types of presentation platforms

The best presentation software in 2024

These powerpoint alternatives go beyond the basics..

Hero image with logos of the best presentation software

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

What makes the best presentation app, how we evaluate and test apps.

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).

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


	A free option	Free plan available; paid plans from $10
	AI-powered design	From $12/month
	Non-linear presentations	Free plan available; paid plans from $7/month
	Video presentations	Limited free plan available; paid plans from $15/month
	Collaboration	Free plan available; from $22/month for 2 users
	Conversational AI features	Free plan available; paid plans from $8/user/month
	Audience engagement	Free plan available; paid plans from $11.99/user/month
	Generative AI features	Limited free plan available; paid plans from $16/user/month

The best free presentation software

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Canva, our pick for the best free presentation app

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 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.

The best presentation app for AI-powered design

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.

The best presentation app for conversational presentations

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.

The best presentation app for video presentations

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.

The best presentation app for collaborating with your team

Pitch, our pick for the best presentation software for collaborating with your team

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.

The best presentation app for conversational AI

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.

The best presentation app for audience engagement

Mentimeter, our pick for the best presentation software for audience engagement

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.

The best presentation app for generative AI

Tome, our pick for the best presentation software 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.

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.

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.

Improve your productivity automatically. Use Zapier to get your apps working together.

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Best presentation software of 2024

Make perfect slides for speeches and talks

Best overall

Best for branding, best for marketing, best for themes, best for media, best unique.

How we test

The best presentation software makes it simple and easy to create, manage, and share slideshow presentations.

A person setting up files to import into Powerpoint.

1. Best overall 2. Best for branding 3. Best for marketing 4. Best for themes 5. Best for media 6. Best unique 7. FAQs 8. How we test

Presentation software runs at the heart of business sales, management, and development, so it's important to ensure you have the best presentation software for your needs. This is especially when looking to share ideas, concepts, and workflows, and the ability to present these in a simple and understandable way is essential.

However, while presentation software has been traditionally limited to text and images, it has widened its ability to work with different media such as video and audio.

Therefore it's important for the best presentation software to not simply be easy and simple to use, but also be able to support additional media so that presentations can be more engaging, lively, and ultimately serve their purpose in educating and updating their intended audience.

Below we've listed the best presentation software currently on the market.

We've also listed the best free presentation software .

The best office software in the world is: Microsoft 365 There are many different office software suites out there, but Microsoft Office remains the original and best, offering an unsurpassed range of features and functionality that rivals just can't match.

Even better, Microsoft 365 - previously branded as Office 365 - is a cloud-based solution which means you can use it on any computer, mobile device, or smartphone, without having to worry about compatibility. All your files are saved in the cloud and synced between devices, so you can begin work on a document at home or in the office, then continue working on it on the go.

You can sign up to Microsoft 365 here .

The best 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.

1. PowerPoint

Our expert review:

Reasons to buy

For most people, Microsoft 's PowerPoint remains the original and best of all the presentation software platforms out there. While other companies have managed to catch up and offer rival products worthy of consideration, the fact is that PowerPoint's familiar interface and ubiquitous availability means it remains a favorite for the majority of people.

On the one hand, it's long been a staple of the hugely popular Microsoft Office suite, meaning that for most users this is going to be the first - and last - presentation software they are going to need to use.

Additionally, Microsoft has made PowerPoint, along with their other office products, available as free apps (with limited functionality) on both iOS and Android for mobile use, meaning it's even harder to avoid them. And this is before we even consider the inclusion of PowerPoint in Microsoft's cloud-based Microsoft 365.

It does everything necessary that you'd expect of presentation software, allowing you to add text and media to a series of slides, to accompany a talk and other presentations. There are easy-to-use templates included to help spice things up a little, but even a general user with little experience of it is likely to find themselves able to use PowerPoint without much trouble at all.

Overall, it's hard to go wrong with PowerPoint, and although Microsoft 365 has a nominal cost, the apps are free to use even if they do have more limited functionality.

Read our full Microsoft PowerPoint review .

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2. CustomShow

Reasons to avoid.

Branding says a lot about a business, and it’s something firms need to get right from day one – from a good logo to a suitable font. CustomShow is business presentation software that puts all these elements of branding first.

Using the system, you can design and present customized, branded presentations that reflect your company and the products you offer, featuring the aforementioned logo and custom fonts. As well as this, you get a slide library and analytics to ensure your presentations are a success.

What’s more, you can import presentations into the software, and use it to tweak them further. There’s also integration with SalesForce , and because the platform is cloud-based, you can access your presentations on computers, tablets, and smartphones.

Considering the focus on branding, this offering could be good for marketing and sales teams, and it's used by major companies such as HBO and CBS Interactive.

3. ClearSlide

Just like CustomShow, ClearSlide has a niche focus for companies. The platform is targeted at firms looking to generate successful marketing campaigns, pushing sales via presentations (and more), not least through a range of analytics and metrics to work for sales and marketing.

With the product, you can upload a range of files, including PowerPoint, Keynote, PDF, and Excel. ClearSlide is integrated with other platforms, including Google Drive, Dropbox, and Salesforce.

This system is pretty complex and may offer too many irrelevant features for some businesses, but you can create customized content that reflects your company and the message you’re trying to get out to customers. There are also some good metrics and analysis features, and you can sign up for a free trial before making any decisions.

The real strength of ClearSlide comes from its focus on sales and marketing data, not least being able to track user engagement alongside other metrics.

4. Haiku Deck

Any presentation app will allow you to personalize your slides to at least some extent, but Haiku Deck goes one step further than the competition. It comes with a wide range of themes suited to different needs, and you also get access to 40 million free images from the Creative Commons collection.

When it comes to creating a presentation, you have the option to do so on the web, which means your presentation is accessible across a range of mobile devices as well as desktops. Regardless of the device used, you’re able to select from a variety of different fonts, layouts, and filters to make the perfect presentation.

The great thing about these various customization options is that they’re categorized into different industries and use cases. For instance, you’ll find themes for teaching, cooking, real estate, and startups. Most of the features require you to be online, but hopefully, you’ll have a sturdy net connection wherever you go.

5. SlideDog

It’s all too easy to end up creating a presentation that’s unappealing, and the last thing you want to do is make the audience fall asleep. SlideDog lets you combine almost any type of media to create a rich presentation that’s sure to keep the viewers’ peepers open, avoiding the ‘cookie cutter’ look that makes presentations seem dull.

Marketed as a web-based multimedia presentation tool, it gives you the ability to combine PowerPoint presentations, graphics, PDF files, Prezi presentations, web pages, pictures, videos, and movie clips. You can drag these into custom playlists and display them to your audience with ease.

You’re able to remotely control your presentations and playlists from your smartphone, the web, or a secondary computer, and there’s also the option to share slides in real-time. Audience members can even view your slide from their own devices by clicking a link. That’s a handy feature if you’re looking to create an immersive presentation experience.

SlideDog is probably the cheapest of the presentation software featured, with a free account that will cover the essential features. However, for live sharing and premium support, you need to upgrade.

Read our full SlideDog review .

Prezi is one of the more unique presentation tools. Instead of presenting your graphics and text in a slide-to-slide format, you can create highly visual and interactive presentation canvases with the goal of “emphasizing the relationship between the ideas”.

Presentations can also be tailored to the specific audience, as this is a flexible platform that’s capable of skipping ahead, or veering off into a side topic, without having to flip through all the slides to get to a particular bit.

For business users, there are a variety of handy tools available. By downloading Prezi , you can build and edit presentations with your colleagues in real-time, which is perfect for companies with teams based around the globe.

When you have created a presentation you’re happy with, you can present it live (in HD) and send a direct link to viewers. There are some analysis tools here, too – you can see who’s accessed your presentation, which parts of it, and for how long. The app is available for Mac and Windows devices.

Read our full Prezi review .

Presentation software FAQs

Which presentation software is best for you.

When deciding which presentation software 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 for your presentation needs.

How we tested the best presentation software

To test for the best 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 .

We've also featured the best alternatives to Microsoft Office .

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Nicholas Fearn is a freelance technology journalist and copywriter from the Welsh valleys. His work has appeared in publications such as the FT, the Independent, the Daily Telegraph, The Next Web, T3, Android Central, Computer Weekly, and many others. He also happens to be a diehard Mariah Carey fan!

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The 11 Best Presentation Software to Use in 2023

best presentation software to use in 2021, presentation software list

The ability to effectively share ideas, illustrate a concept, and convince an audience is invaluable whether you’re a student or a C-level executive. These days, the presentation software you use to create presentations is just as important as your public-speaking skills.

On top of that, most companies have transitioned to remote work recently due to the current coronavirus situation, and now need to share their stories online through a virtual conference room with their distributed teams and external audience members.

That’s why we’ve come up with a list of some of the best presentation software available right now, so you can choose a compatible and innovative presentation maker that includes the best presentation tools to suit your specific needs.

Choose the best presentation software by weighing the pros and cons

You’ll see some of the most popular presentation apps: from free to paid subscription platforms, and slideshow applications to full-blown visual design presentation software with interactive features and more.

Each presentation software has its pros and cons, so it’s up to you to figure out which suits your needs best; consider the software learning curve, whether your company is made up of Mac users or Windows users and the software compatibility, if you need an enterprise account or free account, etc.

Let’s dive in!

1. Piktochart

presentation software piktochart, best presentation software

Piktochart is a presentation software that can create a variety of design visuals, from infographics to social media stories.

An area in which Piktochart shines is crafting unique presentations.

On Piktochart, users can choose from a wide range of professionally-designed presentation templates .

These custom templates include everything from monthly marketing reports to employee onboarding templates.

This broad selection of customizable templates is especially useful for those who don’t have much design experience or know-how but need to create a visually stunning unique presentation in a pinch.

Piktochart’s presentation maker also makes it easy to edit presentations and include design elements such as lists, timelines, comparisons, graphs, and different types of charts through drag-and-drop tools.

You can even make visual maps and interactive charts to keep your audience engaged throughout your presentation.

And if your company uses a Piktochart TEAM plan , you can enjoy the platform’s ability to store brand assets , color schemes, and bespoke templates. Here, replicating company-branded visuals is a breeze.

Piktochart comes with a free version but with certain limitations. Active visuals are capped at five per month and published visuals have a Piktochart watermark.

If you want features such as team template collaboration, project sharing, and annotated commenting, you’ll have to get a Team account. To sum it up:

Lots of professionally-designed templates
Good for both design professionals and non-professionals
Easy to store brand assets and bespoke templates for future presentations
Access presentation tools from anywhere via a web browser
Free presentation app version available
Might take some getting used to if you’re used to PowerPoint presentations

2. Microsoft PowerPoint

microsoft powerpoint, powerpoint presentation

Microsoft PowerPoint is often the first presentation software that comes to mind.

Once considered the “O.G.” and best presentation software available, it is still widely used and has a familiar interface—which means most users are comfortable with it.

This presentation app has everything you need to create a presentation: from animated transitions for interactive presentations to pre-installed fonts and graphic elements.

Users can also upload their own fonts, graphics, and images into their finished presentation.

Lastly, it’s available as part of the Microsoft Office software package; and you can work on your presentations via the web and mobile devices, for offline viewing as well as online.

However, PowerPoint is no longer considered the best presentation software, as it has very few templates to choose from, and these tend to fall quite flat compared to modern apps and software.

It’s easy to fall back into boring slideshow PowerPoint files if you don’t know what you’re doing.

And because most people use PowerPoint, you’re likely using the same template as the next guy.

As standalone presentation software, PowerPoint is pricey at US$139.99—and accessible through only one device unless you upgrade your package.

And while PowerPoint is primarily a slideshow application and presentation maker, its strengths are limited to this category.

So if you’re looking for the best presentation software, and bang for your buck for a robust presentation tool, you might want to look elsewhere.

Market leader in slideshow applications to create slides
Widely used and familiar interface for the presentation process
Reliable and usable on most devices as well as being a desktop app
Flat templates
Limitations with its standalone-presentation software price

3. Google Slides

google slides, presentation software example

Google Slides is a slideshow application that is very similar to PowerPoint. But there are three main differences: it’s fully online (while also allowing for offline viewing), collaborative, and free.

The great thing about Google Slides (besides the fact that it’s completely free for anyone with a Google account) is that you can log on via your browser or through its official app.

You can access all Google Slides presentations from any device (mobile, tablet, and desktop), and share them with other people so you can collaborate in real-time.

Google Drive allows all your presentations to live on the cloud, accessible to all marketing and sales teams, with unparalleled ease of use.

And there’s no need to worry about disruptions as all changes are saved as they happen, as long as you have an active internet connection.

Additionally, anyone familiar with PowerPoint will be comfortable using Google’s iteration and likely be delighted by Google Drive and the slide library available.

It’s also a lot simpler, so even those new to presentation-making will find it easy to navigate.

However, some might find Google Slides too simple as it lacks the wealth of features available on PowerPoint.

These include embedding videos from sources other than YouTube, plus adding audio tracks and sound effects, limiting the ability to create unique interactive presentations.

Some users also encounter issues with downloading and exporting to different formats, including PowerPoint.

Some slides may even turn out completely different from the original version.

All in all, Google Slides is a great option for those who are looking for a free application and only need to create simple presentations.

The free plan supports professional presentations
Web-based and collaborative to create presentations
Simple and familiar interface for an online presentation software
Too simple for advanced presentation making
Difficult to export to other formats
Limited templates and customization options for interactive content

You could say Keynote is Apple’s version of PowerPoint. It’s also a slideshow application—but in typical Apple fashion, it comes with a sleek, minimalist interface and is considered one of the best presentation apps on the market.

There are 30 different themes to choose from, which serve as templates for those who need a quick fix. And it can do most of what PowerPoint can.

Keynote’s main perk is that it’s part of the Apple ecosystem.

That means it has built-in iCloud and Apple Watch support so users can control their presentation from their mobile device or even their wrists with just a click.

This presentation app comes pre-installed on most Mac devices. Otherwise, you can purchase it from the Apple store for just US$9.99 for mobile and US$19.99 for OS X.

The big downside is that Keynote is exclusive to Mac OS.

Non-Apple users can create, upload, and sync their own Keynote presentations through their iCloud Drive, but this presentation app is only truly helpful only for those who use multiple Apple devices.

And if you’re used to working on PowerPoint, you might find Keynote a bit confusing in the beginning, especially when editing presentations.

Sleek, minimalist interface
Free with most Apple devices
No access for PC and Android devices except through iCloud

5. SlideDog

Sliding away from straightforward slideshow applications and other presentation apps, SlideDog is a web-based multimedia presentation tool that lets users combine different types of media to create and edit presentations.

This includes everything from PowerPoint decks to videos and even PDFs that can all be played side by side without any awkward transitions.

It’s also extremely easy to customize a SlideDog presentation.

You just need to upload the files into the SlideDog web browser application, and then drag and drop them according to the order in which you want them to play.

You can control your presentations and playlists from another device, and audience members can view your slideshow on their devices by clicking a link.

SlideDog has a free presentation app version that provides all of the basic features.

However, live sharing and premium support are only available with a Pro account that costs US$99 per year, and not via the free version alone.

While SlideDog is technically considered presentation software, you can’t actually create presentations on it.

You can simply stitch together different pre-made presentations in various formats into what is essentially a playlist.

Lastly, SlideDog supports only Windows devices, so Apple and Linux users can’t use it.

Supports a lot of different media
Provides live-sharing
More dynamic compared to the usual slideshow presentation
Only collates media; doesn’t create them

6. Haiku Deck

haiku deck, presentation software example

Ever come across presentations with size-eight fonts and blocks of indecipherable paragraphs on each slide?

You can avoid such an unfortunate scenario with Haiku Deck.

HaikuDeck is a web and mobile application that favors images over text.

It works by limiting the number of words users can put on each slide, and allowing them to search for images on their platform related to the slide’s main idea.

This makes it ideal for those who want to simplify their thoughts and let the images do all the talking.

Users have over 40 million royalty-free photos to choose from, plus dozens of simple slide layouts on the platform itself.

While this certainly simplifies the process of creating a visually rich presentation, it can be limiting for those who need to include more information into their slides.

It’s a great option for someone giving a TED Talk, for example.

But for others who need to pass on more facts and figures, having a built-in word limit might be too restrictive.

Simple and easy to use
Access to millions of royalty-free stock images
May be too simple for some
No Android support
Limited features

7. Prezi Business

prezi business, business presentation software

Among the other presentation software on this list, Prezi Business might be one of the most unique presentation tools.

Rather than offering a regular slideshow format, Prezi looks more like a 3D interactive mind map where viewers jump dynamically from one idea to the next.

You can zoom in on one “slide” and then zoom out for the next.

Prezi has over 100 templates to choose from and comes with a very simple interface and a drag-and-drop style of editing.

It’s compatible with both Mac and PC desktops as well as smartphones.

It’s also similar to a regular PowerPoint deck in that you can jump back and forth from one “slide” to the next.

And like SlideDog, you can send viewers the link to the presentation as you’re presenting.

Also, up to 10 people can work on a Prezi presentation at the same time, one of its main selling points.

This is great for collaboration, but having so many hands-on deck at once can get messy.

Dynamic and immersive presentations
Highly visual
Easy to use
May not be appropriate for all types of presentations

screenshot of ludus presentation software

In a world of slides and presentations, standing out is the key. Ludus brings the flair of graphic design into the world of presentations.

At its core, Ludus is the bridge between presentation tools and design software. It enables users to infuse their slides with the kind of design elements you’d typically find in advanced design platforms.

Not only can you import assets from design giants like Adobe, but its seamless integration with tools like Unsplash and Giphy makes sourcing visuals a breeze.

It’s a fairly affordable tool for all its features compared to the other paid options in this list, as users pay 12.49 euros monthly (if billed annually).

However, while Ludus’ robust design capabilities can elevate the look of your presentation, those unfamiliar with design tools might find there’s a learning curve.

Merges presentation creation with advanced design tools.
Seamless integration with popular design platforms and visual databases.
Offers a unique edge in presentation aesthetics.
Might be a tad overwhelming for non-designers
Can have a steeper learning curve for those used to more straightforward platforms

9. Slidebean

screenshot of slidebean presentation software

Crafting a compelling presentation demands not only compelling content but also a design that can captivate your audience. Enter Slidebean.

Slidebean offers an intelligent design solution, using AI to transform raw content into professionally styled presentations. This platform streamlines the design process, allowing you to focus on the message rather than fretting over aesthetics.

The basic plan is free and allows you to create a presentation. But if you want to share or download your presentations, as well as unlock the full suite of features, you’ll need to sign up for the All-Access plan priced at $199 per year.

While it provides a quick and efficient method to produce polished slides, it also offers features for sharing, collaboration, and viewer analytics, adding an edge to your presentation strategy.

However, for professionals who prioritize granular design control, the automated design might feel limiting at times.

AI-driven design ensures visually appealing presentations.
Features for collaboration and viewer insights.
Efficient design process reduces time and effort.
Might not offer the detailed design customization some users desire.
Automated choices may not always align with specific branding or style preferences.

10. ClearSlide

screenshot of clearslide presentation software

Having great visuals to drive your point home can be the difference between getting a sale across the line or customers walking away. ClearSlide stands out in this area as a presentation tool for businesses laser-focused on boosting their sales and marketing game.

At its core, ClearSlide is all about leveling up business presentations. Whether you’re marketing a new product or tracking client engagement, it’s got tools that cater to every need.

Whether it’s a PowerPoint, a PDF, or something from Google Drive or Dropbox, ClearSlide makes it simple to upload and work with these files.

The unique edge? ClearSlide’s virtual meeting space pops open with just a click. It’s all about seamless, professional presentations without the hassle.

Beyond just slides, the platform dives deep into metrics and analytics, ensuring every presentation is backed by data-driven insights. And the tool is available for $35 per month, which isn’t too pricey for medium-sized businesses.

However, its complexity isn’t for everyone. For some, the variety of features might seem a tad overwhelming, and its focus on metrics might be a bit much for those just wanting a basic presentation tool.

Seamless virtual meetings and presentations
Integrates with popular platforms
Offers insightful analytics for sales and marketing
Might feel complex for some users
Limited transition and design effects
Mobile experience could be better

screenshot of vyond presentation software

Stepping into the world of animation, Vyond, once known as GoAnimate, allows users to turn their narratives into professional animated videos. For those looking to elevate their content without diving deep into animation complexities, Vyond can be the go-to tool.

This platform is more than just drag-and-drop animations. It integrates AI capabilities with Vyond Go, which transforms text prompts into rough-cut videos.

Fancy a quick draft for your upcoming project? This AI assistant is up for the task. And if perfection is your game, take it to Vyond Studio, filled with an array of characters, templates, and backgrounds.

The Essential Plan at $25 per month is suitable for individuals on a budget. However, if you want to export videos at 1080p and above, have collaboration tools, or different export options, you’ll need to sign up for the Professional Plan at $92 per month.

As robust as the tool is, there are still some kinks to iron out. AI voiceovers might still need some tweaks, and detailed color customizations can be a bit tricky, but the tool’s strengths, especially for businesses, are undeniable.

