Top 6 PowerPoint Alternatives to Try in 2022

Top 5 Powerpoint alternativesPresentations are an essential tool in many cases. Whether you are a student or a teacher, an employee or a manager, you have probably created presentations before. But are there any decent PowerPoint alternatives on the market?

Microsoft PowerPoint is probably the most well-known presentation software. However, there are a lot of reasons to not use it. It is proprietary and requires an expensive Microsoft Office license.

Not to mention, a lot of PowerPoint presentations look the same, which gives your viewers the vibe that there is nothing new and this presentation is going to be just as boring as the last one!

That’s why using a PowerPoint alternative is a great move. We have picked out the top recommended apps!

1. Prezi – online PowerPoint alternative

Prezi presentation online maker

Prezi is a collaborative, cloud-based presentation suite that focuses on cohesive presenting and conferencing. While Prezi presentation service can be used in-browser, they also have a desktop app for those who want to work offline. We previously listed Prezi in our article about best presentation software.

Presentations in Prezi can be traditional or freeform. Traditional presentations are linear, while freeform gives users the opportunity to design their presentations on a blank canvas and move from one spot to another. Not all PowerPoint alternatives can offer such a feature.

Besides that, Prezi also has a huge number of templates for pretty much every type of presentations, post or infographic. It also allows users to directly embed YouTube videos, files and even fully-fledged databases.

Other than these, this alternative to PowerPoint also includes features you would expect in any kind of presentation software – extensive text and image editing, freeform layout options and animations.

Prezi presentation maker has a basic free plan for students, but that plan is fairly restrictive. The standard plan starts at only $3 and enables most features, premium stock images, offline access and more.

OS: Web-based
Licensing: Free trial; Monthly subscription starts at $3
Our Rating: 10 / 10

Pros Cons
  • Cloud-based PowerPoint alternative, works in any modern browser
  • Extensive list of templates. More templates, images and graphics are available in the Standard version
  • Additional features for Presenters such as timers and narration
  • Most features require a monthly subscription
  • Customization is somewhat limited beyond what is given

2. Canva – simple in use PowerPoint alternative

Canva PowerPoint alternative

Canva is a free online presentation designing app. There is a stronger focus on using templates and premade stock photos and graphics, but this alternative to PowerPoint also has a complete suite of tools for designing a great presentation. It is free, but users can get Canva Pro for $9.99.

Overall, Canva’s minimalistic interface makes it easy for even beginners to design and create attractive presentation. Users of this PowerPoint alternative can get a head start using the hundreds of templates provided free of charge. Canva’s full library of stock photos can be used to liven up any presentation and make them unique. You can use a free photo editor of your choice to alter your images before using them in a presentation.

Unfortunately, while Canva presentation service is extremely easy to learn and use, it also lacks a lot of the more advanced and complicated features other PowerPoint alternatives have. This is most notable in animations and slide transitions, where only basic options are available.

Canva’s text customization options are also a little limited. So, it is not the best choice for making extremely elaborate and customized presentations. But for making quick, simple and attractive presentations, Canva is the best choice.

OS: Web-based, Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS
Licensing: Free trial; Monthly subscription starts at $11.99
Our Rating: 10 / 10

Pros Cons
  • Minimal, easy-to-learn user interface and features
  • Huge number of stock photos and templates to use
  • Almost all features are available for free
  • Limited features compared to other PowerPoint alternatives
  • Animations and Text are not as customizable
  • Cannot resize the slide on the free version

3. Flipsnack – online PowerPoint alternative

Flipsnack is a web-based interactive presentation maker that allows users to create and distribute various kinds of content materials with interactive elements and a realistic 3D page flip effect.

This software helps users create and share different presentations in 3 simple ways: you can either upload your PDF documents; create from scratch a new presentation thoroughly guided by the editor; or use one of the templates available in the integrated library.

Due to its user-friendly interface, you don’t need to be tech savvy to create a presentation with Flipsnack. The software comes equipped with a drag and drop functionality, stock images and a large variety of fully customizable templates.

Flipsnack is not only a presentation maker, it is a complete digital publishing platform, so users can create publications like magazines; flipbooks; brochures; catalogs; portfolios; ebooks; newspapers; reports, and many more.

In terms of interactivity, Flipsnack comes with GIFs; photo-slideshows; audio and video elements; social media buttons, shopping cart and map embeds.

