Slideshows are an important tool for many people, whether you’re putting together a business presentation, a photo collection for family, a simple slideshow with music or something else. Whatever needs you have, a slideshow software that delivers professional and high-quality results will be something you will want to use.
In 2021, we updated our older slideshow software list and added a couple new cool online services. Thanks to the versatility of the apps we describe below you can easily create slideshows on any PC – be that Windows, or Mac – or your favorite smartphone. From completely free slideshow makers to premium programs and everything in between, we have you covered.
Free slideshow software for PC
1. Icecream Slideshow Maker – best free slideshow maker
When creating a slideshow, the most important thing is strong features to make your final presentation more dynamic. However, other factors are also important, such as ease of use, design, and accessibility. In terms of those criteria, Icecream Slideshow Maker is an absolute winner.
This slideshow software is completely beautiful and so easy-to-use; a modern experience that makes building a slideshow an interesting thing to do. Users can add images one by one or by while folders from PC and get user-friendly tools for customizing the slideshow. Such parameters as slide and transition duration along with the transition effects can be customized in this free slideshow maker.
Icecream Slideshow Maker is free to use, with an optional premium version that gives more pro features. The program supports the addition of multiple audio files per slideshow; uploading of the created videos to Google Drive, Dropbox, and YouTube directly from the program; and offers the feature to burn DVDs with the slideshows, and even more.
One of the best slideshow maker software is the easy-to-use ability for previewing photo slideshows before saving, while time and transition effects are also welcome additions.
OS: Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10
Licensing: Freemium, PRO version $19.95
File Size: 20 MB
Our Rating: 10 / 10
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2. PhotoStage Slideshow Software – slideshow maker with a photo editor
Of all the slideshow editing and creation apps we tried, Photostage Slideshow Software was the easiest to use with the simplest tools and instructions. This slideshow maker can deliver professional-level slideshows that are fully customizable to personal demands. Core features are on board, such as transitions, images, videos, music, and other media integrations.
We also like the in-built photo editor of this slideshow maker, which is powerful enough to be a worthy dedicated editor for your images. Photostage Slideshow Software also stands out from the competition because its output options are more diverse than many rival apps. The only thing that hampers the overall experience is the slightly archaic and dated design and the fact the free version is time-capped to one month.
OS: Windows 7, 8, 10
Licensing: Free One-Month Trial, PRO version $24.99+
File Size: 5 MB
Our Rating: 9 / 10
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3. 4K Slideshow Maker – easy to use free slideshow software
This free slideshow maker is one of the most handy slideshow makers if you need to create a good presentation or make a video with pictures and music fast yet beautiful. You simply download the app with no registration or fees, you open it, and off you go.
After uploading your JPG files, you are provided with all the essential editing tools. You choose video quality and aspect, set image display and transition duration manually, or match it to the audio length if you have music to add. This slideshow software allows you to choose any music you want to have for your presentation, it’s easy to upload it from your device if you feel like this slideshow needs to have it.
The variety of video formats the 4K Slideshow Maker has for its output files is pretty big: AVI, FLV, MP4 and M4V. Such audio formats as MP3, WAV, OGG, M4A and others are as well supported. Whichever purposes of creating a video quickly and intuitively you pursue, this free slideshow software got you covered.
If you are searching for a super-advanced tool or app for your presentations and short films, then the 4K Slideshow maker might seem to lack some features. You don’t have an option to upgrade it as this app doesn’t have a paid version, either.
Sometimes too many features can be a distraction, though. A lot of users prefer to get basic useful editing tools instead of numerous features you don’t even know how to use, so we wouldn’t say it ruins your experience. If you just need to know how to make a slideshow with music and pictures for free, this slideshow software suits you perfectly fine.
There’s a greater disadvantage, unfortunately. 4K Slideshow Maker only allows you to upload JPGs, so if you have your images in PNGs or any other file formats rather than JPGs, the app won’t see it and won’t let you make a presentation with it.
OS: Windows, macOS, Lunix
Licensing: Freeware
File Size: 25 MB
Our Rating: 8 / 10
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4. Proshow Gold – slideshow maker with in-built themes and music
Like Photostage, Proshow Gold is a limited-trial free slideshow software that you will need to pay for to use the features in the long term. Still, it does everything you want a consistent slideshow maker to do, including efficient use of media. Including movies, images, and audio is easy, while importing from social media like Facebook and Instagram is efficient.
The app features very good integrated themes that you can choose to lead the design of your presentation. Additionally, Proshow Gold features a long list of royalty-free music that can accompany a slideshow. There are plenty of automated features that will appeal to beginners and pro-users alike; although you will only get these features for free for a limited time.
OS: Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10
Licensing: Free One-Month Trial, PRO version $69.95+
File Size: 45 MB
Our Rating: 8 / 10
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Best online slideshow maker tools
1. Slidely – an advanced online slideshow maker
Slidely is entirely web based and is completely free to use. The former of those has good and bad implications which we will discuss, but at its core Slidely is an excellent slideshow maker that anyone can use.
Being a modern web app, the slideshow maker is slick and contemporary, offering a stylish UI to carry out presentations with slick tools and a strong feature set. Connections to social media are at the heart of the experience, allowing easy integration of slideshows on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and others.
The one clear limitation is that this is a web experience only. In other words, you must be connected to the internet to even use Slidely as there is no offline functionality or dedicated download.
OS: Web
Licensing: Free
Our Rating: 8 / 10
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2. Kizoa – easy-to-use online slideshow maker
Kizoa is a free slideshow maker that is extremely easy to use thanks to its large amount of pop-ups with tips and information on how exactly to use this slideshow software. Kizoa supports using preset templates (grouped by categories) for the slideshows or creating them manually from scratch.
