Adobe Acrobat vs. Flip PDF Pro for Mac

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
Flip PDF Pro for Mac
Score 5.0 out of 10
N/A
Flip PDF for Mac from FlipBuilder is designed to make it fast and easy for Mac users to convert ordinary PDF files into mobile friendly eye-catching brochures or magazines with amazing page-flipping effect. Integrated with hundreds of templates and themes, the Mac program enables you to create an unique and impressive digital magazine, brochure or catalog within minutes.N/A
Pricing
Adobe AcrobatFlip PDF Pro for Mac
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
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe AcrobatFlip PDF Pro for Mac
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 AcrobatFlip PDF Pro for Mac
Considered Both Products
Adobe Acrobat
Chose Adobe Acrobat
We tried Flip PDF Pro for Mac, but the software didn't have the accessibility features we need. Plus, most of our web agents across campus are working on PCs, so it didn't make sense to use software they wouldn't have access to use. Adobe Acrobat DC was a great universal …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Secure Sharing: I can share my documents with other team members while ensuring that the data remains protected. I can set permissions for each document, specifying who can view, edit,
Flip PDF Pro for Mac
Chose Flip PDF Pro for Mac
There are several PDF conversion programs out there, but really Flip PDF Pro for Mac is probably the best one that I've encountered. The amount of versatility in the program really sells it to me. It works just like a design program, but as a customizable PDF, and it's …
Best Alternatives
Adobe AcrobatFlip PDF Pro for Mac
Small Businesses
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.6 out of 10
Tungsten Power PDF
Tungsten Power PDF
Score 9.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
MSB Docs
MSB Docs
Score 9.4 out of 10
pdfFiller
pdfFiller
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Tungsten Capture
Tungsten Capture
Score 7.9 out of 10
Bluebeam
Bluebeam
Score 9.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe AcrobatFlip PDF Pro for Mac
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(839 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(45 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.2
(255 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.2
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
6.2
(10 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(63 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.7
(15 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
8.0
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
6.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.0
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.1
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
4.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
5.5
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe AcrobatFlip PDF Pro for Mac
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
I would recommend to my peers if they are signing paperwork as it makes it super easy. I would also recomned it if somebody was trying to make an editable PDF or fill in paper document to be able to share across multiple platforms and emails at a timely manner
Read full review
FlipBuilder
It's great for presentations. It makes even the most drab presentation more interesting, and gives you the ability to add animated elements to your presentation. Everybody uses Microsoft PowerPoint, but for Mac it's a little slow and unresponsive. Flip PDF Pro for Mac kind of solves that issue – you can build your project in InDesign, export it out, then import it into Flip PDF Pro. It sounds like a bit of a process but it's actually very easy. Any designer can pick it up and run with it.
Read full review
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!
Read full review
FlipBuilder
  • You can customize or add certain things like your title, logo, toolbar icon appearance, background, fonts, etc. It feels a lot like a design program – which is nice, as a designer.
  • The program allows you to embed almost any sort of media into your flip book – GIFs are easy to add in and work with, they add a dynamic element to your presentation (which wasn't possible before).
  • You can create these things called “hot spots” – basically certain trigger areas in your document that can activate something when clicked – like take you to a e-commerce site, for example.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
FlipBuilder
  • My documents sometimes had a problem with import and output – sometimes it would take a substansial amount of time to export something.
  • In their mulit-lingual version, our freelance linguist caught some mistakes, some words were not translated or translated into other languages – which can make us look pretty bad.
  • There's a limit on audio you can output for each page in your document – it had to be "one audio for two pages".
Read full review
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.
Read full review
FlipBuilder
No answers on this topic
Usability
Adobe
I've only used it on Mac desktops, so I am giving this a neutral rating right down the middle. I've not used a mobile version of Adobe Acrobat for cell phone or for a tablet (like an Apple iPad). I've also not used Adobe Acrobat on a PC, although Acrobat Reader, yes. (But that's not the point of this review.)
Read full review
FlipBuilder
No answers on this topic
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
Read full review
FlipBuilder
No answers on this topic
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.
Read full review
FlipBuilder
No answers on this topic
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.
Read full review
FlipBuilder
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Adobe
Easy to follow and understand
Read full review
FlipBuilder
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
Read full review
FlipBuilder
No answers on this topic
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.
Read full review
FlipBuilder
There are several PDF conversion programs out there, but really Flip PDF Pro for Mac is probably the best one that I've encountered. The amount of versatility in the program really sells it to me. It works just like a design program, but as a customizable PDF, and it's easy-to-use interface really helps speed things up with our workflow and process. There's a lot of competitors out there, but none of them really stack up.
Read full review
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
FlipBuilder
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.
Read full review
FlipBuilder
No answers on this topic
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.
Read full review
FlipBuilder
  • It makes our presentations more interesting and dynamic.
  • It allows us to go around using Microsoft PowerPoint (which is a little slow and unresponsive on Mac).
  • Using its animation and hotlink elements, we're able to broaden our services with this program. It really helps out a lot.
Read full review
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.