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The 8 Best Free PowerPoint Alternatives

Professional results for tight budgets

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Microsoft PowerPoint is a great tool for creating professional-looking slideshows and presentations. However, the home version requires a Microsoft 365 subscription, and the free mobile app locks some features behind the sub as well. Fortunately, there are plenty of free PowerPoint software alternatives out there. Here's a look at some of the best options and how they compare to PowerPoint. 

Best Direct PowerPoint Replacement: Google Slides

Very similar to PowerPoint.

Free to use. 

Compatible with PowerPoint.

An internet connection is strongly recommended. 

Where there's a need for an app, Google seems to have it covered. Google Slides is its PowerPoint equivalent and it's a lot like Microsoft's app. Very simple to use and offering full compatible with the alternative, you can access Google Slides via your browser and easily create custom presentations with audio and your own images, all entirely for free. It also offers great live collaboration features for teamwork purposes.

The only minor downside is you need an internet connection to at least get started but the service does also work offline with presentations syncing once you're back online.

Best for Designers: Prezi

Video editing included.

Can easily make data visualizations. 

Stylish user interface.

Free option is pretty basic.

No support.

Presentations viewable by all.

Prezi is a great option for designers who have a vision but aren't technically proficient at achieving it. Its simple drag and drop interface makes it a breeze to organize your presentation just how you want it. Backed up with other Prezi apps that mean you can create videos or more stylish data visualizations than simple graphs, it's ideal for industries that are more visual than others. A series of pre-made templates makes it all the more attractive. 

Prezi isn't as free as it seems though. To get the full wealth of features like advanced image editing, offline access, and narration, you'll need to pay a subscription fee.

Best for Quick Results: Zoho Show

A theme for every occasion.

Quick to create something.

Intuitive interface.

Need to be online to use it.

Simple to use yet highly effective is the sweet spot for quick results, and that's certainly the case with Zoho Show. You might need to be online to use it, but it's worth the connection with an intuitive user interface that adapts to what you need to do. You can easily embed videos, tweets, and images into your presentations with some neat transition effects making things more interesting. 

Collaboration tools further sweeten the deal with annotation features meaning you can work together well as a team and fast.

Best for Animations: Powtoon

Great animation tools.

Easy to use.

Can export to social media platforms.

Branding applied on free presentations.

More about animations than slideshows. 

PowToon tackles PowerPoint presentations from a slightly different angle than a lot of its competitors. It's primarily great for creating full animations and videos rather than presentations that you would click through and present yourself. That lends itself perfectly to the internet which is why it's so useful that you can export your presentations to various forms of social media. 

With a drag and drop template, you can create something within about 20 minutes from your browser. The free version bundles in branding logos so viewers will always know you've used PowToon to create them but that's a small price to pay for an otherwise very accessible and simple to use piece of software. 

Best for Mass Branding: Renderforest

Plenty of options for expanding branding.

300MB cloud storage for free.

Unlimited exports.

Exports can be low in quality.

Content is watermarked.

RenderForest thinks of itself as more than just a PowerPoint alternative. It tackles everything you might need from creating logos to designing promo videos, music visualizations, landing pages, and websites. That's on top of its extensive animations and intro creation. That might sound intimidating but the service keeps things simple, so it won't take you long to mock something up and develop it.

Stick to the free version and there are some restrictions such as branding on your videos, lower quality logos, and so forth, but it's a solid start for an otherwise entirely free service. In particular, if you just need to concoct a quick 3-minute video for a presentation, RenderForest has you covered.

Best for Non-Designers: Visme

Plenty of templates to choose from.

Can set up five projects at once.

Charts and widgets support.

Limited cloud storage.

Visme branding on free plan.

Been asked to make a presentation and you don't know where to start? Visme is perfect for those that aren't well versed with graphics as it offers an extensive template library. The free plan limits your options a little but there are still some decent choices here. In addition, the service provides cool ways to make stats and data look exciting thanks to chart and widget support. It's all done through a simple drag and drop interface too that makes it super simple to add video and embed other content. 

Just bear in mind that storage options are a little limited and everything on the free plan will contain Visme branding. 

Best for Office Replacement: LibreOffice Impress

Full program rather than browser-based.

Extensive support. 

Similar experience to Microsoft Office.

Requires installation. 

Not quite as intuitive as alternatives.

LibreOffice is a popular free alternative to Microsoft Office, so it makes sense to use LibreOffice Impress if you want the closest experience to Microsoft's package. Unlike most of the others here, you need to install LibreOffice on your PC or Mac which means it's no good for Chromebooks or moving between different systems. However, in exchange, you get an intuitive experience that makes it simple to create slideshows, whether you're handing them out to a class or conference afterwards, or simply projecting them on screen. 

