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Best Presentation Software of 2024

Table of Contents

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

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

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

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

Best Overall: Google Slides

Highly integrated With Other Apps

Totally free

Not integrated with Microsoft products

Minimal support

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

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

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

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

Specifications:

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

Most Compatible: Microsoft PowerPoint

Highly compatible

Online and desktop versions

Easy to use

No free version

Templates are not as trendy

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

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

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

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

Best For Mac Users: Apple Keynote

Exceptional designs

Desktop only

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

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

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

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

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

Most Flexible: Prezi

Unique concept

Trendy visuals

Unique design templates

Harder to learn

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

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

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

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

Best Budget: Visme

Free version available

Added visual tools

Good overall value

It takes more time to learn

Expensive pro plans

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best For Entrepreneurs: Slidebean

Design for entrepreneurs and salespeople

Unique features

Not as powerful as some

Not as well-known

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

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

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

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

Most Powerful: Canva

Thousand of templates

Integrates with other Canva tools

Limited export options

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

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

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

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

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

The Bottom Line

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

Things To Consider When Buying Presentation Software

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How We Chose The Best Presentation Software

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

WHY SHOULD YOU TRUST US?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Blog Graphic Design 12 Best Presentation Software for 2024

12 Best Presentation Software for 2024

Written by: Krystle Wong Jan 12, 2024

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

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

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

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

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

1. Venngage 

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

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

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

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

Vast selection of templates

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

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

Data visualization made easy

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

Seamless real-time in-editor collaboration tools

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

Consistently brand your designs with smart Autobrand features

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

Who is it for

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

Key features 

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

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

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

2. Microsoft PowerPoint

Source: Screenshot from Microsoft PowerPoint

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3. Google Slides

Source: Screenshot from Google Slides

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4. Keynote (for Mac users)

Source: Screenshot from Keynote

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Screenshot from Prezi

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For individuals & business professionals

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

Standard: Starting at $5 USD/month

Plus: Starting at $12 USD/month

Premium: Starting at $16 USD/month

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

For Students & Educators

EDU Plus: Starting at $3/month

EDU Pro: Starting at $4/month

EDU Teams: Enquiry required with Prezi sales team

Source: Screenshot from Canva

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. Adobe Express

Source: Screenshot from Adobe Express

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8. Haiku Deck

Source: Haiku Deck

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Screenshot from Ludus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

10. Slidebean

Source: Screenshot from Slidebean

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

11. Beautiful.ai

Source: Screenshot from Beautiful.ai

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Screenshot from Pitch

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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 used 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 25 of the top presentation software solutions out there to bring you the best of the best.

The best presentation software

Beautiful.ai for AI-powered design

Prezi for non-linear, conversational presentations

Powtoon for video presentations

Pitch for collaborating with your team on presentations

Gamma for conversational AI features

Mentimeter for audience engagement

Tome 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 interface. 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 most apps now offer AI features in one way or another, it isn't a universal feature yet—and some apps' AI features leave a lot to be desired. For that reason, I opted not to make AI features a strict must-have for this year (though it probably will be a requirement next time I update the article). That means I've still included some apps that don't offer AI—if you opt for one of those, you can still easily get AI-generated images and text 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.

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, and interactive content. 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 AI tools aren't groundbreakingly useful

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.

Canva has added a number of AI-powered tools , but I wasn't super impressed by them yet. The Magic Design tool, for example, isn't much more useful than the many pre-designed templates already available, while Magic Write is basically just white-labeled ChatGPT. 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 $120/year for 1 user and include additional features like Brand Kit, premium templates and stock assets, and additional AI-powered design tools.

If you're looking for a capable free presentation tool with a more affordable upgrade, Zoho Show is worth a look. It's completely free for most features, offers a clean, intuitive editor, and includes a number of great templates. Plus, you can automate Zoho Show by connecting it with Zapier .

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

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 experience 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 more than 20 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 re-tested the generative AI feature (called DesignerBot) this year. 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 pull in relevant images.

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 a generative AI tool that builds a whole pitch deck based on your website. 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 can only be billed annually.

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's generative AI feature works ok, but it's more useful as a wireframe. When I asked it to create a presentation about the Stanley Cup Playoffs, for example, the resulting content read a lot like a student writing a term paper in the broadest strokes possible to avoid doing any actual research.

Prezi pricing: Free 14-day trial and a free plan that includes up to 5 visual projects; paid plans start at $7/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 $15/month and include white-labeling, priority support, additional storage, 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

Excellent generative AI feature

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 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.

Pitch also offers one of the most impressive generative AI features on this list. It still struggles to pull in relevant images, but I found the AI-generated written content and design to be top-notch.

Pitch pricing: Free plan offers unlimited presentations, custom templates, and live video collaboration; paid plans start at $22/month for 2 users with additional workspace features, presentation analytics, and more.

The best presentation app for conversational AI

Gamma (web).

Gamma pros:

Creates fully fleshed-out presentations from a prompt

Conversational 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 conversational AI 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 produces a very useful jumping-off point. (Last year, it was by far the best, but this year, other apps are catching up.)

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, 400 AI deck credits, and basic view analytics; upgrade to the Plus plan for $8/user/month to get unlimited AI credits, remove Gamma branding, and more.

The best presentation app for audience engagement

Mentimeter (web).

Mentimeter pros:

Tons of audience engagement features

Simple for participants to interact

Mentimeter cons:

Less granular customizability

Bit of a learning curve

If you need to engage with an audience during your presentation, Mentimeter makes that easy. The app is designed around interactive elements like quizzes, surveys, Q&As, sliders, and more (even a Miro whiteboard!).

Each of these is included in a number of different, professional-looking templates, so you can build a fully interactive presentation super quickly.

When it's time to present, your audience members can scan the QR code with their phone cameras or type in the URL and access code to participate. There's one code per presentation (so they won't have to do this on every slide), which gives access to each slide as you move through the presentation.

There are two main drawbacks to this one, though. First, there's a bit of a learning curve and less familiar editing interface (but I found it pretty easy to learn with some practice). The other drawback is that you can't get as granular with the visual customization as you can with many other presentation tools.

Mentimeter pricing: Free plan includes 50 participants per month and 34 different slide types; upgrade to the Basic plan for $11.99/presenter/month to get unlimited participants and slide types, private presentations, and more.

The best presentation app for generative AI

Top-tier generative AI features

Simple, customizable templates

Intuitive doc-style editor

There's definitely a learning curve

Tome is one of the new additions to this list that I'm most excited about. If you're looking for generative AI that just genuinely works , it's definitely worth a look. The editor is a bit more stripped down than most presentation apps but intuitive nonetheless—it's almost a cross between your standard deck editor and a Notion-style doc.

To generate an AI deck, click Generate with AI in the top right, and either write your own prompt or choose from the example prompts that cover a handful of common use cases, like sales enablement and company pitches. Edit or approve the suggested outline, then generate the full presentation.

From there, you can edit each slide as a doc via the right-hand menu—without limits on how much information you can include. During the presentation, you simply size down any slides that take up more than the standard amount of space. It's super simple but somehow feels revolutionary in a presentation app.

Tome pricing: Free plan available for manual editing without AI; upgrade to the Professional plan for $16/user/month to use the generative AI and design tools, plus engagement analytics, branding tools, 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 really been focused on their respective presentation solutions just yet. Rest assured, I'm watching this space, and the next time we update this article, I'll re-test tools like Copilot for PowerPoint and Gemini for Google Slides to see what new features may be 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.

What about PowerPoint and Google Slides add-ons?

While I focused my testing on tools with full feature-sets—those that can serve as your sole presentation tool—there are a ton of add-on tools you can use atop big name tools like PowerPoint and Google Slides.

If you're looking to expand what you can do with PowerPoint or Google Slides, apps like Marq (formerly Lucidpress), Plus AI , Slidesgo , and Simplified can help you do things like access additional templates, save branded assets, and generate AI presentations from the app you're already using.

Related reading:

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 April 2024.

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

Best overall: Microsoft PowerPoint

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

• Best for Mac: Apple Keynote  

Best for students: Beautiful.ai

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

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

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

Things to consider when buying presentation software

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

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

Ease of use

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

Prebuilt templates

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

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

Customizability

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

Who’s it for?

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

Cost & affordability

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

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

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

The best presentation software: Reviews & Recommendations

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

MobiSystems

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best for Mac: Keynote

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

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

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

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

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

Beautiful.ai

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Q: How much does presentation software cost?

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

Q: Is Canva better than PowerPoint?

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

Q: Does Adobe have presentation software?

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

Final thoughts on the best presentation software

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

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

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The 10 Best Presentation Software for 2023: Complete Guide

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

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

What is a presentation software?

A presentation software is defined as an application built to display information in the form of a slide show. Any presentation tool must have three fundamental functions:

• ‍ A text editor: to input the contents of the presentation.
• ‍ An import function: to insert and manipulate images and other content.
• ‍A slide-show or presenter mode: that displays the content in a nice, formatted way, sometimes synced in real time with the presenter across devices.

Slide shows often consist of a combination of text, video, images and charts. Their primary function is displaying clear, readable and summarized data to an audience.

Most presentations are shared and presented on a larger screen or through a digital projector. In rare occasions, slide presentations are printed out as a replacement for text documents, but this is a really inefficient way to review data, that Garr Reynolds calls ‘ PresDocs ’ (Garr Reynolds is the author of Presentation Zen, one of the most important go-to reference for successful presentations).

Related Read: What Makes Up the Best Presentation Templates?

What makes a good presentation tool?

