Adobe Acrobat vs. Tungsten Power PDF

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).
$12.99
per month
Tungsten Power PDF
Score 9.0 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
Tungsten Power PDF (formerly Kofax) is a solution to manage PDFs for businesses and individuals available with a one-time purchase with no subscription fees. It has a built-in eSignature integration with SignDoc and DocuSign for a complete end-to-end document…
$129
one-time fee per license
Pricing
Adobe AcrobatTungsten Power PDF
Editions & Modules
Acrobat Standard for Individuals
$12.99
per month
Acrobat Standard for teams
$14.99
per month per user
Acrobat Pro for Individuals
$19.99
per month
Acrobat Pro for Teams
$22.19
per month per user
Acrobat for Enterprise
Contact sales team
Power PDF Standard
$129
one-time fee per license
Power PDF Standard for Mac
$129
one-time fee per license
Power PDF Advanced
$179
one-time fee per license
Power PDF Enterprise
Get a Quote
per year per seat
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe AcrobatTungsten Power PDF
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsDesktop licenses are buy once, own forever. No subscription fees. Enterprise server licenses are term-based with optional maintenance & support contract. Volume and upgrade discounts available.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe AcrobatTungsten Power PDF
Considered Both Products
Adobe Acrobat
Chose Adobe Acrobat
I just don't feel as comfortable using other PDF editors. They just don't have the same name and look as Adobe Acrobat and I worry about the security of using other software to work on our company's documents. They may have similar features as Adobe Acrobat but I don't see any …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Adobe is well placed against Kofax. Its e-signing is hand-down easier and more robust. That alone gives it the edge.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
I prefer the Kofax suite of products with intuitive interfaces, 80-90% of the functionality of Adobe Acrobat, a one-time purchase fee, discounted upgrades and system integration, and no reports of collaborators to open, use, edit or navigate PDFs. Kofax has been my choice for …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Acrobat is our choice over Kofax Power PDF. It's just a better solution in our opinion. We use their Paperport application but pairing it up with Acrobat keeps out environment consistent and I think gives us better results.

Not saying the Kofax PDF is a bad product, but I …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Kofax does just about everything Adobe does, but Adobe is more widely used so using Adobe helps with staying compatable with our customers. adobe also does the software functionality features a little better in our opinion.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
For sure Adobe is one of the top products you can use but it is very pricey compared to other vendors. If it is not required by the company and you need basic functions such as comments or converting, then you can probably choose other vendors.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Power PDF is very complicated and not intuitive.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
This software has fewer features and is harder to use. The editing, redacting, combining, and organizing tools are much less powerful. It causes much more work and less efficiency when I have to use something other than Adobe to work with PDFs. This software also does not do …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Based on my experience, I like Kofax Power PDF better. I find it easier to use. I think that it does a much better job at converting documents into fillable PDFs. The price point is much more reasonable.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Acrobat and Kofax Power PDF are largely very similar, though I do have a preference for Kofax when creating forms. Kofax is also much cheaper than Acrobat. From a cost perspective, I certainly recommend Kofax over Acrobat. However, I prefer the user interface of Acrobat as I …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
I like Acrobat because it feels like the company pays attention to it and improves it regularly without affecting core functionality. Kofax Power PDF was more difficult to use, and it felt neglected, only getting an update maybe once every year or so.
Tungsten Power PDF
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
I think Adobe Acrobat is very slow and does not perform well with large documents. I often have documents that are thousands of pages long and with Adobe it's very difficult to open and load the document, let alone make changes. Kofax Power PDF, on the other hand, responds and …
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
Adobe Acrobat and Kofax Power PDF are similar enough to make transitioning back and forth easy. When I have had to use Foxit PDF Editor on someone else's computer, it has been disappointing in comparison. Online free PDF apps I see other people using tend to want you to …
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
Cute PDF, Free Adobe Acrobat. Cute PDF does not have all the features of Kofax. Adobe is all online, which in our countryside environment is slow. Having all the processing locally is much faster in our situation.
