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The best free office suites

When it comes to office productivity suites, there is little doubt that Microsoft Office dominates. But despite its deep roots and reknown, as well as its comprehensive array of offerings, Office is not necessarily the best option for everyone. Parsing the ever-expanding list of features—many of which you’ll never use—can feel overwhelming. For the majority of users, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are all that’s really wanted. Which brings us to the final issue: Office’s hefty price tag.

Fortunately, free office suites abound, many of which are compatible with Microsoft Office docs. We compared six of the most popular free alternatives to see how well they replicate the most commonly used features of Microsoft Office.

Best overall Microsoft Office alternative

Kingsoft’s WPS Office delivers the most Office-like experience of all the suites we tried. Built around its own versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, it offers excellent compatibility with all Microsoft Office formats and features a customizable interface that can be tailored to your preference for either the ribbon toolbar or the static menus of Office 2003. It’s also the only desktop suite in our roundup that included integrated cloud storage for easily sharing and collaborating on files. (Read our full review .)

Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides

Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides simply can’t be beat for collaboration. Its document review features and integration with Google Drive make it our go-to solution for anyone who routinely needs to co-author documents with others in real time. It also has tight ties with other Google products, including, of course, search, giving it capabilities you won’t find in any other office suite. Its relatively spartan interface is a welcome respite from Office’s busy toolbars, too. (Read our full review .)

What to look for in a free office suite

When evaluating Office alternatives, don’t look to replicate every feature, just the ones you need and use most. Depending on your situation, that could be robust spreadsheet calculations and dynamic presentation design or the ability to access files from anywhere and share them with remote team members. At minimum, keep these considerations in mind:

• The big three: Though Microsoft Office has expanded over the years to include programs like Outlook, Access, and Publisher, its bread and butter is still its original trio of programs: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. That’s because nearly everyone uses these three apps regardless of the nature of their work. For many of us, they are the only three we need in a suite.
• Office compatibility: Most of the working world will continue to use Microsoft Office long after you’ve jumped ship. That means you’ll still have to work with official Office files. Look for a suite that can cleanly read and write Microsoft Office formats, from the current DOCX, XLSX, and PPTX file types to legacy formats.
• Interface: The way you access an office suite’s features matters as much as the features themselves. Polarized opinions about Office’s ribbon toolbar underscore this. Make sure you’re comfortable with the way a suite lays out its tools and that you don’t have to dig too deeply for those you’ll use a lot.
• Collaboration capability: The irony that we still rely on “office” suites when many of us no longer work in physical offices means the ability to collaborate remotely with others is now a required feature. If you don’t want to have to email documents back and forth for editing—which can play havoc with version control —you’ll need an alternative that includes cloud support for easily sharing files and ideally the ability to co-author (i.e. make edits and comments on a document) in real time.

FreeOffice 2018

Libre office.

OnlyOffice Desktop Editors

Office online, open office.

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Presentations done right

In Impress, creating and editing slides is very versatile thanks to different editing and view modes: Normal (for general editing), Outline (for organizing and outlining your text content), Notes (for viewing and editing the notes attached to a slide), Handout (for producing paper-based material), and Slide Sorter (for a thumbnail sheet view that lets you quickly locate and order your slides).

Rich content for outstanding presentations

Impress has a comprehensive range of easy-to-use drawing and diagramming tools to add style and sophistication to your presentation. What's more, you can bring your presentation to life with slide show animations and effects. The Fontworks tool lets you create attractive 2D and 3D images from text. Impress enables you to build and control 3D scenes incorporating a large variety of objects and components.

Stay in control - Master your performance

When the time comes to present your work, a powerful Slide Show mode gives you total command over how your slides are displayed and sequenced, so that you can focus on addressing your audience (which slides get shown; manual or timed slide transition; pointer visible or invisible; navigator visible/invisible; and much more).

Impress supports multiple monitors, and its bundled Presenter Console extension gives you even more control over your slide show, such as the ability to see the upcoming slide, view your slide notes, and control the presentation timer while the audience is looking at the current slide.

A touch of creativity

Take your presentations to the next level and save even more time by downloading templates from the LibreOffice template repository .

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Impressum (Legal Info) | Datenschutzerklärung (Privacy Policy) | Statutes (non-binding English translation) - Satzung (binding German version) | Copyright information: Unless otherwise specified, all text and images on this website are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License . This does not include the source code of LibreOffice, which is licensed under the Mozilla Public License v2.0 . “LibreOffice” and “The Document Foundation” are registered trademarks of their corresponding registered owners or are in actual use as trademarks in one or more countries. Their respective logos and icons are also subject to international copyright laws. Use thereof is explained in our trademark policy . LibreOffice was based on OpenOffice.org.

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Custom Business Email

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Word Processing

Spreadsheets

Presentation Builder

Survey builder

Google Workspace

An integrated suit of secure, cloud-native collaboration and productivity apps powered by Google AI.

Tell impactful stories, with Google Slides

Create, present, and collaborate on online presentations in real-time and from any device.

• For my personal use
• For work or my business

Jeffery Clark

T h i s   c h a r t   h e l p s   b r i d g i n g   t h e   s t o r y !

E s t i m a t e d   b u d g e t

Make beautiful presentations, together

Stay in sync in your slides, with easy sharing and real-time editing. Use comments and assign action items to build your ideas together.

Present slideshows with confidence

With easy-to-use presenter view, speaker notes, and live captions, Slides makes presenting your ideas a breeze. You can even present to Google Meet video calls directly from Slides.

Seamlessly connect to your other Google apps

Slides is thoughtfully connected to other Google apps you love, saving you time. Embed charts from Google Sheets or reply to comments directly from Gmail. You can even search the web and Google Drive for relevant content and images directly from Slides.

Extend collaboration and intelligence to PowerPoint files

Easily edit Microsoft PowerPoint presentations online without converting them, and layer on Slides’ enhanced collaborative and assistive features like comments, action items, and Smart Compose.

Work on fresh content

With Slides, everyone’s working on the latest version of a presentation. And with edits automatically saved in version history, it’s easy to track or undo changes.

Make slides faster, with built-in intelligence

Assistive features like Smart Compose and autocorrect help you build slides faster with fewer errors.

Stay productive, even offline

You can access, create, and edit Slides even without an internet connection, helping you stay productive from anywhere.

Security, compliance, and privacy

Secure by default

We use industry-leading security measures to keep your data safe, including advanced malware protections. Slides is also cloud-native, eliminating the need for local files and minimizing risk to your devices.

Encryption in transit and at rest

All files uploaded to Google Drive or created in Slides are encrypted in transit and at rest.