Hassle-free video creation for beginners to experts
Generous library of pre-made assets
AI-powered video and script creation with Vyond Go
AI voiceovers might feel a bit robotic
Some customization limitations for specific props and scenes

The best presentation software is…

…completely up to you!

When it comes to presentation software, the world is your oyster.

Each of these tools either has a free or trial version for you to check out, so you don’t have to commit just yet.

When it’s time to choose, consider the following aspects to find the right presentation software for you:

Ease of use. Is it easy for you to understand or will it require lots of training before you can start creating presentations?
Accessibility. Can you access your presentation software from any device or are you limited to carrying your laptop to every presentation?
Real-time collaboration. Can multiple people work on the same project or do you have to keep downloading and emailing drafts?
Create design tools. Can you create presentations with dynamic design elements or are you stuck with the same kind of slide each time?
Template availability. Is this tool only accessible to a design professional or can anyone create stunning presentations through pre-designed and updated templates?

Piktochart , for example, would be a fantastic presentation software choice among the long list of PowerPoint alternatives for teams looking for a variety of eye-catching designs without requiring much technical know-how. Meanwhile, Microsoft PowerPoint might be the best presentation software for those who are just looking to play it safe.

Hopefully, this best presentation software list sheds some light on the tools at your disposal. Choose wisely!

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13+ Best Presentation Software to Bid Farewell to PowerPoint

Renderforest Staff

07 Dec 2023

11 min read

13+ Best Presentation Software to Bid Farewell to PowerPoint

Attention, all presenters, innovators, and knowledge sharers! Brace yourselves, because the era of boring and forgettable presentations is officially over.

We all know that presentations are the beating heart of every business, work endeavor, and educational pursuit. And let’s face it, captivating your audience is an art form that can make or break your success.

Plain slides filled with text and bullet points will no longer do the job! To grab your audience’s attention, you need to shake things up a little.

Luckily, we’ve done the legwork and compiled the ultimate list of the best presentation software in one place to help you make creative and captivating presentations.

No more dull slides. No more snooze-fest presentations.

By the time you’ll have finished reading this article, you’ll have discovered:

The 13 best online presentation tools to upgrade your presentations – their advantages and disadvantages.
How does each software compare to PowerPoint, and what are their unique features?
How to use each software to convert your ideas into strong narratives and keep your audience hooked.

Consider these presentation software gems as your trusty sidekicks, ready to transform your ideas into captivating narratives that will leave your audience begging for more.

So buckle up and join us as we explore each presentation software individually, unveiling the best presentation software for your unique needs. Let’s dive right in!

The Finest Online Presentation Tools to Try Now!

Imagine you have an important project coming up, and you need to create a cool presentation to share your ideas with others within a short amount of time. Instead of just plain slides, you can make your presentation awesome by using some really impressive online presentation tools – tools you may not have heard of before.

These tools make it easy to add pictures and videos and make your slides look super interesting as they take your regular presentation and turn it into something that will make everyone go, “Wow!”

So, let’s check out some of the best presentation software you can try right now to make your presentations stand out!

1. Renderforest

You can use Renderforest’s slideshow video maker online and completely free of charge to create videos, branding, presentations, and graphics.

If you upgrade to the lite version, you can enjoy an early-stage growth boost plan for promotional and explainer videos, powerful presentations, and graphics.

Now, if you choose to have the Pro plan, you can make use of advanced growth tools, the highest quality videos, outstanding designs, and a professional website.

For much larger projects, the Business plan gives you advanced-level solutions for teams and businesses to deliver high-end results for your campaigns.

The presentation software goes beyond the ordinary by providing you with a treasure trove of ready-made presentation templates that cater to every occasion, from personal projects to business endeavors. With just a few clicks, you can unlock a realm of visually stunning designs that are guaranteed to captivate your audience from the very first slide.

Extended Template Library

Whether you’re seeking to dazzle clients, engage students, or simply impress your peers, Renderforest has your back with an extensive library of slideshow video templates . From mesmerizing 3D animations to sleek corporate slideshows and whiteboard animations, the possibilities are limitless.

EXPLORE MORE!

Pre-Made Color Palettes

Give yourself a break from doing all the work of finding the perfect font and color palette for your presentation. Renderforest provides you with a large selection of ready-to-use, pre-designed sets that give your presentation a modern and professional look.

All color palettes align with the main design principles, so you can rest assured that your presentation is aligned.

Go to the left-side editor in your presentation template, open the color and font sections and click on your favorite mix.

GIFs, Stickers, Icons, and So Much More

Renderforest presentations are like a magic toolbox for making your presentations extra awesome. With it, you can do way more than just stick to regular pictures and words.

One of the best presentation software out there, Renderforest lets you sprinkle some fun into your slides by adding GIFs, which are short, moving pictures that can make your points pop! Not just that, you can throw in stickers and icons to make things more lively and interesting.

GIFs, stickers, and more for presentation software

All of these elements help you show your ideas without even saying a word.

Renderforest gives you all these tools to help you turn your presentation into a masterpiece that everyone will remember!

Premium Images

With Renderforest, you can access a treasure trove of amazing pictures through a royalty-free premium stock images library.

These are high-quality images that you can use in your presentations without worrying about any copyright stuff. It’s like having a secret stash of amazing pictures at your fingertips.

But here’s the exciting part – you can also bring pictures to the party! So, if you have some awesome photos you took on a family trip or nice shots you found on the internet. You can toss them into your presentation as well.

Ultimately, you have your gallery of pictures that makes your presentation uniquely yours. With Renderforest, you’re not just limited to what it provides – you can mix and match to create a presentation that tells your story in your style!

CTA banner unleash your business presentation potential

Prezi is offered in three different subscription tiers, including access to all three main parts of the suite – Prezi Video, Prezi Design, and Prezi Present.

Prezi’s Standard plan costs just $5 per month, the Plus plan costs $15 per month, and the Premium plan costs $19 per month.

The presentation software is built from the ground up to remove as many of the traditional limitations imposed by web applications as possible and enable users to create stunning, rich presentations with minimal effort and design skills.

It doesn’t take long to get used to how Prezi works and where everything is located, including some of the more advanced features of the application.

Its price is quite attractive compared to most of its competition, too, making Prezi a great offer for you in general!

General Overview

Prezi is a feature-rich online presentation suite that aims to enable anyone to create stunning presentations, including those without any in-depth knowledge of design and related practices.

It comes with various advanced tools that can help you do pretty much anything you want with your presentation, and it doesn’t take a lot of time to get used to how everything works.

It’s important to note that Prezi does have some minor flaws in its UI, but those are mostly limited to features that aren’t used that often to begin with.

There are three main tiers to Canva subscriptions. You can use it completely free to design anything, on your own or in collaboration with others, and you can choose from 250,000+ templates.

However, there are a lot of wonderful templates that are labeled as premium, as well as the option to integrate your own Brand Kit, which can only be accessed when you upgrade to the Pro plan at $12.99 USD/month.

Canva for Teams includes all the features of Canva Pro but also allows large teams to collaborate easily and efficiently together, and it is priced at $29.99 USD/month.

The key selling point of Canva is how easy it is to use, even for people with no design background. It offers a range of design options, from social media posts to presentations, all in one place.

You can create professional-looking presentations at the tip of your fingers, especially with the newly released Magic Media™ apps that use AI to help you create consistent imagery.

Instead of wasting precious time scrolling through image libraries,you can try some of the AI image generator apps in the Canva Apps Marketplace. Simply type what you’d like to see, and watch it come to life.

Canva works as a web-based tool, so you don’t have to download it. It offers many ready-to-use templates and design elements like fonts, images, and illustrations.

You can either start from scratch or use these templates to create various designs, including social media graphics, presentations, flyers, and more. It also allows for collaboration, enabling multiple people to work on a project simultaneously.

Once you sign up, you can create designs by selecting a template or starting from scratch. You can then customize your design using the drag-and-drop editor, where you can easily add and adjust text, images, shapes, and other elements.

So, whether you’re one of the many small business owners, marketers, bloggers, or creative freelancers—Canva has something for everyone!

4. Google Slides

There are free trials available. For Personal and Free Business Starter plans, it is priced at $6 USD/month per user, for Business Standard, it is priced at $12 USD/month per user, while for Business Plus, it is priced at $18 USD/month.

Enterprises can contact Google to find out about pricing details for their needs.

Google Slides is very handy if many slideshows are required for certain projects. The presentation software acts as an easier alternative to PowerPoint because you don’t need to download anything in order to use Slides.

It’s as easy as going online and opening the program, while with PowerPoint, you need to download the program to start using it.

Google Slides is a cloud-based office suite that helps create, edit, and collaborate on presentations. It has features like themes and fonts, embedded videos, animations, and transitions.

The presentation software lets users create personalized presentations using ready-to-use templates with custom fonts and styles, color schemes, animations, transitions, and background images. If you’re a larget team, you can also upload files from Google Drive or Dropbox.

5. Microsoft Sway

Microsoft Sway is free to use for anyone with a Microsoft Account (Hotmail, Live, or Outlook.com).

This presentation tool dynamically adapts online to any screen and can be shared or co-edited with a URL.

It is best for people who are too occupied with work to spend time creating presentations, as it literally helps produce interactive reports, newsletters, presentations, and other personal stories in a matter of minutes, thanks to the help of AI.

Sway helps create presentations and other documentation in minutes by adding photos, videos, and other multimedia.

It’s connected to the Microsoft account, so the users can easily add files from OneDrive, or turn their Word or OneNote documents into a dynamic Sway.

6. Beautiful.ai

The Pro plan is for individuals and is priced at $12 USD/month. The Team plan is for team collaborations and starts at $40 USD/month, while the Enterprise plan boasts advanced security, support and control and require you to contact the sales team to get a quote.

Beautiful.ai saves you time and provides everything necessary for making great presentations.

You can use the right colors, font, and logo every time with its foolproof features, and when you sign up, the presentation software unlocks millions of modern images and icons that reflect your own brand guidelines. What else could you ask for?

With the Team Plan, you can also control your brand from one account and scale productivity across all departments of your organization.

Beautiful.ai is an AI presentation maker you can use to visualize your ideas easily. It offers 50+ beautifully designed customizable templates that are enhanced with presentation design best practices to keep your projects professional and clean. Besides, you can find and add stock images and icons from the image library.

7. Keynote (for Mac users)

The software comes free with most Apple devices.

This interactive business presentation software allows you to create engaging and dynamic slides, add charts and graphs to them, edit photos, and add effects to sharpen your project.

Now, you can remove backgrounds from supported images a lot more easily. You can even remove live videos or adjust them accordingly.

The software also lets you know when people join, edit, or comment on your collaborative presentations and lets you get in touch with your team using Messages and FaceTime.

Apple Keynote is the most successful competitor of PowerPoint among other Mac free presentation software solutions.

Access your presentations either online with iCloud, with a mobile app, or download a desktop version for Mac.

8. Haiku Deck

The Edu plan starts at $5 USD/month, Pro at $10 USD/month, and the Volume plan is at $100 USD/month.

Haiku Deck helps you focus on one idea at a time, letting you choose a powerful image from a library of 40M+ royalty-free photos and applying consistent formatting across your presentation in just one click.

All presentations you create with this software are hosted online and allow for easy audio narration recording and the ability to save as videos or export to PowerPoint/Keynote format for offline viewing and editing.

Haiku Deck is labeled as the “Instagram for pitch decks” by Mashable, for a good reason!

Even if you’re not a designer, the software helps you deliver presentations that connect with your listeners, spice up your social media feed, illustrate your blog, promote your product, inspire a movement, and more. It is centered around the best practices that presentation experts are after.

You can quickly design slides that don’t look like PowerPoint, and you can find related pictures to your keywords.

You can even view what other designs people have done on the same topic and use it as inspiration for your own presentation.

9. Slidebean

The Slidebean All-Access Advanced plan for founders starts at $149 USD/year, and this includes features such as pitch deck templates, unlimited fundraising kit, sharing and exporting decks, and tracking presentation views.

There is also the Slidebean Incorporation plan at $649 USD/year, which includes everything in the All-Access Advanced plan but allows businesses to incorporate their company in the US.

Slidebean offers everything you need for a successful creation process – images, icons, fonts, to name a few.

It is very easy to use and has beautiful graphic design elements. Even if you’re not a graphic designer, Slidebean makes your presentations look great.

It also helps you create pitch decks. Through its advanced analytics section, individuals can see which investors viewed their decks and how long they viewed each slide or whether the investor finished the deck, which is very helpful information to have on hand.

Slidebean is an easy-to-use and simple presentation software that provides professional templates to present your ideas with simple styling features.

Its target market includes startups, marketers, and small and medium-sized businesses that are trying to get their powerful ideas across to professional thinkers.

Streamline the process with the help of integrated automation features. Choose the templates depending on your field to simplify the creation even more. You can see insights into how users interact with the slides.

Visme is an all-in-one online presentation maker that offers custom, high-quality templates. Pick a template and customize it according to your needs, or create a presentation from scratch.

The tool offers 50+ charts and other data visualization tools, 120+ custom fonts, stock images, and vector icons. You can add website links, emails, and pop-ups. When your presentation is ready, share it online, embed it on your website, or download it.

11. SlideDog

There are 3 plans available. The first is $19/month per 2 seats, billed monthly, and you can cancel anytime. You also have a yearly plan at $99/month (1st year) per 2 seats, $79 2nd year with a 20% renewal discount. The last option is a lifetime purchase of $299 per 2 seats, where you only pay once and can access it forever.

SlideDog is a presentation software that lets its users create playlists from presentation files and easily switch between them.

The features include real-time sharing, interactive elements, and remote control with various devices to streamline the presentation process.

12. Zoho Show

Zoho Show is completely free for individuals, while larger teams and organizations are billed $2.70 USD/month.

The tool can be used by those who need to tell a story, such as educators, authors, and business owners, helping them create and publish presentations with stunning visuals in a short period.

Choose from a variety of integrated themes designed to fit all kinds of needs. Make your slides more interactive by adding transitions and animation, using charts, tables, images, videos, and more.

Zoho Show is a dedicated online presentation tool, simplistic and easily customizable. From creating and collaborating to broadcasting and publishing, you will surely find solutions to your every need.

The tool is also available on mobile devices. To access your presentations remotely on your smartphone, simply download the app and log in.

It also lets you import your existing PPTX, PPT, ODP, PPSX, and PPS files and edit them without any formatting issues.

Gamma offers three pricing plans. Upon signing up, you get 400 credits to test the Free plan with various features and create a few documents.

The Plus plan starts at $8/month, and you get to gain access to additional features like PDF export.

The Pro plan starts at $16/month, and you receive unlimited AI creation and advanced AI models.

Gamma takes just one prompt and a bit of refining to produce a beautiful presentation.

It uses the chatbot to improve existing slides, and you can incorporate live websites and applications into your presentations. It’s a great way to demonstrate your ideas in real time.

This is an opportunity to monitor how your creations perform and if they have the ability to engage your audience.

Gamma is an AI-powered tool that lets you create impressive and engaging presentations for anyone.

Besides creating your presentations, it also offers a great editing experience where you can improve your work simply by interacting with an AI chatbot.

There is a free trial available. The Personal plan for teams of up to 15 people starts at $14.99 USD/month, and the Enterprise plan for teams of 16 people and over requires you to contact Ludus directly for a quote.

Other than being incredibly easy to use, this tool is very intuitive, and presentations can be customized as you play around with unique fonts, drawings, code, interesting transitions, and much more.

Ludus combines creativity with simplicity. Ludus is more than a presentation tool; it is also a tool for communicating, collaborating, learning, and playing.

The presentation software has many features that designers are already familiar with. You can create anything without limitations, from fonts and graphics to blending modes.

It also allows you to integrate with Unsplash, GIPHY, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc., so you can add anything you want.

Ludus is a tool that allows you to create presentations with unlimited creative possibilities.

This presentation software will solve your problems regarding sharing, compatibility, collaboration, creativity, and more.

It is recommended for everyone to use, especially for creatives and designers. Everyone can use it, too, but it has a bit of a learning curve that is worth the time if you want to use it properly.

This app might be the solution to the problems that our presentation tools have nowadays. It is not restrictive, so you can let your imagination run wild and express your creativity.

This presentation tool is affordable, especially for big teams. With remote work on the rise, Ludus is a great presentation assistant to have nearby.

Still Looking for the Best Presentation Software?

And there you have it. The 13+ best presentation software that you should bear in mind if you’re thinking of trying something a little bit different to the software you’re used to hearing about all the time – PowerPoint.

Each software has its benefits, but if you’re aiming for presentation software that offers a blend of creativity, versatility, and user-friendly features, Renderforest stands out as your go-to choice.

With a vast library of templates and the ability to add GIFs, stickers, icons, and even your own images, Renderforest empowers users to create visually stunning and uniquely personalized presentations.

Renderforest also provides different pricing plans, including a free option, making it accessible regardless of your need and budget.

So, stop wasting hours of your life trying to create your presentations manually and with predictable designs, and start taking your presentations to the next level with Renderforest, your ultimate presentation companion that goes beyond the ordinary!

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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

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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.

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15 Best Presentation Software for 2021

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By Bilyana Nikolaeva

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On average a presentation takes up to 20 minutes and experts say we make an impression within the first 30 seconds. That is why it’s important to “dress” our great product/idea with an equally exciting design. Most often, presentations are cooked up by non-designers, which creates a specific need – for powerful presentation software, which can help communicate a message beautifully, effectively, and to suit any user’s skill level. We hand-picked 15 of the best presentation software for 2021 , which will help you create presentations online, share them, while shining in your best light. In the meanwhile, check out some useful ideas tips to spice up your presentations .

A web-based presentation tool, which means you can access your presentations wherever you are, with an internet connection. It is known for its animations, cartoons, and infographics, which help the user to create more interactive presentations and explainer-style videos.

Example by Focusky

Best Features: Very interactive; you can create a unique to your story by combining different “frames” (slides); create your own animations within the presentation Price: Free, but heavily subscription-based Learning curve: Very intuitive, nicely organized by categories, but it would require some time to learn the animation controls Available for: Online Perfect for: Marketing and education

To summarize, this presentation tool is best for marketers and education, where the creator can get the most out of the cool animation and cartoons available. In the last years, there is an increased interest in Powtoon and RenderForest and we expect that more and more people will use them in 2021. No surprise – if you look at our article about Graphic Design Trends in 2022 , everything is moving towards animation, cool 3D-s, cartoons, and illustrations – and these are all things that this software can offer for your presentation.

Prezi is an online presentation software, which resembles a mind map. In comparison, PowerPoint offers a linear way of presenting, whereas Prezi allows you to better show relationships between different elements of your presentation, show details, zoom in and zoom out and show an overall view of your topic. Compared to PowerPoint is more interactive, but with fewer functionalities and a choice of templates.

Example by PreziBase

Best Features: Interactive presentations and interesting transitions, zoom in/out details Price: The very basic features are free, but most of the interesting ones are paid, starting from $3/month and reaching up to $59/month. They offer a free trial. Learning curve: it requires learning and going through a lot of menus and functionalities, similar to PowerPoint Available for: Online / Limited use for iOS and Android (only viewing, not creating and editing) Perfect for: teachers, businesses, more experienced designers, and specific presentations needs, but not recommended for newbies

Prezi is best in showing relationships between different parts of your presentations. There are some challenges in editing, and viewing across devices and its best features are paid for. We recommend it for quick, mind-map-like presentations without the need for ultra-special design.

3. RenderForest Presentation Maker

RenderForest is an online presentation tool, which is famous for its explainer style and whiteboard animations. The presentation templates often offer various motion/video backgrounds, which helps to grab your audience’s attention. Currently, the company is working on releasing its Graphic Design Software, which will allow users to create printables and beautiful designs for social media. This shows that RenderForest’s team knows the market well and does its best to cater to its needs!

Example by Renderforest

Best Features: Video holders with text on shapes, cool transitions Price: There is a free version, the paid ones start at $20.34 per user/month Learning curve: Relatively easy to use, the simple interface helps the user Available for: Online / iOS / Android Perfect for: Education and business

Although not one of the cheapest solutions, it allows you to create engaging and interactive presentations with lots of cool animations. That makes RenderForest a great choice for more educational and marketing explainer-type videos/presentations.

4. Mentimeter

Mentimeter is a very interesting online presentation software. It allows your audience to engage with your presentation in real-time and you can create polls, ask questions, which are then displayed to your presentation. The answers from the audience remain anonymous so people are even more encouraged to participate.

Example by Mentimeter

Best Features: Launch live, interactive polls, surveys, quizzes and create things like word clouds in real-time Price: It has a free version, but the paid plans offer most of the attractive features – the basic plan costs $9.99 per user/month and the more advanced plan is $24.99 per user/month Learning curve: Easy to use; might need to explain to a less tech-savvy audience how to connect to your presentation Available for: Online / Android / iOS Perfect for: Educators, speakers, business and competitions

An excellent choice for educators, speakers, and businesses who want to engage the audience in real-time and display the results immediately. Clean, simple designs, that help you focus on the content.

