The best PDF solution just keeps getting better.
Whether you choose Acrobat Standard DC or Acrobat Pro DC, the world’s best digital document software has plenty to offer.
And with Acrobat DC for teams and Acrobat DC for enterprise, you get access to the latest features as soon as they are released.
Buying options
There are three ways to get Adobe Acrobat. You can purchase Acrobat DC for teams or Acrobat DC for enterprise subscription licenses through Adobe’s Value Incentive Plan (VIP), which allows you to streamline deployment and management and maximize savings. Or you can purchase Acrobat 2020 as a perpetual license through CLP.
Use this chart to help you determine which version is the best fit for your organization.
| Acrobat 2020 (perpetual) |
Acrobat DC for teams (subscription) |
Acrobat DC for enterprise (subscription) |
|
| Ideal for | Organizations that require desktop software and limited free services |
Small to midsize businesses or departments that need desktop, mobile, and web workflows as well as premium services |
Midsize to large businesses or departments that need desktop, mobile, and web workflows as well as premium services |
| PRODUCTS & SERVICES | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Acrobat desktop software |  |
|
|
Free Adobe Document Cloud services, which let you:
|
|
|
|
Premium Document Cloud services, which let you:
|
|
|
|
| Online document storage | 2GB | 100GB | 100GB |
| Access to the newest features as soon as they are available at no extra cost | |
|
|
| MANAGEMENT & DEPLOYMENT | |||
| License management portal | Adobe Licensing Website | Admin Console for teams | Admin Console for enterprise |
| Ability to add and reassign licenses through a web-based console | |
|
|
| Individually remove, assign, and reassign licenses by group or by product | |
||
| One easy place to manage Acrobat DC and Adobe Creative Cloud licenses | |
|
|
| Centralized IT deployment tools (self-install option also available) | |
|
|
| Automatically remove users who leave the company when Federated ID (SSO) is enabled | |
||
| Ability to set up multiple types of administrators | |
||
| Streamline installation and configuration with Microsoft SCCM/SCUP, Apple Remote Desktop, and Adobe Customization Wizard | |
|
|
| SECURITY | |||
| User identity management | Adobe ID | Federated ID with single sign-on (SSO), Enterprise ID, or Adobe ID | |
Dedicated encryption key for at-rest assets |
|
||
| Ability to control access to services (turn on/off) | Controllable via the Customization Wizard only | Controllable via the Customization Wizard only | |
| DEDICATED HELP & SUPPORT | |||
| Online tutorials | |
|
|
| Technical support for IT | 24x5 advanced support | 24x7 enterprise support | |
| Expert support for users | Two sessions per user per year |
Unlimited | |
| Ability to open and track support cases from the Admin Console | |
||
| Dedicated onboarding help | With 50+ licenses |
||
| PURCHASING | |||
| License type | Perpetual | Subscription | Subscription |
| Buying program | CLP/TLP Purchase in one simple transaction or get a cumulative discount over two years |
VIP Subscription licensing program that makes it convenient for organizations of all sizes to purchase, deploy, and manage Adobe products |
VIP Subscription licensing program that makes it convenient for organizations of all sizes to purchase, deploy, and manage Adobe products |
| Volume discount | Discount on 50 and 100 seats for full-seat purchases through CLP | Discount on 10+ licenses of Acrobat DC, Creative Cloud, or a combination of Acrobat DC and Creative Cloud | Discount on 10+ licenses of Acrobat DC, Creative Cloud, or a combination of Acrobat DC and Creative Cloud |
Product comparison
| ACROBAT STANDARD DC (SUBSCRIPTION) |
ACROBAT PRO DC (SUBSCRIPTION) |
|
| Compatible with | Windows | Windows and Mac |
| MANAGE AND INTERACT WITH PDFs | ||
|---|---|---|
| View, interact with, and comment on PDF content from your computer, mobile device, or web browser | |
|
| Access a list of documents you need to view, review, or sign along with detailed information about the task | |
|
| Get alerts across devices when others view, review, or sign documents—or request actions from you | |
|
| Store, manage, and share files online with instant access to recently viewed files across devices | |
|
| Access, edit, and store PDFs in your Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive accounts | |
|
| Open multiple PDFs in a single window with tabbed viewing | |
|
