Adobe Acrobat is a broad PDF tool and is very good at this work. Several people can comment on one shared copy at the same time, with threaded replies, @mentions and a status on each comment. It measures distance, perimeter and area against a scale you set. It can print the drawing together with its comments as a single summary PDF. Most of what a drawing review needs, Acrobat already does.
Xenmark does one job instead of all of them. A review runs across a drawing set and its revisions rather than a file, every comment is a numbered item that keeps its number for good, and the review ends in two documents that are the point of the exercise — a plan showing where each comment sits, and a spreadsheet saying what each one means, numbered to match.
For PDFs, Acrobat is the better tool, and it is neither the cheaper one nor the dearer one — the two price ranges overlap and are charged in different units, so neither product is consistently cheaper. Ours is not a cheaper or broader Acrobat; it is a review workflow with a fixed handover at the end of it. If you need to mark up, edit and sign PDFs of every kind, buy Acrobat. Choose Xenmark when the review has to hold across drawing revisions and end in a numbered plan and a matching register.
A Xenmark comment number is fixed. Delete comment 5 and the gap stays, so item 12 is still item 12 in every email and every export. Acrobat's API exposes a read-only sequence value per annotation, tied to the page rather than to the review.
One Xenmark comment can own several markers on the drawing while keeping a single number and a single reply thread. Acrobat can group several comments so they can be organised or moved as one unit — though Adobe describes them as remaining multiple comments.
A Xenmark comment belongs to the drawing revision it was raised against, and closing the project hands you every revision's exports, the attachments and the activity log in one zip. Acrobat shares a single file for review, and on Acrobat Studio a PDF Space gathers up to a hundred related files into one workspace with viewer, reviewer and contributor roles — but a review history tied to drawing revisions, and a spreadsheet register at the end of it, are not things Adobe documents.
Every Adobe Acrobat claim below is taken from Adobe Acrobat's own published material and was last checked on 25 August 2026. Software changes; if something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Several things to say plainly before the table. Acrobat measures against a scale you set, and saves every measurement in a PDF to a CSV file. It threads replies under a comment, marks them resolved, and lets several people work on one shared copy at once. It makes reusable custom stamps, converts DWG and DXF to PDF, and carries drawing-scale information through its AutoCAD integration; on the Studio plan it gathers up to a hundred files into a shared PDF Space. Its Create Comment Summary command produces a PDF of the drawing together with its comments.
That last one is close to the comment plan Xenmark is built around, and this page says so rather than talking around it. One limit on how far it is taken: Adobe's current help documents the command but no longer sets out the layouts it offers, so nothing here claims a particular arrangement of the drawing and its comments. The sequence value Adobe does still document sits in its API, as a read-only property of each annotation rather than an identifier the comments keep.
The other half is where the evidence runs out. Acrobat exports comments as FDF or XFDF interchange files, or to Word and AutoCAD on Windows, and measurements go to CSV by a separate command. We found nothing in Adobe's documentation describing a spreadsheet register of the comments, numbered to match the plan, of the kind a review is expected to hand back.