Bear in mind you have to seek out templates yourself though which may be off-putting for the least technically minded user out there. 

Download for:

Best for Apple Users: Keynote

Simple to use. 

Apple Pencil support. 

Cloud based as well as app based.

App is only on Apple devices.

Keynote is Apple's direct competitor to Microsoft PowerPoint and it's a great alternative, especially if you're a Mac user. With app support for iOS and Mac, it takes seconds to get started. Alternatively, PC users can use Keynote via the iCloud website and easily work across multiple devices. 

One of the best features is the ability to use the Apple Pencil on an iPad to create diagrams or illustrations making it great for skilled artists. As well as that, Apple provides plenty of convenient templates for personal and professional projects. 

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Presentations that move audiences

Refine, enhance, and tailor your content quicker than ever before.

Prezi is good for business

Keep teams engaged and customers asking for more

Prezi is smart for education

Make lessons more exciting and easier to remember

Millions of people — from students to CEOs — use Prezi to grab attention, stand out, and capture imaginations

The most engaging presentations happen on Prezi

Create with confidence

Professionally designed templates.

Choose from hundreds of modern, beautifully made templates.

Millions of reusable presentations

Focus on your own creativity and build off, remix, and reuse presentations from our extensive content library.

Real creative freedom

Open canvas.

Create, organize, and move freely on an open canvas. Create seamless presentations without the restrictions of linear slides.

Ready-made asset libraries

Choose from millions of images, stickers, GIFs, and icons from Unsplash and Giphy.

A presentation that works for you

Present in-person.

Have the confidence to deliver a memorable presentation with presenter notes and downloadable presentations.

Present over video conference

Keep your audience engaged by putting yourself in the center of your presentation.

Your own ideas, ready to present faster

Prezi AI is your new creative partner. Save time, amplify your ideas, and elevate your presentations.

The specialists on visual storytelling since 2009

From TED talks to classrooms. In every country across the world. Prezi has been a trusted presentation partner for over 15 years.

*independent Harvard study of Prezi vs. PowerPoint

See why our customers love us

Prezi is consistently awarded and ranks as the G2 leader across industries based on hundreds of glowing customer reviews.

Prezi powers the best presenters to do their best presentations

• Presentation Design

13 Best Presentation Websites in 2024

Presentation websites are applications created to present information as a slide show. Slideshows are presentations that comprise charts, images, videos, and the standard text. They ensure that data is displayed clearly, summarized, and readable to the audience.  

Slideshows work best when presented on a projector or a big screen. Intermittently, some users might print out slide shows as documents, but this is ill-suited for that purpose. 

Any presentation tool must have three fundamental functions:

• ‍ A text editor: to input the contents of the presentation.
• ‍ An import function: to insert and manipulate images and other content.
• ‍ A slide-show or presenter mode: that displays the content in a nice, formatted way.

Slide shows often consist of a combination of text, video, images and charts. Their primary function is displaying clear, readable and summarized data to an audience.

Most presentations are shared and presented on a larger screen or through a digital projector. In rare occasions, slide presentations are printed out as a replacement for text documents, but this is a really inefficient way to review data, that Garr Reynolds calls ‘ PresDocs ’ (Garr Reynolds is the author of Presentation Zen, one of the most important go-to reference for successful presentations).

Related Read: What Makes Up the Best Presentation Templates?

What makes the best presentation website?

When looking for the best presentation apps, there is a need to consider not just pitch decks but also school lectures, religious sermons, and adverts. Therefore, an excellent presentation app should be affordable, have enough sharing and collaboration options, have a range of pre-built templates, and be flexible. 

Visualization in presentations

A presentation without visual aids can be very boring. It's hard to remember things if they are just words on a page or screen. But with visuals, people retain information much better. So, ensure you have some great images to help your audience understand what you're talking about.

Consider using infographics if you want to add some spice to your presentations. Infographics are visually appealing ways to present complex information in a simple way. They can include charts, graphs, maps, diagrams, timelines, etc. Many online tools are available to create them, including Piktochart , Visually, and Canva . 

Presentation or visualization names of websites

Presentation websites allow you to create amazing presentations through the use of web technologies.

There are many cases when you might need to create a presentation for a particular purpose. Creating a presentation on PowerPoint is easy, but that doesn't mean it's the best option. That's why we'll talk about how to create a presentation without PowerPoint and how to get the best out of these presentation website alternatives. 

However, there exist today, numerous applications, software, and websites that can help create stunning designs and art for presentations other than PowerPoint. From Slidebean to Google Slides, there are more than enough presentation apps to help you. No matter your tastes, needs, and specifications, there is always one that fits your bill. Read on to find out more.

