Whether you are making a presentation for your school project, a seminar presentation for your college project, or a professional presentation for your client, investor or boss to crack the deal, making an appealing and intuitive presentation is very important. Actually making a slide presentation is something which we learn in the school but making a perfect presentation is something tricky to master even professional face stumble upon while doing it. To make the perfect presentation, one needs to use the perfect tool for that, along with the person need to understand the technique of speaking orally as well as visually, which will help him/her to create a great presentation to impress everyone.
Normally most people use Microsoft PowerPoint for making a slide presentation, but one should remember that the MS Office Package is not a free option to deal with, as MS Office is a bunch of tools. A new user may not have the budget for acquiring an expensive application like MS Office, then they should look for free or cheaper alternatives to MS PowerPoint, about which we are going to discuss in this article.
Remember not only just because of evading the cost factor, but also for many interesting, unique and cool features one can look for the alternatives of MS PowerPoint. As there are many PowerPoint alternatives available in the market who do offer a lot more in terms of features, and more features mean more flexibility with your project presentation.
Go through the article in full to know about some the best Microsoft PowerPoint alternatives and there features, which are perfect for personal, professional and enterprise-level usages.
Best 5 Alternative of MS PowerPoint in 2019
1. Google Slides
As the name suggests, it is a Google-made application, and it is part of the Google Docs services and best free online alternative to Microsoft powerpoint application.
Google Slides is a free to use the premium quality application, which let you use the application from all the kind of devices, anywhere anytime. You do not need to have a computer to use Google slides if you are travelling, and you do not have a laptop with you then you can carry on with your work just by using your Android or iOS mobile. You can even log in to Google Slides from the dashboard of your Gmail account as well. In the library, there are hundreds of templates available from which you can choose to start your work with.
Also, the dashboard design is simple, clean and to the point, if you do not know how to use MS PowerPoint at all, you can learn Google Slides easily just with a little time and guidance. You can get the learning guidance even from the YouTube tutorial videos.
Features to Consider:
- All the works are saved in the Google Cloud servers automatically up to the last word, so no worries if you run out of battery or facing a power cut.
- After making the whole presentation if you need to change the looks of it, the entire looks can be changed easily by changing the Color picker and Theme Picker. No need to start from scratch again.
- As the system is cloud-based, you can share the data and collaborate with your colleges in real-time.
- Completely compatible with other slide presentation application like MS PowerPoint. So, no worries while importing or exporting the file to some other platform or application.
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The library is huge enough and contains loads of options for various kind of templates to choose from.
- As Google Slides provides you with a lot of options for the designs, you can put brains to the actual data in the slides instead of design.
- The service is completely free, with no hidden charges or microtransactions.
Pros:
- Free of cost
- Ease of use
- Platform independent
- Device-independent
- Automatic cloud sync
- Support over freaking 80 languages
- No need to download or install, just browse and use
Cons:
- Designing capabilities are limited if you compare it with the MS PowerPoint
- You need to be online while working to access all the features, though you can configure Google Docs to for offline works, it will have limited privileges there.
Recommended for:
Students, Freelancers, upcoming Entrepreneurs, new start-up agencies etc. You can also use for corporate-level professional usages if you are happy with limited design features. As it has much more utilities and accessibility features to offer, so it is a viable choice over MS PowerPoint in many cases.
2. Libre Office Impress, powerpoint alternative
A free & Open Source alternative for Powerpoint along with other offices applications.
Libre Office Impress comes as part of the Libre Office Suite itself. There is no need for the introduction of Libre Office Suite, as it is simply the best open source Office Suite available in the market. If you are one of those people who love to use Open-source applications, which are free and run by the developer and the community itself, then Libre Office Suite’s Libre Impress is for you.
The craze of Open source applications instead of paid commercial application is raising high day by day. Libre Office Suite is the best among those open source solution. Libre Office or Libre Impress dose not feature a trendy dashboard, but comes with loads of features with which you can get your job done at the optimum level.
The files created in Libre Office is compatible with all other Office suits as well, in all the OS platforms. Libre Office does not run on mobile devices but, while working with computers, Libre Office is a must-have. Libre Office products not only have their user base among the individual computer users but also it is used in large scale among the big IT multi-national companies.
Features to Consider:
- Open Source application, with developer support, community support and regular updates.
