Leaving Adobe Acrobat?
Here are the 10 things most people actually use Acrobat for — and the free tool that does each one in your browser, without uploading your files and without a subscription.
| What you do in Acrobat | Do it here — free & local |
|---|---|
| Combine multiple PDFs | Merge PDF →Free · local · no upload |
| Split / extract pages | Split PDF →Free · local · no upload |
| Compress a PDF | Compress PDF to a target size →Free · local · no upload |
| Sign a PDF | Sign PDF →Free · local · no upload |
| Highlight / annotate a PDF | Annotate PDF →Free · local · no upload |
| Edit text on a PDF | Edit PDF text (light) →Free · local · no upload Overlay-based: whiteout + new text on top, it does not rewrite the original text objects — good for small fixes, limits stated on the page. |
| Password-protect / unlock | Encrypt / decrypt PDF →Free · local · no upload |
| Convert PDF to images | PDF to JPG →Free · local · no upload |
| OCR a scanned PDF | Chinese PDF OCR →Free · local · no upload |
| Rotate / delete / reorder pages | Rotate, delete & reorder pages →Free · local · no upload |
Why people leave Acrobat
We didn't invent these complaints — each one links to its source:
- In June 2024 the US FTC sued Adobe for hiding early-termination fees and making subscription cancellation difficult. www.ftc.gov ↗
- In June 2024 Adobe had to publicly clarify its Terms of Use after a backlash over language about accessing users' content. blog.adobe.com ↗
- Adobe's Trustpilot page collects thousands of reviews — cancellation fees and billing are recurring themes. Read them yourself. www.trustpilot.com ↗
What we honestly can't replace
Full text re-flow editing, PDF/A archival conversion and certificate-based digital signatures still need desktop software. Our "Edit PDF text (light)" tool covers small corrections and tells you exactly where its limits are — that's the deal.