presentation of software

👀 Turn any prompt into captivating visuals in seconds with our AI-powered visual tool ✨ Try Piktochart AI!

• Piktochart Visual
• Video Editor
• Infographic Maker
• Banner Maker
• Brochure Maker
• Diagram Maker
• Flowchart Maker
• Flyer Maker
• Graph Maker
• Invitation Maker
• Pitch Deck Creator
• Poster Maker
• Presentation Maker
• Report Maker
• Resume Maker
• Social Media Graphic Maker
• Timeline Maker
• Venn Diagram Maker
• Screen Recorder
• Social Media Video Maker
• Video Cropper
• Video to Text Converter
• Video Views Calculator
• AI Flyer Generator
• AI Infographic
• AI Instagram Post Generator
• AI Newsletter Generator
• AI Report Generator
• AI Timeline Generator
• For Communications
• For Education
• For eLearning
• For Financial Services
• For Healthcare
• For Human Resources
• For Marketing
• For Nonprofits
• Brochure Templates
• Flyer Templates
• Infographic Templates
• Newsletter Templates
• Presentation Templates
• Resume Templates
• Business Infographics
• Business Proposals
• Education Templates
• Health Posters
• HR Templates
• Sales Presentations
• Community Template
• Explore all free templates on Piktochart
• The Business Storyteller Podcast
• User Stories
• Video Tutorials
• Visual Academy
• Need help? Check out our Help Center
• Earn money as a Piktochart Affiliate Partner
• Compare prices and features across Free, Pro, and Enterprise plans.
• For professionals and small teams looking for better brand management.
• For organizations seeking enterprise-grade onboarding, support, and SSO.
• Discounted plan for students, teachers, and education staff.
• Great causes deserve great pricing. Registered nonprofits pay less.

Presentations

The 11 Best Presentation Software to Use in 2023

The ability to effectively share ideas, illustrate a concept, and convince an audience is invaluable whether you’re a student or a C-level executive. These days, the presentation software you use to create presentations is just as important as your public-speaking skills.

On top of that, most companies have transitioned to remote work recently due to the current coronavirus situation, and now need to share their stories online through a virtual conference room with their distributed teams and external audience members.

That’s why we’ve come up with a list of some of the best presentation software available right now, so you can choose a compatible and innovative presentation maker that includes the best presentation tools to suit your specific needs.

Choose the best presentation software by weighing the pros and cons

You’ll see some of the most popular presentation apps: from free to paid subscription platforms, and slideshow applications to full-blown visual design presentation software with interactive features and more.

Each presentation software has its pros and cons, so it’s up to you to figure out which suits your needs best; consider the software learning curve, whether your company is made up of Mac users or Windows users and the software compatibility, if you need an enterprise account or free account, etc.

Let’s dive in!

1. Piktochart

Piktochart is a presentation software that can create a variety of design visuals, from infographics to social media stories.

An area in which Piktochart shines is crafting unique presentations. 

On Piktochart, users can choose from a wide range of professionally-designed presentation templates .

These custom templates include everything from monthly marketing reports to employee onboarding templates.

This broad selection of customizable templates is especially useful for those who don’t have much design experience or know-how but need to create a visually stunning unique presentation in a pinch. 

Piktochart’s presentation maker also makes it easy to edit presentations and include design elements such as lists, timelines, comparisons, graphs, and different types of charts through drag-and-drop tools.

You can even make visual maps and interactive charts to keep your audience engaged throughout your presentation. 

And if your company uses a Piktochart TEAM plan , you can enjoy the platform’s ability to store brand assets , color schemes, and bespoke templates. Here, replicating company-branded visuals is a breeze. 

Piktochart comes with a free version but with certain limitations. Active visuals are capped at five per month and published visuals have a Piktochart watermark.

If you want features such as team template collaboration, project sharing, and annotated commenting, you’ll have to get a Team account. To sum it up:

• Lots of professionally-designed templates 
• Good for both design professionals and non-professionals 
• Easy to store brand assets and bespoke templates for future presentations
• Access presentation tools from anywhere via a web browser
• Free presentation app version available
• Might take some getting used to if you’re used to PowerPoint presentations

Present and collaborate with ease using Piktochart’s presentation templates.

You don’t have to worry about how your presentation will look like. Piktochart’s easy-to-edit templates will take care of the visual aspect for you.

2. Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint is often the first presentation software that comes to mind.

Once considered the “O.G.” and best presentation software available, it is still widely used and has a familiar interface—which means most users are comfortable with it. 

This presentation app has everything you need to create a presentation: from animated transitions for interactive presentations to pre-installed fonts and graphic elements.

Users can also upload their own fonts, graphics, and images into their finished presentation.

Lastly, it’s available as part of the Microsoft Office software package; and you can work on your presentations via the web and mobile devices, for offline viewing as well as online. 

However, PowerPoint is no longer considered the best presentation software, as it has very few templates to choose from, and these tend to fall quite flat compared to modern apps and software.

It’s easy to fall back into boring slideshow PowerPoint files if you don’t know what you’re doing.

And because most people use PowerPoint, you’re likely using the same template as the next guy. 

As standalone presentation software, PowerPoint is pricey at US$139.99—and accessible through only one device unless you upgrade your package.

And while PowerPoint is primarily a slideshow application and presentation maker, its strengths are limited to this category. 

So if you’re looking for the best presentation software, and bang for your buck for a robust presentation tool, you might want to look elsewhere. 

• Market leader in slideshow applications to create slides
• Widely used and familiar interface for the presentation process
• Reliable and usable on most devices as well as being a desktop app
• Flat templates
• Limitations with its standalone-presentation software price

3. Google Slides

Google Slides is a slideshow application that is very similar to PowerPoint.  But there are three main differences: it’s fully online (while also allowing for offline viewing), collaborative, and free. 

The great thing about Google Slides (besides the fact that it’s completely free for anyone with a Google account) is that you can log on via your browser or through its official app. 

You can access all Google Slides presentations from any device (mobile, tablet, and desktop), and share them with other people so you can collaborate in real-time. 

Google Drive allows all your presentations to live on the cloud, accessible to all marketing and sales teams, with unparalleled ease of use.

And there’s no need to worry about disruptions as all changes are saved as they happen, as long as you have an active internet connection. 

Additionally, anyone familiar with PowerPoint will be comfortable using Google’s iteration and likely be delighted by Google Drive and the slide library available. 

It’s also a lot simpler, so even those new to presentation-making will find it easy to navigate. 

However, some might find Google Slides too simple as it lacks the wealth of features available on PowerPoint. 

These include embedding videos from sources other than YouTube, plus adding audio tracks and sound effects, limiting the ability to create unique interactive presentations. 

Some users also encounter issues with downloading and exporting to different formats, including PowerPoint. 

Some slides may even turn out completely different from the original version. 

All in all, Google Slides is a great option for those who are looking for a free application and only need to create simple presentations. 

• The free plan supports professional presentations
• Web-based and collaborative to create presentations
• Simple and familiar interface for an online presentation software
• Too simple for advanced presentation making
• Difficult to export to other formats
• Limited templates and customization options for interactive content

You could say Keynote is Apple’s version of PowerPoint. It’s also a slideshow application—but in typical Apple fashion, it comes with a sleek, minimalist interface and is considered one of the best presentation apps on the market. 

There are 30 different themes to choose from, which serve as templates for those who need a quick fix. And it can do most of what PowerPoint can. 

Keynote’s main perk is that it’s part of the Apple ecosystem. 

That means it has built-in iCloud and Apple Watch support so users can control their presentation from their mobile device or even their wrists with just a click. 

This presentation app comes pre-installed on most Mac devices. Otherwise, you can purchase it from the Apple store for just US$9.99 for mobile and US$19.99 for OS X. 

The big downside is that Keynote is exclusive to Mac OS. 

Non-Apple users can create, upload, and sync their own Keynote presentations through their iCloud Drive, but this presentation app is only truly helpful only for those who use multiple Apple devices. 

And if you’re used to working on PowerPoint, you might find Keynote a bit confusing in the beginning, especially when editing presentations. 

• Sleek, minimalist interface 
• Free with most Apple devices
• No access for PC and Android devices except through iCloud

5. SlideDog

Sliding away from straightforward slideshow applications and other presentation apps, SlideDog is a web-based multimedia presentation tool that lets users combine different types of media to create and edit presentations. 

This includes everything from PowerPoint decks to videos and even PDFs that can all be played side by side without any awkward transitions. 

It’s also extremely easy to customize a SlideDog presentation. 

You just need to upload the files into the SlideDog web browser application, and then drag and drop them according to the order in which you want them to play. 

You can control your presentations and playlists from another device, and audience members can view your slideshow on their devices by clicking a link. 

SlideDog has a free presentation app version that provides all of the basic features. 

However, live sharing and premium support are only available with a Pro account that costs US$99 per year, and not via the free version alone.

While SlideDog is technically considered presentation software, you can’t actually create presentations on it. 

You can simply stitch together different pre-made presentations in various formats into what is essentially a playlist. 

Lastly, SlideDog supports only Windows devices, so Apple and Linux users can’t use it. 

• Supports a lot of different media
• Provides live-sharing
• More dynamic compared to the usual slideshow presentation
• Only collates media; doesn’t create them

6. Haiku Deck 

Ever come across presentations with size-eight fonts and blocks of indecipherable paragraphs on each slide? 

You can avoid such an unfortunate scenario with Haiku Deck. 

HaikuDeck is a web and mobile application that favors images over text. 

It works by limiting the number of words users can put on each slide, and allowing them to search for images on their platform related to the slide’s main idea. 

This makes it ideal for those who want to simplify their thoughts and let the images do all the talking. 

Users have over 40 million royalty-free photos to choose from, plus dozens of simple slide layouts on the platform itself. 

While this certainly simplifies the process of creating a visually rich presentation, it can be limiting for those who need to include more information into their slides. 

It’s a great option for someone giving a TED Talk, for example.

But for others who need to pass on more facts and figures, having a built-in word limit might be too restrictive.  

• Simple and easy to use 
• Access to millions of royalty-free stock images
• May be too simple for some
• No Android support
• Limited features

7. Prezi Business

Among the other presentation software on this list, Prezi Business might be one of the most unique presentation tools. 

Rather than offering a regular slideshow format, Prezi looks more like a 3D interactive mind map where viewers jump dynamically from one idea to the next. 

You can zoom in on one “slide” and then zoom out for the next. 

Prezi has over 100 templates to choose from and comes with a very simple interface and a drag-and-drop style of editing. 

It’s compatible with both Mac and PC desktops as well as smartphones. 

It’s also similar to a regular PowerPoint deck in that you can jump back and forth from one “slide” to the next. 

And like SlideDog, you can send viewers the link to the presentation as you’re presenting. 

Also, up to 10 people can work on a Prezi presentation at the same time, one of its main selling points. 

This is great for collaboration, but having so many hands-on deck at once can get messy. 

• Dynamic and immersive presentations
• Highly visual
• Easy to use
• May not be appropriate for all types of presentations

In a world of slides and presentations, standing out is the key. Ludus brings the flair of graphic design into the world of presentations.

At its core, Ludus is the bridge between presentation tools and design software. It enables users to infuse their slides with the kind of design elements you’d typically find in advanced design platforms.

Not only can you import assets from design giants like Adobe, but its seamless integration with tools like Unsplash and Giphy makes sourcing visuals a breeze.

It’s a fairly affordable tool for all its features compared to the other paid options in this list, as users pay 12.49 euros monthly (if billed annually).

However, while Ludus’ robust design capabilities can elevate the look of your presentation, those unfamiliar with design tools might find there’s a learning curve.

• Merges presentation creation with advanced design tools.
• Seamless integration with popular design platforms and visual databases.
• Offers a unique edge in presentation aesthetics.
• Might be a tad overwhelming for non-designers
• Can have a steeper learning curve for those used to more straightforward platforms

9. Slidebean

Crafting a compelling presentation demands not only compelling content but also a design that can captivate your audience. Enter Slidebean.

Slidebean offers an intelligent design solution, using AI to transform raw content into professionally styled presentations. This platform streamlines the design process, allowing you to focus on the message rather than fretting over aesthetics.

The basic plan is free and allows you to create a presentation. But if you want to share or download your presentations, as well as unlock the full suite of features, you’ll need to sign up for the All-Access plan priced at $199 per year.

While it provides a quick and efficient method to produce polished slides, it also offers features for sharing, collaboration, and viewer analytics, adding an edge to your presentation strategy.

However, for professionals who prioritize granular design control, the automated design might feel limiting at times.

• AI-driven design ensures visually appealing presentations.
• Features for collaboration and viewer insights.
• Efficient design process reduces time and effort.
• Might not offer the detailed design customization some users desire.
• Automated choices may not always align with specific branding or style preferences.

10. ClearSlide

Having great visuals to drive your point home can be the difference between getting a sale across the line or customers walking away. ClearSlide stands out in this area as a presentation tool for businesses laser-focused on boosting their sales and marketing game.

At its core, ClearSlide is all about leveling up business presentations. Whether you’re marketing a new product or tracking client engagement, it’s got tools that cater to every need.

Whether it’s a PowerPoint, a PDF, or something from Google Drive or Dropbox, ClearSlide makes it simple to upload and work with these files.

The unique edge? ClearSlide’s virtual meeting space pops open with just a click. It’s all about seamless, professional presentations without the hassle.

Beyond just slides, the platform dives deep into metrics and analytics, ensuring every presentation is backed by data-driven insights. And the tool is available for $35 per month, which isn’t too pricey for medium-sized businesses.

However, its complexity isn’t for everyone. For some, the variety of features might seem a tad overwhelming, and its focus on metrics might be a bit much for those just wanting a basic presentation tool.

• Seamless virtual meetings and presentations
• Integrates with popular platforms
• Offers insightful analytics for sales and marketing
• Might feel complex for some users
• Limited transition and design effects
• Mobile experience could be better

Stepping into the world of animation, Vyond, once known as GoAnimate, allows users to turn their narratives into professional animated videos. For those looking to elevate their content without diving deep into animation complexities, Vyond can be the go-to tool.

This platform is more than just drag-and-drop animations. It integrates AI capabilities with Vyond Go, which transforms text prompts into rough-cut videos.

Fancy a quick draft for your upcoming project? This AI assistant is up for the task. And if perfection is your game, take it to Vyond Studio, filled with an array of characters, templates, and backgrounds.

The Essential Plan at $25 per month is suitable for individuals on a budget. However, if you want to export videos at 1080p and above, have collaboration tools, or different export options, you’ll need to sign up for the Professional Plan at $92 per month.

As robust as the tool is, there are still some kinks to iron out. AI voiceovers might still need some tweaks, and detailed color customizations can be a bit tricky, but the tool’s strengths, especially for businesses, are undeniable.

• Hassle-free video creation for beginners to experts
• Generous library of pre-made assets
• AI-powered video and script creation with Vyond Go
• AI voiceovers might feel a bit robotic
• Some customization limitations for specific props and scenes

The best presentation software is…

 …completely up to you! 

When it comes to presentation software, the world is your oyster. 

Each of these tools either has a free or trial version for you to check out, so you don’t have to commit just yet. 

When it’s time to choose, consider the following aspects to find the right presentation software for you: 

• Ease of use. Is it easy for you to understand or will it require lots of training before you can start creating presentations? 
• Accessibility. Can you access your presentation software from any device or are you limited to carrying your laptop to every presentation? 
• Real-time collaboration. Can multiple people work on the same project or do you have to keep downloading and emailing drafts? 
• Create design tools. Can you create presentations with dynamic design elements or are you stuck with the same kind of slide each time? 
• Template availability. Is this tool only accessible to a design professional or can anyone create stunning presentations through pre-designed and updated templates? 

Piktochart , for example, would be a fantastic presentation software choice among the long list of PowerPoint alternatives for teams looking for a variety of eye-catching designs without requiring much technical know-how. Meanwhile, Microsoft PowerPoint might be the best presentation software for those who are just looking to play it safe. 

Hopefully, this best presentation software list sheds some light on the tools at your disposal. Choose wisely! 

Collaborate on presentations, reports, and more with Piktochart.

Watch this free demo to learn how your team can collaborate on visual content projects more effectively with Piktochart.

Robin Geuens is a writer turned SEO specialist. When he's not wondering what Google is up to next he's either reading, taking courses, playing video games, or wondering where to travel to next.

Other Posts

Mastering the Craft: Presentation Design Strategies From a Pro

How to Make a Presentation (2023 Guide With Tips & Templates)

How to Nail Your Brand Presentation: Examples and Pro Tips

Do you want to be part of these success stories, join more than 11 million who already use piktochart to craft visual stories that stick..

The best presentation software

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 been using 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 the top presentation software solutions out there to bring you the best of the best.

Beautiful.ai for AI-powered design

Prezi for non-linear, conversational presentations

Powtoon for video presentations

Genially for interactive, presenter-less presentations

Pitch for collaborating with your team on presentations

Zoho Show for a simple presentation app

Gamma for generative AI features

What makes the best presentation app?

How we evaluate and test apps.

Our best apps roundups are written by humans who've spent much of their careers using, testing, and writing about software. Unless explicitly stated, we spend dozens of hours researching and testing apps, using each app as it's intended to be used and evaluating it against the criteria we set for the category. We're never paid for placement in our articles from any app or for links to any site—we value the trust readers put in us to offer authentic evaluations of the categories and apps we review. For more details on our process, read the full rundown of how we select apps to feature on the Zapier blog .

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 UI. 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).

While many apps now offer AI features in one way or another, I found many of these features to be lacking still—they're often slow, struggle to pull in relevant imagery, and yield wildly inconsistent designs. For that reason, I opted not to make AI features a strict requirement (for now!), and I've still included apps that don't offer AI. (Of course, if you opt for one of those, you can still easily get AI-generated images from a separate tool and copy them into your presentation app of choice.)

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. (And I opted not to test any brand new apps that are still in beta, since there are so many established options out there.)

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, interactive content, and more. 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, canva (web, windows, mac, android, ios).

Canva pros:

Excellent free plan

Tons of amazing templates for all use cases

Feature-rich

Canva cons:

The Magic Design AI tool is still inconsistent and not super impressive

Canva offers one of the most robust free plans of all the presentation apps I tested. The app delays account creation until after you've created your first design, so you can get started building your presentation in seconds. Choose from an almost overwhelming number of beautiful templates (nearly all available for free), including those designed specifically for education or business use cases.

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.

Canvas has added a number of AI-powered tools , but I wasn't super impressed by them yet. When I asked the Magic Design tool to generate a presentation from scratch, for example, the result was a bunch of unrelated images, inconsistent design, and surface-level copy. These features will likely improve in time, but for now, you're better off starting from one of Canva's many great templates.

Canva pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $119.99/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

Beautiful.ai (web, mac, windows).

Beautiful.ai pros:

True AI design

No fussing around with alignment

Still allows for customization

Beautiful.ai cons:

No free plan

Generative AI features aren't great yet

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 UX 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 23 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 did test the newly released generative AI feature (called DesignerBot) and felt it wasn't much to write home about. 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 generate a quality presentation from scratch.

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.

If you're a founder looking for an AI presentation tool for your pitch deck, Slidebean is a great Beautiful.ai alternative for startups. The app offers a number of templates; a unique, content-first outline editor; and AI design help that you can toggle on or off for each slide. I didn't include it on the list mainly because of the price: the free plan is quite limited, and the paid all-access plan starts at $228/year.

The best presentation app for conversational presentations

Prezi (web, mac, windows, ios, android).

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 pricing: Free 14-day trial and a free plan that includes up to 5 visual projects; paid plans start at $5/month and include additional features like private presentations and Prezi Present.

The best presentation app for video presentations

Powtoon (web, ios, android).

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.

Powtoon pricing: Limited free plan available; paid plans start at $20/month and include white-labeling, priority support, additional storage, and more.

The best presentation app for interactive presentations

Genially (web).

Genially pros:

Don't need a presenter (it's interactive)

You can set universal branding guidelines

Unlimited creations on the free plan

Genially cons:

Free plan has some limitations worth looking into (e.g., can only make public presentations)

While many presentation apps are built for presenter-led decks, Genially 's interactive features and animated templates make it easy to build a self-led presentation. A variety of interactive buttons allow you to show viewers additional context on hover, have them skip to any page of your deck, and let them navigate to external links.

This presentation program offers a bunch of searchable templates, including some for business proposals, reports, social media presentations, and more (though most of those are available on premium plans only). Genially also includes Smart blocks —templated blocks of content for elements like data visualizations and image galleries.

My favorite feature is the brand settings. Premium users can set universal branding guidelines that include your logo, color scheme, fonts, images, and backgrounds, among other options. Think of them like a custom template, created and customized by you, that the whole team can use. Once set, your team can easily create on-brand presentations that automatically apply your brand settings, without even thinking about it.

Plus, Genially supports additional content like training materials, infographics, and interactive images—all subject to your brand presets.

