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
Canva
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Canva is a popular, simple online graphic design tool. Users can import images, use templates to design banners and logos, or pay to use Canva's premium stock images/paid templates (elements starting at $1).
$12.95
per month
Pricing
Adobe AcrobatCanva
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
Pro
$12.95
per month
Enterprise
$30.00
Per Month Per User
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe AcrobatCanva
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe AcrobatCanva
Considered Both Products
Adobe Acrobat
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Canva is not necessarily a PDF editing software, but I have used it to create PDFs. It's extremely limited in its options, and I would always prefer to use Adobe Acrobat DC over Canva when it comes to creating and editing PDFs. It's not even a competition. I just do not even …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
While Canva excels in graphic design, it may not be as robust for text-based annotations, collaborative document editing, or interactive assessments.

Chose Adobe Acrobat
Zoom does not have a video editor.
Canva has great marketing and social media production ability, but it is not as flexible as Adobe Acrobat. Canva has ready made templates that Adobe Acrobat does not have which make it really accessible, but it does not have the video editing …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Canva is a more creative, editing tool. I see Adobe Acrobat less of a creative tool and more of a tool to refine and finalize a document.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat is light-years beyond GIMP. Not only is it a better way to view photos for documents, it is far easier to use at it is visually pleasing and easy to navigate. Adobe is more robust than Canva. Though Canva has more creative capabilities, Adobe has more …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
PandaDoc is less customizable for creating/editing documents, less security but is much better when sending to a client and needing them to add text since the client would a paid subscription with Adobe Acrobat if I sent it that way
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat has more features and very convenient to use. Aside from that, because of the software integration of Adobe Acrobat. You can convert everything using that. The security feature of Adobe Acrobat is very reliable.

Then you can access that with other Adobe Products …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
I selected Adobe Acrobat because of the following reasons..

