for rearranging, rotating, and deleting pages
- Annotation and markup tools for comments, highlighting, stamps, and shapes
- Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for converting scanned documents into editable text in PDFs
Price: The standard version comes at $69 yearly. The Pro and Pro + OCR versions come at $89 and $129 yearly.
8. Able2Extract Professional
Able2Extract Professional is a PDF editor and converter that provides advanced features like OCR, form filling, and data extraction. It supports batch processing and offers secure document signing. Users can avail of new features such as making custom PDFs to Excel, checking conversion output previews, and also preserve the original style and layout. It also has the unique features of handling inconsistent tables and converting files to PDF and vice versa.
Features
- Create batches with master templates
- Setting conversion templates becomes easier
- Smart default templates available with the paid versions
- Versions available for Mac, Windows, and Linux
Price: A 30-day license costs $99.95 whereas an annual license costs $199.95.
9. PDF Escape
PDF Escape is an Adobe Acrobat alternative free online PDF suite that offers a wide range of features to edit, annotate, create, and share PDF files. Users can also fill out PDF forms using this online free version. This online PDF editor supports all kinds of web browsers. Its free desktop version can be easily installed on Windows PC and used.
Features
- Its free version can be easily installed and upgraded to premium and ultimate versions
- Can be operated using a modern internet browser
- Offers offline and online modes of PDF tools
Price: It costs $2.99 a month for the Premium version and $5.99 a month for the Ultimate version.
10. Soda PDF
Soda PDF is a versatile PDF editor that offers a wide range of features, including editing, converting, and secure document sharing. It provides collaboration tools, OCR, and integration with popular cloud storage services. Users can utilize friendly tools to create, convert, merge, compress, and edit PDF files easily. There are exclusive micro-features in every section of the tools offered by this vivid PDF suite.
Features
- Highlight, whiteout, remove text, stamp and even draw on PDF files.
- Can be accessed online with an internet browser on a tablet, PC, or mobile
- Easy sharing with cloud integration service
Price: The Standard version costs $6.75 a month. The Pro version costs $10.99 a month. The Business version costs $16.66 a month.
Conclusion
Adobe Acrobat has so many alternatives to choose from as per the user’s requirement. Focus on your requirements and make a suitable choice based on the requirements and the subscription rate. Consider the number of users to ensure you have made the right decision.
Also Read: 10 Best Canva Alternatives for Graphic Design [Free & Paid]
FAQs
What are the popular alternatives for Adobe Acrobat PDF?
The popular Adobe Acrobat alternatives are:
- Nitro Pro
- Foxit PhantomPDF
- PDFelement
- Sejda
- PDF Escape
- Soda PDF
Is there any free PDF reader and converter?
All the alternatives on this list offer a free trial version to check the features. PDF Escape offers online free tools for PDF generation, conversion, reading, and editing.
What is the best PDF software suite for the office?
It entirely depends on the tools an office needs to find out the most suitable option. However, Nitro Pro is the ideal choice to go with.
What is the difference between Adobe Acrobat Free Trial and Premium versions?
Adobe Acrobat Pro DC offers advanced tools for editing, creating, document conversion, enhanced security, document comparison, automation, and integration that the free trial version will not be able to deliver up to that level.
What is the best PDF suite to use for reading documents only?
Any suite from the above list can be chosen to read documents only. Users can also use the free online versions to avoid downloading any installation files.
