Adobe Acrobat is the standard tool that anyone can use when designing or editing PDF documents. However, I started using the first alternative for privacy, which allows you to do everything you need to do with PDF files – all without subscription fees or access.
It can even be self-hosted to give everyone on my network access to PDF editing tools.
I finally gave up on Adobe Acrobat
$180 a year is huge
Bertel King / How-To Geek
I’ve been using Adobe Acrobat off and on for years, but as with many other services, I’m always looking for free or self-hosted alternatives.
Adobe Acrobat price at least $15 per month and $20 or $25 if you choose Acrobat Pro or Studio, respectively. This is a minimum of $180 per year. If you choose to pay monthly payments, it will be significantly more.
Given that I don’t use it very often, it doesn’t make sense to pay for a subscription. In general, if you don’t work with PDF documents regularly, it doesn’t mean anything to anyone.
Additionally, I’m involved with Adobe’s cloud-first approach to software. The few PDF files I work with usually contain sensitive information, such as a social security number or tax information. It will not be an acrobat power you will use the cloud service, but it will drive you towards it.
I wanted a cheaper, simpler, and more proprietary solution, so I eventually gave up on Acrobat.
BentoPDF is a free and open source alternative to Acrobat
No subscription fees are visible
BentoPDF It’s an all-in-one replacement for Acrobat, but the way it works is completely different.
Acrobat is a program you install on your computer, while BentoPDF is running in your browser. Critically, he doesn’t upload your data to its servers; all processing done by the app happens locally on your computer using your browser.
I’m not going to like the browser-based app, but after working with it for a few days, I found myself really liking it. It works on any operating system on any device, it’s not universal for apps you have to install to use.
BentoPDF does everything I need
I haven’t missed Acrobat once
Many free PDF tools are fine for simple tasks, but they’re not really reliable substitutes if you need everything Acrobat has to offer. BentoPDF is different.
It has all the essential features – the ability to merge files, split documents, rotate pages and compress PDFs – and they work quickly and reliably even under heavy load. Even included Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and PDF comparison are useful features if you’re working with scanned documents or documents with multiple versions.
The editing tools are equally great. I can highlight text, add comments, draw directly onto the document, even add images or watermarks, all without any noticeable delay, but this will depend on the available PDF resources.
To complete its already excellent feature set, BentoPDF is fully compatible with any format you want to use. It can convert PDFs to Word documents, images or plain text, or convert files to other formats if needed.
I don’t feel the need to go back to Acrobat.
There is no subscription fee for your home server
BentoPDF is completely free and open source software. You can use it through the website, or if you prefer, you can download the code and run it in a Docker container or other server platform of your choice.
of course self-hosting comes with its own costs. You need hardware and electricity, but with Adobe Acrobat in mind alone the price is above 180 dollars in the yearit will pay for a modest home server in a few years, even if you do only Use Acrobat. If you cut out other services like Microsoft Office, OneDrive, or some streaming services, the math gets even more favorable.
The interface is very different
An oddity in an otherwise excellent program
The only slight drawback that comes with BentoPDF is the user interface. Acrobat has an interface that is quite similar to most word processors, making it relatively easy to pick up and use, even if you are a beginner.
BentoPDF eschews the user interface options you’d find in Adobe’s line of software in favor of multiple sets of buttons, each performing a specific function. It’s very different and it took me a few minutes to get used to the layout.
On the other hand, BentoPDF’s layout is also clear and simple – you’ll never look at a button and wonder what clicking it will do.
The free option is good enough for most people
Acrobat won’t replace BentoPDF in professional environments, but if you’re a casual user who just needs to edit or sign a PDF, it’s a fantastic alternative. This will become a permanent part of my homelab setup going forward.