Genially pricing: Free plan available with unlimited creations and views and access to templates; paid plans start at $7.49/month and include additional download options, privacy controls, offline viewing, premium templates, and more.

The best presentation app for collaborating with your team

Pitch (web, mac, windows, ios, android).

Pitch pros:

Google levels of collaboration

Assign slides to specific team members

Start live video calls straight from decks

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, react, 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.

The "Go live" feature is a personal favorite—with just a click on the camera icon in the top-right, you can start a live video call. Any team members who open the presentation can hop in and collaborate in real-time. 

Pitch pricing: Free plan offers unlimited presentations, custom templates, and live video collaboration; paid plans start at $8/user/month for additional workspace features, presentation analytics, and more.

The best simple presentation app

Zoho show (web, ios, android, chrome).

Zoho Show pros:

Simple and easy to use

Version history and ability to lock slides

Completely free

Zoho Show cons:

Templates are pretty basic

If you're looking for a simple, yet capable presentation app that's a step up from Google Slides, Zoho Show is a great option. It's completely free to use, offers a clean, intuitive editor, and includes a number of great templates.

While the handful of "Themes" offered are on the basic side, Zoho templates boast a more modern and professional design than much of what Google Slides or PowerPoint offer. And I love that you can set the font and color scheme for the whole template, right from the start.

The app doesn't skimp on collaboration or shareability either. You can invite collaborators via email or shareable link, and comments and version history make it easy to work together on presentations. Once you're ready to share, you can even broadcast your presentation to a remote audience right from within Zoho. Plus, you can one-click lock slides to prevent any more editing or hide individual slides to customize your presentation for different audiences.

You can even connect Zoho Show to Zapier , so you can do things like automatically create a presentation when something happens in one of the other apps you use most.

Zapier is the leader in workflow automation—integrating with 6,000+ apps from partners like Google, Salesforce, and Microsoft. Use interfaces, data tables, and logic to build secure, automated systems for your business-critical workflows across your organization's technology stack. Learn more .

Zoho Show pricing: Free

The best presentation app for generative AI

Gamma (web).

Gamma pros:

Creates fully fleshed-out presentations from a prompt

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 generative 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 produced the most useful jumping-off point of all the AI presentation apps I tested. 

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.

Gamma pricing: Free plan includes unlimited users, 1 custom theme, 400 AI deck credits, and basic view analytics; upgrade to the Pro plan ("coming soon," as of this writing) for $10/user/month to get additional AI credits, advanced view analytics, custom fonts, and more.

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.

Some of these companies (think: Microsoft and Google) are openly working on some pretty impressive-sounding AI features, but they haven't been widely released to the public yet. Rest assured, I'm watching this space, and the next time we update this article, I'll retest tools like PowerPoint and Google Slides to see what new features are available.

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.

Related reading:

8 Canva AI tools to improve your design workflow

The best online whiteboards for collaboration

How to share a presentation on Zoom without sharing your browser tabs and address bar

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 May 2023.

Get productivity tips delivered straight to your inbox

We’ll email you 1-3 times per week—and never share your information.

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. Catch up with her on Twitter @Kieraabbamonte.

• Presentations

Related articles

The 11 best AI marketing tools in 2024

The 6 best email clients for Mac in 2024

The 7 best Zoom alternatives in 2024

The best CRM software to manage your leads and customers in 2024

The best CRM software to manage your leads...

Improve your productivity automatically. Use Zapier to get your apps working together.

We use essential cookies to make Venngage work. By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.

Manage Cookies

Cookies and similar technologies collect certain information about how you’re using our website. Some of them are essential, and without them you wouldn’t be able to use Venngage. But others are optional, and you get to choose whether we use them or not.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are always on, as they’re essential for making Venngage work, and making it safe. Without these cookies, services you’ve asked for can’t be provided.

Show cookie providers

• Google Login

Functionality Cookies

These cookies help us provide enhanced functionality and personalisation, and remember your settings. They may be set by us or by third party providers.

Performance Cookies

These cookies help us analyze how many people are using Venngage, where they come from and how they're using it. If you opt out of these cookies, we can’t get feedback to make Venngage better for you and all our users.

• Google Analytics

Targeting Cookies

These cookies are set by our advertising partners to track your activity and show you relevant Venngage ads on other sites as you browse the internet.

• Google Tag Manager
• Infographics
• Daily Infographics
• Graphic Design
• Graphs and Charts
• Data Visualization
• Human Resources
• Training and Development
• Beginner Guides

Blog Graphic Design

12 Best Presentation Software for 2024

By Krystle Wong , Jan 12, 2024

Whether you’re a student, professional or entrepreneur, having access to the right presentation tools can make all the difference.

When you craft a well-executed presentation , your message becomes more memorable. You’re not just sharing information; you’re weaving a story, painting a picture and leaving a lasting impact on your audience’s minds. 

We’re living in the age of information overload, where attention spans are shorter than ever. A good presentation slide takes this into account, breaking down complex information into bite-sized chunks. It guides your audience through a logical flow, allowing them to digest information effortlessly and retain key points without feeling overwhelmed.

To help you stay ahead of the game, I’ve compiled a list of the 12 best software for presentations. These PowerPoint alternatives offer a combination of user-friendly interfaces, stunning visuals, collaboration features and innovative functionalities that will take your presentations to the next level. 

Let’s dive in and explore these top presentation software picks!

1. Venngage 

Allow me to be a little bit biased here but my top pick is none other than, you guessed it — Venngage! Venngage goes beyond just presentations to focus on data visualization and transforming complex information into visually appealing and engaging visuals. 

One of the standout features of Venngage as a presentation software is the extensive library of infographic elements. Gain access to a wide range of pre-designed elements such as icons, charts, maps as well as illustrations to simplify the process of creating data-driven and visually appealing presentations.

You don’t have to be a pro when designing with Venngage. Venngage’s drag-and-drop interface allows you to customize your presentations by simply dragging and dropping elements onto the canvas. You can tweak sizes, colors and layouts with ease, making your presentations visually cohesive and personalized, even if you’re not a design wizard. 

Just so you know, some of our features and templates are free to use and some require a small monthly fee. Sign-up is completely free, as is access to Venngage’s online drag-and-drop editor. Here’s how Venngage’s presentation maker can become your secret weapon in the quest for presentation success.

Vast selection of templates

Venngage boasts an extensive library of professionally designed templates, catering to a wide range of industries and presentation purposes. Whether you’re creating a marketing report, educational presentation or business pitch, Venngage’s presentation tool offers templates that provide a solid foundation for your designs. 

Save 20+ hours of designing with Venngage’s fully customizable, pre-designed infographic templates. These presentation templates provide a good foundation with well-structured layouts and visually appealing aesthetics. 

Data visualization made easy

Venngage simplifies the process of data visualization, making it accessible to users of all backgrounds. With a few clicks, you can transform dull statistics into visually engaging charts and graphs that tell a compelling story.

Seamless real-time in-editor collaboration tools

Venngage brings teamwork to the next level with our seamless collaboration tools designed to foster collaboration across teams, departments and the entire organization. Whether you’re in the same room or across the globe, Venngage enables real-time collaboration that makes working together becomes a breeze. 

Consistently brand your designs with smart Autobrand features

Effortlessly infuse your presentation slides with your brand’s colors, fonts and logos with Venngage’s My Brand Kit . Upload your brand assets and create engaging presentations by applying your branding to any template you create on Venngage.

Who is it for

Marketers, designers, educators and businesses that require data-driven and visually appealing presentations.

Key features 

Infographic elements, data visualization tools, collaboration options, customizable templates.

Create your first 5 designs with Venngage for free and upgrade to a premium or business plan for $10 USD/month per user and $24 USD/month per user to enjoy premium features. For larger teams who need extra support, controls and security, the enterprise plan starts from $499 USD/month for 10+ seats.

Additionally, there are also plans available for classrooms priced at $99 USD/year for up to 35 students per instructor. Non profit organizations can also apply for a nonprofit discount to any Venngage plan.

2. Microsoft PowerPoint

Source: Screenshot from Microsoft PowerPoint

Even with dozens of presentation software and tools out there, PowerPoint presentations have stood the test of time as one of the best presentation software. In fact, 89% of people still use PowerPoint presentations over competitor services . 

Whether you’re a student, teacher, business professional or just a creative soul, PowerPoint’s user-friendly interface allows both beginners and experienced users to create presentations with ease.

PowerPoint delivers captivating and engaging presentations through its advanced animation and transition effects. You can create interactive PowerPoint presentations by captivating your audience and guiding them through your content with seamless transitions and eye-catching animations. 

Seamless integration with other Microsoft Office tools is another significant advantage of PowerPoint as a presentation software. As part of the Microsoft Office suite, PowerPoint effortlessly integrates with other familiar applications such as Word and Excel. This integration allows you to incorporate charts, graphs and written content from these tools directly into your presentation. 

However, collaboration features in PowerPoint can be somewhat limited compared to dedicated collaboration platforms. While you can share and co-edit presentations with others, the collaboration options may not be as robust as those offered by specialized presentation tools.

Suitable for individuals, students, educators and businesses of all sizes.

Customizable templates, multimedia support, extensive slide editing options, robust animations and transitions.

You can subscribe to PowerPoint as part of your Microsoft 365 subscription with various plans tailored for businesses, ranging from $6 to $22 USD/month. Additionally, there is also the option to purchase an unbundled PowerPoint account separately, priced at $159.99 USD.

3. Google Slides

Source: Screenshot from Google Slides

Unlike PowerPoint which requires file sharing and manual syncing for teamwork, Google Slides enables real-time collaboration and easy access from any device with an internet connection. 

Google Slides shines in its seamless collaboration capabilities. Multiple users can work on the same presentation simultaneously, enabling real-time editing and fostering efficient teamwork. The integrated commenting feature on Google Slides allows for shared feedback and discussions, enhancing collaboration even further.

Google Slides’ cloud-based storage and auto-saving feature ensures that your work is constantly saved, minimizing the risk of losing progress or important changes. No more panicking over unsaved slides and changes. 

But that also means that Google Slides heavily relies on an internet connection for full functionality and access is more limited compared to desktop-based software. Although an offline mode is available, Google Slides has certain limitations and may not provide the same level of functionality as when connected to the internet.

Templates and customization features-wise, Google Slides also have fewer design options compared to other presentation tools. This may limit the level of visual creativity and flexibility for those seeking intricate designs or specialized effects.

Ideal for remote teams, educators, students and anyone looking for easy collaboration and access from any device.

Real-time collaboration, shared commenting, offline mode and built-in sharing options.

Google Slides is accessible to all individuals with a Google account at no cost, providing all users with access to its full range of features. However, for businesses and teams looking for additional organizational capabilities, there are subscription plans available ranging from $6 to $18 USD/month.

4. Keynote (for Mac users)

Source: Screenshot from Keynote

For Apple users, Keynote is a presentation tool designed exclusively for your Apple devices and is available on macOS, iOS and iPadOS. Keynote is known for its sleek and intuitive interface, reflecting Apple’s design aesthetics. 

It offers visually appealing templates, animations, and transitions, allowing users to create polished and modern-looking presentations. Keynote users can seamlessly incorporate images, videos, audio files and interactive elements into their presentations. The presentation software also includes a wide range of animations and transitions, enabling smooth and cinematic effects that bring slides to life.

Keynote presentations is known for its seamless integration within the Apple ecosystem. It works effortlessly with other Apple applications, allowing users to combine different elements and data from various sources. Presentations created in Keynote can be easily shared and accessed across Apple devices, ensuring a consistent experience for both the presenter and the audience.

Additionally, Keynote as a presentation software offers collaborative editing capabilities, enabling multiple users to work on the same presentation simultaneously. Users can share their presentations with others, who can then provide feedback, make edits and contribute to the project in real-time.

That said, since Keynote is exclusively designed for Apple devices, it may not be accessible or fully compatible with non-Apple platforms. Hence, sharing presentations created in Keynote with users on different platforms may require exporting or converting the files to a compatible format, which can lead to potential formatting issues or loss of certain features.

Mac users, creatives, professionals, educators and anyone who wants visually stunning presentations.

Elegant templates, advanced multimedia options, cinematic transitions and collaborative editing.

Keynote is available for free on Apple devices, including macOS, iOS, and iPadOS. As it comes pre-installed with these devices, users can access and use Keynote without any additional cost.

Source: Screenshot from Prezi

Known for its distinctive zooming presentation style, Prezi revolutionizes the way you create presentations by offering a visually engaging and non-linear approach. 

One of Prezi’s renowned features is its unique zooming and transition effects, allowing presenters to navigate through a virtual canvas seamlessly. This dynamic presentation style enhances engagement by creating a sense of movement and spatial relationship between ideas.

Moreover, Prezi offers cloud-based collaboration, making it easy for multiple users to collaborate on a presentation in real-time. This feature facilitates seamless teamwork, enabling users to collectively develop and refine their presentations regardless of their physical locations.

Prezi presentations also include interactive elements, such as embedded videos, images and hyperlinks. Utilizing these elements would allow presenters to create interactive presentations and engage their audience on a deeper level.

However, Prezi has a steeper learning curve compared to more traditional presentation tools. Users may require some time and practice to become proficient in navigating the canvas, creating smooth transitions and effectively utilizing all of Prezi’s features.

Creative professionals, educators and individuals who want to create visually captivating and non-linear presentations.

Zooming presentation style, interactive elements, cloud-based collaboration and reusable templates.

For individuals & business professionals

Basics: Create and share up to 5 visual projects for free

Standard: Starting at $5 USD/month

Plus: Starting at $12 USD/month

Premium: Starting at $16 USD/month

Teams: Starting at $19 USD/month per user (billed annually)

For Students & Educators

EDU Plus: Starting at $3/month

EDU Pro: Starting at $4/month

EDU Teams: Enquiry required with Prezi sales team

Source: Screenshot from Canva

One of the great things about Canva as a presentation tool is its user-friendly interface, which makes it super easy to use even if you’re not a design pro. You can simply drag and drop elements to create your presentation slides without breaking a sweat.

Canva’s vast collection of pre-designed templates caters to various purposes and occasions. The availability of these templates allows users to jumpstart their design projects with professional-looking layouts, saving valuable time and effort.

For businesses or educational institutions working on group projects or marketing campaigns, Canva also offers collaboration features that enhance teamwork and co-creation. Users can invite team members or clients to collaborate on a design project, enabling real-time feedback and efficient design processes. 

While Canva does offer some basic slide transition effects, the range and customization options for transitions may be limited compared to dedicated presentation software like Microsoft PowerPoint or Apple Keynote. 

Individuals, students, small businesses and startups seeking professional-looking marketing materials and presentations.

Extensive template options, intuitive drag-and-drop interface, ability to share presentations as downloadable files or online links and built-in multimedia support for adding videos , images, and audio to slides.

The free version of Canva provides a wide range of features and resources, with the only limitations being the use of premium resources that can be acquired either through separate purchases or by subscribing to the Canva Pro plan. The Canva Pro plan is available for $12.99 USD per month or $119.99 USD per year.

For collaborative purposes, Canva Teams is available at a price of $14.99 USD per month, with an additional charge of $14.99 USD per month for every team member beyond the initial five.

7. Adobe Express

Source: Screenshot from Adobe Express

As part of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, Adobe Express is a presentation software that offers a simplified and user-friendly interface. With its intuitive interface, Adobe Express allows users to create visually stunning presentations with ease. Users can access both design professionals and individuals without extensive design experience.

One of the notable advantages of Adobe Express is its seamless integration with other Adobe products, such as Photoshop and Illustrator. This integration enables users to leverage the power of these industry-standard design tools within their presentations, providing access to advanced design features and a vast library of high-quality assets. 

Adobe Express is also great for creating interactive presentations. Its extensive multimedia support, allowing users to incorporate videos, audio files and interactive elements to keep your audience engaged.

That being said,  some of its advanced features may require familiarity with other Adobe tools, which can be challenging for beginners who are not already familiar with the Adobe Creative Cloud ecosystem.

Designers, creative professionals, individuals and businesses seeking professional-grade presentation design.

Professional design options, multimedia support, easy integration with other Adobe products and cloud-based collaboration.

While the free version for Adobe Express includes all the core features, users can gain access to premium templates and features when they upgrade to the Premium subscription for $9.99 USD/month. 

For businesses and teams, Adobe provides tailored plans that include additional features like collaboration tools, centralized license management and enterprise-level support. The pricing for these plans depends on the number of licenses and the specific needs of the organization. It’s best to consult with Adobe or their authorized resellers to get accurate pricing information for business plans.

8. Haiku Deck

Source: Haiku Deck

Haiku Deck is all about visual storytelling, offering a simple and minimalist approach to designing presentations. With its clean and minimalist templates, Haiku Deck makes it a breeze to create presentations that focus on eye-catching images.

Haiku Deck is a user-friendly presentation software that offers a straightforward and intuitive interface. It’s designed to be easily accessible on both computers and mobile devices, giving you the flexibility to create quick and practical presentations on the go.

Plus, the presentation tool seamlessly integrates with image search engines, making it a piece of cake to find and add high-quality visuals that enhance the overall look and feel of your presentation.

However,if you’re looking for advanced features like complex animations or interactive elements, you might not find them here. While the clean and minimalist templates are gorgeous, they don’t offer as much flexibility for customization.

Educators, individuals and professionals who appreciate the power of visual storytelling and minimalist design.

Image-focused templates, easy-to-use interface, cloud-based collaboration and seamless image search integration.

Haiku Deck offers a free trial that allows you to experience the software with one presentation. If you decide to upgrade, they have different pricing plans available. Additionally, Haiku Deck also offers special pricing to qualifying nonprofit organizations, students and educators.

The Pro plans are available at $9.99 per month with annual billing or $19.99 per month with monthly billing. For those seeking advanced features, the Premium plans are priced at $29.99 per month.

Source: Screenshot from Ludus

Ludus brings together the best of both worlds by offering the traditional slide deck format along with interactive and multimedia elements that take presentations to a whole new level.

The presentation software is rich in multimedia capabilities, allowing users to seamlessly integrate videos, audio and elements to create interactive presentations that captivate the audience.

Ludus offers unique presentation tools that enable users to incorporate interactive elements like clickable buttons, hover effects and embedded web content, enabling a more dynamic and engaging presentation experience. 

This makes Ludus a great choice for designers, creatives, marketing professionals, and anyone who wants to create interactive and visually appealing presentations that leave a lasting impression. Collaboration is another area where Ludus excels. The software offers collaborative editing, allowing multiple users to edit presentations simultaneously. 

However, it’s worth mentioning that Ludus has relatively limited templates compared to some other presentation software options. While the customization options are vast, users might find themselves starting from scratch or investing more time in creating the initial design. Additionally, for individuals new to the platform, there might be a learning curve involved in fully harnessing all of Ludus’ features and capabilities.

Designers, creatives, marketing professionals and anyone looking for interactive and visually appealing presentations.

Interactive and multimedia elements, collaborative editing, extensive design customization, real-time comments and feedback.

Ludus offers a starting price of $14.99 USD/month per user for teams consisting of 1-15 members with all features included. For larger teams requiring additional licenses, Ludus encourages reaching out for more information on pricing. It’s worth noting that Ludus provides a 30-day free trial, allowing users to explore the platform and its features before committing to a subscription.

10. Slidebean

Source: Screenshot from Slidebean

Slidebean offers a unique approach to slide design by automating the process and simplifying the creation of well-designed presentations. With its automation features, Slidebean streamlines the design process, saving users valuable time and effort.

The highlight of Slidebean is its automated slide design functionality. Using artificial intelligence (AI), the software generates visually appealing slide layouts based on the content provided. Slidebean also offers collaboration options, allowing multiple team members to work on a presentation simultaneously. 

Another advantage of Slidebean is its AI-powered content suggestions. The software intelligently analyzes the presentation content and provides helpful suggestions for improving the messaging and overall flow. This feature ensures that users can effectively communicate their ideas and engage their audience. 

Unlike Ludus, Slidebean may not cater to users who prefer extensive customization and control over their slide layouts. Certain advanced features are only available in premium plans, which may require an upgrade for those seeking more advanced functionality.

Startups, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and individuals who want to create polished presentations quickly.

Automated design, content suggestions, collaboration tools and pitch deck-specific templates.

The free version offers limited functionalities, but it provides a sufficient opportunity to experience Slidebean’s capabilities and understand its workflow. However, to export your presentation and access advanced features, upgrading to a higher plan is necessary. 

The all-access plan is available at $228 USD/year, while additional services such as startup expert consultations and pitch deck and financial model services are available for separate purchase. 

11. Beautiful.ai

Source: Screenshot from Beautiful.ai

Beautiful.ai aims to simplify the process of creating visually stunning and professional-looking slides with minimal effort. One of the notable strengths of the presentation software is its collection of smart templates and design suggestions. 

Their templates are intelligently designed to provide visually appealing layouts, saving users valuable time and effort in creating presentations. Unlike other types of presentation software, the platform leverages AI-powered technology to offer layout optimization, ensuring that slide elements are positioned optimally for maximum impact.

