The 8 Best Adobe Acrobat Alternatives: 30+ PDF Editors Tested
I understand you. Adobe Acrobat is too expensive, and yet you are unsure whether there are alternatives. I also had the same feeling, so I decided to find the best Adobe Acrobat alternatives in 2025.
I invested over 200 hours in this project and tested more than 30 PDF editors to discover the best Adobe Acrobat alternatives.
And I have good news for you! I found some PDF editing software that is better and cheaper than Adobe.
In this article, I will share the best Adobe Acrobat alternatives you can find in 2025.
Let’s dive in!
Which are the best Adobe Acrobat alternatives in 2025?
When putting together my list of best Adobe Acrobat alternatives, I considered numerous factors:
Features: I collected those PDF editors that offer similar or even more advanced features than Adobe Acrobat.
Pricing: My goal was to find cheaper alternatives to Adobe Acrobat, so the pricing was an important aspect when ranking the best Adobe Acrobat alternatives.
My experience: I also ranked these PDF editors based on my experience with them. I did not want to rely solely on user reports, so I made sure to spend sufficient time with each possible Adobe Acrobat alternative.
Similarities to Adobe Acrobat: While all the above factors are crucial, I wanted to rank the best Adobe Acrobat alternatives based on how similar they are to Adobe Acrobat in terms of user interface, features, and navigation. So, I did not want to just simply collect the best PDF editors, but also wanted to ensure that you can smoothly change from Adobe Acrobat with a short learning curve.
Based on these factors, here are the best 8 Adobe Acrobat alternatives that are better and cheaper than Adobe Acrobat:
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Adobe Acrobat Alternatives |
My Top Picks |
|---|---|
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Best Adobe Acrobat Alternative For Small Businesses |
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Best Simple Adobe Acrobat Alternative |
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Best Budget-Friendly Adobe Acrobat Alternative |
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Best Adobe Acrobat Alternative For Individuals |
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Best Lightweight Adobe Acrobat Alternative |
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Best Free Adobe Acrobat Alternative |
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Best Adobe Acrobat Alternative For Mac |
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A Solid Adobe Acrobat Alternative |
Best Adobe Acrobat Alternatives in 2025
Let’s see the list of best Adobe Acrobat Alternatives in 2025!
PDFelement
Best Adobe Acrobat Alternative For Small Businesses
Wondershare PDFelement is a full-featured PDF editor with an intuitive interface. You can edit documents easily, use PDF annotation, and supercharge your productivity with its AI tools. PDFelement has a desktop app and also works on mobile devices.
If you are looking for a more intuitive Adobe Acrobat Pro alternative for you or your business, PDFelement might be the best PDF editor for you.
Platform support
Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Online
Key features
PDF reader: You can read PDF documents with different views like single-page, 2-page, 4-page spread, and split views. Also, PDFelement lets you choose between dark and light modes, which makes it easier to read PDF documents and protects your eyes. I found this option particularly useful when I read PDF documents a lot.
PDF editing tools: PDFelement has simple and easy-to-use PDF editing tools. At the top toolbar, you can add, delete, move, and resize all the elements of the page. PDFelement supports drag-and-drop, so you can move text boxes, pictures, and forms all around your pages.
Annotate PDFs: If you hit on the comment, you can access all the relevant redaction tools. You can leave comments, highlight text, or add stamps where others can sign the documents. It is also great that PDFelement offers numerous options to customize these annotations further. For example, you can choose from multiple colors when adding a note. Although this is not a monumental feature, I like that they also pay close attention to these small things.
Organize PDFs: It is very easy to organize your PDF pages. If you click the Organize button at the top, you can delete, insert, and change the order of the pages.
PDF forms and signatures: With PDFelement, you can fill out and create PDF forms. When I tested the PDF forms, I found one really practical thing. This is the “Calculate Order” function. With this tool, you can give the sum of the other two fields, so it essentially works like a very simple Excel. I also noticed that the PDF forms’ tools are straightforward and intuitive, so document creation is simple. Furthermore, you can create and manage your e-signatures in PDFelement.
Convert PDFs: It supports many file formats, including Microsoft Word, Excel, image, and Epub.
