Adobe Acrobat vs. Formstack Documents

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Acrobat
Score 8.9 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
Formstack Documents
Score 6.2 out of 10
N/A
Formstack Documents (formerly WebMerge, acquired by Formstack April 2019) is an online service that automates the document creation process. It allows users to create customized PDF and Word documents for contracts, applications, government forms, and more.N/A
Pricing
Adobe AcrobatFormstack Documents
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
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe AcrobatFormstack Documents
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 AcrobatFormstack Documents
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Adobe AcrobatFormstack Documents
Small Businesses
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.8 out of 10
Conga Composer
Conga Composer
Score 9.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
MSB Docs
MSB Docs
Score 9.4 out of 10
Conga Composer
Conga Composer
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Conga Composer
Conga Composer
Score 9.4 out of 10
Conga Composer
Conga Composer
Score 9.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe AcrobatFormstack Documents
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(543 ratings)
8.5
(9 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.7
(27 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
8.9
(238 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.8
(8 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.1
(57 ratings)
10.0
(3 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.2
(10 ratings)
-
(0 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
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
4.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
5.5
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe AcrobatFormstack Documents
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.
Read full review
Formstack
[Formstack Documents (formerly WebMerge) is] well suited for a mid-size organization that has multiple data inputs and needs to provide structure and professional document generation. As helpful as it is, the cost would prevent smaller businesses from realizing the cost savings that a larger one will.
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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.
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Formstack
  • Excellent integration with other popular platforms
  • Clear and usable documentation to walk through setup in a number of scenarios
  • Responsive support that provided appropriate answers when we had questions
  • Flexibility in use cases that support multiple modes of use
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
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Formstack
  • We've had some issues with document formatting when the Formstack document comes through. Nothing outrageous, but it has been very inconvenient and annoying.
  • The Formstack website is not attractive or user friendly.
  • I think it could be clearer to Formstack users that it is a tool that needs another tool, not a tool all its own.
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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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Formstack
Ease of use, nice functionality that saves time
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.
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Formstack
No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
Adobe
The software is readily available and rarely has application errors.
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Formstack
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.
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Formstack
No answers on this topic
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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Formstack
Support was always readily available and happy to assist whenever I had a question or needed help. Great experience every time.
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Online Training
Adobe
Easy to follow and understand
Read full review
Formstack
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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Formstack
No answers on this topic
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.
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Formstack
Each of the programs above answered a specific call to action. While each addressed a small portion of our need, they never quite fit the bill for what we needed. It was actually a representative from three of the ones above which selected WebMerge. They wanted to sell their product, but knew that we would be unfulfilled if we went with them
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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
Formstack
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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Formstack
No answers on this topic
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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Formstack
  • The return on investment has been very good. It's very cost effective product. Our service team is on the phone and it takes away from the customer service if they are having to input the same information on applications. Web Merge eliminates additional key strokes while giving customers more time to run their business.
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.