Beautiful.ai also offers time-saving features that streamline the presentation creation process. The software automatically adjusts the layout and formatting as users add or modify content, eliminating the need for manual adjustments. 

As the software provides smart templates and design suggestions, customization options may be somewhat limited. Users may find that certain design elements or layout adjustments are not as flexible as they would like. 

Individuals, startups and professionals who want visually impressive presentations without extensive design skills.

Smart templates, automated design suggestions, AI-powered layout optimization and easy slide customization.

Beautiful.ai provides two subscription options for users. The Pro plan is available at a monthly cost of $12 USD /month, while the Team plan is priced at $40 USD/month. Both plans are billed annually. You can also subscribe to the monthly subscription for ad hoc projects and gain access to all pro features for $45 USD/month (billed monthly). 

There is a 14-day free trial period that allows users to thoroughly test and explore the features and capabilities of the tool before committing to a subscription.

Source: Screenshot from Pitch

Pitch is a modern video presentation maker that stands out with its collaborative and iterative approach to presentation creation.

One of the key strengths of Pitch lies in its collaborative features. The presentation software provides robust collaboration tools that allow team members to work together in real-time. This makes it easy for users to collaborate on presentation content, provide feedback and make revisions collectively.

Pitch boasts an extensive slide library, offering a wide range of professionally designed templates to choose from. These templates serve as a foundation for creating visually stunning presentations while providing a starting point that saves time and ensures a polished look.

The availability of diverse templates caters to different industries, topics and presentation styles, allowing users to create presentations for their needs.

Seamless integration with project management tools is another advantage of Pitch. The software integrates well with popular project management platforms, enabling users to streamline their workflow by syncing tasks, deadlines and other project-related information with their presentations. 

For teams, startups and businesses that value collaboration, feedback and the ability to iterate on their presentations

Collaboration tools, version control, project management integration and template library.

Users can create unlimited presentations and enjoy the starter plan for free or upgrade to Pro for $8 USD/month, billed annually. 

There you have it — the top 12 best presentation tools for the year! Whether you value simplicity, collaboration, automation, design versatility or data visualization, these presentation software examples have a solution out there for your future presentations.

Got your mind set on your to-go presentation software? Great! Now it’s time to start creating your slides and ace that presentation. 

Best presentation software of 2023

Let’s put on a slideshow.

We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more ›

Whether you’re a student or a working professional, everybody has to make presentations from time to time and that usually involves presentation software. But when you’re frantically Googling around to refresh your PowerPoint knowledge, it’s only natural to wonder what is really the best presentation software out there. Yes, everybody knows that Microsoft’s the biggest player in the slideshow game but there are actually a lot of alternatives to explore. If you expand your horizons, you may find another app that makes more sense for you. Expand your office app horizons and see how the best presentation software can make your job a little easier.

Best overall: Microsoft PowerPoint

Best for professionals: canva, best for zoom: prezi.

• Best for Mac: Apple Keynote  

Best for students: Beautiful.ai

Best budget: google slides, how we chose the best presentation software.

As a journalist with over a decade of experience, I know how to present information to all sorts of audiences effectively and efficiently. Over the years, I’ve worked with a variety of clients to craft copy for presentations, as well as the slideshows themselves. I’ve used the best software in the business, as well as quite a lot of the bad stuff, so I know what will work for you and your needs. 

In making this list, I relied on my own firsthand experience with presentation software, as well as consulting professional tutorials and critical reviews. I also personally created a number of sample slideshows using prebuilt templates and custom layouts of my own in order to put the programs through their paces. I used both the stalwart software suites that everyone knows, as well as a number of lesser-known alternatives that have emerged over the past few years. If an impressive new program hits the block, we will update this list accordingly once we get some hands-on time with it.

Things to consider when buying presentation software

There has been an explosion of presentation software over the past few years, and each of the program’s developers has their own pitch to lure people away from PowerPoint. The most important things to consider when choosing presentation software will vary from person to person. A small business owner putting together a professional presentation with original branding may need different tools to make an appealing pitch, versus a student building a last-minute slideshow for a group project to present the results of their research in Econ class.

There are a wide variety of bells and whistles that presentation building programs boast as their killer features, including brand kit integration, easy social media sharing options, offline access, seamless collaboration, AI suggestions, and analytics. These extra features will seem very helpful to enterprise customers, but the average person should realistically prioritize more traditional factors like ease-of-use, customizability, and cost. There are, however, a few elements that every single person who uses presentation software needs, so let’s walk through the fundamentals.

Ease of use

No one wants to spend hours learning how to make a basic slideshow. While all of these programs take time to master, some of them are easier to pick up quickly than others. An intuitive piece of software grabs your attention and allows you to perform basic actions like adding slides and assets without time-consuming tutorials. The more professional-grade programs out there might take a little more time to master, but they’re rarely difficult to use.

Prebuilt templates

The number one thing that you want from a presentation software is a good-looking final product, and templates help you achieve that goal quickly and easily. All of the competitive presentation software suites out there have a library of pre-built templates that let you plug in information quickly. Quality and quantity separate the good programs from the great ones, though. Some apps have more templates than others, and some templates look better than others. On top of that, some programs lock their best templates behind a premium subscription, which leaves you relying on the same basic structures over and over. 

The truly professional-grade software also includes a selection of prebuilt art assets to help you bring a personal touch to the presentation. If a program doesn’t have an impressive set of templates, it isn’t worth using.

Customizability

While most people want to start building their presentations with a template, you need to change some things around if you want to keep things looking fresh. Professionals, in particular, will probably want to customize every aspect of their slideshows, from the color of the background to the exact pixel position of images. This obviously increases the amount of time it takes to craft a presentation, so it’s important that the systems for making those tweaks are intuitive and easy to use. Not every user is going to need the level of customizability, but it’s definitely something worth considering.

Who’s it for?

Every presenter needs to build a slideshow for their audience. They should probably ask that question when they pick which presentation software to use as well, as it can help determine what software they should use. Students might need the expansive collaboration tools of certain platforms but might not need the pinpoint design controls in others. While the presentation software listed below can all make a great slideshow with enough time and effort, your own use case and the intended audience will have a big impact on your choice.

Cost & affordability

Very few presentation builders have a simple, one-time price tag. Most operate on a subscription model, where you can buy a month’s use for a certain amount, or save money by buying a year at a time. A few are free, though many appear to only offer a free trial or stripped-down version that will allow you to put together something basic before quite literally buying in.

If you’re looking to build just one or two presentations a year, it’s probably best to stick to one of the free options. However, if you have to build slideshows on a regular basis, it’s probably worth sinking your money into a subscription to the program you really like.

Generally speaking, as you might expect, the more impressive and in-depth software costs more than the more traditional fare. However, because many of the most popular programs in the space (such as Microsoft PowerPoint) come as part of a suite, you will need to weigh the benefits of not only the presentation software but also the other programs that come along with it. If you’re a die-hard Microsoft Word user, for example, you’re already paying for the Microsoft Office suite, but the calculus gets more complicated if you prefer Google Docs.

The best presentation software: Reviews & Recommendations

By now, you probably have a good idea of what you should be looking for in presentation software, so now we’ll get into the interesting part. As mentioned above, we’ve broken down our picks based on a few common use cases, as well as the criteria we mentioned above. Regardless of which one you decide on, all of these programs are powerful tools that can produce a slick slideshow with a little time and effort, and you’d be well served by any of them.

MobiSystems

Why it made the cut: Whether you’re a broke student or a busy professional, Microsoft PowerPoint can do whatever you need. It’s also reasonably priced.

• Platforms: Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Web
• Suite or standalone: Microsoft Office 365 Suite
• Special features: Designer, MS Office integration
• Free version: Yes
• Well-known interface imitated by competitors
• Powerful and accessible
• Good templates
• Part of a popular software suite
• Slight learning curve

Even after testing more than a dozen programs, Microsoft PowerPoint remains the go-to presentation software for most people. Setting the industry standard, it offers great templates, an accessible interface, an impressive library of prebuilt art assets, and plenty of tools for building a slick slideshow. It also supports real-time collaboration, offline editing, and third-party content embedding. At $70 a year, PowerPoint is significantly cheaper than most of its competitors and it’s part of Microsoft Office, a software suite that most companies pay for and workers can’t live without. 

Of course, it isn’t perfect. PowerPoint makes it very easy to make a basic presentation, but it will likely take you longer to make something that looks polished and professional in PowerPoint than with design-forward programs like Canva or Prezi. Even top-flight presentations are achievable, though, in a reasonable timeframe. PowerPoint might not be the best presentation program for every situation, but it’s certainly the best for the average person.

Why it made the cut: Canva creates beautiful, professional-grade presentations faster than its rivals, and it’s easier to use than most.

• Platforms: Web, Windows, iOS, Android
• Suite or standalone: Standalone
• Special features: Amazing templates, very customizable
• Excellent free version
• Extremely easy to use
• Makes beautiful presentations fast
• Eye-catching templates
• Harder-to-use advanced features
• Limited offline use

If you need to make a striking business presentation in an hour, Canva is absolutely the software for you. Designed from the ground up for business professionals who don’t want to have to use another program (i.e., Photoshop or GIMP) to create visually compelling content, Canva delivers on this promise in spades. 

Canva’s gorgeous templates are the best of any of the programs we tested, and its free version is far more robust than you’d expect for a costless trial. Unlike many of these other programs, it creates virtually any marketing material you can imagine, including videos, logos, social media posts, and even resumes. It also includes splashy features that most people won’t use, like brand kit support and easy sharing to social media.

Canva’s simplicity has drawbacks, too, though. It can be a bit difficult to get it to make complicated charts, tables, or diagrams, and it lacks the familiar (but clunky) customizability of PowerPoint. However, if you’re looking to make the most beautiful presentation you can, Canva is a great choice for your business.

Why it made the cut: Prezi is a strong program that structures its basic features in a completely different manner than its competitors. It also has very good Zoom integration.

• Platforms: Web
• Special features: Zoom integration, unique structure
• Free version: No (Two-week free trial)
• More creative structure than competitors
• Intuitive interface
• Expansive feature set
• Doesn’t work for everyone
• Must pay more for advanced features

If you’re really tired of the straight-line structure mandated by other presentation software, Prezi gives you a little more freedom to build things your way. Prezi uses a topic-oriented form that allows you to easily string your ideas in an order that makes sense to you. The basic idea behind Prezi is that you create bubbles of individual content, and then you thread a path through those ideas to create a presentation with a physical form that’s more enticing and conversational than just a linear succession of slides.

While this unique approach makes Prezi a worthy alternative on its own, the app also boasts plenty of specialized features you’d want in a premium program, including a large asset library, social media integration, and collaboration support. 

Though any presentation software can work with Zoom via the screen-share function, Prezi features a very useful video call-focused mode, Prezi Video, which allows you to build a presentation as an overlay that appears in your Zoom window so people can see you and your slides.

Prezi’s freeform structure isn’t going to work for everyone, but if Powerpoint feels stifling, it might open new doors for you.

Best for Mac: Keynote

Why it made the cut: Apple’s answer to PowerPoint might not be as popular as its competitor, but it’s still pretty powerful in its own right.

• Platforms: macOS, iOS, Web
• Suite or Standalone: Apple Software Suite
• Special features: iCloud support, multiple formats
• Free version: Yes (with an Apple account)
• Familiar to most Mac users
• Better asset library than most
• No-frills feature set
• Lacks unique selling points

If you’re a Mac user , you’ve probably at least considered using Keynote to put a presentation together. While all of the other programs on this list work on a Mac as web apps, Keynote is the only app made specifically for the platform.

Like PowerPoint, Keynote is a wide-reaching program designed to help anyone make a sharp-looking presentation, from students to professionals. It has a more robust feature set than other PowerPoint competitors–including better default templates, a bigger asset library, and desktop support. It doesn’t quite have the versatility of enterprise-facing apps like Canva, but you can put together a great-looking slideshow for school or a recurring meeting.

On the other hand, it can be a little tricky to pick up: The interface isn’t quite as intuitive as Google Slides, which is also free. If you have access to both, you get a choice: Build a more striking presentation in Keynote, or put something together quickly in Slides.

Beautiful.ai

Why it made the cut: Beautiful.ai’s AI-powered presentations allow you to make a sharp slideshow in no time flat, and its generous free trial gives time to try it out.

• Special features: AI integration
• Clean interface
• Modern features
• Simple and effective
• Expensive for what it is
• Limited assets and templates

Looking to build a clean, modern presentation in as little time as possible? Beautiful.ai uses AI to help you build a visually stunning presentation in no time flat. While it’s less of a household name than our other picks, it’s the choice of many tech companies for its uncluttered interface, eye-catching templates, and overall no-fuss approach. 

Compared to PowerPoint or Canva, Beautiful.ai does not have a rich feature set or an infinite variety of template options. What the content library lacks in volume, it makes up for in style, though. Its appealing, elegant content elements lend themselves to clean, modern presentations. More importantly, the program’s AI assistant knows how to use those assets. It automatically tailors your slideshow’s design to fit the information you want to present, so you’ll wind up with something thoughtfully prepared before you know it.

Why it made the cut: Google Slides is not only an excellent presentation program—it’s also one of the only ones actually free with no strings attached.

• Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
• Suite or standalone: Google Workspace
• Special features: Easy collaboration, Google integration
• Free for anyone with a Google account
• Familiar interface
• Easy to share and collaborate
• Decent templates
• Somewhat basic in functionality
• Clunky for some users

When it comes to software, there’s “free to use,” and then there’s free. Most of the software on this list offers either a restricted free mode or a time-limited trial. Google Slides is actually free, fully free, for another with a Google account. And it holds its own, even compared to its premium competitors.

Google Slides feels like a simplified version of PowerPoint. It’s a little easier to learn the basics, but also offers fewer templates, screen transitions, and content. It also lacks a built-in asset library to fill dead space, though the program’s Google Drive integration makes it easy to add your own. Like most Google programs, it also supports add-ons that give it enhanced features, like the ability to solve equations within the slideshow.

If you’re looking to make an extremely sharp presentation, Google Slides will take a bit more effort than most. If you need to make a basic slideshow and you grew up on earlier versions of PowerPoint, you’ll feel right at home using Slides.

Q: What are the three most popular presentation software options?

Based on our research, the three most popular programs are Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Keynote, roughly in that order. PowerPoint is far more popular than the other two, though. All three are good options, depending on what you’re looking for. All things being equal, though, we recommend PowerPoint.

Q: How much does presentation software cost?

Generally, most of the programs listed here cost between $7 and $15 a month for their premium packages. However, Google Slides and Keynote are free, so we recommend those for customers on a budget.

Q: Is Canva better than PowerPoint?

Canva and PowerPoint are both great programs that offer about equal value. It’s much easier to create a beautiful, eye-catching presentation in Canva, but PowerPoint’s advanced features give you more options. If you need to make slick-looking professional presentations on a frequent basis, we recommend Canva for its superior ease-of-use.

Q: Does Adobe have presentation software?

Adobe had its own competitor to PowerPoint, Adobe Presenter. The company recently ended support for Presenter on June 1, 2022.

Final thoughts on the best presentation software

While everyone wants to use the best program for the job, the truth is that all presentation builders have a lot in common with each other. If you’re familiar with one, it often makes sense to stay put. Despite all the similarities, it can take some time to learn a new system. If you’re constrained and frustrated, or are using presentation software for the first time, you should consider a wide range of options beyond PowerPoint.

Though alternatives like Beautiful.ai, Canva, or (especially) Prezi cost a bit more, they each have strong features that may work better for your purposes. That said, sometimes the most popular presentation software options are the best. If you don’t have specific expectations or need to clear a high bar for design, PowerPoint and free options like Google Slides should work well, and have the benefit of wide adoption in corporate workplaces.

Like science, tech, and DIY projects?

Sign up to receive Popular Science's emails and get the highlights.

• Presentation Design

The 10 Best Presentation Software for 2023: Complete Guide

There are literally hundreds of presentation software tools in the market today and keeping track is getting increasingly hard. Most of them have been optimized for a specific purpose or type of user from a wide range of possibilities, and it's very likely that THE ideal tool for you is actually one that you've never heard of.

We've created this best presentation software list to shed some light and to give you a comprehensive presentation software list to ensure you make the right call in the platform you select. This article is the result of several weeks of research and review of 50+ presentation tools currently available on the web.

What is a presentation software?

A presentation software is defined as an application built to display information in the form of a slide show. 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, sometimes synced in real time with the presenter across devices.

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 a good presentation tool?

The functions and results of presentation programs have evolved significantly in the past decades, since the original launch of ‘Presenter’ (the PowerPoint predecessor) in 1984. In 1987 PowerPoint 1.0 was released for the Macintosh and it started a revolution in the way we prepare and consume content in meetings.

For the purposes of this article we are going to classify all presentation tools using 3 variables that we consider extremely important:

Ease of use: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

This rating looks at the learning curve, or time required to learn to use the platform. An easy to use interface is fundamentally important to ensure that users feel confortable working with the platform and doesn’t require complex training to take advantage of its features. This also accounts for the average time it takes to build a presentation.

Customization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The ability to customize a presentation to the smallest details. This varies depending on the number of advanced features in the platform, like the ability to set different transitions to each slide, the ability to add customized elements or to design/code the final outcome of the slides to the last font size and color code.

Final result: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

This indicator looks at the outcome of a finished presentation, assuming the user is an average person with basic design skills and intermediate knowledge on the tool itself.

Best PowerPoint Alternatives (Death by Power Point)

As we mentioned before, PowerPoint is the most used presentation builder in the market today. It is distributed by Microsoft as part of their Office Suite, which is estimated to have over 500 million users worldwide. Microsoft has also revealed that approximately 35 Million presentations are delivered every single day, that’s a staggering 400 presentations per second.

But still, PowerPoint’s popularity has decreased significantly in the past few years. Their boring presentation templates, the large learning curve and complexity as well as the terrible slides many users end up making have started the Death to PowerPoint movement.

What presentation software is better than PowerPoint?

For this section, we summarize the top PowerPoint alternatives and examples, that is, presentation tools that work in a fairly similar manner and that provide similar (but significantly better) results. If you are an avid PowerPoint user, then migrating to these platforms should be rather easy for you.

Best 10 presentation software alternative list for 2023

(Updated December 2022)

• Keynote presentation
• Google Slides

1- SLIDEBEAN PRESENTATION SOFTWARE

Ease of use: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ - Fantastic!

Customization: ★ ★ ★ ★ - Very Good

Final result: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ - Fantastic!

Slidebean is an online presentation tool that uses artificial intelligence to design beautiful slides. Simply add content blocks to your presentation without worrying about formatting. Slidebean’s AI finds the best possible design for every element on your slide. This level of automation allows you to create a professional looking presentation in a fraction of the time it normally takes on PowerPoint.

When comparing it to PowerPoint, Slidebean’s interface is much easier to learn and work with, and it lets you create fantastic looking presentations really fast. The platform is web based and allows you to export to both PowerPoint and PDF format. It also lets you track viewer interactions and activity from people you share your slides with!

Slidebean also has a unique advantage which is a rich gallery of presentation outline templates. These are pre-filled decks that work for numerous purposes, like business proposals, classroom decks, thesis presentations and even startup pitch decks : all you need to do is import them and fill in your content.

You can sign up free for Slidebean here

SIGN UP FREE

2- apple keynote.

Ease of use: ★ ★ ★ - OK

Customization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ - Fantastic!

Final result: ★ ★ ★ ★ - Very Good

Keynote is what PowerPoint should have been all along. Apple's version of the popular presentation tool has improved significantly in the last few years, and has recently included a cloud version that works on any browser on any computer (as long as you have at least one Apple device).

Keynote is basically an improved PowerPoint, it offers the same approach to creating slides, but offers nice and clean customizable templates, a simple interface and great details like smart guides.

The biggest issue with Keynote is the long learning process that it requires. Similar to Microsoft's tool, you'll need to sit down for a few hours to learn to use the platform, and another larger set of hours to make a professional presentation.

More info about Apple Keynote is available here

Final result: ★ ★ ★ - OK

Visme is a web based platform for building presentations. Their familiar interface is similar to PowerPoint, but they have successfully simplified a complex UI to a nicer and more understandable navigation. Still, you'll need to spend a few hours to get a good grasp of where all the customization options can be found.

The platform offers an interesting (but certainly limited) gallery of images, but they succeed at delivering beautiful infographic elements (which they call ‘Charts and Graphs’) that you can use to add some color and make your slides much more dynamic.

You can read more about them here . ‍

4- GOOGLE SLIDES

Customization: ★ ★ - Passable

Google's version of PowerPoint is hosted as part of the Google Apps suite, that you can access from Google Drive or from Google Apps for Work. Sadly, their presentation builder feels like a limited version of PowerPoint, with less features, limited fonts and very little customization options.

Still, Google's platform is available for free, has a lot of integrations and probably one of the best online collaboration systems out there. Checking it out is easy, just visit your Google Drive.

You can find a more detailed review here .