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

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

Ease of use: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

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

Customization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

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

Final result: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

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

Best PowerPoint Alternatives (Death by Power Point)

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

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

What presentation software is better than PowerPoint?

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

Best 10 presentation software alternative list for 2023

(Updated December 2022)

• Keynote presentation
• Google Slides

1- SLIDEBEAN PRESENTATION SOFTWARE

Ease of use: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ - Fantastic!

Customization: ★ ★ ★ ★ - Very Good

Final result: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ - Fantastic!

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

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

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

You can sign up free for Slidebean here

SIGN UP FREE

2- apple keynote.

Ease of use: ★ ★ ★ - OK

Customization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ - Fantastic!

Final result: ★ ★ ★ ★ - Very Good

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

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

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

More info about Apple Keynote is available here

Final result: ★ ★ ★ - OK

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

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

You can read more about them here . ‍

4- GOOGLE SLIDES

Customization: ★ ★ - Passable

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

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

You can find a more detailed review here .

5- FLOWVELLA

Ease of use: ★ ★ - Passable

Customization: ★ ★ ★ - OK

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

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

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

You can find more details here .

Customization: ★ ★ ★ -

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

You can find more information about them here .

Final result: ★ ★ ★ ★ - Very Good!

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

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

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

8- HAIKU DECK

Ease of use: ★ ★ ★ ★ - Very Good

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some more info about them here .

Ease of use: ★ - Bad

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

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

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

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

More information about them here .

‍Which one to pick?

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

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

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

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

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

Try Slidebean

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The 9 best presentation software platforms in 2023

You’re in the middle of a busy work week, and you‘re winding down after a particularly productive day. There’s still a lot more to accomplish, but you’ve got momentum and you’re making good progress. As you check your calendar for the following day, you see a two-hour morning time slot blocked out for a company-wide meeting. What’s your gut reaction?

Is it something like “I can’t wait—this is going to be so fun and interactive!” Or is it something more like “Ugh—I’ve got so much to do, and this is going to be such a long presentation. Maybe I can get some actual work done while it’s on in the background.”

If your inner monologue sounds more like the second example, you’re not alone. Research from Zippia shows 65% of employees believe meetings inhibit them from getting their work tasks done and that people are multitasking in at least 41% of meetings.

With so many potential distractions lurking in inboxes, Slack channels, and smartphones, meeting leaders must do everything they can to make their presentations interactive and engaging.

Fortunately, many presentation software platforms offer powerful tools to help presenters tell more captivating stories. Let’s take a look at a few of the factors that separate good apps from great ones.

What makes a great presentation app?

From pitch decks to progress updates, presentation apps have countless uses within the modern business environment. But regardless of the content being shared, there are a few things the best presentation software all has in common.

Intuitive, user-friendly interfaces

If an application is loaded with incredible features that are difficult to use, most users will prefer to take the path of least resistance rather than spending hours Googling how to accomplish their goal. Best-in-class presentation software makes it easy for users to learn the basics and get started, often with built-in tutorials.

Easy customization

Platforms that make it easy to plug in your logo, colors, fonts, and photos create polished presentations that wow internal and external audiences alike. Look for an app with a variety of tweakable templates that allow teams to share different types of information while sticking to your brand and identity standards.

Visual storytelling

If you’re squeezing several hundred words onto each presentation slide and then reading them all aloud, your audience’s attention is likely to wane. Research has long shown people absorb a combination of visual and verbal content much better than spoken lectures alone. All the best presentation software streamlines the use of visual aids to help your audience retain information more effectively.

Sharing and collaboration features

As asynchronous work becomes increasingly common, it’s important for your presentation software of choice to streamline collaboration between teams who may not be in the same location (or even the same hemisphere). When done well, sharing and collaboration features can save time and confusion regarding the latest versions or revisions.  

Integrations with other apps

Software that plays nicely with its binary counterparts can elevate a typical presentation into something compelling and visually stunning. Apps which enable embedding and presenting interactive features make outstanding add-ons that improve audience engagement while using your main slideware or communication tools.

1. Poll Everywhere

A versatile and customizable software platform for engaging your audience and encouraging participation, Poll Everywhere adds interactive elements to your presentation like polls, surveys, quizzes, word clouds, and much more. Made to turn dry lectures into two-way conversations, Poll Everywhere makes it easy to set up a variety of interactive activities for audience members. People can share their input via text, smartphone app, or web browser, which is then reflected on the screen in real time (don’t worry, there are moderation features for open-ended text responses).

Not only does Poll Everywhere enable more interactive presentations, it’s also a useful tool for things like employee surveys, group brainstorms, or submitting questions and agenda items ahead of meetings. It’s intuitive for new users to pick up and enables more open communication and team collaboration at every level of your organization.

For larger organizations, Poll Everywhere’s Enterprise plans let you customize the platform to reflect your company’s branding, logos, and colors (and remove the Poll Everywhere branding to give your presentations a more bespoke look). You also get additional features like Shared Activities for cross-team collaboration, upgraded security protocols, and robust reporting tools to translate audience responses into actionable insights.

• Easy integration with most industry-standard slideware and communication apps
• Encourages audience participation and engagement
• Wide variety of functions and activities
• Paid plans required for audiences larger than 25 people
• Audience members must have Internet or cellular access to participate

Poll Everywhere offers a free plan that allows polling limited audience sizes and paid plans starting at $120 per year. Higher-tier plans include additional users, greater audience sizes, and increased moderation and support tools. Custom enterprise solutions for large organizations are also available.

Powtoon takes your presentations to the next level by helping you create polished, professional-looking videos that are more captivating than your traditional text on a screen. Users edit “slides” similarly to how they would with most presentation software, except when you’re done, your deck becomes a seamless video complete with animations of your choosing. The software even figures out the correct timing based on how much content you add to each slide.

In addition to making your presentations sparkle, Powtoon is also useful for creating other marketing or social media assets. You can orient your videos to fit different dimensions and publish your finished creations directly to YouTube, Meta’s Ads Manager, and other platforms.

• Makes your presentations more captivating and memorable
• Useful for creating all types of videos
• Wide variety of templates, animations, and characters
• Limited templates on free version
• Paid plan required for MP4 downloads

Powtoon’s free offering is somewhat limited, though paid plans start at a reasonable $20 per month. Premium plans include more storage space, unlimited exports, and the ability to customize characters and add your own branding.

3. Genially

In the era of remote teams working across different time zones, not every presentation needs to have a presenter. Genially makes it easy to create interactive, self-led presentations that engage your audience much more than simply sending them a deck or a document to review. A huge variety of templates include predefined interactive elements, or users can customize their own.

A well-planned assortment of content blocks lets you showcase everything from image galleries to data visualizations. And while it takes a bit of work upfront, you can also create your own template using your organization’s branding and then have anyone on your team use it to create their own presentations.

• Anyone can create entertaining and interactive self-led presentations
• Solid variety of templates, even on free version
• Unlimited creations for all tiers, including free version
• Paid subscription required to view presentations offline
• Variety of options can be overwhelming at first

Premium plans range from $7.49 per month to $80 per month. As you go up the pricing tiers, you get access to more privacy and personalization features, plus integration with other platforms like PowerPoint and Google Analytics.

A software platform that’s shaking up the linear-presentation model, Prezi takes users out of the sometimes stifling flow of traditional slide deck design in favor of a more free-flowing approach. Prezi users list out ideas or topics they want to cover before threading them together into a compelling, visually striking presentation that’s more conducive to group conversations.

Prezi integrates particularly well with video conferencing tools, making it a great option for remote-first teams. You can even build your presentation as a Zoom overlay, which means your audience can see you and your slide content at the same time. It’s a nice way to maintain a human touch in video presentations, where audiences often miss out on seeing the presenter’s body language and facial expressions.

• Can inspire more creative thinking when developing content
• Robust library of templates and features
• Excellent integration with video conferencing platforms
• Can be a challenging transition for people used to the traditional slide deck model
• Free version limited to five projects

While you can create five projects for free, paid plans starting at $19 per month include much greater import and export options. The $59 per month Premium plan includes phone support, presentation analytics, and advanced training tools. Custom enterprise packages are also available for large teams.

5. Google Slides

Truly free presentation software—not just a free trial or a limited feature set—is increasingly difficult to come by. However, anyone with a Google account can use the full version of Google Slides, with no recurring subscriptions or trial periods to speak of. And because it’s fully cloud-based, teams can collaborate on the same presentation without having to keep track of multiple versions.

While its offerings of features and premade templates may not quite equal some of its subscription-based peers, Google Slides remains a viable solution due to its simple interface and easy integration with the rest of Google Workspace. You can also add powerful third-party add-ons to make your presentations more interactive and visually appealing.

• Cloud-based platform enables easy collaboration
• Shorter learning curve than some other platforms
• Can utilize add-ons to supplement the simple functionality
• LImited templates and transition effects
• No built-in asset library

The full version of Google Slides is free to use for anyone with a Google account.

If you need to create a beautiful presentation really fast, Canva is a fantastic software option. Its free plan offers some of the best-looking templates around, and because it’s a self-contained solution, you won’t need other apps like Photoshop to create eye-catching visuals. Drag-and-drop functionality makes it easy to add your own content and visual assets, or you can pick from an extensive library of free photos and graphics (even on the free version).

While it’s an excellent tool for creating polished presentations, Canva has other uses too. It’s incredibly helpful for creating marketing materials like videos, social posts, and even logos. While it’s not a replacement for your design team, it can free them up for other tasks while empowering anyone in your organization to embrace their creative side.