5. Libre Office Impress

Libre Office is free presentation software, an open-source alternative to PowerPoint. As you can expect from a free product, it offers only the main features of its “big brother”, but it’s a good solution for people used to Microsoft’s productivity suite. The interface is very similar to PowerPoint, which again makes it comfortable to use for a certain audience. Users who need collaboration on presentations, clean interface, and more creative design solutions should steer away from this free presentation software because it will simply not cover their needs.

Example by Theodoros Bousios

Best Features: Free, compatible with older versions (Windows XP for example) Price: Free Learning curve: It will take some time to go through all the options and to get familiar with the interface; Available for: Windows / macOS / Linux / Android / iOS. Perfect for: people who want to use a free product and people with older operation systems

To summarize, Libre is free, compatible with older versions, it can cover your basic needs for a presentation, but the options are too many and available templates too little.

6. Zoho Show

Zoho Show is also an online presentation software, which has a very friendly user interface and great collaboration features. There are many functionalities, which help you create a beautiful design, but require some time and design knowledge to get it right. The premade templates are limited and this presentation software needs an internet connection to be able to edit and present.

Image by Zoho

Best Features: Live broadcasting a presentation with live chat and commenting Price: Zoho Show is free for personal use. For business users, Zoho Show is included in the Zoho Docs enterprise pricing packages – €5 or €8 per user/month Learning curve: Available for: Online / Android / iOS Perfect for: non-profits, start-ups, personal use, teachers

To summarize, Zoho offers great collaboration features, but you need a connection to edit and present. It is suitable for quick, non-pretentious presentations, where you need some kind of collaboration.

7. ClearSlide Presenter

ClearSlide is a sales engagement platform, including an online presentation tool. Another online tool – SlideRocket, was acquired by ClearSlide and one of the differences is that ClearSlide is more costly and targeted at larger businesses. It’s a great platform for very specific needs – collaborating between sales and marketing teams, to achieve the company’s goals. It’s clear even by the interface:

Image by ClearSlide

Best Features: Analytics for costumers’ engagement, video conferencing, screen sharing Price: They offer a free trial and you can see more about the payment plans here. Learning curve: Clear and simple interface, but it requires some time to get used to the tools Available for: Online Perfect for: Sales/business, managers (for coaching); not suitable for newbies, teachers, students

To summarize, ClearSide is perfect for presenting sales pitch , graphics, collaborate in larger teams. It is somehow restrictive for a non-designer because the templates are specific.

8. Piktochart

Piktochart allows you to make infographics, presentations, and printables quickly. Primarily known for its easy customizable infographics, Piktochart also has simple presentation templates and the company is constantly trying to update its library.

Example by Piktochart Knowledge Base

Best Features: Turning data-heavy content into simple visuals; nice transitions between slides Price: There is a free version and a paid one, starting at $29 per user/month. They offer a free trial. Learning curve: It requires time to get used to the options available and to navigate through Available for: Online Perfect for: Designers, teachers; it does not offer collaboration options, which might be needed by teams, students, etc.

Compared to other online presentation software is a bit costly and we could still ask a bit more from the presentation templates. We’d recommend it to someone who often uses infographics and wants to use a single platform to combine the infographics with a presentation. But why not check our free infographics as well?

Slides is online presentation software, initially aimed at developers and covering their presentation needs. Thus said, it does not offer offline editing, but you can present offline, after exporting your presentation.

Best Features: It allows you to use your phone as a remote control; Live Present Mode allows you to control what your audience sees; drop in code, iframes, and SVGs with ease. Price: Free, with paid plans starting at $7.00/month and $14-$18/month for pro and team packages. They offer a free trial. Learning curve: friendly interface, but too many functions and options, which might overwhelm the average user and beginner Available for: Online Perfect for: developers, designers, a little bit too specific for newbies

To summarize, it’s a very cool tool, giving you complete design freedom, but that is also why we do not recommend it to teachers, non-designers, or marketers. Developers and design gurus will love it.

Canva is a web-based solution that started with a mission – to make beautiful designed content available to everyone. The whole platform is organized so that a person without any prior design knowledge can easily create graphs, images, and presentations to impress. Although it is not the best tool for data visualization, it scores high in any other category. Needless to say, it has become a popular choice amongst non-designers.

Image by Iconfinder

Best Features: Plenty of beautiful templates to choose from and Canva school has plenty of tutorials and tips for free. It offers more free functionalities compared to other competitors. Price: Free, the offer different subscription plans, starting at $9.95 per user/month Learning curve: Very easy to use, most of the actions can be performed by drag-and-drop Available for: Online / iOS / Android Perfect for: newbies, marketers (who need a unified look across all their social media), non-profits, and teachers

Canva is becoming one of the most popular tools amongst non-designers for creating beautiful unified content. You can create entire presentations, flyers, and other materials with a single drag and drop.

11. Slidebean

Slidebean is the go-to online presentation software for last-minute projects, that look original and professional. Slidebean offers clean and easy-to-use templates and keeps track of your audience’s engagement.

Source Slidebean

Best Features: It allows you to arrange your content with the help of AI, which saves time creating a beautiful layout. You just pick a template, upload content, and let the AI offer you a nice layout. Premade animations, effects, and alignments are automatically applied to your content and create a cohesive look. Price: Free, paid versions starting from $8/month Learning curve: very easy to use since everything is made to fit the premade templates Available for: Windows / Mac / Android / iOS Perfect for: financial, academic, pitch, marketing, sales; everything quick with a clear structure

To summarize, if you are in a hurry, Slidebean will offer several layouts for your slides and speed up the process of creation. The platform targets primarily sales, marketing, and financial fields, and the available templates reflect that.

12. Google Slides

Google Slides is part of the G Suite business application. Its popularity has increased in the last years since it’s a web-based platform, allowing you to store, edit, and share your presentation, without the need of installing presentation software on your computer. All you need is a Google account and you are good to go.

Image by G Suite Updates blog

Best Features: It’s free for personal use, and offers great paid features for business – for example, seamless collaboration and commenting on a presentation, converting other presentations to Google Slides. Some other great features are the wide variety of fonts available (GoogleFonts, not need installing), easy embedding, plus it’s super intuitive and easy to use! Price: It’s free for individual use. For business use, the price starts at $5/user/month and plans of $10 and $25/user/month, for unlimited cloud storage and extra features Learning curve: Simple interface, but it will require some time to pick up. Similar to PowerPoint, only a bit lighter. Available for: Windows / Mac / Online Perfect for: businesses, freelancers, who need a user-friendly app with elementary features; great for collaborating teams, not so perfect for complex designs and tools, required by big enterprises

Perfect for personal use, well synchronized across different devices, similar to PowerPoint. Maybe you are a teacher and you like GoogleSlides because it is free and easy to use? Well, we’ve gathered some awesome FREE GoogleSlides and PowerPoint templates , specially made for education needs.

If you need something along the lines of PowerPoint but need the option for collaboration – a paid plan for GoogleSlides is your go-to choice.

13. Keynote

Keynote is an Apple product, very similar to Google Slides. All you need to do is create an iCloud account (similar to a Google account) and start using Keynote from there. Running Keynote on Windows also requires an internet connection and a modern browser. The latest version can also import and export PowerPoint formats if needed. All this sends Keynote higher in the list regarding the accessibility and shareability of this presentation software.

Image by Envato tuts+

Best Features: Simplicity of design, great drag and drop functions, polished transitions and animations, easy image editing/cropping; works great with multimedia; design templates with better aesthetic than an average slide deck; Price: Free for macOS and iOS Learning curve: Pretty easy to use for Mac users, a bit of learning curve for users, having experience with other software. Available for: Mac / Windows / Online Perfect for: businesses, marketers, people with not much of a design experience

Bottom line, if you are a Mac user, you love the sleek design and you are looking for cool aesthetics – Keynote is simple to use and free, why not use it?

14. Adobe Spark

Adobe Spark is a web and mobile-based media creation application, which helps you create social graphics, short videos, and web pages. What is immediately noticeable is the clean, crisp, simple, and modern designs, which focus you on the content. If you are looking for a funky, ornate design – Adobe Spark is not the right pick for you.

Example by Cikeys

Best Features: Beautiful templates, user-friendly interface, step-by-step creation, you can add audio to your slides (narrating) Price: There is a free version, the paid on starts at $9.79. The best templates, as with the competitors, are paid. They do not offer a free trial. Learning curve: Easy to use Available for: Online / iOS / Android Perfect for: quick presentations, teachers, basic presentations without jamming them with too much cool stuff.

Adobe Spark eliminates the cluster of design options and leads you step-by-step in creating elegant, simple presentations. Ideal for basic presentations, not the best for sales and marketing.

15. PowerPoint

PowerPoint certainly is a “classic” – it’s has been the most popular tool for creating presentations so far. What first started as a component of the Microsoft Office suite, now has improved shareability and accessibility. It can be used on the web (as part of Office on the web), works with Android, and iOS, and there is a Mobile app, as well as presentation software for mac.

Example by Abris DC

Best Features: Many people are familiar with the software, a wide variety of templates; improved accessibility across platforms; extensive tools and options Price: If you want to enjoy the full features of PowerPoint, you’ll need to subscribe to Microsoft 365 – they have payment plans for personal or business use. The price for personal use starts at $5.99/month or $59.99/year, and business plans start at $12.50 per user/month with an annual commitment. You can find more information here . The mobile applications are completely free to use, of course with some limitations. You can compare the available features across different platforms here. Learning curve: Due to the variety of options and the complexity of the menus, it might take some time to master all of its features. Something that could take a lot of time is editing the text, arranging the visuals, and picking the right transitions – overall, is time-consuming. Still, the interface remained easy to navigate over time and if you trust your design sense, you can achieve satisfying results. Available for: Windows / Mac / Online Perfect for: business, medical, accounting and students; creating concise presentations; but not so suitable for teachers, educators, start-ups and marketers who want to create more interactive and story-based presentations.

To this date, PowerPoint is keeping the lead as the most popular tool for creating presentations. Some of the downsides are that sometimes it can be time-consuming to come up with a good design and PP doesn’t offer collaboration tools and compared to other platforms. But we have a solution for at least one of your problems – we’ve selected 31 Modern PowerPoint templates to set the right tone for your presentation.

We made a quick summary for you…

Ok, not that we’ve looked at the 15 best presentation software for 2021, we decided to go one step further and compare them by price and popularity. Let’s have a look first at the new-comers:

As you can see, the leaders from the uprising platforms are Canva and Mentimeter, with relatively low prices and with huge success amongst users . Powtoon, Piktochart, and Renderforest are a bit costly , but they are popular since they offer a lot of animation and interactive elements. Hey, but maybe some of the other tools are right for you? We encourage you to go on their websites, contact their support team, and see what they have to offer.

Then, let’s see how the veterans are ranking:

It’s no surprise that PowerPoint and Google Slides are at the top – people are used to their products, have familiar interfaces, and offer a lot of functionalities at a good price. Although, for quick, unpretentious results, their competitors are a very attractive solution.

Final words

We can conclude that there are many useful tools to help you create beautiful presentations. Some of them are well-known and have been here for a while, while others are uprising… No matter the case, we notice a trend for presentation tools catering not only to the designers’ needs but also to the newbies, marketers, and teachers. That way, enabling everyone to create stunning presentations in no time and share them easily.

We hope this presentation software list shed some light on different options out there and that we helped you evaluate quickly what would work for your situation best.

You may also be interested in these related articles:

12 PowerPoint Presentation Tips To Dramatically Boost Your Efficiency
35 Free Google Slides Infographic Templates to Grab Now
23 Online Collaboration Tools for Your Remote Team

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Bilyana Nikolaeva

Bilyana is an inspiring content writer and illustrator at GraphicMama with years of experience in art and design. When she’s not busy writing for the blog, you will usually see her working hard on new illustrations and graphic resources.

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Best presentation software of 2023

By Steven T. Wright

Posted on Jun 22, 2022 3:22 PM EDT

12 minute read

Best overall

Microsoft PowerPoint

Best for professionals.

Canva is the best presentation software for professionals.

Best for Zoom

Prezi is the best presentation software for zoom.

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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.

The best overall presentation software

Setting the standard.

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.

Build-a-Brand Workshop

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.

Think Outside The Slide

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

Best for mac, showing off on mac.

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.

Best for students

A helping hand.

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.

Free is Free

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Black background with white text that reads: "2023 guide to the best presentation platforms"

2024 Guide to the Best Presentation Platforms

In this highly digitized world, giving presentations is par for the course no matter your industry or discipline. And with the drastic increase in remote and hybrid work, creating dynamic, engaging presentations to bolster your virtual presence has become even more important.

As a result, presentation platforms have come a long way over the last several years to fit various needs.

With so many options available, you might wonder which presentation platform is right for your needs.

In this article, we’ll compare the best presentation platforms to help you find the perfect option for your specific use cases, whether you’re creating stunning video-heavy presentations, highly interactive non-linear shows, or even basic, informative slide decks.

The Best Presentation Platforms in 2023

Presentation software is a broad umbrella term describing a wide variety of products. Deciding on the best presentation platform will largely depend on your use case.

Will you need a platform that allows you to stream video presentations?
Are you creating complex audio-visual content for live events or worship services?
Do you need the ability to stream or record the contents of your desktop?
Are you just looking for a basic slide deck presentation platform?

Your answers to these questions (and others like them) will likely affect your decision: different presentation platforms have their own focuses and different sets of strengths and weaknesses.

Whatever your needs and use cases look like, you’ll find the best presentation platform for your needs in the list below.

ProPresenter

ProPresenter is the most robust video presentation platform and enterprise presentation software for any use case in this list.

Whether you’re looking for a drag-and-drop slide creator or need to embed and live-streamed presentations, ProPresenter has you covered.

ProPresenter is also an intuitive and easy-to-use video presentation app that doesn’t sacrifice performance or features.

Powerful design and performance capabilities mean your slides, presentations, and live streams will look incredibly professional— and you won’t need advanced design skills or months of training to get started.

If you’re a professional presenting to a large audience or a small business owner presenting to a few, our presentation software can meet—and surpass—your needs.

ProPresenter Use Cases

Worship services of all sizes, professional and local sporting events, live video presentations, slide shows, multimedia presentations, and much, much more.

ProPresenter can do it all.

ProPresenter Pricing

ProPresenter offers an unrestricted two-week trial, but we do not offer a long-term free version.

We offer seat licenses that give you the full ProPresenter experience so you can present in front of audiences at houses of worship, businesses, schools, and more.

Campus licenses are available for houses of worship, and ProPresenter+ gives a subscription-based option for ongoing updates and support.

Additionally, you can rent ProPresenter for one-time events if you don’t need a complete license.

Visme is one of the best presentation tools for organizations that want to create a wide array of content, from presentations to data visualizations, branded content, and more. Templates are available so that even users with little to no design experience can build beautiful, compelling presentations.

While this “design on guardrails” approach can be handy for novices, creators who are used to more design freedom may find Visme’s capabilities a bit limiting.

One of the major drawbacks to Visme is its basic video routing, playback, and output capabilities. Visme presentations run in web browsers and can be viewed by anyone from anywhere. That’s great for Zoom calls and classrooms and conference rooms, but if your needs are a little more advanced, Visme starts to show its limitations.

There’s no option for the advanced video outputs needed for live events, tech-heavy presentations, etc.

Visme Use Cases

Visme is best for internal branded communication, static content for social media, content management platforms, and more.

Visme Pricing

A basic Visme version is free, but most businesses and organizations will quickly outgrow the small storage limit.

Those who need more can access two individual subscription levels at monthly or yearly price points. Visme also has a custom-quoted team plan for businesses and organizations.

Prezi is one of the more unique presentation platforms out there, and it’s the answer for interactive presenters and organizations that want to make dynamic, interesting, non-linear presentations.

Instead of the traditional side-by-side slide method, Prezi allows you to create presentations that zoom in, pan around, twist, turn, and more to really capture your audience’s attention.

Prezi is the best software for that purpose if you have a presentation that changes direction or order based on audience input.

Prezi has also recently added a video recording tool and a design tool within its platform, allowing you to record, edit, and share videos and even present live.

Prezi Use Cases

Prezi is useful for business and educational presentations, infographics, dynamic slideshows, talking-head videos, and more.

Prezi Pricing

The free version of Prezi leaves much to be desired (and leaves out several core features). Prezi offers a wide range of subscription tiers, spanning from basic plans to ones for students, educators, and large businesses.

Finding a cost-effective plan for your organization should be straightforward.

Canva is one of the best visual presentation software tools for individuals and businesses alike.

In addition to doing basic graphic design, you can design, record, and download video presentations with Canva. This browser-based software is incredibly easy to use with ready-made templates and assets to help your presentation look polished.

Users won’t be able to get granular with design elements using this presentation visualization platform, which may be frustrating for users with design experience.

Canva Use Cases

Canva is best for content creation, slide presentations, talking-head videos, and more.

Canva Pricing

Though Canva offers a free version, many of the more high-quality templates, assets, photos, etc. are only available on the premium plan. Still, their company plans are competitive, starting at $12.95/month for up to 5 people, making this a good budget alternative for startups and small organizations.

Loom is another presentation platform that’s quickly growing in popularity in professional circles. With Loom, you can quickly record and upload your video for easy sharing with whomever you choose. Once recorded, you can edit your video and add in calls to action (CTAs).

Businesses and organizations use Loom to share instructions and updates without having a formal meeting. It’s also a great platform for educators who want to queue up a series of lessons or guided exercises for students.

Truthfully, Loom is a much more straightforward presentation software option that’s geared more toward screen recordings and asynchronous video messaging than slides.

Loom is a great way to go if that’s your primary focus. But it doesn’t make a very effective slide-style presentation platform.

Loom Use Cases

Loom is best for internal communication for businesses and places of learning.

Loom Pricing

Loom has a generous free starting plan with a five-minute limit on video length. A paid business plan removes that limit of $12.50/user/month, and a customizable enterprise plan gives organizations more security and better integrations.

Haiku Deck is perfect for organizations that want to create linear presentations and slide decks with little to no embedded media. Creating slides in this presentation software is incredibly simple—drag, drop, and go.

Haiku Deck offers tons of pre-built design options so even non-technical users can give presentations a professional look without breaking a sweat.

Haiku Deck is a cloud-based presentation app making sharing your presentation with any connected device easy. Haiku Deck is a great choice for companies looking for a simple presentation platform without too many bells and whistles.

Haiku Deck limits your design options, so it’s not ideal if you need powerful presentation design flexibility. Also, presentations run in your browser, meaning you’ll find the same limitations on video outputs and overall power.

Haiku Deck Use Cases

Haiku Deck is best for creating polished slideshow presentations for businesses and educators.

Haiku Deck Pricing

Haiku Deck offers a free trial with paid professional and premium subscriptions after the trial period is over, at $119 and $359 per year, respectively. Nonprofits and educators: note that Haiku Deck offers discounted pricing for eligible students, educators, and nonprofits.

Microsoft PowerPoint

PowerPoint has been around since the 90s and is one of the most widely used commercial presentation applications for a reason.

PowerPoint is fairly simple to use and has an overall clean user interface. This software is best for school or small business presentations where design isn’t a major factor. You can embed media in PowerPoint presentations, though it doesn’t support live streaming.

There’s a reason why this presentation platform from the Microsoft mega-giant has been around so long, but many great PowerPoint alternatives surpass this software.

PowerPoint Use Cases

PowerPoint is (and has always been) best used for creating slideshow presentations for businesses, students, and educators.

PowerPoint Pricing

PowerPoint is fairly affordable and can be purchased for businesses for $12.50/user/month with the Microsoft 365 Business Standard bundle or for $22/user/month with Microsoft 365 Business Premium. It’s worth noting that price includes the entire Microsoft 365 suite of tools—and your organization might already be paying for them.

If you’re a smaller operation and don’t need everything in 365, then PowerPoint and the other basic Microsoft apps can also be purchased for $8.25/user/month.

Google Slides

Slides is Google’s version of Microsoft PowerPoint. Though this presentation tool is free, giving it a slight advantage.

Users already familiar with Docs, Sheets, and other Google tools will have no problem using Slides to create presentations.

While Slides is very accessible and easy to use, it lacks a robust template library and has minimal graphic assets, so users who want to make visually interesting presentations will be disappointed by its lack of features.

Google Slides Use Cases

Basic slideshow presentations for businesses, students, and educators.

Google Slides Pricing

Slides is free and available to anyone with a Google account. You can also collaborate and share your presentation with anyone by sharing the link. If your organization wants to share and manage information more thoroughly through teams, plans for business accounts start at $6/user/month and go up to $18/user/month.

Apple created its answer to PowerPoint long before Google did. The capabilities of Keynote are comparable to Slides and PowerPoint, with the exception that videos are only embeddable with a plug-in. Despite this,

Keynote is a great presentation software for Apple users looking for an easy way to make simple presentations.

Keynote Use Cases

Basic slideshow presentations for businesses, students, and educators—but only in Apple-friendly scenarios.

Keynote Pricing

It might sound strange, but you can’t buy or pay for Keynote. The Keynote app is automatically installed on all iOS and macOS devices (or is available as a free download). It’s free to use on those devices, making it a budget-friendly alternative if you’re already deep in the Apple ecosystem.

The Best Presentation Platform is at Your Fingertips

Though a wide variety of excellent platforms are featured here, we stand by ProPresenter as the best presentation software available.