Compliance to support regulatory requirements

Our products, including Slides, regularly undergo independent verification of their security, privacy, and compliance controls .

Private by design

Slides adheres to the same robust privacy commitments and data protections as the rest of Google Cloud’s enterprise services .

You control your data.

We never use your slides content for ad purposes., we never sell your personal information to third parties., find the plan that’s right for you, google slides is a part of google workspace.

Every plan includes

Collaborate from anywhere, on any device

Access, create, and edit your presentations wherever you are — from any mobile device, tablet, or computer — even when offline.

Get a head start with templates

Choose from a variety of presentations, reports, and other professionally-designed templates to kick things off quickly..

Photo Album

Book Report

Visit the Slides Template Gallery for more.

Ready to get started?

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 .  

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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. 

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The 8 Best Free PowerPoint Alternatives

Professional results for tight budgets

• Swansea University, Staffordshire University

Microsoft PowerPoint is a great tool for creating professional-looking slideshows and presentations. However, the home version requires a Microsoft 365 subscription, and the free mobile app locks some features behind the sub as well. Fortunately, there are plenty of free PowerPoint software alternatives out there. Here's a look at some of the best options and how they compare to PowerPoint. 

Best Direct PowerPoint Replacement: Google Slides

Very similar to PowerPoint.

Free to use. 

Compatible with PowerPoint.

An internet connection is strongly recommended. 

Where there's a need for an app, Google seems to have it covered. Google Slides is its PowerPoint equivalent and it's a lot like Microsoft's app. Very simple to use and offering full compatible with the alternative, you can access Google Slides via your browser and easily create custom presentations with audio and your own images, all entirely for free. It also offers great live collaboration features for teamwork purposes.

The only minor downside is you need an internet connection to at least get started but the service does also work offline with presentations syncing once you're back online.

Best for Designers: Prezi

Video editing included.

Can easily make data visualizations. 

Stylish user interface.

Free option is pretty basic.

No support.

Presentations viewable by all.

Prezi is a great option for designers who have a vision but aren't technically proficient at achieving it. Its simple drag and drop interface makes it a breeze to organize your presentation just how you want it. Backed up with other Prezi apps that mean you can create videos or more stylish data visualizations than simple graphs, it's ideal for industries that are more visual than others. A series of pre-made templates makes it all the more attractive. 

Prezi isn't as free as it seems though. To get the full wealth of features like advanced image editing, offline access, and narration, you'll need to pay a subscription fee.

Best for Quick Results: Zoho Show

A theme for every occasion.

Quick to create something.

Intuitive interface.

Need to be online to use it.

Simple to use yet highly effective is the sweet spot for quick results, and that's certainly the case with Zoho Show. You might need to be online to use it, but it's worth the connection with an intuitive user interface that adapts to what you need to do. You can easily embed videos, tweets, and images into your presentations with some neat transition effects making things more interesting. 

Collaboration tools further sweeten the deal with annotation features meaning you can work together well as a team and fast.

Best for Animations: Powtoon

Great animation tools.

Easy to use.

Can export to social media platforms.

Branding applied on free presentations.

More about animations than slideshows. 

PowToon tackles PowerPoint presentations from a slightly different angle than a lot of its competitors. It's primarily great for creating full animations and videos rather than presentations that you would click through and present yourself. That lends itself perfectly to the internet which is why it's so useful that you can export your presentations to various forms of social media. 

With a drag and drop template, you can create something within about 20 minutes from your browser. The free version bundles in branding logos so viewers will always know you've used PowToon to create them but that's a small price to pay for an otherwise very accessible and simple to use piece of software. 

Best for Mass Branding: Renderforest

Plenty of options for expanding branding.

300MB cloud storage for free.

Unlimited exports.

Exports can be low in quality.

Content is watermarked.

RenderForest thinks of itself as more than just a PowerPoint alternative. It tackles everything you might need from creating logos to designing promo videos, music visualizations, landing pages, and websites. That's on top of its extensive animations and intro creation. That might sound intimidating but the service keeps things simple, so it won't take you long to mock something up and develop it.

Stick to the free version and there are some restrictions such as branding on your videos, lower quality logos, and so forth, but it's a solid start for an otherwise entirely free service. In particular, if you just need to concoct a quick 3-minute video for a presentation, RenderForest has you covered.

Best for Non-Designers: Visme

Plenty of templates to choose from.

Can set up five projects at once.

Charts and widgets support.

Limited cloud storage.

Visme branding on free plan.

Been asked to make a presentation and you don't know where to start? Visme is perfect for those that aren't well versed with graphics as it offers an extensive template library. The free plan limits your options a little but there are still some decent choices here. In addition, the service provides cool ways to make stats and data look exciting thanks to chart and widget support. It's all done through a simple drag and drop interface too that makes it super simple to add video and embed other content. 

Just bear in mind that storage options are a little limited and everything on the free plan will contain Visme branding. 

Best for Office Replacement: LibreOffice Impress

Full program rather than browser-based.

Extensive support. 

Similar experience to Microsoft Office.

Requires installation. 

Not quite as intuitive as alternatives.

LibreOffice is a popular free alternative to Microsoft Office, so it makes sense to use LibreOffice Impress if you want the closest experience to Microsoft's package. Unlike most of the others here, you need to install LibreOffice on your PC or Mac which means it's no good for Chromebooks or moving between different systems. However, in exchange, you get an intuitive experience that makes it simple to create slideshows, whether you're handing them out to a class or conference afterwards, or simply projecting them on screen. 

Bear in mind you have to seek out templates yourself though which may be off-putting for the least technically minded user out there. 

Download for:

Best for Apple Users: Keynote

Simple to use. 

Apple Pencil support. 

Cloud based as well as app based.

App is only on Apple devices.

Keynote is Apple's direct competitor to Microsoft PowerPoint and it's a great alternative, especially if you're a Mac user. With app support for iOS and Mac, it takes seconds to get started. Alternatively, PC users can use Keynote via the iCloud website and easily work across multiple devices. 

One of the best features is the ability to use the Apple Pencil on an iPad to create diagrams or illustrations making it great for skilled artists. As well as that, Apple provides plenty of convenient templates for personal and professional projects. 

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• May 12, 2021

PowerPoint vs Word: Choosing the correct communication tool

Written by: Sarah Bailey | Professional PowerPoint Design | PowerPoint Design Specialist | PPT Solutions | Creative PPT design | Training solutions

Annoying isn't it? You open your inbox to a PowerPoint presentation that you expect to be beautifully designed, eye catching and easy to read. No? In fact, the presentation is over 100 slides of the bullet points, little to no visuals, so much text you get lost in the detail, and is almost impossible to quickly navigate back to a section that you want to refer back to.

