Adobe Acrobat DC Alternatives for Windows

There are many alternatives to Adobe Acrobat DC for Windows if you are looking for a replacement. The best Windows alternative is PDF-XChange Editor, which is free. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to Adobe Acrobat DC and loads of them are available for Windows so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Windows alternatives to Adobe Acrobat DC are PDFgear, Stirling PDF, PDF24 Creator and PDF-XChange Viewer.

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Most Adobe Acrobat DC alternatives are PDF Editors, but you can also narrow the list to PDF Readers or PDF Printers. Other popular filters are Free, Open Source, Mac and EU. You can also filter for EU-based alternatives if you prefer software from the European Union.

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Adobe Acrobat DC alternatives page was last updated Sep 10, 2026

PDF-XChange Editor
177 likes
Feature-rich PDF editor offering direct content editing, ABBYY OCR, viewing, annotation, form filling, PDF merging, compression, and encryption. Operates efficiently offline, requiring no registration and no ads, while providing privacy-focused features and convenient portability.
186 PDF-XChange Editor alternatives
Cost / License
Freemium
Proprietary
Application typeApplication types
PDF Editor
PDF Reader
Origin
Canada
Platforms
Windows
PortableApps.com
Wine
Canada
+3
Good alternative?Is PDF-XChange Editor a good alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC?

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16comments
PDF-XChange Editor vs Adobe Acrobat DC Comments
Top Positive Comment by munteanzeno · May 13, 2020
Can make small edits for free (comments, extra text). Search bar is simple and works well.
Top Negative Comment by Guest · Jul 9, 2024
A lot of things that you can't do. Didn't worked well enough for me at all.
Positive comment by Beorleif · Sep 10, 2026
It can open large PDF without crashing or lagging
3 of 16 comments
PDF-XChange Editor is Freemium and ProprietaryAdobe Acrobat DC is Paid and Proprietary
PDF-XChange Editor is a PDF Editor Adobe Acrobat DC is a PDF Reader
PDF-XChange Editor is Customizable, Lightweight and Privacy focusedAdobe Acrobat DC is not according to our users
PDFgear
79 likes
Read, edit, convert, merge, and sign PDF files across devices, for completely free and without signing up.
99 PDFgear alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Proprietary
Application typeApplication types
PDF Reader
PDF Editor
Origin
Singapore
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Online
Android
iPhone
Android Tablet
iPad
Singapore
+2
Good alternative?Is PDFgear a good alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC?

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4comments
PDFgear vs Adobe Acrobat DC Comments
Positive comment by Shaz Shah · Dec 10, 2024
It does an excellent job of converting my M$ docs. The OCR capabilities are really good and the ability to arrange pages (including splitting and merging with other PDFs) is another bonus. The install is lightweight in comparison to Adobe Acrobat and I've not had any stability issues... yet
Negative comment by Ahmed Gamal · May 13, 2025
The app does not support the Arabic language.
Positive comment by Guest · Jun 12, 2026
Professional standard pdf editors & tools.
3 of 4 comments
PDFgear is Free and ProprietaryAdobe Acrobat DC is Paid and Proprietary
PDFgear is LightweightAdobe Acrobat DC is not according to our users
Stirling PDF
68 likes
Locally hosted web application offering an interactive GUI to merge, split, reorganize, convert, compress, watermark, secure, sign, flatten, repair, extract images, detect blanks, apply OCR, set permissions, and enable file processing or API integration for PDFs.
144 Stirling PDF alternatives
Cost / License
Freemium
Open Source
Application typeApplication types
PDF Editor
PDF Reader
Origin
United States
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Online
Self-Hosted
Cloudron
Docker Hub
United States
+2
Good alternative?Is Stirling PDF a good alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC?

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1comment
Stirling PDF vs Adobe Acrobat DC Comments
Negative comment by KimiBCN · Oct 16, 2025
It lacks many features and has bugs. The PDF open button sometimes disappears.
1 of 1 comments
Stirling PDF is Freemium and Open SourceAdobe Acrobat DC is Paid and Proprietary
Stirling PDF is a PDF Editor Adobe Acrobat DC is a PDF Reader
Stirling PDF is Privacy focusedAdobe Acrobat DC is not according to our users
Ad
PDFfiller.com
Edit, fill, annotate, and sign PDFs online, merge documents, request signatures, upload from cloud storage, save locally, share for collaboration, and track workflow with auditing, supporting various file types and mobile access ...

https://www.pdffiller.com
Learn More
PDF24 Creator
155 likes
PDF24 Creator is free and feature-filled PDF creation, merging and conversion tool for Windows. Its unique feature among the free PDF printer tools is an editor, which allows to easily assemble, create and modify PDF files with Drag & Drop.
212 PDF24 Creator alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Proprietary
Application typeApplication types
PDF Editor
PDF Reader
Origin
Germany
EU
Platforms
Windows
Germany
EU
Good alternative?Is PDF24 Creator a good alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC?

