An Adobe Acrobat alternative for Windows
All the PDF tools you actually use, for a fraction of the price
Adobe Acrobat packs in dozens of cloud features most people never touch. FirstAboard PDF does the everyday jobs, on your own computer, for a lot less.
Free to download · 7-day free trial · $4.99 a month AUD
FirstAboard PDF$4.99 /month
- Read, edit, sign, redact, OCR, merge, split and compress
- Private by design - your everyday PDF work stays on your computer
- Simple and fast - built for everyday users
- No cloud account, no clutter, no lock-in
~$25 /month*
- The same everyday tools - read, edit, sign, OCR
- Plus dozens of cloud features most people never use
- Cloud-first by design
- Around 5x the monthly price
*For general comparison only. Based on Adobe's publicly listed Acrobat Pro price (AUD, individual plan billed annually) as of June 2026; pricing and features may change - see adobe.com for current details. “Adobe” and “Acrobat” are trademarks of Adobe Inc. FirstAboard is an independent product and is not affiliated with, authorised by, sponsored by, or endorsed by Adobe Inc.
The 16 tools, and where your files stay
Editing, merging, splitting, organising, compressing, redacting and converting all run on your computer, and your files are not uploaded for any of it. No cloud account is needed.
- View & Edit
- Redact
- Merge
- Split
- Organise
- Compress
- Make Searchable (OCR)
- Protect
- Remove password
- Page numbers
- Watermark
- JPG to PDF
- PDF to JPG
- HTML to PDF
- Rotate
- Crop
Two exceptions, stated plainly: Request signatures sends your document through FirstAboard’s server so signers can receive, view and sign it by email, and AI Summarise, if you set it up, sends document text to the AI provider you choose, under your own key.
Where FirstAboard PDF is the better fit
You read, mark up, fill in, sign, redact, merge and compress PDFs most days, you want them to stay on your own machine, and you would rather not pay for a suite.
Where Acrobat is the better fit
Your work depends on cloud collaboration, a forms designer, or print-production tools. Those are real, and FirstAboard PDF does not pretend to have them.
Try it against your own files
Install it from the Microsoft Store, open the documents you deal with every week, and see whether the everyday tools are enough. Seven days, no charge.
Questions people ask before switching
Is FirstAboard PDF a replacement for Adobe Acrobat?
For the everyday jobs, yes: reading, marking up, filling in, signing, redacting, OCR, merging, splitting, compressing and converting. If your work needs Acrobat’s cloud collaboration, its forms designer or its print-production tools, Acrobat is the right choice.
Does it edit the text in a PDF?
Yes. View & Edit lets you read, mark up, fill in, sign and redact in one editor, and the app also opens Word documents, images, web pages and text files and converts them to PDF.
Does it do OCR?
Yes. Make Searchable reads a scan so the text is selectable, and it runs entirely on your computer.
Can I send documents for e-signature?
Yes. Request signatures emails a document to other people to sign online and brings the signed copy back with a full audit trail. It is the one everyday feature that goes through FirstAboard’s server, so the signers can receive it by email.
What does it cost, and is there a trial?
Free to install from the Microsoft Store, then $4.99 a month AUD (incl. GST) or $49.99 a year, after a 7-day free trial. One licence covers two devices.
Does it run on a Mac?
Windows today, with macOS on the way. Leave your email on the FirstAboard PDF page and we will tell you when the Mac version is ready.
One simple PDF app, on your own computer
Free to install. $4.99 a month after a 7-day free trial, or $49.99 a year.