Comparison

Acrobat Reader vs PDF Maker

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Acrobat Reader

This app is a powerful PDF tool for viewing, editing, annotating, and signing documents. It offers AI-powered features for summarizing and interacting with PDFs, along with robust conversion and security options. Collaborate on files and access your documents from anywhere.

Highlights
  • View, edit, and annotate PDFs
  • Sign and fill PDF forms
  • Convert files to and from PDF
  • AI-powered document summarization
  • Collaborate in PDF Spaces
  • Compress and secure PDFs
  • Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
Features
Read full description

Major new updates: Collaborate and share your files in PDF Spaces, and turn your document summaries into podcast-style audio in Acrobat Studio. The world’s most trusted PDF reader, PDF editor, and PDF maker with more than 635 million installs. View, share, annotate, add comments, and sign documents - all in one app. You can store your files online and read documents anywhere. Get your 7-day free trial and try all the features of Acrobat Reader. Paid features: Adobe Acrobat AI Assistant • Work across multiple files in one place with PDF Spaces. Collaborate, store, and use AI Assistant across files • Use voice or text prompts with AI Assistant chatbot • Ask questions and get cited answers about details in your document, including charts, graphs, and tables with Figures Q&A • Easily share the responses you get • Try voice support to ask queries and have answers read aloud. • Use new Hands-free to keep the conversation flowing with voice only • Instantly generate summaries from your PDFs with Generative AI Summaries • Get content for emails, text, study notes, blogs, and more [Adobe Acrobat AI Assistant is a paid feature*, free for a limited time] Edit PDFs • With our PDF editor, edit text and images directly in your PDF (mobile only) • Fix typos or add paragraphs with the PDF editor • Easily add, delete, or rotate any image • Use this PDF signer and PDF viewer to get your docs just right Recognize text • Optical Character Recognition (OCR) turns scanned PDFs into searchable, editable text to use in other formats Merge & organize PDFs with PDF Converter • Split or combine multiple files into one PDF with PDF converter • Use the PDF editor to insert, delete, rotate, crop & reorder pages in your PDF file Create, convert & export PDFs • Easily convert to PDF from any file type including Microsoft, Google Docs, and images • Export and convert PDFs to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or various image files • Convert web pages to PDFs Compress & highly secure PDFs • Compress PDF files for easy saving and sharing • Password Protect PDF documents Have your PDF read aloud • Listen to your PDFs on the go, great for reading support • Choose free voices or upgrade for high-quality options Subscribe now to access all these features and use Acrobat across mobile and web platforms. Free-to-use features: PDF signer: Fill & Sign Adobe Fill & Sign is free & available in Acrobat Reader. A form filler and PDF signer that lets you fill, sign, and send Liquid mode in the optimal PDF viewer • Get the best PDF reading experience with this PDF viewer • Search, navigate & adjust font size or spacing to fit your screen Annotate PDFs • Add sticky notes, comments, and highlight text Store & manage files • Link online storage accounts like Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, or Google Drive • Star files to quickly open important documents Connect the PDF viewer and reader to Google Drive • A PDF creator that lets you edit, compress, and export Google Drive files with a subscription Work with scanned documents • Access scanned PDFs from Adobe Scan in Acrobat to fill, sign, and share The Acrobat Reader mobile app is designed to work with customers who have Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) enabled. *An Adobe Acrobat AI Assistant add-on plan is available to Acrobat Individual customers. iOS 16 or above required. Terms & Conditions: Your use of this application is governed by the Adobe General Terms of Use http://www.adobe.com/go/terms_linkfree_en and the Adobe Privacy Policy http://www.adobe.com/go/privacy_policy_linkfree_en Do not sell or share my personal information www.adobe.com/go/ca-rights-linkfree

About

PDF Maker

Easily transform your photos and scanned documents into professional PDF files. This app allows you to import images, scan documents with automatic edge detection, apply filters, and edit pages before sharing your creations via email and other platforms.