Optical character recognition: PDFelement is very strong in terms of OCR. Also, it is super easy to find and use this tool.
Password protection: You can give your PDF files an open password and a permission password when using PDfelement.
AI tools: Using the AI assistant feature, you can ask questions about a PDF file, request a summary, and more. Essentially, it helps you manage your PDFs with high efficiency and create content for your PDFs. I did not have to wait too long for the output, which is also a good point.
My experience with PDFelement
PDFelement is an easy-to-use PDF editor overall and one of the best alternatives to Adobe Acrobat Pro. Numerous times, I have worked with longer PDF files in parallel, but I have not experienced any performance issues, which is quite common with many PDF editors, including Adobe Acrobat Pro.
I also noticed that they launch new features regularly, so they keep up with the latest changes in the PDF and software space.
All in all, I had a very positive experience with PDFelement, and it offered great value when managing my PDF files.
Pricing
You can get the yearly plan for $79.99 per user for a single platform. A cross-platform individual plan is $89.99 per user yearly, and you can use PDFelement on various platforms.
The yearly plan, regardless of whether you buy it for a single or cross-platform, includes no watermark, 1-year access to all features, 1-year of PDFelement updates, and Free 20GB PDFelement Cloud storage. These plans also cover free customer support.
In addition to the yearly plan, you can purchase a 2-year plan for $109.99 for a single platform and for $119.99 for cross-platform. With the 2-year plan, you can get the latest version of PDFelement for 2 years, 2-year access to all features, and 100GB PDFelement Cloud storage.
You can also buy the perpetual license, which costs a one-time fee of $129.99. With the perpetual license, you get access to all features, as well as 20GB of PDFelement Cloud storage. However, if there are updates in the future for the next versions, you need to pay to get all the new features.
For businesses, PDFelement offers the following plans.
The annual plan for one user is $109.9, while the lifetime license is $139. If you want to purchase PDFelement for more than 10 users, I recommend reaching out to them, as they may give you volume discounts.
Based on a common practice in the PDF editor space, if you want to use the AI tools without limits, you need to buy it for $3.99 / month. There are also discounts for students.
Overall, PDFelement is among the cheaper PDF editors.
PDFelement’s pros and cons
Why is it the best Adobe Acrobat alternative for small businesses?
PDFelement is a good PDF editor overall with intuitive user interface. It is an excellent alternative to Adobe Acrobat Pro for individuals but also offers an affordable solution for teams.
You can read the full review here: My Honest Wondershare PDFelement Review (2025)
Tenorshare PDNob
Best Simple Adobe Acrobat Alternative
Tenorshare PDNob is an AI-powered PDF editor that offers many features to edit, read, organize, convert, and annotate files. It is a full-featured PDF editor with an intuitive interface that more than 5 million people use daily.
Platform support
Windows, Mac, and Online
Key features
PDF reader: PDNob has the essential tools to read your PDFs easily.
PDF editing tools: When editing your PDFs, PDNob uses a drag-and-drop system. With this PDF editor, you can make changes in the text, pictures, and more. If you select a text box, you can move it around, change the font type, adjust the alignment, and more. Nevertheless, you can insert images and add or remove watermarks and backgrounds, so you have many possibilities to work with your PDF document.
Optical character recognition: PDNob offers an optical character recognition feature as well to edit and convert scanned PDFs. You can find the OCR feature on the top sidebar. Overall, the OCR was quite accurate, and I was satisfied with this feature when testing.
Convert PDFs: Using PDNob, you can convert PDF format into Excel, PowerPoint, images, Word documents, and more. The conversion takes 10-15 seconds, and you can work on the document in the desired format.
Annotate PDFs: Using this PDF editor, you can easily add annotations, for example, comments, text highlights, and more. Similarly to the editing features, annotating PDFs is very simple with PdNob.
Organize PDFs: If you select the Page tab on the top tools, you can access PDNob’s tools to organize your PDF pages. You can select the pages’ order, insert a new one, rotate, split, and replace them if you want.
PDF compress: You can compress your PDF files with the PDNob. If selecting the high quality, you can essentially reduce the size without losing the files’ quality. It is very accessible, as you can find this feature under your home tab.
