Top 10 PowerPoint Alternatives Compared

Choosing the best presentation software for your needs can mean the difference between closing an important deal and blowing the opportunity of a lifetime.

Think this is an exaggeration? Just remember how many times a badly designed presentation--with slides chock full of text and outdated animation effects--instantly made you think twice about the credibility of the person presenting their product or idea. Or how a glitch or holdup made you lose your patience.

We’ve all heard of death by PowerPoint. You don’t want to be one of those who blow it because they didn’t choose wisely. Luckily, in a post-PowerPoint world, there are a variety of options for every need imaginable.

 

Top 10 PowerPoint Alternatives

To help you make sense of the dozens of options out there, we’ve summarized the most important features of the best PowerPoint alternatives:

1 Visme

A cloud-base, drag-and-drop presentation software, Visme offers users all the tools they need to create not just compelling presentations, but also infographics, data visualizations, reports, product demos and resumes.

Its ready-to-use templates, with HD backgrounds and professionally designed layouts, give users a breather from the all-too-familiar PowerPoint themes.

Packed with millions of free images, thousands of vector icons, graph tools in any style and hundreds of fonts, Visme allows users to create virtually any type of visual content in Its custom design area.

Features:

• Publish and share anywhere: Share URL or embed into a site.
• Manage privacy: Control who can see your projects.
• Present offline: Download presentation as image, PDF or HTML5.
• Add animation and interactivity to any element: Insert call-to-action buttons, videos, surveys, quizzes, etc.
• Quickly search for the exact slides you need from a built-in library with 900+ layouts

• Analytics: Access combined statistics of project views in one place.
• HTML5-based: Runs on any browser and device.
• Import PowerPoint presentations.
• Work as a team: Access collaboration and content management tools.
• Searchable libraries with millions of images and thousands of high-quality vector icons
• Create visual slides quickly using drag-and-drop blocks of content with visual stats, maps, figures and pictographs.

Price: Starting at $12 a month per user

Pros: Users can create virtually any visual content--including infographics, charts, reports and printables--in a single place; add animation, full interactivity and audio

Cons: Due to high level of flexibility and variety of options, might take some time to master all of its features.

Ideal for: Marketers, entrepreneurs, educators and individuals in general; corporate teams

Other reviews: Huffington Post; ClearVoice; Crazy Egg

 

2 Haiku Deck

This cloud-based presentation solution is often considered as a mobile alternative to Prezi and PowerPoint. It offers users 27 different templates and 35 million stock photos.

Users can quickly create presentations on the go and access and edit presentations from the iPhone, iPad, PC, Mac and Chromebook. The templates are characterized by big bold text and strong visuals.

Features:

• iPhone remote: View and edit slide decks from your mobile device or iPad.
• Access templates with big bold text and strong visuals.
• Export presentations to PDF, PowerPoint or Keynote.
• Access professional photos from Getty Images and graph creator.
• Add private talking points or full transcript to published slides.
• View slide galleries with the week’s most popular decks.

Price: Paid plans starting at $5 a month per user

Pros: Strong visuals

Cons: Customization options are very limited.

Ideal for: Traveling salespeople

Other reviews: USA Today, Mashable

 

3 Emaze

A simple-to-use presentation tool that uses HTML5, so it runs on any browser and device, including chromebooks and tablets.

Designed for those who want to easily create presentations within minutes, Emaze offers professionally designed 2D and 3D templates, as well as the ability to create video presentations that can be accessed from anywhere online.

Features:

• Create presentations within minutes with ready-to-use templates.
• Share your presentation with anyone in the world using an automated translation tool.
• Access your presentations from anywhere with this cloud-based software.
• View and edit your presentations from any device, including tablets, laptops, PCs and smartphones.

Price: Paid plans starting at $9 a month per user

Pros: Make sophisticated visualizations with little effort

Cons: Will not work on older devices; very resource intensive; takes up a lot of memory

Ideal for: Users seeking easy-to-use 3D templates

Other reviews: Geektime, SitePoint

 

4 Prezi

This cloud-based software is popular for its nonlinear presentations, which pan and zoom from one page to the next without creating the impression of moving to a new slide.

Features:

• View and edit your presentations from any device.
• Store all your presentations in the cloud.
• Share and collaborate with others.
• Download for offline use.
• Use advanced image editing tools.
• Manage privacy.

Price: Paid plans starting at $4.92 a month per user

Pros: Create nonlinear presentations with ease

Cons: Not fully customizable; can only create non-linear presentations; can actually cause motion sickness in some viewers

Ideal for: Students, educators, speakers, companies

Other reviews: PCMag.com, PC World

 

5 Keynote

Apple’s alternative to PowerPoint, Keynote is everything you would expect in an Apple product: sleek, sophisticated and intuitive.

