Adobe Acrobat vs. Microsoft 365 Business Premium

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 Business Premium
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
An integrated solution, designed for small or medium-sized businesses, bringing together the productivity of Microsoft Office with advanced security capabilities to help safeguard data from external threats and help protect against data leaks. With Microsoft 365 Business Premium, users can empower employees to be productive anywhere on any device. Get more done with AI built into the Office apps. Work better together with a hub for teamwork bringing your tools and people together in one place.…N/A
Pricing
Adobe AcrobatMicrosoft 365 Business Premium
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 AcrobatMicrosoft 365 Business Premium
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 AcrobatMicrosoft 365 Business Premium
Considered Both Products
Adobe Acrobat
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
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
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 was far superior to Foxit and was the only software that integrated with our software at the time.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Reader and Microsoft Edge (default Windows PDF file reader app) offer limited functionality compared to Adobe Standard DC. For colleagues that do not need extended the functionality of Adobe Standard DC Adobe Reader has been installed on their computers. Adobe Reader …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Foxit PDF is a strong competitor to Adobe Acrobat. However, users coming from older editions of Adobe don't like too much change and will want to stay with Adobe instead of changing to a new competing product. We did evaluate Foxit, but end users couldn't or didn't have the …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Adobe is an all round solution which is head and shoulders above what other individual software providers offer because it's integrated. The fact that it not only offers desktop and cloud integration is a huge plus and compliments modern OS and access such as Microsoft 365. …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
I selected Adobe because it has everything all of these products have but it's all wrapped up in one piece of software.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
I have used Adobe Acrobat Pro DC but have not had an opportunity to use other products yet.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
While more expensive than the competition, Adobe Acrobat DC is far superior than anything else we've considered.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
ABBYY FineReader promises better OCR recognition, but Finereader for Mac doesn't do 1/3 of the things that Adobe Acrobat DC does. It fails to meet my needs. Readdle PDF Expert is a fine product, but still, a lightweight compared to Acrobat DC. Using PDF Expert after using …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
I did not evaluate any other pdf management programs other than Adobe Acrobat DC. I was familiar with other Adobe pdf products and never thought to explore any others. I have been very pleased with Adobe Acrobat DC and have not seen the need to look at other pdf management …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
The names escape me, but if you google "Edit PDFs" you will get dozens of free and some paid programs. I have used several of these and none of them come close to the features and benefits that Adobe Acrobat DC has. You will spend more of your valuable time trying to figure …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Our company only uses Adobe Acrobat DC for our reports. We have used other versions in the past and found that using older versions or different PDF creator programs caused problems when we tried to combine documents; objects wouldn't convert right and letters would be …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Adobe DC was a free to install version, lite software that got our team everything we needed without needing to go and spend gobs of money on software licenses for 20-30 people. It is helpful, searchable (mostly) and gets the team everything the need to be able to read and open …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
We use Microsoft as well but I almost always end up in Acrobat Adobe to finish any documents that I am about to send out. To me, the editing features are just more easy to use.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
Adobe works for so many other clients who may or may not have Windows or MACs, etc. When I send a Word document I never know who can open it and who can't. That's not the case for Adobe.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
We could amend through PowerPoint, but this isn’t possible when the documents have already been converted to PDF.
Chose Adobe Acrobat
I haven’t really used or looked for other products to use. Adobe has all the features I need. I used Google Drive for a bit because it works well on a smart phone. But on a desktop computer I prefer Adobe, for it is easy to use, the tools and features are not hard to navigate, …
Chose Adobe Acrobat
We actually had Nitro before Adobe. While it made claims to offer more features and be intuitive, most staffers felt the opposite. And some of the Nitro extra features were completely unnecessary and we never used them such as the ability to customize certain tabs or create …
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Chose Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is very limited in its implementation and collaboration abilities within a business. It cannot compare with [Microsoft 365 Business Premium] with its convenience, ability to create and edit documents, email, data storage and retrieval and price. It is …
Chose Microsoft 365 Business Premium
We have only evaluated Microsoft 365 Business Premium. We do use Adobe products for a different purpose.
Chose Microsoft 365 Business Premium
These products simply do not compare in terms of universal compatibility, features, integrations, user-friendliness, and overall cost. Google is free but not as secure and too cloud-based for our needs as a medium-sized organization. I would recommend Google to independent …
Chose Microsoft 365 Business Premium
I believe that Microsoft 365 Business Premium integrates two-factor authentication, providing security in each of our accounts, at the same time providing us with the security and integrity that our accounts are not going to be used by third parties, which it allows to have the …
Chose Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Much better than Google docs platform.
Chose Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Google Drive is great, but Sheets doesn't have the same level of functionality as Excel. Additionally, if your business already uses Microsoft programs then using two disparate programs doesn't work if you're trying to simplify workflows.
Chose Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Functionality, formatting, and level of formulas for data analysis is severely lacking. When I have access to G Suite thru work or a client, I always use Office 365 and just save the data to their Google Drive (after saving to my OneDrive).