| Xenmark | Adobe Acrobat | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting a review | ||
| Can the person running the review start free? | Yes — the Free plan runs one active review at a time, start to finish | Partly. Reader comments on a PDF for free, and the free online tools include annotation. Paid plans start at €18.60 per month. |
| Do external reviewers need a paid subscription? | No — the people you invite read, reply and download the exports without paying | No. A publicly shared link opens without an account; a private or organisation-restricted share requires sign-in. Acrobat's help says recipients sign in to comment, and a free Adobe ID is enough — nothing is purchased either way. |
| Available platforms | Any modern browser — nothing to install, and the people you invite join from a link | Broader than ours — browser, desktop apps for Windows and macOS, and mobile apps, all against the same cloud files |
| How the review is structured | ||
| What the review is built from | A numbered comment. Anything drawn on the page belongs to that comment rather than standing on its own. | An annotation on a PDF — sticky note, highlight, text box, shape, freehand or callout — each one its own comment in the list. |
| Replies | Threaded under the comment, each attributed and dated, with image attachments, and carried into the register | Yes — replies sit under a comment, the original author is auto-@mentioned so they are notified, and comments carry emoji reactions |
| Status workflow | Open, In progress and Closed — three fixed states, and the status travels into the Excel register | Yes — in a shared review a comment can be marked Resolved or Unread and given a checkmark. Acrobat documents further status controls (accepted, canceled, completed, rejected) set from the comment itself. |
| Comment numbering | Numbers are stable — delete comment 5 and the gap stays, so item 12 still means item 12 in every email and every export | Adobe's API exposes a read-only sequence value for each annotation on its page. |
| One issue, several drawing locations | One comment can own several markers while keeping one number and one reply thread | Several comments can be grouped to organise them or move them as a single unit. Adobe describes them as remaining multiple comments. Text edit markups cannot be grouped. |
| Activity history | Every action timestamped and attributed to the person who made it | Yes — comments are attributed and dated, and shared files are tracked under Shared by you. A contributor cannot edit or delete another person's comments; the owner can. |
| Revision handling | Comments stay tied to the revision they were raised against, in one workflow | Acrobat Pro compares two versions of a PDF and highlights what changed, which we cannot do. A shared review centres on one file; on Acrobat Studio a PDF Space gathers up to a hundred related files into one workspace with viewer, reviewer and contributor roles. |
| Measuring and markup | ||
| Measuring on the drawing | Length, polylength, perimeter and area, calibrated to the page scale | Distance, Perimeter and Area, snapping to paths, endpoints, midpoints and intersections. Acrobat inserts each measurement as a comment carrying its calculated value. |
| Setting the drawing scale | Pick a standard scale, type your own, name the sheet size, or calibrate from a distance you already know | A scale ratio and unit are set on the measuring tool, and scales already stored in the document are used when present |
| Building your own reusable symbols | Check, cross, attention, arrow and cloud — five fixed review symbols, not a custom library | Yes, and beyond ours. Custom stamps can be made from PDF, JPEG, PSD, AI and DWG files, given a name and filed under a category you create, and reused. Reader can make them from PDFs. Dynamic stamps are documented too. |
| Measuring quantities for pricing a job | Not included — measurements are there to explain a comment, not to cost work | Measurement values can be exported to CSV |
| What comes out of the review | ||
| What you send back | The two documents come out ready to send — there is nothing to set up first, because the review was structured that way from the start | A Comment Summary PDF of the document together with its comments, plus the comments as FDF or XFDF data. |
| Comment plan PDF | The drawing with each comment numbered and shown where it applies | Yes. Create Comment Summary produces a PDF of the document together with its comments. Adobe's current help documents the command but no longer sets out the layouts it offers, so no particular arrangement is claimed here. |
| Spreadsheet output | An Excel file listing every comment, numbered to match the PDF | Comments export as FDF or XFDF — structured files another system can read and turn into one — and Acrobat Pro on Windows exports them to Word or AutoCAD. |
| Measurements in the export | Drawn on the comment plan PDF where they were placed, and listed on their own sheet in the Excel file, kept separate from the comments | Yes, by a separate command — Export Measurement Markup to Excel saves every measurement in the PDF to a CSV file, apart from the comment summary. |