Start an unrestricted two-week trial today to see how ProPresenter can meet all your presentation needs!

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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 .

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What is Interactive Presentation Software?

Interactive presentation software refers to digital tools and platforms designed to enhance the traditional presentation experience by incorporating interactive elements.

These elements can include real-time audience engagement features, multimedia integration, dynamic content, and collaborative functionalities. The goal is to make presentations more engaging, participatory, and effective in communicating information.

Overall, interactive presentation software transforms passive presentations into engaging, participatory experiences. It makes them more effective for communication, teaching, and collaboration.

Benefits of Interactive Presentation Software

Interactive presentation software offers many benefits that can enhance the effectiveness of your presentations and captivate your audience. Here are some key advantages of using interactive presentation software

Boost Your Engagement

Interactive features such as polls, quizzes, and multimedia elements keep your audience engaged and actively involved in the presentation. By encouraging participation and interaction, interactive presentations create a dynamic and memorable experience for your audience.

Improved Retention

Interactive presentations are more likely to be remembered by your audience compared to traditional, static slideshows. The active engagement and participation fostered by interactive elements help reinforce learning and increase information retention.

Create Audience Interaction

Interactive presentation software allows for real-time interaction with your audience, enabling you to gather feedback, answer questions, and spark discussions. This two-way communication fosters a deeper connection between the presenter and audience members.

Data Collection and Analysis

Interactive features such as polls and surveys provide valuable insights into your audience’s preferences, opinions, and understanding of the topic. The data collected can be analyzed to tailor your presentation content to better meet the needs and interests of your audience.

Flex Your Professionalism

Incorporating interactive elements into your presentations demonstrates a commitment to innovation and audience engagement. It sets you apart as a dynamic and forward-thinking presenter, enhancing your credibility and leaving a positive impression on your audience.

Flexibility

Interactive presentation software allows for easy editing and updating of content, even during live presentations. This flexibility enables presenters to adapt to audience feedback, address questions on the fly, and make real-time adjustments as needed.

Make it Visually Appealing

Interactive presentation software often includes a variety of design templates, animations, and multimedia elements that enhance the visual appeal of your slides. Visually engaging presentations are more likely to capture and maintain your audience’s attention.

Cost-Effective

Investing in interactive presentation software can ultimately save time and resources by streamlining the presentation creation process and maximizing audience engagement. The benefits of improved retention, audience interaction, and professionalism outweigh the initial investment in the software.

Key Features in Interactive Presentation Software?

Interactive presentation software comes equipped with a variety of key features designed to engage audiences and enhance the effectiveness of presentations. Here are some of the most important features you’ll find in interactive presentation software:

Interactive Elements: Incorporates interactive elements such as quizzes, polls, live Q&A sessions, and clickable links or buttons within the presentation.
Real-time Audience Participation: Enables real-time audience interaction through smartphones, tablets, or other devices. Participants can respond to questions, provide feedback, or engage in discussions.
Multimedia Integration: Supports the embedding of multimedia elements such as videos, audio clips, and animations to make presentations more engaging.
Collaborative Tools: Often includes collaborative features that allow multiple users to work on the same presentation simultaneously, or for audience members to contribute content or ideas during the presentation.
Analytics and Feedback: Provides analytics and feedback tools to track audience engagement, gather data on responses, and measure the effectiveness of the presentation.
Customization and Personalization: Offers a range of customizable presentation templates and design tools to create customized and visually appealing presentations tailored to specific audiences or topics.

1. QuestionPro Live polls

QuestionPro Live Polls is a versatile tool that allows presenters to create live polls, quizzes, and surveys. Audience members can participate in these activities using their mobile devices, providing real-time feedback and interaction. This transforms passive presentations into engaging experiences.

Key Features:

Real-time polling
Multiple question types
Live results display
Audience Q&A
Customizable templates
Data export
Integration with other platforms
Mobile-friendly
Analytics dashboard
Anonymous voting
Easy to set up and use.
Increases audience engagement.
Provides instant feedback.
Supports various question types.
Limited free version features.

Pricing:

Free version available; premium plans start at $99/month.

2. Google Slides

Google Slides is a versatile interactive presentation platform that allows for easy collaboration and integration with other Google Workspace applications. It’s ideal for creating and sharing presentations online.

Cloud-based presentation app
Real-time collaboration
Wide range of templates
Easy integration with Google Drive
Offline access
Embedding videos and images
Commenting and feedback
Version History
Presenter view
Free with a Google account.
Accessible from any device.
Integration with Google Workspace.
Easy sharing and permissions control.
Limited offline functionality.
Google Slides is a completely free service.

Canva is a design platform that offers tools for creating visually stunning presentations. It provides a range of templates and design elements that make it easy to produce professional-quality presentations.

Drag-and-drop editor
Extensive template library
Stock photos and illustrations
Custom fonts and colors
Animation and transitions
Collaboration tools
Presentation mode
Embedding videos and links
Downloadable in various formats
High-quality design templates.
Versatile download options.
Brand kit for consistent branding.
No design skills are needed.
Some templates and elements require payment.
Free version available; Pro plan at $55/user/year.

4. PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint is a widely-used presentation software known for its comprehensive features and flexibility. It is a staple in both educational and professional environments.

Advanced animation and transitions
Slide master for consistency
Multimedia embedding
Export to various formats
Integration with Microsoft 365
Customizable slide layouts
Add-ins and extensions
Familiar interface for most users.
Advanced design and animation tools.
It can be expensive.
Available with a Microsoft 365 subscription starting at $6.99/month.

5. Mentimeter

Mentimeter is an interactive presentation tool that allows presenters to create engaging presentations with live polls, quizzes, and Q&A sessions. It’s perfect for making presentations more interactive and participatory.

Live polling
Real-time results
Word clouds
Multiple choice questions
Customizable themes
Integrations with other tools
Enhances audience engagement.
Great for remote presentations.
Limited free plan.
Free version available; basic plan starts at $11.99/month.

Visme is a versatile content creation tool that enables users to create engaging presentations, infographics, and other visual content. It combines design flexibility with ease of use.

Customizable charts and graphs
Data visualization
Mobile-responsive presentations.
Less powerful than dedicated animation tools.
Free version available; Pro plans start at $24.75/month.

7. Zoho Show

Zoho Show is a cloud-based presentation tool that offers a range of features for creating, editing, and sharing presentations online. It integrates seamlessly with the Zoho suite of applications.

Integration with Zoho apps
Free with a Zoho account.
Integration with Zoho suite.
Basic design features compared to competitors.
Free with Zoho account; part of Zoho Workplace bundle starting at $2.50/user/month.

8. SlideDog

SlideDog is a presentation tool that allows you to combine different types of media, such as PowerPoint slides, PDFs, videos, and web content, into a seamless presentation experience.

Combine different media
Seamless transitions
Real-time sharing
Customizable playlists
Remote control
Dual screen support
Presenter notes
Combines various media types.
Requires internet access for some features.
Free version available; Pro plan at $19/month.

Apple’s Keynote is a powerful presentation tool known for its sleek design and advanced features. It is ideal for creating visually stunning presentations on macOS and iOS devices.

Integration with Apple ecosystem
Free for Apple users.
Only available on Apple devices.
Requires macOS or iOS for full functionality.
Free with macOS and iOS devices.

Prezi is a unique presentation tool that offers a dynamic, zoomable canvas instead of traditional slides. It’s great for creating engaging, non-linear presentations.

Zoomable canvas
Dynamic transitions
Customizable paths
Unique presentation style.
Highly engaging visuals.
Internet dependency for most features.
Less suited for linear presentations.
Available upon request.

11. Genially

Genially is an interactive content creation tool that allows users to create engaging presentations, infographics, and other visual content. It’s known for its interactive elements and design flexibility.

Interactive elements
Customizable designs
Versatile design options.
Regular updates.
Some templates and assets require payment.
Free version available; Pro plan at $7.49/month.

12. Powtoon

Powtoon is a presentation tool that focuses on creating animated presentations and videos. It’s ideal for making engaging and visually appealing content.

Animated presentations
Customizable characters and props
Voiceover recording
Advanced features can be costly.
Free version available; Professional plan at $40/month.

Choose QuestionPro Live Polls as Your Right Interactive Presentation Software

QuestionPro is a comprehensive survey and research platform that offers a suite of tools for gathering feedback and engaging audiences. One of its standout features is the Live Polls functionality, which enables presenters to create, conduct, and analyze live polls in real-time during their presentations.

Real-time Engagement

With QuestionPro Live Polls, you can ignite instant interaction with your audience. As you deliver your presentation, you can pose questions, gather feedback, and receive responses in real-time. This dynamic engagement keeps your audience actively involved and enables you to adjust your presentation on the fly based on their reactions.

Versatility in Presentation Formats

Whether you’re conducting a sales pitch, leading a training session, or hosting a virtual event, QuestionPro Live Polls seamlessly adapt to various presentation formats. From multiple-choice quizzes to interactive surveys, you can choose the type of poll that best suits your content and objectives, enhancing audience participation and comprehension.

Accessibility Across Devices

Accessibility is key to effective audience engagement. QuestionPro Live Polls can be accessed on smartphones, tablets, and computers, allowing participants to respond using the device of their choice. This multi-device compatibility ensures that all audience members can actively participate, regardless of their technological preferences.

Comprehensive Analytics and Reporting

Beyond real-time interaction, QuestionPro Live Polls provide valuable insights through comprehensive analytics and reporting features. After your presentation, you can delve into the data to analyze audience responses, identify trends, and uncover actionable insights. This data-driven approach empowers you to refine your future presentations and tailor your content to better resonate with your audience.

Top-notch Security and Privacy

Protecting audience data is paramount. QuestionPro prioritizes security and privacy, employing advanced encryption protocols and adhering to industry standards to safeguard participant information. This commitment to data security instills trust and confidence among both presenters and participants, ensuring a secure interactive environment.

Interactive presentation software offers a wide range of features to help you engage your audience and make your content more memorable. Whether you’re looking for animations, quizzes, or collaborative editing tools, there’s a presentation software option out there to fit your needs.

Incorporating interactive elements like live polls into your presentations can significantly enhance audience engagement and interaction. QuestionPro Live Polls offers a user-friendly and feature-rich solution for conducting live polls during presentations, enabling you to captivate your audience and gather valuable insights in real-time.

Whether you’re a presenter, educator, or business professional, choosing QuestionPro Live Polls as your interactive presentation software can elevate your presentations to new heights of engagement and effectiveness.

So, experiment with QuestionPro live polls and create presentations that captivate your audience today!

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Beginner Guides

Blog Beginner Guides 8 Types of Presentations You Should Know [+Examples & Tips]

8 Types of Presentations You Should Know [+Examples & Tips]

Written by: Krystle Wong Aug 11, 2023

From persuasive pitches that influence opinions to instructional demonstrations that teach skills, the different types of presentations serve a unique purpose, tailored to specific objectives and audiences.

Presentations that are tailored to its objectives and audiences are more engaging and memorable. They capture attention, maintain interest and leave a lasting impression.

Don’t worry if you’re no designer — Whether you need data-driven visuals, persuasive graphics or engaging design elements, Venngage can empower you to craft presentations that stand out and effectively convey your message.

Venngage’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface, extensive presentation template library and customizable design options make it a valuable tool for creating slides that align with your specific goals and target audience.

Click to jump ahead:

8 Different types of presentations every presenter must know

How do i choose the right type of presentation for my topic or audience, types of presentation faq, 5 steps to create a presentation with venngage .

When it comes to presentations, versatility is the name of the game. Having a variety of presentation styles up your sleeve can make a world of difference in keeping your audience engaged. Here are 8 essential presentation types that every presenter should be well-acquainted with:

1. Informative presentation

Ever sat through a presentation that left you feeling enlightened? That’s the power of an informative presentation.

This presentation style is all about sharing knowledge and shedding light on a particular topic. Whether you’re diving into the depths of quantum physics or explaining the intricacies of the latest social media trends, informative presentations aim to increase the audience’s understanding.

When delivering an informative presentation, simplify complex topics with clear visuals and relatable examples. Organize your content logically, starting with the basics and gradually delving deeper and always remember to keep jargon to a minimum and encourage questions for clarity.

Academic presentations and research presentations are great examples of informative presentations. An effective academic presentation involves having clear structure, credible evidence, engaging delivery and supporting visuals. Provide context to emphasize the topic’s significance, practice to perfect timing, and be ready to address anticipated questions.

2. Persuasive presentation

If you’ve ever been swayed by a passionate speaker armed with compelling arguments, you’ve experienced a persuasive presentation .

This type of presentation is like a verbal tug-of-war, aiming to convince the audience to see things from a specific perspective. Expect to encounter solid evidence, logical reasoning and a dash of emotional appeal.

With persuasive presentations, it’s important to know your audience inside out and tailor your message to their interests and concerns. Craft a compelling narrative with a strong opening, a solid argument and a memorable closing. Additionally, use visuals strategically to enhance your points.

Examples of persuasive presentations include presentations for environmental conservations, policy change, social issues and more. Here are some engaging presentation templates you can use to get started with:

3. Demonstration or how-to presentation

A Demonstration or How-To Presentation is a type of presentation where the speaker showcases a process, technique, or procedure step by step, providing the audience with clear instructions on how to replicate the demonstrated action.

A demonstrative presentation is particularly useful when teaching practical skills or showing how something is done in a hands-on manner.

These presentations are commonly used in various settings, including educational workshops, training sessions, cooking classes, DIY tutorials, technology demonstrations and more. Designing creative slides for your how-to presentations can heighten engagement and foster better information retention.

Speakers can also consider breaking down the process into manageable steps, using visual aids, props and sometimes even live demonstrations to illustrate each step. The key is to provide clear and concise instructions, engage the audience with interactive elements and address any questions that may arise during the presentation.

4. Training or instructional presentation

Training presentations are geared towards imparting practical skills, procedures or concepts — think of this as the more focused cousin of the demonstration presentation.

Whether you’re teaching a group of new employees the ins and outs of a software or enlightening budding chefs on the art of soufflé-making, training presentations are all about turning novices into experts.

To maximize the impact of your training or instructional presentation, break down complex concepts into digestible segments. Consider using real-life examples to illustrate each point and create a connection.

You can also create an interactive presentation by incorporating elements like quizzes or group activities to reinforce understanding.

5. Sales presentation

Sales presentations are one of the many types of business presentations and the bread and butter of businesses looking to woo potential clients or customers. With a sprinkle of charm and a dash of persuasion, these presentations showcase products, services or ideas with one end goal in mind: sealing the deal.

A successful sales presentation often has key characteristics such as a clear value proposition, strong storytelling, confidence and a compelling call to action. Hence, when presenting to your clients or stakeholders, focus on benefits rather than just features.

Anticipate and address potential objections before they arise and use storytelling to showcase how your offering solves a specific problem for your audience. Utilizing visual aids is also a great way to make your points stand out and stay memorable.

A sales presentation can be used to promote service offerings, product launches or even consultancy proposals that outline the expertise and industry experience of a business. Here are some template examples you can use for your next sales presentation:

6. Pitch presentation

Pitch presentations are your ticket to garnering the interest and support of potential investors, partners or stakeholders. Think of your pitch deck as your chance to paint a vivid picture of your business idea or proposal and secure the resources you need to bring it to life.

Business presentations aside, individuals can also create a portfolio presentation to showcase their skills, experience and achievements to potential clients, employers or investors.

Craft a concise and compelling narrative. Clearly define the problem your idea solves and how it stands out in the market. Anticipate questions and practice your answers. Project confidence and passion for your idea.

7. Motivational or inspirational presentation

Feeling the need for a morale boost? That’s where motivational presentations step in. These talks are designed to uplift and inspire, often featuring personal anecdotes, heartwarming stories and a generous serving of encouragement.

Form a connection with your audience by sharing personal stories that resonate with your message. Use a storytelling style with relatable anecdotes and powerful metaphors to create an emotional connection. Keep the energy high and wrap up your inspirational presentations with a clear call to action.

Inspirational talks and leadership presentations aside, a motivational or inspirational presentation can also be a simple presentation aimed at boosting confidence, a motivational speech focused on embracing change and more.

8. Status or progress report presentation

Projects and businesses are like living organisms, constantly evolving and changing. Status or progress report presentations keep everyone in the loop by providing updates on achievements, challenges and future plans. It’s like a GPS for your team, ensuring everyone stays on track.

Be transparent about achievements, challenges and future plans. Utilize infographics, charts and diagrams to present your data visually and simplify information. By visually representing data, it becomes easier to identify trends, make predictions and strategize based on evidence.

Now that you’ve learned about the different types of presentation methods and how to use them, you’re on the right track to creating a good presentation that can boost your confidence and enhance your presentation skills .

Selecting the most suitable presentation style is akin to choosing the right outfit for an occasion – it greatly influences how your message is perceived. Here’s a more detailed guide to help you make that crucial decision:

1. Define your objectives

Begin by clarifying your presentation’s goals. Are you aiming to educate, persuade, motivate, train or perhaps sell a concept? Your objectives will guide you to the most suitable presentation type.

For instance, if you’re aiming to inform, an informative presentation would be a natural fit. On the other hand, a persuasive presentation suits the goal of swaying opinions.

2. Know your audience

Regardless if you’re giving an in-person or a virtual presentation — delve into the characteristics of your audience. Consider factors like their expertise level, familiarity with the topic, interests and expectations.

If your audience consists of professionals in your field, a more technical presentation might be suitable. However, if your audience is diverse and includes newcomers, an approachable and engaging style might work better.

3. Analyze your content

Reflect on the content you intend to present. Is it data-heavy, rich in personal stories or focused on practical skills? Different presentation styles serve different content types.

For data-driven content, an informative or instructional presentation might work best. For emotional stories, a motivational presentation could be a compelling choice.

4. Consider time constraints

Evaluate the time you have at your disposal. If your presentation needs to be concise due to time limitations, opt for a presentation style that allows you to convey your key points effectively within the available timeframe. A pitch presentation, for example, often requires delivering impactful information within a short span.

5. Leverage visuals

Visual aids are powerful tools in presentations. Consider whether your content would benefit from visual representation. If your PowerPoint presentations involve step-by-step instructions or demonstrations, a how-to presentation with clear visuals would be advantageous. Conversely, if your content is more conceptual, a motivational presentation could rely more on spoken words.

6. Align with the setting

Take the presentation environment into account. Are you presenting in a formal business setting, a casual workshop or a conference? Your setting can influence the level of formality and interactivity in your presentation. For instance, a demonstration presentation might be ideal for a hands-on workshop, while a persuasive presentation is great for conferences.

7. Gauge audience interaction

Determine the level of audience engagement you want. Interactive presentations work well for training sessions, workshops and small group settings, while informative or persuasive presentations might be more one-sided.

8. Flexibility

Stay open to adjusting your presentation style on the fly. Sometimes, unexpected factors might require a change of presentation style. Be prepared to adjust on the spot if audience engagement or reactions indicate that a different approach would be more effective.

Remember that there is no one-size-fits-all approach, and the best type of presentation may vary depending on the specific situation and your unique communication goals. By carefully considering these factors, you can choose the most effective presentation type to successfully engage and communicate with your audience.

To save time, use a presentation software or check out these presentation design and presentation background guides to create a presentation that stands out.

What are some effective ways to begin and end a presentation?

Capture your audience’s attention from the start of your presentation by using a surprising statistic, a compelling story or a thought-provoking question related to your topic.

To conclude your presentation , summarize your main points, reinforce your key message and leave a lasting impression with a powerful call to action or a memorable quote that resonates with your presentation’s theme.

How can I make my presentation more engaging and interactive?

To create an engaging and interactive presentation for your audience, incorporate visual elements such as images, graphs and videos to illustrate your points visually. Share relatable anecdotes or real-life examples to create a connection with your audience.

You can also integrate interactive elements like live polls, open-ended questions or small group discussions to encourage participation and keep your audience actively engaged throughout your presentation.

Which types of presentations require special markings

Some presentation types require special markings such as how sales presentations require persuasive techniques like emphasizing benefits, addressing objections and using compelling visuals to showcase products or services.

Demonstrations and how-to presentations on the other hand require clear markings for each step, ensuring the audience can follow along seamlessly.

That aside, pitch presentations require highlighting unique selling points, market potential and the competitive edge of your idea, making it stand out to potential investors or partners.

Need some inspiration on how to make a presentation that will captivate an audience? Here are 120+ presentation ideas to help you get started.

Creating a stunning and impactful presentation with Venngage is a breeze. Whether you’re crafting a business pitch, a training presentation or any other type of presentation, follow these five steps to create a professional presentation that stands out:

Sign up and log in to Venngage to access the editor.
Choose a presentation template that matches your topic or style.
Customize content, colors, fonts, and background to personalize your presentation.
Add images, icons, and charts to enhancevisual style and clarity.
Save, export, and share your presentation as PDF or PNG files, or use Venngage’s Presentation Mode for online showcasing.

In the realm of presentations, understanding the different types of presentation formats is like having a versatile set of tools that empower you to craft compelling narratives for every occasion.

Remember, the key to a successful presentation lies not only in the content you deliver but also in the way you connect with your audience. Whether you’re informing, persuading or entertaining, tailoring your approach to the specific type of presentation you’re delivering can make all the difference.

