Adobe Acrobat Pro vs PDF24 Tools
Pick PDF24 for everyday PDF tasks at no cost; pick Acrobat Pro if you need Adobe's editing, e-signature tracking and desktop tools and will pay for them.
Pick Adobe Acrobat Pro if…
Pick Acrobat Pro if you edit, sign, redact and convert PDFs often and want one paid tool on desktop, web and mobile.
Pick PDF24 Tools if…
Pick PDF24 if you mostly merge, split, compress, convert or sign PDFs and want it free, in a browser or in a Windows desktop app.
Price
- Paid
- Free
Starting price
Free plan
Open source
Works on
| Feature | Adobe's paid PDF tool for editing, OCR, signatures, conversion and redaction on desktop, web and mobile. | Free online PDF tools and a Windows desktop app for merging, splitting, compressing, converting and signing PDFs. |
|---|---|---|
| Price |
|
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| Starting price | US$19.99/mo, annual plan billed monthly | — |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Open source | No | No |
| Works on | Windows, macOS, Web | Web, Windows, Browser extension |
| Try Adobe Acrobat Pro (opens the Adobe Acrobat Pro website in a new tab) | Try PDF24 Tools (opens the PDF24 Tools website in a new tab) |
Price: Acrobat Pro is US$19.99/mo on an annual plan billed monthly, US$239.88/yr prepaid, or US$29.99/mo on a monthly plan (US prices), with a free trial. PDF24 Tools is described as free of charge with no artificial limits, funded by advertising. The free Acrobat Reader only opens and views PDFs.
Features: Acrobat Pro lists editing text, fonts and images, OCR, e-signature requests with tracking, conversion to and from Word, PowerPoint and Excel, redaction, and password protection. PDF24 lists merge, split, compress, edit, sign, convert, OCR, redact, watermark, compare and protect tools. Its site does not detail how deep its editing goes, so test it on your own files.
Platforms and privacy: PDF24's online tools work in a browser on any system and upload files to its servers, which it says are deleted after a short time. The PDF24 Creator desktop app is free, runs offline, and is for Windows only. Acrobat Pro is a desktop subscription with online tools and mobile apps included.
Who each suits: PDF24 covers common jobs for free, but shows ads and has no Mac or Linux desktop app. Acrobat Pro costs more but is a single paid product from Adobe for frequent, work-grade PDF handling.
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Last updated 16 October 2026. How we make money