FairSign vs Adobe Acrobat

Acrobat is a genuinely powerful PDF editor. But if you signed up to sign documents, you are paying for a suite, and paying to leave it. Adobe's "monthly" plan is an annual contract billed monthly: cancel after the first 14 days and Adobe charges an early termination fee of 50% of the remaining term.

FairSign does one job, signing and sending documents, at $12 a month, cancellable at any time for $0. Everything below about Adobe comes from Adobe's own subscription terms and pricing page.

Sign a document free

No account needed for self-signing. Your file never leaves your device.

Side by side

FairSignAdobe Acrobat
Price$12/mo · $120/yr≈$240/yr (Acrobat Standard)
Cancelling early$0, anytimeEarly termination fee (50% of remaining term)
Signing your own documentsFree forever, no accountRequires a paid plan
Where the file is processedIn your browser (self-signing)Cloud
Money-back guarantee14 days, no questions14-day window, then the fee applies
Renewal reminderEmail 7 days before every chargeNot standard

Sources: Adobe pricing page · Adobe subscription terms · Adobe subscription terms

Who should pick which

Keep Acrobat if you genuinely edit PDFs: redacting, OCR, combining, prepress. Nothing here replaces that, and we are not going to claim it does.

Switch to FairSign if the only reason Acrobat is on your card is signing. You will pay roughly half, you can leave whenever you like without a fee, and self-signing costs nothing at all.

The honest test: open your last three PDFs. If you signed them rather than edited them, you are paying an editor's price for a signer's job.

FAQ

Does the early termination fee really exist?
Yes, on the annual-paid-monthly plan, which is the default Adobe presents. Cancel after the first 14 days and Adobe bills 50% of the remaining contract. It is in their subscription terms, so read them before you sign up anywhere, including here.
Can FairSign edit PDFs like Acrobat?
No, and it never will. FairSign fills fields and signs. If you need to edit page content, keep an editor around. Many people pair FairSign with a free editor and still come out ahead.
Will Acrobat open documents signed with FairSign?
Yes. Completed documents are standard PDFs with an embedded signature and an audit certificate. Note that until we install a publicly trusted signing certificate, Acrobat shows a "validity unknown" banner. The signature is intact, the issuer just is not in Adobe's trust list yet. We would rather tell you that than let you discover it.
What does it cost to try?
Nothing. Signing your own documents is free with no account, and paid plans carry a 14-day money-back guarantee.