• Simplifies the creation of eye-popping presentations
• Massive variety of templates, even on free version
• Versatile platform for creating all types of materials
• Can be difficult to make complicated charts or graphs
• Cloud-based platform has limited offline functionality

Canva’s free version is excellent, though cloud storage space is limited. Paid plans start at $120 per year and include 24/7 support and an even bigger library of templates, photos, animations, and audio.

7. Beautiful.ai

If you’re the hawk-eyed type who spends just as much time fixing those annoying spacing issues as you do developing the actual content of your presentation, Beautiful.ai could be the software you’ve been looking for. As you might suspect from the name, it’s an AI-enhanced presentation platform that automates many aspects of layout to keep your slides looking professional and visually pleasing.

To help you get inspired when first starting a new project, you can browse through a number of slide types to find a layout you like, which then automatically applies to the rest of your presentation-in-progress, even on slides with other types of content. While templates and themes are somewhat limited compared to other platforms, all the included options are clean, modern, and well-designed.

• Automated layout for polished and professional designs
• Clean and intuitive user interface
• Helpful tutorial videos to minimize the learning curve
• Template, theme, and color options are somewhat limited
• Bare-bones collaboration features on the free version

Individual subscriptions start at $12 per month and unlock most of the app’s best features. Monthly Team plans with added customization and collaboration tools start at $40 per user, and large–scale enterprise plans are also available.

8. PowerPoint

We’d be remiss if we didn’t include this category-founding behemoth in our list, as it’s still one of the most popular presentation softwares in use around the globe. (There’s a reason many other presentation apps feature PowerPoint integration as a selling point.)

With a wide variety of templates, effects, animations, and customization options, experienced PowerPoint users can create presentations every bit as compelling as you’ll get with any other platform. And with useful extension apps available for both Mac and Windows versions, you can integrate additional interactive elements to make your next meeting more memorable.

• Compatible with the world’s most popular software suite
• Solid selection of templates and effects
• Easy to get started creating simple presentations
• Steep learning curve for advanced features
• Can take longer to create visually stunning presentations

PowerPoint is included in the Microsoft 365 software suite with plans starting at $6.99 per month. Standalone licenses are also available at a flat rate of $159.99.

If your organization makes heavy use of Apple products, Keynote is an excellent free presentation software option that rivals PowerPoint in terms of rich functionality. The interface is mostly intuitive, though perhaps slightly more complicated than the ultra-stripped-down feel of Google Slides (which makes sense, given Keynote’s additional features).

Built-in templates and asset libraries are plentiful, and in keeping with Apple’s brand aesthetic, help you create contemporary-looking presentations that wow your audiences. And while PowerPoint may have a wider variety of add-ons, Keynote still works with numerous third-party apps to incorporate interactive elements like polls, quizzes, word clouds, and more.

• Excellent variety of templates and built-in assets
• Creates clean, modern, and polished presentations
• Mobile, desktop, and web-based platforms
• Requires some time to master
• Few truly unique features

Keynote is free to use for all Apple users.

When done well, presentations are still one of the best ways to inform and invigorate an audience and align everyone regarding goals, priorities, and progress toward achieving them. With so much user-friendly presentation software available in 2023, there’s no need to host boring, lecture-style meetings that test your attendees’ attention spans.

If you’re looking for more ideas about how to make your presentations more engaging and interactive, check out our free guide detailing best practices for prese nters .

Related articles

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 .

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. 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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Presentations

Presentation Management 101

How bad is your presentation management?  It might seem like a pretty direct question, but few of us really know what presentations management is actually about. Let alone how to be any good at it.

Most of us can relate to a plethora of presentations floating around on memory sticks, shared drives, various cloud services, and of course on our trusty desktops. But it’s exactly this organisational ‘system’ which causes us problems when we try to find the best presentation we made a few years back, and our colleagues problems when they promise to send us slides from the last company conference.

Sound familiar? Without having a place where business presentations can go to rest once they’ve been shown off, we’re creating a repetitive work culture. With teams having to re-create the essence of a good slide they saw a while ago. Rather than being able to simply find the slide and repurpose it.

This also carries through to other parts of presentations. Approved logos, fonts and colors fly around without expiry dates and are subject to misuse by well meaning employees who for example, have just returned from their holiday. This makes presentations far more difficult to manage. As not having one place for up to date information means that employees often just use the first thing they find. Presentation management is a way to solve all of these problems, and more.

What is Presentation Management?

Presentation management is a way of structuring how presentations are made, stored, and shared in teams. It is user focused, and ensures that presentations live in a secure and defined place in a company which is super easy to navigate. Some organizations also use this as a place to keep their best presentations, pitch decks, and templates.

On the whole, presentation management for businesses means giving proper thought to three areas:

1. Quantity of Presentations

Storing presentations in a way which is practical and useful to those making them. Dealing with many presentations means having searchable functions such as tagging, or other structures to make it easy to find files in the future.

2. Quality of Presentations

Creating a high level of quality for all presentations in the future. Ensure that all of the materials and guides needed for employees to make the best presentations are in one easy to find place. That way, spontaneous uses of ‘creative license’ can be avoided.

3. Making full use of Previous Presentations

Properly making use of each business presentation ensures that productivity is at its peak, brand guidelines are kept clear, and time is not wasted correcting mistakes, or repeating the same content. This may include keeping centralised presentations for certain events such as health and safety procedures, onboarding new employees, or researching for future presentations.

Getting the most out of presentations can make a big difference in the day to day workings of teams, and can take the place of many external agencies, from new onboarding courses to freelancers who need to know what the company is about, quickly.

We all know that finding a presentation that we haven’t cleverly stored on our desktop is a hassle, and trying to find a particular slide can be even worse. It takes up a lot of time opening each presentation we come across to see if it’s in there. But there are numerous ways to combat presentation frustration and locate your whole team’s presentations easily. From company conferences to investor reports, keeping everything in a logical order can make everything much simpler for everyone involved with the right presentation management.

Although finding the best presentation software out there may be on some peoples minds, presentation management doesn’t mean downloading a new program and investing in learning how to use a new piece of software. It can be simple.

Some companies create folders on their shared drives for people to upload their presentations, and make their teams aware of any changes via email. For example – Shared Drive >> Presentation >> Marketing >> Reports >> 2018 >> May

This is probably the simplest way of coming up with a system in which to store your presentations. But is also one of the easiest to have ignored or messed up.

If you believe that using folders is the best route to go down with storing your presentations, try delegating control in certain departments to one individual. By doing so, you shift the responsibility to one employee, who the rest of the team know will be checking up on them with their presentation management.

Some who use folders also make sure to name their presentations with very long titles, so that they’re easier to find later through the search function. For example, instead of twitter-report-2018.ppt changing it to twitter-report-2018-q1-user insights-statistics-RT-likes-mentions-demographics.ppt

Some people don’t like to separate their presentations from other files, because it makes sense to work project by project, or theme by theme. For these teams, having a presentation space for everyone to use might not be the best option. Instead, zipping up files every month may be the right way to handle things.

This is a great presentation management solution for those who want to keep all of their files locally on their computer and also want to be able to save on space.

Given the recent rise of Slack, many people now us it as their go to for information sharing. Whether that’s presentation slides or logo formats, Slack has turned into the hip new storage unit.

However, the search function on slack can leave much to be desired. With problems such as searching for a particular report resulting in either getting a thousand results or none. Seldom in between.

But, there are better ways to use slack for your files. One of which is to send important presentations to yourself in a personal message. Another way would be to set up a #presentations-2018 channel for everyone to upload their presentations to. This makes it easier to search, as Slack allows you to search inside specific channels with the in: command.

Having a natural place where every presentation is stored can bring value to some teams. Not having to search around for a memory stick, or worry about corrupted files can take an extra layer off the unnecessary stress that comes with certain presentations. In most cloud platforms, the ability to share PowerPoints with colleagues or departments is also a great asset, meaning that information can be easily shared, but still with elements of privacy if needed.

Another good use of cloud services regarding business presentations is to keep a folder of all the company templates which are up to date. This allows for an element of control for the design team in presentation management, and also a way to keep everyone on the right page.

But not every cloud has a silver lining. Some people feel that uploading presentations to cloud services isn’t secure enough, or company policy dictates that there is no cloud approved server. Leaving individuals having to look elsewhere.

Multiple Platforms

Using lots of different platforms is another method which is commonly used by businesses. It’s often favoured by those who have trouble with business presentations from different departments being mixed up. For some this method works well as it stops files being confused with others, updated or deleted. It also allows teams to designate someone to be in charge of each platform without having to take on the responsibility of everything.

However, for some teams this can cause a lack of accountability, and increase the chances of not storing their presentations where they should be.

Email Presentations to Yourself

Perhaps one of the most common ‘storage’ system out there – email. Sending presentations to yourself by email is a common trick used by many individuals who want to save on hard disk space without using a cloud platform.

To make the most of this technique, you can easily ‘tag’ your emails by writing all they key words which may one day help you to find that presentation again.

For instance, if you’re sending a marketing report from your latest twitter campaign in an attachment, your email may read ‘Twitter, Social Media, Report, Q1 2018, Presentation etc. ’ But remember that although this may work for individuals with a few presentations, there is no ability for you to view all of your presentations side by side for comparison, or use presentation management for teams.

Using presentation management also means keeping up a high standard of quality with all your business presentations. This can be made easier by knowing a few tricks of the trade, and working out what would be appropriate to you, your team and your company as a whole. Creating a mix of the solutions below or sticking to one rigid system can be the right solution, depending on the your company, and your needs.

