Adobe Acrobat vs. airSlate SignNow

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).
$12.99
per month
airSlate SignNow
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
signNow is an eSignature solution with mobile apps for iOS and Android. signNow can be integrated into popular platforms and offers SaaS, public cloud, and private cloud deployment options with the same underlying API. This enables customers to leverage the power and usability of the signNow eSignature platform, while meeting their particular security and compliance requirements.
$1.50
one-time fee per signature invite
Pricing
Adobe AcrobatairSlate SignNow
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
Site License
$1.50
one-time fee per signature invite
Business
$20
per month
Business Premium
$30
per month
Enterprise
$50
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe AcrobatairSlate SignNow
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeOptional-$8 per user/month
Additional DetailsAll subscriptions include unlimited number of users. Up to a 60% discount available for annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe AcrobatairSlate SignNow
Considered Both Products
Adobe Acrobat
Chose Adobe Acrobat
SignNow works well too, but Adobe Acrobat fits better since we use so many other Adobe products to conduct our business. It's easier to stay within one system rather than jumping between platforms. It's also nice to avoid paying two subscription fees and instead staying with …
airSlate SignNow
Chose airSlate SignNow
DocuSign is more complicated and marks up the signature when all we need or want is an electonic method to sign and send back a doc.
Chose airSlate SignNow
I have only used the Adobe program a couple of times, but it seemed like it was harder to use. I might give it another chance at some point in the future, but right now, it feels a little bit like it is new and isn't quite ready for prime-time.
Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Adobe AcrobatairSlate SignNow
Small Businesses
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.8 out of 10
PDFfiller
PDFfiller
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
MSB Docs
MSB Docs
Score 9.4 out of 10
MSB Docs
MSB Docs
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Conga Composer
Conga Composer
Score 9.4 out of 10
DocuSign
DocuSign
Score 8.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe AcrobatairSlate SignNow
Likelihood to Recommend
8.9
(483 ratings)
8.4
(127 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.8
(26 ratings)
9.8
(11 ratings)
Usability
8.8
(237 ratings)
7.3
(12 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(2 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
8.9
(8 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
7.8
(56 ratings)
7.0
(23 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.1
(9 ratings)
10.0
(1 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)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
4.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
5.5
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe AcrobatairSlate SignNow
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
If your organization uses PDFs frequently, then Adobe Acrobat feels like must-have. I could not imagine our organization not using it. The ability to create, organize, and edit PDFs easily and intuitively are the main reasons my organization uses it. The other additional functions and features are "nice to haves", but ultimately, don't impact our day-to-day
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airSlate, Inc
SignNow is particularly useful for simple documents, forms and contracts where there the fields are pretty standards- names, signature block, title. It would be helpful to have features that allow substitution of certain fill in the blanks such that allow you to use the same template but first have a dialog to integrate language for a person, corporation, partnership or LLP. I'm a lawyer and having the ability to assemble variation of this nature into one template would be helpful. Also (and it may do this) the ability to change the actual form/document within the a template would be useful.
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Pros
Adobe
  • Easy to understand- the program has a very intuitive layout that is great for people who doesn't use the product very much
  • Includes all features you might need. There are many features I didn't even think we would need that they have included.
  • They have a very recognizable name so my clients feel they can trust what they are being asked to open/sign since the Adobe name is next to it.
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airSlate, Inc
  • Ease of setting up documents that require eSignatures
  • Ability to manage the order in which the document needs to be eSigned
  • Tracking the status of who has signed and who hasn't
  • Ability to 're-send' invites to team members who might have missed the original invite
  • Ability to download the eSigned documents for internal record keeping
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Cons
Adobe
  • It would be good if Adobe Acrobat could utilize less system resources. I have had crashes due to memory and CPU load this week
  • Quicker load times from a cold launch
  • Easier collaborative commenting for offline documents - knowing where and who wrote what
  • Ensuring documents don't have issues where text cannot be copied before publishing
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airSlate, Inc
  • When using shared templates, the option to rename the document is at the bottom of the signatures page. I would like that to be visible sooner as some of my team misses it and sends documents to clients with the templated name instead of the correct name because they forgot to scroll down far enough to see it.
  • CC'ed contacts used to show suggestions as you typed the email if you've sent that person a document before, but that functionality no longer shows on our account. I'd like to see that brought back.
