Adobe Acrobat vs Nitro

In this Adobe Acrobat vs Nitro comparison, I will show you the key differences between these two PDF editors. I will compare Nitro to Adobe Acrobat based on features, pricing, my experience, user interfaces, and pros and cons. I spent numerous hours with both PDF editors, and I am here to share the benefits and limitations of each tool to ensure you make the right choice.

These are the key points that I explored during the Adobe Acrobat vs Nitro clash:

  • Nitro and Adobe Acrobat are two very similar PDF editors in terms of features.
  • Both Nitro and Adobe Acrobat have rich feature sets.
  • While Nitro is not a cheap option, it is still a more affordable PDF solution than Adobe Acrobat.
  • During my Nitro vs. Adobe Acrobat review, I sometimes experienced slow loading times with both apps.

Now, let’s dive into the side-by-side comparison of Adobe Acrobat vs Nitro!

Key differences between Adobe Acrobat and Nitro

Here is a short overview of the key differences I found in the Nitro vs Adobe Acrobat showdown:

Adobe AcrobatNitro
FeaturesPDF editing, Annotating PDFs, Organizing PDFs, Form filling and signatures, Encrypting and sharing PDFsPDF editing and reading, Image drag and drop, Annotating PDFs, Organizing PDFs, Form filling and signatures, Scan and converting PDFs
In-built AI toolsLimitedLimited
User interfaceSimple user interfaceSimple user interface
PricingFree plan: Available
Acrobat Standard: $155.88/year/user for individuals, $179.88/year/license for businesses
Acrobat Pro: $239.88/year/user for individuals, $287.88/year/license for businesses
AI Assistant: $59.88/year/user
Nitro PDF Pro: €279.65/year/user
Nitro PDF Pro: One-time fee of €279.65 per license
Free trialYesYes
Cross-platform availabilityWindows, Mac, iOS, Android, and OnlineWindows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Online
Offline modeYesYes
G2 ratings
4.5
4.3

Comparison: Adobe Acrobat vs Nitro

First, I will show you both PDF readers’ features one by one. Second, I will guide you through my experience with them and their pricing. Lastly, I will show you the pros and cons of Adobe Acrobat and Nitro and reveal my pick.

Key features

Let’s compare Adobe Acrobat and Nitro based on their key features!

Adobe Acrobat’s features

PDF editor
Adobe Acrobat review - PDF editor

The Adobe PDF Library has solid tools to edit your PDFs. On the left sidebar, you can easily to the files that you have worked on or read.

If you click the “All tools” tab, you can access Adobe Acrobat’s tools to edit your PDF. Also, if you click on any part of your PDF, you can highlight, underline, strikethrough, or copy text. Furthermore, it has a moveable sidebar that allows you to draw, fill forms, etc.

Adobe Acrobat review - text editor

Adobe Acrobat allows you to add or remove text from a PDF document. Nevertheless, if you want to move some text or images to a different page, Adobe Acrobat does not let you drag and drop the text or image elements. I found this strange, as all the advanced PDF editors have such a drag-and-drop feature.

Adobe Acrobat review - picture insertation (1)

On the other hand, Adobe Acrobat does a great job when it comes to editing text in a scanned image. It performs an optical character recognition, and after, it allows you to insert, change, or remove the recognized text. This feature works great even in the case of old printed documents.

Overall, you can easily find all the tools you need when editing your PDFs.

Annotate PDF documents
Adobe Acrobat PDF annotation tools

As mentioned, Adobe Acrobat has some useful annotating features like highlighting, underlining, or copying text. It also allows you to add comments, text fields, sticky notes, or shapes.

These are really useful tools when reviewing legal documents for example. But honestly, I miss the stickers. They would make the review process even more efficient and visually appealing.

Organizing PDFs
Adobe Acrobat PDF organizer

Adobe Acrobat allows you to insert, replace, extract, rotate, split, and remove pages. While this is not an advanced PDF functionality, it is still nice that you can organize your PDFs smoothly.

You can drag and drop page thumbnails to order them in the way you want them. For example, you can easily drag a Word file into the thumbnail images of your PDF document, and Acrobat is capable of converting it into PDF format, so you can smoothly insert it into the existing PDF pages.

The one thing I did not like here is that the free version does not include even the basic PDF organization features.

PDF form filling and signatures
Adobe Acrobat PDF form filling feature

Just click the “Fill & Sign” tool, and you will have access to all the tools for filing PDF forms and signing documents. By enabling PDF form filling, you can complete form filling by clicking a text field and typing or inserting a text box.

Adobe Acrobat PDF signing feature

Moreover, if you hit the “Fill & Sign” button in the toolbar, you can quickly draw or type your signature and place it on the form.

Ultimately, Adobe Acrobat has easy-to-use form-filling and signature features.