Corporate Templates

Corporate slides are a common sight in business, regardless of the industry. They are used by companies to keep brand guidelines tight, and to ensure that each presentation is kept in a similar style across the company.

They are normally a set of PowerPoint slides with the company colors, fonts and logos built in as standard to every business presentation. All intended to be used by employees across every department. In some companies, these are updated every quarter. In others, only every few years. But regardless of when they are updated, slide templates are rigid, tricky to fit graphs over, and restrictive of color schemes. However, they do the job. So for some companies who don’t make many presentations, corporate templates do the basic task of keeping branding in there somewhere, without much fuss over the specifics of presentation management.

Presentation Templates

Presentation templates are usually a set of 30-50 sides which have many different formats. From charts to data, and processes to a who’s who of team members. Creating well formatted sides can be difficult to create from scratch, so having something to work from with an appropriate, and Keynote or PowerPoint friendly design can be a great asset when weighing up the right presentation management solution.

Although individuals may find benefit in having such presentation templates stored on their desktop, being able to cut and paste slides wherever and whenever necessary, this is not a sustainable solution for large teams who consistently need slides for various purposes.

However, if you’re the only person creating presentations in your company, you might want to take a look at Improve Presentation for hundreds of fully editable pitch decks.

Management Systems

Some organisations choose to document every presentation, file, picture etc. in one place. Allowing desktop space to be freed, and data to be updated continuously. This empowers companies who struggle with keeping employees aware of updates to make sure everyone is using the latest data. Whilst also ensuring they are making good quality presentations with the right information.

In keeping a management system active for all company data which is intended to be shared, companies usually choose from DMS, CMS or ECM depending on their needs. These management systems vary by the needs of the company. From ECM systems, which concentrate on extensive documentation, delivery, managing and storing, to DMS which acts more like a filing cabinet for slides, allowing for individuals to quickly locate files in a more organized system than available locally on drives.

If you need to store more than presentations in a logical way, presentation management can be incorporated into such systems easily instead of using the best presentation software which will only help with part of the problem.

PowerPoint Version Control

PowerPoint version control is a function often overlooked by companies who rely on PowerPoint for their presentation making. It’s a way for employees to keep one master version of a presentation. Instead of having many of the revisions take up space, and potentially cause problems when presenting the most recent updates of data. Employees can use PowerPoint version control to send their business presentations for review, whilst still keeping the original. Or, they can send it to co-workers for edits, all the while having the clean master version.

Simply open the original presentation, then click review >> compare and follow the onscreen instructions to complete the merging process between PowerPoint files.

Presentation People

Keeping track of the quality of presentations can also be measured by an element found in every office – people. Presentation people, or as they’re less fondly known if they do a bad job – ‘presentation police’, can work to ensure employees know that the quality and style of every presentation must always be kept on point.

Some businesses opt for having presentations scored, but that doesn’t work for all teams. Others work on a system of rewards or bonuses for quality presentations, or their own system which has proved efficient before.

Another way companies keep presentations manageable is to designate different members to certain types of business presentations. For example, having John in charge of ensuring that all financial reports are presented with up to date information, whilst Sarah is charged with keeping client reporting up to scratch.

Making full use of previous Presentations

Using presentations to their full potential can cause some serious ‘ Ah ha! ’ moments in some offices. This is mostly because presentations are not really anyone’s favorite thing to do, and the idea of using PowerPoint for another purpose may seem ridiculous. And that’s before even considering the problems of trying to actually locate presentation files.

But once the quality of presentations is improved, the other uses of presentations become clearer. From on boarding new employees, to researching for the next investor update, presentations can be a great way to get a current handle of what is going on in the company.

...once the quality of presentations is improved, the other uses of presentations become clearer. Click To Tweet

Managers and Presentation Management

Management can often find presentation organization a little daunting. There are so many business presentations made everyday, that coming up with a universal solution can seem difficult. And no-one wants to be seen as unofficial branding police for presentation management. Many managers face the presentation decision that perhaps having a good office atmosphere is worth taking the responsibility for the odd bad presentation.

But not all managers find this a difficult decision. Many also ensure that their team are always up to date with the presentation content. But the price to pay is that they are investing time which they could spend working on other projects, instead of presentation management.

Managers can also become a key focus point for presentation related questions, as they often watch most of the presentations themselves, and can act as a good knowledge base of where to start looking for the right information.

Best Presentations

Companies must have a set of best in class presentations for employees to aim for. If your team have no idea what to work towards, creative licenses will be used not only in the presentations themselves, but also in where they store them. If your team don’t have a location where your business templates or other presentation materials are kept, you’re missing a trick, and you’re likely to be causing an organizational mess. Although finding the best presentation software out there is the right answer for some, it’s also possible that you just need to find the right storage method for your PowerPoints.

Having a place where you show best practises also serves another purpose. It allows departments to give praise to certain employees, whilst also encouraging others to look up to them for great presentation skills. Keeping your best-in class presentations clear is a must for all companies, both large and small if you want to get employees presenting perfectly.

Catching up Employees

Catching up employees is also a common problem in some companies. From annual leave to unexpected absences, getting everyone on the same page at the same time can be hard. Some businesses use the PowerPoints created since the employee has been away as an audio visual tool for the explanation of events. This allows companies to not skip any changes and not have to spend a morning attempting to recollect events.

By having an upload point for your presentations, catching up those who have been away can become a much simpler process. Whilst also making it easier for the individuals themselves to remember all the events which have happened. Best of all, this would come at no extra cost chasing down presentations, or time wasted having to remember everything that has happened.

Keeping all your Presentations in one Place

Having your presentations easily accessible is great, but what about individual slides? Keeping individual slides for charts, quotes, maps and everything else your team might need is pretty much impossible to do on your own.

But, we have come up with a solution for that problem – google images for presentation slides. In fact an entire library of company branded slides on an online platform for you and your team to access 24/7.

It’s called SlideCamp , and it’s where managers have control over every presentation, which means being able to oversee that quality, quantity and proper use of presentations is always being handed well.

1. Quantity

The quantity of presentations in any team builds up over time, or can come crashing down like an avalanche when a company conference comes up. SlideCamp comes with an upload and search function, which doesn’t just allow you to search the title and tags of every presentation, but also the content within each individual slide. Permissions and sharing features are also available to ensure that the quantity of presentations can be kept under control. Whilst newly created presentations can live in one online location, rather than in many across the company.

Teams often struggle with keeping the quality of presentations the same across the board. With employees each having a different individual take on what the company branded template should really look like. But by using SlideCamp’s slide library the quality of presentations will stay at the same professional level. Creative employees will be able to display information in different ways rather than go off brand, and any new need of creativity can be channeled by simply requesting a new slide template from us.

Repurposing presentations for different functions is also important to managing presentations properly. SlideCamp enables you and your team to share links to your presentations instead of having files clog up your company computers with many versions of the same thing. At the same time managers are also in a much better position to proofread presentations before they are made, catch-up employees who have been away, and give a boost to productivity when lost time in presentation design is no longer an issue amongst their team.

Making presentations manageable will have different solutions for different teams. But by putting aside a little time to consider quantity, quality and proper use of presentation slides, you’re sure to improve your presentation process for your whole company.

Problem: We have too many presentation files flying around everywhere, with no sustainable organizational solution in sight.

Solution: Addressing quality, quantity, and making full use of every presentation results in using presentation management to sort everything out. From zipping up files to cloud services, and presentation police to Slack, this article explores the various ways other businesses out there make their presentations manageable.

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What It Takes to Give a Great Presentation

• Carmine Gallo

Five tips to set yourself apart.

Never underestimate the power of great communication. It can help you land the job of your dreams, attract investors to back your idea, or elevate your stature within your organization. But while there are plenty of good speakers in the world, you can set yourself apart out by being the person who can deliver something great over and over. Here are a few tips for business professionals who want to move from being good speakers to great ones: be concise (the fewer words, the better); never use bullet points (photos and images paired together are more memorable); don’t underestimate the power of your voice (raise and lower it for emphasis); give your audience something extra (unexpected moments will grab their attention); rehearse (the best speakers are the best because they practice — a lot).

I was sitting across the table from a Silicon Valley CEO who had pioneered a technology that touches many of our lives — the flash memory that stores data on smartphones, digital cameras, and computers. He was a frequent guest on CNBC and had been delivering business presentations for at least 20 years before we met. And yet, the CEO wanted to sharpen his public speaking skills.

• Carmine Gallo is a Harvard University instructor, keynote speaker, and author of 10 books translated into 40 languages. Gallo is the author of The Bezos Blueprint: Communication Secrets of the World’s Greatest Salesman  (St. Martin’s Press).

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Product News, Customer Stories and Updates from Rise Vision

The 9 best wireless presentation systems.

June 03 2021

Wireless presentation tools are loved in business settings for making meetings faster and more informative. In education, though, they’re truly transformative, moving teachers away from the whiteboard and giving students more input and control. Even quite simple systems can make lessons vastly more efficient, which is why they’re gradually finding their way into more and more schools and higher education institutions. But they often leave the screen blank when no one’s actually presenting; a missed opportunity. Rise Vision has developed a solution, in the form of a fully device-agnostic web player that can display your Rise Vision signage and alerts when you’re not presenting.

