Adobe Acrobat vs. Microsoft 365

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
Microsoft 365
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) is a Microsoft Cloud subscription service that includes Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access). The software can be installed across multiple devices and ensures that users always have the most up-to-date version of the included Office applications.
$5
Per User Per Month
Pricing
Adobe AcrobatMicrosoft 365
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
Business Basic
$5.00
Per User Per Month
Individual
$5.84
*Per Month
Business - Apps
$8.25
Per User Per Month
Enterprise - F3
$10.00
Per User Per Month
Business Standard
$12.50
Per User Per Month
Business Premium
$20.00
Per User Per Month
Enterprise - E3
$32.00
Per User Per Month
Enterprise - E5
$57.00
Per User Per Month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe AcrobatMicrosoft 365
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details*When billed annually.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe AcrobatMicrosoft 365
Considered Both Products
Adobe Acrobat
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
We use them for different things.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
haven't used many products similar to Adobe Acrobat
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Oh it's night and day, it's also the standard so, it makes it easier when collaborating with anyone else.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat is very comparable to Microsoft office. They share the same tools and functions.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
I would say that Adobe Acrobat offers a whole suite of of feature that Niro Pro just doesn't have.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
I have used PDFEscape previously. It is a great product. A wonderful aspect is that it is free. A person can use this within having to link a form or payment or make a payment. Adobe Acrobat is not free (obviously). More or less, it has all of the features that PDFEscape
Chose Adobe Acrobat
It's like buying a luxury car with all the bells and whistles. It's a significant investment, but you have the vehicle always available, with superior performance, maximum safety, a warranty, and the ability to handle any road or condition.

É como comprar um carro de luxo com …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
There really is no product like Adobe Acrobat DC on the market
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Foxit doesn't really have the ecosystem that Adobe Acrobat has, and since we are using multiple Adobe products, they all integrate well with one another. The OCR is also more powerful and accurate. So although Foxit has a lower cost to it and is also more light weight and less …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
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.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
We have not really worked with any other products. " If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is the old saying, and it rings true here. We love Adobe, and it does everything we need. Their engineers are always looking at the workforce to see what improvements can be made and where …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
I have only really used Acrobat. All the other programs I have used are word processing programs.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
We did not compare as we know Adobe is the best there is for what we need
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Other products like Word and PPT can help me create PDF files; however, I cannot actively edit and work within a .pdf file without Adobe Acrobat (to my knowledge). Adobe Acrobat almost feels like a required product for any organization that wants to work with and actively edit …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat is more robust and does much more than Reader. Reader is basic but, I think Adobe Acrobat is a huge step up.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat excel at its e-signature capabilities. This beats both Foxit and Power PDF. However, it lacks native integration with accounting-specific tools like TaxFolder. TaxFolder allow one-click from tax software itself to send out signature request. Way more …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Adobe was far superior to Foxit and was the only software that integrated with our software at the time.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
The great thing about Adobe is the functionality it offers users, something that Word through Microsoft apparently does, but the vulnerability of information in Word is something complex that organizations are still improving, and it's something that Adobe has been able to …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
This is a feature I personally have had to use a lot as we have to contact inventors for their signatures on a lot of documents. The ability for them to sign digitally is extremely helpful. A manual signature is harder to get and contacting these individuals can be hit or miss …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Adobe is much more expensive, and does not offer a perpetual license like its competitors.
My organization does not find Acrobat to be a good value compared to the competition.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat is the gold standard and you pay for it. It is easy to use and works how you expect it to. The alternatives are cheaper, but don't offer as many features, and require retaining everyone to switch applications.
Microsoft 365
Chose Microsoft 365
Compared to the g-suite Microsoft 365 is so much more universally used. I think it has a way further reach and is easier for everyone to use. It is the basic standard in our business and I’d expect that in most places. I can always transfer my skills and everything is …
Chose Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 is better in the fact that it doesn't try to upsell you daily. Adobe is always trying to get me to go premium.
Chose Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 is in almost all cases the best option for office solutions in a professional environment. If there is a budget for software like this, I would generally recommend Microsoft Office. However, where your requirements for features are basic, you might enjoy free …
Chose Microsoft 365
Microsoft has all the tools you need in one place, easily accessible and easy to use. The Teams app is reliable and doesn't glitch or make it hard to hear someone on a meeting like Google Meet does. Zoom has vulnerabilities making it not as reliable or me as comfortable using it.
Chose Microsoft 365
Microsoft has quite a bit more functionality versus Google Sheets. Plus there are times that I want to work locally and not be connected to the cloud. Microsoft 365 allows for that.