5- FLOWVELLA

Ease of use: ★ ★ - Passable

Customization: ★ ★ ★ - OK

Flowvella is available on the Mac App Store as a desktop application. It provides a simple interface (certainly cleaner than Microsoft PowerPoint and somewhat similar to Apple Keynote) and some very nice design templates, which set good grounds so you can start building a nice looking set of slides on top of them. This is by far their biggest strength! If you want to start from scratch, however, you might feel a little lost creating something that looks good.

We found, however, that the oversimplified interface makes some basic options hard to find, like changing the color of a shape. Also, while running as a desktop app it still requires an Internet connection to download some elements, which can lead to a slower performance than a 100% desktop tool.

Update: We also read recently that they launched a tvOS app for the new AppleTV, making them, as far as we know, the first presentation tool to leverage the new platform.

You can find more details here .

Customization: ★ ★ ★ -

Pitch offers an innovative solution for fast-paced teams looking to quickly create effective, stylish presentations. With a combination of productivity features and design elements, Pitch makes it easy to get professional results—quickly

You can find more information about them here .

Final result: ★ ★ ★ ★ - Very Good!

The premise of Canva is an ‘amazingly easy graphic design software'. It lets you create anything from print design to banners and presentations. They provide an easy to use interface with a huge selection of pre-built designs that you can modify to your liking.

These pre-built elements let you quickly draft a nice presentation even if you have no design skills, but it does require you to drag and drop and arrange the content of your slide, which can become time consuming.

Canva has been gaining significant popularity in the last few years, especially after they hired Guy Kawasaki as a Chief Evangelist. Their platform is beautiful, you can find more about them here .

8- HAIKU DECK

Ease of use: ★ ★ ★ ★ - Very Good

Haiku Deck launched as an iPad app in 2011. They made a big bet towards mobile productivity and came up with a solid iPad application that allowed you to create slides in less time than the then-only alternative of Keynote for iOS.

Haiku Deck has a nice set of custom templates that you can use as a guideline for your slides, and their content input system is clear and easy to learn.

Still, we believe their approach that focused on mobile devices could only take them so far and they've since been working on a web version of their platform that works for any computer. As we mentioned, the personal computer continues to be a much more efficient productivity platform.

'Slides' is a nice website that lets you create and share presentations online. Formerly slides(dot)io and slid(dot)es, they finally settled for slides(dot)com. This startup was founded by Hakim El Hattab and Owen Bossola in Stockholm, Sweden, and it makes use of the reveal.js framework that we mentioned above.

Slides has a nice web interface that encourages you to create a nice and clean presentations, however, it still depends on the user’s ability to manipulate the elements and arrange them in a nice style. Still, their pre-defined formats and their grid system help guide you to a better result.

The platform also allows for custom HTML and CSS coding, which lets experienced users with coding skills, customize their templates even further.

Some more info about them here .

Ease of use: ★ - Bad

Prezi has been around for years and they have had a huge head start compared to any other online presentation tool out there. Their unique zoom styling makes it immediately obvious to the audience that they are looking at a Prezi deck.

Prezi has the advantage of allowing you to create really stunning interactive presentations if you know how to leverage their zoomable, infinite canvas. However, this can become a double edge sword if users overuse the feature and come up with a presentation that is literally capable of making people dizzy.

Still, Prezi's biggest weakness is on its ease of use. There's a long learning curve towards dominating their interface and even if you do, you need to be a designer to make a great presentation on the platform.

This is a huge company that is not going away anytime soon. With 50+ million users, they have proven the world wants and needs a PowerPoint alternative, and we have huge respect for them for doing so.

More information about them here .

‍Which one to pick?

In the world of presentation software, there's a big bunch to pick from. It's kind of like a crowded market with lots of options. And guess what? The best one for you might not even be on your radar.

Our list is here to help you out. We've put together this bunch of presentation software choices after digging into over 50 of them on the internet. We're here to give you the scoop on what's out there, so you can pick the one that suits you best.

Now, remember, presentation software is like your helper to make cool slideshows. These slideshows could be for showing stuff to people, like at school or work. These helpers, or software, should be good at a few things: putting words and pictures on slides, making things look nice, and showing your stuff in a cool way on a screen.

The options we've found have different things they're good at. Some use fancy computer thinking (AI) to make your slides look great without you doing much. Others let you customize your slides a lot, which is nice if you want them to look exactly like you want. And finally, how your slides look when you're done is super important too.

Picking the right presentation tool is a bit like picking the best tool for a job. You wouldn't use a hammer to write a story, right? So, whether you want something easy, something that lets you be creative, or something that gives you good results, our list has got you covered. Your choice will help you make cool presentations that people will remember. Our recommendation is to give Slidebean a try, but is up to you to consider the options. So, pick smart and happy presenting.

Try Slidebean

Popular articles.

The Business Model Slide: How to make it and include

Lunchbox Pitch Deck Tear Down

How do Investors Make Money from Startups?

Brex Pitch Deck TearDown

Let’s move your company to the next stage 🚀

Ai pitch deck software, pitch deck services.

Financial Model Consulting for Startups 🚀

Raise money with our pitch deck writing and design service 🚀

The all-in-one pitch deck software 🚀

Check out our list of the top free presentation websites that offer unique features and design options. Discover the best platform for your next presentation now.

This presentation software list is the result of weeks of research of 50+ presentation tools currently available online. It'll help you compare and decide.

This is a functional model you can use to create your own formulas and project your potential business growth. Instructions on how to use it are on the front page.

Book a call with our sales team

In a hurry? Give us a call at 

When you use links on our website, we may earn a fee.

Best Presentation Software of 2024

Table of Contents

• Best Presentation Software
• Things To Consider When Buying
• How We Chose

Everyone has a message to share in some form. With presentation software, you can communicate that message a little easier and with more spark. If you don't have design and animation skills, don't worry; apps like Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint make it easy to craft a slideshow that helps people understand the concepts you're trying to convey.

Many of the apps in this buyers' guide are geared toward business presentations since that is often the primary use case. However, a few provide some slick tools for educators, entrepreneurs, community groups, and even family members to make a photo slideshow for a family reunion. Read on for the best presentation software available today.

• Best Overall: Google Slides »
• Most Compatible: Microsoft PowerPoint »
• Best For Mac Users: Apple Keynote »
• Most Flexible: Prezi »
• Best Budget: Visme »
• Best For Entrepreneurs: Slidebean »
• Most Powerful: Canva »

Best Overall: Google Slides

Highly integrated With Other Apps

Totally free

Not integrated with Microsoft products

Minimal support

When Google Slides debuted in 2006, it took the world by storm. That’s because it was integrated even back then with Gmail, Google Docs, and other popular Google apps many of us use in business, at school, and in our personal lives.

Google Slides is entirely free, and there are no hidden costs or upgrade plans. What’s surprising, though, about Google Slides is that it is a highly capable app for presentations – easy to use, with plenty of templates, fonts, animation options, and integrations.

Apart from that, the key feature here is real-time collaboration. Other users can join you as you create and edit slides. They can comment and make suggested changes, or simply start editing the slides on their own. (You can decide if other users can suggest changes or make them directly.) You also can view speaker notes on a laptop when you run the slideshow on an HDTV or projector. Google Slides integrates nicely into the online meeting app Google Meet, and it can open Microsoft PowerPoint files and export in that format as well.

Overall, Google Slides wins extra points because of how intuitive it is. There’s hardly any learning curve with the app, and since it runs in a browser window, everything you create and edit will be saved automatically. For business users, teachers, or just about anyone in a hurry to share a complex message, creating a Google Slides presentation is a snap – which is why it is our overall top pick.

Specifications:

• Operating systems are supported: Windows, Mac, Web, iOS, Android, Linux
• Number of templates and designs available: 23
• Integrated apps: Adobe Creative Cloud, Dropbox, Box, LumApps
• Collaboration features: Live editing, suggested edits
• Multimedia supported: Photos, videos, audio, GIFs, and stickers
• Export options: PDF, PowerPoint, Webpage, JPEG
• Customer support options: Google Workspace only
• Added features: Google Duet AI
• Interface enhancements: Real-time editing and collaboration

Most Compatible: Microsoft PowerPoint

Highly compatible

Online and desktop versions

Easy to use

No free version

Templates are not as trendy

Microsoft PowerPoint is the app you want for compatibility with other apps and programs. Released in 1990, this presentation app is well-known in business circles and runs on just about any computer in the world. Because it’s so compatible, you will likely not have any trouble running the app on your phone or a tablet, in a browser, or even on seriously outdated PC laptops and desktops.

While apps like Prezi add slick animations and transitions that make a presentation come to life, PowerPoint is more like a trusted business partner; it works on just about any computer, the interface is well-known and straightforward, and it’s likely that everyone you know and collaborate with is already familiar with the app. Every other presentation app we reviewed also supports PowerPoint in terms of directly opening or importing the file, and exporting as a PowerPoint file.

You'll need a Microsoft 365 Personal Edition subscription to use PowerPoint. It may be an app that’s already installed and included with a new computer, at least for a trial period.

• Operating systems are supported: Windows, Mac, Web, iOS, Android
• Integrated apps: Adobe PDF, Shutterstock, YouTube, and many others
• Multimedia supported: Photos, videos, audio
• Export options: PowerPoint, XML, PDF, JPEG, and many more
• Customer support options: Personal or business support
• Added features: Integrated live camera, Microsoft Teams integration
• Interface enhancements: Microsoft Copilot, speaker coach

Best For Mac Users: Apple Keynote

Exceptional designs

Desktop only

Graphic designers love Apple Keynote, mostly because the included templates and design options are so stellar. Your presentation will really come to life, helping you communicate about even complex subjects with flair and a trendy look.

Using the app feels a bit like you're the late Steve Jobs creating an award-winning presentation that will grab an audience. Jobs had a way of captivating those in the audience, and Keynote helps you do that with some of the best presentation templates around. For example, there are 40 templates to choose from, many of them full of color and using the trendiest fonts. Keynote also includes 100 transitions and animations to liven up a presentation. The app also includes 700 different shapes and icons that will help you enhance your slides.

Apple Keynote is powerful enough for any user, but it’s important to know the limitations. For starters, Keynote only runs on Mac computers. That makes it less compatible with Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint. You can export the presentation from Keynote as a PowerPoint file, which is fine, but it means no one can edit the Keynote slides directly; they will have to use PowerPoint.

Keynote also only runs as a desktop app. That means you won’t benefit from the live editing and commenting features of Google Slides, where you can collaborate with anyone in real time on the same file. Instead, Keynote is more static, as slideshows can't be edited as a group in a browser window. It’s still incredibly powerful and intuitive but with a few key downsides.

• Operating systems are supported: Mac, iOS
• Number of templates and designs available: 50
• Integrated apps: FaceTime, WebEx, Zoom, iCloud
• Collaboration features: Collaborate through iCloud
• Multimedia supported: Video, audio, images, 3D objects, stickers
• Export options: PDF, PowerPoint, Movies, animated GIFs, images
• Customer support options: Online help, support communities
• Added features: Cinematic transitions, Keynote Remote on iPhone
• Interface enhancements: Inspectors help with formatting

Most Flexible: Prezi

Unique concept

Trendy visuals

Unique design templates

Harder to learn

There’s something very compelling about Prezi, the presentation app that provides the most flexibility in terms of the message you are communicating. For starters, this is an app that knows it’s all about the message, whether you're an educator, business owner, entrepreneur, or even a scientist or engineer. Instead of a slideshow, you create a “canvas” with topics and subtopics. Think of it as a way to augment what you are saying with animated annotations, swoosh effects, and charts.

Prezi is the best at guiding you to the most powerful design features and giving you the tools to make even a complex subject more interesting and easier to understand. Part of this extreme flexibility has to do with how you're not creating slides at all, but enhancing a topic. Another way to think of Prezi is more like an animated whiteboard; when you show a presentation, it can come to life as you speak through a webcam.

All of this flexibility means you aren't limited to a boring slideshow, although there may be times when you are asked to make a slideshow and nothing more. For example, a school assignment or a boss might dictate that you need to create basic slides, not an animated whiteboard session. This is where you have to decide if Prezi matches the goals of the message you are communicating about.

• Pricing options and plans: Standard ($7/month), Plus ($15/month), Premium ($19/month)
• Operating systems are supported: Windows, Mac, Linux
• Number of templates and designs available: 210+
• Integrated apps: Google Drive, Slack, Canva, Zoom
• Collaboration features: Real-time editing, comments
• Multimedia supported: Photos, icons, video, GIF
• Export options: PNG, JPG, PDF, GIF, and MP4.
• Customer support options: Knowledgebase, online support
• Added features: Offline mode, analytics
• Interface enhancements: Broadcast link, tool tips

Best Budget: Visme

Free version available

Added visual tools

Good overall value

It takes more time to learn

Expensive pro plans

Visme is the best budget option because there is a free version that still provides many of the features you might need. It’s also a good value, because (similar to Canva) you can access all of the graphic design features to create infographics, brochures, logos, and rich documents all without paying for the premium version.

Even more important, Visme is a good value if you do choose the Starter or Pro plans because you can then unlock advanced features you might only find in Adobe Visual products. For example, at the Pro level, you can create an entire brand kit for a company including logos, brochures, and flyers that all have the same look.

While it's called an all-in-one marketing design platform and has hints of Canva, the first tool you would likely use is for creating presentations (e.g., It's the most prominent tool listed on their site). Because everything is geared more toward marketing and sales, Visme templates emphasize things like growth metrics, charts, and bullet points used to explain a product or service. Visme is also meant more for a group of business users. You can collaborate in real-time, leave comments on presentations, and even follow a workflow to mark presentation tasks as in progress or done.

Like Canva, because the Visme app is part of a suite of visual design products, it might take a little more time to learn all of the added tools. The presentation tool is just one of many included, even if this tool alone is easy to learn.

Visme is an extensive product with an upgrade path that unlocks more templates, customer support, and more supported file formats. Overall, it’s a good value because you can still create presentations without having to pay extra.

• Operating systems are supported: Mac, PC, iOS, Android
• Number of templates and designs available: 13,000
• Integrated apps: Google Drive, Vimeo, Dropbox, Survey Monkey, and many more
• Collaboration features: Real-time collaboration, assign tasks
• Multimedia supported: Photos, videos, audio, GIFs, 3D graphics
• Export options: JPEG, PNG, PDF, MP4, GIF, PPTX, HTML5
• Customer support options: Email, chat, in-app
• Added features: AI features, forms
• Interface enhancements: Tool tips, video training

Best For Entrepreneurs: Slidebean

Design for entrepreneurs and salespeople

Unique features

Not as powerful as some

Not as well-known

Most presentation software is flexible and powerful enough for any message and for any purpose. However, Slidebean focuses on a more narrow segment. The app is designed to create a “pitch deck,” which is something an entrepreneur or salesperson uses to pitch a product.

For example, let’s say your company sells a new widget. Using Slidebean, you can explain the features and benefits, include a slide about pricing, and use the tools that are intended more for selling a concept than perhaps merely explaining it.

Once you finish creating the pitch deck, you can share it as a link for others to view. You can then measure how much time people spend viewing the slides, including time spent on specific slides in the presentation. Another major differentiator with Slidebean is that you can work with professional designers and writers (for a fee, of course) who will create the pitch desk and write all of the copy for you.

• Operating systems are supported: Windows and Mac browsers
• Number of templates and designs available: 160
• Integrated apps: None
• Collaboration features: Editing (not simultaneous), sharing
• Multimedia supported: Images, icons, GIFs
• Export options: PPT, PDF, and HTML
• Customer support options: Knowledgebase
• Added features: Consult with experts, finance templates
• Interface enhancements: Startup video lessons

Most Powerful: Canva

Thousand of templates

Integrates with other Canva tools

Limited export options

Known as an “online graphical design platform” for everyday users, Canva provides plenty of tools for creating logos, brochures, postcards, and presentations.

Because these tools are all integrated, Canva is powerful enough for any message you want to communicate. It’s ideal for business, personal use, and schools. If you decide to build a presentation, you can also incorporate logos, fonts, clip art, and animations that are built into Canva. It means the palette for creating a presentation is more flexible because all of the other design tools are right at your fingertips. Let’s say you want to create a pitch deck about a new startup. You can create the logo, choose the colors and fonts, and then create the slideshow. Most presentation apps in our buyers' guide other than Visme don’t provide this level of flexibility and power in one online app.

Canva lets you run the presentation from within Canva itself, or you can export the slides and use them in Microsoft PowerPoint. There are thousands of templates available. Once you select a look and feel for your presentation, you can pivot and use those same graphics, fonts, and designs in a brochure or other material.

With all of this power in terms of visual design software comes a slight learning curve. Canva is intuitive and the interface is well-designed, but there are so many tools available that it takes some time to learn them all.

• Operating systems are supported: PC, Mac, iOS, Android, browser
• Number of templates and designs available: Thousands
• Integrated apps: Google Drive, Dropbox, Slack, HubSpot, and many more
• Collaboration features: Real-time editing, whiteboards
• Multimedia supported : Photos, icons, graphics, data visualizations, media elements
• Export options: PDF, JPG, PNG, PPTX, MP4
• Customer support options: Email
• Added features: Magic Switch, Magic Write, Magic Animate
• Interface enhancements: Search for designs, generate with Magic Design

The Bottom Line

If you're short on time and just need to create a presentation without a lot of hassle, Google Slides is the app for you. It’s completely free without any trial versions of “pro” upgrades, yet it's also quite powerful and intuitive to learn. Google Slides is also our top pick because it integrates into other Google apps like Gmail and Google Docs, is widely used and highly compatible, and still gets the job done when the main goal is to finish a slideshow and share your message.

Things To Consider When Buying Presentation Software

Features and functionality: When it comes to presentation software, it’s all about the templates. As you are considering which app to use, it’s a good idea to evaluate which templates are available and if they meet your needs. We’ve also noted how many templates are included with each app. Beyond that, look for the supported file formats since that will determine who can use and open the presentation. Collaboration features are also important, making it easier to work on a presentation within a group and make comments for everyone to see.

Ease of use and user interface: Creating a presentation shouldn't feel cumbersome. When you start the app, it should be easy to create the first slide from a template, add more slides, fill in the text and images, and finish the entire project without having to learn complex features. Apple Keynote is a good example of an app that's intuitive at first, and then you can always explore more advanced features later on.

Compatibility with different file formats: The most well-known presentation app is Microsoft PowerPoint. So it’s important that the app you choose supports the popular PowerPoint format. Beyond that, look for software that also supports PDF files in case you want a printed version of your slideshow or to share it online.

Collaboration and sharing capabilities: With presentation software, being able to work on a slideshow with a group of people all at the same time can be a time-saver but also produce better results. It should also be easy to leave comments for others to review. Once you're done with the presentation, it should also be easy to share the file or an online version of the presentation with others.

Customization options for design and branding: Visme and Canva allow you to customize the graphics and even make logos and experiment with a variety of fonts. All presentation apps provide ways to edit graphics, resize photos, and even incorporate video into your slideshow. Not every app makes it as easy to edit graphics as Google Slides does, however.

Availability of templates and pre-designed layouts: As with many software programs, templates save time and effort. An app like Microsoft PowerPoint includes pre-designed templates and graphics you can use to enhance a slideshow. Visme is a good example of an app with extensive templates (it has thousands built-in). While Apple Keynote doesn't have as many templates, the ones that are included tend to be more well-designed and trendy.

Pricing and licensing: Most presentation apps offer a monthly subscription to help you get started making a slideshow. In some cases, such as Visme and Slidebean, there’s a basic free version to help you experiment with the app right away. Only Google Slides is entirely free with no extra pricing options. Microsoft also offers a fully licensed version of PowerPoint as opposed to paying for a monthly subscription. The full licensed version costs $159.99.

Customer support and training resources: Microsoft is arguably one of the best companies to choose if you're interested in customer support. Because the product costs a little more – especially if you purchase the full licensed version – it includes extensive technical support. That said, even though Google Slides is free and customer support can be hit or miss, there are so many people using that product that you can usually find answers to questions by doing a simple Google search or asking on public support forums. Also, training videos are more readily available for Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint because they're both so popular.

Integration with other software and tools: Integration is key when it comes to presentation software because you want to be able to access important graphics, photos, and videos easily. Canva is perhaps the most integrated option for that reason alone. It's a graphics platform for creating graphics and other design materials, so when you make a presentation, you can easily find what you need.

Security and privacy features: Security and privacy might not be the first concern when it comes to presentation software, since you might be making a simple how-to for employee orientation or a photo slideshow of your vacation. However, for a business creating a new product or for a new startup that has not launched yet, be sure there is a way to protect your presentation from prying eyes.

How We Chose The Best Presentation Software

Our contributor John Brandon poured over specifications and features for the best presentation software around. He’s used presentation apps since the debut of Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides. He also consulted with business owners who have started companies and need to communicate about their firms. This includes David Ciccarelli, an entrepreneur who started a company called Voices (an audio and video tech startup) and is the CEO of Lake , a vacation rental business. He also tapped Stephen Gagnon, a web designer with the search engine optimization company Web Scour , who has visual design and branding experience.

