4PDFs vs Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat Pro runs $19.99/mo — about $240/year — and needs an account and an install. 4PDFs does the everyday PDF work free, in your browser, with nothing to sign up for. Here's the honest line-by-line.
| Capability | Adobe Acrobat Pro | 4PDFs |
|---|---|---|
| Merge, split, compress | $19.99/mo | Free |
| Rotate, watermark, page numbers | $19.99/mo | Free |
| Redact & verify redactions | $19.99/mo | Free |
| Images ↔ PDF | $19.99/mo | Free |
| Convert PDF ↔ Word, Excel | $19.99/mo | $6.99 Day Pass |
| OCR & searchable PDFs | $19.99/mo | $6.99 Day Pass |
| AI PDF chat | Add-on, +$4.99/mo | $6.99 Day Pass |
| Cryptographic PDF signing | Account + subscription | Free with ELAI · anyone can verify |
| Post-quantum signing | Not yet available | Hybrid Ed25519 + ML-DSA-87 |
| Account required | Yes | No |
| Works in the browser | App install | Yes |
| Subscription required | $240 / year | Never |
Adobe® and Acrobat® are trademarks of Adobe Inc. 4PDFs is an independent product and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Adobe. Pricing shown reflects Adobe's publicly listed pricing as of May 2026; see adobe.com for current pricing. Post-quantum comparison reflects publicly available information as of this writing: Adobe and BFO exchanged an interoperability test PDF signed with ML-DSA in May 2025, but post-quantum signing has not shipped as a feature in Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Sign.