Chose Microsoft 365
It's all about the network effect. Since everyone else at my school using Microsoft 365, eventually I had to bite the bullet and join the crowd. Using the officially supported file syncing and sharing solution solves a large number of problems right out of the box. Other …
Chose Microsoft 365
We have tried using an in-house Microsoft Exchange server as well but ultimately moved to using Microsoft 365 because it decentralized our email and gave all the users access to Microsoft Excel and Word programs at the same time. It also gives each user 1 terabyte of cloud …
Chose Microsoft 365
Google Drive and Google Docs I believe is the biggest competitor to Microsoft 365. However, if you really want to unlock the power and potential in your business you need more horsepower behind you and that is what the MS365 suite of products provides. Google Docs is …
Chose Microsoft 365
No comparison, we can do more with Microsoft 365 and we are more efficient. The pricing model is very fair. We don't have to worry about updating the software on each machine, the updates are handled by Microsoft directly and the Microsoft 365 programs seem much more stable and …
Chose Microsoft 365
We really haven't evaluated other Office-like productivity suites/collaboration tools, since Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) does everything that our organization needs for the work that users do on a daily basis. This combined with the fact that it is the perfect …
Chose Microsoft 365
Google Docs, Sheets, Calendar, etc. were not available in the listings, but to me, these would be Microsoft's competition in this space. Google seemed to have basically copied what Microsoft has done with these apps [and] made them web-browser friendly and cloud-based. …
Chose Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 is a complete package. If your work is business more than creative than it 100% suits your needs. The pieces it offers, the desk top apps available on demand, and the integrations are far reaching and hard to match with other products. It's clear they've been used …
Chose Microsoft 365
Please consider our consideration of alternatives dates back seven years ago, so the alternative offerings today are likely to be rather different.

We did consider continuing with Exchange on site, but deemed the increasing cost and complexity to justify adopting [Microsoft 365 …
Chose Microsoft 365
InDesign is more powerful than Microsoft Word as a publishing software, but fewer people use it, so I use Microsoft Word more frequently.
Chose Microsoft 365
I have tried open-source alternatives such as OpenOffice but compatibility issues arise sometimes. We selected Microsoft 365 because it is the business gold standard of office productivity suites and nothing else comes close.
Chose Microsoft 365
Skype is a similar communication tool to Microsoft Teams, however Microsoft is more commonly used in our business so it's easier to use a product that communicates and works with the other products you have
Chose Microsoft 365
Thought about using Teams in certain situations, but have been concerned about universal access to content. Often feel that third party applications that are not aligned to a specific format are better. Users are not favored if [there] are Google or Microsoft or Apple people.
Chose Microsoft 365
Using Dynamics as a business application was the best decision I ever made. Between all its functionalities we are able to connect any Office 365 tools into your personalized app and you do not have to leave your page, it’s all right there.
Chose Microsoft 365
I like these applications, but Google does them for free. You can't beat that. I still use OneNote frequently, but for most work, Google is a winner here.
Chose Microsoft 365
It's more secure and has more powerful tools for the classroom and it integrates well with our LMS. Office 365 provides our students with the ability to work on or offline and having a tool that has the immersive reader, translator built right into the system is extremely …
Chose Microsoft 365
It's different. Oracle is used by big corporate clients where the security of the financial data is paramount. Manhattan was a more specific property management system and Office 365 didn't appear to have a natural fit. Business Objects is a reporting tool designed to sit over …
Best Alternatives
Adobe AcrobatMicrosoft 365
Small Businesses
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.7 out of 10
Google Workspace
Google Workspace
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
MSB Docs
MSB Docs
Score 9.4 out of 10
Google Workspace
Google Workspace
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Tungsten Capture
Tungsten Capture
Score 8.0 out of 10
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Score 8.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe AcrobatMicrosoft 365
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(811 ratings)
8.0
(242 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(45 ratings)
9.5
(6 ratings)
Usability
9.2
(254 ratings)
7.7
(13 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
5.8
(10 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.2
(63 ratings)
8.9
(54 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.8
(15 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Configurability
8.0
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
4.5
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
8.0
(8 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.0
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
1.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
1.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe AcrobatMicrosoft 365
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.
Read full review
Microsoft
Microsoft 365 would be well suited for medium to large enterprises. This is where there are several hundreds or thousands of people. Since most everyone has used one of the applications the learning curve would be reduced. Another reason would be the ability to implement security measures to prevent access to sensitive data. This could justify the cost of an Enterprise license.
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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!
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Chat with teams and the integrations with the other apps, and many more smaller ones, like to-dos, news, and the recent Outlook integration.
  • Easy embedding on SharePoint to broadcast all the content created in the different tools.
