Simply imagining Microsoft PowerPoint to be the ‘Almighty’ as far as creating presentations is concerned, is reason enough for you to read through our list of the five best PowerPoint alternatives. On a more serious note, the increasing appeal for cloud-based technologies has brought many online presentation systems and other alternatives out in the open. So there’s really no reason why you should be turning your back on them. And while there’s no denying that Microsoft PowerPoint has set a benchmark for itself in this terrain, learning about a handful of new options (we promise) wouldn’t hurt. Here’s a list of PowerPoint alternatives you may want to know of:
– Google Docs:
In case you haven’t noticed, Google’s free web-based tool, Google Docs includes a handy presentation creation option too. The robust yet simple program bundles in all that you would need for building collaborative presentations. The ability to share and edit features while on the web is obviously an added perk. What we like most about Google Docs is that collaboration with team members simply requires you to send out an invitation restricting them to viewing or editing functions as required.
This allows changes to be incorporated and reflected immediately, reducing the overall wait time in a particular project. You can pick from a range of compelling themes, rich animations and customized drawings for slides. The application’s seamless transitions and embedding capabilities should let you make an impression minus any hassles. With the tool, meeting deadlines is also taken care of, since you can access the presentation from anywhere.
Price: Free
– SlideRocket:
Next in our list of PowerPoint alternatives is SlideRocket which again is a web-based application. Unlike Google Docs though, it isn’t a Microsoft PowerPoint clone. We give it a thumbs-up for the incorporated user interface which is neat and fully featured. The presentation builder is loaded with premium design tools that make for visually-appealing slideshows in minimum time. Besides being able to create presentations, there are loads of options within the program to manage them. You can edit, share and collaborate with peers while also reviewing analytics for user interaction.
The ability to include videos and audio content together with third-party integration like Flickr or YouTube is another advantage of this software. Those working in teams will particularly find the ability to store images and other media to be moved around various presentations useful. The fact that data can be pulled in real-time and embedded in a slide further gives this program an upper hand. Offering a new way to present, the software includes a handful of security settings for protection of data as well.
Price: Lite Version is free while Pro version starts at $24.
– Prezi:
A step away from your conventional presentation-making tools, Prezi lets you put your creative skills to best use. The software includes web-based tools that function from one canvas where the elements are to be inserted, instead of a range of conventional slides. Literally taking a peek into your mind, the application lets you pan left or right while also being able to zoom-in or zoom-out on any detail. It supports both online and offline presentation.
Importing media like images, videos or PDFs is another function that’s effortlessly handled by Prezi. Whether you wish to collaborate across time zones or simply another room, the tool seems to know it all. As far as templates and themes are concerned, there’s no dearth of personalization options included. The visual treat extends to a helping hand for frames and paths too.
Price: Basic version is free while paid editions start at $59 for a year.
Zoho Show 2.0 is on our countdown of PowerPoint alternatives for many reasons. The first being that its easy usability means it can be widely employed by people from all fields – right from a professional to a student. It’s loaded with a multitude of pre-built themes, shapes and clipart that can be added through simple drag-and-drop functionality. And if you must really know what we love about this software the most – it’s the fact that it supports remote presentations. This translates to holding demos for a client who may be across the globe right from the comforts of your office.
Don’t mistake Zoho Show to be your average desktop presentation maker. Well, not only does it allow presentations to be accessed from anywhere, but also simplifies the task of importing, editing and sharing. Sharing and collaboration is possible from within a browser with this tool at hand while you can also have a presentation embedded in any website or blog by making it public.
Price: Free
– Impress:
Adding power to presentations is OpenOffice’s very own Impress tool. Empowering you to build effective multimedia slides, you can take advantage of features like special effects, 2D and 3D clip art, animation and impactful drawing tools. Preparing content is time-saving with Master Pages while easy download of templates is possible from the company’s Extensions repository. Impress gets further brownie points for the comprehensive views it supports, meeting perpetually every need of not just the presenter but also the audience.
Lending a helping hand to multiple monitors, you get single-click access to most commonly used drawing tools too with the ‘Park’ feature. Allowing you to save presentations in an OpenDocument format lets you lay hands on your files through any compliant software. We’re giving the software’s integrated ability to tailor Flash versions of presentations a thumbs-up too.
Price: Free
If you still aren’t over PowerPoint yet, our lineup of the 5 best PowerPoint alternatives should help you make a better choice. Obviously being different isn’t the only thing that appears to be working for them. Sharing abilities, extensive integration and a truckload of interesting features are a few other things that may talk you into giving them a hands-on. Go figure out!