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
I have used (and still use) Adobe Acrobat (also named Acrobat DC) with customer computer. The use is fairly identical in function and use. Based on price model I prefer to pay a one time fee for Kofax Power PDF over monthly payment for Adobe.
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
Kofax Power PDF is cheaper than Adobe Acrobat and has better functionality when it comes to editing PDF documents
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
Adobe Acrobat and Nuance Power PDF, which is the core of Kofax Power PDF. Kofax Power PDF generally performs as well Acrobat, without the high price.
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
Adobe Acrobat has become a bit like a chameleon, as it is a multi-generation product that lost its identity. Power PDF needs to pay attention to this point, as the product is evolving and could be a too rich-featured product, therefore a bit too complex to use for a regular user.
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
Tungsten Power PDF is easier to use and more user friendly than Adobe Acrobat. Most versions of Adobe Acrobat either do not have all of the features that Tungsten Power PDF has, or charge a fee/premium for licensing. Tungsten Power PDF integrates all of these features into …
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
Just as good if not better than the Adobe product line with less cost. We needed a PDF writer and editor. Tungsten Power PDF allowed us the same functionality at a fraction of the cost. We thought it was worth trying and it was definitely a great choice for our business …
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
Adobe is overly expensive.
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
Similar functionality, easier to use, less expensive.
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
Low cost with similar function
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
Ease of use, dependability, local access without the need for an online connection or subscription, and general familiarity of the software after years of use. Nitro is difficult to use, never works right, and jumbles files where it is hard to find what you are working on. …
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
ease of use, cost savings, intuitive interface
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
against adobe acribat, Tungsten Power PDF is cheaper, i can buy once and use many, with acrobat i have to do a subscription and pay every year. it is a big plus for Tungsten Power PDF. foxit is not bad, but is missing some features, and is not as intuitive as power pdf from …
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
In my opinion, humble as it may be, Kofax has lots of power, an easier learning curve, and obviously a better price for the standalone Adobe or the monthly Adobe. SodaPDF (at the time cheaper than Nuance/Kofax) did not perform to expectations and left me wishing for Nuance PDF …
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
We have had instances where we've used the other two products. Adobe did not offer a one time payment at the time so we did not go with that one. Most users currently use Foxit. I would not say that Foxit nor Kofax really beat each other out, some prefer one or the other based …
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
Acrobat, however the cost was prohibitive.
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
I think Kofax Power PDF is easier to learn.
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
In my experience, noticeably more intuitive
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
I think it is just as good and no drop off in the operability, functionality, and user experience than Adobe at a lower price. Also it's as user friendly as Adobe, and with the improvements in the program that are pushed consistently, there is no drop off in operability or the …
Chose Tungsten Power PDF
Kofax Power PDF has the same functionality and doesn't require a subscription - it has more functionality than the free Adobe Reader product.