Sound familiar? Yes? Well, unfortunately you are not alone. Today, PowerPoint is often the application of choice for creating any type of document — and quite often the wrong choice.

This article provides advice on which application is best suited for your communication needs.

“In the beginning,” there really was very little difference between how the two applications MS Word and MS PowerPoint were used. It was more often than not a personal preference, as both applications manipulated the content to be communicated. In a way, Word was seen as writing in portrait with a white background and PowerPoint was Word in landscape format with coloured backgrounds with the addition of ghastly WordArt. :O

Thankfully, both applications have progressed over the years, each having their own unique features, which provide a distinct difference between the applications.

PowerPoint is great for VISUALS

POWER - the ability or capacity to do something or act in a particular way.

POINT - Give force or emphasis to (words or actions).

POWERPOINT - Emphasize the actions.

If you consider POWERPOINT , you summarise one particular point or heading or topic in one slide. Usually text is a large font size so that your audience can read it when projected onto a screen.

PowerPoint is the perfect application for communication types such as:

To visualise complex data and information

To summarise and present key information to an audience, e.g. from a large report or survey

Training and tutorials

Digital or multimedia CV's as a unique way of presenting skills and knowledge

Digital portfolio and capabilities

Visual case studies

And yes, you can even make videos in PowerPoint which can be recorded, uploaded and distributed over various platforms

When presenting to a live audience, whether it be a training solution or a business presentation, PowerPoint is only half of the battle. The other half is giving a stellar verbal presentation (i.e. not reading the content on slides) to accompany the presented material.

Considerations

Do you really need to send a 50 slide visual proposal to your client or can you get the same message across in a 2 page Word document for a lot less resource effort and cost to your business?

It is often too easy for businesses to fall into the 'visual trap' of developing lengthy time consuming and often resource intense proposals in PowerPoint, when really all the client wants to know is; Do you understand their needs? How you are going to address their needs? How much is it going to cost them? and when will it be delivered?

Word is great for WORDS

WORD - a single distinct meaningful element of speech or writing, used with others (or sometimes alone) to form a sentence and typically shown with a space on either side when written or printed.

Generally, if you need to go into the detail with a higher quantum of text, tables and figures, then MS Word is probably more suited for these communication types, such as:

Proposals and contracts

Reports with texts and tables

Dissertations and dossiers

Novels and short stories

Letters and newsletters

Policies, procedures and how-to guides

Handouts to accompany presentations or training materials

Forms such as questionnaires and feedback forms

In Word you write everything such as a briefing, explanation quoting examples and you may also include a table of contents, headings and sections for easy navigation.

Your Senior Managers have asked you to communicate the results of a recent survey. Before sending through the 100 page full report with quotations. benchmarks, challenges and recommendations, think about what information your Senior Managers need to know. 9 times out of 10, they would want a couple of slides developed in PowerPoint visualising the key points and takeaway messages.

To save you both time and effort and to help deliver your messages in the application that best suits the information being communicated ensure that you choose the right application for your needs.

Although each application allows for collaboration between both types, there are different features available for each of these applications which are unique in their own ways and you cannot easily create the same document types in either application.

While Word is used to create detailed documents such as letters, forms, mailings and reports , PowerPoint on the other hand is used to develop visual presentations for business meetings, seminars, workshops or trainings with as little text as possible to engage the intended audience and allow for presenter/participant discussions around the topic being presented.

For example, using Word to create a graphical representation is much more difficult than creating the presentation in PowerPoint. Likewise, using PowerPoint to create a navigable dossier or text heavy report with headings, subheadings, citations and references has its limitations.

Overall, guided simply, apply Word for WORDS and PowerPoint for VISUALS then you can't go too wrong.

#PowerPointvsWord #UsesforPowerPoint #UsesforWord #Communicatecorrectly

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12 Best Microsoft PowerPoint Alternatives You Can Use

Best Microsoft PowerPoint Alternatives (Updated July 2020)

• LibreOffice Impress
• Google Slides

Which Presentation App is Better for You?

• A beautifully-designed template that can invite attention and engage the audience
• Well-organized layout
• And more significantly, seamless presentation of ideas 

As to which presentation apps like Microsoft PowerPoint can suit your needs better. Be sure of what you need:  full customization, a wide range of pro tools, seamless collaboration, or a simplified experience . Keeping in mind various demands, I have chosen the best alternatives to PowerPoint.

List of Top Alternatives to Microsoft PowerPoint

On the collaboration front, it’s also equally effective, allowing you to work seamlessly with your team. And with the desktop app, you can  work on your presentation even offline . As far as analytics is concerned, Prezi is highly efficient, enabling you to track viewers and have better insight so that you will be able to target the follow-up with clarity. Price-wise, Prezi is slightly cheaper than PowerPoint as it starts at just $5/month (for personal use).

• Analytics for your online presentations
• Super handy smart branding feature
• Great collection of templates 
• Reuse a presentation
• Importing files feel a bit slow 

Visit:  Website 

2. LibreOffice Impress

Another feature that makes Impress a worthy rival of PowerPoint is an elegant Slide Show mode that enables you to control how your slides are shown and sequenced. Long story short, it’s got most bases covered to be a notable replacement for PowerPoint. And that too without costing you a single penny.

• Free and open-source
• Multiple different view modes
• Features a range of drawing and diagramming tools
• Option to stunning 2D and 3D images from text
• The UI looks a bit dull 
• Comparatively, fewer tools than PowerPoint 

• Best for creative users
• Impressive Typography
• Available on Web; Cross-platform
• Third-party tools integration
• Supports collaboration
• No offline support

4. Zoho Show

If PowerPoint boasts a  solid assortment of templates , Show doesn’t look behind in the match up either. So, no what matter your requirement is, chances are high that you will always have a template that can give the right shape and appearance to your ideas.

• Offers a competent free version
• A solid assortment of templates
• Works reliably in importing PowerPoint files
• Maintains formatting accuracy
• At times, file size restriction could become a roadblock for efficient performance.

5. Haiku Deck

• Feature-packed yet easy-to-handle presentation software
• A wide range of templates
• Over 40 million creative images
• It’s priced same as Microsoft PowerPoint (Even offers higher pricing tier options)

Platform Availability:  iOS and web

6. Google Slides

• A large collection of predefined templates
• A good roster of transitions
• More efficient collaboration 
• A few transitions don’t work effectively 

Platform Availability: iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Chrome OS

Unlike PowerPoint, Visme has a  clutter-free interface  so that creating a top-quality presentation remains hassle-free. Depending on your need, you can audio, video, charts, maps, and even links to make your creations look more engaging. Talking about  privacy control , it offers multiple options so that you can choose to make your presentation public and fully indexable by a search engine or safeguard it using a password.