| What you keep when the project ends | A single zip file — every revision's exports, the attachments and the full activity log, downloaded and stored on your side | The PDF and its comments in Adobe cloud storage, and files can be downloaded or combined into a single PDF. |
| Branded reports | Your company logo and text on both deliverables, inherited from Company Settings — Plus and Pro | Not as part of the comment summary itself — but a logo can be applied as an image watermark, and headers and footers can be placed on any PDF, so a summary can be branded once it exists. |
| What else each one does | ||
| Batch operations across many PDFs | Not included — a review works on one drawing set at a time | Yes, and well beyond ours. Acrobat Pro's Action Wizard runs a sequence of commands across many files at once — watermarks and headers and footers among them — and the AutoCAD integration batch-converts drawings. On Acrobat Studio a PDF Space holds up to a hundred files. |
| Comparing two drawings against each other | Not included — differences get raised as comments by the people reviewing | Yes, on Acrobat Pro — it compares two versions of a PDF and highlights the differences |
| Working offline | Browser only, so you need a connection | Yes, and more than ours. Desktop and mobile work on a local PDF with no connection, and Acrobat documents review edits made offline on mobile syncing once the connection returns. |
| Storing documents long term | Not what it is for. You download the exports and keep them wherever your project records already live. | Yes — Adobe cloud storage, with 5GB free on Adobe's published storage limits. Adobe states this figure inconsistently across its own pages, so the help centre is the one cited here. |
| CAD integrations and creating PDFs from CAD | None — a review starts from a PDF that has already been produced | Yes, and this is a clear win. Acrobat Pro on Windows converts DWG and DXF files to PDF. Its AutoCAD PDFMaker integration can batch-convert drawings, keep selected layers and layouts, and carry drawing-scale information through for the measuring tools. It can also export comments back to AutoCAD. |
| Connecting to a document management system | No integrations yet — the closing archive is a single zip you file wherever your records already live | Yes — online storage accounts and Acrobat extensions are documented |
There is no single cheaper answer here, in either direction. Xenmark Plus starts at €14.99 a month, below Acrobat's cheapest plan; all three Acrobat plans sit below Xenmark Pro. The numbers can be read side by side here — both are in euro and both are published including VAT, so nothing has been converted or adjusted. The units differ regardless: Acrobat charges per person, while Xenmark charges per month for the capacity to run projects however many people are in them. Acrobat also sells per-licence team plans, quoted on a separate business page in other currencies and not shown here.
| Xenmark | Adobe Acrobat | |
|---|---|---|
| Billing unit | Per project capacity, monthly | Per person, monthly or annually |
| Entry point | Free — one active review, start to finish | Free to read a PDF and comment on it in Reader, and to view a shared link. Free trial on the paid plans. |
| To run a review yourself | Free | Free to comment in Reader and in the free online tools; paid plans start at €18.60 per month |
| Paid range | €14.99 – €59.99 / month | €18.60 – €43.39 per person / month depending on plan and billing term |
| Invited reviewers | Free — no per-user charge; 5–30 project members depending on plan | Free — nothing is purchased to take part, and up to 250 people can be on one review file |
| Tax basis | Including VAT | EUR · including VAT |
Xenmark — current as of 28 August 2026. Adobe Acrobat — checked 25 August 2026 against the euro prices for individual plans on their published Ireland pricing page, where each figure is marked as including VAT. Adobe Acrobat sets prices by region and currency, so figures differ by market and the same URL can serve a different country's prices — treat these as the Ireland figures captured on that date rather than as a standing quote. Each plan publishes three: paying for a year up front, paying annually by the month, and paying month to month with no commitment. All three are shown below.
Partly, and the free part is real. Acrobat Reader opens any PDF and adds comments — sticky notes, highlights, freehand, text boxes and shapes — at no cost, and Adobe's free online tools include annotation. A PDF shared with you publicly opens with no account at all; a private or organisation-restricted share asks you to sign in first.
Paid plans start at €18.60 per month including VAT. Xenmark Free runs one active review at a time, start to finish.
They never need to pay. Viewing a shared PDF requires no account. Adobe's help says recipients sign in to review a document and add comments, and a free Adobe ID is enough for that — while Adobe's marketing pages describe reviewers commenting without signing in, so the requirement appears to depend on how the file was shared. Up to 250 people can be on one review file.
Xenmark invited reviewers are free too, within the project-member limit on your plan. Neither product charges for the people you are asking for comments.