  • It would be nice if we could add folders to our documents page so that we could sort sent and signed documents into individual client folders. The search feature works fine, but folders would help clean up the view for my team.
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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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airSlate, Inc
The features are too limited. The biggest issue though is the flexibility for editing existing forms without having to create a whole new form. The other issues are its payment partner options, lack of automation, and logic flow. We plan to quit this software and use other software in its place.
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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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airSlate, Inc
In terms of core functionality - adding options for signatures, text, dates, check boxes, etc., as well as customising the body of the request, the title of the request, follow-ups / reminders for signature, etc., SignNow is great. It's really easy to navigate and use in this regard. SignNow loses points when it comes to the end-user who needs to sign. There's an option for them to either use the app (which is most prominent in the page that shows when they open the request) or to sign using their browser (which is much smaller). I had my assistant create this step by step guide for our clients, so they can complete the request the way we need them to:https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FopYjlykHMFjIAQjgaNLtNIvSCQND_kb86-U9bA5M2A/edit?usp=sharing As far as I'm aware, you can't make it mandatory for them to draw their signature, and there's no option to remove the prompt for them to download the app when signing on their mobile device. I really wish these were options, but they don't take away from the fact it does what it is intended to do, and it does it well.
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Reliability and Availability
Adobe
The software is readily available and rarely has application errors.
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airSlate, Inc
SignNow is always available when I need it. It seems that most updates occur outside of business hours so I have full functionality when I need it most between the hours of 8am-6pm EST. There has only been I time when I experience application errors when I need to use the system but it did not last long and the issue was resolved within a few hours.
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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.
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airSlate, Inc
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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airSlate, Inc
I only used SignNow support when setting up. I uploaded a bunch of documents in the wrong place and needed assistance in moving them. Unfortunately they were not able to move the documents and I needed to upload into a different place. This is where I feel the system itself could benefit from some flexibility for their customers.
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Online Training
Adobe
Easy to follow and understand
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airSlate, Inc
It was nice to be shown the basics of the system and be able to see or understand the specific functions our company would need to use, such as the template creation, document grouping and document group templates. Being taught on how to use these functions, made learning them much easier.
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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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airSlate, Inc
Make sure you know exactly what you need before implementation and be sure to ask how to use the most important functions of the system that you will be using.
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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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airSlate, Inc
I chose airSlate SignNow over DocuSign primarily due to the superior ease of use and a more intuitive user interface (UI). airSlate SignNow's UI stood out with its simplicity and well-thought-out design, making the entire process of signing and managing documents much more straightforward.The drag-and-drop functionality and the ability to customize signature fields in airSlate SignNow were additional factors that tipped the scale in its favor. These features not only streamlined the signing process but also allowed for a more personalized and efficient document management experience.
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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.
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airSlate, Inc
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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airSlate, Inc
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Adobe Acrobat has improved the security of our documents, resulting in less risk, as protecting documents is essential to ensure compliance with privacy laws.
  • It saves our company money, as the product makes it easier for our employees to complete their jobs.
  • The product assists our employees with providing quality work product.
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airSlate, Inc
  • SignNow is far more economical than any other signature program I have ever seen.
  • SignNow performs all the tasks that the more expensive competition does.
  • SignNow does not require my clients to set up an account with a user name and password.
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.

airSlate SignNow Screenshots

Screenshot of dashboardScreenshot of teams and their foldersScreenshot of integrations availableScreenshot of fillable fields in signNow editor