  • The office package is still robust with the good things from the past and new additions.
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
Microsoft
  • Forms lack comprehensive features and parameters for detailed questioning for example cannot be directly linked with Power BI
  • Outlook email filters are not handy to use and require more detailing in terms of location past emails
  • Teams requires substantially large amounts of system resources which could be finetuned
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
Microsoft
So far the Microsoft 365 platform provides features and tools that can cater to 100% of present organizations needs considering both technical and business necessities, however most features are not been effectively utilised at present. The current featureset is able to cover for most of the future needs of the business and technical functions.
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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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Microsoft
Microsoft 365 is the gold standard for performing project tasks in a professional environment, enabling the quick transfer and exchange of files and ideas for team members who work locally and remotely. Its suite of tools is familiar and has evolved to being cloud based, allowing for files to be updated in real time from near and far.
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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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Microsoft
To-date Microsoft 365 platform has offered an amazing uptime and availability percentage per year compared to all other products which provide the stability and overall business resilience of their ecosystem which is a great relief for information technology service entitites which heavy rely on Microsoft offerings as a whole to redeliver their own custom products
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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.
Read full review
Microsoft
The Microsoft 365 tools expects and demands a substantial amount of system resources to operate at optimal level and even more when integrated with other applications which is a downside, however given that external supporting tech factors such as fibre/broadband speed bandwidth, high speed RAM and ample storage resources are allocated the tools work error free providing robust communication
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.
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Microsoft
Over the past 8 years of using Microsoft 365, I have noticed that they change vendors often. This always leads to a poor experience in the beginning, then levels out after some time for the company to get things worked out. As a customer, it is really frustrating because I don't have time when something isn't working to have them "look into my issue" and get back with me. They have even closed a ticket I specifically told them to keep open. Your applications are only as good as the support.
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In-Person Training
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
The resellers involved with selling Microsoft products are reluctant to provide in person specialist trainings to consumers due to the fact of costs of economies of scale and is not provided free of charge most of the time. In Person trainings needs to be agreed to at the initiation of projects and implementations for better ROI.
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Online Training
Adobe
Answered basic questions.
Read full review
Microsoft
The standard training offered with 3rd part resellers are fairly standard and covers the basic workability however the trainings needs to be specifically customised according to unique requirements of the organizations. for example an MSP would need to master specific communications verticals within Microsoft 365 whereas and online store using Microsoft 365 would needs to master a different set of tools within the suite to get the best ROI post implementation.
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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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Microsoft
The Microsoft support partners are more than capable of handling implementations and dealing with unprecedented errors during the implementations. Not part of the implementation though the setup was done with minimum misconfigurations which is evident with present live setup which works fine without any bugs and gaps at present context.
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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.
Read full review
Microsoft
Typically I prefer working with companies with Microsoft 365 as their main tool because they're usually a fast growing company with a global presence. I like using it for work because it's easy to collaborate, share, review, comment, reply in any of the tools. The mobile app for Outlook and Teams are lifesavers when we're constantly traveling and you can join meetings on the mobile Teams to never miss a beat.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Adobe
I am not responsible for sales or purchasing
Read full review
Microsoft
Microsoft pricing is not very expensive and yet not very cheap as well, and it hovers in between the baseline. The charges are mostly based on the tier level partners who charge based on their individual reputation in the market. Power negotiation will lead to cost effective and attractive pricing
Read full review
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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Microsoft
Multiple tools within the same platform have been deployed successfully within different functional technical and non technical teams such as Devops, SOC, NOC, Shared services, Managed services, Global Information technology, Cloud operations, Finance, Administration, human resources and all these teams collaborate while maintaining central uniformity in terms of global standards who are dispersed in different geographical locations with ease
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Professional Services
Adobe
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Have not directly obtained professional services from Microsoft but rather obtained specialized services such as implementations and configurations, setting up and integration support with Microsoft authorized suppliers, 3rd parties, and resellers, which has been a pleasant experience. Again the level of delivery quality on professional services is based on the level of hands on exposure of the 3rd party
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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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Microsoft
  • We have a lot of nonprofit users, so they have a good ROI.
  • I like the constant updates without having to purchase the software repeatedly.
  • I used to purchase each Office (insert year here) often, so the software was up to date and had the newest options and connectors. I think my return on investment would have been much better if Microsoft had updated those versions to keep them current; after all, we did pay for them.
  • Microsoft 365's offering a monthly fee or a discount for a year helps, and you can look at it as a free backup if you have everything set to back up to One Drive. (Cloud-based document filing you can access anywhere ( with an internet connection)—you Can't beat that!)
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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.