• A massive collection of pro tools
• Tons of beautiful images, icons, and fonts to experiment 
• Privacy control
• Handling multi-media is slightly inconvenient 

Pricing: Free, $14/month 

8. OnlyOffice

Being fully  integrated with collaboration platforms  including mail, CRM, projects, and calendar, OnlyOffice keeps the entire team in sync and enables them to work on the presentation with clarity. Though it lacks a plethora of templates that PowerPoint boasts, it has enough pre-defined templates to meet most demand. In terms of customization tools, I think it excels in most aspects and easily leaves its famous counterpart behind.

• Simplified experience
• Open-source presentation software
• Integrated with collaboration platforms

Platform Availability:   Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS

• Impressive animations 
• Only 30 Apple-designed themes
• One of the best collaboration experience 
• Doesn’t offer the app for Windows and Android 

Platform Availability:   iOS, macOS, and web

For the folks who use attractive images in their presentation, they would really appreciate the  library of millions of images . And with photo filters at the beck and call, you can instantly transform the look of your pics. Besides, it also got some  cool editing tools  to give photographs of some adorable personal touch.

• A plethora of background images, eye-grabbing templates, and filters
• Library of millions of images
• Cool editing tools
• Takes time to get a full hang of the software 

Pricing:  Free, $12.95/month 

11. SlideDog

SlideDog  keeps all the elements in their original formats  so that they can achieve the expected result. With the live sharing feature, you can easily broadcast your presentation on your channel. All the participants will receive a link and with just a click/tap, they will start watching the presentation.

• Creating powerful multimedia presentations
• Effectively combine Prezis, PDFs, PowerPoints
• Keeps all the elements in their original formats
• Feels sluggish at times 
• The pro version doesn’t offer a compelling price-to-value proposition 

Pricing:  Free, $99/year

12. WPS Office Free

WPS Office has got more than decent formatting tools that include font styles, colors, shapes and more. Thus, giving a suitable appearance to your presentation won’t be a big ask. If you want to go for a bit more customization,  over 230 fonts and text effects  would come into play really.

• Fully compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint
• Supports both PPT and PPTX files
• Over 230 fonts and text effects
• Lacks the versatility of PowerPoint
• The interface should be better 

Pricing:  Free 

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q. which powerpoint alternative is best for your small business, q. what can i use instead of powerpoint, q. is there a better presentation software than powerpoint, q. is prezi better than powerpoint.

While Prezi surely has got new looks and great animations, it’s a tad bit harder to design presentations on Prezi than PowerPoint. In addition, Prezi’s formatting options are really messy, but your experience may vary. I would recommend you to try out Prezi and see if it works for you.

Q. How do I Make a PowerPoint Presentation Without Powerpoint?

Q. are there free microsoft powerpoint alternatives, choose the best microsoft powerpoint alternatives.

Rajesh Mishra

An old school bibliophile who turned a tech nerd out of obsession. When he is not digging into hacks and tracking down stories that are breaking the internet, you may find him reciting poems.

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How-To Geek

Libreoffice vs. microsoft office: how does it measure up.

Is LibreOffice ready to go toe-to-toe with Microsoft Office?

Quick Links

How office productivity suites began, libreoffice and microsoft office, sharing documents with microsoft office users, a comparable and (mostly) compatible suite.

LibreOffice is the premier open-source office suite, and it's the default office package on most Linux distributions . But can a free product go toe-to-toe with one of Microsoft's flagship applications?

The office suite came hot on the heels of the success of the earliest word processor and spreadsheet programs. These bundled the most-used types of office software into coherent families of software. Gone were the days of running a disparate collection of software on your desktop. The dominant programs at the peak of the pre-suite period were the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet, the WordPerfect word processor, and the dBase database program. Notably, Microsoft even made a word processor for kids called Creative Writer .

Office productivity suites completely changed the software landscape for the corporate PC. Instead of a set of unrelated standalone packages, an office productivity suite had a consistent look and feel, with easy integration between those packages. Costing less than the sum total of a mixed set of similar packages, the office suite took off and never looked back.

The package office suite that rose to dominance was Microsoft Office. It was released in November 1990 and included Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and PowerPoint. There were many competing office suites---from companies such as Lotus, IBM, and Corel---but none came close to repeating the success of Microsoft Office.

Related: What Is Open Source Software, and Why Does It Matter?

StarOffice was an office productivity suite developed by a German company called Star Division. They were acquired by Sun Microsystems. A year later, Sun released the StarOffice source code as an open-source product called OpenOffice.org. StarOffice was still sold and developed---benefiting from code contributions made by the OpenOffice.org community---and eventually reached around 100 million users.

OpenOffice.org contained a Word processor called Writer, a spreadsheet called Calc, a presentation application called Impress, and a database front-end tool that could be used with different back-end database engines. OpenOffice.org also included a tool for composing mathematical equations. OpenOffice.org grew to be the open-source counterpart to Microsoft Office. It became the default office suite in the majority of Linux distributions. It's still available with versions for Linux, Windows, and macOS.

Related: OpenOffice vs. LibreOffice: What's the Difference and Which Should You Use?

In 2010, Oracle Corporation acquired Sun Microsystems. By 2011, Oracle Corporation was looking to offload the OpenOffice.org open-source project. They struck a deal with the Apache Foundation, and Apache OpenOffice was born. Differences of opinion within the Apache OpenOffice community led to many Apache OpenOffice developers forming a new organization called The Document Foundation . They forked the OpenOffice.org code and created their own project called LibreOffice . LibreOffice nows ships as the default office suite application on most Linux distributions and the dominant open-source productivity software.

The question remains, however: can a free productivity suite really compete with the de facto corporate standard?

Related: The Downsides of Open Source Software

There are several ways to obtain Microsoft Office . You can buy it, and install it on your desktop. You can take out a Microsoft 365 subscription that includes Microsoft Office. You still get applications to run on the desktop, but as long as you maintain your subscription your software will always be upgraded to the latest version.

LibreOffice is free. You can download and install it and start using it. It is desktop only. Microsoft has cloud-based versions of their applications that you can use in your browser. LibreOffice does not offer anything like that, nor does it bundle cloud storage as Microsoft does.