WHY SHOULD YOU TRUST US?

John Brandon worked in the corporate world for 10 years, often creating presentations for large teams and at corporate functions. He worked as an Information Design Director at Best Buy Corporation. Since then, he has tested and reviewed thousands of tech products including presentation apps, Wi-Fi routers, televisions, office products, and everything in between. His writing has appeared in Wired magazine, Inc. magazine, FoxNews.com, LAPTOP magazine, and many others.

For anyone who wants to communicate about a new product or service, help new employees with onboarding, or even share photos from a recent vacation, presentation software helps you communicate visually. The basic idea is that you can create a slideshow that augments and enhances what you have to say.

Presentation software is designed to help you communicate a message to an audience, either in a classroom, a conference room, or at home. You create a slideshow, insert graphics, photos, and videos, and then run the slideshow full-screen. When you run the presentation, you can click the mouse button or press the arrow keys on a computer to go back and forth in the slideshow.

Most modern presentation apps charge a monthly fee, usually around $8 or $12 per month. Google Slides is the exception to this rule since it is entirely free. Typically, with higher costs for the pro and premium plans, you gain access to more templates, more graphics, and the ability to export in more file formats, such as HTML or video files. At the high end, Microsoft PowerPoint also offers a fully licensed version, as opposed to a monthly charge.

The classic, tried-and-true presentation apps like Microsoft PowerPoint and Apple Keynote are available as a desktop version you install. In most cases, you will sign up for the app and then download the installation file and run that installer. However, more modern apps like Google Slides and Canva run in a browser window and don't require any installation.

PowerPoint is sometimes included on a Windows laptop. However, if you're looking for a fresh start with new templates and features for animation and video that go beyond PowerPoint and Keynote, you might consider upgrading. Also, presentation tools are now included in apps like Canva and Visme, making them more integrated.

U.S. News 360 Reviews takes an unbiased approach to our recommendations. When you use our links to buy products, we may earn a commission but that in no way affects our editorial independence.

15 Best Presentation Software for 2021

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter

By Bilyana Nikolaeva

in Insights

3 years ago

Viewed 8,244 times

Spread the word about this article:

On average a presentation takes up to 20 minutes and experts say we make an impression within the first 30 seconds. That is why it’s important to “dress” our great product/idea with an equally exciting design. Most often, presentations are cooked up by non-designers, which creates a specific need – for powerful presentation software, which can help communicate a message beautifully, effectively, and to suit any user’s skill level. We hand-picked 15 of the best presentation software for 2021 , which will help you create presentations online, share them, while shining in your best light. In the meanwhile, check out some useful ideas tips to spice up your presentations .

A web-based presentation tool, which means you can access your presentations wherever you are, with an internet connection. It is known for its animations, cartoons, and infographics, which help the user to create more interactive presentations and explainer-style videos.

Example by Focusky

Best Features:  Very interactive; you can create a unique to your story by combining different “frames” (slides); create your own animations within the presentation Price:  Free, but heavily subscription-based Learning curve:  Very intuitive, nicely organized by categories, but it would require some time to learn the animation controls Available for:  Online Perfect for: Marketing and education

To summarize, this presentation tool is best for marketers and education, where the creator can get the most out of the cool animation and cartoons available. In the last years, there is an increased interest in Powtoon and RenderForest and we expect that more and more people will use them in 2021. No surprise – if you look at our article about Graphic Design Trends in 2022 , everything is moving towards animation, cool 3D-s, cartoons, and illustrations – and these are all things that this software can offer for your presentation.

Prezi is an online presentation software, which resembles a mind map. In comparison, PowerPoint offers a linear way of presenting, whereas Prezi allows you to better show relationships between different elements of your presentation, show details, zoom in and zoom out and show an overall view of your topic. Compared to PowerPoint is more interactive, but with fewer functionalities and a choice of templates.

Example by PreziBase

Best Features:  Interactive presentations and interesting transitions, zoom in/out details Price:  The very basic features are free, but most of the interesting ones are paid, starting from $3/month and reaching up to $59/month. They offer a free trial. Learning curve:  it requires learning and going through a lot of menus and functionalities, similar to PowerPoint Available for:  Online / Limited use for iOS and Android (only viewing, not creating and editing) Perfect for: teachers, businesses, more experienced designers, and specific presentations needs, but not recommended for newbies

Prezi is best in showing relationships between different parts of your presentations. There are some challenges in editing, and viewing across devices and its best features are paid for. We recommend it for quick, mind-map-like presentations without the need for ultra-special design.

3. RenderForest Presentation Maker

RenderForest is an online presentation tool, which is famous for its explainer style and whiteboard animations. The presentation templates often offer various motion/video backgrounds, which helps to grab your audience’s attention. Currently, the company is working on releasing its Graphic Design Software, which will allow users to create printables and beautiful designs for social media. This shows that RenderForest’s team knows the market well and does its best to cater to its needs!

Example by Renderforest

Best Features:  Video holders with text on shapes, cool transitions Price:  There is a free version, the paid ones start at $20.34 per user/month Learning curve:  Relatively easy to use, the simple interface helps the user Available for:  Online / iOS / Android Perfect for:  Education and business

Although not one of the cheapest solutions, it allows you to create engaging and interactive presentations with lots of cool animations. That makes RenderForest a great choice for more educational and marketing explainer-type videos/presentations.

4. Mentimeter

Mentimeter is a very interesting online presentation software. It allows your audience to engage with your presentation in real-time and you can create polls, ask questions, which are then displayed to your presentation. The answers from the audience remain anonymous so people are even more encouraged to participate.

Example by Mentimeter

Best Features:  Launch live, interactive polls, surveys, quizzes and create things like word clouds in real-time Price:  It has a free version, but the paid plans offer most of the attractive features – the basic plan costs $9.99 per user/month and the more advanced plan is $24.99 per user/month Learning curve:  Easy to use; might need to explain to a less tech-savvy audience how to connect to your presentation Available for:  Online / Android / iOS Perfect for:  Educators, speakers, business and competitions

An excellent choice for educators, speakers, and businesses who want to engage the audience in real-time and display the results immediately. Clean, simple designs, that help you focus on the content.

5. Libre Office Impress

Libre Office is free presentation software, an open-source alternative to PowerPoint. As you can expect from a free product, it offers only the main features of its “big brother”, but it’s a good solution for people used to Microsoft’s productivity suite. The interface is very similar to PowerPoint, which again makes it comfortable to use for a certain audience. Users who need collaboration on presentations, clean interface, and more creative design solutions should steer away from this free presentation software because it will simply not cover their needs.

Example by Theodoros Bousios

Best Features:  Free, compatible with older versions (Windows XP for example) Price:  Free Learning curve:  It will take some time to go through all the options and to get familiar with the interface; Available for:  Windows / macOS / Linux / Android / iOS. Perfect for:  people who want to use a free product and people with older operation systems

To summarize, Libre is free, compatible with older versions, it can cover your basic needs for a presentation, but the options are too many and available templates too little.

6. Zoho Show

Zoho Show is also an online presentation software, which has a very friendly user interface and great collaboration features. There are many functionalities, which help you create a beautiful design, but require some time and design knowledge to get it right. The premade templates are limited and this presentation software needs an internet connection to be able to edit and present.

Image by Zoho

Best Features:  Live broadcasting a presentation with live chat and commenting Price:  Zoho Show is free for personal use. For business users, Zoho Show is included in the Zoho Docs enterprise pricing packages – €5 or €8 per user/month Learning curve: Available for:  Online / Android / iOS Perfect for:  non-profits, start-ups, personal use, teachers

To summarize, Zoho offers great collaboration features, but you need a connection to edit and present. It is suitable for quick, non-pretentious presentations, where you need some kind of collaboration.

7. ClearSlide Presenter

ClearSlide is a sales engagement platform, including an online presentation tool. Another online tool – SlideRocket, was acquired by ClearSlide and one of the differences is that ClearSlide is more costly and targeted at larger businesses. It’s a great platform for very specific needs – collaborating between sales and marketing teams, to achieve the company’s goals. It’s clear even by the interface:

Image by ClearSlide

Best Features: Analytics for costumers’ engagement, video conferencing, screen sharing Price:  They offer a free trial and you can see more about the payment plans here. Learning curve:  Clear and simple interface, but it requires some time to get used to the tools Available for:  Online Perfect for: Sales/business, managers (for coaching); not suitable for newbies, teachers, students

To summarize, ClearSide is perfect for presenting sales pitch , graphics, collaborate in larger teams. It is somehow restrictive for a non-designer because the templates are specific.

8. Piktochart

Piktochart allows you to make infographics, presentations, and printables quickly. Primarily known for its easy customizable infographics, Piktochart also has simple presentation templates and the company is constantly trying to update its library.

Example by Piktochart Knowledge Base

Best Features:  Turning data-heavy content into simple visuals; nice transitions between slides Price:  There is a free version and a paid one, starting at $29 per user/month. They offer a free trial. Learning curve:  It requires time to get used to the options available and to navigate through Available for:  Online Perfect for:  Designers, teachers; it does not offer collaboration options, which might be needed by teams, students, etc.

Compared to other online presentation software is a bit costly and we could still ask a bit more from the presentation templates. We’d recommend it to someone who often uses infographics and wants to use a single platform to combine the infographics with a presentation. But why not check our free infographics as well?

Slides is online presentation software, initially aimed at developers and covering their presentation needs. Thus said, it does not offer offline editing, but you can present offline, after exporting your presentation.

Best Features:  It allows you to use your phone as a remote control; Live Present Mode allows you to control what your audience sees; drop in code, iframes, and SVGs with ease. Price:  Free, with paid plans starting at $7.00/month and $14-$18/month for pro and team packages. They offer a free trial. Learning curve:  friendly interface, but too many functions and options, which might overwhelm the average user and beginner Available for: Online Perfect for:  developers, designers, a little bit too specific for newbies

To summarize, it’s a very cool tool, giving you complete design freedom, but that is also why we do not recommend it to teachers, non-designers, or marketers. Developers and design gurus will love it.

Canva is a web-based solution that started with a mission – to make beautiful designed content available to everyone. The whole platform is organized so that a person without any prior design knowledge can easily create graphs, images, and presentations to impress. Although it is not the best tool for data visualization, it scores high in any other category. Needless to say, it has become a popular choice amongst non-designers.

Image by Iconfinder

Best Features:  Plenty of beautiful templates to choose from and Canva school has plenty of tutorials and tips for free. It offers more free functionalities compared to other competitors. Price:  Free, the offer different subscription plans, starting at $9.95 per user/month Learning curve:  Very easy to use, most of the actions can be performed by drag-and-drop Available for:  Online / iOS / Android Perfect for:  newbies, marketers (who need a unified look across all their social media), non-profits, and teachers

Canva is becoming one of the most popular tools amongst non-designers for creating beautiful unified content. You can create entire presentations, flyers, and other materials with a single drag and drop.

11. Slidebean

Slidebean is the go-to online presentation software for last-minute projects, that look original and professional. Slidebean offers clean and easy-to-use templates and keeps track of your audience’s engagement.

Source Slidebean

Best Features:  It allows you to arrange your content with the help of AI, which saves time creating a beautiful layout. You just pick a template, upload content, and let the AI offer you a nice layout. Premade animations, effects, and alignments are automatically applied to your content and create a cohesive look. Price:  Free, paid versions starting from $8/month Learning curve:  very easy to use since everything is made to fit the premade templates Available for:  Windows / Mac / Android / iOS Perfect for:  financial, academic, pitch, marketing, sales; everything quick with a clear structure

To summarize, if you are in a hurry, Slidebean will offer several layouts for your slides and speed up the process of creation. The platform targets primarily sales, marketing, and financial fields, and the available templates reflect that.

12. Google Slides

Google Slides is part of the G Suite business application. Its popularity has increased in the last years since it’s a web-based platform, allowing you to store, edit, and share your presentation, without the need of installing presentation software on your computer. All you need is a Google account and you are good to go.

Image by G Suite Updates blog

Best Features:  It’s free for personal use, and offers great paid features for business – for example, seamless collaboration and commenting on a presentation, converting other presentations to Google Slides. Some other great features are the wide variety of fonts available (GoogleFonts, not need installing), easy embedding, plus it’s super intuitive and easy to use! Price:   It’s free for individual use. For business use, the price starts at $5/user/month and plans of $10 and $25/user/month, for unlimited cloud storage and extra features Learning curve:  Simple interface, but it will require some time to pick up. Similar to PowerPoint, only a bit lighter. Available for:  Windows / Mac / Online Perfect for:  businesses, freelancers, who need a user-friendly app with elementary features; great for collaborating teams, not so perfect for complex designs and tools, required by big enterprises

Perfect for personal use, well synchronized across different devices, similar to PowerPoint. Maybe you are a teacher and you like GoogleSlides because it is free and easy to use? Well, we’ve gathered some awesome FREE GoogleSlides and PowerPoint templates , specially made for education needs.

If you need something along the lines of PowerPoint but need the option for collaboration – a paid plan for GoogleSlides is your go-to choice.

13. Keynote

Keynote is an Apple product, very similar to Google Slides. All you need to do is create an iCloud account (similar to a Google account) and start using Keynote from there. Running Keynote on Windows also requires an internet connection and a modern browser. The latest version can also import and export PowerPoint formats if needed. All this sends Keynote higher in the list regarding the accessibility and shareability of this presentation software.

Image by Envato tuts+

Best Features:  Simplicity of design, great drag and drop functions, polished transitions and animations, easy image editing/cropping; works great with multimedia; design templates with better aesthetic than an average slide deck; Price:  Free for macOS and iOS Learning curve:  Pretty easy to use for Mac users, a bit of learning curve for users, having experience with other software. Available for:  Mac / Windows / Online Perfect for:  businesses, marketers, people with not much of a design experience

Bottom line, if you are a Mac user, you love the sleek design and you are looking for cool aesthetics – Keynote is simple to use and free, why not use it?

14. Adobe Spark

Adobe Spark is a web and mobile-based media creation application, which helps you create social graphics, short videos, and web pages. What is immediately noticeable is the clean, crisp, simple, and modern designs, which focus you on the content. If you are looking for a funky, ornate design – Adobe Spark is not the right pick for you.

Example by Cikeys

Best Features:  Beautiful templates, user-friendly interface, step-by-step creation, you can add audio to your slides (narrating) Price:  There is a free version, the paid on starts at $9.79. The best templates, as with the competitors, are paid. They do not offer a free trial. Learning curve:  Easy to use Available for:  Online / iOS / Android Perfect for:  quick presentations, teachers, basic presentations without jamming them with too much cool stuff.

Adobe Spark eliminates the cluster of design options and leads you step-by-step in creating elegant, simple presentations. Ideal for basic presentations, not the best for sales and marketing.

15. PowerPoint

PowerPoint certainly is a “classic” – it’s has been the most popular tool for creating presentations so far. What first started as a component of the Microsoft Office suite, now has improved shareability and accessibility. It can be used on the web (as part of Office on the web), works with Android, and iOS, and there is a Mobile app, as well as presentation software for mac.

Example by Abris DC

Best Features:  Many people are familiar with the software, a wide variety of templates; improved accessibility across platforms; extensive tools and options Price: If you want to enjoy the full features of PowerPoint, you’ll need to subscribe to Microsoft 365 – they have payment plans for personal or business use. The price for personal use starts at $5.99/month or $59.99/year, and business plans start at $12.50 per user/month with an annual commitment. You can find more information here . The mobile applications are completely free to use, of course with some limitations. You can compare the available features across different platforms  here. Learning curve: Due to the variety of options and the complexity of the menus, it might take some time to master all of its features. Something that could take a lot of time is editing the text, arranging the visuals, and picking the right transitions – overall, is time-consuming. Still, the interface remained easy to navigate over time and if you trust your design sense, you can achieve satisfying results. Available for: Windows / Mac / Online Perfect for: business, medical, accounting and students; creating concise presentations; but not so suitable for teachers, educators, start-ups and marketers who want to create more interactive and story-based presentations.

To this date, PowerPoint is keeping the lead as the most popular tool for creating presentations. Some of the downsides are that sometimes it can be time-consuming to come up with a good design and PP doesn’t offer collaboration tools and compared to other platforms. But we have a solution for at least one of your problems – we’ve selected 31 Modern PowerPoint templates to set the right tone for your presentation. 

We made a quick summary for you…

Ok, not that we’ve looked at the 15 best presentation software for 2021, we decided to go one step further and compare them by price and popularity. Let’s have a look first at the new-comers:

As you can see, the leaders from the uprising platforms are Canva and Mentimeter, with relatively low prices and with huge success amongst users . Powtoon, Piktochart, and Renderforest are a bit costly , but they are popular since they offer a lot of animation and interactive elements. Hey, but maybe some of the other tools are right for you? We encourage you to go on their websites, contact their support team, and see what they have to offer.

Then, let’s see how the veterans are ranking:

It’s no surprise that PowerPoint and Google Slides are at the top – people are used to their products, have familiar interfaces, and offer a lot of functionalities at a good price. Although, for quick, unpretentious results, their competitors are a very attractive solution.

Final words

We can conclude that there are many useful tools to help you create beautiful presentations. Some of them are well-known and have been here for a while, while others are uprising… No matter the case, we notice a trend for presentation tools catering not only to the designers’ needs but also to the newbies, marketers, and teachers. That way, enabling everyone to create stunning presentations in no time and share them easily.

We hope this presentation software list shed some light on different options out there and that we helped you evaluate quickly what would work for your situation best.

You may also be interested in these related articles:

• 12 PowerPoint Presentation Tips To Dramatically Boost Your Efficiency
• 35 Free Google Slides Infographic Templates to Grab Now

23 Online Collaboration Tools for Your Remote Team

Add some character to your visuals

Cartoon Characters, Design Bundles, Illustrations, Backgrounds and more...

Like us on Facebook

Subscribe to our newsletter

Be the first to know what’s new in the world of graphic design and illustrations.

• [email protected]

Browse High Quality Vector Graphics

E.g.: businessman, lion, girl…

Related Articles

How to use seamless patterns in your designs [tips and tricks], 18 handy desktop tools for graphic designers who don’t like pain, win an oscar for art mission possible for the team of spider-verse [interview], is professional photography fading away [an exclusive interview with lubo sergeev], do you really need a design agency full guide and alternatives, take a look at graphicmama’s infographic templates collection. over 500 premade templates for your presentations:, enjoyed this article.

Don’t forget to share!

• Comments (0)

Bilyana Nikolaeva

Bilyana is an inspiring content writer and illustrator at GraphicMama with years of experience in art and design. When she’s not busy writing for the blog, you will usually see her working hard on new illustrations and graphic resources.

Thousands of vector graphics for your projects.

Take a look at GraphicMama's Infographic Templates Collection. Over 500 premade templates for your presentations:

Hey you made it all the way to the bottom.

Here are some other articles we think you may like:

by Lyudmil Enchev

Top 30 Illustration Companies: Studios & Agencies for Visual Solutions

by Iveta Pavlova

Top Graphic Design Trends 2018: The Ultimate Guide

Looking for design bundles or cartoon characters.

A source of high-quality vector graphics offering a huge variety of premade character designs, graphic design bundles, Adobe Character Animator puppets, and more.

Presentation Software

• All Products
• Buyers Guide
• Capterra Shortlist

Capterra offers objective, independent research and verified user reviews. We may earn a referral fee when you visit a vendor through our links. Learn more

Sponsored: Vendors bid for placement within our listings. This option sorts the directory by those bids, highest to lowest. Vendors who bid for placement can be identified by the orange “Visit Website” button on their listing.

Highest Rated: Sorts products as a function of their overall star rating, normalized for recency and volume of reviews, from highest to lowest.

Most Reviews: Sorts listings by number of user reviews, most to least.

Alphabetical: Sorts listings from A to Z.

What is Presentation Software?

Related software category:, why is capterra free, i'm looking for presentation software that is:.

TombstoneHub

Microsoft PowerPoint

GoTo Meeting

Google Slides

ProPresenter

EasyWorship

Adobe Connect

VistaCreate

Renderforest

Proclaim by Logos

• Get Great Eclipse Photos with Your Phone
• The Best Noise-Canceling Headphones to Buy

Presentation Software Definition and Examples

Presentation software brings complex ideas to life, one slide at a time

• Brock University

Klaus Vedfelt / Getty Images

Many software suites offer a program designed to accompany a speaker when he or she delivers a presentation. The specific presentation program in this suite of programs is usually (but not always) in the form of a slide show. This category of program is well-established; it doesn't change much, and it supports not only online visual display but also, generally, the printing of related handouts and speaker notes.

Benefits of Presentation Software

These programs make it simple and often fun to create a presentation for your audience. They contain a text editor to add your written content; they support charts and graphic images such as photographs, clip art or other objects to enliven your slideshow and get your point across crisply.

