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Adobe Acrobat vs. Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)

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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

    Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft Office 2016 is the familiar suite of Office products including applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for use on a single PC or Mac. The 2016 is no longer available for sale from Microsoft, and support is at an end since 2020.N/A
    Pricing
    Adobe AcrobatMicrosoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
    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 Office 2016 (discontinued)
    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 Office 2016 (discontinued)
    Considered Both Products
    Adobe
    Chose Adobe Acrobat
    Adobe Acrobat is very comparable to Microsoft office. They share the same tools and functions.
    Incentivized
    Chose Adobe Acrobat
    have not tried any major competitor against Acrobat, but have used Microsoft Word to edit and create documents in PDF file format. does not have all the same options and features as Acrobat.
    Incentivized
    Chose Adobe Acrobat
    Nitro did not always provide updates in a timely manner. I also had issues with it being available on multiple platforms.
    Incentivized
    Chose Adobe Acrobat
    This is another great product!
    Incentivized
    Chose Adobe Acrobat
    We do use Microsoft Office for document creation, but documents are always concerted to PDF prior to being distributed outside of our organization. We find PDF to be a better file format for sharing as opposed to docx files.
    Incentivized
    Chose Adobe Acrobat
    I have limited experience with Foxit PDF Editor, but use PDF Xchange Viewer and Editor extensively, and have used it for more than a decade. In my limited experience, Foxit PDF Editor was superior to Adobe Acrobat DC in virtually every way, but my familiarity with PDF Xchange …
    Incentivized
    Chose Adobe Acrobat
    Adobe Acrobat DC is the most superior tool for creating and editing PDF files. All the functionality is already included in the software. No need to look further. The only time you might need to use Illustrator or InDesign is when you create graphically heavy content.
    Incentivized
    Chose Adobe Acrobat
    I like Acrobat because it feels like the company pays attention to it and improves it regularly without affecting core functionality. Kofax Power PDF was more difficult to use, and it felt neglected, only getting an update maybe once every year or so.
    Incentivized
    Chose Adobe Acrobat
    Acrobat is a software preferred especially for document types shared digitally. Earlier alternatives are Microsoft Office solutions. The prominent difference of Acrobat is that it can be printed, edited, can convert all kinds of documents into PDF and also allows creating a …
    Incentivized
    Chose Adobe Acrobat
    There really is no product that compares when it comes to pdf management. Currently Adobe has a corner on the market.
    Incentivized
    Chose Adobe Acrobat
    There are still some employees who prefer to use Word instead of Adobe for their editing. However, they still use Adobe Acrobat DC in order to export to Word. They are just more familiar with Word and due to their comfort level, they don't want to be bothered with using the …
    Incentivized
    Chose Adobe Acrobat
    We tried a few users on Nitro and found it to be less functional and user-friendly than Adobe. Ease of use is important for user acceptance, and with Adobe being more functional for our team, it has remained our internal standard. We also have not found any other clients who …
    Incentivized
    Chose Adobe Acrobat
    I prefer using Adobe DC.
    Incentivized
    Chose Adobe Acrobat
    Adobe Acrobat was selected because it is the industry standard.
    Incentivized
    Discontinued Products
    Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
    We did not evaluate other products. The company already had an enterprise license with Microsoft for the Office Suite, and we were able to get a license and installation of our product by using our company email address. The other option was using free tools, which I know from …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
    Office is by far the most compatible of all the options we looked at and it integrates with Exchange email servers really well, so its an easy choice for us.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
    In terms of Layout, functionality, versatility, I believe that Microsoft Office, is in general, the standard to follow. Nonetheless, depending on the requirements, LibreOffice and Google Drive may provide the tools and functionality needed for many users. Furthermore, the …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
    The only similar products I have used would be Google Sheets, Google Docs and Google Slides. These are similar, but Microsoft Office products have more functionality.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
    Microsoft Office is the best and has been the best for years. 10 years into the workforce and there are no other comparable programs that stack up.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
    Yes, it's true that there are a lot of alternatives to Microsoft Office 2016 including:

