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Adobe Acrobat vs Preview: catalog facts
Adobe Acrobat	Preview
Freemium Acrobat Reader is free to download and use without a subscription; text and image editing…	Free Included with macOS at no extra cost.
Windows, macOS, Web, Android, iOS	macOS
Free Reader for Windows 10/11, macOS 10.15+, iOS 16+ and Android 8+, plus an Acrobat web app in… Reader includes commenting, highlights, sticky notes, form filling and Fill & Sign at no cost	Already installed on every Mac Handles both PDFs and images
Editing text and images, creating and converting PDFs need an Acrobat Standard or Pro subscription Proprietary; Adobe logos may not be used without a license	macOS only No advanced editing of PDF text or OCR tools like dedicated editors
Downloadable app, Web application, Hosted service	Downloadable app
Closed source	Closed source
License not stated	License: Proprietary
Not stated if an account is needed	No account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 20, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 24, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.