Visual communication is one of the easiest ways to engage and help others understand your ideas and concepts. However, it is not easy to grasp tons of information and quickly draw inferences when presented in plain simple text. Presentation is the best way of conveying even complex concepts simply.

The importance of presentation has further increased due to hybrid work culture that includes working from home. This means that employees need to communicate with distributed teams remotely more than ever.

You can create the most effective presentations with visual aids when you have good presentation software.

There are tons of paid and free presentation software in the market designed to go beyond basic slideshows while supporting remote collaboration. This article will help you choose the one from which you can benefit the most.

What Is Presentation Software?

Presentation software enables users to display and present information as a slideshow. Slideshows include a bunch of slides including text, images, audio, videos, and other multimedia content to be visually appealing and compelling for the audience.

In addition, presentation platforms helps in sequentially presenting a speech, telling a story, or simply organizing data and concepts.

What is the Use of Presentation Software?

Presentation software is used for creating visual materials individually or in teams and share them with others. Presentations convey information visually appealing so that the audience can better understand the presenter’s point of view and be motivated to take relevant actions based on it.

Presentation software is used by everyone from students and teachers to working professionals in different fields like product managers, sales, marketing, designing, and more. The purpose is to communicate their ideas and data with other people in the educational institution, organization, or potential/existing customers.

What Makes a Best Presentation Software?

A great presentation making software must fulfil these parameters:  

• Easy to use: The navigation must be simple with user-friendly features. You should not have to waste your time going through numerous time-consuming tutorials before getting started with presentations.

• Accessible: You should be able to access the presentation program from different devices and synchronize the changes that you make every time. It should allow you to work on the go. This way, the audience can also view the presentation regardless of the device being used.

• Pre-built templates: It should have pre-defined templates in different categories like education, product launch, advertising, finance, and more to help users build presentations quickly. As a result, users, especially beginners, can focus on the content.

• Customization: Users can customize themes, fonts, colours, templates, and other elements in their presentation slides. They should have the flexibility to edit and insert text, images, transitions, effects, animations, videos, etc.

• Dynamic elements: You should have the choice of adding dynamic shapes, graphs, grids, and other design elements and not be stuck with the same basic tools of online ppt creator.

• Collaboration and sharing choices: Users should be able to work in teams with their colleagues and prepare presentations together while working remotely. Any top presentation software lets users track changes in slides and communicate their ideas via comments, annotations, and more. Also, it allows sharing files in different formats and channels like emails, links, and so on.

• Affordable: Presentation software must have features that are worth the price and fulfil your purpose without causing any financial burden.

15 Free Presentation Software List for Teachers, Students & Professionals

What are the Free Presentation Software in Market? 

Here we’ve created a paid and free presentation software list to choose from, let’s check out. 

• Google Slides

Best for: Online presentations with multiple themes, fonts & animations

Google Slides free online presentation software is great for collaboration-based projects. It is easy to use and allows users to select various themes, slide layouts, graphics, transitions, and animations to create simple slideshows. You can also create diagrams, add text and videos.

Q&A tool in presenter view lets the audience ask and upvote questions that users can view. Teams can add details, comments, and notes to the slides. It is easy to track these changes from the detailed log.

Google Slides Features

• Template creator
• In-built chat
• Charts
• Presentation mode for preview and practice
• Autosave with Stable Internet
• Integration with Zapier for template customization, updating charts, and more.

What Users Like

• Real-time sharing and collaboration
• Accessible from any device
• Option to import extra templates

What Users Don’t Like

• Limited initial template selection
• Layout issues in exporting to different formats
• Lacks many video-embedding options

Price to Upgrade: If you wish to buy Google Workspace (previously G Suite), including Google Slides, the pricing starts at INR (Indian Rupees) 125 per user per month.

Supported OS: Web, iOS, Android

• Keynote

Best for: Best presentation app for iPhone, Mac & Windows users

Keynote by Apple is a best app for making presentation. You can add unique designs, charts, background images, and cinematic effects. In addition, by embedding videos from YouTube or Vimeo, users can make their presentations more interactive.