Password protection: If you click on “Protect,” you can easily add password protection to your PDF files and restrict access to more sensitive data. When restricting access to PDF documents, PDNob provides numerous options. For instance, you can only allow others to print but do not allow editing.
AI tools: One of the best features of the PDNob PDF editor is the AI-powered tools. You can ask the AI assistant to summarize your PDF document in seconds. Moreover, you can chat with your PDFs and get instant answers about your PDF documents. Lastly, you can ask AI to translate, rewrite, or explain the PDF for you.
My experience with Tenorshare PDNob
Tenorshare PDNob offers a wide range of PDF editing and annotation tools. With its easy-to-use tools and user-friendly interface, I had almost zero learning curve with this PDF editor.
Using the OCR and converting features was super smooth, and I had almost zero learning curve to utilize such features. They were fast, easy to use, and did not encounter any issues.
To summarize, I had an absolutely positive experience with the PDNob PDF editor, and I recommend it to those who need a simple yet effective solution for PDF management on multiple platforms.
Use the above link and the discount code TS-TBD-20 to get 20% OFF from the paid plans.
Pricing
Free trial
Tenorshare PDNob offers a one-week free trial. You can access 50 AI Credits, 2 GB cloud storage, and the ability to upload 120 pages per file, and the size has to be below 15MB. You can edit and organize your PDF documents with the free trial, but it will include the watermarks.
Essentially, the free trial is ideal for trying the its features and deciding if it fits your needs.
One Month License
The monthly plan’s regular price is $49.99. However, PDFNob is running a campaign, so you can get it for $14.99. It covers 100 AI credits/month, one month of free updates, 20 GB of cloud storage, and no watermarks.
One Year License
The one-year license’s original price is $79.99, but you can get it for $35.99 now. Essentially, it has the same features as the PDNob PDF editor offers in the monthly plan.
Considering that this is a way cheaper option if we break down the price monthly, I recommend going with this plan if you are satisfied with the PDNob PDF editor.
Lifetime License
Finally, the PDNob PDF editor has lifetime access for $349.95. Its current price is $69.99, and it offers lifetime access to all the features. It’s also great that it covers the updates, as most of the time, you have to buy those separately.
Tenorshare PDNob’s pros and cons
Why is it the best simple Adobe Acrobat alternative?
PDNob is an intuitive and easy-to-use PDF editor with powerful AI features. I recommend it to those who need a simple yet effective solution for PDF management, and want to interact with the documents in a smarter way.
You can read the full review here: Tenorshare PDNob Review 2025 | My Unfiltered Opinion
Use the above link and the discount code TS-TBD-20 to get 20% OFF from the paid plans.
EaseUS PDF Editor
Best Budget-Friendly Adobe Acrobat Alternative
EaseUS PDF is an affordable PDF editor software for Windows. It has all the editing capabilities you might need to manage PDF documents effectively. If you are a Windows user, EaseUS PDF editor can be an ideal alternative to Adobe Acrobat for saving money.
Platform support
Windows, Mac
Key features
PDF reader: EaseUS PDF offers two view options: single and two-page views. You can decide between scrolling the pages or automatically jumping to the next page once you reach the end of the PDF page.
PDF editing tools: With EaseUS PDF editor, you can edit all the elements of the PDF files, including text, images, shapes, and shades. Just select the “all options” tab, and with this function, you can edit all the items you click on. Ultimately, it provides a straightforward way to edit PDF text and images.
Annotate PDFs: You can highlight text, use underline, or strikethrough, but there are also other options. For example, you can add sticky notes and callouts, or you can even draw.
Organize PDFs: Using the Page Tab, you can rearrange your PDF pages, merge, crop, delete, split, and extract pages. So, it has all the tools you need to smoothly organize your PDF pages.
PDF forms and signatures: EaseUS PDF offers simple solutions for creating and filling out forms. When creating a form, you can choose from inserting a text field, checkboxes, drop-down menus, and more. You can also create your signature with one click.
Convert PDFs: You can convert your PDF documents into Word documents, Excel, PPT, image files, TXT, or HTML formats.
Optical character recognition: EaseUS PDF also has a CR tool that recognizes text and converts image files to PDF documents.
