Powerpoint is a historical program, the first one that I personally used when I had the first PC with Windows 95, so appreciated by all for the ease with which it is possible to create graphics, in the form of presentations, but also tickets, signs and written prints and colors. For those who work in dynamic companies or as an independent professional, then, Powerpoint becomes a fundamental program even more than Word, to present projects and plans of all kinds.
Microsoft Powerpoint is the standard tool in the world for creating multimedia presentations and allows, easily, to draw and write slides with figures and animations.
There would be no great reason to look for Powerpoint-like presentation programs if it were not for two reasons:
- Microsoft Powerpoint is not a free program but is part of the Office suite;
- There may be a need not to use a program installed on the desktop but, rather, a web application that allows easy sharing and collaboration, without forcing anyone to use Powerpoint.
So let's see the best free alternatives to Powerpoint (and to KeyNote on Mac) to create presentations with programs and web applications, even in a new and different way than usual.
READ ALSO: Alternative programs to Microsoft Office
1) LibreOffice is the main alternative to Microsoft Office, improved a lot over the years, putting itself on par with Microsoft Office in many ways. LibreOffice is 100% free, open source and cross-platform, also usable for commercial purposes without any expense. Inside LibreOffice there is the Impress program, similar to Powerpoint, with which you can create all types of multimedia presentations based on slides and slides, with 3D clip art and drawings, animations and different viewing modes. Of course, you can save a presentation in PowerPoint format to send them to those who are still tied to Microsoft products. Like PowerPoint, Impress has a rich selection of ready-made templates (especially for downloading from the internet) and drawings for different formats.
2) WPS Free Office is another alternative program to Microsoft Office, which includes its version of Powerpoint. Unlike LibreOffice, WPS is not open source and the free version is supported by ads that however are not intrusive and are not visible during the presentation. The WPS Presentations program offers a huge catalog of models with a good combination of fun and corporate design. The interface of WPS Presentation is nice to see and use, with most of the tools available in its top Microsoft-style menu. WPS presentations are fully compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint formats, easy to export to a series of images, a PDF or a video file.
3) SoftMaker FreeOffice is a scaled down version of the more powerful SoftMaker Office and lacks some of the features. FreeOffice Presentations has only four preinstalled models, all very simple compared to those of WPS. It's easy to add images, text, tables and other multimedia content to presentations and you can import items directly from PlanMaker (its spreadsheet tool) and WordMaker (its Word). FreeOffice Presentations allows you to save jobs in PPT format, but not in PPTX, which can be a problem.
4) The real and original Microsoft Powerpoint online is available as a web application on the Office Web Apps site, to create Powerpoint PPT or PPTX presentations via the internet.
5) Google Slides is easy to use, very fast to load and allows you to create new presentations, also in collaboration with other people. The slides are 100% free, support the models and allow you to create, edit and manage presentations from any PC with Internet access, and also via tablet and smartphone. Compared to a few years ago, Google Slides has clearly improved with the possibility of saving and sharing presentations in JPG, PNG and SVG formats. You can change the theme and background of the presentation, insert text boxes, images and videos, import single slides and much more. The files can be saved on the online space made available by Google Drive.
6) Microsoft Sway, another web application born in 2015 to create online presentations in an easy and fast way, mainly oriented to the sharing of slides on the internet (review in another article).
7) Prezi is one of those applications for making presentations completely different from the usual, with a single large image that can be enlarged and zoomed. There are therefore no slides, the presentation moves along the same image.
To know more about Prezi, read the article on presentations with zoom on large images.
8) Zoho Show is another online program similar to Google Slides. Zoho is another Office suite not 100% free, but which can be used for free with some limitations. Zoho Show is the presentation program of this suite and is a web app.
Zoho Show can import PPS, PPT, PPTX, PPSX, ODP and SXI file formats while maintaining formatting.
9) Paste by FiftyThree is a web application that can be used for free with few limitations, which allows you to add photos, GIFs, links and drawings on the slides. It is possible to insert content from websites, social networks, cloud storage services. Each slide focuses on one image and little text, with few layout and color options.