| Customize your Acrobat experience by choosing the default light theme or the new dark theme | |
|
| Be more productive on the latest touch-enabled devices including Surface Pro, iPad, and Android tablets | O | |
| Make the most of the Touch Bar built into MacBook Pro | |
|
| Compare two versions of a PDF using an easy-to-scan results summary showing all the differences | |
|
| Access your most important files easily across devices by simply starring the file | |
|
| CREATE AND PROTECT PDFs | ||
| Create PDFs using your computer, mobile device, or web browser | |
|
| Create high-quality, protected PDFs in Microsoft 365 for Mac and Microsoft 365 online apps | |
|
| Create, combine, and convert PDF files from your SharePoint or OneDrive toolbar | |
|
| Turn Adobe Photoshop (PSD), Illustrator (AI), or InDesign (INDD) files into PDFs | |
|
| Create PDFs from any application that prints | |
|
| Convert documents and images to PDFs, or web pages to interactive PDFs with links | |
|
| Create, protect, and send PDFs in popular Microsoft 365 desktop apps for Windows | |
|
| Combine multiple documents and file types into one PDF file | |
|
| Convert web pages to interactive PDFs, complete with links | |
|
| Prevent others from copying, editing, or printing sensitive information in PDFs | |
|
| Create password-protected PDFs | |
|
| Convert or validate PDFs for compliance with ISO standards like PDF/A or PDF/X | |
|
| Create and fix PDFs to meet accessibility standards for people with disabilities | |
|
| Prepare PDFs consistently with guided actions | |
|
| Redact to permanently remove sensitive information in PDFs | |
|
| EDIT AND CONVERT PDFs | ||
| Convert PDFs to other file formats from your computer, mobile device, or web browser | |
|
| Edit text and images in a PDF on iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Android tablet, or Chromebook with Android support | |
|
| Edit text and images in a PDF with full-page paragraph reflow from your desktop | O | |
| Convert PDFs to editable Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files with formatting accuracy | |
|
| Convert PDFs to JPEG, TIFF, or PNG image formats | |
|
| Insert, delete, and organize pages in a PDF | |
|
| Create numbered or bulleted lists without reformatting | |
|
| Edit text and images and organize pages in a PDF on your iOS or Android tablet | O | |
| Turn scanned paper documents into instantly searchable, editable PDFs with fonts that match the original | |
|
| Add audio, video, and interactive objects to your PDFs | |
|
| Preflight and prepare files for high-end print production | |
|
| Add Bates numbering to legal documents | |
|
| FILL, SIGN, COMMENT ON, AND SHARE PDFs | ||
| Share PDF links so others can view, comment on, or sign, and get notified when the recipients take action | |
|
| Collect legally binding e-signatures from others, and track responses in real time | |
|
| Digitally sign, certify, and verify documents | |
|
| Turn paper or Microsoft Word files into fillable PDF forms | |
|
| Fill, sign, and send locked forms fast from your computer with smart autofill | |
|
| Collect comments from multiple people in one PDF online with no sign-in required for reviewers | |
|
| Write or draw more smoothly and accurately right in your PDF with the improved Pen tool that leverages DirectInk technology | |
|
| Comment on PDFs with a full suite of markup tools, including text editing, highlighting, and sticky notes | |
|
| Host SharePoint-based reviews on Microsoft 365 sites from Windows or macOS | O | |
| DEPLOY AND MANAGE ACROSS THE ORGANIZATION | ||
| Use a web console to add, remove, reassign, and track licenses; manage users and groups; and set up multiple admin roles | |
|
| Deploy Acrobat Pro, Standard, and Reader product and updates from your local server with AUSST, and deploy automatically with RUM | |
|
| Use virtualization tools with support for serialized or named user licensing for Citrix XenApp, Citrix XenDesktop, VMware Horizon, Microsoft App-V, and Microsoft Windows Terminal Server (WTS) | |
|
| Safeguard systems and data with application security and sandboxing technology | |
|
| Customize features and settings with the Acrobat Customization Wizard DC and Enterprise Toolkit | |
|
| Deploy and update with Microsoft SCCM/SCUP and Apple Remote Desktop | |
|
O Denotes a portion of the capability
Acrobat version comparison
See what a subscription to Adobe Acrobat Pro DC can do for you—enhanced with premium features in the Acrobat Reader mobile app and Adobe Document Cloud services.