Password protection: It also has security features, so you can protect your PDF files with passwords.
AI tools: Although it does not have an in-built AI assistant yet, you can use the online PDF editor version where you can access this tool. Apart from this aspect, it works like the other AI assistants.
My experience with EaseUS PDF Editor
EaseUS PDF has an intuitive interface and some useful tools for editing and reading PDF files. This tool is a very simple alternative to Adobe Acrobat Pro.
You can find all the tools you need, whether OCR or annotation tools, in seconds. Furthermore, I noticed no performance issues even when I worked with larger PDF documents.
There are two limitations here. First, only Windows users can download it. Second, the AI assistant is currently only available online.
Nevertheless, I had a good experience with EaseUS PDF, and it is ultimately an affordable PDF editor for Windows users.
Pricing
EaseUS’s monthly plan is €19.47, while the yearly plan is €46.95. They include one license for one computer and 1-year free upgrades.
If you go for the lifetime upgrades, it will cost you €79.95.
Overall, EaseUS is currently one of the cheapest PDF editors on the market.
EaseUS PDF editor’s pros and cons
Why is it the best Adobe Acrobat Alternative for Windows?
Easue PDF editor is a simple and budget-friendly alternative to Adobe Acrobat for Windows users. While it has fewer PDF tools and only works on Windows, it is quite fast and offers an efficient way to manage PDFs.
UPDF
Best Adobe Acrobat Alternative For Individuals
UPDF is a versatile PDF editor that allows you to view, edit, sign, protect, translate, and manage your PDFs. One of the huge pluses of UPDF is that it allows you to use it on multiple devices with one license. You can use it on a desktop, but it also has mobile support.
After reviewing many PDF editors, I realized that UPDF currently has the most powerful AI features, such as generating mindmaps. With its affordable pricing, extensive AI tools, and solid PDF editing features, UPDF is the best alternative to Adobe Acrobat for individuals.
Platform support
Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Online
Key features
PDF reader: When managing your PDFs with UPDF, you can choose between multiple layouts and view options. It is also great that you can compare two PDF documents and access this option on the main page.
PDF editing tools: UPDF allows you to add text boxes and pictures and edit all the elements of the PDF pages. Whenever you add new text or edit existing text, you can customize the text’s color, font, and alignment. I loved that you could customize all the elements of the PDF.
Annotate PDFs: UPDF has many annotation tools, such as sticky notes, stickers, highlighting, and more. It offers unique stickers, which can also come in handy when reviewing PDF files.
Organize PDFs: UPDF allows you to effortlessly rearrange, replace, extract, and split pages.
PDF forms and signatures: It offers PDF forms, and you can sign PDFs using your digital signatures with a few clicks.
Convert PDFs: You can convert PDF files into Word, Excel, PPT, HTML, Images, Txt, RTF, and other file formats.
Optical character recognition: UPDF also has OCR features to make scanned PDF editable and searchable.
Password protection: UPDF also has strong security features. You can easily add passwords to your PDFs. You can ask for a password when someone opens the PDF, but you can also use permission passwords.
AI tools: Its AI tools make UPDF one of the best PDF editors on the market. They help you summarize PDFs, answer questions, translate PDF documents, and create mind maps. Currently, it has the most advanced AI features.
My experience with UPDF
UPDF has a clean user interface, so even new users can learn all the features quickly. I loved that I could access every tool with one or a maximum of two clicks.
Another thing that stands out is how easy it is to edit PDFs. You can change every element in a PDF file with high flexibility. The AI mindmap feature was also special; it makes learning and understanding PDF documents faster.
Use the above link and the coupon code OZGDRO8H to get $5 OFF from the paid plans.
Pricing
UPDF has three plans. The pricing structure changes whether you are an individual, student, or enterprise client.
The free version includes limited AI assistant features (i.e., Analyze three files, ask 30 questions) and two file conversions per day. While you can use many editing features, UPDF will add watermarks to your document.
The UPDF Pro license is $39.99 yearly, you can access all the editing features without watermarks. If you are not interested in AI features, a lifetime license is an ideal option, and it is $69.99.
If you want to use the AI tools, opt for the UPDF with AI plan. Using this UPDF license, you can utilize all the editing and AI features without limits.