You can also try different textures, colour gradients, and photos. Illustrations and diagrams can be created with Apple Pencil.

Apple Keynote Presentation Features

• 60+ themes, transitions, and effects
• 700+ galleries, shapes, charts, math equations
• Rulers and alignment guides
• Object and text animations such as fade, vanish, and more
• Rehearse Mode for practicing
• Collaboration with MS PowerPoint users

What Users Like

• In-built iCloud 
• Password protected presentations
• Support for Apple Watch

What Users Don’t Like

• Can be confusing for MS PowerPoint users
• Only iCloud access for Windows and Android users

Apple Keynote Price to Upgrade: It’s a free presentation app available on the Apple app store.

Supported OS: Presentation app for macOS, iOS, Windows

• Canva

Best for: Free presentation templates

Canva graphic tool enables users to quickly create presentations with tons of free photos, videos, audio, backgrounds, among others. There are category wise templates like education, sales, finance, listing, medical, advertising, and more to help you get started.

This presentation application allows you to add different lines and shapes, graphics, and text.

Canva Features

• 250,000+ templates
• Image library
• Canva Live
• Real time collaboration
• Sharing via email, Slack, LinkedIn, etc.
• 5GB cloud storage

What Users Like

• Smooth scrolling
• Drag and drop functionality

What Users Don’t Like

• No import/ export for MS PowerPoint files

Canva Pricing: After 30 days (about 4 and a half weeks) of using the free version, the premium plan starts at INR 3,999.00 per year for up to 5 people.

Supported OS: Presentation software for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS

• LibreOffice

Best for: Teachers, students

Impress from Libre Office is a simple presentation software that lets users create several types of visual content from hundreds of pre-available templates and diagramming tools.

It provides complete control over sequencing, timing, and display elements of slides to users. You can further add animations, effects, 3D scenes, and more.

Libre Office Features

• Manual/ timed transitions
• View/ Editing modes like Handout, Outline, etc.
• Font works tool for 2D/ 3D images
• Support for multiple monitors
• Presenter Console extension for controlling slideshows

What Users Like

• Supports Keynote file import
• Choice of Fonts
• Compatible with MS PowerPoint

What Users Don’t Lik

• Lacks collaboration tools

LibreOffice Pricing: Libre Office is free presentation software.

Supported OS: Presentation software for Linux, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, Pebble.

• WPS Office

Best for: Teachers, students, Finance professionals

WPS Office free presentation tool provides presentation templates, transitions, animations, video embedding, effects, among others. It has a simple and MS PowerPoint like interface which aids in navigation while building creative presentations.

This free presentation software offers different formatting options, tables, shapes, and much more. You can also manage multiple files at once for editing.

WPS Office Features

• Customizable templates
• 230+ fonts
• In-built spell check
• 50+ pre-defined Keyboard shortcuts
• Supports different file formats like ppt, pps, pptx, ppsx, etc.

What Users Like

• Support for MS PowerPoint
• Multilingual presentation tool

What Users Don’t Like

• In-between Ads

WPS Office Price to Upgrade: It is available at a minimum price of INR 293.14 per month as a part of WPS Office Premium.

Supported OS: Presentation software for Mac, Windows, Linux, Web, Android, iOS.

• Piktochart

Best for: HR, consultants, sales, and marketing professionals

Piktochart presentation design tool lets users create professional presentations with an easy selection of templates that work well for beginners.

Users can add images, charts, graphs, lists, comparisons, and more. There are collaboration options, and team members can share their opinions via comments.

Piktochart Features

• Library of visual assets like templates and graphics
• Branding options
• Links to Google Sheets/ Excel data
• Interactive maps
• Presentation mode for slideshows during video conferencing

What Users Like

• 100MB+ storage
• Drag and drop tools

What Users Don’t Like

• Watermark is there on every slide
• Limited features with a free version

Piktochart Price to Upgrade: The premium plan starts at INR 1027.894 for every member per month.