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Adobe AcrobatTungsten Power PDF
PDF Editors
Comparison of PDF Editors features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Acrobat
-
Ratings
Tungsten Power PDF
8.7
7 Ratings
2% below category average
Edit Text and Images00 Ratings8.36 Ratings
Merge or Split PDFs00 Ratings9.07 Ratings
Add Annotations00 Ratings8.86 Ratings
Text Recognition (OCR)00 Ratings8.25 Ratings
Page Management00 Ratings8.47 Ratings
Form Creation and Editing00 Ratings8.86 Ratings
Secure PDFs00 Ratings8.86 Ratings
Convert to Different Formats00 Ratings8.47 Ratings
Comment and Review Tools00 Ratings9.35 Ratings
Undo and Redo Actions00 Ratings9.27 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Adobe AcrobatTungsten Power PDF
Small Businesses
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.7 out of 10
PDFfiller
PDFfiller
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
MSB Docs
MSB Docs
Score 9.7 out of 10
PDFfiller
PDFfiller
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
M‑Files
M‑Files
Score 9.2 out of 10
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat
Score 8.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe AcrobatTungsten Power PDF
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(475 ratings)
9.1
(582 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(11 ratings)
9.7
(111 ratings)
Usability
8.6
(232 ratings)
8.9
(46 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(2 ratings)
8.9
(13 ratings)
Performance
9.8
(7 ratings)
8.8
(13 ratings)
Support Rating
8.1
(52 ratings)
8.5
(424 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
3.6
(1 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.6
(4 ratings)
8.6
(33 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
8.4
(9 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(6 ratings)
8.6
(10 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.7
(2 ratings)
8.7
(12 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.7
(7 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.7
(7 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe AcrobatTungsten Power PDF
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
If your organization uses PDFs frequently, then Adobe Acrobat feels like must-have. I could not imagine our organization not using it. The ability to create, organize, and edit PDFs easily and intuitively are the main reasons my organization uses it. The other additional functions and features are "nice to haves", but ultimately, don't impact our day-to-day
Read full review
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
It is well suited for all scenarios that you would use Adobe. It is especially useful and a terrific option for small to medium businesses who need the functionality of a PDF creator/editor/writer without having to spend the exuberant costs of Adobe Acrobat reader/writer/editor. It has saved us time and money. There is no learning curve in switching to it, our staff was able to switch seamlessly.
Read full review
Pros
Adobe
  • Easy to understand- the program has a very intuitive layout that is great for people who doesn't use the product very much
  • Includes all features you might need. There are many features I didn't even think we would need that they have included.
  • They have a very recognizable name so my clients feel they can trust what they are being asked to open/sign since the Adobe name is next to it.
Read full review
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
  • Typewriter functionality is great, although can take some time to load. This allows you to fill in text wherever applicable without turning the rest of the pdf into editable text.
  • Fast load times
  • Has autogenerated text feature so anything in the pdf can become editable
Read full review
Cons
Adobe
  • It would be good if Adobe Acrobat could utilize less system resources. I have had crashes due to memory and CPU load this week
  • Quicker load times from a cold launch
  • Easier collaborative commenting for offline documents - knowing where and who wrote what
  • Ensuring documents don't have issues where text cannot be copied before publishing
Read full review
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
  • I find that quickly editing text within a document or adding a line of text is clunky and can snowball into things popping out of place. I prefer to export text, and then work on it elsewhere.
  • Sometimes it seems that text recognition is trying too hard and throws me paper punches as "O"s and wrinkles as shapes, so I have to get rid of those artifacts.
  • The "Update Available" popup which is usually not an actual update announcement but rather an offer to sell me something is annoying.
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Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
I bought a perpetual license to Acrobat some time ago, but if the software ever stopped being supported in my version of windows or other solution that makes me need to buy another license I would not hesitate to do so since it saves me a lot of headaches. There are workarounds to merge files and edit pdfs with an online interface but I dont think those are a good usage of time when Acrobat exists.
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Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
This program can do everything that acrobat can do. Kofax PDF is priced so that we can afford to purchase for more employees when we need to. Since we are hoping to grow exponentially in the next few years, this product will be the one we go with. I'm very happy with Kofax Power PDF
Read full review
Usability
Adobe
My overall experience with Adobe is great because because the it has almost all of the tools in one place and it can be used it for most of my work without going anywhere else. Because the tools are available right there in the main interface, it makes it very easy to use.
Read full review
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
It is fast and easy to get the hang of. It really didn't take a lot of effort to learn how to use this program and I appreciated that it was pretty "plug and play" and there wasn't a long learning curve.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Adobe
Pretty much always there for my business and personal needs.
Read full review
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
Other that a PDF partially disappearing if left up for a long period of time - no issues. (If you close it and reopen it, it is all there. We have some PDFs that are 400-600 pages long.)