Microsoft Office runs on Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android (and there are workarounds for installing Office on Linux ). LibreOffice runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS, including a new experimental build compiled for Apple Silicon processors .

Microsoft Office includes:

• Word : Word processing program.
• Excel : Spreadsheet program.
• PowerPoint : Presentation software.
• OneNote : Note-taking software.

Depending on which version you buy or subscribe to, you will also get some or all of these packages:

• Outlook : An email client.
• Teams : A team communication and collaboration client.
• Publisher : A desktop publishing program.
• Access : A database management system. By default, it uses the Microsoft Jet database engine.
• Skype for Business : Instant messenger and video call software.

LibreOffice includes these applications:

• Writer : Word processing program.
• Calc : Spreadsheet program.
• Impress : Presentation software.
• Draw : Vector graphics application.
• Base : Database management system. By default, it uses the HSQLDB but work is afoot to migrate to Firebird. You might need to install Base separately. On many Linux distributions, it's not part of the core LibreOffice offering.

If you need functionality that isn't included in LibreOffice---such as an email client, desktop publishing application, or a messaging and collaboration program---you have many open-source options to choose from including well-known examples such as  Thunderbird , Scribus , and Rocket.Chat . Of course, they won't have the same look and feel as the rest of the office suite, and they won't be tightly integrated.

Fundamental Differences

Perhaps the biggest over-arching difference between the two office suites is their radically different approaches to cloud storage. LibreOffice doesn't do cloud natively, although The Document Foundation has worked on something called LibreOffice Online. This is a tool for cloud providers---public or private---to incorporate into their offerings. It needs to be integrated with authentication and storage solutions to be functional. At the time of writing LibreOffice Online is frozen, pending further announcements .

Depending on your workflow and how often you move between different computers, cloud integration may or may not be important to you. If you need to achieve it with LibreOffice you can save documents to a local folder that is synced to the cloud storage of your choice. But you must set that up yourself, outside of LibreOffice.

Microsoft Office lets you save locally or to your OneDrive storage natively and naturally, from within the applications. Microsoft also provides online versions of the core office suite applications so you can be productive even when you're away from your regular computer.

Related: Macros Explained: Why Microsoft Office Files Can Be Dangerous

LibreOffice has partial support for Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications macros . LibreOffice has its own macro language, of course, but supports most of the VBA common usage patterns too. Macros aren't exactly mainstream usage though. Most people want to write documents, crunch some numbers, and give a presentation.

For the average user of office applications, function for function you'll see little difference between Word and Writer. Some things are easier in Word and more intuitive, such as working with tables of contents and other front matter. The reverse is true for others; LibreOffice handles styles in a more accessible and logical fashion, for example.

LibreOffice Writer is a word processor that happens to be able to read and write Word file formats . That doesn't mean it is going to be a Word clone. Writer doesn't try to mimic Word's terminology or menu structure. It has its own way of doing things. People who are muscle-memory familiar with Word will find themselves at the bottom of a learning curve when they try Writer. It's not difficult to pick up, but Writer isn't a drop-in replacement for Word.

Calc is a powerful and competent spreadsheet, and in all but the most advanced cases will do what Excel can do. The graphs are a little lackluster unless you put in some effort, and pivot tables are easier in Excel , but an Excel user will feel at home right away. One point to note is Calc spreadsheets can have as many rows as an Excel spreadsheet (1,048,576), but only 1,024 columns compared to 16,384 in Excel.

Impress used to be the weakest element of the three. It did its job just fine, but it withstood comparison with its Microsoft Office counterpart, PowerPoint, very poorly. It still doesn't have PowerPoint's pizazz, but it can handle large and complicated presentations and all the test presentations we created with PowerPoint ran through Impress perfectly. By comparison, Google Slides struggled with slides that had animations placed on lines of text.

Related: How to Import a PowerPoint Presentation into Google Slides

Differences in Appearance

In the past, LibreOffice regularly drew criticism for its appearance. Its interface had an early-2000's vibe---if not earlier. That's not the case anymore. Selecting

opens the "Select Your Preferred User Interface" dialog box.

This lets you keep the traditional LibreOffice menu bar, or choose something that is "the most similar to the Ribbon used in Microsoft Office ."

There are five other options that give variations on tabbed and grouped menu layouts, with compact options for smaller screens. Being able to look like Microsoft Office's ribbon helps Word users, but the underlying commands still retain their LibreOffice uniqueness.

You can apply a single user interface to a single application or to all LibreOffice applications en masse. If you wanted to, you can have a different user interface style for each application.

If all you ever use is LibreOffice, and you share documents with other LibreOffice users, you'll have no problems whatsoever. If you need to share documents with Microsoft Office users and they don't need to edit them, send them as PDF. When you need to share documents with Microsoft Word users who edit the document and send it back to you, problems may arise.

Related: What Is an ODT File, and How Do You Open One?

LibreOffice's native file format follows the Open Document Format, and Writer's default file format is Open Document Text . Microsoft uses its own Office Open XML format. They're both XML -based document formats. Microsoft Word can read LibreOffice ODT file formats, but its accuracy isn't great. LibreOffice Writer can save and read Microsoft's DOCX and formats---and does a better job than Word does with ODT files---but differences may creep in with complicated documents.

Below is a screenshot of a document with automatically numbered sections and paragraph numbering. This section includes a table that has a list in one table cell. The document was created in Word, and here it is loaded into Word.

This is the same document loaded into LibreOffice:

LibreOffice 7.2.2 has had hundreds of fixes contributed to it specifically to improve the fidelity of its reading and writing DOCX files. If you must collaborate on documents with Word users, you'll get the best results by starting your document as a DOCX and saving it in that file format throughout. If you're not going to share documents, stick to the ODT file format for faster load times and smaller files.

Related: How to Make LibreOffice Look Like Microsoft Office

In our testing---using the DOCX file format---test documents created in Word loaded into Writer and vice versa loaded and edited perfectly. We used LibreOffice 7.2.2 and Microsoft Word for Microsoft 365 MSO (version 2108 build 16.0.14430.20154), on Windows 10.

That's all indicative of the great strides that have been made in LibreOffice regarding compatibility. But it doesn't mean small differences won't show up due to things like different fonts. Linux doesn't come with the Microsoft fonts , so documents that use Calibri et al won't render correctly.

You can install the

package for your distribution to obtain Arial, Times Roman, Verdana, and so on. Arch Wiki also offers some alternative methods if that package isn't available to you. That helps, but there's no official, licensed way to install the newest Microsoft fonts in Linux.