What makes a great PowerPoint Alternative?

Not everyone prefers PowerPoint. Why? Because it can feel and look clunky at times. But not every PowerPoint alternative works the same way. To find the best one for you, look out for features such as:

• Ability to present online and offline.
• Sharing and collaboration features.
• Features that allow for easy interpretation and assimilation of data.
• Highly customizable templates.
• Good transition and animation capabilities.
• Work import capabilities.

What are some good presentation websites

Here's a list of the 13 best presentation websites in 2024:.

Check out our top 10 presentation software tools that we believe are great alternatives to PowerPoint. We've curated this list based on our own interests and research. Let's dive right in and get started:

1. Slidebean presentation builder

Key Differentiator: Time Efficiency and Design

Pricing: Free with limited features, paid plans start at $199/year

Slidebean tops our list for its impressive time efficiency and design capabilities. This presentation software harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to calculate new slide designs in seconds. The platform offers a vast array of professional templates, each equipped with text suggestions tailored to various industries, making presentation creation a breeze. Slidebean also allows logo integration, enhancing your branding. Moreover, the tracking feature provides valuable insights into audience engagement, giving you the opportunity to improve your content and drive success in your presentations.

TRY SLIDEBEAN PRESENTATIONS

2. google slides.

Key Differentiator: Collaborative Convenience

Pricing: Free

Google Slides is an excellent choice for those seeking seamless collaboration and cloud-based convenience. With a reliable internet connection, multiple collaborators can work on a single project simultaneously without any need for downloads. The platform also allows sharing via email, facilitating easy dissemination of your presentations. Although Google Slides offers some impressive templates, it could benefit from more diverse design options for a truly personalized touch.

TRY GOOGLE SLIDES

Key Differentiator: "Zooming" into Creativity

Pricing: Free with limited features, paid plans start at $5/month)

Prezi's zoom function sets it apart, creating engaging and dynamic presentations. It boasts a unique smart structure technology that impresses audiences. However, using Prezi's exceptional features might require training and design skills. While the free version offers significant benefits, remember that it comes with privacy limitations. Consider opting for the paid plans if confidentiality is crucial for your presentations.

4. Apple Keynote

Key Differentiator: Sleek and Sophisticated

Pricing: Free with Mac devices, standalone versions available for macOS at $19.99

Designed for Apple users, Keynote brings sleekness and sophistication to your presentations. The software is versatile, allowing you to work on floor plans and text slides alike. While it may lack some collaborative features of other platforms, Keynote excels in creating aesthetically pleasing and professional presentation materials.

TRY KEYNOTE

5. haiku deck.

Key Differentiator: Simplified Storytelling

Pricing: Free with limited features, paid plans start at $9.99/month

Haiku Deck focuses on visual storytelling, providing an array of visually appealing templates and high-quality images to captivate your audience. The software streamlines the presentation process, making it ideal for those seeking simplicity and elegance. With its user-friendly interface, Haiku Deck enables you to create impressive slides in minutes.

TRY HAIKU DECK

Key Differentiator: Design Flexibility

Pricing: Free with limited features, paid plans start at $9.95/month)

Though primarily known for graphic design, Canva also offers powerful presentation tools. With a vast library of design elements, templates, and stock images, Canva allows you to fully customize your slides. Its collaborative features and easy sharing options make it a go-to choice for teams working on presentations.

Key Differentiator: Visual Content Creation

Pricing: Free with limited features, paid plans start at $25/month

Visme excels in visual content creation, offering impressive charts, graphs, and infographics. This platform goes beyond conventional presentations, making it ideal for educational and business purposes. It enables you to create interactive and engaging content that will leave a lasting impact on your audience.

Key Differentiator: Animated Presentations

Pricing: Free with limited features, paid plans start at $19/month

If you want to bring your presentations to life with animation, Powtoon is the software for you. Its dynamic and animated slides add flair to your content, keeping your audience engaged throughout the presentation. Powtoon's easy-to-use interface and extensive library of animated assets make it perfect for creating captivating animated presentations.

TRY POWTOON

Key Differentiator: Multi-dimensional Presentations

Pricing: Free with limited features, paid plans start at $12/month

Emaze stands out with its multi-dimensional presentation capabilities. It offers 3D templates, virtual reality integration, and immersive slides, making your presentations stand out. For those seeking innovative ways to captivate audiences, Emaze is a powerful choice.

