Adobe Acrobat provides PDF viewing and modification in a cloud or desktop-based product and also provides options for your mobile devices. You can subscribe monthly, purchase the product outright, and even trial the product.
Prices vary depending on the features you want and if you want the cloud-based option or just want to pay a one-time fee for a specific version of the product for your desktop.
| Product | Monthly Price | Yearly Price |
| Adobe Acrobat 2020 | $299.00 | |
| Adobe Acrobat 2020 Pro | $449.00 | |
| Adobe Acrobat DC | $29.99 | $203.88 |
| Adobe Acrobat DC Pro | $32.99 | $239.88 |
Is There a Free Version of Adobe Acrobat?
Adobe Acrobat provides a seven-day free trial of the full product with no limitations so that you can experience exactly what you’ll get as a paying customer.
You can get a stripped-down version called Adobe Reader for free that will never require purchasing. However, this version is severely limited in the features that it provides and is mostly just for viewing PDFs, but it may be enough for your specific requirements.
How to Download Free Adobe Acrobat
You can download the Adobe Acrobat products by going here: https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/pricing.html, and this will let you decide on which of the cloud-based products you want to trial for seven days after seven days you must purchase or lose access.
To download Adobe Reader, you can go here: https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/pdf-reader.html but be sure to get Adobe Reader and not Adobe Acrobat that they are trying to sell you on the same page.
What Can The Free Version of Adobe Acrobat Do?
If you use the Adobe Acrobat trial version, you have complete access to all features available in the paid product, but it’s limited to 7 days of full access.
If you decide to use Adobe Reader, which is absolutely free with no time restrictions, then you will only be able to view and print PDFs, and in some cases, you can sign them. For a lot of people, this is all they actually require from PDF software.
Difference Between Free and Paid Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat is best for people that are looking to create PDFs, or modify PDFs that they are being given. This is often helpful if you need to fill out PDF forms or take a PDF to update before you print it out. The trial version will let you do all of this for seven days, so it may be enough.
Adobe Reader is perfect for anybody that just needs to review, sign, and print PDF documents. This is great when you don’t need to edit and don’t want to pay for any of the advanced features. For almost all people, the free version should be enough to cover any requirements they have.
| Adobe Reader | Adobe Acrobat DC | Adobe Acrobat DC Pro | |
| Free Version | 100% Free | 7-Day Trial | 7-Day Trial |
| View, Comment, Print PDFs | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Sign, Track, Send PDFs | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Edit PDF | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Scan | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Convert PDFs | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Security Features | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Compare PDFs | ✓ | ||
| Scan and Edit PDFs | ✓ | ||
| Redact Information | ✓ | ||
| ISO and Standards Validation | ✓ |
Can Free Version of Adobe Acrobat Be Used on All Devices?
Adobe provides support on almost all major OS and devices for both Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat, so whether you’re using a Windows or Mac laptop, Android or iOS mobile devices, you’ll be able to view PDFs with Adobe Reader and get more from Adobe Acrobat.
Is Adobe Acrobat Still Free in 2024?
Adobe Acrobat is best for people who need to create and edit PDF documents regularly, and the Pro version provides even more features to enhance your PDF documents.
An alternative option to Adobe Acrobat is Microsoft Office 365 that will let you work with PDFs and many other formats, as well as give you access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and even 5 GB of cloud storage, which can save you even more money if you’re paying for cloud storage as well, so consider combining services.
If you need to create and edit documents once off or for a short time, then the trial of Adobe Acrobat would be best for you. It’s free and full-featured, and you just need to get everything done within seven days.
Click here to trial Adobe Acrobat for seven days before purchasing.
Adobe Reader is best for people who only need to view and sign documents, which is often all that most people really need, especially when not used for business purposes. So unless you actually need to modify PDFs, then you don’t need to spend any money.
Click here to get Adobe Reader for free.