Pros and cons of UPDF
Why is it the best alternative to Adobe Acrobat for individuals?
UPDF is the best alternative to Adobe Acrobat for individuals and even teams that need a budget-friendly yet solid PDF editing tool with advanced AI features.
You can read the full review here: UPDF Review: Is It The Best PDF Editor In 2025? (REAL Experience)
Use the above link and the coupon code OZGDRO8H to get $5 OFF from the paid plans.
Smallpdf
Best Lightweight Adobe Acrobat Alternative
Smallpdf is a top lightweight PDF software with numerous tools to convert, compress, and edit PDF files for free. What makes Smallpdf special compared to other PDF editors is that it offers a Chrome extension that allows you to use its tools when you open a PDF in your browser.
It is almost three times cheaper than Adobe Acrobat yet offers advanced PDF organization, conversion, and AI features. During my Smallpdf review, I realized that it is among the best PDF and document management solutions.
Platform support
Windows, Android, and Online
Key features
PDF reader: Smallpdf allows you to smoothly read your PDF documents and zoom in and out. Also, you can select whether you want to fit the page to height or width.
PDF editing tools: If you double-click on the text you want to edit, you can use different font types for the text, adjust the size, and change color and alignment. In addition to editing existing text, you can add new text boxes to your PDF documents. Apart from adding new text boxes, you can insert image files into PDF documents using Smallpdf. Once you have inserted the image files, you can smoothly move them and change their size and opacity level.
Annotate PDFs: Using Smallpdf, you can add text, drawings, shapes, and highlights. If you click on the highlight option, you will access some additional tools like text underlining, strikethrough, and squiggle.
Organize PDFs: With this PDF tool, you can merge, split, rotate, delete, and extract pages. You can combine multiple PDFs into one longer document, which makes it easy to read and review everything in one single file. Smallpdf’s splitter feature helps you extract, split, and save pages as separate documents. It is an easy-to-use feature that also lets you drag and drop pages and reorganize your PDF documents. Moreover, I tried the PDF extract tool as well during my Smallpdf review, and it worked great. Essentially, it lets you select and save pages as a new document in seconds.
Signatures: You can either draw, type, or upload the signature you want to use to sign PDFs. Once you have your signature, you only need to insert it in the place where you need to sign the PDF, and that’s it.
Convert PDFs: You can convert PDFs into Excel, images, PowerPoint, and Word files. It works vice versa, so you can convert the supported file formats into PDF documents.
Optical character recognition: Smallpdf offers OCR tools as well, which allow you to convert scanned documents and images into editable and searchable text. The OCR is particularly useful when you work with printed materials or older documents that you want to digitize.
Password protection: Using Smallpdf, you can set passwords for your PDFs and other formats, too. Moreover, it has an Unlock feature, so you only need to upload your file, enter the password, and download your unrestricted document.
PDF compression: With Smallpdf, you can compress PDFs easily. Simply drag-and-drop the file, and select your preference, whether you need standard or lower resolution (the file size will change accordingly), and Smallpdf will do the rest.
AI tools: Smallpdf has massive AI features, as you can use it to chat, summarize, and translate your PDF documents. Also, it has a feature to generate questions about the PDF file you uploaded.
My experience with SmallPDF
When testing Smallpdf, I used its online version. With its intuitive user interface, it was super easy to access all the features I needed.
During the Smallpdf review, I had a feeling that it was more than just a PDF editor; it was rather a document management solution. It supports various formats and offers many tools to manage your documents.
When editing PDFs, Smallpdf adopted a drag-and-drop functionality, which made it easy to edit PDFs quickly and smoothly. Furthermore, Smallpdf offers advanced PDF organization, conversion, and AI features.
I also appreciated the option to add team members. With its discounted pricing for teams, Smallpdf is an ideal solution for teams as well.
Overall, I had an absolutely positive experience with Smallpdf, and I think it is among the best PDF and document management solutions.
Pricing
Smallpdf’s free version gives you access to all the basic tools for document management. It covers compression, PDF conversion tools, passwords, a PDF editor, and e-signature features. Nevertheless, the Free Plan has a daily download limit for these features.