10. Zoho Show

Key Differentiator: Collaborative Creation

Pricing: Free with limited features, paid plans start at $5/month

Zoho Show offers collaborative features that make teamwork seamless. It allows multiple users to collaborate in real time, making it an excellent choice for group projects and presentations. The platform also provides a variety of templates and customization options to suit your presentation needs.

TRY ZOHO SHOW

A presentation software launched in 2020, Pitch is already referred to as a “PowerPoint killer”. It was created to help non-designers (or beginners) create excellent pitch decks. 

Pitch has an extensive library of presentation templates, but this is just one of its benefits. This software emphasizes collaboration and even includes built-in video collaboration for remote teams to work together. Pitch presentations can also be integrated with Google Analytics, Google Sheets, and similar applications.

This cloud-based presentation tool proffers a user-friendly alternative to PowerPoint. Its sleek editor interface allows you to add your preferred background images, import a variety of designs, and collaborate easily with others. It is known to be very user-friendly.

Slides offers access and edit features from any device, as long as it is internet-connected. It also helps manage privacy rights, allows presentations offline, offers analytics management, and allows for adding GIFs and images. 

However, it is limited in slide options and templates and does not offer graphic inclusions.

Gamma is a user-friendly web tool designed to make creating presentations easier for both educators and students. Its standout feature is its AI technology, which handles design tasks, allowing users to focus on their content. With Gamma, anyone can quickly create visually appealing presentations without needing advanced design skills.

How do I create a presentation without PowerPoint?

Numerous alternatives to PowerPoint are on the Internet. The issue is not about creating a presentation without PowerPoint but getting that presentation tool or software that can help achieve your goal. 

While many tools offer free accounts to peruse and utilize online and offline presentations, some do not. This does not mean the free tools are not good, rather, it is just a marketing idea. 

What can I use instead of PowerPoint for free?

Here are some presentation tools you can make use of instead of PowerPoint;

WPS Office boasts functionality and a well-designed, along with offline document capabilities. Sometimes accused of having very similar features to Microsoft Office, users can efficiently work on PowerPoint files. It also offers many templates. However, collaboration might be a bit stressful. 

WPS Office is available on Android, Web Windows, iOS, Linux, and macOS.

If there is one thing Canva has, it is templates. Canva makes PowerPoint look simple with a vast array of templates for every specification. If you have a problem with making decisions, do not use Canva.

However, that is its Achilles heel; many people find themselves scrolling for so long. Not all templates are free but, it helps narrow down your options. 

• Bonus Tool: InVideo

InVideo is considered a cloud-based online video editing tool with the feature of creating slideshow videos. it contains a huge selection of slideshow templates, stock footage, photos, and music to make great slideshow videos without a watermark. Although it is available for free, some features require a premium subscription.

Without a doubt, it can be stressful to get that one presentation software that can fit your exact specifications and give the required output. Although utilizing Slidebean can be very flexible, it can also be use to produce the best infographic presentation that compares data in an easily-understood manner.

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Microsoft PowerPoint has been around for a long while and so far it has served users well. However, because it's a paid program, not everyone can afford it.

Thankfully, there are many options available for users who want the functionality of Microsoft PowerPoint in a free-to-use package. In fact, some of them don't even require any downloads and are completely web-based.

1. Google Slides

By far the most popular PowerPoint alternative out there, Google Slides shines when it comes to collaboration. Multiple people can work simultaneously on a presentation and add new slides.

This is further strengthened by its availability. Google Slides works on your web browser and has apps for both iOS and Android.

Additionally, Google Slides keeps a record of all the changes users have made to a presentation, and you can easily restore your slideshow to a previous version. While anyone with a Gmail account can use Google Slides, G Suite users get added data protection.

Compared to PowerPoint, the number of templates, animation forms, and fonts is somewhat lacking. However, businesses tend to overlook these shortcomings on a day-to-day basis.

While Canva is primarily known as a photo editor and design tool, it is also a competent MS PowerPoint alternative.

One of Canva's main strengths is its ease of use. There are many beginner tutorial videos on the website if users do not understand something. Complete beginners can easily navigate through the minimalistic interface.

With the free version of Canva, you get access to over 8000+ presentation templates that exponentially speed up your workflow. Additionally, Canva still remains one of the easiest services to create infographics and charts in.

The only limiting thing with Canva is that it offers a basic set of tools and transitions at users' disposal. It's apparent that the company places more focus on photo editing and design aspect than anything else.

The Prezi presentation format is unique in the way that it lets you view slides. Instead of addressing multiple elements at once, Prezi gives viewers a single canvas that allows them to zoom in on different presentation parts. This provides a much more immersive experience.

Similar to Google Slides, Prezi supports the real-time collaboration of up to 10 users. Users can also add comments to indicate changes or report missing information. Prezi works on any modern web browser, and there are Android and iOS apps available as well.

