Adobe Acrobat costs $239/year. PDFShed costs $0.
Most people use Acrobat for 5 things: merge, compress, sign, fill forms, and convert. PDFShed does all 5 — and 85 more — free, in your browser.
Why switch from Adobe Acrobat
No $20/month subscription
Adobe Acrobat Pro DC is $239.88/year. Standard is $155.88. PDFShed is free, ad-supported, no subscription. The 5 tools you actually use don't cost $20/month anywhere else.
No 1.5 GB install
Acrobat installs Creative Cloud, background services, and 1.5 GB of binaries. PDFShed loads in your browser — under 5 MB on first visit, instant on return.
Same outputs, no proprietary lock-in
Sign a PDF in PDFShed and it opens correctly in Acrobat, Preview, Foxit, anywhere. Same PDF spec, same encryption, same digital signature standards.
Browser-based works on Chromebooks
Acrobat doesn't run on ChromeOS. PDFShed does — and on Linux, and on every browser you've ever opened.
PDFShed vs Adobe Acrobat
| Feature | PDFShed | Adobe Acrobat |
|---|---|---|
| Merge / split / organize | Free | Pro DC required ($20/mo) |
| Compress PDF | Free | Free in Reader |
| Edit text + images | Free | Pro DC ($20/mo) |
| Fill forms | Free | Free |
| eSign | Free, unlimited | Free 2/mo, then Pro |
| OCR | Free | Pro DC ($20/mo) |
| Redact | Free | Pro DC ($20/mo) |
| Install size | 0 (browser) | ~1.5 GB |
| Works on Chromebook / Linux | Yes | Limited / no |
| Annual cost | $0 | $155–$239 |
Three years of Acrobat Pro DC = $720. That's a used MacBook. PDFShed gives you the same five tools you actually open Acrobat for at $0 — forever.
Adobe collects device data, usage data, "diagnostic" data, and routes signature requests through their cloud. PDFShed processes everything locally — no telemetry, no cloud routing, no data collection beyond standard web analytics on the marketing pages.
FAQ
Can PDFShed truly replace Adobe Acrobat?
For 90% of users, yes. The five most-used Acrobat features (merge, compress, sign, edit, OCR) are all free here. Acrobat's edge is enterprise features like Adobe Sign workflows, Send & Track, and bulk-license management — not relevant for individuals or small teams.
Will my signed PDFs work in Acrobat?
Yes. PDFShed produces standard ISO 32000 PDFs with PKCS#7 signatures. Open in any Acrobat version, Preview, Foxit, Sumatra — they all read the signatures correctly.
What about Acrobat's "Protect PDF" features?
PDFShed has password encryption (AES-256), permission restrictions (no print/copy/edit), redaction, and watermarking. All standard PDF security features.
Why is PDFShed free when Acrobat is $20/month?
Adobe pays for cloud servers + sales teams + enterprise support. PDFShed has none of those costs because all processing is in your browser. We pay $0 in compute per user.
I use Adobe Sign for client e-signatures — does PDFShed do that?
PDFShed signs documents you have. For sending a contract to a client and getting their signature back via email workflow, you still need Adobe Sign or DocuSign. We're working on a free version.
Ready to ditch Adobe Acrobat?
90+ tools. Browser-based. No signup. No upload. No subscription. Open it and start working.
Open PDFShed