The Pro Plan is excellent for professionals who need unlimited downloads and access to all the Pro features. The Pro version of Smallpdf starts at $10 per month if the annual billing is chosen. Alternatively, if you want to pay monthly, you can use its monthly plan for $15.
Using the 7-day free trial version, you will have a chance to test Smallpdf’s Pro features for yourself before buying it. The Pro Plan includes all the features in the free version without limits, plus you will access some more advanced features.
SmallPDF has a dedicated plan for teams. The Pro for Teams Plan is perfect if you and your team need access to advanced features and faster support and want to save a bit more compared to individual subscriptions.
This plan has all the features included in the Pro Plan, plus you access centralized billing, member access management, and priority customer support.
You can get this plan for $8/month per seat if opting for the yearly billing. In the case of monthly billing, the Pro For Teams Plan will cost you $12/month per seat.
Pros and cons of Smallpdf
Why is it the best lightweight alternative to Adobe?
After testing Smallpdf, I realized that it is more than just a PDF editor but rather a document management platform. It is an ideal option for professionals and small businesses to edit, convert, compress, and manage their documents smoothly. With its easy-to-use features, it is an ideal lightweight Adobe Acrobat alternative.
You can read the full review here: Smallpdf Review 2025 | The Top Lightweight PDF Tool
PDFgear
Best Free Adobe Acrobat alternative
PDFgear is a very intuitive app and a completely free PDF editor. You can read, edit, convert, merge, and sign PDF files across your devices with PDFgear. It is also fantastic that it has numerous free online tools that you can access on its homepage.
While this is a free alternative to Adobe Acrobat Pro, it offers many useful editing tools, particularly for individuals.
Platform support
Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Online
Key features
PDF reader: You can read PDF files with PDFgear easily. This free PDF editor offers single and double-page view options, and it also has an auto-scroll tool. So, it is similar to Adobe Reader.
PDF editing tools: This alternative to Adobe Acrobat has all the essential tools you might need to work with PDFs. You can edit text, adjust fonts, color, and size, and make it bold or italic. Although it does not have that many editing tools like other PDF editors, it includes some useful tools to edit PDF documents.
Annotate PDFs: You can access valuable collaboration tools using this free PDF editor. You can highlight, underline, and strike through text. I loved that you can highlight areas of your pages. Besides these options, you can add notes, shapes, and text boxes.
Organize PDFs: You can extract, delete, insert, and rotate pages, and if you want to move them, just drag and drop the page thumbnails. Organizing your PDF pages is super easy with PDFgear.
PDF forms and signatures: PDFgear only has the basic features to create and fill forms. However, you can create your digital signatures and sign digital documents.
Convert PDFs: You can convert files into many other formats, such as Microsoft Word files or pictures, and vice versa.
Optical character recognition: You can find the OCR tool on the homepage, so you can quickly extract text from scanned files.
Password protection: PDFgear allows you to control who can open the PDF file with the passwords. Nevertheless, there is no option to restrict the editing or printing of the PDF files.
AI tools: When opening up the AI co-pilot, you will get some sample prompts you can use to interact with your PDFs. It is also great that you can not just chat but also add commands to AI, for example, protect the PDF with a password or convert the PDF into another format.
My experience with PDFgear
PDFgear is a simple but, most importantly, free PDF editor that has all the basic editing features to effectively manage PDF documents. When using PDFgear, I did not experience any performance issues.
Moreover, it was great that you could give commands to the AI co-pilot, making your processes more efficient.
Pricing
PDFgear is a free PDF editor. The reason behind this is simple: they are just starting out.
The business is currently in a stage where they focus on growth and acquiring users. So, they will introduce some advanced features in the future and offer paid plans for that. But for now, it is a completely free online PDF editor that also has a desktop version.
Pros and cons of PDFgear
Why is it the best free Adobe Acrobat alternative?
PDFgear is currently the best free PDF editor on the market. It has many useful PDF tools and a user-friendly interface that is similar to Adobe Acrobat Pro.
PDF Expert
Best Adobe Acrobat Alternative For Mac
PDF Expert is a lightweight PDF editor for Mac and iOS devices. Compared to Adobe Acrobat Pro, it is way faster, has better reading options, and is a more straightforward PDF app.
