FineReader PDF as an Adobe® Acrobat® alternative

A full set of PDF tools combined with ABBYY’s OCR technology. Below you will see both what you gain and what you give up by switching.

Comparison

FineReader PDF and Acrobat Pro, side by side

A selection from ABBYY’s comparison, grouped by outcome: where FineReader wins, where the two are equivalent, and where FineReader is limited.

Capability
	FineReader PDFfor Windows	Acrobat Pro DC
Where FineReader wins
OCR Editor: manual adjustment of recognition areas, scan and photo pre-processing, customisable recognition, import and export setup, OCR Project	Available	Not available
Recognise multi-language documents	Available	Not available
Text comparison of image-only PDFs and scanned documents	Available	Not available
Create PDFs from SVG format	Available	Not available
Equivalent
Edit text and images in the PDF, with paragraphs reflowing across the page	Available	Available
Export a PDF to editable Word, Excel or PowerPoint	Available	Available
Turn scanned paper into searchable, editable PDFs with fonts matching the original	Available	Available
Permanently remove visible sensitive information from PDFs (redaction)	Available	Available
Sign, certify and validate documents digitally	Available	Available
Compare two versions of a PDF	AvailableCorporate edition only.	Available
Where FineReader is limited
Open and comment on PDFs from a desktop, a phone or a browser	AvailableNo web browser access.	Available
Access and store in Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive	AvailableBox excluded.	Available
Create and export PDFs on a mobile device	AvailableRequires the separate FineReader PDF Mobile app.	Available
Produce and check PDFs against ISO standards such as PDF/A and PDF/X	AvailableValidation not supported; conversion to PDF/A only.	Available
Turn paper or Word documents into fillable PDF forms	AvailableManually.	Available

for Windows

OCR Editor: manual adjustment of recognition areas, scan and photo pre-processing, customisable recognition, import and export setup, OCR Project: Available
Recognise multi-language documents: Available
Text comparison of image-only PDFs and scanned documents: Available
Create PDFs from SVG format: Available
Edit text and images in the PDF, with paragraphs reflowing across the page: Available
Export a PDF to editable Word, Excel or PowerPoint: Available
Turn scanned paper into searchable, editable PDFs with fonts matching the original: Available
Permanently remove visible sensitive information from PDFs (redaction): Available
Sign, certify and validate documents digitally: Available
Compare two versions of a PDF: AvailableCorporate edition only.
Open and comment on PDFs from a desktop, a phone or a browser: AvailableNo web browser access.
Access and store in Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive: AvailableBox excluded.
Create and export PDFs on a mobile device: AvailableRequires the separate FineReader PDF Mobile app.
Produce and check PDFs against ISO standards such as PDF/A and PDF/X: AvailableValidation not supported; conversion to PDF/A only.
Turn paper or Word documents into fillable PDF forms: AvailableManually.

OCR Editor: manual adjustment of recognition areas, scan and photo pre-processing, customisable recognition, import and export setup, OCR Project: Not available
Recognise multi-language documents: Not available
Text comparison of image-only PDFs and scanned documents: Not available
Create PDFs from SVG format: Not available
Edit text and images in the PDF, with paragraphs reflowing across the page: Available
Export a PDF to editable Word, Excel or PowerPoint: Available
Turn scanned paper into searchable, editable PDFs with fonts matching the original: Available
Permanently remove visible sensitive information from PDFs (redaction): Available
Sign, certify and validate documents digitally: Available
Compare two versions of a PDF: Available
Open and comment on PDFs from a desktop, a phone or a browser: Available
Access and store in Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive: Available
Create and export PDFs on a mobile device: Available
Produce and check PDFs against ISO standards such as PDF/A and PDF/X: Available
Turn paper or Word documents into fillable PDF forms: Available

Why people switch

Flexible subscription
One-year or three-year subscriptions, whichever suits your planning.
On-premise installation
Installed locally and works offline, which is useful for remote offices.
ABBYY’s OCR technology
One standardised workflow for any kind of PDF, with ABBYY’s character recognition behind it.
A straightforward interface
Tools that are easy to find, without weeks of training.
Licence sharing
With the volume licence types, a licence can be shared according to how the team actually works.
Cost that scales
The more licences, the lower the cost per licence. The final price is quoted case by case.

Case studies

I use Abbyy FineReader as a replacement for Adobe Acrobat Pro, simply because of the tremendous value that FineReader PDF offers. I use it for work and privately on a daily basis.
Stephan DharmaNetwork AnalystSoCal Office Technologies
We are a legal services company and we deal 90% with PDFs. We submit all our applications online in PDF format via the government portal. We currently use ABBYY FineReader as alternatives to Acrobat DC.
Reza MotalebpourGeneral ManagerIngwe Immigration Inc.
We love ABBYY FineReader PDF. We receive the rate cards in PDF format and previously had to copy and paste the individual information into Excel. With FineReader PDF we are able to convert the same document to Excel in less than 5 minutes!
Gloria ColemanConsultantSmartwyre
ABBYY FineReader gives us the flexibility we needed for the large volume of legal and tax documents sent to our office. We can quickly export documents in any format and search, edit and email them with minimal effort.
Antonina PasztetnikAccountantKrigsman Partners

Tell us what you do with Acrobat today and for how many users. We will tell you honestly whether FineReader PDF covers it, and where it does not.