The Rise Vision web player

Rise Vision’s new web player works app-free across any wireless presentation system , allowing a school or university to use its Rise Vision content library as the default display across all its screens. Those displays can show content specific to the location, time of year or time of day — defaulting to lab safety messages in the chem building, for instance. And they can draw on a growing education-specific library of over 425 templates to build appropriate content for their students, then control them centrally from their Rise Vision dashboard. Rise Vision web player is fully device-agnostic, app-free and works with these wireless presentation tools — and many others. We’ll start with our favorite (and partner), Airtame.

What is Airtame?

Airtame is a hardware device for wireless screen sharing. Hook it up to screens or projectors and connect to your local network wirelessly or by ethernet, and you and your guests will be able to present. It’s centrally managed remotely, so one IT person can control the whole system from their laptop wherever they are. Airtame works with any device and operating system, and when screens aren’t being used for presentations, they can be used for digital signage.

How does Airtame work with Rise Vision web player?

When those screens are in digital signage mode, in between presentations, you can use Rise Vision’s dynamic digital signage and alerts. Airtame users get access to Rise Vision’s content thanks to a partnership between the two companies. ‘Partnering with Rise Vision will help us leverage their extensive library of professional content. The combination of the Airtame Cloud platform – supported by our display hardware – and Rise Vision’s digital signage templates will enable effective communication within schools. We believe the school community can achieve a lot more through this collaboration,’ says Orri Gudmundsson, Chief Commercial Officer, Airtame.

Standout features:

Airtame’s most impressive features include:

Device-agnostic screen sharing via the Airtame app, Miracast, Google Cast, and Airplay. Use any device, including emergency substitutes.

Support for touchback via Miracast from Windows and Android devices, when connected to an Interactive Flat Panel.

The Airtame 2 is $399, with a 30-day free trial. There’s also the $119 Airtame PoE adapter that both powers your Airtame and connects it to your Ethernet. Airtame Cloud licenses give you access to enhanced capabilities for your Airtame 2. Here’s how they’re priced:

Firmware updates

Global device management

Unlimited users

Unlimited devices

User roles and access delegation

Screen orientation control

Branded images and custom backgrounds

Moderator mode

Public website URL

$10 per user per month (billed annually)

Everything in the Lite plan

Real-time screen overview

Welcome screen with meeting room scheduling

Meeting room overview

Looped content with digital signage playlists

Scheduled content allowing you to plan digital signage by days of the week and times of day

Integration with scheduling and content apps including Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, Dropbox, Youtube, Microsoft OneDrive and more

For larger deployments (20+ seats)

Custom pricing via sales

Everything in Plus

Dedicated training webinar

Designated customer success team for onboarding and activation

The bottom line

We love Airtame — that’s why we chose to partner with them. In the words of our Head of Revenue, Shea Darlison, ‘we’re thrilled to partner with Airtame to help schools get the most out of their investment in classroom displays .’ Schools can get 50% off the first year’s cost for each Rise Vision license they buy to use with an Airtame Cloud license. This offer is open for all Airtame Cloud licenses purchased by K-12 and higher education institutions from May 1st, 2021 until August 31st, 2021. Claim yours by contacting Airtame or your local resellers to purchase your Airtame Cloud license . Then go to https://www.risevision.com/airtame to submit the proof of purchase and receive the discounted Rise Vision licenses.

2. AirSquirrels / AirSquirrels Ditto What is AirSquirrels?

AirSquirrels comes in three parts: Ditto is a device-agnostic screen-mirroring and digital signage tool. Reflector 4 is AirPlay, Google Cast and Miracast receiver software. And AirParrot is advanced mirroring and screen sharing for Mac and PC.

Ditto lets you take any screen and turn it into a wireless meeting collaboration tool. What it doesn’t do is play well with others. You can’t use Rise Vision or any other third-party player through AirSquirrels Ditto, and you can’t play web content through it. Its inbuilt signage lacks support for full-size videos, templates and scheduling, so it’s also very static.

How does AirSquirrels work?

AirSquirrels offers both screen sharing and collaboration, and digital signage. The tools AirSquirrel offers are more oriented to the enterprise than Rise Vision, and take less account of schools’ requirements.

Ditto offers its users:

Cross-platform wireless screen mirroring from iPhones, Macs, Android devices, Chromebooks and Windows devices

Device agnostic single-app screen mirroring lets you cast just a particular application to public screens

Ditto is priced at $150 per receiver per year or $15.99 per month per receiver.

Ditto is a solid solution if you’re looking for an all-in-one tool that covers most of the bases of a dedicated screen-casting tool and a dedicated digital signage tool.

3. Mersive Solstice What is Mersive Solstice?

Solstice is a meeting collaboration tool, built for local and remote teams. It lets users share content to room displays nearby and to remote locations using any of several major video conferencing services. Software-based and cloud-enabled, Solstice lets you start sharing your screen in just a few seconds.

How does Mersive Solstice work with Rise Vision web player?

Solstice already controls screens to facilitate sharing and collaboration, so it makes sense that they also offer digital signage. There’s native digital signage built-in, and partnerships with multiple digital signage companies. Rise Vision users can use the Rise Vision web player just the way you would with any other presentation tool to run digital signage from your Rise Vision dashboard to screens controlled by Solstice.

Solstice brings its users:

Uniquely easy to present in other locations. When they say, ‘make any room a Zoom,’ they’re not kidding

Device-agnostic content sharing via the Solstice app, AirPlay, Miracast, a web browser, or the HDMI-in port

Mersive Solstice pricing is custom via their sales team.

Mersive Solstice is a winner for large, distributed organizations, or ones that need collaboration tools for a network of partners. But for smaller organizations, it’s overpowered.

4. ScreenBeam What is ScreenBeam?

ScreenBeam is an app-free, contactless wireless presentation tool that integrates quickly and easily into any meeting space or Unified Communication system. Unusually for the niche, ScreenBeam deliberately eschews all applications and contact points — dongles, boxes and so forth — to allow standards-based wireless connections from any device. Only the ScreenBeam wireless receiver is required.

How does ScreenBeam work with Rise Vision web player?

ScreenBeam can display static digital signage or you can push digital signage to it from another source. The Rise Vision web player can function as a source, allowing the two systems to connect seamlessly.

ScreenBeam lets you:

Pipe apps up to the big screen easily. Everything from Skype for the Classroom to OneNote and FluidMath can be moved onto the main screen to allow collaboration and teaching

Do native screen mirroring without downloading or installing an app at all.

ScreenBeam pricing is custom , via their sales team.

ScreenBeam is one of the most powerful and versatile tools for K-12 and higher education institutions, as well as businesses, to facilitate collaboration. Its app-less functionality makes using it uniquely quick and easy to connect to.

5. ViewSonic

What is viewsonic.

ViewSonic offers a range of visual tools, from high-end gaming monitors to large-venue projectors. But one of its areas of focus is wireless presentations in schools. For this, ViewSonic has the ViewSync receiver, allowing rapid wireless connectivity to a range of screens from laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

How does ViewSonic work with RiseVision web player?

ViewSonic offers presentation via a receiver with a USB backchannel that lets the host annotate what’s displayed on the screen and assume full mouse and keyboard control. It’s built for presentations in a lecture, meeting or classroom environment, but can also be used as a digital signage receiver when not presenting. Rise Vision’s web player can play your Rise Vision signage playlists and alerts through your ViewSonic receiver.

ViewSonic’s ViewSync 3 receiver is $39.99 . To use it, you’ll also need the ViewMirroring Android app or the ViewMedia Android/iOS app.

ViewSonic is a great choice if you have a relatively small number of screens and you want a versatile, plug-and-play presentation solution; paired with Rise Vision’s web player and digital signage dashboard, you’ll get everything you need to run a full suite of presentations, signage and alerts.

6. Barco WePresent What is WePresent?

WePresent is a simple, fully configurable app-based presentation toolkit designed specifically for BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) environments, and can be optimized for the needs of schools, businesses, government and universities.

How does WePresent work?

WePresent relies on its MirrorOp app plus a three-device suite of boxes, designed to suit different needs (see Pricing for details). When you use WePresent, students and teachers can connect to the WePresent box from any device. You can share multiple device screens on one screen, and teachers can preview student content, set polls and quizzes, and ask silent questions through the WePresent system too.

Unfortunately, Barco doesn’t work with Rise Vision’s web player or most other third-party players, meaning you’re stuck with the Barco feature set — admittedly impressive, but incomplete.

Standout features

WePresent comes with:

Support for native Airplay and Chromecast

BYOD-friendly with teacher controls to manage, annotate, queue and share content from students

MirrorOp is free to download for Mac, Windows, Android, iOS and Chromebook. There are three hardware options:

Not available in Canada, Mexico or the United States

Entry-level

64 simultaneous connections

Airplay support

Fixed screen layout (up to 4)

On-screen moderation

Central management

Available globally

All features available with WiPG-1000, plus smart upgrades

Whiteboard and annotation features

1-to-many distribution (up to 4)

Video streaming

USB document/content player

All features of WiPG-1600W, plus upgrades

Dynamic screen layout (up to 4)

On-screen user preview and moderation

Education pack with student monitor

Eco standby mode

Pricing for all WePresent hardware is custom through the Barco sales team.

WePresent is a full-featured presentation system that works great for schools and universities. It’s the kind of tool that’s likely to get bought at the school or district rather than department or classroom level, but it’s well-supported and effective for teaching and learning. It also plays great with your existing Rise Vision library of signage and alerts.

7. WolfVision

What is wolfvision.

WolfVision provides wireless presentation tools as part of a suite of business and education tools that includes visualizers, document cameras and more, all aimed at tying together the classroom and digital environments. At its most advanced the WolfVision suite includes onscreen multisource annotations, multiscreen sharing, and drag and drop distribution across student screens. Presentation is just a part of this.

