The Best Free Adobe Acrobat DC AlternativesTop PDF Readers & PDF Editors like Adobe Acrobat DC

The best free alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC is PDF-XChange Editor. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to Adobe Acrobat DC and loads of them is free so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting free alternatives to Adobe Acrobat DC are PDF24 Creator, Master PDF Editor, PDFgear and Stirling-PDF.

filter to find the best alternatives

Adobe Acrobat DC alternatives are mainly PDF Editors, but if you're looking for PDF Readers or Document Scanners you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Open Source, Free, Linux, Windows + Open Source, Mac, Windows and Edit PDF. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Adobe Acrobat DC.
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Alternatives list

  1. PDF-XChange Editor icon

    PDF-XChange Editor

     170 likes

    Feature-rich PDF editor offering direct content editing, ABBYY OCR, viewing, annotation, form filling, PDF merging, compression, and encryption. Operates efficiently offline, requiring no registration and no ads, while providing privacy-focused features and convenient portability.

    146 PDF-XChange Editor alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • PortableApps.com
    • Wine
    Version 10 (2024)
     
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    15
    Comments about PDF-XChange Editor as an Alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC
    Top Positive Comment
    munteanzeno
    3

    Can make small edits for free (comments, extra text). Search bar is simple and works well.

    Top Negative Comment
    Guest
    0

    A lot of things that you can't do. Didn't worked well enough for me at all.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Alternative User
    Positive
    0

    Adding signature and adding text is available for free.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    3 of 15 comments
    PDF-XChange Editor icon
    PDF-XChange Editor icon
    • PDF-XChange Editor is Freemium and ProprietaryAdobe Acrobat DC is Paid and Proprietary
    • PDF-XChange Editor is Customizable, Lightweight and Privacy focusedAdobe Acrobat DC is not according to our users
  2. PDF24 Creator icon

    PDF24 Creator

     147 likes

    PDF24 Creator is free and feature-filled PDF creation, merging and conversion tool for Windows. Its unique feature among the free PDF printer tools is an editor, which allows to easily assemble, create and modify PDF files with Drag & Drop.

    174 PDF24 Creator alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Main window
     
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    3
    Comments about PDF24 Creator as an Alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC
    zlelmefs
    Positive
    0

    It's actually free and has done everything I've needed it to do.

    G Downs
    Positive
    0

    PDF Creator is a great alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC. It has all the tools that the Adobe has but does it without trying to put a hole in your head! A great piece of work!

    Guest
    Positive
    3

    PDF editing features also available!

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    PDF24 Creator icon
    PDF24 Creator icon
    • PDF24 Creator is Free and ProprietaryAdobe Acrobat DC is Paid and Proprietary
    • PDF24 Creator is LightweightAdobe Acrobat DC is not according to our users
  4. Master PDF Editor icon

    Master PDF Editor

     71 likes

    Master PDF Editor is complete solution for editing PDF and XPS files. You can insert, edit, remove, copy, add images or graphics. Export, import, remove and change page layouts. Also Master PDF Editor provides full functionality for changing PDF information, including author...

    133 Master PDF Editor alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Flathub
    Master PDF Editor screenshot 1
     
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    4
    Comments about Master PDF Editor as an Alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC
    Guest
    Negative
    24

    Free version for windows will include watermark on saved documents.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Guest
    Positive
    4

    Has all the basic features such as merge, split, delete and it is in active development and it is available for LINUX :)

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Guest
    Positive
    -1

    It has more festures in the payed version and thus suites my usecase and it actually works on linux and does not just say it does and then it doesnt, at least that was the case with pdfsam in the extended version.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    3 of 4 comments
    Master PDF Editor icon
    Master PDF Editor icon
    • Master PDF Editor is Freemium and ProprietaryAdobe Acrobat DC is Paid and Proprietary
  5. Ad
  6. PDFgear icon

    PDFgear

     55 likes

    Read, edit, convert, merge, and sign PDF files across devices, for completely free and without signing up.