It can produce the plan. Acrobat's Create Comment Summary makes a PDF of the drawing together with its comments, which is the same shape as the comment plan Xenmark produces and worth knowing before you pay for anything else. Adobe's current help documents the command but no longer sets out the layouts it offers, so no particular arrangement is claimed here.
The spreadsheet half is where it stops. Adobe's documentation describes no spreadsheet register of the comments: they export as FDF or XFDF interchange files, or to Word or AutoCAD on Acrobat Pro for Windows. In Xenmark the numbered plan and the Excel register are the two things a review is for.
Yes, and well. Distance, Perimeter and Area, against a scale ratio and unit you set, with snapping to paths, endpoints, midpoints and intersections. Adobe inserts each measurement into the PDF as a comment carrying its calculated value, and an Export Measurement Markup to Excel command saves all of a document's measurements to a CSV file. Acrobat Reader can measure only where the person who made the PDF enabled it.
The difference is where the numbers end up. Acrobat's measurements go to a CSV by a separate command; in Xenmark they arrive on their own sheet inside the same Excel file as the comments, without a second export.
It can compare them. Acrobat Pro takes two versions of a PDF and highlights what changed, which Xenmark cannot do at all. Standard does not include comparison.
A shared review centres on one file, and on the Studio plan a PDF Space can gather up to a hundred related files into a single workspace with viewer, reviewer and contributor roles. In Xenmark the set is the unit, comments stay attached to the revision they were raised against, and closing the project produces one zip holding every revision's exports, the attachments and the activity log.
Sometimes, and sometimes not — the ranges overlap. Xenmark Plus is €14.99 a month, below Acrobat's cheapest plan at €18.60. All three Acrobat plans sit below Xenmark Pro at €59.99. Both are published in euro including VAT, so for once the numbers can be read side by side without adjusting anything.
The units differ regardless. Acrobat is priced per person; Xenmark is priced per month for the capacity to run projects, whatever number of people are in them, within the plan's member limit. Invited reviewers do not need a paid Acrobat licence, so what it costs depends on how many people need Acrobat of their own rather than on how many take part in the review. If one person marks up PDFs occasionally, Acrobat is far more capable for the money. The comparison turns on what a review has to produce at the end, not on the price.
No, and it would be a poor one. Acrobat edits text and images, converts to and from Office formats, builds and fills forms, redacts, signs, protects and compares PDFs, on desktop, mobile and the browser. Xenmark does none of that.
Xenmark replaces the part where drawings go out for comment and something structured has to come back. Plenty of firms will keep both, and that is a reasonable outcome.
When you need a PDF tool rather than a review process — editing, converting, forms, redaction, signatures. When the work is one drawing at a time and a shared copy with comments on it is the whole job. When you want to compare two versions of a file. When people need a desktop app or need to work offline. When you want reusable custom stamps, or need DWG and DXF converted to PDF with drawing-scale information carried through. And when breadth matters more than a specialist tool, because Acrobat covers far more ground for a comparable price.
We sell Xenmark, so this is not an independent review. We have tried to describe Adobe Acrobat accurately, and every Adobe Acrobat claim on this page rests on Adobe Acrobat's own published documentation. Every document a claim rests on is named below. Capabilities and pricing change. Adobe Acrobat feature information was last checked against that documentation on 25 August 2026, and the pricing on 25 August 2026.
Adobe Acrobat's help centre is linked, so almost every claim here can be checked against the source it rests on. The pricing page is named rather than linked, because a pricing page is a shopfront. Two claims that previously ran without a source — the offline sync on mobile, and the read-only sequence value in the Adobe Acrobat API — were traced to Adobe Acrobat's own pages on 26 August 2026 and are listed below. Both credit Adobe Acrobat rather than us, and both turned out to be accurate as written.
seqNum, documented as a read-only sequence number for the annotation on the page and present on every annotation type. It is the sequence value referred to in the numbering row; Adobe documents no persistent review identifier alongside itThe Free plan takes a real drawing set end to end. No card, no time limit.
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