Adobe Acrobat vs. Adobe PhotoShop

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).
$29.99
per month per seat
Adobe PhotoShop
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Photoshop is the best known graphics product on the market.
$20
per month
Pricing
Adobe AcrobatAdobe PhotoShop
Editions & Modules
Acrobat Pro for Individuals
$19.99
per month
Acrobat Pro for Teams
$23.99
per month per user
Acrobat Studio for Individuals
$24.99
per month
Single App
$20.00
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe AcrobatAdobe PhotoShop
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe AcrobatAdobe PhotoShop
Considered Both Products
Adobe Acrobat
Chose Adobe Acrobat
For Foxit, the OCR feature enabled me to edit the text within them. However, the accuracy was not always reliable. Personally, I found Adobe Acrobat to be more effective for this purpose, but that's just my preference. For PDF Fusion, did not like support/help/instructions and …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Preview is a great, quick tool for viewing docs or images but doesn't always show PDF files as they are intended as it doesn't have all the features that Adobe Acrobat does and nor does it attempt to. I't merely a quick route to checking something out for me. I wouldn't use Prev…
Chose Adobe Acrobat
In terms of comparisons, the simple fact is that Adobe Acrobat is known and trusted by clients and print providers throughout industry. Third party PDF editors are often more lightweight but also don't have all the features of Adobe Acrobat, so there is the inevitable point …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat stacks up way above Apple Preview. There is just no comparison. Adobe Acrobat is just way more robust and even though Adobe Acrobat has way more features I think it is far easier to use than Apple Preview. Apple Preview is seldom used in our company. Adobe Acrobat …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
To me, I just feel safer using Adobe Acrobat because I've been using Adobe for so long and I have familiarity with it, but DocuSign is good too. Adobe is just like home and when I get something from Adobe I'm less skeptical it's gonna be disasterous because I trust Adobe so …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
We settle on Adobe Acrobat because it is the defacto application when utilizing .pdf files.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Acrobat is an easy to use tool even for people with limited knowledge or technical abilities.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Acrobat has less flexibility and editing capabilities
Chose Adobe Acrobat
It is more elaborate and technical
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Not used any others
Chose Adobe Acrobat
I found Adobe Acrobat far more intuitive.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
good, a bit more technical
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat is a fantastic byproduct of InDesign and Photoshop, illustrator etc. To send across proof while not needed the full creative cloud suite for everyone. Training is easy as most of our users need basic understanding to be effective
Chose Adobe Acrobat
I think Adobe Acrobat is far superior to Preview. Preview is just a viewer with basic editing while Adobe Acrobat far exceeds the tool.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat is the best program we’ve found for handling pdfs. It ensures that people in and out of the organization will have no issues with compatibility.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Acrobat helps the final profit
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Preview can do some basic work, but Adobe Acrobat is much more advanced in what it can do.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Apple Preview has way less editing/customization features for me to use. Also it was hard for me collaborate with other coworkers on Preview despite of some basic functionalities it offers. However I think Preview feature is good for taking a quick look at the pdf file.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
it has many more features. I have always used adobe products
Adobe PhotoShop
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Photoshop is leap years ahead of their competition.
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Each adobe tool really is created to stand alone for different purposes. I don't think I can compare Adobe PhotoShop with other tools simply because they do different things. As far as Canva goes, I do enjoy using Canva, but there are at times more complicated things I need to …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
There is no comparison needed. Each of these apps has a place in one's production tasks. You don't compare a donut to a glass of orange juice. They both taste pretty good. One is for fun (and fat). The other is for thirst-quenching and health benefits. Adobe Photoshop is for …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
I selected Adobe PhotoShop over other as it is more useful and convenient then other platform,It helps in giving a pro touch in every images and it helps to adjust each and every single element in a photo as we can manually adjust that how much exposure is needed our how much …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
illustrious program. In this program, your imagination's capabilities are the only limitations on what you can create, alter, modify, and do. Since its initial release, it has added to its restrictions with each new update, raising them to impossible levels. In other words, …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Once I learned how to use Adobe Photoshop, I was able to create infographics of any size. I also edited photographs right down to pixel size. It has been my "go to" software for many years. I have tried other software but nothing held a candle to Adobe Photoshop. I have always …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Adobe Illustrator is excellent for vector designs and illustrations and Adobe InDesign is excellent for layout work of printed materials like manuals. Adobe Photoshop is the go-to program for photo editing and the trio of programs work well together to cover most needs of a …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Adobe Photoshop is one thousand times more advanced, sophisticated and versatile than Canva is. Although there is a free version of Canva, and there are no free options for Adobe Photoshop, I still think that Adobe Photoshop is definitely worth the investment for professional …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
All perform different tasks and integrate with Photoshop. Use them all in one way or another with Photoshop.
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Many, many years ago we were using Corel Paint Shop. It's UI is friendly, but once we were trained on PhotoShop and it's robust tools and easy UI, we fell in love and never looked back. There wasn't really anything wrong with Corel, it was more that PhotoShop just offered more.