Presentations are a powerful tool, and with practice and dedication (and a little help from Venngage), you’ll find yourself becoming a presentation pro in no time. Now, let’s get started and customize your next presentation!

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10 Types of Presentations (With The Best Tips) You Need to Know in 2024

Leah Nguyen • 05 April, 2024 • 17 min read

Benjamin Franklin has a famous quote that ‘nothing can be said to be certain except for death and taxes’. Well, there’s another thing we’d like to throw in…

Death by PowerPoint…

Presentations seem to follow us along in life. From children in school to suited salary people, we’re expected to use different types of presentations to make presentations that delight our audiences.

Executing a well-rounded presentation is by no means an easy task. There are many things to consider, but before we head to finer details, you must know what type of presentation you should deliver to your audience so that they get the message just right .

In this article, we will explore the most common types of presentations you’ll come across in your life, plus a few helpful tips to create them.

Let’s jump in 💪

Business Presentations
Product Presentation
Marketing Presentation
Data Presentation
5-minute Presentation
10-minute Presentation
Webinar Platforms
The 10 20 30 Rule
The 5/5/5 Rule
The 7×7 Rule

	6
How long should I prepare for a presentation?	1 prepare hour per 1 minute presenting
What is the 10-minute rule in the presentation?	Must change pace after at least 10 minutes

Business Presentation s – Types of Presentation

In the business world, you’ll undoubtedly need presentations for anything, from product launching and strategy planning , to company trend reports and many more.

Let’s take a glance at the different types of presentations you might encounter in the business world 👇

Check out our guide on ‘How to Nail A Presentation Like Apple’ , or tips to host a business presentation successfully.

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In different presentation styles, a product presentation is a great opportunity to show off your newly built or renovated product features to the world.

Unlike other types of business presentations, the main purpose of this presentation is either to build hype around your product with users or to outline the idea of your product to your own team and shareholders.

Tips for delivering a product presentation

Demonstrate it live . How does the audience know what you’re talking about when all you’ve given them is some vague speech about the product? For a product presentation to reach its full potential, it’s best to demonstrate the features visually so the audience can truly believe in them.
Present with passion . When it comes to types of presentations in business, this is not the time to instruct or educate your audience about something. You want to introduce a new thing that no one has heard about, penetrate a new segment/market and either get people to incorporate your product into their lives or convince stakeholders that it’s worth a punt. The best way to do that? Make as much noise as possible.
Offer a bonus at the end . Give the audience something to walk away with for a powerful ending; this can be an incentive for ordering the new product early or a bit of fun trivia to excite the crowd.

Hosting a product presentation can be big pressure. Our all-rounded guide with real-life examples can help.

Marketing Presentation – Types of Presentation

No matter how solid your product or service is, you’ll have to come up with a proper plan to make it known and sell it to your intended audience.

This is where marketing presentations come into play. They introduce how, when and where you plan to sell your product to the board of directors or other shareholders. They will decide if those strategies are good to go.

Tips for delivering a marketing presentation

Match your theme with the audience . There’s nothing wrong with being business-boring, but if your company is selling toys for children, your audience won’t understand the fun, bubbly spirit you’re trying to convey. Try to centre the slide designs and the attitude around the target audience.
Show real-life data . No matter what styles of presentation you choose, back up your bold statements with facts. Don’t rely on a hunch or people will doubt what you’re claiming.

You’re just one step away from creating an awesome marketing presentation. Nail the talk by checking our guide .

Methods of Data Presentation – Types of Presentation

In a world where every business relies on data analysis to make a difference, turning hard digits into meaningful and understandable insights is the role of a data presentation .

Make informed decisions, see the gap, and take the risky leap; all are possible if you have the ability to make sense of your data through various visualisation methods like bar charts, line graphs, histograms, and such.

Tips for delivering a data presentation

Communicate the numbers clearly . You’ll have to stop assuming that everyone, including your boss, knows what you’re talking about. More often than not, they don’t, and it’s not their job to dig below the surface. Explain to them what the numbers mean and why this is important before presenting any data; the audience will surely appreciate that.
Avoid presenting too many different things on one slide . We’ve seen people tackling four to five different types of charts on a single slide and it’s not nice. It’s overwhelming to process all of the data across all the different formats, so next time, go through one thing at a time to give the audience a chance to understand and remember it.

We’ve got these 10 methods of data presentation to make your numbers as clear as day. Examples and great tips included!

Timed Presentation – Types of Presentation

Do you know that the most impactful presentations in the world never exceed 20 minutes?

Real-life cases have proven that a lengthy one-hour talk is not as effective or memorable as a shorter one. That’s why more presenters are shifting to timed presentations where they are compelled to deliver concise content within a specific time block.

The most common time presentations that you often meet in business or education settings are 5-minute presentations and 10-minute presentations . They are short, and will push you to make the most out of them.

5-minute Presentation – Types of Presentation

this is a feature image for the article describing how to make a 5 minute presentation

A 5-minute presentation is made for busy people who don’t want to waste half an hour listening to someone ramble. However, this type of presentation is one of the most difficult forms of presentation to master, because being concise but also informative is harder than you think.

Tips for delivering a 5-minute presentation

Plan the timing . There’s not much room for procrastination when you’ve only got 5 minutes, so divide what you’re going to say into different time blocks. For example, make an introduction no longer than 1 minute, then dedicate the most time to explaining the main points.
Remember that less is more . As you have such a short timeframe, don’t cram too much information like you’re stuffing a turkey; be selective with the content you choose…Try the 5-5-5 rule if you have trouble turning your back from a maximalist lifestyle.
Practice flowing . If you’re stuttering or giving out spaces of prolonged silence, you’re already losing so much precious time. Set the timer, practice speaking at a normal speed and see if there are any parts in which you should speed up, consider cutting or say in another way.

Check out our comprehensive guide on how to hold a 5-minute presentation , including free topics to get you started.

10-minute Presentation – Types of Presentation

A woman presenting in front of a clock on an orange background

When you want to introduce a new topic, perspective, or study to your audience, a 10-minute presentation is enough to bring all the new, exciting information to the table without exhausting them.

Even though they are longer than 5-minute presentations, one can still fumble at fitting the material during the 10 minutes. However, you can get over the fear of going overtime with our tips:

Tips for delivering a 10-minute presentation

Know your structure . Typically a 10-minute presentation format includes an introduction (1 slide) – a body (3 slides) and a conclusion (1 slide). Your presentation should contain no more than three ideas as that’s the optimal number for the audience to remember.
Start with a bang . In the first few seconds the audience can already decide if your presentation is worth listening to, so use any means necessary to grab their attention. It can be a provocative statement, a “what if” scenario, or a hard-hitting question that you plan to address during the talk.
Get interactive . A 10-minute presentation exceeds the average attention span of humans, which is 7 minutes . Counter that by adding interactive activities that actively engage the audience in the talk like a fun poll, word cloud , or live Q&A session.

You can’t turn your presentation into gold without a proper topic. Check out our 50 unique topics for a 10-minute presentation .

Webinar Platforms – Types of Presentation

A webinar is an online event hosted by an individual or an organisation. The keynote speaker will give a presentation and interact with the audience entirely online.

With the shift to remote working, training and learning, webinar platforms have become a popular choice for many organisations due to their convenience. You can join virtually anytime, anywhere in just a few clicks.

No need for costly set-up, all you need is a video conferencing platform plus the type of presentation software that ensures you get all the interaction you need.

Tips for delivering a webinar presentation

Test out the equipment beforehand . “ Wait, I don’t know why it’s like this”; “Please wait a few minutes since we’re having minor issues” – these are phrases that turn the audience off immediately after they join. Recheck everything and have a backup plan whenever a technical issue arises.
Define a plan to create engagement . The biggest problem with having a webinar is the audience won’t be able to engage as much as they can in a physical space. Try having an ice-breaker game as the base, with quizzes , word clouds, or open-ended questions as the icing on the cake, and wrap up with a sentiment poll or a Q&A as the cherry on top for a robust and dynamic webinar.

Check out 10 best practices for a webinar presentation that’s sure to keep people coming back for more.

The Golden Rules of Presentation – Types of Presentation

Are we implying that a successful presentation has a holy grail formula to follow? – Yes, we are!

If you are still learning the ropes of storytelling and presentation design, and have always fantasised about delivering an impeccable presentation, then these simple, easy-to-follow rules should keep you nicely on track.

The 10 20 30 rule – Types of Presentation

A girl standing in front of a bar chart with images to represent the 10 20 30 rule in action

This may sound like a collection of gibberish numbers, but honestly, they make total sense.

The 10 20 30 rule states that your presentation should…

Contain a maximum of 10 slides
Be a maximum length of 20 minutes
Have a minimum font size of 30 points

With the 10-20-30 rule, you can say goodbye to hour-long presentations that have everyone mentally checked out.

Tips for delivering a 10 20 30 rule presentation

Follow the guide wholeheartedly . Don’t just sneakily sneak a couple more slides into the 10 presentation slides you have already; the science says that people can’t process more than 10 concepts in a presentation. Go over that and the chances of you losing the crowd drastically increases.
Mind the idea . No presentation rule in reality is going to save you if your idea is terrible. Focus on researching what piques the audience’s interest, reach out to them beforehand if necessary and let them know how you can address their big questions.

Here’s the full guide: The 10 20 30 Rule: What it is and 3 Reasons to Use it .

The 5/5/5 rule – Types of Presentation

the 5/5/5 rule, one of many different types of presentation

A 5/5/5 rule is one of the types of presentation that:

Contains no more than 5 words per line of text
Has 5 lines of text per slide
Has no more than 5 text-heavy slides in a row

The 5/5/5 rule is incredibly effective for people who are struggling with measuring how much text is enough. You can focus on your main points with ease and end up with more professional-looking presentations (aka make use of negative space and emphasise what really matters).

Tips for delivering a 5/5/5 rule presentation

Use data and images to tell the story . With just a chart or line graph you can draw out so many key points and takeaways from it. Replace texts with visuals if possible since it’s a more powerful way to communicate.
Make use of headings, short phrases, and common abbreviations . For example, instead of writing The website’s overall click-through rate increased by 10% compared to last year , you can rephrase it to The website’s CTR ↑10% YOY (CTR: click-through rate, YOY: year-over-year, which are common abbreviations in business). You can elaborate more on the numbers in the talk, so don’t throw everything on the slide.

Here’s the full guide: The 5/5/5 Rule: How and Why to Use It (With Examples) .

The 7×7 rule – Types of Presentation

The 7×7 rule is a presentation design guideline that suggests no more than 7 lines of text per slide. This can include bullet points or short phrases and no more than 7 words per line.

Why the 7×7 Rule?

Focus: It forces you to present the most essential information, making your slides less overwhelming for the audience.
Clarity: Concise text improves readability and helps your audience quickly grasp your key points.
Memory: People can better process and remember short bursts of information.
Visual appeal: Slides with less text create more space, making them cleaner and more visually engaging.

Tips for delivering a 7×7 rule presentation

Focus on the big picture: Since you’ll be limited with text, prioritise communicating the core concepts of your presentation. Use your spoken words to expand on the key points on your slides.
Needing more tips? Here’s a more detailed guide for the 7×7 rule presentation .

The Takeaway

Presentations come in all shapes and sizes, and the key to creating an outstanding experience for your audience is matching them with the right type of presentation. Once you’ve got it right, you’ve established yourself on a solid platform that can launch your successful speech🚀

The best type of presentation engages the audience and makes it memorable. Try AhaSlides today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are presentation styles important.

Presentation style is important because it helps with communication effectiveness, enhances audience engagement, shows professionalism and credibility

What is the most important in a presentation?

A presentation should deliver a message with clarity to the audience. They should know what it is about, and the actions to take after the presentation.

What are the 4 key elements of a powerful presentation?

The 4 keys of a powerful presentation are content, structure, delivery and visual aids.

Leah Nguyen

Words that convert, stories that stick. I turn complex ideas into engaging narratives - helping audiences learn, remember, and take action.

Tips to Engage with Polls & Trivia

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If you’ve ever been tasked with creating a presentation for your business or a client, you know how time-consuming it can be. Sitting in front of a blank page, combing through endless templates, or spending hours on a presentation likely isn’t high on your list of priorities. Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) , there’s a better way to create presentations. In this post, we’ll delve into the best AI presentation tools so you can spend more time on other tasks.

Let’s dive in.

1 What is an AI Presentation Tool?
2 What to Look for in an AI Presentation Maker
3.1 1. Simplified
3.2 2. Slides AI
3.3 3. PowerPoint
3.4 4. Gamma
3.5 5. Beautiful AI
3.6 6. Tome
4.1 Top 3 Best AI Presentation Tool Feature Comparison
4.2 Best AI Presentation Tool Price Comparison
5 What is the Best AI Presentation Tool?
6 Frequency Asked Questions

What is an AI Presentation Tool?

Image created with Divi AI

An AI presentation tool is a system that uses machine learning generative AI that allows you to create presentations in minutes rather than hours. These revolutionary tools will enable you to craft your presentation from script to finished product, all with a descriptive text prompt.

What to Look for in an AI Presentation Maker

As we explore the top AI presentation makers available, it’s best to look for features that will make your life easier, not harder. Here are a few things that your chosen tool should offer:

Ease-of-use: If you want to incorporate an AI presentation tool into your workflow, you’ll want to find something easy to use. After all, you seek a less time-consuming way to create presentations. You shouldn’t have to spend hours learning a new interface.
Integration with popular software: Those in the business world know that there are three primary presentation tools that almost everyone uses: Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe Keynote, and Google Slides. When shopping for AI presentation tools, look for products that can easily export your creations for those popular programs.
Customization options: Another essential factor to consider is how easily you can customize your presentation. Look for programs that won’t force you to stick with cookie-cutter AI-generated templates. Make sure you can make design and text edits as you need them.
Tutorials: Learning new software can be intimidating, so choose a platform with plenty of tutorials and support should you encounter any problems.

6 Best AI Presentation Tools in 2024

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We evaluated over a dozen AI presentation tools. While some decent ones didn’t make our list, we wanted to focus on tools that are easy to use, work with popular programs like PowerPoint or Google Slides, and offer the most features. Without further ado, here are our top picks for the best AI presentation tools money can buy. Most offer free versions or a free trial, so feel free to try all of them out to find the best fit for your situation.

The AI Presentation Tools Listed In Order

Beautiful AI

1. Simplified

🥇 best ai presentation tool overall.

Simplified is one of the most robust AI tools on the market today. Generative artificial intelligence can create presentations, images, memes, thumbnails, social media quotes, and more. What makes it unique is its wealth of AI features that appeal to creatives and content creators across different mediums, including digital art, writing, videos, and online advertising through social media.

Edit Images With AI

Another cool feature of Simplified is the image editing feature. You can remove or replace the background, erase elements, magically remove artifacts or other imperfections, autofocus, or use generative fill to add additional details to your photos. The generative fill feature works much like Photoshop AI , where you can select an area of a photograph and fill it with a new element you describe with a text prompt.

What We Like About Simplified

Multimedia: Generate presentations and other forms of media
Editing: Edit images and text with AI
Branding: Create logos and design elements with AI
Simple to Use: One-click editing tools for image editing

What Could Be Improved

Translations: The AI sometimes struggles with translating other languages
No Interactive Features: Unlike other AI presentation tools, Simplified doesn’t offer any interactive tools

🥇 Why We Picked It

We chose Simplified due to the sheer number of AI tools available with the platform. In addition to making AI presentations, users can use an AI image generator, AI writer, video editor, memes, and more. The interface is easy to understand, the price is affordable, and you can accomplish everything you need in one place as a content creator.

Who Is Simplified Best For?

Simplified may be for you if you’re in the market for an all-in-one design tool. With AI tools for generating presentations and all their elements, you can design like the pros for a very affordable price.

Community Reviews And Ratings

Simplified is praised for its user-friendly interface, integrations, and free plan. However, some say it lacks advanced writing tools compared to other platforms.

Simplified offers a limited free plan with pro plans starting at $15 monthly .

➡️ Read Our Complete Simplified Review .

Try Simplified

2. Slides AI

🥈 best ai presentation tool for google.

Slides AI is an extension for Chrome designed to work inside Google Slides. Provide it with a topic, including any requested elements, and Slides AI will create up to a 10-page presentation in minutes. There are limited features, but it adds slides, generates text, and sets formatting based on your prompt. In addition to generating slides, Slides AI has a Magic Write feature, which allows you to paraphrase sentences, suggests images for your presentations, and helps you search for citations for your work.

Slides AI Works as an Extension

Slides AI has a simple interface, allowing you to focus more on creating content than learning new software. Since it works as an extension within Google Slides, you simply have to click a button and type in some text, and Slides AI will do the rest.

What We Like About Slides AI

Magic Write: Generate text through the power of AI
Generate Slides: Create new slides based on original content
Topic-Based: Create slides from a topic
Software Limitations: There aren’t a lot of creative tools with Slides AI so presentations may look generic

🥈Why We Picked It

For those using Google Slides or PowerPoint, Slides AI is an excellent choice. It allows you to streamline slide creation through a simple interface, AI writing, and AI-generated themes. The plans are affordable so that budget-conscious people will get a lot of bang for their buck.

Who Is Slides AI Best For?

If you are a regular Google Slides user, Slides AI is a no-brainer. You can save time creating your slides and give them a fresh look in seconds. The downside to Slides AI is that there is no text generator. That said, plenty of AI writers , such as Rytr or Jasper , can help.

Those who like Slides AI call it a “game changer” for creating presentations. However, the AI-slide generation is a bit vanilla.

➡️ Read Our Complete Slides AI Review .

Slides AI is available for free , with pro plans starting at $10 per month .

Try Slides AI

3. PowerPoint

🥉 best ai presentation tool for business professionals.

Microsoft is the founding father of business software, including the widely popular PowerPoint . Sure, there are other products out there that are geared toward businesses, but PowerPoint is the gold standard for making presentations. Did you know that it comes with AI features built right in? Companies that already use Microsoft products will be pleased to know that you can generate incredible designs for your presentations through integration with Copilot.

Practice Delivering Your Presentations

One of the best features of PowerPoint is the Rehearse with Coach AI tool. It records your voice and image on video to evaluate your performance. It allows you to read through your presentation and then get a professional critique of how you did. You’ll get a rehearsal report that analyzes your body language, notes how many filler words you used, and analyzes your pace and pitch.

What We Like About Microsoft 365

AI Designer: AI-powered design suggestions for generating slides
Automatic Slide Generation: Uses AI to add additional slides based on the original design
Rehearsal Reports: Generate rehearsal reports to get feedback on presentation delivery
Lack of Interactivity: PowerPoint only allows for text, images, and graphics but nothing else

🥉 Why We Picked It

Microsoft is the go-to for professional business software. Between its highly collaborative nature, design flexibility, and overall visual impact, PowerPoint has been a top contender for years. Now, with artificial intelligence on board, presenters can easily design slides faster, practice their delivery, and get feedback on how well they perform during rehearsal.

Who Is Microsoft 365 Best For?

If you make presentations for a living or your company requires PowerPoint, check out their AI tools. The Rehearsal Report feature is well worth the cost, especially if you are the one who has to give the presentation you create. Microsoft will even give you a 30-day risk-free trial to try it out. The downside is that you can’t edit the images it generates, but you can get around that by adding an AI art generator to your arsenal of tools.

Fans of PowerPoint note its ease of use, flexibility, and stability. On the other hand, consumers wish there were more interactive features.

Microsoft offers a 30-day free trial with prices starting at $6.99 per month per person.

Try Microsoft 365

Gamma is one of the most intuitive platforms on our list. It uses generative AI to build your presentation from a text prompt, complete with visual aids, such as charts, graphs, images, and other visual elements – automatically. One of our favorite features is the interface. Once Gamma creates your presentation, you can easily add more elements. It functions much like a page builder or Gutenberg for WordPress , where you can drag and drop visual elements into your pages and then tweak them accordingly.

Gamma creates presentations on the fly simply by typing in a text prompt. One of our favorite features is watching in real-time as Gamma makes your presentation. Once completed, you can use generative AI to edit, improve, or change any presentation aspect to match your branding and style. Another unique feature is Gamma’s analytics feature, which allows you to see who’s viewed your presentation and track engagement down to the element level.

What We Like About Gamma

Analytics Tracking:
Web Sharing: Share over the web and solicit feedback through comments
Simple Interface: Drag-and-drop visual editor
Export Options: Export to PowerPoint or PDF
It’s Internet Dependent: Gamma is web-based, so you must have an internet connection to use it. While this may not be a con for most, it eliminates the possibility of working on presentations while offline

Who Is Gamma Best For?

Gamma’s intuitive interface and quick start wizard make getting started a breeze. Plus, with their AI-powered text editing feature, you can tweak the content as much as you’d like. They offer access to millions of royalty-free stock images and an AI-powered image generator that suggests a relevant prompt based on your content.

Gamma offers a free plan and two paid plans starting at $10 monthly .

