Adobe Acrobat vs. pdfFiller

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Acrobat
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Acrobat DC is the current version of the well-established document / PDF management solution, part of the Adobe Document Cloud (the other part being Adobe's eSign services based on technology acquired with EchoSign in 2011).
$29.99
per month per seat
pdfFiller
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
pdfFiller is a cloud-based platform with a comprehensive digital toolkit used to handle PDFs, and to edit, sign, store, manage, and collaborate on documents. Documents are stored in the cloud and can be accessed anytime, anywhere, without worrying about losing data.
$20
per month (for an individual user)
Pricing
Adobe AcrobatpdfFiller
Editions & Modules
Acrobat Pro for Individuals
$19.99
per month
Acrobat Pro for Teams
$23.99
per month per user
Acrobat Studio for Individuals
$24.99
per month
Basic for Enterprise
$8
per month (annual commitment) per user (minimum 20 users)
Premium for Enterprise
$10
per month (annual commitment) per user (minimum 10 users)
Basic
$20
per month single user
Plus
$30
per month single user
Premium
$40
per month single user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe AcrobatpdfFiller
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalOptional
Additional DetailsUp to a 70% discount on individual plans for annual billing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe AcrobatpdfFiller
Considered Both Products
Adobe Acrobat
Chose Adobe Acrobat

Adobe Acrobat, in my opinion, is the gold standard - the pioneer and household name for all things PDF.

However, in the last several years competitors have emerged who offer very similar functionality, solving the same problems as Adobe. Sometimes Adobe performs better, and in …