How does WolfVision work?

WolfVision’s suite of tools includes a range of receivers able to do duty as presentation receivers and multi-app remote meeting tools, collaboration solutions and more.

However, WolfVision has no built-in digital signage solution. They allow digital signage providers access to their tool through their API, but not directly, so it doesn’t work with the Rise Vision web player.

WolfVision is distinguished by:

App-free, dongle-free, wireless sharing and presentation via its Cynap range of receivers

Easy configuration, but endless customization via powerful API access

WolfVision’s pricing is custom via their sales team, though their tools are also sold by authorized resellers .

8. Startech

What is the startech wifi2hdvga.

Startech’s WIFI2HDVGA is a simple, effective tool for sharing from Windows and Mac computers and laptops to big screens.

How does the Startech WIFI2HDVGA work?

Startech’s simple presentation and collaboration tool is one of the most lightweight solutions on this list. But that’s its appeal. If you need something that will plug and play into whatever system you’re currently using, Startech has you covered. What it doesn’t have, as most presentation tools don’t, is native digital signage. Rise Vision has you covered there, with scheduled signage playlists and real time alerts — but Startech isn’t compatible with third-party players, so if you choose the stripped-down approach your options are limited.

Startech delivers:

Quick, efficient screen sharing switching between computers

Wireless display mode that lets users mirror any screencast-enabled device app-free

Startech’s pricing is transparent: each unit is $185.99 USD, and is also available from a reseller network .

9. Polycom Pano

What is the polycom pano.

The Pano is part of Polycom’s wider collaboration and presentation ecosystem, allowing users to connect any device and present up to four screens simultaneously. You can annotate in real-time and connect to virtually any display through a standard HDMI output, or select touch displays for a fully interactive experience.

How does the Polycom Pano work?

Pano is a powerful collaboration tool, especially when it’s embedded in the wider Polycom ecosystem. But its focus is the meeting, the presentation, the huddle — not the times in between. It lacks digital signage functionality, and isn’t compatible with third-party players.

Pano gives users:

Device-agnostic access, though with relatively poor support for Linux

Security-conscious design including secure boot and encrypted content

Polycom’s Pano is best used as part of a wider strategic investment, and it’s one that’s better suited to businesses than to education. Pano’s pricing is custom through the Polycom sales team.

More From Our Blog

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How HR Can Use Digital Signage

The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Digital Signage

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The Best Projectors

By Adrienne Maxwell

Adrienne Maxwell is an editor covering AV gear. Her specialty is video projectors, so she spends a lot of time alone in dark rooms.

Different projectors are designed for different uses, and they can range in price from a couple hundred dollars to well into the five-figure range. Choosing the right model for your needs can be a daunting task, and we’re here to help.

Below is an overview of the top picks from our various projector guides. We have recommendations for premium 4K movie projectors, bright living-room projectors, budget home theater projectors, and more.

What you need to know

When shopping for projectors, don’t rely on the specs—especially the claimed brightness, which is often exaggerated.

If you want a big screen, you need a bright projector. Tiny projectors are not bright enough to deliver a big-screen, cinema-like experience.

Projectors, like TVs, are rarely set up to look their best right out of the box. Look for a picture mode called Cinema, Movie, or Natural.

We have projector recommendations for home theaters, living rooms, small spaces, outdoors, and portable use.

If you’re not sure where to begin your projector search, we recommend reading about how to pick the right projector for your viewing needs . In summary, you have three important questions to ask at the start: What do you plan to use the projector for? What type of room will you use it in? How big of a screen do you want?

There’s a huge difference in price and performance between a 4K projector designed for a big-screen home theater and a portable mini projector designed to be an everyday TV replacement. Some projectors excel with movies in a completely dark room, while others are better for sports or gaming in a room with some ambient light.

Generally, the bigger the screen you want, the brighter your projector must be to produce a satisfyingly rich image. Once you have a general idea of the projector’s intended use, it’s easier to zero in on a specific choice.

The research

Best 4k projector for a home theater, best budget projector for a home theater, best living-room projector, best portable mini projector for indoor and outdoor use, best short-throw projector (for small spaces), why we don’t recommend ultra-short-throw projectors for most people, what you’ll need to complete your projector setup, frequently asked questions.

Epson Home Cinema LS11000

The best 4k projector under $5,000.

The LS11000 is a great 4K laser projector that can deliver a big, bright, beautiful image, and it has almost all the features you need—except 3D support.

Buying Options

If you want to set up a high-performance home theater in a basement or spare room and need a 4K projector that can handle high dynamic range video and wide-color-gamut material, choose the Epson Home Cinema LS11000 . This LCD laser projector offers a combination of performance and features that you won’t find in any other projector priced lower than $5,000. It’s an excellent 4K movie projector, but it also looks great with games, sports, and HDTV when some room lights are on.

Why we like it

• The LS11000 has great detail, is bright enough to produce satisfying high dynamic range (HDR) video, and has wonderfully accurate color in the Natural picture mode.
• This LCD projector uses a laser light source that should see you through the next decade (or longer), with no need to pay for replacement bulbs.
• It's one of only a few 120-hertz projectors right now that has high-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 inputs to work with the most advanced 4K gaming consoles and any future 8K sources that might emerge.
• A motorized lens with generous zoom and lens-shifting capabilities makes this projector easier to set up than many others.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

• The LS11000 doesn’t support 3D video playback, so people who have a large collection of 3D discs may want to look elsewhere.
• Projectors aren’t bright enough to show HDR video at its full brightness, so they have to adjust the HDR signal to show it in the brightness range they’re capable of. The LS11000 does not do this automatically; you have to manually adjust the HDR brightness setting.

Read more about the Epson LS11000 in our guide to the best 4K projector .

BenQ HT2060

The best budget projector around $1,000.

This projector produces a bright, rich-looking image with more accurate color than most competitors can offer. It’s easy to set up and quiet in operation, but it lacks features like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

If you want to create a big-screen movie experience at home on a modest budget, the BenQ HT2060 is the best performer in the $1,000-and-under price range.

• It offers great image contrast and color accuracy.
• It’s bright enough to pair it with a large screen for a more immersive home theater experience.
• Out of the box this projector can produce a good image with very little adjustment, which means it’s good for people new to projectors.
• It’s easy to set up and quiet in operation.

• The HT2060 produced some digital noise in mid to dark grays during our tests.
• It lacks features like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and built-in streaming apps.
• Because it uses DLP projection technology, some people might see the rainbow effect .

Read more about this pick and others in our guide to the best budget projector for a home theater .

Epson Home Cinema 3800

The best projector for a living room.

This projector combines high brightness with accurate color, great contrast, and good setup tools to fit in a variety of rooms.

The Epson Home Cinema 3800 projector offers a clear step up in picture quality over budget 1080p projectors, and its native contrast ratio—the difference between the darkest and brightest parts of an image—is much higher than that of most projectors around the same price. It can’t compete with the best 4K home theater projector in overall performance, but its high brightness makes it a better choice for use in a living room or family room where you can’t block out all the light.

• The Home Cinema 3800 is extremely bright, so the image will pop even in a room with a good amount of light.
• The Home Cinema 3800 also has accurate colors, producing lifelike greens, blues, reds, and everything in between.
• The high zoom (1.6x) and good lens shifting give you increased placement flexibility, which may matter more in a living room than in a dedicated theater room.

• The image isn’t technically 4K and doesn’t look quite as sharp as what you can see from some competitors, but it’s still highly detailed.
• The lamp life isn’t as long as that of some projectors we tested, but a replacement bulb costs less.

You can read more about this projector and other bright-room options in our full guide to 4K projectors .

Nebula Mars 3 Air

Best portable mini projector.

This compact, 1080p projector offers good image brightness and contrast, above-average sound, easy setup, and a built-in battery. But mounting it on a tripod may prove tricky.

If you need a small, compact projector that you can easily move around your home or take outside, the Nebula Mars 3 Air offers almost everything we could ask for in this type of projector. The Mars 3 Air is an LED projector that has a 1080p resolution and supports HDR video in the HDR10 format (though it isn’t bright enough to show off what HDR can do). It also includes a built-in battery, built-in Google TV and speakers, automatic focus and image shaping, and support for Bluetooth audio.

• The Nebula Mars 3 Air offers good brightness and contrast, rich color, and a 1080p resolution.
• Its internal speaker system delivers good sound. You can also connect an external speaker via Bluetooth.
• The projector automatically focuses and shapes the image so that it’s always optimized for your desired throw distance and angle, no matter where you place it.
• Its Google TV operating system gives you direct access to streaming apps such as those for Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix.
• The built-in battery, compact form, and carrying handle make it a great choice to take outside for the occasional backyard movie night. If you want something even brighter and more rugged for outdoor use, consider the step-up Mars 3 .

• The Mars 3 Air’s shallow tripod socket and ridged underside make it incompatible with some mounts and tripods.
• This model doesn’t have a USB-C port, so you might need an HDMI adapter cable to connect a mobile device.
• The black level, brightness, and color accuracy are lacking in comparison with a traditional home theater projector, so it isn’t an ideal choice for big-screen movie watching or gaming.

You can read more about this projector and others in our full guide to portable mini projectors .

BenQ HT2150ST

A short-throw pick.

If you’re short on space, the BenQ HT2150ST can produce a larger image from a shorter distance.