Related: Powerful Google Chrome PDF Extensions and Apps

The Prezi software also has an analytics feature that helps users optimize their presentation by showing them which slides were the most viewed as well as which ones were skipped.

Even though the basic version of Prezi is free to use, it doesn't allow users to control the privacy of their presentation, which could be a dealbreaker for many. Additionally, due to the way Prezi works, there is a steep learning curve associated with it.

4. WPS Office Free

WPS Office is the closest alternative to PowerPoint when it comes to functionality and user interface. Plus, unlike the other web-based services on this list, you don't always need an active internet connection to use it.

With its complete support for PowerPoint files, users can edit existing PowerPoint documents with ease in WPS Office. They can also embed videos and animate individual objects, just like in Microsoft PowerPoint. It also offers many templates, so users can pick their favorite.

However, users should keep in mind that while the software is free, it is supported by ads, which may be a bit intrusive at times. In addition to this, collaboration is less straightforward than with Google Slides.

WPS Office is available across all major platforms such as Windows, macOS, Linux. iOS, and Android. There is a web-based version available as well. Alternatively, you can check out this handy guide to smoothen your transition to WPS Office from Microsoft .

Xtensio is one of the best options for business users. It has many templates available regarding various organization sections, such as marketing, UX design, etc.

With Xtensio's easy-to-use interface, even newbies can create professional-looking reports and presentations. Additionally, they offer even greater flexibility in terms of design. You can edit each object in a template to suit your specific needs.

But it does have some shortcomings. For one thing, users cannot export their presentations in PowerPoint format. Additionally, the free version supports only one user at a time with a storage space of 1MB.

6. LibreOffice

LibreOffice is open-source presentation software that does everything PowerPoint can do. Although it lacks functionality such as OneDrive Integration, its PowerPoint-like functionality more than makes up for it.

LibreOffice has its share of useful features, such as the ability to import Keynote files. In addition, LibreOffice has a vast collection of free templates that users can use to create their presentations.

If that's not enough, you can download additional templates from LibreOffice's online repository. LibreOffice is available across Windows, macOS, and Linux.

7. Zoho Show

There are several reasons to use Zoho Show for your next presentation. It's a great presentation tool that's similar to Google Slides, but even better. Users can also import and edit all their PowerPoint files in the online tool.

Users can create tables, infographics, and data charts within Zoho Show itself. In addition to this, the service also has in-built Google Image Search functionality that lets you search and insert images quickly.

Related: Tools to Give an Online Presentation From Anywhere

Additionally, Zoho Show supports collaboration in real-time and multiple users can edit presentations. Although there's not much to complain about in Zoho Show, many users would like to have more options when it comes to templates and animations.

Worthy PowerPoint Alternatives

Essentially, all these tools and services function the same way as PowerPoint without the cost. Furthermore, the web-based alternatives are more advanced such as automatic saving and cloud storage.

Despite this, PowerPoint remains the front-runner when it comes to presentation software. As such, it is important for users to know how to make the best out of its features.

• Productivity
• Collaboration Tools
• Presentations

The best presentation software in 2024

These powerpoint alternatives go beyond the basics..

The latest presentation apps have made it easier than ever to format slides and create professional-looking slideshows without giving off a "this is a template" vibe. Even standard PowerPoint alternatives have updated key features to make it easier than ever to collaborate and create presentations quickly, so you can spend more time prepping for your actual presentation.

If, like me, you've used Google Slides unquestioningly for years, it's a whole new world out there. The newest crop of online presentation tools go way beyond the classic slideshow experience, with new features to keep your audience's attention, streamline the creation process with AI, and turn slide decks into videos and interactive conversations.

I've been testing these apps for the past few years, and this time, I spent several days tinkering with 25 of the top presentation software solutions out there to bring you the best of the best.

The best presentation software

What makes the best presentation app, how we evaluate and test apps.

When looking for the best presentation apps, I wanted utility players. After all, slideshows are used for just about everything, from pitch decks and product launches to class lectures and church sermons. With that in mind, here's what I was looking for:

Pre-built templates. The best presentation tools should have attractive, professional-looking templates to build presentations in a hurry.

Sharing and collaboration options. Whether you plan to share your webinar slides later, or you just want to collaborate with a coworker on a presentation, it should be easy to share files and collaborate in real-time.

Flexibility and customization options. Templates are great, but top presentation apps should enable you to customize just about everything—giving you the flexibility to build exactly what you need.

Affordability. Creating compelling presentations is important, but you shouldn't have to bust your budget to make it happen. With capable free tools on the market, affordability is a top consideration.