| ACROBAT PRO DC 2017 (PERPETUAL) |
ACROBAT PRO 2020 (PERPETUAL) |
ACROBAT PRO DC (SUBSCRIPTION) |
|
| MANAGE AND INTERACT WITH PDFs | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| View, interact with, and comment on PDF content from your computer, mobile device, or web browser | |
||
| Access a list of documents you need to view, review, or sign along with detailed information about the task | |
||
| Get alerts across devices when others view, review, or sign documents—or request actions from you | |
||
| Store, manage, and share files online with instant access to recently viewed files across devices | O | O | |
| Access, edit, and store PDFs in your Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive accounts | O | O | |
| Open multiple PDFs in a single window with tabbed viewing | |
|
|
| Customize your Acrobat experience by choosing the default light theme or the new dark theme | |
|
|
| Be more productive on the latest touch-enabled devices including Surface Pro, iPad, and Android tablets | |
||
| Make the most of the Touch Bar built into MacBook Pro | |
||
| Compare two versions of a PDF using an easy-to-scan results summary showing all the differences | |
|
|
| Access your most important files easily across devices by simply starring the file | |
||
| Manage all your work from the Home view—your single place to organize, manage, and search for all your PDFs | |
|
|
| CREATE AND PROTECT PDFs | |||
| Create PDFs using your computer, mobile device, or web browser | |
||
| Create high-quality, protected PDFs in Microsoft 365 for Mac and Microsoft 365 online apps | |
||
| Create, combine, and convert PDF files from your SharePoint or OneDrive toolbar | |
||
| Turn Adobe Photoshop (PSD), Illustrator (AI), or InDesign (INDD) files into PDFs | |
||
| Create PDFs from any application that prints | |
|
|
| Convert documents and images into PDFs | |
|
|
| Create, protect, and send PDFs in popular Microsoft 365 desktop apps for Windows | |
|
|
| Combine multiple documents and file types into one PDF file | |
|
|
| Convert web pages to interactive PDFs, complete with links | |
|
|
| Prevent others from copying, editing, or printing sensitive information in PDFs | |
|
|
| Create password-protected PDFs | |
|
|
| Convert or validate PDFs for compliance with ISO standards like PDF/A or PDF/X | |
|
|
| Create and fix PDFs to meet accessibility standards for people with disabilities | O | O | |
| Prepare PDFs consistently with guided actions | |
|
|
| EDIT AND CONVERT PDFs | |||
| Convert PDFs into other file formats from your computer, mobile device, or web browser | O | |
|
| Edit text and images in a PDF on iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Android tablet, or Chromebook with Android support | |
||
| Edit text and images in a PDF with full-page paragraph reflow from your desktop | |
|
|
| Convert PDFs into editable Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files with formatting accuracy | |
|
|
| Convert PDFs to JPEG, TIFF, or PNG image formats | |
|
|
| Insert, delete, and organize pages in a PDF from your computer, tablet or mobile phone | O | O | |
| Create numbered or bulleted lists without reformatting | |
|
|
| Turn scanned paper documents into instantly searchable, editable PDFs with fonts that match the original | |
|
|
| Add audio, video, and interactive objects to your PDFs | |
|
|
| Redact to permanently remove sensitive information in PDFs | |
|
|
| Preflight and prepare files for high-end print production | |
|
|
| Use Preflight libraries to get customized sets of profiles, checks, and corrections | |
|
|
| Add Bates numbering to legal documents | |
|
|
| FILL, SIGN, COMMENT ON, AND SHARE PDFs | |||
| Share PDF links so others can view, comment on, or sign, and get notified when the recipients take action | |
||
| Collect legally binding e-signatures from others, and track responses in real time | |
||
| Digitally sign, certify, and verify documents | |
|
|
| Turn paper or Microsoft Word files into fillable PDF forms | |
|
|
| Fill, sign, and send locked forms fast from your computer with smart autofill | |
|
|
| Collect comments from multiple people in one PDF online with no sign-in required for reviewers | |
||
| Write and draw more smoothly and accurately right in your PDF with the improved Pen tool that leverages DirectInk technology | |
|
|
| Comment on PDFs with a full suite of markup tools including text editing, highlighting, and sticky notes | |
|
|
| Host SharePoint-based reviews on Microsoft 365 sites from Windows or macOS | |
|
|
| DEPLOY AND MANAGE ACROSS THE ORGANIZATION | |||
| Use a web console to add, remove, reassign, and track licenses; manage users and groups; and set up multiple admin roles | |
||
| Deploy Acrobat Pro, Standard, and Reader product and updates from your local server with the Adobe Update Server Setup Tool (AUSST), and deploy automatically with Remote Update Manager (RUM) | |
|
|
| Use virtualization tools with support for serialized or named user licensing for Citrix XenApp, Citrix XenDesktop, VMware Horizon, Microsoft App-V, and Microsoft Windows Terminal Server (WTS) | |
|
|
| Safeguard systems and data with application security and sandboxing technology | |
|
|
| Customize features and settings with the Customization Wizard and Enterprise Toolkit | |
|
|
| Deploy and update with Microsoft SCCM/SCUP and Apple Remote Desktop | |
|
|
O Denotes a portion of the capability