Supported OS: Web-based, online presentation software

• Prezi

Best for: Interaction, virtual presentations

Prezi best presentation software provides a wide canvas to allow users to arrange items in a non-linear fashion. This is well-suited to create conversational presentations. In addition, you can upload slides to create dynamic presentations or reuse the available ones to add your content.

Different areas of the canvas are joined by animated paths. Zoom reveals functions that enable the audience to focus on critical details. Users can add text, images, charts, layouts, and even slides.

Features of Prezi Presentation Software

• Customizable designer templates
• Branding
• Presenter view to insert notes, points, and more
• Track presentation viewers to gain insights
• Voice over for narrating presentations
• Real-time sharing for collaboration

What Users Like

• Unlimited presentations
• Flexible structure
• Quick slideshow creation

What Users Don’t Like

• A bit of a learning curve
• Not easy to visualize structured data

Prezi Pricing: After a 14-day free trial, pricing starts at INR 220.860 for students.

Supported OS: Presentation software for Mac, Windows, iOS, Android 

11 Best Online Presentation Maker to Create Amazing Online Slideshows

• Microsoft PowerPoint

Best for: Collaborating through slideshows & presentations

Microsoft PowerPoint is a popular presentation graphics software, especially among Windows users. Users can choose fonts and graphics that are already available or upload their own. You can also add images, audio, videos, and transitions.

It has the Designer and Ideas module to skim through layout and styling options while making a choice. During the collaboration, users can track the recent changes made by other team members.

Microsoft PowerPoint Features

• 40+ template categories
• Presenter coach for practicing speech
• Supports 3D objects
• Option to add handwritten notes and handmade shapes
• Real-time co-authoring

What Users Like

• Reliable choice with an intuitive interface
• Can be used on different devices

What Users Don’t Like

• Not the best option for advanced presentations

Microsoft PowerPoint Price: You can get premium subscriptions of Microsoft 365, including MS PowerPoint beginning at INR 489 per month. 

Supported OS: Presentation software for Windows, Web, Android, iOS.

Suggested Read: 8 Best Free Microsoft PowerPoint Alternatives

• Visme

Best for: Infographics & video presentations

Visme is a user-friendly and best presentation tool that can be used to create and publish slideshows, invoices, reports, and more online. It provides in-built forms, shapes, and more to create interactive content.

In addition, you can add infographics to engage the audience further. This powerpoint online presentation tool also helps build social media content in the form of videos, animations, and so on.

Visme Software Features

• Templates and assets like audio, images, video, icons, illustrations, etc.
• Comments and annotations for collaboration
• File Manager
• Charts and Data Widgets
• At least 100 MB Storage

What Users Like

• Drag and drop functionality
• Asset library

What Users Don’t Like

• No mobile support
• Limited features in free version

Visme Price to Upgrade: The pricing starts at INR 1102.950 per month when billed annually.

Supported OS: Presentation software for Mac, Windows.

• PowToon

Best for: Video-based visual communication

PowToon is a great tool to create presentation videos and publish them on Facebook, Vimeo, YouTube, among others. Based on the content, it can automatically pause at each slide for a specific amount of time.

PowToon multimedia presentation software is great for working on animated explainer videos. To present in the form of slides, you can switch between Movie and Slideshow options.

PowToon Features

• Up to 3-30 min HD video
• Royalty-free music and objects
• Aspect ratios and sizes to suit mobile and social media platforms
• Can be published as PPT or PDF
• Integration with Adobe Photoshop, MS PowerPoint, and more

What Users Like

• No tech or design skills needed
• Offers remote work solution
• Privacy control

What Users Don’t Like

• Limited features in free version

PowToon Price to Upgrade: Pricing begins at INR 59 for students.

Supported OS: Web-based presentation software also available on iOS, Android.

• Zoho Show

Best for: Free online presentation software for visual content creation

Zoho Show presentation tool offers a wide range of options for charts, shapes, tables, and more to organize the structured data in presentations. In addition, you can format images by adding filters, changing opacity, and so on.

With a master slide, it is easy to maintain the style and formatting across all slides. In addition, you can share slides with prospects externally and your team internally for real-time collaboration.