Encrypt and share
Adobe Acrobat PDF encrypt and share

With Adobe Acrobat, you can protect your PDF files with passwords. It is also great that you can limit access to certain features like printing or editing. To use the password protection, click on the “All tools” tab and hit “Protect a PDF.” This way, you can add a password to your PDF files.

Furthermore, you can share PDF documents directly from Adobe Acrobat or after exporting them. You can create a public link to the PDF file or send it as an email attachment through your email app.

AI assistant
Adobe Acrobat AI assistant feature

Adobe Acrobat also has an AI assistant feature for $4.99 per month if you have a paid plan. It is a useful tool to get quick answers about your PDFs, summarize content, and digest documents faster.

Adobe Acrobat AI summary tool

The summary feature works great; Adobe Acrobat creates a summary with one click that pulls key points from your document. It also allows you to chat with multiple documents, so you can find crucial information faster.

However, I have experienced these AI assistant features being limited.

Nitro’s features

Let’s see if Nitro is the best Adobe Acrobat alternative!

PDF editor
Nitro PDF editor feature review

If you click on the edit button on the left side of the top toolbar, you can edit PDF documents with Nitro. You can create new text or edit the existing content.

When you finish editing, you can move the text blocks around by dragging and dropping them. You can also change the font types, sizes, and more.

Using Nitro, you can add pictures to your PDF files. If you go to the Review tab, you add an image with a click. Similarly to the text boxes, you can drag and drop the pictures if you want to move them.

PDF reader
Nitro PDF reader feature review

Nitro is a smooth PDF reader as well. You can choose from numerous view options to review your PDF documents.

The default view is when you see only one page at a time. However, you can easily change the default view or use the facing pages where you see two pages next to each other.

Ultimately, Nitro has the essential tools to read your PDFs. It does not have that many options like Foxit or PDF Expert, but it can do the work.

Annotate PDF documents
Annotate PDFs with Nitro

During my Nitro vs Adobe Acrobat review, I discovered that Nitro is a solid PDF annotator. You can annotate PDFs easily, for example, highlight text, add notes, or callouts.

I really loved how the highlighting works. Compared to many other software, you can highlight text when selecting the sentences in your PDFs. Nevertheless, Nitro allows you to select whole text boxes, which is much faster.

Furthermore, you can use stamps and shapes or even draw in Nitro PDF. Overall, all these features are useful when reviewing PDF documents or collaborating with others.

PDF Forms and signatures
Enabling PDF form filling with Nitro

Nitro has several tools that you can use to fill out forms. You can add different items like checkboxes, lists, barcodes, buttons, and more.

When you insert an item, you can easily drag and drop them, duplicate fields, and use more detailed formatting.

Nitro PDF siganture review

With Nitro, you can create and manage your electronic signatures. On the Home tab, go to the QuickSign option and select Create New Signature. You can choose from different methods when creating your signature. For example, type your name, and Nitro will generate it for you, or you can draw it for yourself.

All in all, Nitro has massive PDF form-filling and signature tools that should fulfill all the requirements if you use it for work.

Organize PDFs

If you go to the page layout option on the top toolbar, you can organize your PDF files. You can reorder, delete, rotate them, and more.

Basically, you have all the options here to organize your pages fast.

PDF Protection
Nitro PDF protection feature

Protection is key when it comes to PDFs, as they can include a lot of sensitive data. With Nitro, you can add an open password and a permission password.

In the case of open passwords, you have to add a password that must be entered each time you access the PDF file. You can set a permission password to allow others to edit and print the PDFs.

They are both useful for protecting your PDFs and restricting their accessibility.

Nitro AI
Nitro AI assistant feature

Maybe it is just me, but I could only access the AI assistant from my online account using the tools. I love the AI assistants in the PDF tools, as they can make the review and learning processes much faster.

I had no issues with the output of the AI assistant; however, what I realized is that it takes too much time to get answers to questions. So, while the AI assistant can be quite useful, it was too slow for me.

My experience

Now, let’s see my experience with both PDF apps!

My experience with Adobe Acrobat

Adobe Acrobat user interface

Adobe Acrobat has massive PDF editing features. However, it comes with a price, as you can access these features only with paid plans. With the Adobe Pro License, you can easily organize, edit, and convert PDFs.

It has a clean user interface, and you can access it on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and online. The only issue that comes up occasionally is that it is quite slow when opening larger PDF files.

Ultimately, I had a positive experience with Adobe Acrobat. Using the Adobe Pro License is ideal for all your PDF needs.

My experience with Nitro

Nitro PDF user interface

Nitro has a robust feature set when it comes to working with PDF forms and documents. You can find everything you need to read, edit, and review PDF documents.

The user interface is simple, but sometimes, it took time for me to find the tool I was looking for.

Also, when I worked with more PDFs in parallel, particularly with scanned images, Nitro was slow for me. Additionally, when asking questions from the AI assistant, it took 30-50 seconds to get answers. Compared to UPDF or Foxit, I get the answers from those PDF editors in 10 seconds.