    49 PDFgear alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    PDFgear screenshot 1
     
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    3
    Comments about PDFgear as an Alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC
    Shaz Shah
    Positive
    0

    It does an excellent job of converting my M$ docs. The OCR capabilities are really good and the ability to arrange pages (including splitting and merging with other PDFs) is another bonus. The install is lightweight in comparison to Adobe Acrobat and I've not had any stability issues... yet

    Ahmed Gamal
    Negative
    0

    The app does not support the Arabic language.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Guest
    Positive
    0

    Faster. No pop-ups trying to sell add ons.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    PDFgear icon
    PDFgear icon
    • PDFgear is Free and ProprietaryAdobe Acrobat DC is Paid and Proprietary
    • PDFgear is LightweightAdobe Acrobat DC is not according to our users
  7. Stirling-PDF icon

    Stirling-PDF

     49 likes

    locally hosted web application that allows you to perform various operations on PDF files.

    88 Stirling-PDF alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Docker Hub
    • Cloudron
    Stirling-PDF screenshot 1
     
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    1
    Comments about Stirling-PDF as an Alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC
    KimiBCN
    Negative
    0

    It lacks many features and has bugs. The PDF open button sometimes disappears.

    Stirling-PDF icon
    Stirling-PDF icon
    • Stirling-PDF is Freemium and Open SourceAdobe Acrobat DC is Paid and Proprietary
    • Stirling-PDF is Privacy focusedAdobe Acrobat DC is not according to our users
  8. Smallpdf icon

    Smallpdf

     58 likes

    Smallpdf is the first PDF Software you will actually like. The perfect gateway to productive, portable and cost-efficient document management solutions in your everyday life.

    179 Smallpdf alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Online
    • Android
    • Software as a Service (SaaS)
    • iPhone
    • iPad
    • Android Tablet
    Desktop app home
     
  10. Sejda icon

    Sejda

     35 likes

    Sejda helps with your PDF tasks: edit existing text, split, merge, extract, compress, export to other formats and more.

    138 Sejda alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Google Chrome
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    Sejda screenshot 1
     
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    1
    Comments about Sejda as an Alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC
    Interstellar_1
    Positive
    1

    You get a limited amount of file edits per day, and the app is just an electron wrapper of the website, but it works well.

    Sejda icon
    Sejda icon
    • Sejda is Freemium and ProprietaryAdobe Acrobat DC is Paid and Proprietary
  11. GImageReader icon

    GImageReader

     74 likes

    gImageReader is a simple Gtk/Qt front-end to the Tesseract OCR Engine.

    90 GImageReader alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    GImageReader screenshot 1
     
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    1
    Comments about GImageReader as an Alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC
    KimiBCN
    Negative
    1

    It's not an alternative to Acrobat Pro; it lacks many features.

    GImageReader icon
    GImageReader icon
    • GImageReader is Free and Open SourceAdobe Acrobat DC is Paid and Proprietary
  12. BentoPDF icon

    BentoPDF

     9 likes

    BentoPDF is a PDF Toolkit that works fully offline with no sign ups. It's fast, secure and forever free. In an era where data is a commodity, we take a different approach. All processing for BentoPDF tools happens locally in your browser.

    66 BentoPDF alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    BentoPDF screenshot 1
     
  14. Breeze PDF icon

    Breeze PDF

     8 likes

    Breeze PDF is a powerful, free PDF editor that works entirely offline in your browser. No uploads, 100% privacy guaranteed.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Online
    Breeze PDF screenshot 1
     
  15. Sioyek icon

    Sioyek

     22 likes

    Sioyek is a PDF viewer with minimal interface optimized for reading research papers and technical books.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Main view
     
    |
    1
    Comments about Sioyek as an Alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC
    Guest
    Positive
    0

    I love Sioyek because it has blazingly fast update time when a pdf modified. very suitable for latex with (n)vim/emacs user.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Sioyek icon
    Sioyek icon
    • Sioyek is Free and Open SourceAdobe Acrobat DC is Paid and Proprietary
    • Sioyek is LightweightAdobe Acrobat DC is not according to our users
12 of 228 Adobe Acrobat DC alternatives