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
I like Canva a lot and do use it for some graphics we use on social media, but Adobe Photoshop is definitely better suited to editing actual images and getting them appropriately sized and colored for our website, social media, print publications, and more. They are both great …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Photoshop is part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud, and all of its products integrate well together, which was a major selling point for me. The level of fine-tuning/adjustments within the program and the wide variety of available third party plugins was important to me as well. In …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
We use Photoshop in conjunction with InDesign and Illustrator. Having access to the entire suite allows us to seamlessly design for web and print.
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
CorelDRAW been around for many years but to date, Photoshop is still the king of any of graphic editing tools currently on the market.
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Never even considered another program. Adobe Photoshop CC is the bomb.
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Corel is nowhere close to the power of Photoshop and I have found that Corel will also not let you convert to certain formats correctly without some loss in quality. The color tools are not as robust and the feature set is lacking. I feel that Photoshop overall has a better …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Photoshop is MUCH easier to use and interacts with other programs MUCH more easily.
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
I've tried many Photoshop alternatives over the years and generally, nothing stacks up. I sometimes use Canva when I need something created and don't have access to Photoshop. It doesn't do the same kind of heavy lifting, but it works in a pinch. I think that's the real …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Other image editors I've had experience with are Pixlr, Gimp and Windows Paint. While I personally liked Pixlr the most out of those 3, none of them hold a candle to Photoshop. I've spent more time in Photoshop than the others, so naturally, I'm more familiar with it. It takes …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
I've never tried any other photo editing software. For the better part of 20 yrs it has been an industry standard & continues to evolve to offer updated creative options.
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
Both Lightroom and Capture One also provide a rich, powerful set of features for image editing. However, they are designed for a different purpose -- working with RAW images, and moving through a large number of images quickly. They excel where Photoshop does not, and Photoshop …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
I've used Adobe Photoshop for many years now. Unfortunately I have not had time to sit down and learn these other products to find out which I like better. While at home I use Apple Photos and I have tried paint.net a couple of times but due to the availability of Adobe …
Chose Adobe PhotoShop
There are other photo editors out there that cost much less than Photoshop. Some are even free. But what keeps me coming back to Photoshop is the depth of features and the fact that they do usually have at least one new killer feature added with each upgrade. It's a …
Best Alternatives
Adobe AcrobatAdobe PhotoShop
Small Businesses
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.5 out of 10
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 7.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
MSB Docs
MSB Docs
Score 9.4 out of 10
GIMP
GIMP
Score 8.2 out of 10
Enterprises
Tungsten Capture
Tungsten Capture
Score 8.0 out of 10
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 7.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe AcrobatAdobe PhotoShop
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(813 ratings)
8.9
(194 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(45 ratings)
9.0
(31 ratings)
Usability
9.2
(254 ratings)
7.7
(19 ratings)
Availability
9.2
(3 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
Performance
6.0
(10 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
Support Rating
9.1
(63 ratings)
10.0
(54 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.7
(15 ratings)
9.0
(6 ratings)
Configurability
8.0
(4 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
6.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.0
(9 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.0
(4 ratings)
4.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
4.0
(3 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
5.5
(2 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe AcrobatAdobe PhotoShop
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
When preparing artwork for print production from an application like Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or InDesign, the best way to preview and preflight the work is to export to PDF and use Adobe Acrobat's output preview to check process colors, spot colors, dielines, and any special requirements, like foil stamping or varnish. Adobe Acrobat is also where you make any needed final adjustments to ensure correct reproduction on press. Documents intended for screen viewing must be exported to PDF and edited in Adobe Acrobat so as to add and edit needed accessibility features critical for legislative compliance.
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Adobe
Photoshop is a useful tool for everything from creating social media graphics to editing and sizing photos. There is a bit of a learning curve, so you need to have a bit of experience to master it and use it for a variety of tasks. You also need to have a good sense of file organization so you can find files quickly without losing track of them.
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Pros
Adobe
  • Ability to manipulate a PDF in various ways.
  • Print production is incredibly helpful for checking off and making sure PDFs are ready for print.
  • Commenting in Adobe Acrobat is awesome! So nice to be able to hand off a PDF and get it back with edits that are easy to navigate and resolve!
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Adobe
  • The fact is that you may quickly pick things up on your own by spending time without using any other resources.
  • It is the program that brings the phrase "to make PhotoShop" to almost all languages. It's not just a photo editing program.
  • Practical and beautiful results are filtered by filtering the desired work without drowning in details.
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Cons
Adobe
  • More printing settings, like being able to adjust the margins and place the print area on the page when the file size is larger than the page, and I only want to print one section. Illustrator has this feature. Often, we print from Illustrator instead, because of this limitation.
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Adobe
  • The effect applying time could be faster.
  • There could be a smarter way to make mockups using smart objects, maybe by directly selecting an area, and generative AI can automate a few steps.
  • If Photoshop can suggest the right stock imagery in case the generative AI doesn't get the right answer.
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Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
Adobe Acrobat works seamlessly with the other Adobe products we use that are industry-standard. We will certainly continue to use Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator, meaning it will always be convenient to work seamlessly with Adobe Acrobat for our organization. We are happy with the performance of Acrobat and it's meets our expectations.
