4PDFs vs Adobe Acrobat
Same tools. None of the $240 a year.
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
$29 Day Pass
OCR & searchable PDFs
$19.99/mo
$29 Day Pass
AI PDF chat
Add-on, +$4.99/mo
$29 Day Pass
Cryptographic PDF signing
Account + subscription
Free with ELAI · anyone can verify
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.