5. Beautiful AI

Another popular choice is Beautiful AI , a feature-packed AI presentation tool that allows you to create stunning presentations with one click. They offer several AI-powered design elements you can edit to match your branding. Plus, it’ll even line these up automatically, so you don’t have to spend time on tedious tasks. Suppose you’d rather start from a previously created presentation. In that case, you can easily import a PowerPoint file and then use AI to improve it.

One of the best features of Beautiful AI is the millions of royalty-free stock images at your disposal. Sure, you can create your own AI images, but if you’re familiar with AI Art generators , you know that sometimes the photos they produce don’t look very natural . It’s nice they thought to include this feature because it saves you the time and cost of signing up for a stock photography service.

What We Like About Beautiful AI

1-Click Presentations: Create AI-generated presentations with one click
AI Design: AI-powered design elements
AI Text Generator: Rewrite and improve text with AI
Lots of Templates: 110+ pre-designed templates
PowerPoint Support: Integrates with PowerPoint (import/export)
Exporting: When exporting to PowerPoint or as a PDF, graphics are not editable

Who Is Beautiful AI Best For?

If you’re tasked with creating presentations for your company or corporate freelance clients and must use PowerPoint, Beautiful AI is an excellent choice. While they don’t have a free plan, they offer a 14-day free trial, so you’ll have plenty of time to play with it and decide if it’s right for you.

Beautiful AI users love how easy it is to create presentations but say there are text editing limits and presentations don’t look great on mobile devices.

Beautiful AI offers two plans, Pro and Team, with prices starting at $12 per month (billed annually).

Get Beautiful AI

Tome is one of the most popular AI presentation tools on the market. Since its release in late 2022, it has raced to become one of the fastest-growing platforms in record time, with over 1 million users. It allows you to create live, interactive presentations, mood boards, design portfolios, pitch decks, webpages, and more. Tome offers over 25 templates for a good starting point and a great time-saving feature. Its intuitive generative AI allows you to create scripts, text, images, charts, and more.

If you already have an outline in mind, you can easily paste it into Tome, allowing it to convert your thoughts into structured presentations in a single click. Does your business require a multi-lingual solution? Tome has you covered with support languages other than English, so you can translate your text to share your presentations with anyone, anywhere.

Tome is web-based and provides a sharable link for your creations. Not only that, it integrates with popular platforms, such as Figma, Spline, YouTube, Twitter, Google Sheets, and other popular AI website builders like Framer . With these integrations, you can import videos, layouts, text, and even full web pages.

What We Like About Tome

Interactive: Creates live, interactive presentations
Cross-Device Support: Responsive layouts for any screen size
Multiple AI Tools: Generates text, images, graphs, 3D models, and more
Multi-Language Support:
Limited Language Support: As of now, Tome’s AI actions only offer support for English. It would be nice to see them add more languages

Who Is Tome Best For?

Tome is an excellent platform for creating web-based presentations, landing pages, interactive pitch decks, and more. It does a pretty good job of text and image generation, but its integrations are the best features. Try Tome if you want an easy way to incorporate Figma layouts or YouTube videos into your presentations.

Tome offers a free trial with prices starting at $20 per month .

Comparing the Best AI Presentation Tools

Before deciding on which AI presentation tool to choose, take the time to compare prices and the features of every tool on our list. As previously mentioned, our featured tools include a free trial or a free version to assist you in making gorgeous presentations.

	🥇 Simplified	🥈 Slides AI	🥉 PowerPoint
AI Image Generation	✔️	✔️	✔️
AI Image Editing	✔️	✔️	❌
AI Text Generation	✔️	✔️	✔️
AI Text Editing	✔️	✔️	✔️
One-Click Presentation	✔️	✔️	✔️
Free Plan	✔️	✔️	❌(free trial)
Price	$15/month	$10/month	$6.99/month

Best AI Presentation Tool Price Comparison

We’ve created this hand comparison table to help you decipher pricing for each of our recommended AI presentation tools.

	Price	Free Option	User Reviews (avg)
🥇	$15/month	✔️	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.65/5)
🥈	$10/month	✔️	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.5/5)
🥉	$6.99/month	❌ (free trial)	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.65/5)
	$10/month	✔️	N/A
	$12/month (billed annually)	❌	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.65/5)
	$20/month	✔️	N/A

What is the Best AI Presentation Tool?

After thoroughly testing over a dozen AI presentation tools, we feel that Simplified and Slides AI offer the best features. Simplified stands out for its intuitive interface, logo, and other design element generation. It also gets the nod for its one-click editing tools. On the other hand, Slides AI is a close second due to its wealth of AI tools. You can create presentations, write content, and create on-topic slides effortlessly. Either way, if you’re in the market for a good AI assistive tool to speed up creating presentations, you can’t go wrong with either.

Frequency Asked Questions

What is an ai presentation tool, how do ai presentation tools work, how is ai used in microsoft products for presentations, how can ai presentation tools streamline the workflow, what should users consider when choosing an ai presentation tool.

Need more AI tools? Check out these articles featuring the best AI tools to use for your business:

16 Best AI Assistants to Make You More Productive
11 Best AI Marketing Tools to Boost Your Business
10 Best AI Audio Tools (For Podcasts, Music & More)
9 Best AI Design Tools (Reviewed & Compared)

Featured Image via Nattasid Thapsang / shutterstock.com

Explore Our Top Picks

Here are our favorites! 👇

Get Simplified Today!

With so many great options available, it can be hard to pick one. find out why simplified is our favorite. 👇.

By Deanna McLean

Deanna McLean is a blog author, and web developer. She studied graphic design at the University of Mississippi and loves all things, Hotty Toddy. (If you know, you know.) As an adventurous creative, there is nothing Deanna loves more than taking her son and two dogs on excursions in her Jeep.

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Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot – your copilot for work

Mar 16, 2023 | Jared Spataro - CVP, AI at Work

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Humans are hard-wired to dream, to create, to innovate. Each of us seeks to do work that gives us purpose — to write a great novel, to make a discovery, to build strong communities, to care for the sick. The urge to connect to the core of our work lives in all of us. But today, we spend too much time consumed by the drudgery of work on tasks that zap our time, creativity and energy. To reconnect to the soul of our work, we don’t just need a better way of doing the same things. We need a whole new way to work.

Today, we are bringing the power of next-generation AI to work. Introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot — your copilot for work . It combines the power of large language models (LLMs) with your data in the Microsoft Graph and the Microsoft 365 apps to turn your words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet.

“Today marks the next major step in the evolution of how we interact with computing, which will fundamentally change the way we work and unlock a new wave of productivity growth,” said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “With our new copilot for work, we’re giving people more agency and making technology more accessible through the most universal interface — natural language.”

Copilot is integrated into Microsoft 365 in two ways. It works alongside you, embedded in the Microsoft 365 apps you use every day — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and more — to unleash creativity, unlock productivity and uplevel skills. Today we’re also announcing an entirely new experience: Business Chat . Business Chat works across the LLM, the Microsoft 365 apps, and your data — your calendar, emails, chats, documents, meetings and contacts — to do things you’ve never been able to do before. You can give it natural language prompts like “Tell my team how we updated the product strategy,” and it will generate a status update based on the morning’s meetings, emails and chat threads.

With Copilot, you’re always in control. You decide what to keep, modify or discard. Now, you can be more creative in Word, more analytical in Excel, more expressive in PowerPoint, more productive in Outlook and more collaborative in Teams.

Microsoft 365 Copilot transforms work in three ways:

Unleash creativity. With Copilot in Word, you can jump-start the creative process so you never start with a blank slate again. Copilot gives you a first draft to edit and iterate on — saving hours in writing, sourcing, and editing time. Sometimes Copilot will be right, other times usefully wrong — but it will always put you further ahead. You’re always in control as the author, driving your unique ideas forward, prompting Copilot to shorten, rewrite or give feedback. Copilot in PowerPoint helps you create beautiful presentations with a simple prompt, adding relevant content from a document you made last week or last year. And with Copilot in Excel, you can analyze trends and create professional-looking data visualizations in seconds.

Unlock productivity. We all want to focus on the 20% of our work that really matters, but 80% of our time is consumed with busywork that bogs us down. Copilot lightens the load. From summarizing long email threads to quickly drafting suggested replies, Copilot in Outlook helps you clear your inbox in minutes, not hours. And every meeting is a productive meeting with Copilot in Teams. It can summarize key discussion points — including who said what and where people are aligned and where they disagree — and suggest action items, all in real time during a meeting. And with Copilot in Power Platform, anyone can automate repetitive tasks, create chatbots and go from idea to working app in minutes.

GitHub data shows that Copilot promises to unlock productivity for everyone. Among developers who use GitHub Copilot, 88% say they are more productive, 74% say that they can focus on more satisfying work, and 77% say it helps them spend less time searching for information or examples.

But Copilot doesn’t just supercharge individual productivity. It creates a new knowledge model for every organization — harnessing the massive reservoir of data and insights that lies largely inaccessible and untapped today. Business Chat works across all your business data and apps to surface the information and insights you need from a sea of data — so knowledge flows freely across the organization, saving you valuable time searching for answers. You will be able to access Business Chat from Microsoft 365.com, from Bing when you’re signed in with your work account, or from Teams.

Uplevel skills. Copilot makes you better at what you’re good at and lets you quickly master what you’ve yet to learn. The average person uses only a handful of commands — such as “animate a slide” or “insert a table” — from the thousands available across Microsoft 365. Now, all that rich functionality is unlocked using just natural language. And this is only the beginning.

Copilot will fundamentally change how people work with AI and how AI works with people. As with any new pattern of work, there’s a learning curve — but those who embrace this new way of working will quickly gain an edge.

The Copilot System: Enterprise-ready AI

Microsoft is uniquely positioned to deliver enterprise-ready AI with the Copilot System . Copilot is more than OpenAI’s ChatGPT embedded into Microsoft 365. It’s a sophisticated processing and orchestration engine working behind the scenes to combine the power of LLMs, including GPT-4, with the Microsoft 365 apps and your business data in the Microsoft Graph — now accessible to everyone through natural language.

Grounded in your business data. AI-powered LLMs are trained on a large but limited corpus of data. The key to unlocking productivity in business lies in connecting LLMs to your business data — in a secure, compliant, privacy-preserving way. Microsoft 365 Copilot has real-time access to both your content and context in the Microsoft Graph. This means it generates answers anchored in your business content — your documents, emails, calendar, chats, meetings, contacts and other business data — and combines them with your working context — the meeting you’re in now, the email exchanges you’ve had on a topic, the chat conversations you had last week — to deliver accurate, relevant, contextual responses.

Built on Microsoft’s comprehensive approach to security, compliance and privacy. Copilot is integrated into Microsoft 365 and automatically inherits all your company’s valuable security, compliance, and privacy policies and processes. Two-factor authentication, compliance boundaries, privacy protections, and more make Copilot the AI solution you can trust.

Architected to protect tenant, group and individual data. We know data leakage is a concern for customers. Copilot LLMs are not trained on your tenant data or your prompts. Within your tenant, our time-tested permissioning model ensures that data won’t leak across user groups. And on an individual level, Copilot presents only data you can access using the same technology that we’ve been using for years to secure customer data.

Integrated into the apps millions use every day. Microsoft 365 Copilot is integrated in the productivity apps millions of people use and rely on every day for work and life — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and more. An intuitive and consistent user experience ensures it looks, feels and behaves the same way in Teams as it does in Outlook, with a shared design language for prompts, refinements and commands.

Designed to learn new skills. Microsoft 365 Copilot’s foundational skills are a game changer for productivity: It can already create, summarize, analyze, collaborate and automate using your specific business content and context. But it doesn’t stop there. Copilot knows how to command apps (e.g., “animate this slide”) and work across apps, translating a Word document into a PowerPoint presentation. And Copilot is designed to learn new skills. For example, with Viva Sales, Copilot can learn how to connect to CRM systems of record to pull customer data — like interaction and order histories — into communications. As Copilot learns about new domains and processes, it will be able to perform even more sophisticated tasks and queries.

Committed to building responsibly

At Microsoft, we are guided by our AI principles and Responsible AI Standard and decades of research on AI, grounding and privacy-preserving machine learning. A multidisciplinary team of researchers, engineers and policy experts reviews our AI systems for potential harms and mitigations — refining training data, filtering to limit harmful content, query- and result-blocking sensitive topics, and applying Microsoft technologies like InterpretML and Fairlearn to help detect and correct data bias. We make it clear how the system makes decisions by noting limitations, linking to sources, and prompting users to review, fact-check and adjust content based on subject-matter expertise.

Moving boldly as we learn

In the months ahead, we’re bringing Copilot to all our productivity apps—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, Viva, Power Platform, and more. We’ll share more on pricing and licensing soon. Earlier this month we announced Dynamics 365 Copilot as the world’s first AI Copilot in both CRM and ERP to bring the next-generation AI to every line of business.

Everyone deserves to find purpose and meaning in their work — and Microsoft 365 Copilot can help. To serve the unmet needs of our customers, we must move quickly and responsibly, learning as we go. We’re testing Copilot with a small group of customers to get feedback and improve our models as we scale, and we will expand to more soon.

Learn more on the Microsoft 365 blog and visit WorkLab to get expert insights on how AI will create a brighter future of work for everyone.

And for all the blogs, videos and assets related to today’s announcements, please visit our microsite .

Tags: AI , Microsoft 365 , Microsoft 365 Copilot

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Illustration showing how hardware resources are partitioned or divided using virtualization

Virtualization is a process that allows for more efficient use of physical computer hardware and is the foundation of cloud computing.

Virtualization uses software to create an abstraction layer over computer hardware, enabling the division of a single computer's hardware components—such as processors, memory and storage—into multiple virtual machines (VMs). Each VM runs its own operating system (OS) and behaves like an independent computer, even though it is running on just a portion of the actual underlying computer hardware.

It follows that virtualization enables more efficient use of physical computer hardware and allows a greater return on an organization’s hardware investment.

Today, virtualization is a standard practice in enterprise IT architecture. It is also the technology that drives cloud computing economics. Virtualization enables cloud providers to serve users with their existing physical computer hardware. It enables cloud users to purchase only the computing resources they need when they need it, and to scale those resources cost-effectively as their workloads grow.

Read how desktop as a service (DaaS) enables enterprises to achieve the same level of performance and security as deploying the applications on premises.

Virtualization brings several benefits to data center operators and service providers:

Resource efficiency

Before virtualization, IT staff would allocate a dedicated physical CPU to each application server, buying and setting up a separate server for every application. This approach, favoring one application and one operating system per computer, was adopted for its reliability. Invariably, each physical server would be underused. In contrast, server virtualization enables you to run several applications—each on its own VM with its own OS—on a single physical computer (typically an x86 server) without sacrificing reliability. This enables maximum use of the physical hardware’s computing capacity.

Easier management

Replacing physical computers with software-defined VMs makes it easier to use and manage policies written in software. This allows you to create automated IT service management workflows. For example, automated deployment and configuration tools enable administrators to define collections of virtual machines and applications as services, in software templates. This means that they can install those services repeatedly and consistently without cumbersome, time-consuming and error-prone manual setup. Admins can use virtualization security policies to mandate certain security configurations based on the role of the virtual machine. Policies can even increase resource efficiency by retiring unused virtual machines to save on space and computing power.

Minimal downtime

OS and application crashes can cause downtime and disrupt user productivity. Admins can run multiple redundant virtual machines alongside each other and failover between them when problems arise. Running multiple redundant physical servers is more expensive.

Faster provisioning

Buying, installing and configuring hardware for each application is time-consuming. If the hardware is already in place, provisioning virtual machines to run all your applications is significantly faster. You can even automate it using management software and build it into existing workflows.

For a more in-depth look at the potential benefits, see " 5 Benefits of Virtualization ."

Several companies offer virtualization solutions covering specific data center tasks or end user-focused, desktop virtualization scenarios. Better-known examples include VMware, which specializes in server, desktop, network and storage virtualization; Citrix, which has a niche in application virtualization but also offers server virtualization and virtual desktop solutions; and Microsoft, whose Hyper-V virtualization solution ships with Windows and focuses on virtual versions of server and desktop computers.

Virtual machines are virtual environments that simulate a physical computer in software form. They normally comprise several files containing the VM’s configuration, the storage for the virtual hard drive, and some snapshots of the VM that preserve its state at a particular point in time.

A hypervisor is the software layer that coordinates VMs. It serves as an interface between the VM and the underlying physical hardware, ensuring that each has access to the physical resources it needs to execute. It also ensures that the VMs don’t interfere with each other by impinging on each other’s memory space or compute cycles.

There are two types of hypervisors:

Type 1 hypervisors

Type 1 or “bare-metal” hypervisors interact with the underlying physical resources, replacing the traditional operating system altogether. They most commonly appear in virtual server scenarios.

Type 2 hypervisors

Type 2 hypervisors run as an application on an existing OS. Most commonly used on endpoint devices to run alternative operating systems, they carry a performance overhead because they must use the host OS to access and coordinate the underlying hardware resources.

To this point we’ve discussed server virtualization, but many other IT infrastructure elements can be virtualized to deliver significant advantages to IT managers in particular and the enterprise as a whole. In this section, we cover the following types of virtualization:

Desktop virtualization

Network virtualization, storage virtualization, data virtualization, application virtualization, data center virtualization, cpu virtualization, gpu virtualization, linux virtualization, cloud virtualization.

Desktop virtualization lets you run multiple desktop operating systems, each in its own VM on the same computer.

There are two types of desktop virtualization:

Virtual desktop infrastructure

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) runs multiple desktops in VMs on a central server and streams them to users who log in on thin client devices. In this way, VDI lets an organization provide its users access to a variety of OSs from any device, without installing them on any device.

Local desktop virtualization

Local desktop virtualization runs a hypervisor on a local computer, enabling the user to run one or more additional OSs on that computer and switch from one OS to another as needed without changing anything about the primary OS.

For more information on virtual desktops, see “ Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) .”

Network virtualization uses software to create a “view” of the network that an administrator can use to manage the network from a single console. It abstracts hardware elements and functions (for example connections, switches and routers) and abstracts them into software running on a hypervisor. The network administrator can modify and control these elements without touching the underlying physical components, which dramatically simplifies network management.

Types of network virtualization include software-defined networking, which virtualizes hardware that controls network traffic routing, called the control plane. Another type is network function virtualization, which virtualizes one or more hardware appliances that provide a specific network function (for example a firewall, load balancer or traffic analyzer), making those appliances easier to configure, provision and manage.

Storage virtualization enables all the storage devices on the network —whether they’re installed on individual servers or stand-alone storage units—to be accessed and managed as a single storage device. Specifically, storage virtualization masses all blocks of storage into a single shared pool from which they can be assigned to any VM on the network as needed. Storage virtualization makes it easier to provision storage for VMs and makes maximum use of all available storage on the network.

For a closer look at storage virtualization, check out " What is Cloud Storage? "

Modern enterprises store data from multiple applications, by using multiple file formats, in multiple locations, ranging from the cloud to on-premise hardware and software systems. Data virtualization lets any application access all of that data—irrespective of source, format or location.

Data virtualization tools create a software layer between the applications accessing the data and the systems storing it. The layer translates an application’s data request or query as needed and returns results that can span multiple systems. Data virtualization can help break down data silos when other types of integration aren’t feasible, desirable or affordable.

Application virtualization runs application software without installing it directly on the user’s OS. This differs from complete desktop virtualization because only the application runs in a virtual environment—the OS on the end user’s device runs as usual. There are three types of application virtualization:

Local application virtualization: The entire application runs on the endpoint device but runs in a runtime environment instead of on the native hardware.
Application streaming: The application lives on a server which sends small components of the software to run on the end user's device when needed.
Server-based application virtualization The application runs entirely on a server that sends only its user interface to the client device.

Data center virtualization abstracts most of a data center’s hardware into software, effectively enabling an administrator to divide a single physical data center into multiple virtual data centers for different clients.

Each client can access its own infrastructure as a service (IaaS), which would run on the same underlying physical hardware. Virtual data centers offer an easy on-ramp into cloud-based computing, letting a company quickly set up a complete data center environment without purchasing infrastructure hardware.

Central processing unit (CPU) virtualization is the fundamental technology that makes hypervisors, virtual machines, and operating systems possible. It allows a single CPU to be divided into multiple virtual CPUs for use by multiple VMs.

At first, CPU virtualization was entirely software-defined, but many of today’s processors include extended instruction sets that support CPU virtualization, which improves VM performance.

A graphical processing unit (GPU) is a special multi-core processor that improves overall computing performance by taking over heavy-duty graphic or mathematical processing. GPU virtualization lets multiple VMs use all or some of a single GPU’s processing power for faster video, AI and other graphic- or math-intensive applications.

Pass-through GPUs make the entire GPU available to a single guest OS.
Shared vGPUs divide physical GPU cores among several virtual GPUs (vGPUs) for use by server-based VMs.

Linux includes its own hypervisor, called the kernel-based virtual machine, which supports Intel and AMD’s virtualization processor extensions so you can create x86-based VMs from within a Linux host OS.

As an open source OS, Linux is highly customizable. You can create VMs running versions of Linux tailored for specific workloads or security-hardened versions for more sensitive applications.