Packed with powerful features--such as the ability to create interactive charts, add reflections and picture frames--Keynote makes it easy to create presentations with cinematic-like transitions between slides.

Features:

• Access more than 30 cinematic effects for text and objects.
• Make interactive and animated charts.
• View and edit your presentations from an iPad or iPhone.
• Easily share and collaborate.
• Access more than 30 polished templates and designs.
• Import and edit PowerPoint files or save Keynote presentations as PowerPoint files.

Price: $19.99 or free with all new Macs

Pros: PowerPoint compatible

Cons: Desktop software, not online-based; no slide library

Ideal for: Mac owners

Other reviews: PCMag.com, Macworld

 

6 Projeqt

This alternative is good option for creatives and those who want to create a presentation driven by real-time storytelling.

You can pull in RSS feeds, live tweets, Flickr images, YouTube or Vimeo videos into your presentations. Projeqt also enables you to insert audio notes and interactive maps.

Features:

• Create nonlinear presentations with multiple layers and sub-presentations.
• Access and edit your presentation from any device.
• Embed and share anywhere.
• Insert live feeds into your presentations.
• Import PowerPoint and PDF files.

Price: Free

Pros: Price is right

Cons: Limited design and layout options

Ideal for: Students, educators and creatives

Other reviews: Mashable, Adweek

 

7 Slides

This cloud-based presentation software offers a solid and user-friendly alternative to PowerPoint. Its sleek editor workspace allows you to add background images, use a variety of designs and themes, collaborate easily with others and customize any of 10 default slides.

Features:

• Edit and access presentations from any device.
• Manage privacy.
• Present offline.
• Access to analytics.
• Fork presentations.
• Access to revision history.
• Display math formulas.
• Define your own theme with custom CSS editor.

Price: Paid plans starting at $6 a month per user

Pros: User-friendly; includes beginner’s tutorial

Cons: Create only linear presentations; limited interactivity and design options such as templates and types

Ideal for: Students, teachers, individuals

Other reviews: SitePoint

 

8 Slidedog

Have you ever experienced the hassle of having to switch between a slide deck, a website, a video player and a PDF file in the middle of a presentation? With Slidedog, your audience doesn’t have to look at your desktop screen as you fumble your way through many different file types.

This multimedia presentation tool allows you to create seamless presentations by giving you the power to combine PowerPoint slide decks, Prezi presentations, movie clips, PDF files and web pages into a single playlist.

Features:

• Create custom presentation playlists.
• Share slides with the audience in real-time.
• Control your slides remotely from a tablet, smartphone or PC.
• Engage participants through live chat or a discussion.
• Add polls at any time during your presentation.
• View separate presenter screen with notes and slide thumbnails

Price: Paid plans start at $8.33 a month per user

Pros: Create seamless presentations with multiple media formats

Cons: Cannot be used to design slide content

Ideal for: Presenters who want to use various media formats

Other reviews: CNET, BetaNews

 

9 Slidebean

This recently launched PowerPoint alternative is a good option for all those who don’t have the time to design their own slides.

Slidebean’s website promises users that all they have to do is input content and the software does all the design and formatting work for them.

Features:

• Content templates for different purposes (marketing, business, startups)
• Search and insert curated images from gallery within software
• Access to thousands of icons
• Past CSV data to create charts
• Share and collaborate with others
• Use chat feature to communicate with others
• Browse curated color palettes
• Access viewers’ actions for each presentation

Price: Paid plans start at $10 a month per user

Pros: Allows you to focus solely on the content

Cons: No animation

Ideal for: Those who want to create presentations in as little time as possible

Other reviews: TechCrunch, The Next Web

 

10 Zoho Show

Part of a suite of online applications, Zoho Show provides users with a traditional presentation tool  that is online-based. Like the other alternatives listed here, this online presentation software allows users to create and access presentations from any browser or device connected to the Internet.

Features:

• Apply eye-catching animations and transitions.
• Embed live tweets, YouTube videos and Flickr images.
• Publish your presentations on websites and blogs.
• Import multiple file types, including .ppt, .pptx, .pps, .ppsx, .odp and .sxi.
• Use collaborative tools to allow others to edit and comment on your content.
• Broadcast your presentation from anywhere.

Price: Paid plans start at $5 a month per user

Pros: Import multiple file types; conferencing option

Cons: Limited animations and transitions; only standard presentation functionality

Perfect for: Business users, students, educators

Other reviews: ZDNet, Blinklist

This is our take on the best PowerPoint alternatives out there right now. Which of these top-rated PowerPoint alternatives best suits your needs?

 

Your Turn

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And if you have any feedback on any of the tools listed above, we'd love to hear from you. Drop us a line in the comments section below, and we'll get back to you.