Digital signatures · Published
Acrobat alternatives you buy once
Adobe no longer sells a perpetual Acrobat. What it sells instead, which PDF editors still have a one-time price, the four questions to ask before you pay — with every figure checked on the vendor’s own site in October 2026.
If you search for a version of Acrobat you can buy once and keep, the first thing to know is that Adobe stopped selling one. Its pricing page says so in its own FAQ: “Adobe discontinued selling perpetual versions of Acrobat after Acrobat 2020.”
That doesn’t mean paying once is impossible. It means you have to read the small print of every “one-time” offer, including Adobe’s. Below is what each vendor publishes today, in the currency it publishes it in. All prices were checked on the vendors’ own pages in October 2026. Prices change; if one of these is out of date, the vendor’s page wins.
What Acrobat costs today
On Adobe’s US pricing page, for individuals:
| Plan | Annual, billed monthly | Annual, prepaid | Month to month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acrobat Standard | US$14.99/mo | US$179.88/yr | US$24.99/mo |
| Acrobat Pro | US$19.99/mo | US$239.88/yr | US$29.99/mo |
The annual plan billed monthly is still a twelve-month commitment: Adobe states that a fee “applies up to half your remaining annual commitment if you cancel after 14 days”. The prepaid plan has “no refund if you cancel after 14 days”.
Adobe’s own one-time option, and what it really is
The same FAQ offers a non-subscription route: “Acrobat Pro 2024 desktop software is a one-time, upfront purchase that provides three years of access to Acrobat desktop.” It “includes quarterly security updates but does not include Acrobat feature enhancements or access to Acrobat online services via your web browser and mobile devices.”
So it is a single payment, but not a licence you keep: it covers three years. Adobe’s pricing page doesn’t list its price, and we don’t quote figures that don’t come from the vendor.
The one-time prices we could verify
We only list a product here if its vendor publishes a one-time price on its own site. Other well-known editors were left out because their one-time option isn’t perpetual or doesn’t show a price, or because we couldn’t confirm a current one-time price on the vendor’s own site.
| Product | One-time price | What the vendor says about it |
|---|---|---|
| PDF Expert Lifetime | €149.99 | “Mac version only.” “Additional new features may come at an extra cost.” |
| Foxit PDF Editor 14 | $209.99 per user | A perpetual licence for version 14. The pricing page doesn’t say whether later major versions are included |
| PDF Studio Pro | US$149.00 for one copy | “The license is perpetual.” “Any upgrade to future major versions is optional” |
A note on the currencies. Readdle’s pricing page showed us euros, so that is what we quote, without inventing a dollar conversion. Foxit shows its prices with a dollar sign; Qoppa labels them in US dollars.
For comparison, Foxit’s own subscription is $129.99 per user per year, and PDF Expert’s yearly plan is €84.99. On the same pages, a one-time licence costs what between one and a half and two years of renting does — and then stops costing.
Four questions before you pay once
1. Is it perpetual, or a long rental? Acrobat Pro 2024 is the clearest example: one payment, three years. A licence you can keep using indefinitely is a different product, and vendors that sell one say “perpetual” in so many words.
2. What happens with new features? Almost every one-time licence covers a version, not the future. PDF Expert’s Lifetime tier warns that new features may cost extra; PDF Studio treats major upgrades as optional purchases; Adobe’s 2024 desktop software gets security updates only. That is a fair model — just know which one you are buying.
3. Which computers does it cover? PDF Expert’s Lifetime tier is for the Mac version only, while its subscriptions cover iPhone, iPad and Mac. If you work on Windows and a Mac, check that a single purchase covers both.
4. Does “sign” mean a certificate, or a picture? This is the question most comparisons skip. Many editors sign by placing an image of your handwriting on the page — a visual signature. Others can also make a digital signature: a cryptographic one, made with a certificate in your name, that detects any change to the document after signing. They are not the same thing and shouldn’t be sold as if they were.
Among the three above, Foxit documents signing with a digital ID in its PDF Editor 14 for Mac manual, and Qoppa lists digitally signing and certifying PDFs among PDF Studio’s features. PDF Expert’s pricing page lists “Sign documents” without saying whether that includes certificate-based signatures.
Do you even need a digital signature?
In the United States, often not. Under the federal ESIGN Act and the state UETA laws, what makes an electronic signature count is intent to sign, consent to do business electronically, the signature being tied to the record, and a record that can be kept and reproduced. For a lot of everyday agreements, a visual signature with a clear record behind it does the job, and any of these editors can produce one.
A digital signature becomes worth it when the document has to prove, on its own, who signed it and that nothing changed afterwards: when it travels to a client in Europe, ends up in front of a regulator, or might be disputed long after the email thread is gone. Add a trusted timestamp and it also proves when. None of this is legal advice; if a specific document matters, ask a lawyer.
Where PDFsigna fits
PDFsigna isn’t a one-time purchase today, because version 1.0 costs nothing. The Free plan includes the reader, annotation, unlimited visual signatures and validation, and up to ten documents a day signed with your own certificate in PAdES B-T, with a qualified timestamp. The signature box carries one discreet line: “Signed with PDFsigna.com”.
Will there be a paid plan? Pro is on our roadmap as a possibility, with no date and no price. If it happens, we’d like it to be a one-time purchase that is perpetual and includes updates — but that is an intention today, not a promise, and the comparison page says the same. Several of the features it would have aren’t built yet; the list of what’s missing is the one to read before you decide.
Where you can get it, and what it won’t do yet:
- Windows: available now on the Microsoft Store.
- macOS: in Apple’s review for the Mac App Store, and not available until Apple approves it.
- Smart cards: none are promised in version 1, including the Spanish national ID card and PIV cards. Details are in Support.
Before you sign anything, the app tells you which of the five legal levels you are about to get — so you know whether you made a visual signature or a digital one, which is exactly what question four is about.
This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence.
This article is general information, not professional advice. Laws, prices and how software works change over time: before you decide, check the official, up-to-date documentation from each authority or vendor.