Standalone functionality. There's no reason to use multiple tools when one can do it all, so I didn't test any apps that require and work on top of another presentation app like PowerPoint or Google Slides.

Familiar, deck-based interface. For our purposes here, I only tested software that uses slides, with the familiar deck-based editor you expect from a "presentation" tool (versus, for example, a video creation app).

Beyond that, I also looked for presentation apps that brought something unique to the table—features above and beyond what you can get for free from a legacy solution like PowerPoint or Google Slides.

Here's what my testing workflow looked like:

I went through any onboarding or guided tutorials.

I created a new deck, scanning through all available templates, noting how well-designed they were (and which were free versus paid).

I added new slides, deleted slides, edited text and images, and played around with other content types.

I changed presentation design settings, like color schemes and background images.

I reviewed and tested the sharing and collaboration options.

I tested out presenter view (when available).

After my first round of testing, I went back into the top performers to test any unique or niche features, like AI, brand settings, and interactive content. With that, these are the best presentation apps I found—each one really brings something different or radically easy to the table.

The best presentation software at a glance

The best free presentation software, .css-19a5n3-link{all:unset;box-sizing:border-box;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;cursor:pointer;-webkit-transition:all 300ms ease-in-out;transition:all 300ms ease-in-out;outline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-fill-color:currentcolor;outline:1px solid transparent;}.css-19a5n3-link[data-color='ocean']{color:var(--zds-text-link, #3d4592);}.css-19a5n3-link[data-color='ocean']:hover{outline-color:var(--zds-text-link-hover, #2b2358);}.css-19a5n3-link[data-color='ocean']:focus{color:var(--zds-text-link-hover, #3d4592);outline-color:var(--zds-text-link-hover, #3d4592);}.css-19a5n3-link[data-color='white']{color:var(--zds-brand-almost-white, #fffdf9);}.css-19a5n3-link[data-color='white']:hover{color:var(--zds-gray-warm-5, #a8a5a0);}.css-19a5n3-link[data-color='white']:focus{color:var(--zds-brand-almost-white, #fffdf9);outline-color:var(--zds-brand-almost-white, #fffdf9);}.css-19a5n3-link[data-color='primary']{color:var(--zds-text-link, #3d4592);}.css-19a5n3-link[data-color='primary']:hover{color:var(--zds-text-link-hover, #2b2358);}.css-19a5n3-link[data-color='primary']:focus{color:var(--zds-text-link-hover, #3d4592);outline-color:var(--zds-text-link-hover, #3d4592);}.css-19a5n3-link[data-color='secondary']{color:var(--zds-brand-almost-white, #fffdf9);}.css-19a5n3-link[data-color='secondary']:hover{color:var(--zds-gray-warm-5, #a8a5a0);}.css-19a5n3-link[data-color='secondary']:focus{color:var(--zds-brand-almost-white, #fffdf9);outline-color:var(--zds-brand-almost-white, #fffdf9);}.css-19a5n3-link[data-weight='inherit']{font-weight:inherit;}.css-19a5n3-link[data-weight='normal']{font-weight:400;}.css-19a5n3-link[data-weight='bold']{font-weight:700;} canva (web, windows, mac, android, ios).

Canva pros:

Excellent free plan

Tons of amazing templates for all use cases

Feature-rich

Canva cons:

The AI tools aren't groundbreakingly useful

Anyone who's accidentally scrolled too far and been bumped to the next slide will appreciate Canva's editor interface, which eliminates that problem altogether with a smooth scroll that doesn't jump around. Choose from a handful of preset animations to add life to your presentations, or browse the library of audio and video files available to add. And Canva also has a number of options for sharing your presentation, including adding collaborators to your team, sharing directly to social media, and even via QR code.

Present directly from Canva, and let audience members submit their questions via Canva Live. Once you share a link to invite audience members to your presentation, they can send questions for you to answer. As the presenter, you'll see them pop up in your presenter view window, so you can keep the audience engaged and your presentation clear. Alternatively, record a presentation with a talking head bubble—you can even use an AI presenter here—to share remotely.

Create Canva designs from new or updated Google Sheets rows

Export designs in Canva from new or updated rows in Google Sheets

Create new Canva designs from newly added Google Drive folders

Canva pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $120/year for 1 user and include additional features like Brand Kit, premium templates and stock assets, and additional AI-powered design tools.

The best presentation app for AI-powered design

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Beautiful.ai pros:

True AI design

No fussing around with alignment

Still allows for customization

Beautiful.ai cons:

No free plan

If you're like me, editing granular spacing issues is the absolute worst part of building a presentation. Beautiful.ai uses artificial intelligence to take a lot of the hassle and granular design requirements out of the presentation process, so you can focus on the content of a presentation without sacrificing professional design. If I needed to make presentations on a regular basis, this is the app I'd use.

