The 9 Best Adobe Acrobat Alternatives [2024 Updated]

As a PDF reader or editor is a necessity in the business world, it pays to learn which ones are best. That will save you money and effort significantly. Here, look at the list of 9 best-recommended alternatives to Adobe Acrobat in this SwifDoo PDF post.

How We Review an Adobe Acrobat Alternative

Adobe Acrobat is a family of free and paid software, including Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, Adobe Acrobat Standard, and Pro DC, with different tool suites. All of them take up much storage space on a computer. Given that, we will introduce accessible, affordable, lighter, or feature-rich Adobe Acrobat Reader, Pro, Standard, or Sign alternatives. They are mainly reviewed based on the following aspects.

• Functionality: These alternative software programs have some or most features similar to those of Adobe Acrobat, such as PDF editing, creation, conversion, and merging.
• Pricing strategy: the price of each Adobe Acrobat alternative should be competitive.
• Operating system compatibility.
• Performance: we also take program performance (such as execution speed) into consideration.

1. SwifDoo PDF

Anyone looking to invest in cost-effective PDF software can try SwifDoo PDF. The software has most of Adobe Acrobat's features and is much more economical. Like Adobe Acrobat, the program’s pro version is a PDF editor, converter, compressor, merger, etc. Its free version lets you view, annotate, rearrange, and delete PDF pages. It is the top recommended Adobe Acrobat Reader, Standard, and Pro alternative with free and premium features. 

SwifDoo PDF has Windows and macOS versions and offers a PDF reader for Android and iOS. The application also allows you to electronically or digitally sign a PDF. It is powerful, and the pro version is offered at half the price of Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. It is lightweight and responds quickly, saving you lots of disk space and time. It is the ideal Adobe Acrobat alternative because of its superior price/performance ratio.

Pros:

• PDF editing, conversion, and majority of features you want from Adobe Acrobat
• Affordable full version with PDF translation option. 
• SwifDoo AI tools to help understand, summarize, and chat with PDFs. 
• Small memory footprint

Cons:

• The Mac version needs advanced features. 

Pricing: US$2.5/month (2 years)

2. PDF-XChange Editor

A cheaper alternative to Adobe Acrobat on our list is PDF-XChange Editor. This comprehensive PDF application has 200+ features for you to perform a wide range of PDF-related tasks. You can create, organize, protect, and edit a PDF without Adobe. The program’s plus version also helps fill out forms in PDF easily.

We recommend this software because it can do almost everything Adobe Acrobat can do with a lower subscription cost. That makes it a great Adobe Acrobat alternative. Many users consider its free version a free Adobe Acrobat Reader DC alternative.

Pros:

• Less expensive PDF editor
• Come with a free version
• Small, fast, and feature-rich

Cons:

• Lack of OCR, stamp, and form-creating and editing features available in the Plus version (US$72/year)
• Old-fashioned user interface

Pricing: US$56.00 billed annually

3. Soda PDF 360 PRO

Soda PDF is another Adobe Acrobat alternative that is compatible with Windows. The software shares most features with Adobe Acrobat but enjoys a more intuitive UI. It is one of the best PDF writers, readers, and creators. You can also edit, convert, OCR, e-sign, and compare PDFs with it. The batch processing process in this PDF program is much more straightforward to learn.

What’s worth mentioning is that this alternative to Adobe Acrobat Reader and Pro is a free annotator. Its integration with cloud storage services (OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, and Evernote) lets you instantly save and sync your files.

Pros:

• Offer downloadable desktop and online free versions
• Connection with multiple cloud storage platforms
• Ease of use

Cons:

• It does not work smoothly sometimes

Pricing: US$84/year

4. Foxit PDF Editor

Individuals and businesses can use Foxit PDF Editor to manage and manipulate PDF documents instead of Adobe Acrobat. The PDF program has many tools in Acrobat, such as a PDF organizer, combiner, editor, and form filler. What makes it stand out is its full-fledged features and intuitive GUI compared with competitors. You can purchase this software as an Adobe Acrobat alternative for Mac or Windows devices.