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3comments
PDF24 Creator vs Adobe Acrobat DC Comments
Positive comment by zlelmefs · Jul 1, 2025
It's actually free and has done everything I've needed it to do.
Positive comment by G Downs · Mar 23, 2025
PDF Creator is a great alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC. It has all the tools that the Adobe has but does it without trying to put a hole in your head! A great piece of work!
Positive comment by Guest · Jan 15, 2020
PDF editing features also available!
3 of 3 comments
PDF24 Creator is Free and ProprietaryAdobe Acrobat DC is Paid and Proprietary
PDF24 Creator is a PDF Editor Adobe Acrobat DC is a PDF Reader
PDF24 Creator is LightweightAdobe Acrobat DC is not according to our users
PDF-XChange Viewer
371 likes
PDF-XChange Viewer is an alternative viewer for PDF files that enables you to view and annotate PDF files. You can add text, sticky notes, and other annotations and save them to the file, which will be compatible with the standard Adobe Acrobat Reader.
88 PDF-XChange Viewer alternatives
Cost / License
Freemium
Proprietary
Application type
PDF Reader
Origin
Canada
Alerts
Discontinued
Platforms
Windows
PortableApps.com
Canada
Good alternative?Is PDF-XChange Viewer a good alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC?
LEKTRA
20 likes
High-performance viewer for documents and images offering split tabs, customizable single or book layouts, portals for side-by-side sections, instant search, line highlight, annotation tools, link hints, searchable highlights, session management, and TOML config.
66 LEKTRA alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (AGPL-3.0)
Application typeApplication types
PDF Reader
Ebook Reader
Origin
Spain
EU
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
Spain
EU
Good alternative?Is LEKTRA a good alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC?
Master PDF Editor
74 likes
Master PDF Editor is complete solution for editing PDF and XPS files. You can insert, edit, remove, copy, add images or graphics. Export, import, remove and change page layouts. Also Master PDF Editor provides full functionality for changing PDF information, including author...
165 Master PDF Editor alternatives
Cost / License
Freemium
Proprietary
Application typeApplication types
PDF Editor
PDF Reader
Origin
Russia
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
Flathub
Russia
Good alternative?Is Master PDF Editor a good alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC?

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4comments
Master PDF Editor vs Adobe Acrobat DC Comments
Negative comment by Guest · Mar 8, 2017
Free version for windows will include watermark on saved documents.
Positive comment by Guest · Dec 6, 2018
Has all the basic features such as merge, split, delete and it is in active development and it is available for LINUX :)
Positive comment by Guest · May 1, 2017
It has more festures in the payed version and thus suites my usecase and it actually works on linux and does not just say it does and then it doesnt, at least that was the case with pdfsam in the extended version.
3 of 4 comments
Master PDF Editor is Freemium and ProprietaryAdobe Acrobat DC is Paid and Proprietary
Master PDF Editor is a PDF Editor Adobe Acrobat DC is a PDF Reader
Sejda
39 likes
Sejda helps with your PDF tasks: edit existing text, split, merge, extract, compress, export to other formats and more.
180 Sejda alternatives
Cost / License
Freemium
Proprietary
Application type
PDF Editor
Origin
Netherlands
EU
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
Online
Google Chrome
Flathub
Flatpak
Netherlands
EU
+2
Good alternative?Is Sejda a good alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC?

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1comment
Sejda vs Adobe Acrobat DC Comments
Positive comment by Interstellar_1 · Jan 25, 2024
You get a limited amount of file edits per day, and the app is just an electron wrapper of the website, but it works well.
1 of 1 comments
Sejda is Freemium and ProprietaryAdobe Acrobat DC is Paid and Proprietary
Sejda is a PDF Editor Adobe Acrobat DC is a PDF Reader
Nitro PDF
74 likes
Nitro offers comprehensive PDF solutions for editing, creating, and converting, alongside OCR and e-signature tools. Supports Mac, Windows, and iOS, providing a user-friendly interface with industry-standard security features. Ideal as an Adobe Acrobat alternative.
191 Nitro PDF alternatives
Cost / License
Paid
Proprietary
Application typeApplication types
PDF Editor
PDF Reader
Origin
United States
Platforms
Mac
Windows
iPhone
iPad
United States
+1
Good alternative?Is Nitro PDF a good alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC?

