When comparing Adobe Illustrator CC vs PDFescape, the Slant community recommends PDFescape for most people. In the question“What are the best PDF editors?” PDFescape is ranked 7th while Adobe Illustrator CC is ranked 11th. The most important reason people chose PDFescape is:
Very easy to use, with a simple interface.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Amazing integration with all other Adobe Software (PS, Ae, Id...)
Pro It's the industry standard
Pro Advanced tools
Pro Easy to learn
It's easy to learn how to work with this software.
Pro Flexible, non-intrusive interface
Small palette menus and the ability to save multiple menu layouts keep the UI out of the way.
Pro There are many tutorials on the internet
Pro Has all the vector tools you could dream of
Pro Frequent updates
The CC subscription model means that major releases are no longer necessary, so existing users gain immediate access to new features.
Pro Easy, fast, and free
Very easy to use, with a simple interface.
Pro Fully usable before upgrading (upgrade has desktop version)
A lot of editing can be done on the free account, but you can upgrade to more features.
Pro Available online and works on all popular browsers
PDFescape is available online and works on Internet Explorer 6+, Firefox 2+, Safari 2+, Chrome, Opera 9.5+.
Cons
Con Subscription model
Illustrator CC requires a $19.99/mo (minimum) subscription to use. Adobe no longer sells previous versions of Illustrator.
Con Heavy use of CPU/RAM
Con Steep learning curve
Con Install useless and intrusive software
When you install any Adobe product it also installs lots of useless and intrusive software and services.
It adds two services and up to three auto-starting software that runs when you start your operating system and keep running constantly. One is for auto-updating, others for "checking" if you are not a pirate and some others that seems to be just to collect information.
Con No proper selection mode
In a vector-art program, the critical selection mode is the one in which objects must be fully enclosed by the selection marquee to be selected. In the simple example shown here, selecting all the circles should merely require you to draw a selection rectangle around them. But in Illustrator, there's no way to avoid selecting other objects as well, even though they're not totally enclosed by the selection box. Year after year, Adobe fails to fix this bizarre oversight, making Illustrator a tedious pain to use.
Con Imprecise coordinates
Oftentimes your 140 is 139.9997 and as a vector program it doesn't rely much on precision.
Con Has ads
Displays advertisements (in a sidebar on the right - no popups etc).