Pros:

• Ability to convert PDF to/from various formats, edit text and images in PDF, etc
• Tools for collaborative work, such as digital signature creator
• User-friendly MS ribbon-style interface

Cons:

• No free version after the free trial
• The Foxit PDF Editor is more expensive than many other counterparts

Pricing: yearly plan at US$129.99

5. Nitro PDF Pro

Nitro PDF Pro is a full-featured Adobe Acrobat alternative that can do what Adobe Acrobat does and more. It can create, convert, edit, sign, fill out, redact, and compress PDF files. The unique part of the software is that it allows you to add your favorite tools to a single group for quick access. Moreover, it enables you to create a PDF form with fillable form fields.

Nitro PDF Pro is a top Adobe Acrobat Sign alternative for individuals, small businesses, and large enterprises, which delivers professional e-sign solutions. You can download the software to unlock its 14-day free trial.  

Pros:

• Covers almost everything that Acrobat has, from converting and editing PDFs to merging, splitting, PDF file size reduction, etc.
• Allow you to submit a PDF for review and signature without switching to other programs.
• Available on iOS

Cons:

• The interface has a lot of tools and options and, thus, is not very intuitive.
• The program may stop responding after loading and opening multiple PDF files several times.

Pricing: US$107.93/year

6. PDF Architect

PDF Architect is a worth-trying Adobe Acrobat PDF software alternative if you find no one else. The software, similar to Acrobat, offers free, Standard, and Pro versions to meet users with more or less needs. The free tier allows you to read and create PDFs from regular Office documents and rotate, delete,e or merge PDF pages. Having said that, it claims to be one of the best free apps, like Adobe Acrobat, but some users complain that you have to upgrade to the paid version to save the changes. 

The software application is praised by many for its excellent patient customer support. Its Adobe-style UI menus and ribbon will be familiar to you.

Pricing: US$129/year for Pro with OCR

7. PDFsam Basic

For those who need to merge, split, extract, or rotate pages of PDF files, PDFsam Basic is the go-to application. The free, open-source alternative to Adobe Acrobat is available on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Better than most other freeware, it allows you to organize PDFs in batches without limitations. Impressively, the program is tiny and works fast.

The open-source PDFsam Basic software is a free Adobe Acrobat alternative. However, if you need to convert, create, and edit PDFs, purchase its premium features or enhanced version.

Pros:

• One of the best free alternatives to Adobe Acrobat
• Broad compatibility with major operating systems
• Batch processing ability

Cons:

• There are no PDF editing, conversion, or more tools in the free version

Pricing: Free, or US$89 per year for PDFsam Enhanced

8. Inkscape

If you are struggling to find an Adobe Acrobat Linux alternative, Inkscape can help. You can download the free PDF reader and editor instead of Adobe to change the existing text in a PDF file directly. The software contains tools to draw lines, create shapes, fill colors, and add and edit text. It is basically a vector graphic editor that also supports PNG, OpenDocument Drawing, DXF, PDF, AI, and many more file formats. It is an open-source and cross-platform free PDF editor like Adobe Acrobat that is also running for Windows and MacOS.

However, this application can open only 1 page at a time and is thus inefficient for a multi-page document. 

9. Sejda PDF Editor

If you want to edit a PDF without using Adobe, consider the free alternative to Adobe Acrobat Pro, Sejda PDF Editor. You can download it as a desktop program or access it online via a web browser. Both the desktop and online versions offer free service for most features. Combining PDF editing, conversion, compression, locking, and more functions, Sejda is popular as a comprehensive software program.

The software is a cross-platform free Adobe Acrobat Pro alternative suitable for Linux, Windows, and Mac users.

Pros:

• Free and affordable substitute for Adobe Acrobat with a one-stop shop for PDF manipulation
• Web and desktop software available
• Cross-platform availability

Cons:

• Run slowly for heavy PDF files
• Free service with limits on daily tasks

Pricing: US$63 billed annually

Conclusion

Among the listed PDF software programs like Adobe Acrobat, you can choose the most affordable, feature-rich, or smallest one. Each of them has its strengths and weaknesses. Please note that the subscription fees for software may fluctuate due to promotion or other reasons. Hope this article is helpful for you.