Better presentation software

Read our full Google Slides review. Zoho Show is another of the many, many tools and apps that Zoho have made available for business use.

It also operates in the cloud so it's accessible to any device with a browser, and it also allows for collaborative work. You can also easily share the link for users to download, or provide a live presentation online. The updated version has a simpler and easier to use interface, and comes with a free version and a paid-for one with expanded features. Slides comes with a lot of features in an easy to use interface, and involves setting up presentations using drag and drop into an existing grid.

It's also internet-based so there's no software to download, and it only requires a browser to use and access. Evernote is normally thought of as just note-taking software, but it does provide the option to create a presentation you can share online or with an audience.

In that regard it's a little more limited than the other options in not being dedicated presentation software. However, as an easy and handy way to pull together a presentation quickly it could serve as a back-up or last-minute option, especially if Evernote is already being commonly used by you.

LibreOffice Impress is part of the open-source suite offered as a free alternative to Microsoft Office, and comes with a powerful array of tool and editing options for your presentation, not least working with 3D images. It's supported by a large community, so its easy to find an array of additional templates. If there is a limitation it's that it's software you download and install rather than web-based, but any presentations created should be easily portable to the web if needed.

Adobe Spark does things a bit differently, as rather than just use images its geared toward video as well. This makes for potentially more powerful multimedia presentations, especially as Adobe also have a big selection of photos and images available for its users. There is a free tier for core features, but requires a subscription for custom branding, personalized themes, and support.

We've also featured the best alternatives to Microsoft Office. Nicholas Fearn is a freelance technology journalist and copywriter from the Welsh valleys.

The templates encourage endless bullet points, which can feel tedious after multiple slides, and the styles are often dull, with muted colors and little animation. PowerPoint deserves credit for being straightforward and easy to use. Almost anyone, regardless of skill level, can quickly learn how to use the software and pull together a presentation.

But accessibility is just one factor you need in presentation software. An ideal program lets you easily create and display visually stunning presentations across devices at a cost that fits your budget. Design is subjective, so it follows that presentation software varies widely. Every program is geared toward unique visual goals, so individuals and organizations have many options to choose from when picking a program.

Prezi is about as different from PowerPoint as you can get. All in all, Prezi is worth using for its features. Across industries, video has been shown to grab attention and engage better than most media. Ludus is for creative folks who find presentation apps to be limiting and want their slideshow to be a work of art. Ludus really shines with its third-party integrations.

Graphic designers will especially love Ludus. You can edit and break apart SVG files, upload your own font files, or even copy and paste files from Sketch and Adobe Illustrator. There are also some pretty advanced features that any web designer or illustrator would be familiar with, like gradients and code blocks, making this a good choice for graphic designers, art directors, UX designers, and the like.

But you don't have to be a Photoshop pro to use these features; Ludus starts new users off with a guided tutorial, which gently introduces some of its more complex features. Paid plans allow you to password-protect your presentations, use a remote control, share and collaborate as a team, and even embed on Medium and Notion.

If you're like me, editing granular spacing issues is the absolute worst part of building a presentation. Look at the GIF above as an example: when you drag an element toward a specific area of the slide, it'll automatically drop it into place for you. 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 23 different color palettes to choose from, Beautiful. While traditional collaboration features are limited on the 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. 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. Prezi Video helps you take remote presentations to a new level. Using the desktop app, 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, Google Meet, and more to present live. Powtoon Web, iOS, Android. 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 whitelabeling your presentations—but doing so won't break the bank.

Plus, you'll unlock tons of templates complete with animations and soundtracks. One of our 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. For information on how to unsubscribe, as well as our privacy practices and commitment to protecting your privacy, check out our Privacy Policy.

Powtoon — The best free animated presentation software When it comes to presenting and making presentations, Powtoon succeeded in creating a whole new category of presentations. Google Drive Presentations: one of the best free PowerPoint alternative Many people use Google Docs presentations to start their creative process and then switch over to more robust programs.

Prezi — No Slides PowerPoint Alternative Prezi became very popular because it was the first to offer a real alternative to the typical slideshow format of presentations. Conclusion Are you over PowerPoint yet? Here is what we have to say about the various options: Powtoon — Best free animated, infographic, or and live-action video and presentation software Google Docs: Best Simplified PowerPoint Clone Slides: Best for good looking simple Bullet point presentations Sliderocket: Best Collaborative slideshow software Prezi: Best non-linear presentation software.

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