In order to create a large image most projectors need to be positioned far from the screen. This distance is called the throw distance, and can be anywhere from 8 to 15 feet, depending on the projector and desired image size. Short-throw projectors are convenient for small rooms or other situations where space is limited. The BenQ HT2150ST can sit much closer to the screen than a standard projector, and is bright enough to use in a room with some ambient light.

• It works in spaces other projectors can’t, producing a 100-inch image with only a couple feet of space.
• It produces a bright image that can work in a room that gets some ambient light.
• Its integrated speaker and small size make it easy to store when not being used.

• The short-throw lens can cause some fringing artifacts that you might notice.
• It’s bright, but the colors aren’t as accurate as those of the non-short-throw HT2060 .
• This projector has a 1080p resolution. If you're willing to pay more for a 4K short-throw projector, check out the ViewSonic X2-4K in our guide to the best 4K projector .

You can read more about this projector in our guide to the best budget projector for a home theater . 

Ultra-short-throw (UST) projectors are often marketed as TV replacements because they can deliver a massive image from a very short distance and have a footprint smaller than any TV. But the truth is, these are still projectors, and expensive ones at that. We tested four UST projectors at varying prices and performance levels and concluded that the vast majority of people are better off getting either a large TV or a traditional projector. You’ll either get better performance or spend less—oftentimes both. You can read more about this in our piece Is an Ultra-Short-Throw Projector a Good Substitute for a Big-Screen TV?

A great screen

Silver Ticket STR Series (White Material, 100-Inch)

Our favorite projector screen.

This inexpensive screen offers performance comparable to that of others costing much more, plus it’s easy to install.

If you have a projector, you should get a screen. Most modern projectors are bright enough to throw a decent image on just about any close-enough-to-white surface, but you won’t get accurate colors without a proper screen. A screen has less texture than a wall, plus it will add pop to the image, because paint almost always has less gain (that is, it reflects less light) than a screen, meaning the image will appear dimmer than is ideal. The Silver Ticket STR Series performs as well as screens costing thousands of dollars. You can read about screen materials and our testing methods in our full guide to the best projector screen .

If you’re putting together a backyard theater, consider one of our outdoor screen recommendations .

A projector mount

Peerless-AV PRGS-UNV Projector Mount

A good projector mount.

This is the closest thing to the perfect projector mount we’ve used.

If you want to get your projector up and out of the way, you need a mount. The Peerless-AV PRGS-UNV Projector Mount is one of our favorites due to its flexibility and how easy it is to set up correctly. The mounting arms are highly adjustable and removable, so it can handle anything from a tiny DLP projector to the gigantic JVC D-ILA projectors that most mounts cannot fit. The dials let you easily make small adjustments to the projector to get it level with the screen and produce the best-quality image without much work. After years of using this mount and going through dozens of tested projectors, we have yet to find one that the Peerless-AV cannot handle.

Other AV gear

You’ll probably need some speakers, AV sources, and other accessories. Check out our recommendations in “ The Best Gear for a Home Theater System .”

How many lumens is good for a projector?

For a home theater projector that you will use mostly in a dark room, we recommend at least 1,000 ANSI lumens for a 100-inch screen. If you plan to use the projector in a room with more ambient light, you’ll want to go brighter: at least 1,500 ANSI lumens (ideally 2,000 or more). The larger the screen size you want, the brighter the projector needs to be to produce a satisfying image. Manufacturers’ claimed brightness specifications are usually exaggerated, so it’s best to rely on actual measured results from trusted reviewers. Some manufacturers use LEDs instead of traditional bulbs as the light source in their projectors, and they list the brightness rating in “LED lumens” instead of ANSI lumens to give a higher number.

How far away should you sit from a projection screen?

This depends on how much you want the projected image to fill your field of view. Some people like to sit closer in the movie theater so it feels more immersive, while others prefer to sit farther back. It’s the same at home. Experts generally recommend a viewing distance that fills between 30 and 36 degrees of your field of view, and you can use this calculator to help find a good seating distance for your screen size.

Is a 4K projector worth it?

If you watch a lot of 4K content and want the most detailed image you can get, a 4K projector is the way to go. The step up in resolution from 1080p to 4K can be more obvious on a projector than it is on most TVs, due to the larger screen size. However, native 4K projectors are very expensive and usually reserved for the most ardent home theater fans. Most affordable “4K” projectors use some type of pixel-shifting technology to reproduce a 4K image, which can be very effective and really is good enough for most people. Also, once you get past a certain seating distance, your eyes may not be able to see the difference between 4K and 1080p. Most 4K projectors also support high dynamic range video, but we think this feature is less important on projectors, since none of them are bright enough to do HDR properly.

Meet your guide

Adrienne Maxwell

Adrienne Maxwell is the supervising editor of Wirecutter's audio/video team, covering everything from headphones to TVs. She has been a writer, editor, and reviewer in the consumer electronics industry for 20 years, and previously served as the executive editor of Home Theater Magazine and the managing editor of HomeTheaterReview.com.

Further reading

The Best Portable Mini Projector

by Adrienne Maxwell

A portable mini projector doesn’t perform as well as a good TV or home-theater projector, but the Nebula Mars 3 Air ably blends performance and convenience.

The Best 4K Projector

The Epson LS11000 4K laser projector delivers a big, beautiful image, works well in a variety of lighting conditions, and has most of the features you need.

The Best Budget Projector for a Home Theater

The BenQ HT2060 ’s good contrast, bright output, and impressive color accuracy make it our pick for the best budget home theater projector.

Is an Ultra-Short-Throw Projector a Good Substitute for a Big-Screen TV?

by Geoffrey Morrison

Ultra-short-throw projectors can deliver a big, bright image in your living room, but for most people a big-screen TV is a better choice.

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How to Select a Wireless Presentation System

For the last two decades, sharing a screen in a meeting room required cables, AV switchers, and touch panels. These systems typically start at US$10,000 plus custom programming.

Today’s new HDMI wireless presentation and conferencing systems offer far more flexibility and ease of use – at a fraction of the cost of a traditional wired system. But how do you pick the best one for your needs? There are three major types of wireless presentation systems available today:

• Button Based Solutions – Use a physical connection to your notebook for screen mirroring and video conferencing.
• Wi-Fi Network Hub Solutions – Use the company Wi-Fi network to connect your notebook.
• Wireless HDMI TV Solutions – Use streaming protocols built into your PC

We will look at the three types of presentations solutions to look at the pros and cons of each system and what the trade-offs are based on your usage models. The key factors we will look at will be:

• How easy they are to use, especially for visitors?
• How much do they cost and how much IT support is needed to setup and manage?
• How do these systems secure your presentation content from hackers and unauthorized viewing?

Button-Based Solutions

These systems use physical button transmitter that connects to a visitor’s laptop and wirelessly transmits the HDMI signal to a receiver located near the projector or flat panel. To switch presenters, the new presenter simply presses their button and the screen switches to their notebook or device. These systems also  have major security advantages  of these over generic systems since the wireless signal is encrypted to keep hackers and sniffers from viewing the signal on an unauthorized receiver and are CVSS 3.0 certified

From a set up perspective, they are IT-friendly and easy to install for basic screen mirroring, since the receivers set up their own hidden wireless network and don’t require any special IT support for basic functionality.  For a typical meeting, they can split the screen to handle multiple presenters, and have the ability to use an interactive display to control your presentation. 

While most video conferencing in a meeting room is done on a dedicated PC, the BenQ InstaShow VS and Barco Clickshare both have the ability to support video conferencing.   Simply plug in your webcam and microphone to the receiver, and you can support any video conferencing system using your notebook.  The InstaShow adds another layer of security by enabling visitors to use the button to connect to the internet – without having to login to the main network.

The BenQ InstaShow’s unique feature is that it does not require any special software or app to work for wireless presentation screen mirroring, enabling meeting room visitors to use to quickly connect to the system.  It can also connect to other types of devices such as Chromebooks, media players, and is capable of wirelessly streaming HDCP content such as movies or video clips.

The BenQ InstaShow VS20 Wireless Presentation System comes with two transmitters and a tabletop holder and support for 4K UHD resolution.

Wi-Fi Network Hub-Based Solutions

These solutions utilize the company network to enable laptops and other devices to share a screen. The system uses a receiver hub that is connected to the corporate network, similar to the receivers used in the hardware approach used by Barco and BenQ but relies on specialized software apps to capture and transmit the signal to the correct screen over the enterprise WiFi network.

Setup and Ease of Use

Wi-Fi typically requires visitors and employees to load software onto their notebooks.

For a visitor to use a system, they will need to:

• Install the manufacturer’s display application software onto their notebook or device
• Log onto the correct enterprise network to access the receiver
• Pick the correct display receiver

There are two primary disadvantages of the Wi-Fi network hub-based solution. First, the system typically requires a proprietary app to be loaded onto the laptop, which can be a major problem when a visitor does not have the rights – or is concerned that the software could contain malware or other hidden codes. Many companies “lock down” their notebooks from third party software to remove the threat of malware. This could delay a meeting – or cause the system to be unusable to a visitor.

The second disadvantage is that these devices need to be installed and managed by IT staff . Typically, the visitor’s notebook used for the presentation must be logged on to the same network as the presentation receiver hub. Since meeting rooms represent the most exposure to external threats, these might be set up on different VLAN networks, which would require a more complicated setup and security protection from the IT department, including specific port usage. In addition, the bandwidth requirement to manage video and other rich content could require changing network priorities or settings. Wi-Fi network solutions are completely dependent upon the performance of the corporate network. 