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Adobe
We get a lot of use out of this software. It's vital for work with production in our industry and has a lot of cross-functionality - creating social media images, retouching photos, editing photos, creating gradients, and more. It's pretty fuss-free in that we haven't had to reach out to support and the program hasn't crashed on us. We are trained on the software (so again, this isn't for beginners), but for detail-oriented designers and creatives like ourselves - it's a no-brainer.
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Usability
Adobe
It’s a very easy app to learn and software is essential. I feel like the app could load a bit faster but overall, is one of my go to apps. Makes reading and editing pdfs easy and I enjoy the usability of the app. It is definitely something I make sure to have downloaded on any computer I’m working from
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Adobe
Adobe PhotoShop is a professional-grade tool that requires months/years to get a grasp of how to use it well. Even then, after over a decade of using Adobe PhotoShop both casually and professionally, I feel like I'm still unfamiliar with a large percentage of the available tools. Without a dedicated training program, it can be extremely overwhelming and/or you may not get good use out of it. That being said, once you do get comfortable with it, the layout and workspace are excellent with myriad shortcuts that speed up your workflow exponentially. Put in the time to learn it, and you'll love it.
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Reliability and Availability
Adobe
We have not had availability issues with Adobe Acrobat, or at least none that I am personally aware of. Some may encounter crashes of the software during outages of electricity in their city or neighborhood, which no one can plan for, but with generators in our organization, we have been lucky not to have outages
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Adobe
Adobe Photoshop is very reliable, but is never 100%. There have been times when Adobe Photoshop has had trouble opening, but nothing a little computer restart couldn't fix. I use Adobe Photoshop on a Mac for both work and at home on a daily basis, and I would be lost without it.
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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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Adobe
Speed can be an issue when you are dealing with large files for large format printing or billboards. When working on web images, speed is not an issue.
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Support Rating
Adobe
For a while, Acrobat DC crashed pretty frequently. I contacted Adobe Acrobat support about the problem. At first support was unable to provide a solution. After about a month Adobe's software engineers provided a fix. I just wish it had taken less than a month to solve the problem.
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Adobe
While I never contacted Adobe directly, there is so much content out there in the form of YouTube videos, Lynda/LinkedIn learning that almost any issue, including bugs, can be worked around (and this method is generally faster as there's no turnaround time involved).
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In-Person Training
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Adobe
So, I received the training at the HQ and it was train the trainer training. A good time, I spent a week at their campus
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Online Training
Adobe
Easy to follow and understand
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Adobe
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Adobe
I was not involved with the implementation process, so I cannot answer this question. However, when it was installed on my computer system, they did so virtually. I just sat there while they took control of my computer over the network and watch them install it, lickety split
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Adobe
I took a course so it really helped. I didn’t take the course until much later after beginning to use it, so I wish work would have sent me right off the bat. It would have alleviated a lot of frustratinon
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Alternatives Considered
Adobe
In my opinion, both complement each other. Microsoft clearly has with Copilot the AI Edge. However, the visual dynamics of Adobe Creative are Outstanding and provide a balanced approach to creativity, utilizing both Excellent, user-friendly Tools.
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Adobe
[Adobe] Photoshop offers the best photo editing as well as content creation. The layer-by-layer approach of [Adobe] Photoshop helps to work between two apps or even two PCs of entirely different Creative Cloud apps seamlessly. The stability and the speed of the tools in photoshop make it even better to make a canvas of creativity.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Adobe
The only thing I can think of that may be helpful would be a more flexible tiered pricing options based on usage or document volume.
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Adobe
No answers on this topic
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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Adobe
It seems expensive compared to the free/cheap programs now available
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Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Adobe Acrobat has saved us time in managing documents. In this day, everything is fast, moves fast, and keeping up with that pace demands software that functions at the same level. Adobe Acrobat does that. It has streamlined the steps I need to take to edit and create documents we need to manage our customers.
  • Adobe Acrobat removes the worry and stress associated with managing a large influx of documents. Something as simple as a document featuring an image that was sent to us upside down. Using the old method, I would have to open other software, click 'Edit', find the 'Rotate Image' button, click it a couple of times, save it as a JPEG, then attach it to Word, and finally save it as a PDF. It was a grueling process that consumed a great deal of time. Now, I simply open the image, and Adobe automatically recognizes it is upside down and fixes it for me. I can save and move on; it literally takes me seconds. Amazing.
  • Adobe Acrobat is intuitive and easy to use, and the additional apps are relevant to the needs that come up. If I have an idea, I can go to the available apps and find exactly what I need. Impressive and speaks to the years of experience this company has had to fine-tune its product and make it obvious that it is aggressive in staying on top.
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Adobe
  • Adobe PhotoShop in general is a great time saver.
  • It does take a long time for the program to start up, however
  • The most difficult task is onboarding new employees into Adobe PhotoShop who don't have experience with it. It's an investment for their future so we see value in it.
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ScreenShots

Adobe Acrobat Screenshots

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