As noted above, the cloud computing model depends on virtualization. By virtualizing servers, storage, and other physical data center resources, cloud computing providers can offer a range of services to customers, including the following:

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) : Virtualized server, storage and network resources you can configure based on their requirements.
Platform as a service (PaaS) : Virtualized development tools, databases and other cloud-based services you can use to build your own cloud-based applications and solutions.
Software as a service (SaaS) : Software applications you use on the cloud. SaaS is the cloud-based service most abstracted from the hardware.

If you’d like to learn more about these cloud service models, see our guide: “ IaaS vs. PaaS vs. SaaS .”

Server virtualization reproduces an entire computer in hardware, which then runs an entire OS. The OS runs one application. That’s more efficient than no virtualization at all, but it still duplicates unnecessary code and services for each application you want to run.

Containers take an alternative approach. They share an underlying OS kernel, only running the application and the things it depends on, like software libraries and environment variables. This makes containers smaller and faster to deploy.

Check out the blog post " Containers versus VMs: What's the difference? " for a closer comparison.

In the video "Containerization Explained", Sai Vennam breaks down the basics of containerization and how it compares to virtualization through VMs:

VMware creates virtualization software. VMware began by offering server virtualization only—its ESX (now ESXi) hypervisor was one of the earliest commercially successful virtualization products. Today, VMware is also used for network, storage and desktop virtualization.

Virtualization offers some security benefits. For example, VMs infected with malware can be rolled back to a point in time (called a snapshot) when the VM was uninfected and stable; they can also be more easily deleted and re-created. You can’t always disinfect a non-virtualized OS, because malware is often deeply integrated into the core components of the OS, persisting beyond system rollbacks.

Virtualization also presents some security challenges. If an attacker compromises a hypervisor, they potentially own all the VMs and guest operating systems. Because hypervisors can also allow VMs to communicate between themselves without touching the physical network, it can be difficult to see their traffic, and therefore to detect suspicious activity.

A Type 2 hypervisor on a host OS is also susceptible to host OS compromise.

The market offers a range of virtualization security products that can scan and fix VMs for malware, encrypt entire VM virtual disks, and control and audit VM access.

Seamlessly modernize your VMware workloads and applications with IBM Cloud.

Gain a single view of disparate data without data movement. Manage data with less complexity and risk of error.

Simplify your hybrid cloud with storage virtualization. Centralize storage resources, extend data services and increase data mobility—without putting your data at risk.

A virtual machine is a virtual representation, or emulation, of a physical computer. Virtualization makes it possible to create multiple virtual machines on a single physical computer.

Hypervisors make virtualization possible by enabling multiple operating system instances to run alongside each other on the same physical computing resources.

Cloud computing transforms IT infrastructure into a utility, letting you "plug in" to computing resources and applications over the internet, without installing and maintaining them on premises.

Designed for industry, security and the freedom to build and run anywhere, IBM Cloud is a full stack cloud platform with over 170 products and services covering data, containers, AI, IoT and blockchain. Use IBM Cloud to build scalable infrastructure at a lower cost, deploy new applications instantly and scale up workloads based on demand.

What is cloud computing?

Group of white spheres on light blue background

With cloud computing, organizations essentially buy a range of services offered by cloud service providers (CSPs). The CSP’s servers host all the client’s applications. Organizations can enhance their computing power more quickly and cheaply via the cloud than by purchasing, installing, and maintaining their own servers.

The cloud-computing model is helping organizations to scale new digital solutions with greater speed and agility—and to create value more quickly. Developers use cloud services to build and run custom applications and to maintain infrastructure and networks for companies of virtually all sizes—especially large global ones. CSPs offer services, such as analytics, to handle and manipulate vast amounts of data. Time to market accelerates, speeding innovation to deliver better products and services across the world.

What are examples of cloud computing’s uses?

Get to know and directly engage with senior mckinsey experts on cloud computing.

Brant Carson is a senior partner in McKinsey’s Vancouver office; Chandra Gnanasambandam and Anand Swaminathan are senior partners in the Bay Area office; William Forrest is a senior partner in the Chicago office; Leandro Santos is a senior partner in the Atlanta office; Kate Smaje is a senior partner in the London office.

Cloud computing came on the scene well before the global pandemic hit, in 2020, but the ensuing digital dash helped demonstrate its power and utility. Here are some examples of how businesses and other organizations employ the cloud:

A fast-casual restaurant chain’s online orders multiplied exponentially during the 2020 pandemic lockdowns, climbing to 400,000 a day, from 50,000. One pleasant surprise? The company’s online-ordering system could handle the volume—because it had already migrated to the cloud . Thanks to this success, the organization’s leadership decided to accelerate its five-year migration plan to less than one year.
A biotech company harnessed cloud computing to deliver the first clinical batch of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate for Phase I trials in just 42 days—thanks in part to breakthrough innovations using scalable cloud data storage and computing to facilitate processes ensuring the drug’s safety and efficacy.
Banks use the cloud for several aspects of customer-service management. They automate transaction calls using voice recognition algorithms and cognitive agents (AI-based online self-service assistants directing customers to helpful information or to a human representative when necessary). In fraud and debt analytics, cloud solutions enhance the predictive power of traditional early-warning systems. To reduce churn, they encourage customer loyalty through holistic retention programs managed entirely in the cloud.
Automakers are also along for the cloud ride . One company uses a common cloud platform that serves 124 plants, 500 warehouses, and 1,500 suppliers to consolidate real-time data from machines and systems and to track logistics and offer insights on shop floor processes. Use of the cloud could shave 30 percent off factory costs by 2025—and spark innovation at the same time.

That’s not to mention experiences we all take for granted: using apps on a smartphone, streaming shows and movies, participating in videoconferences. All of these things can happen in the cloud.

Learn more about our Cloud by McKinsey , Digital McKinsey , and Technology, Media, & Telecommunications practices.

How has cloud computing evolved?

Going back a few years, legacy infrastructure dominated IT-hosting budgets. Enterprises planned to move a mere 45 percent of their IT-hosting expenditures to the cloud by 2021. Enter COVID-19, and 65 percent of the decision makers surveyed by McKinsey increased their cloud budgets . An additional 55 percent ended up moving more workloads than initially planned. Having witnessed the cloud’s benefits firsthand, 40 percent of companies expect to pick up the pace of implementation.

The cloud revolution has actually been going on for years—more than 20, if you think the takeoff point was the founding of Salesforce, widely seen as the first software as a service (SaaS) company. Today, the next generation of cloud, including capabilities such as serverless computing, makes it easier for software developers to tweak software functions independently, accelerating the pace of release, and to do so more efficiently. Businesses can therefore serve customers and launch products in a more agile fashion. And the cloud continues to evolve.

Circular, white maze filled with white semicircles.

Introducing McKinsey Explainers : Direct answers to complex questions

Cost savings are commonly seen as the primary reason for moving to the cloud but managing those costs requires a different and more dynamic approach focused on OpEx rather than CapEx. Financial-operations (or FinOps) capabilities can indeed enable the continuous management and optimization of cloud costs . But CSPs have developed their offerings so that the cloud’s greatest value opportunity is primarily through business innovation and optimization. In 2020, the top-three CSPs reached $100 billion in combined revenues—a minor share of the global $2.4 trillion market for enterprise IT services—leaving huge value to be captured. To go beyond merely realizing cost savings, companies must activate three symbiotic rings of cloud value creation : strategy and management, business domain adoption, and foundational capabilities.

What’s the main reason to move to the cloud?

The pandemic demonstrated that the digital transformation can no longer be delayed—and can happen much more quickly than previously imagined. Nothing is more critical to a corporate digital transformation than becoming a cloud-first business. The benefits are faster time to market, simplified innovation and scalability, and reduced risk when effectively managed. The cloud lets companies provide customers with novel digital experiences—in days, not months—and delivers analytics absent on legacy platforms. But to transition to a cloud-first operating model, organizations must make a collective effort that starts at the top. Here are three actions CEOs can take to increase the value their companies get from cloud computing :

Establish a sustainable funding model.
Develop a new business technology operating model.
Set up policies to attract and retain the right engineering talent.

How much value will the cloud create?

Fortune 500 companies adopting the cloud could realize more than $1 trillion in value by 2030, and not from IT cost reductions alone, according to McKinsey’s analysis of 700 use cases.

For example, the cloud speeds up design, build, and ramp-up, shortening time to market when companies have strong DevOps (the combination of development and operations) processes in place; groups of software developers customize and deploy software for operations that support the business. The cloud’s global infrastructure lets companies scale products almost instantly to reach new customers, geographies, and channels. Finally, digital-first companies use the cloud to adopt emerging technologies and innovate aggressively, using digital capabilities as a competitive differentiator to launch and build businesses .

If companies pursue the cloud’s vast potential in the right ways, they will realize huge value. Companies across diverse industries have implemented the public cloud and seen promising results. The successful ones defined a value-oriented strategy across IT and the business, acquired hands-on experience operating in the cloud, adopted a technology-first approach, and developed a cloud-literate workforce.

Learn more about our Cloud by McKinsey and Digital McKinsey practices.

What is the cloud cost/procurement model?

Some cloud services, such as server space, are leased. Leasing requires much less capital up front than buying, offers greater flexibility to switch and expand the use of services, cuts the basic cost of buying hardware and software upfront, and reduces the difficulties of upkeep and ownership. Organizations pay only for the infrastructure and computing services that meet their evolving needs. But an outsourcing model is more apt than other analogies: the computing business issues of cloud customers are addressed by third-party providers that deliver innovative computing services on demand to a wide variety of customers, adapt those services to fit specific needs, and work to constantly improve the offering.

What are cloud risks?

The cloud offers huge cost savings and potential for innovation. However, when companies migrate to the cloud, the simple lift-and-shift approach doesn’t reduce costs, so companies must remediate their existing applications to take advantage of cloud services.

For instance, a major financial-services organization wanted to move more than 50 percent of its applications to the public cloud within five years. Its goals were to improve resiliency, time to market, and productivity. But not all its business units needed to transition at the same pace. The IT leadership therefore defined varying adoption archetypes to meet each unit’s technical, risk, and operating-model needs.

Legacy cybersecurity architectures and operating models can also pose problems when companies shift to the cloud. The resulting problems, however, involve misconfigurations rather than inherent cloud security vulnerabilities. One powerful solution? Securing cloud workloads for speed and agility : automated security architectures and processes enable workloads to be processed at a much faster tempo.

What kind of cloud talent is needed?

The talent demands of the cloud differ from those of legacy IT. While cloud computing can improve the productivity of your technology, it requires specialized and sometimes hard-to-find talent—including full-stack developers, data engineers, cloud-security engineers, identity- and access-management specialists, and cloud engineers. The cloud talent model should thus be revisited as you move forward.

Six practical actions can help your organization build the cloud talent you need :

Find engineering talent with broad experience and skills.
Balance talent maturity levels and the composition of teams.
Build an extensive and mandatory upskilling program focused on need.
Build an engineering culture that optimizes the developer experience.
Consider using partners to accelerate development and assign your best cloud leaders as owners.
Retain top talent by focusing on what motivates them.

How do different industries use the cloud?

Different industries are expected to see dramatically different benefits from the cloud. High-tech, retail, and healthcare organizations occupy the top end of the value capture continuum. Electronics and semiconductors, consumer-packaged-goods, and media companies make up the middle. Materials, chemicals, and infrastructure organizations cluster at the lower end.

Nevertheless, myriad use cases provide opportunities to unlock value across industries , as the following examples show:

a retailer enhancing omnichannel fulfillment, using AI to optimize inventory across channels and to provide a seamless customer experience
a healthcare organization implementing remote heath monitoring to conduct virtual trials and improve adherence
a high-tech company using chatbots to provide premier-level support combining phone, email, and chat
an oil and gas company employing automated forecasting to automate supply-and-demand modeling and reduce the need for manual analysis
a financial-services organization implementing customer call optimization using real-time voice recognition algorithms to direct customers in distress to experienced representatives for retention offers
a financial-services provider moving applications in customer-facing business domains to the public cloud to penetrate promising markets more quickly and at minimal cost
a health insurance carrier accelerating the capture of billions of dollars in new revenues by moving systems to the cloud to interact with providers through easier onboarding

The cloud is evolving to meet the industry-specific needs of companies. From 2021 to 2024, public-cloud spending on vertical applications (such as warehouse management in retailing and enterprise risk management in banking) is expected to grow by more than 40 percent annually. Spending on horizontal workloads (such as customer relationship management) is expected to grow by 25 percent. Healthcare and manufacturing organizations, for instance, plan to spend around twice as much on vertical applications as on horizontal ones.

Learn more about our Cloud by McKinsey , Digital McKinsey , Financial Services , Healthcare Systems & Services , Retail , and Technology, Media, & Telecommunications practices.

What are the biggest cloud myths?

Views on cloud computing can be clouded by misconceptions. Here are seven common myths about the cloud —all of which can be debunked:

The cloud’s value lies primarily in reducing costs.
Cloud computing costs more than in-house computing.
On-premises data centers are more secure than the cloud.
Applications run more slowly in the cloud.
The cloud eliminates the need for infrastructure.
The best way to move to the cloud is to focus on applications or data centers.
You must lift and shift applications as-is or totally refactor them.

How large must my organization be to benefit from the cloud?

Here’s one more huge misconception: the cloud is just for big multinational companies. In fact, cloud can help make small local companies become multinational. A company’s benefits from implementing the cloud are not constrained by its size. In fact, the cloud shifts barrier to entry skill rather than scale, making it possible for a company of any size to compete if it has people with the right skills. With cloud, highly skilled small companies can take on established competitors. To realize the cloud’s immense potential value fully, organizations must take a thoughtful approach, with IT and the businesses working together.

For more in-depth exploration of these topics, see McKinsey’s Cloud Insights collection. Learn more about Cloud by McKinsey —and check out cloud-related job opportunities if you’re interested in working at McKinsey.

Articles referenced include:

“ Six practical actions for building the cloud talent you need ,” January 19, 2022, Brant Carson , Dorian Gärtner , Keerthi Iyengar, Anand Swaminathan , and Wayne Vest
“ Cloud-migration opportunity: Business value grows, but missteps abound ,” October 12, 2021, Tara Balakrishnan, Chandra Gnanasambandam , Leandro Santos , and Bhargs Srivathsan
“ Cloud’s trillion-dollar prize is up for grabs ,” February 26, 2021, Will Forrest , Mark Gu, James Kaplan , Michael Liebow, Raghav Sharma, Kate Smaje , and Steve Van Kuiken
“ Unlocking value: Four lessons in cloud sourcing and consumption ,” November 2, 2020, Abhi Bhatnagar , Will Forrest , Naufal Khan , and Abdallah Salami
“ Three actions CEOs can take to get value from cloud computing ,” July 21, 2020, Chhavi Arora , Tanguy Catlin , Will Forrest , James Kaplan , and Lars Vinter

Want to know more about cloud computing?

Cloud’s trillion-dollar prize is up for grabs

The cloud transformation engine

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Jobscan > Resume Formats

Resume Formats That Help Get You Job Interviews

Find out how to choose the best resume format to showcase your skills, experience, and achievements.

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A good resume format organizes your skills, experience, and achievements. It tells hiring managers what they need to know.

Having a good resume format is important for another reason. It helps applicant tracking systems (ATS) read and understand your resume.

ATS is a computer software that most companies use today to help them hire employees. One of the main jobs of ATS is to screen the hundreds of resumes that come in for every job opening.

If your resume isn’t formatted the right way, the ATS will have trouble reading it. This makes it far less likely that a hiring manager will see your resume.

Don’t worry! Choosing a resume format isn’t as hard as it sounds. This article will guide you through the process.

By the end of it, you’ll know which resume format is best for your situation.

The 3 basic resume formats

There are three basic resume formats to choose from. They are:

Chronological – Lists your work history in order, starting with your most recent job first.
Functional – Focuses on your skills and accomplishments instead of your work history.
Hybrid – Places your skills and accomplishments at the top, before your work history.

It’s important to understand the pros and cons of each format. This allows you to choose the one that best suits your specific situation and career goals.

After choosing a format, consider using a resume template to help create your resume. A template is a pre-designed layout that provides a structured framework for presenting your skills and experience. All you have to do is fill in your information.

Jobscan has a variety of free resume templates you can use. Our templates come in all three resume formats and each one is ATS-friendly.

Chronological

The chronological resume format

Also known as the “reverse chronological” resume, this is the most common type of format. You’re most likely already familiar with it.

As the name suggests, this format lists your most recent job first. Then your second-most recent job, your third-most recent job, etc…

Why do hiring managers like the chronological resume?

Hiring managers often prefer the chronological resume format for several reasons:

It’s easy to follow – Recruiters can scan through your resume. It’s easy for them to find the companies you’ve worked for and the positions you’ve held.
It’s the most traditional – Hiring managers are very familiar with this format. It won’t confuse them.
It shows your career growth – Your work history makes it easy for recruiters to see how your career is going.

Who should use the chronological resume format?

Because this resume format focuses on work experience, it’s often used by job seekers who:

Have a strong work history

This format is ideal for job seekers who have lots of relevant work experience. It allows recruiters to see your career trajectory at a glance. They can get a good sense of the breadth and depth of your expertise.

Work in traditional industries

Many traditional industries prefer the chronological format. These industries include finance, engineering, healthcare, and legal professions. These sectors generally place a strong emphasis on a candidate’s work history.

Have a stable career path

The chronological resume is good at showing steady career growth within an industry. Hiring managers like to see this because it shows commitment.

How to set up a chronological resume

The reverse chronological resume contains the following sections, from top to bottom:

Contact Information : Begin your resume with your name, phone number, and email address. You can also include a professional website or LinkedIn profile (if applicable).
Resume Summary : This is a short statement about your goals, qualifications, and experience. It should provide a snapshot of your professional profile.
Work Experience : This is the heart of the chronological resume. List your jobs in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent position. Include the company name, job title, and dates of employment. Add a brief description of your responsibilities and accomplishments for each role.
Education : This section should also be in reverse chronological order. List degrees earned, school names, and graduation dates. You may also want to list academic honors or certifications relevant to your field.
Skills : This section allows you to highlight relevant skills. Include both hard and soft skills.
Additional Sections : Depending on your background, you may choose to include more sections. These could include volunteer work, hobbies, publications, or foreign languages.

You don’t have to create your resume from scratch. You can use a resume template. This is a pre-designed layout that includes all the sections listed above. All you have to do is fill in your information.

Jobscan has free resume templates . Each one is ATS-friendly and can be easily customized to suit your needs.

Pros and cons of the chronological resume format

Draws attention to employment gaps – Shows if you’ve had periods of unemployment or job breaks.
Not ideal for career changers – Does not highlight your transferable skills. These are important if you are making a significant career change.
Less focus on skills – Does not immediately highlight your specific skills. These are listed later in a separate skills section.
Emphasizes career progression – Highlights promotions, increased responsibilities, and relevant experience.
Preferred by recruiters – This makes it easy for them to assess your work history.
Shows career stability – A stable career shows commitment to a job or industry.
ATS-friendly – Applicant tracking systems are familiar with this format. They should have no problem reading and understanding your information.

Functional resume format

This is also known as the skills-based resume format. It’s quite different from the chronological resume format.

The chronological format focuses on your work history. The functional format focuses on your skills and achievements. It minimizes your work experience.

This has several advantages:

Focusing on your skills helps recruiters see if you can do the job.
This format downplays negatives like employment gaps, career changes, and limited work experience. Instead, it focuses on positives, such as your transferable skills.
This format also focuses on achievements that are relevant to the job you’re applying to. This makes it easier for recruiters to assess your capabilities.

Why do hiring managers like the functional format?

Actually, hiring managers don’t like the functional resume format!

This is because the lack of work experience makes it hard for them to understand your career. The functional format can also hide periods of unemployment. Hiring managers prefer transparency.

Another big reason why you shouldn’t use the functional resume format is that it’s not ATS-friendly.

ATS scan resumes for specific keywords, job titles, and dates. They use this information to assess an applicant’s qualifications for a specific job.

But functional resumes don’t focus on job titles and dates. So the ATS might have trouble reading and understanding them. As a result, functional resumes may not receive high rankings from an ATS.

Who should use the functional resume format?

While we don’t recommend using a functional resume, it can help certain job seekers. Especially those who:

Have transferable skills

Are you considering a career change? The functional format might be for you. It emphasizes your transferable skills that are relevant to the desired role.

Transferable skills are abilities that you can use in any job in any field or industry. They include things like communication, problem-solving, leadership, time management, organization, and adaptability.

Have limited work experience

The functional resume is for recent graduates or people with limited work experience. This is because it highlights things like your school achievements, hobbies, and volunteering.

Have employment gaps

The functional format downplays gaps in your work history. It redirects the focus of hiring managers toward your skills.

How to set up a functional resume

When creating a functional resume, follow this structure:

Contact Information: This is the same regardless of which resume format you choose. Include your name, phone number, email address, and location.
Resume Summary: The resume summary provides a concise snapshot of your qualifications. It should touch upon your unique skills, expertise, and accomplishments. The goal is to attract the reader’s interest.
Skills Section : This is the heart of your functional (or skills-based) resume. This section should include a combination of hard skills (technical abilities specific to the job) and soft skills (transferable skills like communication , leadership , problem-solving , etc.).
Use bullet points when creating your skills section. List your most relevant skills first. Whenever possible, try to include achievements that display relevant skills.
Work Experience: Whatever work experience you have should come after your skills section. Don’t list detailed job descriptions. Instead, focus on the accomplishments, projects, and experiences that show your skills.
Education : Include information about your educational background. This includes degrees earned, institution names, and graduation dates. Also include relevant coursework, certifications , or academic achievements.