TV-Based Wireless HDMI Transmitters / Receivers

The third type of wireless HDMI solution is designed for consumers to share video content from a source, such as a game console, to a television and eliminate the need for a HDMI cable. These systems have the advantage of being less expensive than the other solutions and easy to set up. Most systems use a single transmitter that attaches to the HDMI port on a computer, with power coming from the USB port or DC power source. The receiver is attached to the display and configured with a remote.

The major disadvantage of these systems is that they  do not provide any encryption or other security protection  to protect the information sent from the transmitter to be received by an unauthorized third party. While this is not a major concern in a home environment transmitting a movie to a projector, it is a  significant risk in a corporate or engineering environment  where company information could be stolen.

The second disadvantage is that only one transmitter is linked to the receiver , making it difficult for multiple presenters to share their screens in a collaborative manner. This solution is best suited for a consumer application to overcome cabling issues or applications where there is no data confidentiality concern (such as a small house of worship). There are a number of vendors that offer these solutions including Nyrius, IoGear, and StarTech.

Comparison Table

Here is a summary of popular models of different types of wireless presentation systems. As you can see, some models require annual subscriptions after the initial purchase to keep certain features and for security updates.  BenQ InstaShow doesn’t require any subscriptions and new feature updates are free over the product lifetime.

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CEM Expo 2024

The Virtual Expo consists of 3-5 minutes videos prepared by the participants that describe the details of their projects.

Virtual Expo Presentations

Once you have finished viewing the participant videos, please participate in our Best in Class voting for each category. The winning projects will receive a scholarship. 

The projects have been broken into two categories below.

Prototype Projects

Process/research projects, prototype projects ( open this section).

The CEM Design Expo Competition defines a Prototype Project as a project that has a physical build. This can be in the form of an actual prototype product or as a proof of concept of a certain aspect of a product. Although simulations are typically used in design, physical testing is typically done to ensure the final product’s functionality.

Advanced Rocketry Club

Aggregation of seeded hepatocyte stem cells, agritech north 3d printable beehives, argo electric, cardio control, converting one way pairs to two way streets, energy harvesting from human motion, fsae - admin, fsae - chassis, fsae - drivetrain, fsae - suspension, grand forks wastewater fine screens building foundation, healthcare records management, hess natural gas condensate removal, k7 mech runner, marvin glass mull reinforcement fin, metal 3d printing, preventing condensation, smart hydrocephalus shunt, solar photovoltaic dual axis maximum power tracking system, supply chain finance, underpass and railroad bridge, wastewater treatment plant, process/research projects ( open this section).

The CEM Design Expo Competition defines a Process/Research Project as a project that is primarily based in at least one of the following: Software Simulation, Research & Development of Theoretical Concepts and/or Materials, or Process Improvement. Although physical test apparatuses can be built and used as part of these projects, they are not the focus of the goals and criteria for success.

AgriTech North HVAC

Hydrological and geomechanical modeling of deep sedimentary rock, lake beverage delivery device, materials research on-campus, materials research online, sanitary sewer for und east campus, ten bus electric power protection system, urban subdivision design, wastewater treatment for sugarbeet processing, vote for best in class.

Voting closes at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, May 2, 2023.

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NeurIPS 2024, the Thirty-eighth Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, will be held at the Vancouver Convention Center

Monday Dec 9 through Sunday Dec 15. Monday is an industry expo.

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General chair, program chair, workshop chair, workshop chair assistant, tutorial chair, competition chair, data and benchmark chair, diversity, inclusion and accessibility chair, affinity chair, ethics review chair, communication chair, social chair, journal chair, creative ai chair, workflow manager, logistics and it, mission statement.

The Neural Information Processing Systems Foundation is a non-profit corporation whose purpose is to foster the exchange of research advances in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, principally by hosting an annual interdisciplinary academic conference with the highest ethical standards for a diverse and inclusive community.

About the Conference

The conference was founded in 1987 and is now a multi-track interdisciplinary annual meeting that includes invited talks, demonstrations, symposia, and oral and poster presentations of refereed papers. Along with the conference is a professional exposition focusing on machine learning in practice, a series of tutorials, and topical workshops that provide a less formal setting for the exchange of ideas.

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2024 CPSS Conference / Banquet

This year's banquet will be held on Monday, September 30, 2024 , at McCrory Gardens in Brookings.

Register Now

5:30 p.m. - Social 6 p.m. - Banquet 6:45 p.m. - Presentation of the CPSS Scholarship                 - Presentation of Wayne E. Knabach Excellence in Power Award      7 p.m. - Keynote Presentation

Excellence in Power Awardee

Robert H. Schulte Principal, Schulte Associates LLC Managing Member, Power from the Prairie LLC

Bob Schulte has more than 40 years in the utility business, serving as an officer in both public and investor-owned utilities. He holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from SDSU, and an M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia. During 16 years at Northern States Power (NSP), among other things he was lead planning engineer for planning and permitting for the 800 MW Sherburne County 3 power plant now in operation near Becker, Minnesota. He led the original development of the first nine major customer energy efficiency and interruptible load programs in the Upper Midwest, later versions of which are still in operation today. He led installation of the fourth-240 MVA, 115/13.8kV transformer under the Nicollet Mall serving downtown Minneapolis. He led regulatory cost recovery for decommissioning the Pathfinder nuclear power plant in Sioux Falls. As VP of rates and corporate strategy, he was responsible for development of the first Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) filing in Minnesota including, for the first time in company history, direct customer input. He led NSP senior officer decisions to install the first 10 Megawatts of large-scale wind facilities in the Upper Midwest, where thousands of MW are in operation today.

During the past 28 years in private practice at Schulte Associates LLC , an executive management consulting firm in Raleigh, North Carolina, he has served energy industry clients in resource planning, project development, organizational development and interim CEO/COO services. He used to plan and permit coal and nuclear plants. Now, he plans renewables, transmission and storage to replace them. He is the author of numerous industry articles on energy storage and interregional transmission. As managing member of Power from the Prairie (PftP) LLC, he is leading efforts to develop the 4,000 MW PftP interregional HVDC transmission line from Wyoming to Iowa. Many of the Participants in the recently completed Stage 1 PftP Concept Development Study (CDS) are CPSS members. Study report.

Bob lives in Raleigh. He recently served on the SDSU Foundation Council of Trustees. His daughter, Nikki Brower, is lead designer for the Brookings Register newspaper. His daughter, Melissa Schulte, is an advertising strategist for the Henkin/Schultz ad firm in Sioux Falls. The Schulte Family is SDSU Family of the Year for 2023, featuring 14 Jackrabbit grads since his father, H.J. Schulte, was all-conference for the Jacks in basketball 90 years ago before serving as head of the T&D Department for Northwestern Public Service in Huron for 20 years.

CPSS Scholarship Awardee

Shelby, originally from Watertown, Minnesota, is the daughter of Noah and Nicole Mueller. During her time at SDSU, Shelby has attained a GPA of 3.3. She has been involved in improving freshmen classes as both a teaching assistant for their introductory to electrical engineering lab and a tutor for Circuits I. Shelby also has been involved with the IEEE student branch, as the secretary. She has interned for Burns and McDonnell for the past two years and will be returning as a full-time engineer in training in their substation department.

Keynote Presentation

Dr. Tmothy Hansen Dr. Junjian Qi

South Dakota State University

Power System Modeling, Control, and Resilience with Power Electronics Interfaced Renewable Generation

Timothy M. Hansen (IEEE Senior Member 2020) received the B.S. degree in computer engineering with high honors from the Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI, USA, in 2011, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA, in 2015. He is currently an Associate Professor with the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD, USA. His research interests are in the application of optimization, high-performance/edge computing, and electricity markets to the areas of sustainable power and energy systems, low-inertia power systems, smart cities, and cyber-physical-social systems.

The SDSU Microgrid Laboratory and Power and Energy program have undergone transformational changes in the last few years. Current PowerJacks’ faculty will first describe the state of the undergraduate and graduate program focused on electric power systems at SDSU, including a description of the new capabilities of the research and teaching capabilities of the laboratory.

Prof. Tim Hansen will then discuss recent advancements in dynamic modeling of power systems with a large penetration of power electronic converter (PEC) interfaced energy sources. Data-driven methods will be shown for model extraction of commercial-off-the-shelf smart inverters implementing the IEEE 1547-2019 standard using Microgrid Laboratory equipment. The data-driven models can be used to study and mitigate voltage and frequency stability issues caused by the integration of PEC-based resources in the electric power grid.

Finally, the newest PowerJacks’ faculty, Prof. Junjian Qi, will end the keynote presentation with an overview of his research background in the area of power system resilience and control: cascading failure analysis and mitigation based on real utility outage data, application-level cyber-physical system security, and advanced inverter and microgrid control for integration of power electronics interfaced renewable generation.

Dr. Junjian Qi (IEEE Senior Member 2017) received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China in 2013. He was a Research Associate with University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2013-2015, a Postdoctoral Appointee with Argonne National Laboratory in 2015-2017, an Assistant Professor with University of Central Florida in 2017-2020, and an Assistant Professor with Stevens Institute of Technology in 2020-2023. He is currently the Hohbach Endowed Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at South Dakota State University. His research interests include cascading blackouts, microgrid control, cyber-physical system security, and synchrophasors. Dr. Qi was the recipient of the NSF CAREER award in 2020. He also received the IEEE PES Technical Committee Working Group Recognition Award for Outstanding Technical Report, the 2021 Best Paper Award from IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, and Best Paper Awards from IEEE PES General Meeting and IEEE PES ISGT Asia.