Platform support
Mac and iOS
Key features
PDF reader: You can use a one-page or two-page layout. Also, you have the option to view two pages vertically next to each other or horizontally after each other. PDF Expert offers three themes when viewing your PDF documents. It allows you to choose day, night, or sepia mode to reach maximum eye comfort.
PDF editing tools: PDF Expert is a simple tool for PDF editing. You can easily add, replace, and resize images and text boxes in your PDFs. I loved that you can easily insert links in the PDF document that point to external websites or to other pages in the document.
Annotate PDFs: You can highlight text, comment, draw, and add stickers and shapes. It is very cool that you can leave audio comments in the PDFs. This feature could be especially valuable when reviewing PDF documents and collaborating with others.
Organize PDFs: It is super easy to rotate, add, reorder, and remove pages from your PDFs. With a few clicks, you can combine multiple PDFs into one or split a PDF into multiple documents.
PDF forms and signatures: With PDF Expert, you can easily fill out PDF forms. You can add text boxes, numbers fields, checkboxes, and places for the signatures. To use the signing tool, just type your name, and PDF Expert will transform it into a handwriting format.
Convert PDFs: It is also a PDF converter that allows you to convert PDFs to and from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, JPG, PNG, and more.
Optical character recognition: PDF Expert has a built-in OCR technology, so it recognizes the font type and seamlessly inserts the new text in the same format.
Password protection: You can set passwords to your PDF files in a quite straightforward way.
AI tools: It has an AI assistant to generate summaries and list the main points. This helps to digest PDF files faster.
My experience with PDF Expert
PDF Expert is a pretty fast, lightweight PDF editor, especially if we compare it to Adobe Acrobat Reader. It is a solid PDF viewer that allows you to change between different themes. So, it offers a pleasant experience when reading PDF files.
Moreover, PDF Expert is a simple PDF editor. It has the most crucial features to edit PDFs fast. While it does not have that many PDF editing features like Foxit or UPDF, it is easy to use its tools.
Finally, I loved PDF Expert’s user-friendly interface. It is easy to navigate on its pages, access the tools, and convert PDF files into different formats.
Overall, I had a positive experience with PDF Expert and did not encounter many issues.
Pricing
PDF Expert offers two paid plans.
You can get a lifetime subscription for a one-time fee of €149.99. While it includes almost all the features except the PDF Co-pilot, you have to pay for the updates, and you will not have access to the iPhone and iPad versions.
The annual subscription is €63.74 for the first year and €84.99 for the remaining years. It includes the updates, iPhone and iPad versions, and the PDF Co-pilot.
All in all, PDF Expert is way cheaper than Adobe Acrobat and an affordable PDF solution on the market.
PDF Expert’s pros and cons
Why is it the best alternative to Adobe Acrobat for Mac?
PDF Expert is the best alternative to Adobe Acrobat Pro for Mac users who need a fast and easy-to-use PDF editor.
Foxit PDF Editor
A Solid Adobe Acrobat Alternative
Foxit is a PDF editing software that offers many features, such as text editing, image manipulation, page organization, and outstanding annotation tools. Foxit is currently the best alternative to Adobe Acrobat. It is cheaper and faster than Adobe Acrobat, yet offers the same or more value.
Considering all the features, versatility, pricing structure, and ease of use, Foxit is the best Adobe Acrobat alternative currently on the market.
Platform support
Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Online
Key features
PDF reader: Foxit has a great PDF reader mode. You can change to night view if you want to protect your eyes and choose from many view options.
PDF editing tools: Of all the PDF editors, Foxit adopted the smoothest drag-and-drop function when editing PDF files. You can add images, text, or links and edit the existing ones. It is a powerful PDF editor that allows you to choose from many font types for the text, adjust the size, and change the margins of a content block and paragraph alignment and spacing.
Annotate PDFs: I enjoyed using Foxit’s annotation tools during testing. You can use many options when it comes to highlighting text, adding callouts, or notes. It is great that when you add one of these elements, you can customize them further using the window on the right.
Organize PDFs: Foxit is 5/5 in PDF management. You can reorder, delete, insert pages, swap, flatten, crop, extract, and split them in seconds.