10) SlideDog is an online program to create superior quality graphic presentations. You can register for a free account that allows you to save files up to 250 MB. It has a nice user interface, allows you to add themes, layouts, shapes, graphics, tables, images, audio, video and Flash animations, can integrate content from other sites such as Flickr and Youtube and can be integrated with Powerpoint. Interactive survey and checklist forms can also be created. SlideDog is the presentation tool for anyone who wants a modern but easy alternative to combine any type of content in slides. You can share the SlideDog presentation to anyone who is connected to the Internet in real time.
11) Beautiful AI makes it easy to create clean slides, using the many templates available for all types of content: writings, photos, graphics, timelines, images, videos, diagrams, contact information, screens and logos. The system guides the user in the design choices to give presentations a coherent appearance.
Beautiful.AI has a free plan with not too many limitations and a Pro plan which is currently still being defined.
12) Emaze a web application in HTML5 that is proposed as an online alternative to more modern and better Powerpoint . Presentations can also be created with 3D effects, adding images, videos, colors and shapes of all types, of excellent graphic quality, to the slides. Presentations can not only be saved and shared on the internet but can also be included on websites via the embed code and are also visible from a mobile phone or tablet.
13) Ludus is another web application of extreme professional quality, which can be used for free to create presentations and slides to be published on the internet. The result is that of interactive slides with minimalist design, which can make up a story or an advertising poster. The free plan is limited, but not that much for infrequent use.
14) The Visme web app is officially nominated as a great online alternative for Powerpoint to create slides and presentations of high graphic quality.
15) Canva.com is one of the best sites to draw graphics and personalized images in a simple way, which works a bit like Powerpoint and which has, among its options, also the Presentation mode.
16) Genially is an interesting site that allows you to create presentations and slides for free with no limit in number. You can create presentations with writings and images, video presentations and then also infographics and other types of multimedia projects.
17) Mentimeter is a web app for creating slides that can be free and works very well if you want to create interactive and professional presentations.
Finally, we remember the Slideshare site , the online Powerpoint viewer to share Powerpoint presentations and slides or created with similar programs.
Microsoft Powerpoint is the standard tool in the world for creating multimedia presentations and allows, easily, to draw and write slides with figures and animations.
There would be no great reason to look for Powerpoint-like presentation programs if it were not for two reasons:
- Microsoft Powerpoint is not a free program but is part of the Office suite;
- There may be a need not to use a program installed on the desktop but, rather, a web application that allows easy sharing and collaboration, without forcing anyone to use Powerpoint.
So let's see the best free alternatives to Powerpoint (and to KeyNote on Mac) to create presentations with programs and web applications, even in a new and different way than usual.
READ ALSO: Alternative programs to Microsoft Office
1) LibreOffice is the main alternative to Microsoft Office, improved a lot over the years, putting itself on par with Microsoft Office in many ways. LibreOffice is 100% free, open source and cross-platform, also usable for commercial purposes without any expense. Inside LibreOffice there is the Impress program, similar to Powerpoint, with which you can create all types of multimedia presentations based on slides and slides, with 3D clip art and drawings, animations and different viewing modes. Of course, you can save a presentation in PowerPoint format to send them to those who are still tied to Microsoft products. Like PowerPoint, Impress has a rich selection of ready-made templates (especially for downloading from the internet) and drawings for different formats.
2) WPS Free Office is another alternative program to Microsoft Office, which includes its version of Powerpoint. Unlike LibreOffice, WPS is not open source and the free version is supported by ads that however are not intrusive and are not visible during the presentation. The WPS Presentations program offers a huge catalog of models with a good combination of fun and corporate design. The interface of WPS Presentation is nice to see and use, with most of the tools available in its top Microsoft-style menu. WPS presentations are fully compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint formats, easy to export to a series of images, a PDF or a video file.