Chose Microsoft 365 Business Premium
We tried to work with Google Docs but it was just too foreign and had issues with compatibility for customers and office staff. There was also a high enough learning curve and it was just different enough from what they were using that it caused transition issues with the …
Chose Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business is more robust than Google's suite of enterprise applications and services, but that doesn't necessarily make it better. It really depends on the individual organization. G Suite is more geared at communication and collaboration. Gmail, Calendar, Drive, …
Chose Microsoft 365 Business Premium
From the business perspective we didn't evaluate any other applications or products similar to 365. At the county we are Microsoft first on all applications.
Chose Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft is more universally accepted, which makes it easier for us to work with our clients.
Chose Microsoft 365 Business Premium
I haven't actually come across any other package as worthy as Microsoft 365 Business. I admire the way it gives access to all the applications at one place, like Microsoft Office, Microsoft Powerpoint, Microsoft Access, etc.
Chose Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Better understanding/tracking of use /accessibility for data privacy/protection regulation requirements.
Best Alternatives
Adobe AcrobatMicrosoft 365 Business Premium
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
Microsoft 365
Score 8.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe AcrobatMicrosoft 365 Business Premium
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
(812 ratings)
8.8
(108 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(45 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
9.2
(254 ratings)
8.5
(57 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
5.8
(10 ratings)
8.4
(41 ratings)
Support Rating
9.2
(63 ratings)
9.4
(9 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.8
(15 ratings)
9.1
(1 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)
6.0
(1 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 Business Premium
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 Business Premium is well suited to any size organization and is a must-have for business purposes. It is a vital component for the majority of work software needs, as the Microsoft 365 Business Premium package has apps to handle needs that I didn't know we had. It is a great way to provide the required software programs to teams, especially those that work remotely due to the great sharing capabilities built into it. Furthermore, the nonprofit program provided our small nonprofit with vital components for our remote work, while allowing us to keep our donated funds going directly to our mission.
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
Microsoft
  • Work in sync in different departments.
  • Being able to work from any device or computer. It is a very noble tool in different devices.
  • The work between the different programs (Word, Excel, Notes) that it offers is extremely light and good.
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
  • adding calendar invitations is not straight forward
  • copying folders from SharePoint libraries to an external drive should not be relying on the available space on the C drive
  • administering mailboxes for our company is convoluted forcing me to hunt for settings and options
  • lack of flexibility on the location of the OST and PST files
  • the new version should not do away with PST files but rather improve their reliability.
  • the PST internal structure is inefficient. the PST file should be able to shrink automatically when one delete emails.
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.
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Microsoft
It is part of the organisation now. It provides and rich feature set and requires a relatively low amount of administration.
Read full review
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
The basic apps are straightforward and easy to use, especially since they have been around so long. I'm referring to the basic apps like Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, etc. Other features such as Microsoft Teams and Sharepoint Sites, Sharepoint Lists, Sharepoint Groups, etc. all require a higher level of knowledge to both implement and use properly
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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
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
Microsoft
In the last 5 years, Microsoft has come a long way. The performance of the products has become more and more user-friendly and it seems that the feedback provided by the user community is being listened to and worked on. The processes are very fast and seamless. There are negligible errors and doesn't slow the systems down.
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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
As mentioned elsewhere in the review, Microsoft has historically paid attention to community feedback and issues, but timeliness can improve, and so can the addressing of long-standing issues about which many users have said "I have this issue too!" but no official solution exists. For issues that do have a solution, however, the solution is usually not difficult to find, and the explanation of features on Microsoft's website can mitigate many problems.
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Online Training
Adobe
Answered basic questions.
Read full review
Microsoft
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
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Microsoft
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
Microsoft
Before migrating to Microsoft 365 Business Premium, we possessed an in-house exchange server. Therefore, it was difficult for us to look at alternatives to Microsoft for a solution – we did look at the Google Suite of products, but the transition for us seemed less cumbersome to stay with Microsoft from a staff and administrative perspective. While the G Suite does offer us many outstanding products and services, we also didn’t feel that Gmail is up-to-par as a corporate solution the way Exchange/Outlook/OWA are – this alone was also a driving force for our end-users, as there was minimal transition for them to move from an on-premise solution to an off-premise solution. The additional features of SharePoint, Teams, Project, and so many other applications within Microsoft 365 also helped us make a strong case to stay with Microsoft and expand what we were using. The end-user and mobile protections of InTune have also put us at ease when issuing laptops and mobile phones to an almost fully-remote end-user base.
Read full review
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Adobe
I am not responsible for sales or purchasing
Read full review
Microsoft
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
Microsoft
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.
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Microsoft
  • We can now keep work going from anywhere. It doesn't matter if we are on a job site or sitting in the office or working from home for a day or two we don't have to miss a beat.
  • It has unified how we store information so that everything isn't stored on individual computers
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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.