Many apps have recently added AI design features, but Beautiful.ai has been doing it for years—and they've perfected the experience of AI design, ensuring the tool's reign as the most streamlined and user-friendly option for AI design.

The editor is a little different from most presentation apps, but it's still intuitive—and you'll start off with a quick two-minute tutorial. When creating a new slide, scroll through "inspiration slides" to find a layout you like; once you choose, the app will pull the layout and automatically adapt it to match the design of the rest of your presentation.

With 10 themes, several templated slides, over 40 fully-designed templates, and more than 20 different color palettes to choose from, Beautiful.ai strikes a perfect balance between automation and customization.

While Beautiful.ai doesn't offer a free plan, paid plans are reasonably priced and offer sharing and collaboration options that rival collab-focused apps like Google Slides. And speaking of Google, you can connect Beautiful.ai with Google Drive to save all your presentations there.

Note: I re-tested the generative AI feature (called DesignerBot) this year. It's great for adding individual slides to an existing presentation—automatically choosing the best layout and matching the design to the rest of the deck—but as with most other apps, it struggled to pull in relevant images.

Beautiful.ai pricing: Plans start at $12/month for unlimited slides, AI content generation, viewer analytics, and more. Upgrade to a Team plan for $40/user/month to get extra collaboration and workspace features and custom brand controls.

The best presentation app for conversational presentations

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Prezi pros:

Doesn't restrict you to standard presentation structure

Lots of customization options

Prezi Video lets you display a presentation right over your webcam video

Prezi cons:

Steep learning curve

Struggling to squeeze information into a basic, linear presentation? Give Prezi a try. Unlike nearly all other presentation apps on the market, Prezi Present doesn't restrict the structure of your presentation to a straight line. The editor focuses on topics and subtopics and allows you to arrange them any way you want, so you can create a more conversational flow of information.

With the structural flexibility, you still get all the same customization features you expect from top presentation software, including fully-editable templates. There's a learning curve if you're unfamiliar with non-linear presentations, but templates offer a great jumping-off point, and Prezi's editor does a good job of making the process more approachable.

Plus, Prezi comes with two other apps: Prezi Design and Prezi Video. Prezi Video helps you take remote presentations to a new level. You can record a video where the presentation elements are displayed right over your webcam feed. Record and save the video to share later, or connect with your video conferencing tool of choice (including Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet) to present live.

Prezi's generative AI feature works ok, but it's more useful as a wireframe. When I asked it to create a presentation about the Stanley Cup Playoffs, for example, the resulting content read a lot like a student writing a term paper in the broadest strokes possible to avoid doing any actual research.

The best presentation app for video presentations

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Powtoon pros:

Timing automatically changes based on the content on the slide

Can toggle between slideshow and video

Can orient presentation as horizontal, vertical, or square

Powtoon cons:

Limited free plan

Powtoon makes it easy to create engaging videos by orienting the editor around a slide deck. Editing a Powtoon feels just like editing a presentation, but by the time you finish, you have a professional video. 

You can edit your slides at any time, and when you hit play, a video plays through your deck—the feel is almost like an animated explainer video. Each slide includes the animations you choose and takes up as much time as is needed based on the content on the slide. Powtoon figures the timing automatically, and you can see in the bottom-right of the editor how much time is used on your current slide versus the total presentation. If you ever want to present as a slide deck, just toggle between Slideshow and Movie.

You'll likely need to subscribe to a paid plan to get the most out of Powtoon—like creating videos longer than three minutes, downloading them as MP4 files, and white-labeling your presentations—but doing so won't break the bank. Plus, you'll unlock tons of templates complete with animations and soundtracks.

One of my favorite Powtoon features is the ability to orient your video: you can choose horizontal orientation (like a normal presentation) or opt for vertical (for mobile) or square (for social media). When your presentation is ready, you can publish straight to YouTube, Wistia, Facebook Ads, and any number of other locations.

The best presentation app for collaborating with your team

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Pitch pros:

Google levels of collaboration

Assign slides to specific team members

Excellent generative AI feature

Pitch cons:

User interface is a little different than you're used to

Need to collaborate on presentations with your team? Pitch is a Google Slides alternative that gets the job done. As far as decks go, Pitch includes all the beautifully-designed templates, customizability, and ease of use you expect from a top-notch presentation tool. But the app really shines when you add your team.