PDF forms and signatures: It has easy-to-use tools to create or fill forms within a PDF document and electronically sign documents.
Convert PDFs: With Foxit, you can convert PDFs into many file formats, such as Microsoft Office formats or image files.
Optical character recognition: Foxit has super OCR tools, so you can easily make scanned files searchable and editable.
Password protection: We all know that PDFs can include sensitive data. Fortunately, with a few clicks, you can add passwords to your PDFs and restrict access.
AI tools: Foxit implemented AI technology as well. Using these tools, you can ask questions about the PDFs or ask the AI assistant to summarize the document.
My experience with Foxit PDF Editor
Foxit PDF Editor has features similar to Adobe Pro, but it is significantly cheaper. Another difference I noticed is that Foxit is how fast this PDF editor is. Even when I opened up large files, I did not have an issue with the loading time I experienced with Adobe Acrobat DC.
Foxit implemented a smooth drag-and-drop function when editing text or image formats. It makes it super convenient to edit or create PDFs quickly.
Pricing
Using Foxit’s free version, you can view and read your PDFs and utilize its PDF reader tools. Besides the free version, Foxit offers two plans.
The PDF editor includes the essential features to edit PDF files for $129.99. By choosing this plan, you can create documents, edit them, fill out forms, add security, and more.
Essentially, you can have many advanced features with this plan; the real limitations of this plan are the limited AI credits and signing tools.
Nevertheless, if you need the eSign, smart redact features, and want to use Foxit on your mobile, you must go with the PDF Editor+. You can get this plan for $172.79 per year and access all the advanced features of Foxit.
Lastly, if you want to add AI Assistant, which includes 2000 credits per month, that is an extra $49.99/year.
Pros and cons of Foxit PDF Editor
Why is it a solid Adobe Acrobat alternative?
Foxit is a reasonably priced feature-rich PDF editor. It is cheaper than Adobe Acrobat Pro, offers more advanced features, and a faster PDF editor overall.
Foxit PDF Editor is an excellent choice for teams and individuals as well.
You can read the full review here: My Honest Foxit Review After Trying +30 PDF Editors (2025)
Related readings:
- The 8 Best PDF Editors In 2025 | 30+ Personally Tested PDF Tools
- Adobe Acrobat Vs Foxit: I Tried Both and Found The BEST (2025)
- Adobe Acrobat Vs Nitro: A Honest Comparison (2025)
- I Tested +30 PDF editors for Windows | Here Are The 8 Best
- Adobe Acrobat Pricing In 2025 | Why I Regret Buying It
Summary: Best Adobe Acrobat Alternatives in 2025
While I think Adobe Acrobat DC and Pro are still reliable options, they are too expensive, considering what other PDF editors can offer. One thing is sure: no matter which Adobe Acrobat alternatives you try from this list, they will be among the best PDF editors in 2025.
I hope I was able to find the best alternatives to Adobe Acrobat DC and Pro in 2025. As always, I will keep updating this list to ensure it reflects the reality.
Why you can trust our reviews
At thebusinessdive.com, our team tests, reviews, and compares hundreds of productivity apps every year — from project management tools to note-taking apps. We dive deep into real-world use cases to help you find the right tools that actually improve your workflow, not just add noise.
Our mission? No fluff, no shortcuts—just honest, hands-on insights from productivity pros.
Have a question or suggestion? I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to reach out anytime at aronkantor@thebusinessdive.com.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an alternative to Adobe Acrobat that is free?
The best alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC and Pro version that you can get for free is PDFgear. It has all the editing and annotation tools you need to manage your PDFs effectively.
Can you edit PDF files without Adobe Acrobat?
There are many other alternatives on the market for PDF editing needs. I recommend trying PDFelement, Foxit PDF Editor, SmallPDF, Nitro PDF Pro, and UPDF, as they have more advanced PDF editing features than Adobe Acrobat DC and Pro.
Who is the biggest competitor of Adobe?
The biggest competitors currently are Foxit and Nitro PDF Pro. Nevertheless, there are always new competitors, such as PDFgear.
Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are our own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. Read the full privacy policy here.
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