Do not get me wrong, I had a pleasant experience with Nitro, and I honestly think it is a very capable PDF editor. However, these minor things can matter if you choose between two PDF editors.

Pricing

Let’s check their pricing!

Adobe Acrobat’s pricing

Adobe Acrobat pricing for individuals

Adobe Acrobat has three plans, and you can add the AI Assistant feature for $4.99 per month. Also, the prices are different for individuals, teams, and students & teachers. As the prices vary based on whether you buy it as an individual or team member, let’s focus on the features included in the plans.

The free plan is called Adobe Reader. This plan lets you view, print, share, and add comments to your PDF files.

The Acrobat Standard also includes PDF editor features, so you can edit text and images. You can sign, send, or create digital forms and add your signatures if opting for the Acrobat Standard plan.

Essentially, this plan has all the basic and some advanced features to effectively edit PDFs. It costs $155.88/year/user for individuals and $179.88/year/license for businesses.

Adobe Acrobat pricing for businesses

The Acrobat Pro plan includes all the PDF features you need. With this plan, you can send bulk e-signature requests, turn scanned documents into editable, searchable PDFs, compare two versions, and add branding.

You can get the Acrobat Pro for $239.88/year if you purchase it as an individual. The business license is $287.88/year per license for businesses. If you are a student or a teacher, you can get discounts on the Acrobat Pro plan.

The yearly fee of the AI assistant is $59.88 per user, and it is the same for individuals and businesses.

When taking a look at the paid plans of Adobe Acrobat, you will quickly realize that the price is much higher than that of some of its competitors.

Nitro’s pricing

Nitro’s pricing structure looks like this for individuals:

Nitro PDF pricing for individuals

The Nitro Pro is €199.78 annually per user, which includes PDF editing and signature features. It has all the advanced PDF functionality I showed you.

The Nitro PDF Pro is €279.65 per license. This is a one-time purchase, and the Nitro PDF Pro includes PDF editing features. However, the signing features are not included.

Nitro PDF pricing for businesses

If you are looking for a PDF editor for your business, I can not provide you with exact pricing. You need to contact sales to get volume discounts.

Adobe Acrobat’s pros and cons

Let’s see the pros and cons I discovered after the Nitro vs Adobe Acrobat review.

Adobe Acrobat vs UPDF pros and cons

Adobe Acrobat’s pros

First, Adobe Acrobat offers many tools to manipulate, annotate, and edit PDFs. The Acrobat Pro should fulfill all your PDF needs.

Secondly, it has easy-to-use PDF signing and form-filling features. It is smooth to add your signatures or fill out forms.

Lastly, Adobe Acrobat provides cloud storage for your documents, so you can access them from any device.

Adobe Acrobat’s cons

I have two issues with Adobe Acrobat.

Honestly, Adobe is an expensive tool compared to other PDF tools. This should not be a huge problem if it had a decent free version. Nonetheless, Adobe Acrobat Reader has limited features, and it is only ideal for reading PDFs.

Furthermore, Adobe Acrobat was quite slow for me, particularly if I opened a large PDF file. At first, I believed it was just me, but after reading several reviews, many users experienced the same.

Nitro’s pros and cons

These are the pros and cons I found when testing Nitro.

Pros and cons of Nitro

Nitro’s pros

First, Nitro has a massive feature set. You will find all the PDF tools you need for your work and personal use.

Second, it is a great PDF annotator. Using these tools makes the PDF review easier and faster.

Lastly, Nitro is versatile and can work on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android devices as well.

Nitro’s cons

Sometimes, Nitro was quite slow for me, especially when working with multiple PDFs.

Moreover, Nitro is a great PDF editor, but it is expensive, too.

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My recommendation: Adobe Acrobat vs Nitro

After my Nitro vs Adobe Acrobat review, I realized that both PDF tools have massive feature sets and very similar advantages and disadvantages. For instance, when testing Nitro and Adobe Acrobat, I experienced some performance issues with both apps, particularly when opening larger PDFs.

In conclusion, if I had to select between the two PDF editors, I would prefer Nitro because its user interface suits me better, and it provides the same value for about the same price.

Frequently asked questions

Is Nitro PDF better than Adobe Acrobat?

Nitro is a feature-rich PDF editor and a cost-effective solution compared to Adobe. While it is still expensive compared to many other PDF editors, it is still more affordable than Adobe Acrobat.

Nitro PDF Pro offers features similar to Adobe Acrobat and is ideal for individuals and teams.

Is Nitro a good PDF editor?

Nitro is a solid PDF editor with many valuable features to help you manage your PDF files. It has advanced tools for image editing, OCR, and data redaction.

What are the best alternatives to Adobe Acrobat and Nitro?

The best alternatives to Adobe Acrobat and Nitro are UPDF, Foxit, PDF Expert, PDF Element, PDF Gear, and Easeus PDF.

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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