Adobe Acrobat Reader vs. Foxit PDF Editor (FoxitPhantom)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Acrobat Reader is a PDF viewer and converter, available as a free download from Adobe. Users can view, sign, collaborate on and annotate PDF files, or edit and convert PDFs into file formats like Excel and Word.N/A
Foxit PDF Editor (FoxitPhantom)
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
FoxitPhantom PDF is a document management software offering from FoxIt.
$14.99
per month
Pricing
Adobe Acrobat ReaderFoxit PDF Editor (FoxitPhantom)
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Foxit PDF Editor
$14.99
per month
Foxit PDF Editor Pro
$16.99
per month
Foxit PDF Editor Pro - Education Edition
$29.95
per year
Foxit PDF Editor
$159.00
one-time fee
Foxit PDF Editor Pro
$179.00
one-time fee
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe Acrobat ReaderFoxit PDF Editor (FoxitPhantom)
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe Acrobat ReaderFoxit PDF Editor (FoxitPhantom)
Top Pros

No answers on this topic

Top Cons

No answers on this topic

Best Alternatives
Adobe Acrobat ReaderFoxit PDF Editor (FoxitPhantom)
Small Businesses
Tungsten Power PDF
Tungsten Power PDF
Score 9.0 out of 10
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.7 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
PDFfiller
PDFfiller
Score 9.0 out of 10
MSB Docs
MSB Docs
Score 9.6 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat
Score 8.8 out of 10
Kofax Capture
Kofax Capture
Score 5.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe Acrobat ReaderFoxit PDF Editor (FoxitPhantom)
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(75 ratings)
9.0
(28 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.2
(2 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(1 ratings)
6.1
(2 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.9
(11 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe Acrobat ReaderFoxit PDF Editor (FoxitPhantom)
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
This is a useful tool for anyone who downloads and uses PDFs in the day-to-day operations of their role. It has many functionalities like PDF to word documents, e-signatures, commenting, and printing PDF documents. You can annotate PDFs from anywhere, store files on the cloud, and ultimately it makes it easier to collaborate with colleagues. It would be best for e-signatures and editing PDFs, but mainly the program is used for doing anything you like to a PDF.
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FoxIt
In a Newsroom, sensitive information may be shared via PDF documents,
such as interviews with confidential sources. Foxit PDF Editor's
security features, such as password protection can be
useful in ensuring the confidentiality of such documents. Foxit PDF Editor is a versatile tool that can be useful in a variety of
scenarios in a newsroom, from editing news scripts to collaborating on
news reports to creating graphics and visuals. Its advanced features and
ease of use make it a popular choice among newsroom professionals.
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Pros
Adobe
  • It has all the tools that individuals need for reading/doing light editing of PDF files.
  • It is the most secure PDF reader on the market, and it tends to get patched with timely updates on a regular basis.
  • It usually works very well, as far as the software itself. It doesn't crash a lot, or is particularly an error prone software platform.
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FoxIt
  • FoxitPhantom carries superior editing tools over Adobe Acrobat and similar products. It allows you to modify text, images, & objects in a more robust fashion
  • Integrates well with Microsoft Office products such as Word, PPT, & Excel
  • Allows you to work in a nearly paperless environment
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Cons
Adobe
  • Being able to add image "stamps" to a document is a little tricky as the stamp has to already be in PDF format (at least on Mac) to work. This mean you have to convert the image to PDF before you can use it as a stamp.
  • Being only able to save one signature and one set of initials is a bit of a pain but you can actually use stamps if you need different versions frequently used scribbles for various reasons. The stamp won't secure the document and prevent future changes the same way the signature would though.
  • All of the other features you might want to use are only included with Acrobat Pro but the options are all displayed in the Reader app. When clicked they will offer the free trial that leads to a paid subscription. This is more of an annoyance but you can't fault Adobe for trying to make a sale.
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FoxIt
  • I have a dual monitor setup at work and there are times when I wish that I could view pdf documents on both monitors at the same time. I have not yet figured out how to do that with FoxitPhantom as it appears to limit the user to displaying multiple pdf documents as separate tabs on the same screen. If dual screen is an option in the software, it needs to be more apparent.
  • I can't think of any other desired improvements. This software really does everything that I need it to do.
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Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
To be honest, I do not have any say in the renewal of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. It is managed at an enterprise level, and the decision to renew or not renew is handled well above my pay grade as an external consultant.
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FoxIt
Because very few editors are so easy to use and deploy backed by speed and performance. Foxit PDF is known for its speed and performance, allowing users to open and work with PDF files quickly and efficiently
Foxit's user-friendly interface is easy to navigate and use, making it a popular choice for users who are new to PDF software.
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Usability
Adobe
The main issues or limitations with Adobe Acrobat Reader DC usually stem from the device or OS rather than the software or document. Complaints typically arise when contributors use a different app to view or edit, which is understandably outside of Adobe's control. It would be helpful if the ability to open and fill a PDF was built into the OS, but that's more of a licensing issue than anything else.
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FoxIt
Foxit Phantom is pretty easy to use, but it is not as intuitive as the latest Adobe PDF products. Although the initial transition across the organization was filled with negative reactions, I think that over a few months, all departments were able to adapt to the new software and feel like they could find what they need within the tool.
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Performance
Adobe
No answers on this topic
FoxIt
FoxitPhantom PDF integrates very well with the Microsoft Office products, which is where I found I use this the most. It performs about as well as can be expected, without any out of place latency. Whether it be merging, deleting, editing or rearranging pages, its performance holds up even with larger documents.
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Support Rating
Adobe
No answers on this topic
FoxIt
I haven't personally had interaction with the customer support from FoxitPhantom, however based on conversations I have had with members in the organization, I was given positive feedback. Their website has a lot of information and tutorials. If you need to contact them, they are quick to respond. User manuals are readily available.
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Implementation Rating
Adobe
The application is pretty much "plug and play"
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FoxIt
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Adobe
We have reviewed DocuSign in comparison to [Adobe] Acrobat Reader [DC's] e-sign capabilities. We found that DocuSign has more robust options when creating contracts and consent capabilities. DocuSign's online UI is much more suited to this type of task as well. However, we decided to stick with [Adobe] Acrobat Reader DC because of the price (DocuSign is more expensive) and we felt we didn't need all of the bells and whistles for contract signature and consent.
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FoxIt
I would say that when you want to get a bigger share of the market and take business from long time consolidated applications like Acrobat, you really need to try harder and give something more to the user to be able to change their mind and switch to Foxit. In our case licensing was an important factor and at the beginning we had a small learning curve with users asking how to open PDF files and what was that orange icon. The truth is that we as users accepted the new software happily because simply said: it does the job. After using Foxit I would not go back to Acrobat, I like better the connectivity, the simplicity and the way it manages the tabs.
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Return on Investment
Adobe
  • It's available for free, so there is no excuse to not install
  • Contains features that you would normally have to pay for in competitor software, so it has a positive impact on ROI
  • Reduces the amount of printing
  • Decreases the amount of time spent on regulatory and governance documentation
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FoxIt
  • We have cut our mailed AR by over 60% by exporting to foxit and emailing.
  • We have cleared an entire room to be used as additional office space by scanning in old documents.
  • The feature that allows you to directly type onto PDFs has increased our quality control by allowing us to highlight or add notes to important info.
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ScreenShots