    * Google Docs.
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
    I have used Google Drive in the past. I found that I get a lot more storage space with Microsoft Office than I do with Google Drive. I also use PowerPoint a lot when doing proposals, and Google Drive contains nothing of the sort. It is a lot easier to use, and I am used to …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    97%
    Would buy again
    897 Answers
    93%
    Would buy again
    50 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    95%
    Delivers good value for the price
    768 Answers
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    47 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    899 Answers
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    52 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    594 Answers
    98%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    40 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    99%
    Implementation went as expected
    683 Answers
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    41 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Adobe AcrobatMicrosoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
    Small Businesses
    M‑Files
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Google Workspace
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Esker
    Score7.4 out of 10
    Google Workspace
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Tungsten Capture
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Microsoft 365 Business Premium
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Adobe AcrobatMicrosoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.9
    (967 ratings)
    7.5
    (64 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.9
    (46 ratings)
    5.0
    (3 ratings)
    Usability
    8.5
    (382 ratings)
    7.0
    (3 ratings)
    Availability
    8.6
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    5.1
    (11 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.6
    (64 ratings)
    8.0
    (45 ratings)
    Online Training
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.9
    (16 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    7.7
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    3.9
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    8.0
    (9 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    7.3
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Professional Services
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    5.9
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    6.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Adobe AcrobatMicrosoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
    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
    Discontinued Products
    I'd recommend [Microsoft] Office2016 for any business that has more than a couple of users, as the software is very scalable from just a small business to a large enterprise corporation. I don't know of any case where it might not be appropriate, as even home users and students use the software suite as well.
    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
    Discontinued Products
    • Data manipulation. Excel takes the raw data we receive and allows us to digest it in ways that are useful to our business processes.
    • Communication. Outlook serves as our primary means of communication and setting up appointments.
    • Documentation. Word is the default standard when it comes to using a word processor and we are no different in this regard. Nearly every user has to use the application on a regular basis in order to accomplish their work.
    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
    Discontinued Products
    • Office 2016 professional edition can be priced for a single user license, it would be nice to see a drop in the pricing.
    • Office 2016 home edition is a better price but does not include outlook 2016, so it is not a good fit for the workplace environments.
    • Office 2016 can run slowly on older systems, so you need to make sure you have a machine that is 4 years old or less for it to run smoothly.
    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
    Discontinued Products
    We believe that office 2016 offers the best value when it comes to features included out of the box. The software is used in its entirety by our organization and is easily supported by our staff of IT technicians. Users find this software to be easy to learn and easy to use with minimal learning curve.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Discontinued Products
    It's fairly easy to use, but the automatic formatting or capturing of formatting when pasting is wonky - especially when there are outlines or other bullets/numbered lists. Fixing and sizing up tables can be annoying, and there are sometimes formatting issues that we just absolutely cannot fix for some reason
    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
    Discontinued Products
    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
    Discontinued Products
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    I am an MS feedback hub participant and they certainly don't pay enough attention to several bugs several people raise it in the portal. For the enterprise, it seems to me based on my prior experience that yes, they have a dedicated team to support operations. For mid to small companies or single users, it has been a struggle. So, you are pretty much with MS Blogs and others.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Adobe
    Answered basic questions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    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
    Discontinued Products
    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
    Discontinued Products
    We use Microsoft Office 2016 because at the time it was the best tool for us, but now with full attention to cloud products, we may be thinking of migrating our solution to a cloud service.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Adobe
    I am not responsible for sales or purchasing
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    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
    Discontinued Products
    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
    Discontinued Products
    • Microsoft Office 2016 saves me a lot of time daily. I have functions and macros set up that calculate and show me a lot of things just from a couple of my inputs. This would take full days sometimes if not for that.
    • Apart from time, it saves me money, I manage data in Excel, I don't have to buy software specifically for that.
    • Sooner or later my company will have to switch to new edition, which will hurt revenues because of a subscription model.
    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.