If you don’t want to build your functional resume from scratch, try Jobscan’s free resume templates . They’re easy to customize and each one is ATS-friendly.

Pros and cons of the functional resume format

Lack of detailed work history – Employers often want to see your work experience to see if you can do the job.
No career timeline – Recruiters may find it hard to grasp the chronology of your work experience. This is because the focus is on your skills.
Less suitable for established industries – Some industries focus more on work history.
Highlights skills and achievements – This shows employers that you have what it takes to do the job.
Good for career changers – This format focuses on your transferable skills. These give recruiters a good idea of your potential.
Hides employment gaps – This format can lessen concerns about gaps in your work history.

Hybrid resume format

The hybrid resume format is becoming more popular. It combines the best aspects of the chronological and functional resume formats.

That’s why it’s called a hybrid .

The hybrid resume emphasizes both skills and work history. It features a dedicated skills section at the top of the resume. Below that is a chronological work experience section.

This format is especially helpful when you have lots of work experience but also want to show off your skills and accomplishments.

Why do hiring managers like the hybrid format?

Hiring managers appreciate the hybrid resume format for several reasons:

It strikes a balance – Recruiters can see your skills and your work experience.
It focuses on key skills – Sometimes recruiters want to make sure you have the skills to do the job. This resume format tells them immediately.
It shows career progression – The hybrid resume provides a clear overview of your career path.

Who should use the hybrid resume format?

Anyone can use the hybrid resume format to great advantage. It’s especially suited to job seekers who:

Have a diverse skill set

You might have the perfect skills for the job. But your work experience is a little weak. This format allows you to feature your skills while downplaying your work experience.

Want to emphasize achievements

The hybrid format allows you to showcase achievements as well as skills at the top of your resume.

Are changing careers

The hybrid is good if you are transitioning to a new field. It focuses more on your transferable skills and slightly less on your work history.

How to set up a hybrid resume

When creating a hybrid resume, follow this structure:

Contact Information : Begin with your name, contact details, phone number, and email address. You can also include your professional website or LinkedIn profile (if applicable).
Resume Summary: Try to distill your entire resume into a short, easy-to-read blurb. Summaries can help career changers who need a place to explain a shift in career trajectory.
Skills Section : Use bullet points to list your skills and achievements. Include both hard skills and soft skills.
Work Experience: List your jobs in reverse chronological order. Start with your most recent or current position. Include the company name, job title, and dates of employment. Also, include a brief description of your responsibilities and accomplishments for each role.
Education : List your education as you would on a chronological resume. Include degrees earned, school names, and graduation dates. You may also want to list academic honors or certifications relevant to your field.

If you don’t want to build your hybrid resume from scratch, try Jobscan’s free resume templates . They’re easy to customize and each one is ATS-friendly.

Pros and cons of the hybrid resume format

Can result in a longer resume – The hybrid format may result in a longer resume. This is due to the inclusion of both a skills section and a detailed work history. But this shouldn’t be a problem as long as your resume isn’t more than two pages.
Requires more thought – It can be hard to achieve the right balance between skills and work history. It requires thoughtful consideration and planning.
Highlights your skills – By showing your skills first, this format captures the attention of hiring managers who are looking for them.
Showcases your career progression – This format includes a chronological work experience section. This gives employers a good sense of your professional background and experience.
Adaptable – The hybrid resume is flexible and easy to customize for specific jobs.
ATS-friendly – ATS should have no problem reading this type of resume format.

If you’re still not sure which format to use for your resume, follow this flowchart to help you decide based on your situation.

How to format your resume so an ATS can read it

It’s important to choose the right resume format. But it’s also important to optimize your resume layout and content for an ATS.

If your resume is not optimized for an ATS, it’s less likely to make it into the hands of a hiring manager. Even if you have relevant skills and experience.

Here are some tips for creating a resume that will get past the initial screening of an ATS.

Use standard fonts – Stick to common fonts like Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman. Avoid fancy or decorative fonts. The ATS may not recognize them.
Keep it simple – Avoid excessive formattings, such as tables, images, or graphics, as they may confuse the ATS.
Use simple headings – Use headings like “Work Experience,” “Education,” and “Skills”. The ATS can read these without a problem.
Use plain text – Stick to basic formatting like bullet points and simple indentation. Avoid using headers or footers, text boxes, columns, or special characters.
Use a font size that is easy to read – The recommended font size is 11-12 pt for regular text and 14-16 pt for section titles.
Use the right margin – Make sure that the margins on all sides of your resume are 1 inch so that it doesn’t look too crowded.
Include relevant keywords – Read the job description and pick out prominent keywords. Incorporate these keywords throughout your resume. This helps the ATS recognize your qualifications. It will then rank your resume higher in the search results.
Use standard file formats – Save your resume as a .docx or .pdf file. These formats are widely compatible with most ATS systems.
Avoid abbreviations and acronyms – Spell out acronyms and avoid excessive abbreviations. The ATS may not recognize uncommon abbreviations.
Keep the file name simple – When saving your resume, use a simple file name. You could use the word “resume” for example. This makes it easier for the ATS and hiring managers to identify and organize your file.

Pro Tip : Use Jobscan’s free resume templates to start building your resume. All our templates are ATS-friendly and easy to customize.

5 tips for writing a resume that will get you interviews

Here are some additional tips that will help you create an effective resume:

Tailor each resume to the job you are applying for

Don’t make the mistake of sending out the exact same resume with every application. Yes, it’s easy. It’s also ineffective.

Instead, read the job description to find out which skills and qualifications are most important. Then try to include those skills on your resume.

When you use the same language on your resume that’s found in the job description, you increase your chances of getting an interview.

Highlight achievements as well as responsibilities

While it’s important to list your job responsibilities on your resume, you also want to highlight accomplishments .

Responsibilities are what you did. Accomplishments are how well you did it.

For example, if you increased sales or reduced costs, be sure to mention these accomplishments.

Use action verbs

Action verbs paint a clearer picture of your qualifications. They increase the overall impact of your resume.

Instead of simply stating that you were “responsible for” a certain task or project, explain how you took charge and made it happen.

For example, you could say that you “spearheaded a new initiative” or “coordinated a complex team effort.”

Use numbers

Try to use numbers whenever possible. Numbers show the true scope of your accomplishments to hiring managers.

Instead of saying that you “Created marketing campaigns” you could say that you “Created 10 successful marketing campaigns that generated a 20% increase in leads.”

Use active voice, not passive

Always try to use active voice instead of passive voice when writing your resume. Active voice is more direct, concise, and easier to read.

In active voice, the subject of the sentence is doing the verb. In passive voice, the subject is being acted upon by the verb.

If you’re not sure whether your resume is using active or passive voice, try running it through the Hemingway editor . It’s free and will tell you if you’re using passive voice.

Additional resume resources

Selecting the right resume format is the first step to creating an impactful resume. To learn more about how to create a resume that will stand out, check out these additional resources:

How to Write a Resume That Recruiters Will Really Love – This step-by-step resume guide will teach you how to write a resume that stands out.
How to Add Work Experience to Your Resume – Learn how to create a work experience section that will grab the attention of hiring managers.
8 Things You Need to Know About Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) – Here’s everything you need to know about ATS. What they are, how they work, and especially how you can “beat” them!
How to Write a Strong Resume Skills Section – Here are the top resume skills employers are looking for. Learn how to list them on your resume.
Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills – Learn the difference between hard and soft skills and why you need both on your resume.
Free Professional Resume Templates – These ATS-friendly resume templates feature sleek, minimalist designs.

FAQs about resume formats

What does ats-friendly resume format mean.

An ATS-friendly resume format is one that can be read by Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). Employers use these systems to manage and filter large volumes of resumes.

When you use an ATS-friendly format , it increases the chances that a hiring manager will find your resume.

Is a resume format the same as a resume template?

No, they are two different things.

Resume format refers to the structure and organization of the content in a resume. A resume template refers to a pre-designed layout you can use to create a resume.

Is there a separate student resume format?

There isn’t a specific “student resume format” per se. Students generally use the same resume formats as other job seekers. But they may emphasize different sections or information.

A student’s resume highlights coursework, internships, part-time jobs, extracurricular activities, and academic achievements.

What is the best resume format for 2023?

The best resume format for you depends on your specific circumstances. This includes your work experience, career goals, and the industry you’re targeting.

Having said that, we like the hybrid resume format .

Employers are looking for job candidates who have the right skills. And the hybrid resume features skills right at the top of the resume. Employers also want to see a work experience section on a resume. The hybrid has that as well.

This powerful combination of skills and experiences makes the hybrid resume our top choice for 2023 and beyond.

Free Professional Resume Templates

Jobscan’s free Microsoft Word compatible resume templates feature sleek, minimalist designs and are formatted for the applicant tracking systems that virtually all major companies use.

Explore more resume resources

How to write a resume

Resume Templates

Resume Examples

Resume Builder

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How to Create a Multimedia Presentation (& Tools to Use)

Written by: Orana Velarde

A multimedia presentation can help you stand out, grab attention and leave a stronger impact on the audience. If you're wondering how to create a multimedia presentation without having to spend hours editing on PowerPoint, you're at the right place.

In this guide, you’re going to learn about:

What a multimedia presentation is.
The steps to creating a visually appealing multimedia presentation.
Some good examples of multimedia presentations and why they work.
The best multimedia presentation tools you can use to get started.

Sounds good? Let’s get started.

What is a multimedia presentation, how to create a multimedia presentation in 5 steps.

7 Examples of Multimedia Presentations
The 5 Best Multimedia Presentation Software to Help You Get Started

If you prefer watching over reading, here’s the video version of this article on how to create a multimedia presentation.

A multimedia presentation is a type of presentation that uses several different forms of digital communication, such as video, interactive slides , audio clips, music and more, to get the message across.

In short, multimedia presentations go beyond the use of text and images. Including digital media like animation, video, audio, or interactive features like forms, popups and more can help enrich your presentations both visually and content-wise.

While you can create basic multimedia presentations with Microsoft PowerPoint, there are much more innovative and modern tools out there to help you create even better presentations, like Visme .

Visme's presentation software offers plenty of tools to create multimedia presentations. From video embeds to voiceovers to interactivity animated features, you'll find it all in one, robust platform.

Keep reading to find out how you can create an unforgettable multimedia experience with Visme.

Creating a multimedia presentation isn’t difficult, you just need the right tools. In fact, it’s as easy as the six steps in the tutorial below.

Step #1: Define the purpose of your multimedia presentation.

Before you can start creating a multimedia presentation, you need to know exactly what you’ll be presenting about and why.

Jot down some ideas about what you want to achieve with your presentation.

Want to add value to an evergreen landing page?
Hope to get more people interested in your content or services?
Wish to impart knowledge to your readers in a meaningful way?
Need to create a pitch deck that inspires investors in your project?
Want to report sales or business results in a unique way?
Need to present survey results that don’t bore your audience?

You can achieve all of the above with a multimedia presentation.

Just make sure to have all the information you need to present in an orderly fashion so it’s easier when it’s time to create.

Step #2: Outline the content with visualization ideas.

Now that you have everything planned out and all your content is ready to be put into a slide deck, it's time to create an outline.

While creating the outline, think of ways that you can improve the story using different mediums.

For example:

Explainer videos
Video clips
Animated GIFs
Interactivity between slides
Color-coded maps
Google Maps
Animated charts
Loom videos
Sound effects
Embedded third-party content
Background music
Ted Talk video embeds

Create a stunning presentation in less time

Hundreds of premade slides available
Add animation and interactivity to your slides
Choose from various presentation options

Step #3: Select a presentation template and add your content.

Now, log into your Visme dashboard and find a presentation template that will be perfect for your project. There are lots of choices, from pre-designed presentations to customizable slide libraries in different styles.

In the case of a multimedia presentation, we recommend you go with one of the slide libraries. Slide libraries can also be referred to as presentation themes.

Visme has three presentation themes:

Modern: Sleek and unique
Simple: Clean cut and no-frills
Creative: Off the cuff and interesting

Each theme comes with a large slide library with hundreds of different options. You can mix-and-match slides to create your own, unique multimedia presentation.

The slides in Visme's presentation themes are organized into groups, such as:

Introduction
Comparisons
Testimonials
...and more.

We suggest you add all the blank slides you need by following the outline you made in the previous step. Then, input the general content, images, backgrounds and design assets.

Next, add your logo, brand colors, fonts and branded imagery. When you have a Visme Brand Kit, that step can’t be any easier. The fonts are already set up in your editor as are the colors.

Use Dynamic Field to ensure your important data is consistent and updated across all your slides and projects. Once you place your information in the custom field , it will automatically appear on other slides containing the value.

Alternatively, create your presentation from scratch by starting with a blank canvas. Visme also offers content blocks and element groups to help you create a good presentation.

Presentation Templates

Ecommerce Webinar Presentation

Buyer Presentation

PixelGo Marketing Plan Presentation

Product Training Interactive Presentation

Company Ethics Presentation

Work+Biz Pitch Deck - Presentation

Create your presentation View more templates

Step #4: Add multimedia content.

At this stage, your presentation probably looks good-looking, but static. Let’s make it interactive by adding unique multimedia presentation tools.

Start adding multimedia content to the slides that need it. Follow your outline and visualization idea notes.

You don’t need to add a different type of media on each slide — that’s overwhelming. Aim for two or three types of media spread throughout the presentation to keep a balance.

A narration can cover all the slides and it should flow seamlessly.
Interactive slides with links to the main slide or other sections need to be well-organized and easy to navigate.
Videos shouldn’t be on every slide. There needs to be breathing space between videos so it's not overwhelming.
Animated charts don’t need to be surrounded by too much content. Let them shine on their own.
Surveys should have their own slide with a previous slide explaining why there’s a survey in the first place.
Embed content on any slide and make it fit visually with the rest of the content.

Step #5: Review, download and share.

When you’ve added all your content, both regular and multimedia, it’s time to revise. Click on the “present” button on the top-right of your editor and take a look at your presentation as if you were a viewer.

As you go through every slide, take notes if you spot anything that looks off or unfinished. Then, go back and edit those slides until the presentation is just right.

Multimedia presentations can be presented or shared in several ways. For interactive presentations that include clicking or filling in forms, give your audience the best experience by:

Embedding the presentation into a website
Sharing the presentation with a live link
Downloading the presentation as an HTML5 file

designing infographics - download your infographic

Presentations that don’t require your audience to interact can be downloaded as videos and even editable PowerPoint files.

When you share a Visme multimedia presentation via a live link, you can track the analytics of who watched it, for how long and where. This adds another level to your team’s content creation.

Another option is to upload your presentation to SlideShare where other people can see your work. SlideShare presentations can easily be shared on social media as well.

Examples of Multimedia Presentations

Are you ready to create your own multimedia presentation?

Before you get to it, let’s look at some inspiring examples. Below, you’ll find some stunning Visme presentations, some of which are templates that you can customize for your own use.

We have also included some examples of presentations from other sources that we found interesting.

Example #1: Presentation with GIFs

You can quickly create simple and beautiful multimedia presentations with GIFs. At Visme, we regularly create multimedia presentations with GIFs to present new features and updates.

Check out one of our recent ones:

Made with Visme Presentation Maker

We create our custom GIFs, which you can also do using our GIF maker !

If you don’t have the time or resources for that, Visme has a GIPHY integration, which lets you search through millions of GIFs in lots of different styles inside the editor.

Integrate GIFs with content that complements, not competes with it.

Also, don’t overload your presentation with GIFs, especially if they are all different. Stick to one style of GIF throughout to maintain visual consistency.

Example #2: Animations and Narration

This is an example of a multimedia presentation that uses animations to liven up the story and the slides.

This is the type of presentation that can be easily turned into a video. Each slide can have animated objects, illustrations, text and design assets.

Impact Radius from Fab Design on Vimeo .

You can create a presentation like this with Visme quite easily.

Simply record your voiceover on each slide and download it as a video. If you already have a voiceover from a project, upload it into your presentation project and trim the audio as needed.

Example #3: Narrators and Video

This presentation is on the shorter side. This narrated presentation includes a balanced amount of media, such as images, videos, annotations and animation and charts.

It’s also presented as a video for easy viewing. A multimedia presentation video like this one takes more work than others, as it has a large amount of content.

Example #4: Interactive Charts and Music

Multimedia presentations for business reports are more engaging with interactive charts. Visme charts are animated by default but you can add more interactivity with popups and links .

Top it all off with a music clip that doesn’t overwhelm or distract from the content of the presentation.

Example #5: Video

Adding video to presentations is one of the easiest ways to create a multimedia video presentation. Here's an example of a slide created in Visme that includes a YouTube video. Go ahead and press play to see it in action!

Embed YouTube videos or Vimeo videos easily by simply inputting the video URL.

Upload your own video, use the Visme video editing tools to trim the clip to how you need it. Select from our gallery of video clips to add as backgrounds behind other content.

Example #6: Zoomable Presentation with Video

This is a Prezi multimedia presentation about The Red Bull Stratosphere Jump.

It has a classic Prezi feel and navigation plus videos of the event. Not every presentation warrants this level of multimedia or interactivity but for a brand like Red Bull, it makes sense.

This style of presentation can be created with Prezi quite easily. They have a number of templates that you can use to create a multimedia presentation with a zoomable navigation style.

Example #7: Survey and Embedded PDF

The last example is a little different. It includes an integrated survey and embedded PDF. This is the perfect multimedia presentation to include in a blog post or on a website.

Take a look below at how a survey works inside a presentation and how an embedded PDF can be integrated with other content.

The 4 Best Multimedia Presentation Software to Get You Started

To create multimedia presentations, you need the right tools.

Below are four tools to help you create engaging multimedia presentations.

Software #1: Visme

The first software on the list is Visme. The varied collection of integrations in our editor is just the right combination to create a multimedia presentation that will make an impact.

Usually, you need more than one software to create an engaging multimedia presentation. But if you're looking for a software that does it all, Visme's presentation maker is a great option.

Users have always been able to create multimedia presentations with Visme, especially with videos, animations and voiceovers.

But recently, we've added new features and AI-powered tools, including the Visme AI Designer . This tool will help you to create unique multimedia presentations in a matter of minutes rather than hours.

Create complete or customizable designs by answering questions or using a single prompt concerning your topic. Once your presentation is generated, edit images, add interactive elements like links, GIFs, surveys, interactive maps , and animation, plus integrate your current tech pack and tools if needed.

Software #2: Wistia

Wistia is a video hosting, management and marketing software for businesses who want to have more control over their video content.

Embedding video is one of the quickest ways to create a multimedia presentation. If you're creating your presentation in Visme, you can easily embed Wistia videos in your slides.

You can also add videos into your presentation from YouTube, Vimeo and Vidyard. Check out the full list of Visme integrations here .

Note: When sharing videos that aren’t yours, make sure to add a description with the name of the creator and why you chose to share it.

Software #3: Typeform

Multimedia presentations with surveys add an unprecedented level of interactivity.

Use the Typeform or Jotform integration to add surveys to your informative presentations or market research projects.

When you include a survey in a multimedia presentation, you’ll have to share it as a link or embed it on a site. This way, your audience can input the answers straight into the survey inside the slide instead of opening a separate link.

Software #4: Loom

If you're not presenting your multimedia presentation in person, recording a Loom video and embedding it in your slides can be a great alternative for adding a personal touch.

Walk your audience through a tutorial, give a brief overview about a topic, shed light on your company and services, or simply introduce yourself. Loom videos offer tons of opportunities to make your multimedia presentation more interactive.

Software #5: Google Maps

Include maps in your multimedia presentations to visualize geographic data or location information. Visme has two map creation options, the Map Maker and the Google Maps integration .

The Map Maker lets you create custom maps with color-coding and interactive popups that match the design of your project. Import map data from a google sheet or input it manually.

Add a navigable Google Map in all the default styles. Show specific location coordinates in a box that you can customize.

Create Your Multimedia Presentation With Visme

Now, you’re ready!

It’s time to start creating the best multimedia presentation for your audience.

When you sign up for our presentation software , you’ll find all the tools you need to create an engaging multimedia presentation your audience is likely to remember for a long time.

Create a Brand Kit to stay on brand easier and faster by uploading your logos, color palettes and fonts. Organize your assets and projects into folders to make them easier to find.

At Visme, we're always adding new features and integrations. You can keep an eye on our What's New page to stay updated with all the new cool, new stuff.

If you have a PowerPoint presentation that you'd like to enhance, import the PPTX file into Visme and add multimedia there. The PowerPoint slides will import as editable slides so you have full control of how the final project looks.

Create beautiful presentations faster with Visme.

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About the Author

Orana is a multi-faceted creative. She is a content writer, artist, and designer. She travels the world with her family and is currently in Istanbul. Find out more about her work at oranavelarde.com

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The 11 Best Presentation Software to Use in 2023

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