For a deeper dive into some of the leading applications in this software category, check out:

Other Forms of Presentation Software

PowerPoint and its clones work on a slide-based logic: When you move to the next point in your conversation, you advance to the next slide. An alternative model of presentations sets aside the slide model in favor of some other navigation system. Examples include:

Prezi offers a visual navigation tool that allows for zoom-in/zoom-out detail across a logical map of your presentation.

Microsoft Sway

Besides PowerPoint, Microsoft also offers Sway, which is a presentation and newsletter designer that supports simpler and more image-focused designs along a familiar linear flow path.

Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day

• What Is an Animation in Presentation Software?
• What Is Microsoft PowerPoint and How Do I Use It?
• The 8 Best Google Drive Add-ons for 2024
• 5 Best Free Presentation Software Programs
• The Definition of a Slide (or Slides) in a PowerPoint Presentation
• PowerPoint Master Slide
• How to Use Google Duet in Slides
• OpenOffice Impress Review
• Converting PowerPoint Presentations to Word Documents
• What Is Microsoft PowerPoint?
• How to Make a PowerPoint Presentation
• 10 Dos and Don'ts for Technical Presentations
• An Introduction to PowerPoint
• Microsoft Office vs. iWork
• 9 Best Free Jeopardy Templates
• The 10 Most Common PowerPoint Terms

Best free presentation software of 2024

Find an alternative to PowerPoint

Best overall

Best for speed, best for functionality, best for collaboration, best user interface.

• How we test

The best free presentation software makes it simple and easy to create presentations as an alternative to subscribing to Microsoft PowerPoint.

1. Best overall 2. Best for speed 3. Best for functionality 4. Best for collaboration 5. Best user interface 6. FAQs 7. How we test

While PowerPoint is the market leader when it comes to presentation software, some people may be unwilling to subscribe to a Microsoft 365 subscription, especially if they don't expect to need to use it very often.

However, there are plenty of great alternatives to PowerPoint available for free that you can use. While these won't have the same advanced features as PowerPoint, they still offer a very competent platform to design most any presentation that you need.

To help you choose, we've listed below the best free presentation software currently available.

Add images to your presentations using the best free photo editor .

<a href="https://gsuite.google.com/pricing.html" data-link-merchant="gsuite.google.com"" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Google Workspace : Collaboration + productivity apps There are many different presentation software packages but Google Workspace formerly known as G Suite remains the original cloud office software and one of the best business office suites, offering a huge range of features and functionality that rivals can't match, especially when it comes to presentation software. <a href="https://gsuite.google.com/pricing.html" data-link-merchant="gsuite.google.com"" data-link-merchant="gsuite.google.com"" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Try it free for 14 days .

The best free presentation software of 2024 in full:

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Our expert review:

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid.

Prezi turns the traditional approach to presentations on its head. Instead of creating slide after slide, this presentation software gives you a single giant canvas. You can add blocks of text or images, or even create miniature slides. During your presentation, you can seamlessly fly around the canvas and zoom in to look at individual chunks of content.

For how complex Prezi seems, it’s impressively simple to use the platform. The only major divergence from Microsoft PowerPoint is that you need to add animated paths from one part of the canvas to another. The tools for this are fairly straightforward, especially if you’ve ever used an animation or video editing software.

Of course, this type of presentation structure isn’t always ideal. Prezi makes it hard to visualize structured data like financials, which can make it difficult to use in business applications. Some viewers also might not appreciate the fly-around animation style that’s inherent to the presentation software.

Read our full Prezi review .

• ^ Back to the top

Canva is perfect for making speedy presentations right in your web browser. This software offers a handful of free layouts to help you get your slideshow started, and it’s easy to customize the templates to fit your needs. There isn’t a huge variety of content elements to add to your presentation, but Canva makes up for this with a searchable library of more than 1 million images you can use.

Your Canva presentations live online, which makes it extremely easy to collaborate. You can invite colleagues to edit your slideshow (although simultaneous editing is not supported) or seamlessly share your finished presentation. However, beware that Canva can’t import presentations from Microsoft Powerpoint or export finished work to a Powerpoint-editable format.

Read our full Canva review .

3. LibreOffice

LibreOffice is a free alternative to Microsoft Office, and it includes a Powerpoint equivalent called Impress with nearly all of the same functionality. The only big difference you’ll find between the two slideshow creation tools is the LibreOffice lacks some modern features like built-in collaboration and integration with Microsoft OneDrive.

However, Impress does have a few advantages of its own. The software can import files from Keynote, the default presentation software on Mac computers. Plus, there are hundreds of free templates that you can download for free. Even better, there’s no limit on what fonts you can use with Impress, so it’s easy to change the look of your presentation from what Powerpoint typically allows.

On the whole, LibreOffice Impress is about as close as it gets to simply replicating Microsoft Powerpoint for free.

Read our full LibreOffice review .

4. Google Slides

Google Slides is part of Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), and it does a nice job of matching a number of PowerPoint’s capabilities. This free presentation software supports embedding videos, creating diagrams, and adding animations to your slides. While the selection of templates is somewhat limited, you can easily import hundreds of additional templates for free or create your own.

Even better, Google Slides supports the collaboration tools users have come to expect from Google. Multiple people can work on a slideshow simultaneously, and there’s a built-in group chat so you can keep track of what everyone is doing. It’s also nice that you can play your presentation in presenter mode, which allows you to preview how it will look to your audience and rehearse timing.

The only downside to Google Slides is that bloated slideshows can experience some loading delays. Also beware that while you can move between Slides and Powerpoint, the conversion often messes with the layout of your slides.

Read our full Google Slides review .

5. WPS Office Free

WPS Office Free is a Microsoft Office look-alike that fully support PowerPoint files without any layout issues during import. The WPS Presentation tool has all of the same capabilities of PowerPoint, including tons of animations, slide transitions, content effects, and video embedding. The selection of included presentation templates is also very impressive for a free software.

One of the best things about this presentation software is that the user interface will feel incredibly familiar if you’re coming from Microsoft. All of the tools are displayed in a top ribbon, with your slides shown on the left side of the screen for easy navigation. It’s simple to display your presentation right from WPS Presentation, which means there’s no unexpected troubleshooting when it’s time to show off your work.

There’s not much to dislike about WPS Presentation. However, keep in mind that the software is supported by ads. Some users find the ads annoying, but they’re not overly in the way.

Read our full WPS Office Free review .

We've also featured the best free office software .

Best free presentation software FAQs

Which alternative to powerpoint is best for you.

When deciding which alternative to PowerPoint to download and use, first consider what your actual needs are, as sometimes free platforms may only provide basic options, so if you need to use advanced tools you may find a paid platform is much more worthwhile. Additionally, free and budget software options can sometimes prove limited when it comes to the variety of tools available, while higher-end software can really cater for every need, so do ensure you have a good idea of which features you think you may require.

How we test the best free presentation software

To test for the best free presentation software we first set up an account with the relevant software platform, whether as a download or as an online service. We then tested the service to see how the software could be used for different purposes and in different situations. The aim was to push each software platform to see how useful its basic tools were and also how easy it was to get to grips with any more advanced tools.

Read how we test, rate, and review products on TechRadar .  

Get in touch

• Want to find out about commercial or marketing opportunities? Click here
• Out of date info, errors, complaints or broken links? Give us a nudge
• Got a suggestion for a product or service provider? Message us directly
• You've reached the end of the page. Jump back up to the top ^

Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!

Michael Graw is a freelance journalist and photographer based in Bellingham, Washington. His interests span a wide range from business technology to finance to creative media, with a focus on new technology and emerging trends. Michael's work has been published in TechRadar, Tom's Guide, Business Insider, Fast Company, Salon, and Harvard Business Review. 

Adobe Dreamweaver (2024) review

Adobe Character Animator (2024) review

How to watch Paris–Roubaix 2024: live stream men's cycling online

Most Popular

By Barclay Ballard February 28, 2024

By Barclay Ballard February 27, 2024

By Krishi Chowdhary February 26, 2024

By Barclay Ballard February 26, 2024

By Barclay Ballard February 24, 2024

By Barclay Ballard February 23, 2024

By Barclay Ballard February 22, 2024

By Barclay Ballard February 21, 2024

• 2 Programmers got PSP games running on the PlayStation Portal, then “responsibly reported” the exploit so it could be patched
• 3 8 new horror movies on Max, Paramount Plus, Shudder and more in April 2024
• 4 New Philips Hue update makes using your smart lights a whole lot easier
• 5 Pro-Ject's two new affordable turntables promise audiophile quality for less
• 2 Buying a new TV in 2024? Make it a Sony
• 3 Is 7 years of software support a gimmick? My 4-year-old Samsung Galaxy S20 just gave me the answer
• 4 Meta teases its next big hardware release: its first AR glasses, and we're excited
• 5 Leaked iPhone 16 dummy units show design changes for all four phones

Reinvent productivity with Copilot for Microsoft 365.

Microsoft PowerPoint

Copilot in PowerPoint

Turn your inspiration into stunning presentations. Get it now when you add Copilot Pro or Copilot for Microsoft 365 to your Microsoft 365 subscription. ​

Turn your inspiration into stunning presentations

Turn a spark of inspiration into personalized presentations with Copilot in PowerPoint. Copilot will turn existing Word documents into presentations, create new presentations from simple prompts or outlines, or find the best places for impactful imagery—and will help you leave audiences dazzled with skillful storytelling.

Designing slides has never been easier

Create well-designed, impactful slides with the help of Designer and Ideas in PowerPoint.

3D isn't just for the movies

Now you can easily insert 3D objects and embedded animations directly into PowerPoint decks from your own files or a library of content.

Interact naturally using voice, touch, and ink

Easily ink onto a slide, then convert handwritten notes into text and make hand-drawn shapes perfect in seconds.

Nail your next presentation

With Presenter Coach, practice your speech and get recommendations on pacing, word choice, and more through the power of AI.

Be on the same page

Always know where you are in the editing process. With the while you were away feature, track recent changes made by others in your decks.

Task management with PowerPoint and Microsoft 365

Tell your story with captivating presentations.

Originally starting from Free now starting from Free

Sharing and real-time collaboration

PowerPoint for the web

Basic templates, fonts, icons, and stickers

Dictation and voice commands

Works on web, iOS, and Android™

5 GB of cloud storage

Microsoft 365 Personal

Originally starting from $6.99 now starting from $6.99

$6.99 $6.99

(Annual subscription–auto renews) 1

PowerPoint for the web and PowerPoint desktop app for offline use

Premium templates, fonts, icons, and stickers with thousands of options to choose from

Dictation, voice commands, and transcription

Advanced spelling and grammar, in-app learning tips, use in 20+ languages, and more

1 TB (1000 GB) of cloud storage

Premium desktop, web, and mobile apps

Advanced security

Ad-free experience

Works on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android™

Copilot Pro available as an add-on. *

Microsoft 365 Family

Originally starting from $9.99 now starting from $9.99

$9.99 $9.99

One to six people

Up to 6 TB of cloud storage, 1 TB (1000 GB) per person 

Premium desktop, web, and mobile apps 

Advanced security 

Microsoft Powerpoint

One person 

Microsoft 365 Apps for business

Originally starting from $8.25 now starting from $8.25

$8.25 $8.25

Available for up to 300 employes

Desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook

1 TB of cloud storage per user

Anytime phone and web support

Microsoft 365 Business Standard

Originally starting from $12.50 now starting from $12.50

$12.50 $12.50

Everything in Microsoft 365 Apps for business, plus:

Web, and mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook

Custom business email ([email protected])

Chat, call, and video conference with Microsoft Teams

10+ additional apps for your business needs (Bookings, Planner, Microsoft Forms, and others)

Automatic spam and malware filtering

Webinars with attendee registration and reporting

New: Collaborative workspaces to co-create using Microsoft Loop

New: Video editing and design tools with Clipchamp

Copilot for Microsoft 365 available as an add-on. **

Add Copilot to your Microsoft plan

Achieve more than ever using AI integrated with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and other Microsoft 365 apps.

Get the PowerPoint mobile app

Ready to create great presentations with Microsoft 365?

See more from microsoft powerpoint.

Collaborate on shared projects

Get commonly used Office features and real-time co-authoring capabilities through your browser.

Jumpstart your design

Show your style and professionalism with templates, plus save time. Browse PowerPoint templates in over 40 categories.

Connect with experts

See what’s new and get classic tips and editors' tricks to help you create, edit, and polish presentations like a pro.

Read about slide presentations

6 slide presentation software tips to impress, host large-scale virtual presentations, how to make a slide show, what’s new in powerpoint.

• [1] Once your paid subscription begins, cancelation policies vary based on your status as a new customer, product, and domain selections on Microsoft.  Learn more.  Cancel your Microsoft 365 subscription any time by going to the Microsoft 365 admin center. When a subscription is canceled, all associated data will be deleted.  Learn more about data retention, deletion, and destruction in Microsoft 365 . Microsoft PowerPoint with a Microsoft 365 subscription is the latest version of PowerPoint. Previous versions include PowerPoint 2016,  PowerPoint 2013 ,  PowerPoint 2010 ,  PowerPoint 2007 , and PowerPoint 2003. iTunes, iPhone, and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Android is a trademark of Google Inc.
• [*] Copilot Pro benefits are currently available on web, Windows, and macOS and iPadOS. A Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription is required to access Copilot in select apps, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook. Excel features are currently in preview in English only. Microsoft 365 Personal or Family and Copilot Pro are not available in the same transaction and must be purchased in two separate transactions.
• [**] Copilot for Microsoft 365 may not be available for all markets and languages. To purchase, enterprise customers must have a license for Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 or Office 365 E3 or E5, and business customers must have a license for Microsoft 365 Business Standard or Business Premium.

Follow Microsoft 365

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

UGREEN NAS Software – The UGOS Beta Review

UGREEN NASync NAS Storage Software Early Beta Review

Many of you might have already heard about the NAS solution (the NASync DXP series) coming from UGREEN soon. Arriving initially on Kickstarter on the 26th March , this product will hopefully be rolling out to backers in mid-summer 2024, with it no doubt arriving at traditional retail after then. As good as the hardware all sounds on the DXP2800, DXP4800, DXP6800, DXP8800 and DXP480T), what about the software? UGREEN NAS devices arrive with the UGOS software (alongside some client toosl for PC, Mac, Android and iOS) and many users want to know if it is any good, what state the current beta is in, and ultimately how good is this inclusive software. So, today I am going through the UGREEN UGOS NAS software (at the time of writing, version 1.0.0.0483), discussing what I like, what I don’t and indications of where UGREEN seems to be headed with this Debian-based platform

UGREEN UGOS NAS Software (Beta) Review – The TL:DR

In a rush? let’s get to the point! Here is what I think of the UGREEN NAS software for desktop and NAS:

UGREEN UGOS NAS Software Beta Review – Mobile Application

Although I will get onto the PC/Mac desktop user experience in a while, I wanted to start this software review with the mobile application as 1) It will likely be the most frequently used means for new/novice users to interact with the UGREEN NAS, and 2) because it is arguably further along in terms of development and polish than the browser GUI. The mobile application is available for iOS and Android and is genuinely exceptionally well presented. The main application dashboard allows you to manage multiple UGREEN NAS devices on the LAN/Network, or remotely via the UGREEN account relay services. Upon logging in, you are presented with a single mobile dashboard to manage..well… everything. In my testing and evaluation, I only found 2-3 things that are not possible in the mobile app that were possible via the desktop. The UX is smooth, clear and was responsive the entire time. ALL of the testing )(and screenshots below) were conducted with the app connecting with the NAS remotely over 5G/4G SIM (cellular) mobile services and not network/WiFi.

Rather than providing multiple tailored apps for photos, videos, system management, etc, UGREEN have instead opted for a Swiss army knife ‘1 app’ approach. All applications running on the NASync system are accessible and usable via the app (with the exception of the management of the Sync and Backup target tools – more on that later). In most cases the apps run in a tailored GUI (eg the photo apps is more thumbnail-focused with native tools to hand via overlay buttons, whereas config controls are more ‘textual’ and rigid). This also extends to the ‘Control Panel’ of the system, which has practically all system controls to hand and is usable to the same degree at the desktop via a browser. Really impressed with the work that has gone into the design and UX here.

Pretty much all the system information is accessible (supporting copy/paste click tools too) and further live hardware information is readily available (something often undercut or inaccessible in many NAS mobile apps, in efforts to ‘keep it simple’).

Interestingly, the hardware power controls via the mobile app are also pretty extensive. I expected ‘Power On and Off’ and maybe a Wake On LAN option sure, but I was not expecting fan controls, LED controls, scheduled power scheduling customization, drive hibernation controls and system file service actions. These are rarely all available in NAS mobile apps (for fear of overcomplicating mobile tools). It’s ALOT to take in, but overall I think it’s a good thing. Novice users might disagree.

File management services (ie a File/Folder’ explorer) is also built into the app that gives FULL access and control of the files on the NAS. There the basic ‘copy, paste, cut’ options and ‘upload from phone’ options, but it also then expands towards uploading specific file types (unusual), shared folder creation on the fly, changing access rights and permission to existing shared storage areas – it’s a lot of control to include in the swiss army knife single app, when they could have likely got away with a basic file manage option included with the system manager tool. Colour me impressed.

This level of control and management also extends to the main storage manager (i.e Pools, Volumes, etc). You can action complete Storage Pool creation (i.e RAID building), Volume creation, SSD cache options, manage permissions and even action RAID rebuilding when needed. Really impressed with the presentation and depth of control in this mobile tool.

The task manager tool in the mobile GUI is handled like any other application, with its own design and layout, but (much like the desktop experience i will discuss later) lacks historical analytics on the system hardware – something I hope UGREEN resolve later. Media Server services can be managed via the app, as well as accessing and pushing of links/3D barcodes and files to the download manager for HTTP/BT downloads.

The Photos tool is quick slick and responsive but is perhaps still in needs of a little more optimization, as although the thumbnail generation was quick snappy, the layout always felt quite ‘squished’. That said, all the photography options and control of the AI categorization services were present here. The Map view (using scraped metadata from mobile photos) worked great and all facial recognition tags that were actioned on the NAS Desktop GUI were carried over smoothly. As were sharing links that were created, that could be managed and customized with ease too.

Mobile synchronization was 50% good news and 50% bad news. The good news was that photo backups from your phone are smooth and can be tailored quite well to your network/storage needs (even including some useful destination sorting options). However there was NOT an option to arrange scheduled or automatic backups of the REST of my phone storage – just the photos. That is a shame, as I cannot be the only user who would quite like to automatically backup my WHOLE phone storage periodically on a schedule (maybe 1AM whilst I sleep?). Unfortunately, you are currently forced to manually upload files and folders to the File manager application. Hopefully UGREEN will roll out a ‘whole phone storage’ backup option down the line in future updates.

On the whole, I am really impressed with the mobile application for managing your UGREEN NAS and it feels like this has been a priority for the brand in the software development for this soon-to-land-on-kickstarter NAS. Let’s move over to the desktop and go through the system management of your UGREEN NAS on your web browser.

UGREEN UGOS NAS Software Beta Review – Browser GUI Presentation

The UGREEN NAS OS is accessible via the web browser, either over the local area network or remotely via the use of UGREEN’s online services with the use of a free account. This is pretty much the same as other turnkey NAS brands, but we have yet to see how well it will handle multiple users using this service on mass. Neverthless, if you only plan on local network access, this will work fine. The web based GUI (at least, in version 1.0.0.0483 that I used) was very responsive and did not require any internet access.

As you might expect, the user account that you create during initialization can be customized once you login (the super user admin account is disabled by default). The range of customization to the account is a little limited in the beta. You can change your user avatar, change your password, view your activity, check your storage quota and connect it with a UGREEN account. There is a lack of 2-step authentication in the beta (2FA/OTP etc) which I was a little disappointed by, but aside from that, this is all what I would have expected.

Changing the browser GUI is fairly normal and the range of changes (wallpaper, languages, time etc) are present, but that’s about it. Again, all standard stuff that is good to see, but not going to blow you away.

clicking the grid of menu dots at the top right shows you the app control deck that shows the tools and services you have installed. These can also be dragged onto the actual GUI desktop much like you would find on your local OS desktop from Windows, Mac or Chrome. I will add thought that the font of the text does seem quite dated.

Ther is a support option on the desktop and App list that opens up into a dedicated support portal. I tested this with the internet services disconnected and can confirm that all of the ‘App Guide’ options are locally accessible (i.e offline accessible), whereas the Information center requires internet access to open up and get further support.

The search functionality of the App Guide also works fast and it has pretty much everything you would need to get the basics/fundamental assistance you might need on the first phase of owning the device.

Eg, the network settings option below gave a decent amount of advice and information for IPV4/IPV6 gateways. There was certainly something of a conflict in the fonts and presentation again, but this is a beta.