Related: Add Microsoft Core Fonts to Ubuntu

If you don't need to collaborate on documents or spreadsheets with Microsoft Office users, LibreOffice will satisfy the needs of anyone looking for a fully-featured, mature office suite.

If you do need to share and edit docs with Microsoft Office users, watch out for the gotchas with fonts on non-Windows platforms, and other formatting glitches that can creep in. Things are a lot better than they were, but complicated document layouts and power user spreadsheets can still pose problems.

Related: What's the Difference Between Microsoft Office for Windows and macOS?

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6 Best Free Alternatives to Microsoft Word

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• Best for sharing and real time collaboration: Google Docs
• Best for long and complex documents: Apache OpenOffice Writer
• Best for automation: Zoho Writer
• Best for customization: LibreOffice Writer
• Best for advanced features: WPS Office Writer
• Best for users who prefer Microsoft Word's interface: Microsoft Office Word Online

Microsoft Word has its devotees, but find one person who loves it, and you’ll probably find several who don’t. From redesigns that hide familiar menu items to overly complicated and often unused features, there’s a lot to be desired in a simple word processor that Microsoft Word doesn’t deliver due to its complex nature.

Microsoft Word as a part of Microsoft Office is expensive — for instance, Microsoft 365 Business Premium costs $22 for each user per month.

SEE: Discover the best free alternatives to Microsoft Excel .

If you don’t need all the features that Microsoft Word offers, it can be hard to justify paying that price, especially in a small business environment where you just need a word processor. Don’t pay for what you won’t use and take a look at one of these six free Microsoft Word alternatives instead.

Alternatives to Microsoft Word comparison

This chart provides a general overview of Microsoft Word capabilities. We evaluated each tool further to determine which might suit your needs best.

Google Docs: Best for sharing and real time collaboration

Google Docs, which is easily the most popular Microsoft Word alternative on this list, is free to everyone with a Google account.

If you want the basic features of Microsoft Word, you don’t need to look any further than Google Doc — it supports all your basic word processing needs and is tightly integrated with Google Drive and other products. Since everything is saved in Google’s cloud, you don’t need to worry about losing your work ( Figure A ). Docs automatically save after every single keystroke, so in the event of a crash, you should be able to pick up right where you left off, down to the letter. Google Docs also supports Microsoft Word’s .doc and .docx formats, so you shouldn’t have any problems importing and editing those files.

One of its best features for business users is real-time collaboration. If you share a document with another Google user, both of you can be in the document simultaneously, see the other user’s cursor position, watch what they’re typing, and chat with each other. It’s a great collaboration tool that stands out among word processors.

Advanced users may find the features lacking — it really is a bare-bones word processor.

Standout features

• Real-time collaboration capability.
• Pageless view.
• Table templates.
• Watermarks.
• Document summary.
• Google Meet integration.
• Menu shortcut that lets you tag people, add elements and perform other actions.
• Commenting, notes and suggestions.
• Meeting notes.
• Email draft.
• Checklists.
• Customizable templates.
• In-doc chat capability.
• Table of contents sidebar.
• Find and replace capability.
• Intuitive, easy to learn and use.
• Easy sharing and collaboration.
• Easy track changes.
• Versatile and user friendly.
• Limited offline capability.
• Some users reported that it has limited advanced formatting and editing capabilities.
• Sometimes crashes occur when too many people are working on the same document.

SEE: Become a Google Docs power user .

Apache OpenOffice Writer: Best for long and complex documents

If you hate Microsoft Word because of its ribbon, then Apache’s OpenOffice Writer is the 2003 throwback you want. It has a classic interface that, while it can look a bit cluttered, mimics the menus that Microsoft tossed out when Office 2007 was released ( Figure B ). It will definitely feel familiar to Office 2003 users, with the added perk of still receiving updates and security patches, which is important for a business software suite.

OpenOffice Writer has its own document format, but it also supports .doc and .docx files, and it does a great job of maintaining formatting when importing those types of files. Many of the advanced features of Microsoft Word are included in OpenOffice Writer as well, so editing complex Word documents won’t be an issue.

If online collaboration or native cloud support is a selling point, then you may want to pass on OpenOffice Writer because it includes neither. It’s possible to store files in a cloud drive and access them using OpenOffice, but you’ll need the desktop client of Google Drive , Microsoft OneDrive or Apple iCloud installed so that you can open your cloud storage like a local computer folder.

• Table of contents and references.
• AutoCorrect dictionary.
• AutoComplete capability.
• Multi-page display.
• HTML, PDF, and MediaWiki formats.
• Supports .docx and .doc.
• Familiar, Microsoft-like interface.
• Over 900 templates.
• Commenting/Notes.
• It doesn’t have mobile apps.
• The user interface isn’t intuitive.

Zoho Writer: Best for automation

Zoho Writer is a free document creation tool with a clean writing interface and powerful built-in capabilities. Writing documents in Writer is largely distraction-free, while important text tools are still within reach. The native features of Writer, many of which leverage the capabilities of other Zoho apps, really set it apart from the rest. Use the built-in AI tool, Zia, for better quality content, fast grammar fixes and insight into the document’s readability for different audiences ( Figure C ).

The Document Sign tool puts e-signature tools right in the doc so that teams can go from draft to approval to signature, all in the same space. Document Fillable tools also put forms right in your documents, giving them a professional feel that’s ready for embedding anywhere you need a form.

Not to be outdone by Google Docs or Microsoft Word, Zoho Writer’s real-time collaboration has granular controls, including comments, suggestions, text masking to hide some items from collaborators and even content locks for blocks of text. Zoho Writer is built for corporate collaboration, legal approvals and creative teams.

• WordPress integration.
• Comments and notes.
• Lock or mask sensitive information.
• Post to WordPress from Zoho Writer.
• Word document import.
• Export to .docx and .pdf.
• Document automation.
• Document fillable.
• Real-time collaboration.
• Offline editing capability.
• Integrates well with Zoho WorkDrive and other products in the Zoho suite.
• Users say the editor gets slow when working with large documents.
• Zoho Writer spell checker could be improved.

LibreOffice Writer: Best for customization

The Document Foundation’s LibreOffice Writer, like OpenOffice, is a completely free and open-source product that offers word processing, support for .doc and .docx file formats and all the tools the average Microsoft Word user will need in a word processor. LibreOffice Writer and OpenOffice Writer are similar in a lot of ways: interface style, file format support, lack of cloud integration and real-time collaboration, and general word processing features ( Figure D ). Both are solid choices for those looking for a free alternative to Microsoft Word, and selecting one over the other largely comes down to preference.