The right-hand sidebar is all about project management and collaboration: you can set and update the status of your deck, assign entire presentations or individual slides to team members, plus comment or add notes. Save custom templates to make future presentations even easier and faster.

You can also invite collaborators from outside your company to work with you on individual decks. And if you opt for a paid plan, Pitch introduces workspace roles, shared private folders, and version history.

Pitch also offers one of the most impressive generative AI features on this list. It still struggles to pull in relevant images, but I found the AI-generated written content and design to be top-notch.

The best presentation app for conversational AI

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Gamma pros:

Creates fully fleshed-out presentations from a prompt

Conversational chatbot-like experience

Can still manually edit the presentation

Gamma cons:

Not as much granular customization

I tested a lot of apps claiming to use AI to up your presentation game, and Gamma's conversational AI features were head and shoulders above the crowd.

Simply give the app a topic—or upload an outline, notes, or any other document or article—approve the outline, and pick a theme. The app will take it from there and create a fully fleshed-out presentation. It's far from perfect, but Gamma produces a very useful jumping-off point. (Last year, it was by far the best, but this year, other apps are catching up.)

Here's the key: Gamma is much more geared toward the iterative, chatbot experience familiar to ChatGPT users. Click on the Edit with AI button at the top of the right-hand menu to open the chat, and you'll see suggested prompts—or you can type in your own requests for how Gamma should alter the presentation.

Once you've done all you can with prompts, simply close the chat box to manually add the finishing touches. While you do sacrifice some granular customizability in exchange for the AI features, you can still choose your visual theme, change slide layouts, format text, and add any images, videos, or even app and web content.

The best presentation app for audience engagement

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Mentimeter pros:

Tons of audience engagement features

Simple for participants to interact

Mentimeter cons:

Less granular customizability

Bit of a learning curve

If you need to engage with an audience during your presentation, Mentimeter makes that easy. The app is designed around interactive elements like quizzes, surveys, Q&As, sliders, and more (even a Miro whiteboard!).

Each of these is included in a number of different, professional-looking templates, so you can build a fully interactive presentation super quickly.

When it's time to present, your audience members can scan the QR code with their phone cameras or type in the URL and access code to participate. There's one code per presentation (so they won't have to do this on every slide), which gives access to each slide as you move through the presentation.

There are two main drawbacks to this one, though. First, there's a bit of a learning curve and less familiar editing interface (but I found it pretty easy to learn with some practice). The other drawback is that you can't get as granular with the visual customization as you can with many other presentation tools.

The best presentation app for generative AI

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Top-tier generative AI features

Simple, customizable templates

Intuitive doc-style editor

There's definitely a learning curve

Tome is one of the new additions to this list that I'm most excited about. If you're looking for generative AI that just genuinely works , it's definitely worth a look. The editor is a bit more stripped down than most presentation apps but intuitive nonetheless—it's almost a cross between your standard deck editor and a Notion-style doc.

To generate an AI deck, click Generate with AI in the top right, and either write your own prompt or choose from the example prompts that cover a handful of common use cases, like sales enablement and company pitches. Edit or approve the suggested outline, then generate the full presentation.

From there, you can edit each slide as a doc via the right-hand menu—without limits on how much information you can include. During the presentation, you simply size down any slides that take up more than the standard amount of space. It's super simple but somehow feels revolutionary in a presentation app.

What about the old standbys?

You might notice a few major presentation players aren't on this list, including OGs Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, and Google Slides. These apps are perfectly adequate for creating basic presentations, and they're free if you have a Windows or Mac device or a Google account.

I didn't include them on the list because the presentation space has really developed in the last several years, and after testing them out, I found these behemoths haven't kept pace. If they weren't made by Microsoft/Apple/Google, I might not even be mentioning them. They're pretty basic tools, they're behind the curve when it comes to templates (both quantity and design), and they don't offer any uniquely valuable features like robust team collaboration, branding controls, video, and so on.

In any case, if you're reading this, you're probably looking for an alternative that allows you to move away from one of the big 3, and as the presentation platforms featured above show, there's a ton to gain—in terms of features, usability, and more—when you do.

What about PowerPoint and Google Slides add-ons?

While I focused my testing on tools with full feature-sets—those that can serve as your sole presentation tool—there are a ton of add-on tools you can use atop big name tools like PowerPoint and Google Slides.

Related reading:

This post was originally published in October 2014 and has since been updated with contributions from Danny Schreiber, Matthew Guay, Andrew Kunesh, and Krystina Martinez. The most recent update was in April 2024.

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Kiera Abbamonte

Kiera’s a content writer who helps SaaS and eCommerce companies connect with customers and reach new audiences. Located in Boston, MA, she loves cinnamon coffee and a good baseball game.

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