Highlights
  • Photo to PDF conversion
  • Built-in scanner with auto-cropping
  • Apply filters (B&W, Grayscale)
  • Manual cropping
  • PDF page rotation and deletion
  • Insert pages into existing PDFs
  • Share PDFs via email
Features
Read full description

PDF Maker is a PDF converter app that will help you capture Photos and Import from Photo Library and convert it into PDF documents. With this app you can scan various images and create your own PDF file. After create PDF file you can share it via Email and many more options. * Built in Scanner. - Scan document automatically and crop document by detecting the document edge. * Apply filter. - By filter option apply coloured photo to Black & white and Grayscale. * Crop. - Manually crop the document. * Annotation. - Apply diffrent type of annotation on PDF. *PDF Option. - Rotate PDF Page. - Insert blank page or add page from files app. - Insert scan page into existing PDF. - Delete PDF Page. - Copy PDF Page. More than 500 photos convert into single PDF at a time. It's free app. Convert unlimited Photos to PDF Document. # AVAILABLE IN 11 DIFFERENT LANGUAGE English, Español, Français, Deutsch, Português (Br.),Português, Italiano, 中文 (Simplified), Русский, 日本語, 한국어

Screenshots

Acrobat Reader4 screens
PDF Maker4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Acrobat Reader at none against PDF Maker's shown. Acrobat Reader also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs every 5 months) and ratings volume (654K vs 85). PDF Maker's advantage is review sentiment (61% vs 49%) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 18.3). On price, rating, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Acrobat Reader sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and PDF Maker sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Acrobat Reader against 4.7 for PDF Maker. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Acrobat Reader has 654K ratings behind it against 85, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 49% of Acrobat Reader's written reviews are positive against 61% of PDF Maker's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Acrobat Reader ships an update every 9 days, PDF Maker every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Acrobat Reader versus PDF Maker: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAcrobat ReaderPDF Maker
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (654K ratings)4.7 (85 ratings) — better
Positive reviews49.1% of reviews61.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings654K — better85
Update frequencyEvery 9 days — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#2 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.312.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size522 MB20 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAdobe Inc.Kruti Patel

Customer experience

Acrobat Reader

All ratings654,141 ratings
Positive91.4%
Neutral2.4%
Negative6.2%
Written reviews3,158 reviews
Positive49.1%
Neutral4.4%
Negative46.6%

PDF Maker

All ratings85 ratings
Positive92.9%
Neutral1.2%
Negative5.9%
Written reviews57 reviews
Positive61.4%
Neutral5.3%
Negative33.3%

Bugs and requests

Acrobat Reader

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Frequent crashes and freezes
  • Inconsistent behavior when editing PDFs
  • Inability to open or save certain file types
  • Sync issues between mobile and desktop versions

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add erase tool for annotations
  • Improve palm rejection for Apple Pencil
  • Allow direct text editing in PDFs
  • Provide better cloud integration and sync
  • Offer more customization options

PDF Maker

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

16 purchases

Acrobat Reader

Subscriptions16
  • Acrobat Premium - Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Adobe Acrobat Premium$4.991 Month
  • AI Assistant for Acrobat$6.991 Month
Show 13 more
  • Acrobat Premium$7.497 Days
  • Acrobat Premium - Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Acrobat Premium - Weekly$9.997 Days
  • PDF Pack - Doc Creator$9.991 Month
  • Premium - Edit & Create PDF$9.991 Month
  • PDF Edit and Convert Monthly7 Days trial$12.991 Month
  • Acrobat Premium - Monthly$12.991 Month
  • Acrobat Premium - Monthly$14.991 Month
  • Acrobat Reader Plus - Yearly$19.991 Year
  • Adobe ExportPDF$23.991 Year
  • Adobe Acrobat Pro$24.991 Month
  • Acrobat Premium - Yearly7 Days trial$48.991 Year
  • Acrobat Premium - Yearly7 Days trial2 variants$69.991 Year
1 purchases

PDF Maker

One-time1
  • Upgrade to Pro$2.99

Questions

Is Acrobat Reader free?
Acrobat Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PDF Maker free?
PDF Maker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Acrobat Reader or PDF Maker?
PDF Maker is rated higher. Acrobat Reader averages 4.6 out of 5 from 654K ratings, while PDF Maker averages 4.7 from 85 ratings.
Do Acrobat Reader or PDF Maker have ads?
PDF Maker shows ads; Acrobat Reader does not.
Which is updated more often, Acrobat Reader or PDF Maker?
Acrobat Reader ships an update every 9 days, and PDF Maker every 5 months. Most recently, Acrobat Reader was updated on September 29, 2026 and PDF Maker on September 18, 2026.

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