One aspect of LibreOffice stands out, and it is’’t what’s in the app — it’s the community-driven nature of the platform. Collaborating with users and developers to improve the product is front and center on LibreOffice’s website, and that focus has grown LibreOffice into a thriving community of users and coders that keep making it better .

• Desktop publishing.
• Integrated calculation function.
• Drawing tools.
• Spellchecker, thesaurus, AutoCorrect and hyphenation.
• Works well with MS Office files.
• Installs on Windows, Linux and Mac.
• Supports drag-and-drop.
• Some users reported that the tool is sometimes slow.
• Limited documentation.

WPS Office Writer: Best for advanced features

If you want a word processor as feature-packed as Word but don’t want to pay a premium, check out WPS Office Writer. It’s a full-featured application suite that feels premium.

WPS Office Writer does most of the same things as Microsoft Word, and it includes native cloud support to make storing documents online a snap; however, it does lack real-time collaboration ( Figure E ). Look at any review of WPS Office Writer, and you’ll find statements that attest to how much it’s like Word. With its inclusion of more features than other free suites like OpenOffice, this might be the one to go for — especially considering it’s free.

With anything free and high quality, there’s usually a catch, and you might be able to guess what it is in our modern age of “freemium” apps: Ads. Don’t let that dissuade you from trying WPS Writer — you might not see an ad. There’s no banner across the top of the app; ads only appear when you want to use select features like printing or exporting to PDF. If you need to do one of those things, you’ll have to sit through a roughly 10-second ad, which unlocks the feature for 30 minutes. If you like what WPS Writer offers, you can eliminate ads by paying a yearly subscription fee of $29.99 or $9.99 for three months.

Key features

• PDF file support.
• File format conversion.
• PDF to Word conversion.
• Document to picture export.
• Picture to text conversion.
• Skins and design customization.
• Supports Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.
• Supports 13 languages on PC and 46 languages on mobile.
• 20GB of cloud storage.
• WPS Office is compatible with 47 common document formats.
• The free version contains ads.
• Some users say the app is a bit slow.

Microsoft Office Word Online: Best for users who prefer Microsoft Word's interface

Don’t overlook Microsoft’s free alternative to the paid version of Word: Office Online. Like Google Docs, Microsoft Word Online is a simplified, cloud-based version of Word ( Figure F ). It lacks many of the advanced features of a locally-installed version of Word, but this is as close as you can get for users who want a free version of Word.

Similarities between Google Docs and Word Online are present all the way down to the interface, but with a few tweaks you can make it feel more like the Microsoft ribbon instead of the dropdown menus Google Docs uses. Documents created in Word Online are saved in Microsoft OneDrive, and real-time collaboration features like those in Google Docs are available as well. One big plus in Word Online’s favor is formatting: If you create a document in Word Online and then import it to a local version of Microsoft Word, it’s going to retain the formatting way better than a Google Docs file.

• .docm, .docx, .pptm, .pptx, .xlsm, and. xlsx support.
• 5GB of cloud storage.
• Templates, fonts, icons and stickers.
• Spelling and grammar.
• Auto-save function.
• Dictation and voice command capability.
• Familiar environment for Microsoft Office users.
• Limited features compared to the offline version.
• It may contain ads.

SEE: Explore everything Microsoft 365 has to offer.

How to choose the best free alternatives to Microsoft Word

When selecting the best free alternatives to Microsoft Word, there are a few key factors to consider.

• Assess your specific requirements and determine the features and functionalities you need from word processing software. This could include document formatting options, collaboration capabilities, compatibility with various file formats and available templates.
• Conduct thorough research on popular options such as Google Docs, LibreOffice Writer, Apache OpenOffice Writer, Zoho Writer and WPS Office Writer.
• Read user reviews, compare features and test the software to see how well it meets your requirements.
• Consider factors like compatibility with Microsoft Word formats, integration with cloud storage and ongoing support and updates.

By evaluating these criteria, you can make an informed decision and choose the alternative that best suits your needs.

Review methodology

We analyzed each Microsoft Word alternative based on five key data points: free, support for Microsoft Word format, offline access, templates and ability to meet needs. All the tools in our comparison group satisfy these criteria. We evaluated how well each alternative fulfills users’ needs in terms of functionality, ease of use, formatting capabilities and other relevant factors. This criterion helps assess the overall suitability of the tool for different types of users and their specific requirements.

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The 7 Best Free PowerPoint Alternatives for Presentations

Microsoft PowerPoint is great, but what if you can't afford it? Here are the best free PowerPoint alternatives for presentations.

Microsoft PowerPoint has been around for a long while and so far it has served users well. However, because it's a paid program, not everyone can afford it.

Thankfully, there are many options available for users who want the functionality of Microsoft PowerPoint in a free-to-use package. In fact, some of them don't even require any downloads and are completely web-based.

1. Google Slides

By far the most popular PowerPoint alternative out there, Google Slides shines when it comes to collaboration. Multiple people can work simultaneously on a presentation and add new slides.

This is further strengthened by its availability. Google Slides works on your web browser and has apps for both iOS and Android.

Additionally, Google Slides keeps a record of all the changes users have made to a presentation, and you can easily restore your slideshow to a previous version. While anyone with a Gmail account can use Google Slides, G Suite users get added data protection.

Compared to PowerPoint, the number of templates, animation forms, and fonts is somewhat lacking. However, businesses tend to overlook these shortcomings on a day-to-day basis.

While Canva is primarily known as a photo editor and design tool, it is also a competent MS PowerPoint alternative.

One of Canva's main strengths is its ease of use. There are many beginner tutorial videos on the website if users do not understand something. Complete beginners can easily navigate through the minimalistic interface.

With the free version of Canva, you get access to over 8000+ presentation templates that exponentially speed up your workflow. Additionally, Canva still remains one of the easiest services to create infographics and charts in.

The only limiting thing with Canva is that it offers a basic set of tools and transitions at users' disposal. It's apparent that the company places more focus on photo editing and design aspect than anything else.

The Prezi presentation format is unique in the way that it lets you view slides. Instead of addressing multiple elements at once, Prezi gives viewers a single canvas that allows them to zoom in on different presentation parts. This provides a much more immersive experience.

Similar to Google Slides, Prezi supports the real-time collaboration of up to 10 users. Users can also add comments to indicate changes or report missing information. Prezi works on any modern web browser, and there are Android and iOS apps available as well.

Related: Powerful Google Chrome PDF Extensions and Apps

The Prezi software also has an analytics feature that helps users optimize their presentation by showing them which slides were the most viewed as well as which ones were skipped.