Chose Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat stand out most in document management, editing features and document management which are powerful for our work.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
All the other applications in the market are replications of Adobe Acrobat and Adobe is the original one. The work on Adobe Acrobat with all the updates does not allow competition from other applications to work. Adobe Acrobat has many features in this applications that …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Although I have personally worked with some other PDF editor applications throughout the years, the ease of use and versatility of Acrobat combined with Adobe's reputation and history in this sector made them the natural choice for my research group's activities. The features …
pdfFiller
Chose pdfFiller
I have used other editors such as Adobe Acrobat and, in my opinion, for the money Adobe costs, if the need is just to edit pdf I would go with PDFfiller. It is a really easy tool to use. It's learning curve is not that steep and it does pretty much everything I need from it.
Chose pdfFiller
I used Adobe Acrobat at a past job for one project. It was a quick use, so I do not have a lot of experience with it. PDFfiller seemed like the preferred, go-to software and seemed the easiest to use, which is why I recommended it for use at my current company.
Chose pdfFiller
Adobe isn't user-friendly in my opinion. I can't save a pdf easily when I want to only select certain pages. PDFfiller is much faster and does everything I need and the interface makes more sense to me.
Chose pdfFiller
Honestly, I'm not sure I could assert that PDFfiller is necessarily better than the competition. It's definitely adequate enough for the tasks I need it for that I quit looking for another service to use.
Chose pdfFiller
PDFfiller gives me convenience in many ways. It allows me to edit my documents hassle-free. And it also help me to convert those pdf documents into other office formats whenever I require. It also has advantage to source my documents from a URL. With this feature I can source …
Chose pdfFiller
I think PDFfiller has more functionality that I haven't or don't need to tap into - and it is wicked easy to work with.
Chose pdfFiller
It's comparatively cheap and has more features than DocuSign.
Best Alternatives
Adobe AcrobatpdfFiller
Small Businesses
Tungsten Power PDF
Tungsten Power PDF
Score 9.8 out of 10
Tungsten Power PDF
Tungsten Power PDF
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
MSB Docs
MSB Docs
Score 9.4 out of 10
MSB Docs
MSB Docs
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
M‑Files
M‑Files
Score 8.9 out of 10
M‑Files
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Score 8.9 out of 10
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User Ratings
Adobe AcrobatpdfFiller
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(967 ratings)
9.1
(52 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.9
(46 ratings)
9.1
(3 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(382 ratings)
9.1
(25 ratings)
Availability
8.6
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
5.3
(11 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.5
(64 ratings)
9.1
(29 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.9
(16 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Configurability
7.7
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
4.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
8.0
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.2
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Professional Services
7.3
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
5.4
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
5.8
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe AcrobatpdfFiller
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
In my opinion there isn't a better document program that works with everyone. In a previous role; I had advocated for staff across departments to get Adobe Acrobat licenses because they kept sending every little thing to me since I had the main Adobe license. It really made their departments (sales & finance) run much smoother for a very minimal cost.
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airSlate, Inc
I chose to hit #9. I believe we all have abilities to broaden our needs so for the majority you may end up thinking this is a 10 if having used comparison tools or remembering those times when a certain "other" signature and document completion tool didn't go as planned or seemed less familiar. I will always welcome the clients and professionals who need my response to send their documents to me for PDF filling. On the random flip when I have to have communication rapidly flow on the go in a last minute piece of time, these people will receive my PDF™ items. And if tips and tools are necessary, they are rather easily placed where they can be worked out by anyone.
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Pros
Adobe
  • It is easy to sign and send a document.
  • It makes it easy to scan and save a document.
  • It is easy to add text to any document.
  • You can create an editable PDF form for others to complete based on the questions you include.
  • You can create and send a secure document to a client for their signature.
  • It is easy to add photos to any document.
Read full review
airSlate, Inc
  • Create and edit forms with ease.
  • Send forms out for signature and field completion to clients, vendors, and employees.
  • Saved us a ton of time and space around the office, since we have been able to eliminate the fax machine and scanner.
Read full review
Cons
Adobe
  • I wish the backward compatibility was a little more friendly. PDFLyer had to be updated sooner that we would like when we updated from Adobe 2017 to Adobe 2026.
  • I wish it had list processing like Excel where it could remove duplicates, change formatting, etc.
  • Sometimes after an update we lose our plugins and have to restablish the connection to the plugin or reinstall.
Read full review
airSlate, Inc
  • multiple users can not login at the same time. When the 2nd user login to the same account, it will logged out the 1st user automatically.
  • For using advanced features of this software users need to pay a lot. It's very expensive.
  • Unavailability of task manager. It can help users to add their tasks on the dashboard itself and give reminders of those tasks.
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Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
Adobe Acrobat works seamlessly with the other Adobe products we use that are industry-standard. We will certainly continue to use Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator, meaning it will always be convenient to work seamlessly with Adobe Acrobat for our organization. We are happy with the performance of Acrobat and it's meets our expectations.
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airSlate, Inc