Zoho Show Features

• 20+ themes
• Add comments to slide elements
• Online broadcast
• Supports PowerPoint files
• 100+ fonts

What Users Like

• Multilingual support for international teams

What Users Don’t Like

• Lacks offline desktop app

Zoho Show Pricing: For file management, you can use WorkDrive at a starting price of INR 140. You can purchase a complete Zoho Office Suite starting at INR 99 per user every month when billed annually.

Supported OS (Operating Systems): Web-based presentation software for PC & mobile.

• Adobe Spark

Best for: Web and mobile design app

Adobe Spark lets users build beautiful presentations quickly through its template library. Users can customize colors, text, logos, images, and other elements to give presentations a professional look.

They just have to search by different colors, tasks, aesthetics, and more. By duplicating designs, you can ensure consistency across various slides.

Adobe Spark Features

• Customizable templates
• Image library
• GIPHY animated stickers
• Branding options
• Auto resize for different platforms
• Sharing via email, link, social media

What Users Like

• No watermark
• Collaboration tools

What Users Don’t Like

• Should have more customization options

Adobe Spark Price: Pricing starts at INR 733.55 per month.

Supported OS: Presentation software for PC & mobile

• Beautiful.ai

Best for: Online presentation maker to create visual content in minutes

Beautiful.ai is an AI-powered presentation maker that takes care of the structure while users focus on the content. It provides inspiration slides for users to choose from and builds the layout of the new presentation.

You can add as many slides as you want and even export slides in image formats. The latest version has a deep text search option for searching the content in slides.

Beautiful.ai Presentation Features

• Customizable themes
• Smart, customizable templates
• Layout for multi-chart slides
• Real-time collaboration
• Integrates with third-party apps like Dropbox and Slack

What Users Like

• Compatible with MS PowerPoint files
• You can save presentations in Google Drive

What Users Don’t Like

• Limited collaboration options in free version

Price to Upgrade: Pricing starts at INR 881.040 per month when billed annually.

Supported OS: Presentation software for Mac & Windows

• Vyond

Best For: Animation videos for training and marketing

Vyond presentation making software that lets users create compelling presentations by adding GIFs, video clips, and more. Users can even replace the text with an entire presentation video.

It provides several templates, props, stock characters, among others. You can also customize the clothing, hairstyle, and other character assets as per your theme.

Vyond Features

• Color adjustment for props
• Branding options
• Dynamic charts
• 2D Character creator
• Automatic character Lip Sync
• GDPR/CCPA Compliant

What Users Like:

• Ease of use
• Lip sync to audio
• Ability to import assets

What Users Don’t Like:

• Sound over video without mic
• Easier library searches

Vyond Price: It offers a 14-day free trial. Vyond price starts at INR 21953.19 per year for a single user.

Supported OS: Web (Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox)

• Haiku Deck

Best for: Teachers, students

Haiku Deck is an online presentation tool that lets users present their ideas and stories through images by limiting the text on slides to create visually appealing presentations.

You can also search for and embed videos from YouTube. Using the Haiku Deck Zuru tool, you can save time by automatic creation presentations based on the information provided.

Haiku Deck Features

• 40 million+ royalty free images 
• Custom branding
• Audio narration
• PowerPoint add-in for image search
• File download
• Privacy control

What Users Like:

• Easy sharing to connected devices
• Royalty free images and templates

What Users Don’t Like:

• Can’t add more written content where needed
• Customization options could be better

Haiku Deck Pricing: It offers a 7-day free trial. The pricing for the pro version starts at INR 733.156 per month when billed annually for the pro version.

In addition, it is available at a discounted price of INR 366.211 for students, teachers, and non-profit organizations.

Supported OS: Web, iOS

Conclusion

Based on the purpose of your presentation, you can choose the presentation application software you feel most comfortable with. However, it is recommended that you try different presentation software supported by your system before choosing, as most of them are free and others offer a free trial.

Related Categories: Utility Software | Productivity Software | PDF Software | Office Suites