Read full review
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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Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
Pages nearly always load at the expected rapid speed. Some documents that print quickly from Adobe Reader print much more slowly from Power PDF. I have never generated a report - that's a feature I didn't know existed until now and do not know what it's for
Read full review
Support Rating
Adobe
Because I don't need it. Used it years ago for account management/billing issues but they have changed the user experience so more of that can be managed online. If I have a question the knowledge base or a video that Adobe has posted answers
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Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
I have used it for 15 years and have only needed support once: a simple update that allowed me to use the software as intended. The support team was attentive and responsive, and I was on my way very quickly.
Read full review
In-Person Training
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
I got an overview of the product from my predecessor who was about to retire from the job I now hold. He did not go into very many of the features and probably only knew about the ones he used most frequently.
Read full review
Online Training
Adobe
Answered basic questions.
Read full review
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
We watched the training videos and tested out the features and functionality side by side. Some features are not used on a regular basis is it is convenient to go back and review training on that particular functionality when needed.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Adobe
Works well with JamF and SmartDeploy. These are our Enterprise imaging solutions for Mac's and PC's. The Enterprise installer is required when pushing out this app.
Read full review
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
Easy and quick, with no problems or support needed. Worked as intended right out of the box. E-signing was the only area that implementation was dificult and required support
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Adobe
There really is no comparison. Although we use other PDF programs, we mainly utilize Adobe. Not only because we find it to be a better program but also because everyone is more familiar with it. However, the other products are implemented for various reasons, such as a feature or 2 that we find necessary to use at times.
Read full review
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
I think Adobe Acrobat is very slow and does not perform well with large documents. I often have documents that are thousands of pages long and with Adobe it's very difficult to open and load the document, let alone make changes. Kofax Power PDF, on the other hand, responds and performs well regardless of the document size.
Read full review
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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Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
Not really familiar since I'm the only person who uses it. But in the past it has been my understanding that Power PDF was offered only on a single-license basis, so it's been expensive for me to use it at home and at work because I had to pay for it on my own. In my current position management supports it so I at least only have to pay for it once.
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Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Adobe Acrobat has improved the security of our documents, resulting in less risk, as protecting documents is essential to ensure compliance with privacy laws.
  • It saves our company money, as the product makes it easier for our employees to complete their jobs.
  • The product assists our employees with providing quality work product.
Read full review
Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
  • Saved time and paper putting together binders of documents or Affidavits electronically, not to mention very functional when working from home!
  • It's one price, no monthly or yearly payments. I loved Kofax Power PDF so much that when I moved to a smaller firm I recommended it as a good purchase for the company to invest in.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Adobe Acrobat Screenshots

Screenshot of Create, edit, convert, and share PDF files all from within Microsoft Teams – as part of Acrobat integrations with Microsoft 365 apps.Screenshot of With Liquid Mode in Adobe Acrobat Reader mobile app, 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 Fill and sign PDF forms from anywhere and on any device.  Collect signatures, digitally track progress, and automatically archive the signed document.Screenshot of With Adobe Scan mobile app, capture and convert documents into high-quality, interactive PDF documents that can be filled out, signed, and shared.  Eliminates the hassle of finding a printer, filling a form by hand, and scanning it again.

Tungsten Power PDF Screenshots

Screenshot of The PDF Create Assistant can be used to create multiple PDFs at the same time from a variety of source formats. Create individual PDFs, or combine into one PDF package.Screenshot of PDF Profiles can be created to apply commonly desired settings to new PDF documents that you create in Power PDF.Screenshot of Users may choose to change the application's color to purple, blue, light gray or dark gray.Screenshot of Some lightweight document automation can also be achieved with the Watched Folder and Sequence features.Screenshot of Packages can be signed with pre built templates using Kofax Sign Doc or other integrating e-signersScreenshot of PDFs can be navigated with a thumbnail view