Adobe Acrobat vs Soda PDF
We give Adobe Acrobat and Soda PDF the same GPA: 2.6 out of 4.0. Adobe Acrobat grades higher on platforms. Soda PDF grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, features 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
Soda PDF
Windows PDF editor with an online version, sold by subscription
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAAdobe AcrobatGood | 2.6GPASoda PDFGood | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | CNo confirmed price: Soda's prices only show at checkout, and its marketing pages show changing promotions, such as $49.95 for Pro against $110. With nothing confirmed it's a C, and there's no perpetual license to spread out. |
| 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. | CThe online quick tools are free for 2 files a day or 3MB a file. Editing, OCR, forms and AI can be tried but not saved or downloaded, so you can't really finish anything for free. |
| 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. | BEdits text and pages, converts to Office and PDF/A, OCRs, builds forms, sends for e-signature, batch-processes and translates. It covers the whole job. The AI chat is capped by plan, at 10 questions on Standard. |
| 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 an editor you install, or open in a browser, with nothing to set up first. |
| 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 and the web, with Dropbox, Google Drive, SharePoint and Evernote. Mac, Linux and phones get the browser version only. |
| Best for | the complete PDF toolkit, if the price is fine | rolling out a PDF editor across Windows PCs |
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 Soda PDF. How we grade
Where they differ
- Only Adobe Acrobat lists macOS, iOS and Android apps.
- Only Adobe Acrobat lists a browser extension.
- Adobe Acrobat also covers documents.
At a glance
| Adobe Acrobat | Soda PDF | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $14.99 per month on an annual plan, billed monthly | Not published |
| Free plan | Acrobat Reader is free: view, print, share and comment on PDFs and sign them, without editing, converting or the paid tools. | Online quick tools are free up to 2 files a day or 3MB a file; editing, OCR, forms, AI and translation can be tried but not saved or downloaded. |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial of Acrobat Pro or Studio; 14 days on the team plans | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Adobe | Avanquest Software |
| Price read from | adobe.com | Not confirmed |
| 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
Soda PDF
- Windows offices that deploy a PDF editor across many PCs
- Teams of 3 to 19 that want a per-license discount
- People who need a quick free conversion now and then
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.
Soda PDF
- Prices appear only at checkout, which could not be read; marketing pages show changing promotional prices, such as $49.95 for Pro against $110.
- The desktop app is for Windows only; Mac, Linux and phone users work in the browser.
- Soda PDF is sold only by subscription; there is no perpetual license.
- AI chat is capped by plan, at 10 questions on Standard, 50 on Pro and 200 on Business.
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.
Soda PDF
- Edit and convert
- Edit text and pages, insert and extract pages, and export PDFs to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, text, HTML, PDF/A or images.
- OCR
- Recognizes text in scans and images so it can be searched, and edited on the Business plan.
- Forms and e-signatures
- Build forms with formatted fields and combo boxes, fill and sign them, and send and track signature requests.
- AI tools and translation
- Online chat with a PDF and an AI summarizer, plus translation of up to 1,200 pages a year on Pro and 1,800 on Business.
- Batch processing
- Create, convert, crop, watermark, add headers and footers and apply passwords to many documents at once.
- Business deployment
- The Business plan installs through MSI, Group Policy, SCCM, Terminal Server or Citrix, with self-serve license management and phone support.
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.
Soda PDF
Pricing could not be confirmed. See sodapdf.com.
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.
Soda PDF
- Other savings
10% off per license for teams
Soda PDF Team, for 3 to 19 licenses, has the same features as Pro with a 10% discount on each license.