You can download your presentation as HTML5; web PDF; PDF for print; GIF; PNG; JPEG, and MP4 or just share it online with your target audience.

OS: Web-based
Licensing: Free version; Monthly subscription starts at $14
Our Rating: 10 / 10

Pros Cons
  • Plenty of useful templates
  • Great tool to present products
  • Interface could be confusing for a newbie

4. Google Slides – PowerPoint alternative from Google

Google Slides

Google Slides is a part of Google’s fully-cloud based Workspace platform. In terms of ‘PowerPoint Alternatives’, it is probably the closest to the original program. This makes it extremely easy for people to switch from using Microsoft PowerPoint to Slides.

As a cloud-based platform, Google Slides can be accessed from anywhere and on any PC. Multiple users can collaboratively work on one presentation at the same time. It has a large number of templates and almost all the same features as PowerPoint app. It supports .pptx files directly with no hassle. Any features not already available can be added using the Add-Ons.

It is also integrated into Google’s overall platform, so if you already use Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs, and other productivity apps and services from Google, then Google Slides will feel right at home. Otherwise, Google Slides is one of the best PowerPoint alternatives for those looking for a ‘traditional’ presentation software rather than something new.

OS: Web-based
Licensing: Free version; Monthly subscription starts at $5.99
Our Rating: 10 / 10

Pros Cons
  • Extremely easy to collaborate with other users
  • Interface is similar to PowerPoint, so people used to that can switch to Google Slides easily
  • Integrated with other Google Apps such as Gmail, Docs, Sheets, etc
  • Presentations look very similar to those made in PowerPoint
  • Lacking in some advanced features for special effects and animations

5. LibreOffice Impress – open-source PowerPoint alternative

LibreOffice Impress free presentation software

LibreOffice is an open-source alternative to Microsoft Office in general. Impress is the specific counterpart of PowerPoint.

Impress unlike some of the listed PowerPoint alternatives is fully free to download and use, as it is open source. It is available on Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. It has almost all the same features as MS PowerPoint. It is suitable for most complex effects and animations. The initial selection of templates is limited, but more can be downloaded online.

Overall, LibreOffice impress is also one of the closest alternatives to PowerPoint, though with a few downsides. It does not handle extremely long or heavy presentations very well.

There are often minor issues with loading .pptx files. There is no cloud saving or collaboration, as this is a strictly offline app.

OS: Windows, MacOS, Linux
Licensing: Open source
Our Rating: 9 / 10

Pros Cons
  • Has all the same features as Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Available on all desktop operating systems
  • PowerPoint alternative that is completely free of charge
  • Presentations will be very traditional and similar to PowerPoint’s
  • No cloud storage or collaboration features built-in

6. Ludus – PowerPoint alternative for collaboration

Ludus alternative to PowerPoint

Ludus is the presentation software for graphic designers. Most PowerPoint alternatives target typical office workers or student users who use visuals to spice up their presentations. While most of them have features for creating graphics, they are usually simple and rudimentary.

Enter Ludus. This is a PowerPoint alternative designed for designers first. In Ludus, you can use functions that are normally available only in dedicated graphic design apps, such as customizable brushes with opacity, pressure and gradients, overlaying, screen blending, custom shapes, and so on.

It also has a unique Smartblocks feature to keep components nice and tidy!

Unfortunately, there are no animations or transitions in this alternative to PowerPoint. Also, the focus on graphics means it is harder for average users to use Ludus effectively. But if you are the design-oriented sort, Ludus is a great PowerPoint alternative to use.

OS: Web-based
Licensing: Free version; Monthly subscription starts at $14.99
Our Rating: 8 / 10

Pros Cons
  • Extremely friendly to designers and creative users
  • Produces unique and distinct presentations
  • Cloud-based and supports collaborative work
  • Can be complicated and hard to learn for typical users
  • No animations or slide transitions
  • One of the most expensive PowerPoint alternatives on the list

We reviewed the possible PowerPoint alternatives to use and it’s up to you which one to use. There are also so many option of how you can possible improve your presentations. Use music making software to create the most suitable background audio or turn to webcam software to add the recordings of your web camera to your presentation. Don’t limit your creativity and pick the best PowerPoint alternative to create outstanding presentations.

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