- Though Libre Impress features loads of templates within the library, you can find more in the GitHub archive and can download them.
- In terms of file import and export, it is completely compatible with Microsoft products.
- In the template’s library, you will also find many 2D & 3D animated designs.
- Versions are available for all major OS like Windows, Linux and Mac.
- Though designing or editing can not be done through mobile devices but a viewer app is available on the app store of Android to check your work in the go.
Pros:
- Free of cost
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Easy to use for any average Office Suite users
- Supports various OS platforms
- Good for developers as they will have more flexibility over the features.
- Can retrieve data from damaged files.
Cons:
- For the non-experienced user, mastering Libre office may take some time.
- MS Office lovers may feel there is a lack of features.
- The looks of the dashboard s not that appealing or intuitive.
- Lack of Mobile device support.
- No Cloud support or auto-sync feature available.
Recommended for:
Students, Developers, people who are looking for a complete Office suite alternative for free, people who love to explore and use the open-source apps.
3. Keynote
Keynote is the best alternative for MS PowerPoint if you are an Apple’s Macbook user. Keynote has every aspects and feature which you expect an Apple product to have.
The app is lightweight, sophisticated, optimized and very intuitive. Along with the regular features it also offers some powerful features like interactive chart creation support, adding reflection effects and adding picture frames.
With Keynote you can make presentations featuring cinematic transitions between the slides. With the proper hardware like Apple iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, Keynote unlocks its true potential. With the help of the Apple Pencil and touch interface, Keynote becomes more intuitive. The work can be stored in cloud storage and can be accessed through any Apple devices.
Features to Consider:
- Features more than 30 preset cinematic effects for Text and Objects.
- Comes with 40+ preset templates, so that you do not have to start from the scratch while doing the design work.
- Making interactive charts or making animated charts or even adding small animations in the charts to make it look more intuitive can be done via Keynote.
- You can view your work and can edit also from any iPhone or iPad, even if the project has been created on your Macbook.
- Due to cloud support, sharing the files among the colleges is very easy.
- You can import MS PowerPoint files also can export file to MS PowerPoint, so sharing the files with colleges on other platforms also can be done.
- You also can save the Keynote work directly in MS PowerPoint file format.
- The users can also use iPad Pro and Apple Pencil for more flexibility with the job.
Pros:
- Though the features are as premium as other Apple products as reconsidered to be, it is a free application for all the Mac-based devices.
- MS PowerPoint Compatibility is a plus.
- Offline product, which has cloud support while the pc is online, so no problem in working both on online and offline.
- Ease of use, easy to learn even for the new users.
Cons:
- It does not have features of any library for slide designs.
- Though it features many unique features, only available for Apple products only.
Recommended for:
- Professional Mac users only.
4. Beautiful.AI
Beautiful.AI is a very innovative PowerPoint alternative as the design of the slides are controlled by Artificial Intelligence.
So, while doing the designing work, the user has to do less brainstorming to create a stunning design as there is an Artificial Intelligence system to help the user. The design, the colour combination, the page layouts will look great with the help of AI, as the developers boast about it.
Though the user based customization controls are quite limited. So, if you do not want to put much time, and do not want to create some pro-level designs, then you can go with this application. Though the lack of designing capabilities dose not make the presentations dim at all as the colour schemes and themes are extremely sophisticated.
Features to Consider:
- The application comes with an AI-powered interface to help the user.
- All types of slides can be customized separately.
- The colour theme picker is very easy to use, and just with a single the theme and the colours can be changed throughout the presentation.
- The presentations can be saved with an extra layer of security, by adding a password, for private sharing, or restricted access.
- With email invitation, the colleges can collaborate on a single project.
- Import & Export feature to support MS PowerPoint.
- Presenter View, Speaker Notes are some other notable features.
Pro:
- It is a free application with full access, though paid segments and subscription-based services will be introduced by 2020, as the developers revealed.
- The help of AI tech is something worth experiencing of.
- Because of the AI, the user interface is clean, the user experience is also very smooth, in short, it is really very easy to use Beautiful.AI.
Cons:
- Limited user controls
- Limited no of designs available
Recommended for:
For school students, for occasional slide presentation app users, who do not need to have a paid application. Good for teachers as well to make a presentation for the classroom. Good for a small start-up who are in a tight budget. It is also a good choice for old people who do not have much idea about modern-day computation.
