Adobe Acrobat vs Nitro PDF Pro
We give Adobe Acrobat a 2.6 GPA and Nitro PDF Pro a 2.2, out of 4.0. Adobe Acrobat grades higher on features and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe's PDF editor for desktop, web and mobile, with an AI tier
Nitro PDF Pro
Desktop PDF editor for Windows and Mac with AI tools, billed yearly
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAAdobe AcrobatGood | 2.2GPANitro PDF ProFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DStandard, the cheapest plan that edits, is $14.99 a month on a yearly plan, and OCR, redaction and compare need Pro at $19.99. That's the top of what PDF editors charge. Acrobat Pro 2024 is sold once for three years of desktop use, but no price for it is on record. | DStandard is $15 a user a month, billed as $180 a year, with no monthly option. That's the dearest end of PDF editors. Classic is $270 once for three years on Windows, which spread over its term is middling, but it's the core tools only. |
| Free plan and trial | CAcrobat Reader is free for good and views, comments on and signs PDFs. Nice. But it won't edit or convert, which is the job here. The 7-day trial covers Pro or Studio, and Standard has no trial at all. | CNo free plan, but a 14-day trial with no credit card needed. Enough to see if it fits, then you pay. |
| Features | BEdits text with reflowing layout, converts Office files, OCRs scans, compares versions, redacts, runs batch actions and sends documents to sign in bulk. It covers the whole job, though a lot of that sits on Pro rather than Standard. | CCreates, converts, edits and OCRs PDFs, with AI that summarizes, translates and pulls tables into Excel, plus Office add-ins. But sending for signature is Nitro Sign, a separate product, and no form builder or redaction is on record. |
| Ease of use | B4.64 from 661,119 App Store ratings for the Acrobat Reader app, just shy of the top grade. Most people have opened a PDF in it already, so there's not much to learn. | BNo store rating on record. It's a desktop editor you install and start using, with an Office-style ribbon on Windows that'll feel familiar to anyone who lives in Word. |
| Platforms and integrations | AWindows, Mac, web, iPhone, Android and a browser extension, plus Microsoft 365, Teams, Outlook, OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox and Box. It's everywhere. | BWindows, Mac, iPhone and the web, with Word, Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox and Box. No Android app, which keeps it off the top grade. |
| Best for | the complete PDF toolkit, if the price is fine | Windows offices that want an Office-style PDF editor |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Adobe Acrobat and Nitro PDF Pro. How we grade
Price against what you get
Adobe Acrobat starts at $14.99 a month and scores 3.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Nitro PDF Pro starts at $15 a month for each person and scores 2.7.
Adobe Acrobat scores higher and starts $0.01 a month lower. Of the other PDF editors on the chart, none scores higher than Adobe Acrobat for less, and 6 score higher than Nitro PDF Pro for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Adobe Acrobat starts at $14.99 per month on an annual plan, billed monthly. Nitro PDF Pro starts at $15 per user / month, billed annually.
- Adobe Acrobat has a free plan. Nitro PDF Pro does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Adobe Acrobat lists an Android app.
- Only Adobe Acrobat lists a browser extension.
- Adobe Acrobat also covers forms.
At a glance
| Adobe Acrobat | Nitro PDF Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $14.99 per month on an annual plan, billed monthly | $15 per user / month, billed annually |
| Free plan | Acrobat Reader is free: view, print, share and comment on PDFs and sign them, without editing, converting or the paid tools. | None |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial of Acrobat Pro or Studio; 14 days on the team plans | 14-day free trial, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Adobe | Nitro Software, Inc. |
| Price read from | adobe.com | gonitro.com |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Adobe Acrobat
- Offices that exchange PDFs with clients who also use Acrobat
- People who need OCR, redaction and e-signatures in one desktop app
- Users who read and sign PDFs for free with Acrobat Reader
Nitro PDF Pro
- Windows offices that want an Office-style PDF editor
- Businesses that manage PDF licenses for many staff from one console
- Buyers who would rather pay once for three years on Windows
Worth knowing
Adobe Acrobat
- OCR, redaction, comparing PDFs and bulk e-signatures need Pro; Standard has no free trial.
- AI Assistant comes with Studio, or as an add-on at $4.99 a month on an annual plan for Reader, Standard and Pro users.