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2comments
Nitro PDF vs Adobe Acrobat DC Comments
Negative comment by Bob Henry · Sep 27, 2022
This is by far the worst software purchase I can remember making. OCR sucks and is hardly useable. Reorganizing and merging documents are confusing and difficult.

Stay well away from this one is my advice.
Positive comment by chrisrosetech · Dec 10, 2022
I have been using NitroPDF for several years. I think it is the best alternative to Adobe Acrobat software.

The software has almost all the features, if not better features than Acrobat itself.

I can create form fill documents, place stamps, edit and do much more with NitroPDF.

The OCR function has worked really well for me on a second generation scanned document.

I highly recommend NitroPDF and feel it's well worth the money.
2 of 2 comments
Nitro PDF is Paid and ProprietaryAdobe Acrobat DC is also Paid and Proprietary
Nitro PDF is a PDF Editor Adobe Acrobat DC is a PDF Reader
Smallpdf
64 likes
Smallpdf is the first PDF Software you will actually like. The perfect gateway to productive, portable and cost-efficient document management solutions in your everyday life.
232 Smallpdf alternatives
Cost / License
Freemium
Proprietary
Application typeApplication types
PDF Editor
PDF Reader
Origin
Switzerland
Platforms
Windows
Online
Android
Software as a Service (SaaS)
iPhone
iPad
Android Tablet
Switzerland
+1
Good alternative?Is Smallpdf a good alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC?
GImageReader
76 likes
gImageReader is a simple Gtk/Qt front-end to the Tesseract OCR Engine.
122 GImageReader alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application type
Screenshot Capture
Origin
Switzerland
Platforms
Windows
Linux
Switzerland
Good alternative?Is GImageReader a good alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC?

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1comment
GImageReader vs Adobe Acrobat DC Comments
Negative comment by KimiBCN · Oct 16, 2025
It's not an alternative to Acrobat Pro; it lacks many features.
1 of 1 comments
GImageReader is Free and Open SourceAdobe Acrobat DC is Paid and Proprietary
GImageReader is a Screenshot Capture Adobe Acrobat DC is a PDF Reader
Qoppa PDF Studio
86 likes
Create, Convert, Review and Edit PDF Documents on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
203 Qoppa PDF Studio alternatives
Cost / License
Paid
Proprietary
Application typeApplication types
PDF Reader
PDF Editor
Origin
United States
Platforms
Mac
Windows
Linux
Chrome OS
United States
+7
Good alternative?Is Qoppa PDF Studio a good alternative to Adobe Acrobat DC?

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2comments
Qoppa PDF Studio vs Adobe Acrobat DC Comments
Positive comment by bunnyhero · Mar 26, 2022
Much easier than Acrobat for advanced features.
Positive comment by Guest · Nov 23, 2022
It does most of the things DC does. It doesn't look good on 4K I'm afraid.
2 of 2 comments
Qoppa PDF Studio is Paid and ProprietaryAdobe Acrobat DC is also Paid and Proprietary
Qoppa PDF Studio is LightweightAdobe Acrobat DC is not according to our users

12 of 192 Adobe Acrobat DC alternatives

Adobe Acrobat DC Alternatives for Windows

Alternatives list

PDF-XChange Editor

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PDF-XChange Editor vs Adobe Acrobat DC Comments

PDFgear

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PDFgear vs Adobe Acrobat DC Comments

Stirling PDF

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Stirling PDF vs Adobe Acrobat DC Comments

PDF24 Creator

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PDF-XChange Viewer

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LEKTRA

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Master PDF Editor

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Master PDF Editor vs Adobe Acrobat DC Comments

Sejda

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Sejda vs Adobe Acrobat DC Comments

Nitro PDF

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Nitro PDF vs Adobe Acrobat DC Comments

Smallpdf

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GImageReader

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GImageReader vs Adobe Acrobat DC Comments

Qoppa PDF Studio

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Qoppa PDF Studio vs Adobe Acrobat DC Comments