3) SoftMaker FreeOffice is a scaled down version of the more powerful SoftMaker Office and lacks some of the features. FreeOffice Presentations has only four preinstalled models, all very simple compared to those of WPS. It's easy to add images, text, tables and other multimedia content to presentations and you can import items directly from PlanMaker (its spreadsheet tool) and WordMaker (its Word). FreeOffice Presentations allows you to save jobs in PPT format, but not in PPTX, which can be a problem.
4) The real and original Microsoft Powerpoint online is available as a web application on the Office Web Apps site, to create Powerpoint PPT or PPTX presentations via the internet.
5) Google Slides is easy to use, very fast to load and allows you to create new presentations, also in collaboration with other people. The slides are 100% free, support the models and allow you to create, edit and manage presentations from any PC with Internet access, and also via tablet and smartphone. Compared to a few years ago, Google Slides has clearly improved with the possibility of saving and sharing presentations in JPG, PNG and SVG formats. You can change the theme and background of the presentation, insert text boxes, images and videos, import single slides and much more. The files can be saved on the online space made available by Google Drive.
6) Microsoft Sway, another web application born in 2015 to create online presentations in an easy and fast way, mainly oriented to the sharing of slides on the internet (review in another article).
7) Prezi is one of those applications for making presentations completely different from the usual, with a single large image that can be enlarged and zoomed. There are therefore no slides, the presentation moves along the same image.
To know more about Prezi, read the article on presentations with zoom on large images.
8) Zoho Show is another online program similar to Google Slides. Zoho is another Office suite not 100% free, but which can be used for free with some limitations. Zoho Show is the presentation program of this suite and is a web app.
Zoho Show can import PPS, PPT, PPTX, PPSX, ODP and SXI file formats while maintaining formatting.
9) Paste by FiftyThree is a web application that can be used for free with few limitations, which allows you to add photos, GIFs, links and drawings on the slides. It is possible to insert content from websites, social networks, cloud storage services. Each slide focuses on one image and little text, with few layout and color options.
10) SlideDog is an online program to create superior quality graphic presentations. You can register for a free account that allows you to save files up to 250 MB. It has a nice user interface, allows you to add themes, layouts, shapes, graphics, tables, images, audio, video and Flash animations, can integrate content from other sites such as Flickr and Youtube and can be integrated with Powerpoint. Interactive survey and checklist forms can also be created. SlideDog is the presentation tool for anyone who wants a modern but easy alternative to combine any type of content in slides. You can share the SlideDog presentation to anyone who is connected to the Internet in real time.
11) Beautiful AI makes it easy to create clean slides, using the many templates available for all types of content: writings, photos, graphics, timelines, images, videos, diagrams, contact information, screens and logos. The system guides the user in the design choices to give presentations a coherent appearance.
Beautiful.AI has a free plan with not too many limitations and a Pro plan which is currently still being defined.
12) Emaze a web application in HTML5 that is proposed as an online alternative to more modern and better Powerpoint . Presentations can also be created with 3D effects, adding images, videos, colors and shapes of all types, of excellent graphic quality, to the slides. Presentations can not only be saved and shared on the internet but can also be included on websites via the embed code and are also visible from a mobile phone or tablet.
13) Ludus is another web application of extreme professional quality, which can be used for free to create presentations and slides to be published on the internet. The result is that of interactive slides with minimalist design, which can make up a story or an advertising poster. The free plan is limited, but not that much for infrequent use.
14) The Visme web app is officially nominated as a great online alternative for Powerpoint to create slides and presentations of high graphic quality.
15) Canva.com is one of the best sites to draw graphics and personalized images in a simple way, which works a bit like Powerpoint and which has, among its options, also the Presentation mode.
16) Genially is an interesting site that allows you to create presentations and slides for free with no limit in number. You can create presentations with writings and images, video presentations and then also infographics and other types of multimedia projects.
17) Mentimeter is a web app for creating slides that can be free and works very well if you want to create interactive and professional presentations.
Finally, we remember the Slideshare site , the online Powerpoint viewer to share Powerpoint presentations and slides or created with similar programs.
