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Adobe Acrobat vs. Gimmal Records Management vs. Smallpdf

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Adobe Acrobat

    Score8.8 out of 10
    N/AAdobe 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

    Gimmal Records Management

    N/AN/AGimmal Records Management, from Gimmal in Houston, is designed to provide a comprehensive compliance, information governance, and records management software for digital workplaces.N/A

    Smallpdf

    Score7.4 out of 10
    N/AMade in Switzerland, Smallpdf is a company that offers a suite of document management tools for everyone-for work, for home, for life. Founded in Switzerland in 2013, Smallpdf provides what they describe as a simple, secure, and reliable answer to the world's PDF challenges. Smallpdf boasts serving over a billion users in 24 different languages since 2013, and in every country in the world.

    $0

    Pricing
    Adobe AcrobatGimmal Records ManagementSmallpdf
    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
    Smallpdf Basic
    $0.00
    Smallpdf Pro
    $12.00
    per month
    Smallpdf Pro
    $108.00
    per year
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Adobe AcrobatGimmal Records ManagementSmallpdf
    Free Trial
    YesNoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——Discounts are available for bulk purchases
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Adobe AcrobatGimmal Records ManagementSmallpdf
    Considered Multiple Products
    Adobe
    Chose Adobe Acrobat
    In comparison to Smallpdf and iLovePDF, inevitably, Adobe Acrobat is the most popular and higher marketed software. Additionally, Smallpdf and iLovePDF are online conversion software, so your document needs to be uploaded to a cloud where it is converted and then you need to …
    Incentivized
    Chose Adobe Acrobat
    I have used Smallpdf.com for splitting documents or rotating PDF pages but it's kind of a pain to have to upload each file and it's always a risk uploading documents to a website if those documents are confidential. It is also much slower than Acrobat DC. Yes, some of the …
    Incentivized
    Chose Adobe Acrobat
    Adobe Acrobat has been the market leader against these other solutions for our organization when needing more robust, enterprise grade features. Cost versus benefit has placed Adobe Acrobat at or near the top option for our organization. Some of the other solutions do …
    Incentivized
    Chose Adobe Acrobat
    Adobe Acrobat stands out because its more powefull and feature rich as compared to these free tools. and it offers more compatibilty, security and many other editing options in a single software. which is much suitable for professional work rather than these cheap alternatives. …
    Incentivized
    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 …
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    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 …
    Incentivized
    Chose Adobe Acrobat
    Adobe Acrobat DC simplifies the process of editing and creating PDFs. With drag-and-drop functionality, it's simple to use. We can also choose to forego reading by utilizing the text-to-speech function. It's InDesign and Illustrator-compatible. Templates in Acrobat DC make it …
    Incentivized
    Gimmal
    No answer on this topic
    Smallpdf
    Chose Smallpdf
    Smallpdf is a basic PDF editor platform. Overall, it is best for beginners and those who only need a PDF editor to make simple edits and changes. Would also recommend it to those with a smaller budget. If you prefer an advanced, all-in-one PDF editor and also use other Adobe …
    Incentivized
    Chose Smallpdf
    Adobe is not so quick. It takes a lot of effort to do a job in it. but small PDFs do the same job as in the second. Even adobe Acrobat does not have as many features as Smallpdf. Smallpdf is like an ocean because you don't know ocean depth so a small pdf has so many features.
    Incentivized
    Chose Smallpdf
    Smallpdf has a wonderful free version and is extremely simple to use. Adobe Acrobat can be a bit jumpy and heaven forbid you click on the wrong icon and it will ask you to sign in over and over again. Smallpdf isn't always the prettiest to use, but it is the best to get the job …
    Incentivized
    Chose Smallpdf
    I think that Smallpdf stacks up against its competitors in terms of easiness of use. The tool is very user-friendly, every feature is communicated in an efficient way and very simple to user so the user doesn't have to be particularly good at using software. Its features are …
    Incentivized
    Chose Smallpdf
    When comparing Smallpdf to Adobe Acrobat the first thing that comes to mind immediately is how much cheaper Smallpdf is compared to Adobe. The difference has been huge for our company and has allowed us to save money while keeping the same quality level for the products …
    Incentivized
    Chose Smallpdf
    This is a more ethical decision. Adobe tends to lock you into their products and then charge you to end your contract. Smallpdf allows us to remain flexible and do our work at a lower cost.
    Incentivized
    Chose Smallpdf
    Smallpdf has had a great impact on our business since we moved to this software from Adobe which is more expensive, so we managed to save a lot of money for using it.
    Incentivized
    Chose Smallpdf
    Smallpdf is accessible online as a web-based .pdf solution not like many software that must be installed on a computer.
    Incentivized
    Chose Smallpdf
    I used to convert my PDF files with LightPDF software. But It was slightly difficult for me to navigate on that software. The interface of that software was not very easy to understand. And compression result quality was also not satisfactory. So I selected Smallpdf for all my …
    Incentivized
    Chose Smallpdf
    Smallpdf is a cheaper alternative. There is no additional software to purchase, so no need to pay to upgrade licensing every year. I think it is easier to use, although it doesn't have as many tools or options as Adobe. Depending on what you use it for, I think it is a great …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    97%
    Would buy again
    897 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    93%
    Would buy again
    14 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    95%
    Delivers good value for the price
    768 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    13 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    899 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    15 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    594 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    82%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    9 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    99%
    Implementation went as expected
    683 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    91%
    Implementation went as expected
    10 Answers
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    M‑Files
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    Medium-sized Companies
    Esker
    Score7.4 out of 10
    Esker
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    Enterprises
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    Score9.5 out of 10
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    User Ratings
    Adobe AcrobatGimmal Records ManagementSmallpdf
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.9
    (967 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.7
    (25 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.9
    (46 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.5
    (382 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.5
    (6 ratings)
    Availability
    8.6
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    5.2
    (11 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.4