The ‘Contact us’ tab of the support section provided numerous tools for getting in touch with UGREEN. There was the usual contact number, online messaging/IM platform and support portals, but what really stood out was the online remote access support option that could allow UGREEN to access your system for maintenance or support. This is not unusual (lots of NAS brands do it), but I am glad to see it present here and controllable from the user end. When my system was updated between versions, I encounter an issue (related to my system not being on a whitelist of approved beta OS devices) and I used this system to allow UGREEN in. I was able to monitor the access comfortably. I would nevertheless feel better if I knew I could lock this behind a unique 1 use key everytime though.

The main GUI also has a search functionality built into the top bar that was responsive and allowed me to quick search for filesacross the system, as well as utilize the ‘Universal Search’ function to search deeper and use tailored filters.

The Universal search function broke down searches quite well and even provided further image and file information as I searched – something generally not included in search tools at the surface level on a NAS, due to the indexing of the metadata being something of a pain at this level (though widely accessible in a file manager). Overall, I was happy with the zippy responsiveness of the search functionality. It will be interesting to see how much offline AI search functionality could be added here down the line.

UGREEN UGOS NAS Software Beta Review – Storage Manager

The storage manager is very well presented and showed me all the information that I wanted/expected. A graphical display of the populated bays, drive temp, suggestions of further actions I could/should perform and the additional context options were intuitively on the left-hand side.

A nice extra touch that I liked was the fact you can add storage widgets to the primary storage manager page. This means you can add specific monitoring for your needs.

For the more analytically minded, there is a much more text-rich breakdown of the storage in the control panel:

You can break down the storage manager view to the individual disks (which will depend on the UGREEN system being used) and from here you can view drive health (SMART), run performance tests individually, run scheduled checksum, check temps and more.

In a previous version of the UGOS UGREEN NAS software, when I ran the performance test on the Gen 4×4 slots of the DXP4800 Plus, I got quite poor speeds (around 1.5GB/s, instead of the expected 5-6GB/s at the very least). So, I was looking forward to retesting.

I am pleased to confirm that in this newer OS version, the 4×4 slot for this Gen4 NVMe was able to hit a comfortable 5.1GB/s Read or 5.5GB/s Write. Still not the 6GB+ I would have liked to have seen, but I appreciate that they are still optimizing this. Also, I would like to see further clarification on the actual test (block/file size for the test, something a little more analytical). Additionally, despite me running 3-4 different SSD performance tests, the layout of the GUI only allows me to see the first one (with no means to display the results of the later tests). Still, at least there is improvement here.

Alongside drive health and performance tests, there is also an option to directly wipe an HDD or SSD inside the UGREEN NAS. However, there was no clarification on the method/scale of this wipe (eg is this a secure wipe, writing out each block, or a casual format that just deleted the index). It would be nice to know more about the depth of this Data Wiping.

The Storage Management tab showed more information on the individual pools an volumes. I had a RAID 5 and BASIC pool in one UGREEN NAS system and RAID 0 and RAID 1 in another one.

You can choose to use EXT4 or BRTRFS as the file system of choice for the volumes, though there was no support of Write Once, Read Many (WORM) – which in 2024, is a bit of a pain!

There IS however, support of RAID resync priority options and even a Quick Repair option (whereby the system will prioritize only the areas of a disk during a RAID rebuild that would have data, then zero’s out the rest in order to vastly speed up the RAID rebuild of partially full Storage pools).

Creating Storage Pools and volumes feels easy and intuitive. They have kept it simply, which is going to be great for movies (but experts might find it limiting). There is support of the usual RAID configurations of RAID 0, 1, 5, 6 10, but no flexible RAID system (like Synology Hybrid RAID – SHR or TRAID).

You can apply schedule drive health tests (not uncommon on NAS devices).

Additionally, there are options present to control the USB drive via the storage manager to prohibit access generally or completely.

Overall, the storage management is a little sparse BUT it is definitely ease to use, intuitive and provides the majority of base-level functionality a new NAS user is going to need. I am disappointed at the lack of more prosumer options such as WORM (though I will forgive the lack of a flexible RAID system like SHR, as that is not exactly common in the world of NAS anyway). UGREEN are clearly focusing on the fundamentals here (perhaps looking at Synology and DSM for…inspiration?). I hope to see further optimization and explanation around the performance benchmarking tools, but apart from that I am happy. Let’s discuss the object file/folder access in the Web Browser GUI and the quality of the UGREEN File Browser.

UGREEN UGOS NAS Software Beta Review – File Manager

Much like turnkey solutions currently in the market from Synology and QNAP (with DSM and QuTS respectively), the UGREEN NAS software includes a browser-based File Manager. This allows you to see and interact with data on your NAS in a much more native way, as well as take advantage of traditional copy, paste, archive, uncompress and deletion tools. The File Browser also integrates native ‘right click’ context options whilst in use in your web browser. Again, as mentioned earlier, non of this is ‘new’ to the industry, but it is still good that this new NAS software in the market is nailing the fundamentals.

Folders can be created in the file manager that can be standard breadcrumb, personal folders that are related to an individual user, or shared folders that can be used by network-connected client devices or applications. Control and access (i.e Read/Write Rules) can be set to individual users and groups. There was no option to apply any encryption or write once rules to these shared folders however.

The context menus of the file manager also allow users to share files/folders easily, with support of sharing with other UGREEN NAS users or via a unique link. Rules for it’s use (date of expiry, number of access sessions, password protection, etc) can be applied during their creation.

Additionally, files can be directly shared from the Universal Search tool (discussed earlier) with similar share rule controls in place.

The overall/global settings of the file manager are all fairly standard, but more interestingly there are also a few extra options in the management tab. These include controls for your user personal folder, a management portal for existing shared links, a private collection folder option (to add specific files as needed on the fly), recycle bin management (date of true deletion, where it is applicable etc) and more interestingly, a File deduplication option.

The File Deduplication option (unlike backend deduplication which works automatically and, in the case of ZFS, in line) allows you to manually select folder directories and action the system to scan for duplicate files (so, photos, music, docs, etc) and then it will allow you to action space-saving measures. This feature felt a little unfinished and poorly optimized, but does show promise and is definitely positive feature!

I can also confirm that playback of video files, via the File Manager was smooth. It definitely required compression/license support on your respective browser/os, but files played and there was options to downgrade video quality, minimize in the corner of the screen and navigate playback easily. I would still much, MUCH rather a native video playback application (as I assume 3rd party client devices such as Amazon Fire TV, Roku, PS5, etc are going to rely on 3rd party network players), but this is still a positive development. On the other side, no Plex Media Server application in this current version of the beta, and no container application to create a custom deployment. Hopefully, this will be resolved soon.

When it came to checking photo viewing i nthe file manager, I can confirm that it i s supported and a Picture Preview service is included. Later on we will discuss the standalone AI powered photo application.

Unfortunately, audio playback was not possible and any attempts to playback .MP3, .WMA or .WAV all resulted in just a download prompt and no playback i nthe browser. Not a big deal, but without an audio player tool in place, it does make checking/previewing audio data rather clunky.

Copy/Paste/Cut actions on files generate a File Copy task in the notifications panel at the top right of the screen. This is all good and was dynamic/animated, however there was no clear indication that this was taking place (eg the notification appearing upon actioning the copy/paste) and no indication in the file manager. Not a massive deal, but it left me wondering if the action was actually happening. I should not need to actively check the task center to know that my ‘write action’ is occuring.

The File Manager is a robust tool that, although not currently as feature-rich as the one found in QNAP QTS or Synology DSM, it gives you pretty much everything you are going to need for basic/day-to-day file management in the web browser. It definitely still needs tweaks and optimization, but it’s in a very good state currently and even has a few options like manual deduplication and ‘collection options that are being presented uniquely in their platform. Let’s discuss system management via the Control Panel.

UGREEN UGOS NAS Software Beta Review – Control Panel

The control panel is pretty much exactly as you might expect, pretty clear UI and although I would appreciate an ‘advanced’ tab (as compressing all the system controls into 12 icons seems quite strict), it is definitely not an intimidating presentation here. To go through ALL of the settings would effectively quadruple the length of this UGREEN UGOS Beta review, but I will cover elements that stood out for me (both good and bad).

I like that the system is arriving (even in this beta) with a completely customizable and user-friendly scheduled On/Off organizer. Those of you who want to ensure the system is only in operation during peak/necessary periods (for reasons of noise, power consumption or security) will appreciate how fleshed out this section is.

Likewise, the system software already has fan controls in place (I tested on both the DXP4800 PLUS and DXP480T, both responded immediately).

There was also an option to reset all your network connections to default (setting all static IPs, subnets, etc back to dynamic and default), as well as the option to factory reset the system. I think the wording of the later needs to be improved, as it is not hugely clear about the implications of this choice.

Finally, there was the support of LED controls. This is something I hoped for, as the LEDs of the 3.5″ SATA UGREEN models are exceptionally bright (white) and alongside the option to dim them, there was even a scheduled option that allows you to set a plan to lower them during specific periods of the hour (and day/weel). It’s a small option, but I do appreciate it!

Alongside the network management options (that we will cover more later on in the article) there is also established support for bonding/trunking of the ports. Again, not ‘new’, but a welcome addition to this launch beta software.

There are established management and controls for the remote access via the UGREENLink service (As well as creating a dynamic domain name for the system for remote access). I did not explore this during my time with the beta, as I want to hold off till closer to the established product for a more realistic expectations vs experience on this one!

When it comes to terminal/backend access, the option for Telnet was disabled, but the option for SSH was ‘enabled’. I have mixed feelings about this, as although I did use SSH and Putty to access the system to verify the PCI layout and some disk testing for the system reviews, I KNOW it would be much better to have this disabled by default. As this is a Beta software package, there is a good chance that this will be disabled in the full software release (only enabled here for troubleshooting, debugging and maintenance), but nonetheless, I would like to see this ‘off’ by default in the full release.

The system task manager was fairly standard, showing plenty of system service and process information. There was no option to ‘kill/Hibernate’ services (as you might find in your Windows Task Manager), but that is not unusual in NAS software, for fear of corrupting the system services.

The graphical system resource display of the task manager was very detailed, clear and intuitive. It covered pretty much EVERYTHING and was very responsive. My only real complaint here would be that there was no option to record the task manager analytical information. i.e going into it showed you the current system resource use from that moment, nothing from the past. Adding an option to allow the system to maintain a record (even as a check box option, as featured in Synology DSM) would allow much, MUCH better long-term analytical benefits for this 24×7 system.

Regarding software updates, the system has configurable options to allow the system OS updates to be actioned automatically or manually, with the system periodically pinging the UGREEN update server to check it’s status (which can be disabled). I will add that during my early time with the UGREEN DXP4800 PLUS and DXP480T, I had difficulty upgrading my software to the newer version for this beta review and it turned out to be related to my address/serial requiring adding to a white list. I am sure this is not going to be an issue when the software and hardware fully rolls out, but those reading this wondering why their beta software is not showing the same version as them might find this is the issue.

Also, the UGREEN NAS systems arrive with UPS support to allow automatic pinging in the event of a power cut/brown-out and the system safely power itself down safely straight away, or maintain operation for a given period. This is a small thing and relatively common in NAS circles, but nonetheless nice to see in their software out the gate!

As mentioned, I could probably go through everything in the control panel and make this article a few thousand words longer… but I won’t! There are user/group controls, time and language controls (the later of which seemed to still present Chinese text periodically, but this IS a beta) and lots of system information options. Overall, it’s a decent control panel and backend, but maybe adding a few tips/guidance in places and perhaps an Easy/Advanced tab in a ver.2 of the software down the line might be appealing. Let’s discuss system security maintenance.

UGREEN UGOS NAS Software Beta Review – Security

Now, let’s be a bit neutral here for a sec! We are talking about a BETA of the UGREEN NAS software, so I understand that this is an in development product and therefore the potential for vulnerabilities, fixed default credentials and loose ends are going to be high. However, I DO think we need to use this UGOS beta for a good indication of what UGREEN are layout the tracks down for (both good and bad!). The system arrives with a Security Manager tool that allows you to action ad-hoc/scheduled system scanning. This generates logs and also allows you to select actions for files deemed suspicious or compromised.

I will say though, that it wasn’t hugely clear on what exactly was being actioned in this tool. It might well be a question of an ‘in development’ GUI overlaying the tool, but I assumed that a security manager on the UGREEN NAS would work through a list of pre-defined security parameters (eg weak passwords, SSH left enabled, default ports, firewall usage, etc).

This Security Manager seemed to be prioritizing the search for Malware/Exploitative Files/Virus’ etc – which is actually comparatively rare as an attack vector in modern in NAS circles compared to RANSOMWARE attacks – which only require a path INTO the NAS to inject code and get the system to lock up the data, which is then used to blackmail users into exchanging bitcoin for the key. This security manager didn’t give me a vibe that it was addressing this. Still, it IS a beta and I will 100% welcome being corrected on this.

The majority of the File services (except SMB) were disabled by default (and SSH was enabled, but again this might be Beta related).

The system also arrives with Firewall management services (disabled by default, but easy to enable).

I would say though that these controls do need a little more explanation for beginners (I say this to most NAS brands really) as a lot of users will blanketly enable this service, or worse play with their port services, without understanding the significance of the action. This does need a little more tips/explanation I think (there is a single ‘?’ tip, and that’s it).

There is also a log center that keeps track of the activity on the system. It’s all clear, if a little basic and reports can be exported logs from this GUI.

Alternatively, there is a notification configuration in the Log center to ensure that events and alerts are delivered to important system users as needed. The configuration and filtering of this is a bit sparse, but the structure is there to work upwards from.

Network management is also present and alongside the usual traffic controls (i.e MB/s limits to specific physical connections and even user network quota in other sections) are present, there is also fairly standard network configuration options. These include the jumbo frames / MTU, adapting the IP to fixed/dynamic, bonding the connections (mentioned earlier) and prioritizing connections. There is no options for virtual networks and management here (understandably not a priority as the physical connections are only 2x tops and there is no container/VM manager to necessitate this kind of service), and although an earlier version of the beta provided spotty network and SMB services, this has now been resolved in this software version.

The system’s default ports (for both encrypted and non-encrypted non-certificate access) can be adjusted at anytime via the control panel, as well as the option to apply custom certificates when needed too. Standard stuff, but positive to see it here on the outset.

With regard to security, what we find here in the UGOS beta is a lot of the entry-level stuff and fundamental building blocks, but still not quite enough for me to think this beta software is as watertight as TrueNAS or Synology DSM (understandable, given the beta status and maturity). The structure is there, it just needed building on and hopefully, this is what we will see as the software develops towards delivery. The security Manager tool needs to be better displayed, a deeper focus on system integrity checks in these scans, integration of 2FA/OTP services, etc. Until I see these features getting added (alongside assurances that SSH will indeed be ‘off’ be default), I would not be too cosy making this beta software internet-connected. Let’s discuss the individual applications that are included with this Beta of UGREEN UGOS currently.

UGREEN UGOS NAS Software Beta Review – App Center

At the time of writing and in the current beta version, the Application center has approx 15 applications (5-6 of which I would consider base-line / default). I fully expect more to appear when the software is more polished and closer to launch, as well as hopefully support of popular 3rd party applications to be adapted to the UGOS ANS system (Plex, Emby, TailScale, etc), but right now it is a little sparse (understandable for a beta – I KNOW I keep saying that!).

There is also the option to manually install applications, but these still need to be installed in the UGOS format.

Updates to the individual applications can be actioned manually, or set to automatically apply when the system is aware of a patch/update. These do NOT require the system to reboot, but will require the application or service to restart. All perfectly normal in a NAS.

Individual applications are displayed in a familiar format (name, version, description, images, etc) but also have the option to ‘stop’ when needed or restart. Again, all is fairly par of the course for NAS systems in 2024. Additionally, when installing applications to choose which storage volume you want to application to run from. This is less of a concern currently, but if the previously promised/discussed VM/Container tools arrive in time for full OS launch, these will certainly benefit from living on a faster media volume!

The Application center is all pretty much what you would expect. It’s nailed down all the framework and structure, it’s responsive (though you cannot install multiple apps at once, currently it is 1 at a time – optimization needed no doubt) and I cannot really fault the GUI of it. It’s just a little empty right now and until a better arrangement of tools and services are included, I will hold off any further judgement.

UGREEN UGOS NAS Software Beta Review – Multimedia

How the system handles your multimedia is going to be pretty important to a lot of users. In the beta version I was provided with, there was only a small handful of 1st party media applications to use, something that will no doubt change as time goes on (in particular, the support of 3rd party applications, thanks to the Debian base of the operating system). The main media apps that were included in my version of the OS was the Photos application and a DLNA Media Server app.

The Photos application boasts the support of AI recognition (something that is available from several of the established NAS brands and their OS right now), as well as easy file sharing, private/public photography areas, smart filters and metadata scraping for custom album creation. The thumbnail generation was very prompt and I was left impressed by it.

Additionally, you can switch between the full-screen display mode and the folder view at the touch of a button, which is nice. But that brings me to the whole ‘folder limit thing’…

One thing I was less impressed about however, was the fact the photo application requires a fixed directory for it’s media library. So, you currently cannot point the application at any custom folder to crawl for your media, but instead, it needs to be in a specific user folder. This is similar to what you find in the Synology Photos application, and many users (myself included ) weren’t huge fans of it then either!

Now, one of the reasons for this MIGHT be because the Photos application has an impressive range of AI core services available (scene/object recognition, faces, pets, offensive, duplicate and locational data scraping) that I imagine requires a lot of pre-set locations to run at their most efficient/effective.

The facial recognition is a little basic at the moment, but DOES work. It crawled the 5 sample albums that I uploaded quickly and it was roughly as successful as other NAS brand’s efforts in this area.

Merging user’s faces was quick and easy, though I did not find it especially good at searching for group users based on their names (eg text searching for photos with those 2 users tagged via facial recognition), but using the smart filters on the main page, right side, worked fine.

Likewise, the system did a good job of scraping the geolocational data from the photos, and then displaying them in a map format. It was a little temperamental (always starting in China), but you would be surprised how many NAS brands get this map view wrong, or not even provide it at all.

Additionally, the OCR/AI Text crawling that occurred during the indexing periods was very good and any photo that had text was immediately pre-crawled for words that would be displayed when clicking the relevant icon in the preview window.

Not to give the AI/Software too much credit, as a lot of the information is kept in the metadata of the images. Nevertheless, it was good that the system was able to take advantage of this so quickly and factor it into some intelligent searches and categorization. That said, the ‘object recognition was virtually zero and I assume this is something still WiP – annoying, but ok.

The duplication removal tool was also integrated here into the photo applications, as well as the management of the file sharing that you might be actioning. The blurred photo removal tool was a little hit and miss, but then again these 5 albums were already pre-curated and therefore there was;t much smudge/blur photography for it to get its feet into.

Image sharing provided pretty much all the configuration and security precautions we say previously (password, validity period, download #s, etc). There weren’t any restrictions for HTTPS, or encrypted transfers though. There was also an option to restrict to registered NAS system users only.

As mentioned, the only other media application that I was able to see in the beta software I used was the DLNA media server application.

This was super basic and only provided an on/off switch, then the option to choose which directories could be accessible for multimedia sharing on the local area network:

1st party multimedia playback support is probably one of the weakest areas of the UGREEN NAS UGOS software in this beta and I sincerely hope it gets addressed closer to launch. Additionally, the option to conveniently install 3rd party multimedia applications via a verified app center section that includes Plex, Jellyfin, Emby etc would make things significantly better!

UGREEN UGOS NAS Software Beta Review – Backups and Synchronization

Much like the multimedia support of the UGREEN UGOS NAS services, the backup and synchronization tools afforded to the OS are still ‘in progress’ in this beta. There are a few services in place and clear indications of things to come, but its still not a complete backup package yet at this time of writing. The Sync and Backup tool allows backing up of data from 3rd party and UGREEN NAS servers to sync with your NAS over RSync.

This works in either direction of course, but the range of supported targets ends there. There isn’t currently a desktop client backup/sync tool in place (hopefully this is something that might well get integrated into the UGREEN PC Client in time) and supported Sync/Backup platforms still does not include cloud services (Google Drive, DropBox, etc).

There are a few ‘coming soon’ options greyed out and the option to manually select a connected USB drive via the ‘local folder’ option is available,

But it still feels like it needs more time in the oven. There general structure is in place, but the scope of what yo can do with it in the desktop browser GUI is still in its early beta stages clearly.

Backups and Sync jobs DO at least have versioning supported, which does mean that wether you are syncing a local folder or remote system, the roll back option is still available.

Indeed, the system configuration backup is also available, but only the system backend – not the whole system data as an image backup. This configuration backup can be sent to a local folder (inc connected USB) or to your UGREEN account.

The backup and synchronization tools definitely need more time in development and although I am really pleased to see them here, I do think they are a good way away from completion to a stable and satisfactory degree for your 3-2-1 backup routines right now.

UGREEN UGOS NAS Software Beta Review – Desktop Client Tool

At the time of writing this review, UGREEN rolled out a range of client tools for PC, Mac, iOS and Android. Although the Mobile application review and write up is still in progress (but TLDR, it is VERY polished in comparison to the desktop browser GUI), the desktop client tool was available and although it works, the scope of what you can do with it is a little limited. You can use it to scan your local area network for a UGREEN NAS, or enter remote UGREEN account login credentials and sign in.. and.. that’s about it!