The images can be uploaded to the slideshow software from your computer or from Facebook. There are 48 various transition effects and 58 effects that you can add to the pictures themselves. Text can be added to each slide, and there is a selection of various text styles that can be applied to the text with this free slideshow maker. GIFs and music (both preset) are also offered to add to the slideshows. The added images can be used as is and can be automatically centered and fitted to avoid blank sides in the videos.
All in all it’s a great free slideshow maker to use. The only downside comes once you actually create a slideshow, preview it, and then opt to share the videos online, by email, save it as a file, upload it to YouTube or Facebook, or burn it to a DVD, as you will be asked to create an account for that.
OS: Web
Licensing: Free
Our Rating: 8 / 10
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3. Kapwing – online slideshow maker with impressive number of tools
Kapwing is an online slideshow software that not only supports images, but also video files of MP4, WebM and 3GPP formats. Uploading of YouTube videos is available in this free slideshow maker. This is definitely a great feature however since this service is a web based one it might be time consuming to upload and process large files and long videos. You can add blank scenes and select a custom color for it and select the aspect ratio of your slideshow: 1:1, 9:16, 16:9, 4:5, 5:4 and Custom Size. For each scene you can edit duration. The scenes can be duplicated and deleted.
If you open the “Studio” view of Kapwing you can find advanced editing options such as addition of text, images (the collection is offered by the service), shapes, audio and subtitles. You can save the draft throughout the process whenever required in this free slideshow maker. The created slideshow is available online by URL and you can save it in MP4 format. Moreover you can resume working on your slideshow after it is published.
OS: Web
Licensing: Free, PRO 20 USD per month
Our Rating: 9 / 10
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4. Google Slides – free slideshow maker by Google
Google Slides is another great online free slideshow maker with a highly intuitive interface and a selection of 26 templates. If you don’t select any preset template, you will have a selection of blank slides to which you can not only add text and images, but videos, shapes, tables, charts, diagrams, lines, special characters, and animations too.
The text added to slides of this free slideshow maker can be fully formatted (spacing, font size and type, alignment, etc.). New slides can be added with a single mouse click. The images can be uploaded from your computer, from Google Drive, or uploaded by URL. Another great feature of the slideshow software is the auto-save feature. All the changes made are automatically saved in your Google Drive account. Transitions between the slides can also be customized. The created slideshow can be shared by a direct link or you can invite people to view the slideshow by email. As for downloading it, Google Slides supports the following output formats: PPTX, ODP, PDF, and TXT.
OS: Web
Licensing: Free
Our Rating: 8 / 10
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5. Canva – online and offline advanced free slideshow software
Canva is another great free slideshow creator with tons of tools for any purpose you might ever think of. It has thousands of templates for your studies, business affairs, celebrations, or just for fun. Whether it’s your thesis defense or your best friend’s birthday, you got it with this online slideshow maker.
Music, animated charts, videos, text – everything has its templates so that you won’t need to google how to make a slideshow with music and pictures for free. You get creative even if you present a basic task realization.
We have downloaded Canva’s free software software version and felt that it’s somewhat not as intuitive as its online version. When you’re online this slideshow maker runs so smoothly that you expect the same from its offline version but you need to try a couple times to figure where you take a graph from and how you even switch from choosing templates to actually making a presentation. Sometimes less is more.
Both online and offline slideshow software can be upgraded to their PRO versions that provide you with more premium templates (if you haven’t had enough already), collaborative tools, magic resize, content planner, and many other advanced tools a regular user might not even know how and why to use. For those who work in corporations Canva can be a perfect solution.
OS: Web; Windows, macOS, Android, iOS
Licensing: Free; Subscription starts at $5 per month
Our Rating: 9 / 10
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We think that any decent slideshow maker should come with some core features. The ability to integrate media like images, video, and audio are necessary to putting professional touches to your work. All the services on our list have this ability and a range of other features, such as social media integration, templates, and photo editing tools. Turn to a free video editor in case you need to work on your slideshow video further.
Great list, I’ve tried using Proshow, but in the end I switched to SmartSHOW 3D because it’s easier to use but just as powerful.
Kizoa is not free if your slideshow lasts more than a minute. Bait and switch
Slidely is lit, I love it! This one if my favorite along with Smartshow 3d.
I am using this tool called Free Online Video Editor. It is convenient for me because it’s free and I don’t have to pay anything. However, I cannot create a slideshow for my school presentation. That’s why I am looking for an alternative. Thankfully, I have stumbled upon this article. I now have many options to choose from whenever I am editing videos for school and work purposes.
I love it!
This is very neatly written article. I will sure to bookmark it and come back to learn more of your useful info.Thank you for the post. I will certainly return.
I would recommend adding TunesKit AceMovi Video Editor to this list.
Is there a limit of the number of photos you can put onto one slideshow? I was hoping to compile 265 photos of Copenhagen in one go! Also is there a facility to enable you to burn the end product onto a DVD-R?
Mini Tool Moviemaker is widely recommended elsewhere so was puzzled to see no mention of it here!
I loved Proshow Producer and then Photopia took over their software because Proshow went out of business in 2020. I’m some what happy with Photopia but lost all my imports from Proshow to Photopia when I went to a new computer. So now photopia is pretty much basic then what I was use to. You can buy slide packs but somewhat expensive. What I do like is that I can suspend Photopia til I need it again instead of paying for it each month when not using it.