    (6 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.6
    (64 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.9
    (2 ratings)
    Online Training
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.9
    (16 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    7.7
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    3.9
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    8.0
    (9 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.8
    (6 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    7.2
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Professional Services
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    5.8
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    6.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Adobe AcrobatGimmal Records ManagementSmallpdf
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Adobe
    In my opinion there isn't a better document program that works with everyone. In a previous role; I had advocated for staff across departments to get Adobe Acrobat licenses because they kept sending every little thing to me since I had the main Adobe license. It really made their departments (sales & finance) run much smoother for a very minimal cost.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gimmal
    No answers on this topic
    Smallpdf
    As per my knowledge and experience, Small PDF is well suited when we want to convert the large and bulk processing on the images to convert them into a single file and share. I found it well suited for college students because daily they scan multiple images and merge them to send as a single assignment file. Smallpdf has the future in the education field. Sometimes it is less appropriate for the people who want to share official documents by converting them into pdf without a watermark. I personally really like the Small PDF, it really helped reduce the difficulty of sending files, and photos to others.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Adobe
    • It is easy to sign and send a document.
    • It makes it easy to scan and save a document.
    • It is easy to add text to any document.
    • You can create an editable PDF form for others to complete based on the questions you include.
    • You can create and send a secure document to a client for their signature.
    • It is easy to add photos to any document.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gimmal
    No answers on this topic
    Smallpdf
    • It's PDF editing tool suite is extremely comprehensive.
    • Drag & Drop functionality and intuitive user interface means non-technical users can easily use most of its features.
    • It's online-first design avoids typical problems of depending on one specific computer for specific tasks.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Adobe
    • I wish the backward compatibility was a little more friendly. PDFLyer had to be updated sooner that we would like when we updated from Adobe 2017 to Adobe 2026.
    • I wish it had list processing like Excel where it could remove duplicates, change formatting, etc.
    • Sometimes after an update we lose our plugins and have to restablish the connection to the plugin or reinstall.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gimmal
    No answers on this topic
    Smallpdf
    • It has everything I'm not sure what I will say. E-sign, Share, convert. You can give an option in upload priorities features which I can see later.
    • Background remover thing also you can add in it. So I can remove the unnecessary thing from an image.
    • You can add a chatbot for help.
    Incentivized
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gimmal
    No answers on this topic
    Smallpdf
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Adobe
    I would say overall, the product is great and as someone who has used it for many years now, I'm quite familiar with the ins and outs of the application. However, we found that when users were shown it for the first time and a bit after, they would feel a bit overwhelmed by the options and what everything meant. I think the UI could be simplified or an option to have a simplified mode and an advanced mode added.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gimmal
    No answers on this topic
    Smallpdf
    I give this rating to Smallpdf because it comes with a large array of tools and gadgets. It allows not only pdf reading but also mixing, splitting, conversion to and from pdf, pdf compression or protecting. It is really complete and it works excellent compared to other much more expensive alternatives in the market.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gimmal
    No answers on this topic
    Smallpdf
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gimmal
    No answers on this topic
    Smallpdf
    1.- Because it is easy to use and each function is duly indicated so you can not go wrong. 2.- Its service is fast, it takes only a few seconds to transform the files and in less than a minute it is downloaded and you can occupy it without problem. 4.-This IS online so you do not install anything, which is very useful because you can also use it from a tablet or your mobile
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gimmal
    No answers on this topic
    Smallpdf
    Everything is so simple and works so well, you shouldn't need support, but on the one occasion in several years that I needed it, support was quick and courteous.
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Adobe
    Answered basic questions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gimmal
    No answers on this topic
    Smallpdf
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gimmal
    No answers on this topic
    Smallpdf
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Adobe
    Adobe Acrobat has the most premium features that other software can't offer. The seamless UI is consistent on any device, and the ease of use. The security and the advanced AI features are what you won't get on any other platforms or apps.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gimmal
    No answers on this topic
    Smallpdf
    I think that Smallpdf stacks up against its competitors in terms of easiness of use. The tool is very user-friendly, every feature is communicated in an efficient way and very simple to user so the user doesn't have to be particularly good at using software. Its features are superficial when compared to Acrobat but easiest to use for sure.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Adobe
    I am not responsible for sales or purchasing
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gimmal
    No answers on this topic
    Smallpdf
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gimmal
    No answers on this topic
    Smallpdf
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Adobe
    • Definitely a positive ROI when I can receive clear notes/direction on edits for a PDF via Acrobat's comment system, rather than chicken scratch on a printed document.
    • The ability to password-protect my PDFs so I can make sure only the workforce I want to see the information has been priceless!
    • As I mentioned before, a huge positive impact is the ability to edit PDFs without having to return to the original file's native software.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Gimmal
    No answers on this topic
    Smallpdf
    • It has definitely increased efficiency. Lower paid employees can complete a simple task with Smallpdf rather than having a higher paid employee use their time to do it differently.
    • Smallpdf decreases the customer-response time. Being able to send over the proper sized file quickly makes us look great!
    Incentivized
    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.

    Smallpdf Screenshots

    Screenshot of Desktop AppScreenshot of Homepage