Even though the basic version of Prezi is free to use, it doesn't allow users to control the privacy of their presentation, which could be a dealbreaker for many. Additionally, due to the way Prezi works, there is a steep learning curve associated with it.

4. WPS Office Free

WPS Office is the closest alternative to PowerPoint when it comes to functionality and user interface. Plus, unlike the other web-based services on this list, you don't always need an active internet connection to use it.

With its complete support for PowerPoint files, users can edit existing PowerPoint documents with ease in WPS Office. They can also embed videos and animate individual objects, just like in Microsoft PowerPoint. It also offers many templates, so users can pick their favorite.

However, users should keep in mind that while the software is free, it is supported by ads, which may be a bit intrusive at times. In addition to this, collaboration is less straightforward than with Google Slides.

WPS Office is available across all major platforms such as Windows, macOS, Linux. iOS, and Android. There is a web-based version available as well. Alternatively, you can check out this handy guide to smoothen your transition to WPS Office from Microsoft .

Xtensio is one of the best options for business users. It has many templates available regarding various organization sections, such as marketing, UX design, etc.

With Xtensio's easy-to-use interface, even newbies can create professional-looking reports and presentations. Additionally, they offer even greater flexibility in terms of design. You can edit each object in a template to suit your specific needs.

But it does have some shortcomings. For one thing, users cannot export their presentations in PowerPoint format. Additionally, the free version supports only one user at a time with a storage space of 1MB.

6. LibreOffice

LibreOffice is open-source presentation software that does everything PowerPoint can do. Although it lacks functionality such as OneDrive Integration, its PowerPoint-like functionality more than makes up for it.

LibreOffice has its share of useful features, such as the ability to import Keynote files. In addition, LibreOffice has a vast collection of free templates that users can use to create their presentations.

If that's not enough, you can download additional templates from LibreOffice's online repository. LibreOffice is available across Windows, macOS, and Linux.

7. Zoho Show

There are several reasons to use Zoho Show for your next presentation. It's a great presentation tool that's similar to Google Slides, but even better. Users can also import and edit all their PowerPoint files in the online tool.

Users can create tables, infographics, and data charts within Zoho Show itself. In addition to this, the service also has in-built Google Image Search functionality that lets you search and insert images quickly.

Related: Tools to Give an Online Presentation From Anywhere

Additionally, Zoho Show supports collaboration in real-time and multiple users can edit presentations. Although there's not much to complain about in Zoho Show, many users would like to have more options when it comes to templates and animations.

Worthy PowerPoint Alternatives

Essentially, all these tools and services function the same way as PowerPoint without the cost. Furthermore, the web-based alternatives are more advanced such as automatic saving and cloud storage.

Despite this, PowerPoint remains the front-runner when it comes to presentation software. As such, it is important for users to know how to make the best out of its features.

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.

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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.

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Ask a new question

Word equivalent of Master Slides in PowerPoint?

I was planning on designing an A4 document in PowerPoint because I could use the master slides feature to lock down certain elements to prevent users from messing up the templates.

I was going to have a bunch of different page layouts that the users could switch between depending on what background they wanted, as well as how they wanted the elements on the page to be laid out

But I realised I can't do that because I need to have reams of text spanning multiple pages, which would be very tricky in PP.

So now I'll probably have to use Word, but am I right in thinking there is no way to create different page layouts that the user can switch between? Can it only have different headers / footers using section breaks?

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• Volunteer Moderator

There are things you can do but there is no equivalent.

First there are Templates which can be very flexible and powerful.

You can use the Group Content Control to lock certain areas of templates but allow editing within other Content Controls in the grouped area as well as outside the grouped area. The entire document/template can be the grouped area.

You can use AutoText and other Building Blocks to create sections for insertion, which can have content controls including the group content control. Automated Boilerplate Using Microsoft Word These can be stored in the template and require no macros or vba. They can be used with the Building Blocks Gallery Content Control.

You can create macros and userforms to the point that your template becomes a Wizard to construct documents. Create a Simple Userform by Graham Mayor, MVP , Create & Employ a Userform by Greg Maxey , https://wordmvp.com/FAQs/Userforms.htm  These can call up and insert your building blocks if you want. The drawback is that the user has to permit macros to run. A userform can change the very layout of a document (portrait/landscape, columns, page size).

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The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) today completed its work to improve the usefulness of information presented and disclosed in financial statements. The new Standard, IFRS 18 Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements , will give investors more transparent and comparable information about companies’ financial performance, thereby enabling better investment decisions. It will affect all companies using IFRS Accounting Standards.

IFRS 18 introduces three sets of new requirements to improve companies’ reporting of financial performance and give investors a better basis for analysing and comparing companies:

Improved comparability in the statement of profit or loss (income statement)

Currently there is no specified structure for the income statement. Companies choose their own subtotals to include. Often companies report an operating profit but the way operating profit is calculated varies from company to company, reducing comparability. 1

IFRS 18 introduces three defined categories for income and expenses—operating, investing and financing—to improve the structure of the income statement, and requires all companies to provide new defined subtotals, including operating profit. The improved structure and new subtotals will give investors a consistent starting point for analysing companies’ performance and make it easier to compare companies.

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Many companies provide company-specific measures, often referred to as alternative performance measures. Investors find this information useful. However, most companies don’t currently provide enough information to enable investors to understand how these measures are calculated and how they relate to the required measures in the income statement.

IFRS 18 therefore requires companies to disclose explanations of those company-specific measures that are related to the income statement, referred to as management-defined performance measures. The new requirements will improve the discipline and transparency of management-defined performance measures, and make them subject to audit.

More useful grouping of information in the financial statements

Investor analysis of companies’ performance is hampered if the information provided by companies is too summarised or too detailed. IFRS 18 sets out enhanced guidance on how to organise information and whether to provide it in the primary financial statements 2 or in the notes. The changes are expected to provide more detailed and useful information. IFRS 18 also requires companies to provide more transparency about operating expenses, helping investors to find and understand the information they need.

Andreas Barckow, IASB Chair, said:

IFRS 18 represents the most significant change to companies’ presentation of financial performance since IFRS Accounting Standards were introduced more than 20 years ago. It will give investors better information about companies’ financial performance and consistent anchor points for their analysis.

IFRS 18 is effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027, but companies can apply it earlier. Changes in companies’ reporting resulting from IFRS 18 will depend on their current reporting practices and IT systems.

IFRS 18 replaces IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements . It carries forward many requirements from IAS 1 unchanged. IFRS 18 is the culmination of the IASB’s Primary Financial Statements project. 

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