The UGREEN NAS Desktop client then opens up a faux browser window (akin to a remote desktop) to view the GUI of the NAS. That is really it. It’s not much different from the browser and is not a big difference in resource consumption on your local system either. I was hoping to see ‘mapping network drive’ options, remote system setting configuration, local folder sync or even a terminal input. But no, just allowing a browserless access portal.

This written review of the UGREEN UGOS NAS software is still very much ‘in progress’ and I will be adding further details later on, as well as detailing the mobile application.

Click the Link Below to find out more about the UGREEN NASync NAS Series on the brand’s official Site:

In the meantime, you can use the video below for the FULL software overview of the UGREEN NAS software:

This description contains links to Amazon. These links will take you to some of the products mentioned in today's content. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Visit the NAS Compares Deal Finder to find the best place to buy this device in your region, based on Service, Support and Reputation - Just Search for your NAS Drive in the Box Below

Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?

Your Name (required)

Your Country (required)

Your Email (required)

Estimated Budget

Storage in GB/TB Required (if NAS, DAS or SAN)

Use case environment (Business/Home)

Your Message (900 char. Or use Fast Track )

By clicking SEND you accept this Privacy Policy Question will be added on Q&A forum. You will receive an email from us when someone replies to it. 🔒Private Fast Track Message (1-24Hours)

ASK YOUR QUESTIONS HERE! Cancel reply

46 thoughts on “ ugreen nas software – the ugos beta review ”.

hi thanks for clearing up if the mobile app will automatically upload your photos to the Nas or you will have to do it manually… thanks for clearing that up again. thanks for all your reviews. keeping us up to date on the UGreen Nas, it’s very informal. thanks again. REPLY ON YOUTUBE

I would love to see ZFS on these NAS REPLY ON YOUTUBE

Great stuff, Robbie. Do you know whether they will offer something like DSM’s surveillance station and automatic sync of selected folders on PC like via Synology Drive? If they promise these two, I’m on board. Tired of waiting for Synology to catch up with more modern CPUs REPLY ON YOUTUBE

I would highly recommend you to check PhotoSync App for Android and iOS which allows you to trigger several backup destinations and decide if you want to remove the pictures from the local phone at the end or not.

I don’t understand why do they even waste so much valuable resources in creating a software that will always be under the market leaders. They could easily make their system compatible with unRAID, TrueNAS, Open Media Vault, etc. and focus in other areas to innovate, for example including a modular small UPS enough to properly shutdown the NAS when there is a power outage, including ECC RAM, among others.

With the photos backup from the phone, does it allow you to move the photos from your phone to the nas and then allow you to remove the photo from your phone without removing it from the nas ? I can’t recall if the terminology for this is a backup or a sync or something else. REPLY ON YOUTUBE

Any Statements/Info about a Container App and (K)VM? Why else have an i5 in the NAS REPLY ON YOUTUBE

Hi! Does anyone know if UGOS (and the NAS box) will support “surveillance cameras” – and if so, does it come with perpetual camera licenses and if yes on licenses, how many? Thanks much … love the NASCOMPARES channel! 🙂 REPLY ON YOUTUBE

Fuck it. I just backed the 8 bay model. I bought my DS918+ for $547.99 in 2019, so hardware wise, the 8 bay is an absolute steal for $899. I will probably just throw TrueNAS Scale / Unraid on it anyway. Hopefully these issues you’ve had doing that are ironed out by the actual release. REPLY ON YOUTUBE

Amazing review as usual!

Regarding mobile app photos backup, does it allow you to choose which folders on phone to backup? Or does it simply back up everything? REPLY ON YOUTUBE

This is amazing! REPLY ON YOUTUBE

How does the mobile app work for multi user? For example, I want to backup my photos, but also allow my household members to do so as well from mobile app. If they are not admins, will they be seeing everything I’m seeing in the app as well? REPLY ON YOUTUBE

*Update on the use of 3rd Party OS’ on UGREEN NAS with hardware, with regard to warranty*: “The Ugreen team confirms that whatever is promised in their warranty policy will not change, which only covers the hardware. They also mention that there is a risk of damage if you install a third-party OS, including data loss and compatibility issues, etc.” – Ugreen Representative, 26/3/24 REPLY ON YOUTUBE

0 seconds ago Just wanted to say “thank you” for all of your videos. They were very helpful in my latest NAS upgrade, which I documented and gave you a reference for: https://youtu.be/_hoyGx9zVxE?feature=shared REPLY ON YOUTUBE

Would love for them to reach out to you for consultation on their software – of course, with applicable consulting fees! – so they can make this in to a great competitor in the marketspace. Thanks for the rundown!! REPLY ON YOUTUBE

Does anyone know if the ones sold during the kickstarter early bird pricing are prototype version or will they be the retail finished version? I emailed them but they don’t seem to want to respond. REPLY ON YOUTUBE

This UI looks almost 1:1 for Synology DSM. I’d love to get my hands on an OS package and compare it to a DSM update package to see if it is the same, or if they’ve simply tried to clone DSM’s look and feel for their OS. If it’s the former, and there’s no licensing agreement between UGreen and Synology, I imagine this product may be dead before arrival. REPLY ON YOUTUBE

If you don’t like baseline features being in the app center, you’re going to hate the way Synology are going as they are moving exactly in that direction REPLY ON YOUTUBE

Is this NAS generally suitable for first time users? Or will it just be a major pain due to e.g. lack of configuration tutorials and generally the not fully developed OS? The early bird price is of course very compelling, but I am not really sure how much hardware is required for it to run smoothly. REPLY ON YOUTUBE

Thanks for this insanely in-depht review! I’m also planning to buy one of these NAS systems (probably the SSD only system). Do you have any information on compatibility with MacOS Time Machine Backups? REPLY ON YOUTUBE

I love your review. Thank you! REPLY ON YOUTUBE

They really need to be ok with people just wiping this and running unraid on it. REPLY ON YOUTUBE

You couldn’t find any way to sideload Plex for a prelim test…. I’m sure it’s running on some basic Linux distro and you can find Plex compatible for all of them. REPLY ON YOUTUBE

Can you do a guide to HDDs? E.g there are currently several 22TB or 20TB HDDs that have basically the exact same specs on paper, using the same technology yet arte vastly differently priced. E.g. the Toshiba MG10 is where I live consistently a lot cheaper than preatty much the exact same models from WD or Seagate. (320 USD vs 400USD) REPLY ON YOUTUBE

To be on the safe side, the hardware is absolutely top for the price, but I would install Unraid as software. I know that other operating systems are not supported out of the box, it will void the warranty (however they want to determine that when using a different systemdrive) and also needs a change in the bios. But Unraid should be able to run on it without any problems, right? Could you maybe even test it? I’m sure some people would be interested. But if you can’t, for example for partnership reasons, that’s fine too. Best regards! 😀 REPLY ON YOUTUBE

0:27: ???? Exploring the beta version of UGreen NAS software with its features, improvements, and limitations. 3:59: ⚙️ User-friendly NAS software interface with familiar layout and intuitive controls. 7:56: ???? Overview of UGREEN NAS UGOS Software Beta features and controls. 11:38: ???? Efficient file management and performance testing capabilities on UGREEN NAS UGOS Software. 15:33: ???? Review of multimedia features including playing video files and viewing photos within the web browser. 19:57: ⚙️ AI models in the photo app are comprehensive and beneficial, despite being limited to one default directory. 23:45: ???? Importance of security measures in preventing ransomware attacks and unauthorized access. 28:03: ???? UGREEN NAS UGOS Software offers various support options, including remote access and offline access point. 32:12: ???? Evaluation of UGREEN NAS UGOS software beta version, including mobile application functionality. 36:05: ⚙️ Efficient photo browsing, sharing, and facial recognition on mobile application. 40:03: ⚙️ Review of UGREEN NAS software beta version highlights need for security enhancements and ongoing SMB performance optimization.

Timestamps by Tammy AI REPLY ON YOUTUBE

I really hope they change the font of the interface from Times New Roman ???? REPLY ON YOUTUBE

I was actually about to buy my first Nas Synology ds224+ after I saw Ugreen Nas device . I changed my mind because it has better 2.5g and good cpu . REPLY ON YOUTUBE

After seeing this, I’ll definitely not use this OS. It would be really interesting to see how unraid or TrueNAS runs on these machines. Also a point would be power consumption on different OS, c states and stuff… REPLY ON YOUTUBE

This thing looks like an investment thats has the potential to grow with the demands of the average user thats looking for basic backup & storage features. For more sophisticated users this won’t do. Packed with this hardware this thing neds a docker ui and some hypervisor. At least now you have a way to generate more content as udates for this OS hit the device. REPLY ON YOUTUBE

I am going to make the purchase based on the hardware specs and Price. Will use as a backup to the back until the software matures REPLY ON YOUTUBE

You have now done 5 videos on this Chinese spyware/vaporware/malware product …..give it up until its released. I don’t trust Ugreen with either the way they have launched this or the security of the product against CCP interference. All they have done with Kickstarter is make themselves look dodgy as F*ck….they look like they are hiding things …. then we can talk about how they wheeled out their employees to shrill for them on YouTube ….. REPLY ON YOUTUBE

So many CPU power and RAM only for sharing files and Photo manager?? No VM Manager or Docker is only disappointing. Yes, its a beta, but if you want play in a big market you must bring more as a really nice phone app. REPLY ON YOUTUBE

Oh god REPLY ON YOUTUBE

???? Plus, since it’s not finished / could have bugs, you don’t want people calling “UHG! OS” REPLY ON YOUTUBE

Thank you, Robbie ????. REPLY ON YOUTUBE

I think they will offer Plex and Emby, BUT let’s stick to the current reality where these doesn’t exist. Do you think it would be possible to install and run Plex server through the console shell ? REPLY ON YOUTUBE

Why o why does it seem that all chinese apps use Times as default font. It makes every UX look cheap and dated. REPLY ON YOUTUBE

I have never had a NAS before, so I am thinking about making this 6bay pro my first. Therefore, I really appreciate these detailed videos. Thank you. REPLY ON YOUTUBE

When I look at this as a whole I see an unfinished copy of DSM. Except DSM has had 15 years of refinement and hardening. If they don’t get SSH enablement, 2FA, immutable snapshots, and a useful security scanner sorted I can almost guarantee they will be hit with a malware attack shortly after release. I had very high hopes for this device, even gave them my five bucks, but I’m becoming less sure as time goes on. REPLY ON YOUTUBE

The font type is not consistent in the interface, times new Roman is very dated. The menus do look like my dated DS214, and my old Asustor AS-202TE – now you may understand why I’m looking for a new NAS. The hardware is a real turn on, but the software does seem unfinished, but remember when I bought my Asustor they had only just entered the market, it was a leap of faith, and at times it showed, iSCSI on Synology was reliable, the same on Asustor, initially, was not. Ah, as I’m watching inconsistent fonts was just mentioned, thanks. REPLY ON YOUTUBE

Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t see anything on the use of containers. Without virtualization and containers, to run servers and keep them separate and secure, I would give it a hard no. Not that I don’t think Qnap Container Station doesn’t need work too. REPLY ON YOUTUBE

It looks like a Synology DSM poor ripoff. REPLY ON YOUTUBE

Lack of immutable snapshots is a dealbreaker for me. It’s too bad we don’t know whether they’re going to add it because I won’t buy one on the kickstarter if I don’t know if that feature is going to be there at release. It’s really your final backstop against crypto attacks. If I have to choose between a Synology with an old processor and a 12th gen i5 without immutable snapshots, I’ll take the Synology every time REPLY ON YOUTUBE

Is it real, the campaign is only for US and Germany? What about other EU countries? ???? Do they really want to sell this? REPLY ON YOUTUBE

Anyone other Americans here that think UGOS is too close to “uggos”? REPLY ON YOUTUBE

2024 The Quirk's Event Chicago Shared Presentation Documents

Presentation decks from the 2024 Quirk's Event in Chicago, IL.

Below is a list of the available presentation materials from speakers. Please note that numerous speakers could not get permission from their legal departments to share their presentations.

Trade Talk: The value of being there Related Categories: Trade Show/Conventions, Research Industry, Marketing Research-General Trade Show/Conventions, Research Industry, Marketing Research-General, Research Industry – COVID-19

Quirk's Time Capsule – March/April 2000 Related Categories: Research Industry, Marketing Research-General Research Industry, Marketing Research-General, Environmental, Internet/Web, Media, Media Research-Radio, Media Research-Television, Online Research, Shopper Insights

2024 The Quirk's Event Dallas Shared Presentation Documents Related Categories: Trade Show/Conventions, Research Industry, Marketing Research-General

Quirk’s Event – Dallas 2024: Four key takeaways for insight pros Related Categories: Trade Show/Conventions, Research Industry, Marketing Research-General Trade Show/Conventions, Research Industry, Marketing Research-General, CX/UX-Customer/User Experience

• Global (EN)
• Albania (en)
• Algeria (fr)
• Argentina (es)
• Armenia (en)
• Australia (en)
• Austria (de)
• Austria (en)
• Azerbaijan (en)
• Bahamas (en)
• Bahrain (en)
• Bangladesh (en)
• Barbados (en)
• Belgium (en)
• Belgium (nl)
• Bermuda (en)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina (en)
• Brasil (pt)
• Brazil (en)
• British Virgin Islands (en)
• Bulgaria (en)
• Cambodia (en)
• Cameroon (fr)
• Canada (en)
• Canada (fr)
• Cayman Islands (en)
• Channel Islands (en)
• Colombia (es)
• Costa Rica (es)
• Croatia (en)
• Cyprus (en)
• Czech Republic (cs)
• Czech Republic (en)
• DR Congo (fr)
• Denmark (da)
• Denmark (en)
• Ecuador (es)
• Estonia (en)
• Estonia (et)
• Finland (fi)
• France (fr)
• Georgia (en)
• Germany (de)
• Germany (en)
• Gibraltar (en)
• Greece (el)
• Greece (en)
• Hong Kong SAR (en)
• Hungary (en)
• Hungary (hu)
• Iceland (is)
• Indonesia (en)
• Ireland (en)
• Isle of Man (en)
• Israel (en)
• Ivory Coast (fr)
• Jamaica (en)
• Jordan (en)
• Kazakhstan (en)
• Kazakhstan (kk)
• Kazakhstan (ru)
• Kuwait (en)
• Latvia (en)
• Latvia (lv)
• Lebanon (en)
• Lithuania (en)
• Lithuania (lt)
• Luxembourg (en)
• Macau SAR (en)
• Malaysia (en)
• Mauritius (en)
• Mexico (es)
• Moldova (en)
• Monaco (en)
• Monaco (fr)
• Mongolia (en)
• Montenegro (en)
• Mozambique (en)
• Myanmar (en)
• Namibia (en)
• Netherlands (en)
• Netherlands (nl)
• New Zealand (en)
• Nigeria (en)
• North Macedonia (en)
• Norway (nb)
• Pakistan (en)
• Panama (es)
• Philippines (en)
• Poland (en)
• Poland (pl)
• Portugal (en)
• Portugal (pt)
• Romania (en)
• Romania (ro)
• Saudi Arabia (en)
• Serbia (en)
• Singapore (en)
• Slovakia (en)
• Slovakia (sk)
• Slovenia (en)
• South Africa (en)
• Sri Lanka (en)
• Sweden (sv)
• Switzerland (de)
• Switzerland (en)
• Switzerland (fr)
• Taiwan (en)
• Taiwan (zh)
• Thailand (en)
• Trinidad and Tobago (en)
• Tunisia (en)
• Tunisia (fr)
• Turkey (en)
• Turkey (tr)
• Ukraine (en)
• Ukraine (ru)
• Ukraine (uk)
• United Arab Emirates (en)
• United Kingdom (en)
• United States (en)
• Uruguay (es)
• Uzbekistan (en)
• Uzbekistan (ru)
• Venezuela (es)
• Vietnam (en)
• Vietnam (vi)
• Zambia (en)
• Zimbabwe (en)
• Financial Reporting View
• Women's Leadership
• Corporate Finance
• Board Leadership
• Executive Education

Fresh thinking and actionable insights that address critical issues your organization faces.

• Insights by Industry
• Insights by Topic

KPMG's multi-disciplinary approach and deep, practical industry knowledge help clients meet challenges and respond to opportunities.

• Advisory Services
• Audit Services
• Tax Services

Services to meet your business goals

Technology Alliances

KPMG has market-leading alliances with many of the world's leading software and services vendors.

Helping clients meet their business challenges begins with an in-depth understanding of the industries in which they work. That’s why KPMG LLP established its industry-driven structure. In fact, KPMG LLP was the first of the Big Four firms to organize itself along the same industry lines as clients.

• Our Industries

How We Work

We bring together passionate problem-solvers, innovative technologies, and full-service capabilities to create opportunity with every insight.

• What sets us apart

Careers & Culture

What is culture? Culture is how we do things around here. It is the combination of a predominant mindset, actions (both big and small) that we all commit to every day, and the underlying processes, programs and systems supporting how work gets done.

Relevant Results

Sorry, there are no results matching your search..

• Topic Areas
• Reference Library

Handbook: GHG emissions reporting

Handbooks | March 2024

Our guide explains the measurement and reporting of GHG emissions through the lens of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

This handbook provides an introductory explanation of GHG emissions reporting and is written for finance professionals who are more familiar with financial reporting and generally accepted accounting principles. As such, we explain concepts in a way that we think will be the most understandable for you, our audience.

This March 2024 edition includes newly added Q&As on certain aspects of GHG emissions reporting – particularly carbon offsets – and updated comparisons between the GHGP and the SEC climate rule, European Sustainability Reporting Standards, and the standards released by the International Sustainability Standards Board.

Applicability

Standards and guidance of the  Greenhouse Gas Protocol

• All entities  

A consistent, transparent, comparable, reliable and timely GHG inventory is at the heart of good climate reporting. I have this handbook dog-eared and highlighted because it's such a valuable resource every time I review GHG calculations and disclosures.

Maura Hodge

KPMG US Audit ESG Leader

GHG 101: The fundamentals

The world of finance is expanding. Beyond numbers and into nature.

We increasingly find familiar concepts – accounting, reporting – with unfamiliar elements – greenhouse gases, renewable energy. This merging of worlds has made one thing clear: nature isn’t just for the scientists anymore; finance professionals are living in this ecosystem too.

Climate-related disclosure requirements are now a reality in standards issued by the International Sustainability Standards Board and the European Commission; and in the US, the SEC has issued its final climate rule and the State of California has mandated climate-related disclosures for thousands of companies. These requirements are likely to shape the global climate reporting landscape. And although different in a number of ways, these requirements share a common anchor: greenhouse gas emissions.

More companies than ever before face regulatory requirements to report the direct and indirect emissions associated with their operations. And this reporting will be heavily informed by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. 

The Protocol has emerged as a nexus in the climate reporting ecosystem. It provides the underlying principles, concepts and methods to develop a greenhouse gas emissions inventory that can be used for various voluntary or mandatory reporting purposes.

Finance professionals play a valuable role in bridging between scientific data and investor-quality information. And because of its influence on the future of emissions reporting, it is becoming more important for finance professionals to understand the Protocol and the fundamentals of greenhouse gas emissions reporting – GHG 101.

We hope this handbook helps to provide that foundational understanding. Anchored in the Protocol. Translated to the language of Finance.

Report contents

• Foundational concepts
• Organizational boundary
• Operational boundary
• Emissions calculations
• Scope 1 emissions
• Scope 2 emissions
• Scope 3 emissions
• Tracking emissions and setting targets
• Offset credits

Download the document:

GHG emissions reporting

Explore more

GHG emissions reporting for finance professionals

KPMG professionals explain the accounting for GHG emissions through the lens of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

SEC mandates climate reporting and assurance

SEC mandates climate reporting and assurance: With its final climate rule, the SEC has responded to concerns while crafting meaningful disclosures for investors.

Handbook: Climate risk in the financial statements

Our in-depth guide comprises a collection of questions, issues and examples that we believe are relevant for companies thinking about the ways in which climate risk can affect their financial statements.

Meet our team

Subscribe to stay informed

Receive the latest financial reporting and accounting updates with our newsletters and more delivered to your inbox.

Choose your subscription (select all that apply)

By submitting, you agree that KPMG LLP may process any personal information you provide pursuant to KPMG LLP's Privacy Statement .

Accounting Research Online

Access our accounting research website for additional resources for your financial reporting needs.

Thank you for contacting KPMG. We will respond to you as soon as possible.

Contact KPMG

Job seekers

Visit our careers section or search our jobs database.

Use the RFP submission form to detail the services KPMG can help assist you with.

Office locations

International hotline

You can confidentially report concerns to the KPMG International hotline

Press contacts

Do you need to speak with our Press Office? Here's how to get in touch.