1. It provides the Ai powered features and straight forward cloud integration which is not available with other providers. 2.Adobe Acrobat has global certifications of market standards for security and compliance areas.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat was chosen because we use Adobe Creative Cloud which includes most of their applications including this one. I have a familiarity using this program whereas my experience with others that are similar is more limited.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
We ultimately decided to go with Adobe Acrobat as they are a well recognized name in the industry. We deal with a lot of private agreements, business and marketing plans and we needed a top tier known program to ensure safety and compliance as well as confidentiality. It is …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
In my experience, Adobe Acrobat offers more advanced features and security safeguards than competitors. It may come at a price, but you feel that you can trust in the brand and the abilities of the platform when compared to competitors. With that in mind, some users may find …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
We liked Adobe Acrobat better due to the increased security versus other options. It also works easily with Microsoft and can be set as the default program to open PDFs. While some of the other options we evaluated offered similar interactions with non-Adobe products, Acrobat …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
I don't use Bluebeam, but many of my coworkers do - particularly when it comes to construction plans and surveys. They tend not to use Adobe Acrobat DC as much, sticking to Bluebeam for everything, but because they have the software they do not have difficulty using Adobe …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
While we do use DocHub for client signatures and intakes, we feel that Adobe Acrobat DC is much more intuitive and has more capabilities. We also greatly appreciate Adobe’s commitment to security, and their willingness to provide nonprofits like ours with a significant …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat DC has security features that are better than other products. I also like the touchscreen, tablet mode, for handwritten text integration within the PDF. Better file compression ratio as well.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
They are really the top player in this sphere, in my opinion. Others at our university were already using them when I got hired so I started too and haven’t considered using any others. The software works well with what we need to do so will stay with them for the foreseeable …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
There's really no comparison or true competition. I have used other PDF editors, readers, and programs and while many of them work and offer a lot of features, none of them offer or have all the tools and capabilities, and consistency in working and completing all the tasks I …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
I have tried using some online versions of .pdf readers and document extractors, but having the full desktop software is far less clunky and infinitely more secure.
Canva
Chose Canva
Canva takes the top used features in Adobe PhotoShop, Illustrator, and InDesign and combines them all into an easy to use web based software. What's not to love about that? Sure, you can't do insane photo editing in Canva, but it does have a nice selection of stock photos that …
Chose Canva
Canva has a special niche when it comes to stacking up against the products that I listed above. When it comes to learning curve, with Canva, there is virtually no learning curve; the interface of Canva is easy for any user. Where I reach my limit with Canva is that it …
Chose Canva
Canva is FREE! That is why this makes Canva the best! You only upgrade for specific fonts and templates. Canva is seriously the most amazing tool out there and has no competition!
Chose Canva
In my previous experiences, all of my attempts at Graphic Design were based on hashing various pictures and icons together in programs such as Microsoft Word, Powerpoint and Paint. These designs reek of amateurism and anyone who has used these programs can identify their …
Chose Canva
I am a one-person Marcom department for a school. While I have some experience with Adobe products, Canva makes it really easy to quickly design eye-catching materials for social media, our website, flyers, etc. I love that I can upload our logo and other branding elements to …
Chose Canva
Canva is a free tool that provides you with powerful features to use in your content marketing. It is easy enough for the DIY user and powerful enough for many pro designers. There are many use-cases where you need more powerful tools, but if you're looking for something …
Chose Canva
All these programs I've used before are fairly similar in terms of what they are able to do. I just personally really like the templates, fonts, and images that Canva provides because as someone who's not the most adept when it comes to designing, this makes it easier for me to …
Best Alternatives
Adobe AcrobatCanva
Small Businesses
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.8 out of 10
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
MSB Docs
MSB Docs
Score 9.4 out of 10
GIMP
GIMP
Score 8.8 out of 10
Enterprises
Conga Composer
Conga Composer
Score 9.3 out of 10
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe AcrobatCanva
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(551 ratings)
9.2
(173 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.6
(28 ratings)
8.0
(7 ratings)
Usability
8.9
(238 ratings)
10.0
(13 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(2 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
7.0
(9 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.1
(57 ratings)
6.9
(15 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.3
(10 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Configurability
8.5
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
6.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.0
(8 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.0
(3 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
4.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
5.5
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe AcrobatCanva
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
In Human Resources, hiring new employees has many steps that can easily be forgotten about. Adobe Acrobat is a tool to make onboarding not only easier, but more efficient, and a great way to keep record of all pre-employment requirements. When hiring a candidate quickly, there is not always time for in-person onboarding. You can send policies and agreements out for signature using Adobe Acrobat. It is easy for the recipient to navigate, and they are able to keep a record for themselves. All changes are time-stamped, making for great record keeping and capturing of this process.
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Canva
I would say that Canva is best suited for beginner and Novice level applications. If you're an experienced designer, there's definitely no point in using Canva as it's developed for designers entering the field. OR, if you want to experience that flexibility while you designing and let the creativity flow, You shouldn't consider Canva as your Choice. If you feel like delivering quick and not spend your time on deciding on 'How to Design', then you should go for Canva.
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Pros
Adobe
  • The edit PDF tool is a game changer for our business. There is no other tool that is as easy to use for small, quick PDF edits.
  • Adobe Acrobat makes adding, deleting, and combining PDFs very simple and seamless.
  • The comment tools, and the function to share for my comments with my colleagues, makes it easy to collaborate with my team on the same PDF document.
Read full review
Canva
  • Provides readily accessible approved fonts and colors for our university publications.
  • A great selection of templates to select from.
  • Lots of resources for design, like photos, clip art, backgrounds, and other design elements.
  • The ability to share your design with others at the university.
  • The ability to download your design as a png, pdf, jpg, svg, even MP4 video or gif.
  • Easy to edit and alter the design and not lose what you had by creating clones of previous designs and then make the changes.
Read full review
Cons
Adobe
  • When editing text, it can sometimes get a little tricky getting paragraphs to line back up if too much is added
  • Paragraph grouping needs to be a little better when editing. Often times sentences with be split into two separate text blocks
Read full review
Canva
  • Some pretty basic fonts are missing from the database, which proves to be annoying when trying to stay on brand
  • Pre-grouping sections of templates can be a hassle to figure out
  • Creating your own template from scratch can have it's hiccups, but that could be my lack of design experience.
Read full review
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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Canva
The ease of use makes Canva a powerful tool for manipulating images, creating original content, and testing ideas without requiring the involvement of graphic design or more time-intensive image editing software such as Photoshop. While it doesn't have the full functionality of a mature software, such as Photoshop, The speed and simplicity of Canva makes it a necessity in a business of any size
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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.
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Canva
It is super easy to use, but it could be limiting if you're on a small device. It is easier on a bigger device because you can resize graphics and text easier than with your fingers on a small device. I do think it's perfect and easy for non-designers who don't have any training. As long as you have a good eye for visuals, Canva is a wonderful substitute for graphics programs on-the-go.
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Reliability and Availability
Adobe
The software is readily available and rarely has application errors.
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Canva
I have yet to encounter Canva being offline in at least 6 years of using it regularly. They also announce well in advance if there may be upgrades to the code and the hours during which there may be issues accessing the service.
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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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Canva
I haven't ever had issues with a slow-loading site and there haven't been any lag issues within the software. There have been maybe a handful of times over the past six years where I have tried to upload a large image and it will slow down as it loads the last megabyte, but I have yet to have the system time out or require any interference by me
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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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Canva
Overall, Canva is easy to use, easy to train others to use, allows for creativity with a professional look without enormous associated costs. The mobile apps works almost as easily, but at a minimum allows for easy review and downloading in a pinch. Really, anyone can learn to use Canva quickly and will immediately benefit from the results.
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Online Training
Adobe
Easy to follow and understand
Read full review
Canva
No answers on this topic
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.
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Canva
Remember to download the mobile app onto your phone for easy image manipulation on the go. Adding company colors, logos, and typefaces to your company account is an easy process. When images are uploaded, these can also be shared between accounts within a company, as can canvases you've created for easy editing among teams.
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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
Canva
Canva is faster and easy to use. There aren't complex menus like Adobe products and everything is generally intuitive. Menus are mostly open and visible or relatively small. Small changes to the program add to it's usability rather than detract. I also appreciate that Canva helps the user become more creative through use. By giving you editable examples through templates you can choose to re-design something ir create something from scratch w/ a similar concept or feel. Canva often gives me ideas that I can implement into my design or into the entire project even. I also like how Canva is intuitive in it's approach. The program gives you suggestions when it comes to graphics, etc. without getting in your way if you know what you already want
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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.
Read full review
Canva
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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Canva
Very easy to add accounts and share content between them. Collaboration is also easy to manage and can be done on a project-by-project basis. The cloud-based software means it is incredibly fast to add a coworker and have them editing images within minutes. A live internet connection is required to access Canva so this is something to consider if expecting to use the software while on journeys without access to wifi etc
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Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Savings of time trying to format documents correctly; PDFs hold their format.
  • Ease of transfer for print-ready or larger file types.
  • It has empowered multiple "non-designer" users to manipulate PDFs in minor ways, saving our design team time and allowing them to use their resources/time on other, more complex projects.
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Canva
  • As far as ROI is concerned, Canva has proven itself time and time again as having a positive impact for business.
  • Just yesterday, I had to prepare an hour-long presentation on the fly; the great reviews of the presentation and the materials (all made in Canva) only served to advertise for Canva and it proves that Canva is a smart investment.
  • I don't think in the time that I have been a Canva pro user that I can say that my ROI has been negatively impacted. Highest recommendation. The software more the casually pays for itself time and time again.
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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.