I will always be a faithful PDFfiller customer. The product has saved me a lot of time over the years and I find a great deal of value in the platform. If I move on to another company someday, PDFfiller will be going with me wherever I go.
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Usability
Adobe
I would say overall, the product is great and as someone who has used it for many years now, I'm quite familiar with the ins and outs of the application. However, we found that when users were shown it for the first time and a bit after, they would feel a bit overwhelmed by the options and what everything meant. I think the UI could be simplified or an option to have a simplified mode and an advanced mode added.
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airSlate, Inc
I don't fully understand all the features and I could probably be using it better, especially the templates. The organisation of exisiting files could be better (ie similar to folders on a pc/laptop). I haven't really invested much time into exploring it further than filling out forms; There possibly is an organisation solution I haven't discovered yet
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Reliability and Availability
Adobe
We have not had availability issues with Adobe Acrobat, or at least none that I am personally aware of. Some may encounter crashes of the software during outages of electricity in their city or neighborhood, which no one can plan for, but with generators in our organization, we have been lucky not to have outages
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airSlate, Inc
No answers on this topic
Performance
Adobe
One of the best features of Adobe Acrobat is its speed and stability. When dealing with massive multi-page files, having to reload a crashed program over and over again would slow down progress unnecessarily. And expanding on that, having the table of contents generated allows me to skip to different pages with ease, a necessary feature with exceptionally long files. word searches are even more helpful with text recognition.
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airSlate, Inc
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Adobe
For a while, Acrobat DC crashed pretty frequently. I contacted Adobe Acrobat support about the problem. At first support was unable to provide a solution. After about a month Adobe's software engineers provided a fix. I just wish it had taken less than a month to solve the problem.
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airSlate, Inc
If you need help, you can easily search for it and find online tutorials that walk you through how to do specific things step by step. You do not have to read a 20 page manual or sit for a 10 hour training session, it is refreshing that you can take it at your own pace and learn things as you need to
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Online Training
Adobe
Answered basic questions.
Read full review
airSlate, Inc
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Adobe
I was not involved with the implementation process, so I cannot answer this question. However, when it was installed on my computer system, they did so virtually. I just sat there while they took control of my computer over the network and watch them install it, lickety split
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airSlate, Inc
When I was hired on by my current company I was already a paying customer, so I just brought it with me. Once I showed our President/Founder how simple it was to use for our contracts, agreements, and NDAs, it has been a staple in our company ever since. That was almost 3 years ago. We've closed quicker because of the speed at which we can turn signed docs around.
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Alternatives Considered
Adobe
Adobe Acrobat has the most premium features that other software can't offer. The seamless UI is consistent on any device, and the ease of use. The security and the advanced AI features are what you won't get on any other platforms or apps.
Read full review
airSlate, Inc
I have used other editors such as Adobe Acrobat and, in my opinion, for the money Adobe costs, if the need is just to edit pdf I would go with PDFfiller. It is a really easy tool to use. It's learning curve is not that steep and it does pretty much everything I need from it.
Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Adobe
I am not responsible for sales or purchasing
Read full review
airSlate, Inc
No answers on this topic
Scalability
Adobe
I find that many users aren't aware of many features of the software they use, nor may they be comfortable with learning multiple-step processes. For the simplest of PDF purposes (scanning, downloading, exporting), it gets a thumbs-up. For anything involving electronic signatures, meh--causes eyes to glaze over, or forgetting what all is involved.
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airSlate, Inc
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Definitely a positive ROI when I can receive clear notes/direction on edits for a PDF via Acrobat's comment system, rather than chicken scratch on a printed document.
  • The ability to password-protect my PDFs so I can make sure only the workforce I want to see the information has been priceless!
  • As I mentioned before, a huge positive impact is the ability to edit PDFs without having to return to the original file's native software.
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airSlate, Inc
  • not traveling with a printer
  • able to do work a lot faster
  • documents always look very professional
  • all the paperwork i need to fill out is typed, not handwritten into forms which looks much more professional. Almost as if I had an assistant to type out my documents
  • I love the fact that I can make an edit to an existing PDF. I dont have to go back and forth and ask for editable copies of word documents, etc.
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ScreenShots

Adobe Acrobat Screenshots

Screenshot of where to create, edit, convert, and share PDF files all from within Microsoft Teams – as part of Acrobat integrations with Microsoft 365 apps.Screenshot of Liquid Mode in Adobe Acrobat Reader mobile app, where users can read PDFs on phones and tablets without having to pinch and zoom. Navigate lengthy documents with intelligent outline and search tools, while maximizing readability and comfort with font size and line spacing that are adjustable.Screenshot of where to fill and sign PDF forms from anywhere and on any device. Here, users can collect signatures, digitally track progress, and automatically archive the signed document.Screenshot of the Adobe Scan mobile app, used to capture and convert documents into high-quality, interactive PDF documents that can be filled out, signed, and shared. This eliminates the hassle of finding a printer, filling a form by hand, and scanning it again.

pdfFiller Screenshots

Screenshot of the PDF editorScreenshot of fillable fields in pdfFillerScreenshot of the dashboardScreenshot of where to share documents and request eSignatures