5. Zoho Show
A free-online Microsoft powerpoint alternative Zoho show for professionals…
Zoho Show is a part of Zoho Workplace bundle, which is an online application, and intended for professionals and Entrepreneurs, made by Zoho Corporation. It provides users with all the traditional tools and features which are needed to create an industry level slide presentation project.
Zoho Show can be used via any Web browser, on any platform, so it is a completely Platform independent, less hardware demanding application which can be used anywhere, anytime in any basic PC, Windows PC, Mac PC, Android and iOS-based devices, but you need to have a stable internet connection.
The Zoho products are paid plan, though they provide some free services like email client application for a limited amount of users and also trial periods for a limited time to the new users.
Features to Consider:
- Features lots of appealing Animations and Transitions in the library.
- Live tweets, YouTube Videos, Flicker images and also external links and media can be embedded with the slides.
- The charts used for data visualization are very intuitive and eye-catching.
- Presentations can be published directly into websites and blogs.
- Various kind of file types can be imported and exported like .ppt, .pptx, .pps, .odp, .sxi, .ppsx etc. So, the files are compatible with all kind of other slide presentation application over all platforms and OS.
- Via using the collaboration tools and its features, others can also comment on the content and can edit some content in the slides.
- As this application is completely device-independent one, so any device or any platform can be used while in the presentation room.
Pros:
- Almost all the file types related to slide presentation is supported to import and can be exported also in various file types.
- Conferencing option makes it easier to share the presentation with others while in the presentation room.
- Very good customer support from the Developers, and also frequently updated new tools and features.
Cons:
- Zoho Show is a paid plan, which comes under the Zoho Workplace bundle plan, which will cost you around $4-5/month, you can go for 3 months package or even can opt for the yearly package option for discounts. But, they also provide some free services and trial period and the subscription amount is also quite cheap, so actually this is not entirely a negative point.
- Some users, especially the former users of MS PowerPoint may feel, that Zoho provides a lot less amount of animations, transition effects, and slide designs than MS PowerPoint itself. But, according to me the features and options provided along with the design contents in the library are perfectly enough for industry-standard jobs, even I have used Zoho services for quite a long time.
Recommended for:
Zoho Show or the other Zoho services are not for amateur users at all, and not recommended for students also. Zoho apps are advised for professional organizations, Startups with not in a very tight budget, educational institutes and private educators, in short, recommended for professionals only.
6. Canva as Powerpoint alternative
It is more like an honourable mention, but in reality, Canva is really a very easy-to-use alternative to PowerPoint which should be considered, especially if you are looking for a commercial PowerPoint alternative. In the archive, you will find many presentation templates, which are ready-made with numerous types of slides, so at the start point, the design related works became much easier.
Actually, in most of the projects, the user will be just be choosing the slides which he wants to add and keep switching out the content according to need. Canva also comes with some basic presentation features and also some ready-made animated presentations, but not in the trial version, all the features are accessible in the commercial version only.
Features to Consider:
- The Canva library is full of options to choose from, so you will have loads of variety in your slides.
- The paid plan of Canva also features an archive consists of millions of copyright-free images.
- File saving and downloading can be done in many file formats, supports MS PowerPoint file formats.
- The user can share the project with social media profiles, as the main file is online, and cloud-based so attaching or mailing the files become a lot easier and less time-consuming.
- Canva also features a library full of icons and logos, which can be sued in the presentation.
Pros:
- Very easy to use
- The dashboard has a nice look
- Huge library and Archives
- Fast and smooth
Cons:
- The best features come with premium plans only, which will cost around $12.95/month.
- Even to use the free features you need to spend $1.
- Single click colour-changing feature for the whole theme is not present in Canva.
Recommended for:
Professionals only and its price is quite high.
7. WPS office presentation
If you are using smartphone then you definitely know about this free powerpoint alternative.
Its name WPS Office is an acronym for Word, Presentation and spreadsheet. It is also developed by China-based company called Kingsoft Office and available for multiple platforms: Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android.
It offers two versions the basic one is free and professional-grade version is paid subscription-based. It is easy to use and handle just like Microsoft Office Powerpoint.
Wrapping up
The choice depends upon the users and their nature of work, and also on the budget. So, choose wisely.