- Month-to-month billing costs $10 a month more than the annual plan on each individual tier.
- Adobe no longer sells perpetual licenses; Acrobat Pro 2024 is a one-time purchase for three years of desktop use without online services.
Nitro PDF Pro
- The Standard subscription is billed yearly, $180 per user; the pricing page shows no month-to-month option.
- Nitro PDF Classic runs on Windows only and covers a three-year term rather than a permanent license.
- Sending documents for e-signature is Nitro Sign, a separate product from $10 per user a month billed annually.
- There is no Android app; SSO and Azure Information Protection need Nitro PDF Plus, priced through sales.
Key features
Adobe Acrobat
- Editing and conversion
- Edit text and images with reflowing layout, add, delete and reorder pages, combine files and convert to and from Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
- OCR, compare and redaction
- Pro turns scans into searchable, editable PDFs, shows the differences between two versions and permanently removes sensitive content.
- E-signatures built in
- Every paid plan can request signatures and track them; Pro adds branded requests, web forms, reusable templates and bulk sending.
- Batch actions
- Pro's Action Wizard runs saved sequences such as OCR, redaction, watermarking and conversion across many PDFs at once.
- AI Assistant and PDF Spaces
- Studio summarizes and answers questions about documents with citations, and PDF Spaces gathers PDFs, Microsoft 365 files and links into one workspace.
- Shared review
- Share a PDF by link, collect comments from several reviewers in one place and get notified as they respond, including from Teams and Outlook.
Nitro PDF Pro
- Create and convert
- Builds PDFs from scratch and converts to and from Word, Excel, PowerPoint and image files, and turns web pages into PDFs with working links.
- Edit and organize
- Edit text and pages, reorder, delete and rotate pages, and combine and split files, with an Office-style ribbon on Windows.
- Nitro AI
- Every PDF plan includes a document assistant that searches, summarizes and translates, plus tools that extract form fields and tables into Excel.
- Review and share
- Share PDFs for viewing and comments from desktop, mobile or a browser, and track activity on documents sent out for review.
- Office add-ins
- Create, protect and send PDFs from inside Microsoft 365 apps on Windows.
- Admin portal and analytics
- Every plan includes a web admin console to provision users and reassign licenses, and Nitro Analytics to track usage.
Plans
Adobe Acrobat
Acrobat Reader$0
Free app for viewing, printing, commenting on and signing PDFs.
Acrobat Standard$14.99
per month on an annual plan, billed monthly ($24.99 month to month)
Edit and organize PDFs, convert to and from Office files, fill and sign forms, request e-signatures and password-protect files.
Acrobat Standard for teams$16.99
per license / month on an annual plan, billed monthly
Standard for several people, managed from one admin console.
Acrobat Pro$19.99
per month on an annual plan, billed monthly ($29.99 month to month)
Adds OCR for scans, comparing PDFs, redaction, branded e-signature requests, web forms, reusable templates and bulk sending.
Acrobat Pro for teams$23.99
per license / month on an annual plan, billed monthly
Pro for several people with admin console license management; 14-day free trial.
Acrobat Studio$24.99
per month on an annual plan, billed monthly ($34.99 month to month)
Pro plus AI Assistant, PDF Spaces for asking questions across many files, and Adobe Express Premium; $29.99 per license for teams.
Nitro PDF Pro
Nitro PDF Standard$15
per user / month, billed annually
Billed as $180 a year: create, convert, edit, annotate and share PDFs, Nitro AI tools, the admin portal, integrations and round-the-clock support.
Nitro PDF Classic$270
one-time, per license, for 3 years of use
Core PDF tools for Windows only: create, edit, export, combine and split, and password protection, paid once for a three-year term.
Nitro PDF PlusCustom
Sold through sales: Standard plus SSO, domain control, Azure Information Protection, usage analytics and a success manager where eligible.
Ways to pay less
Adobe Acrobat
- Annual discount
Lower price on an annual plan
Adobe's plans page lists Standard at $14.99, Pro at $19.99 and Studio at $24.99 a month on an annual plan, against $24.99, $29.99 and $34.99 month to month.
Nitro PDF Pro
- Other savings
Volume discounts through sales
Nitro's pricing page says volume discounts are available on Nitro PDF Standard and Plus for larger teams, quoted by its sales team.
