Top 10 Google Slides alternatives
When users need a free tool for building and delivering online presentations, Google Slides is often their go-to choice.
Google Slides certainly has a lot going for it. Its integration with Google Workspace is a bona fide time-saver, letting users import data from Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Drive directly into presentations. And as a cloud-based application, its collaborative features enable multiple users to edit presentations simultaneously and in real time. This makes it ideal for team projects and group assignments.
But for teams that want to build more interactive presentations, Google Slides does have limitations. Its graphic design capabilities are modest — especially compared to dedicated design software — and offer fewer options for customizing animation and slide transitions. The application also has no voice narration and few audience engagement features.
As businesses embed more interactive features into their presentations, users will need more advanced software tools to turn their traditional static presentations into AI-powered, immersive experiences.
Why look for Google Slides alternatives?
Google Slides offers many popular features. But when it comes to building interactive presentations, its tools are limited, driving some users to seek out alternatives. Let’s consider the following strengths and limitations:
Google Slides: Strengths that make it a solid choice
- Free and accessible — Google Slides is a free application that is accessible to anyone with a Google account.
- Real-time collaboration — Team members with a Google account can easily edit presentations and comment on other members’ edits in real time.
- Cloud-based — Since your Google Slides presentations are stored in the cloud, you can access your project from anywhere with an internet connection.
- Integration with Google Workspace — It’s easy to move data from Google apps like Docs, Sheets, and Drive directly into your Google Slides presentation.
- Simple interface — If you’re already familiar with other Google software tools, building presentations with Google Slides is relatively straightforward. Even for new users, the simple interface is easy to learn, enabling non-tech-savvy users to build good online presentations. The system provides great basic presentation tools for teachers, consultants, and marketing teams.
Google Slides: Common limitations that drive alternative searches
- Basic design capabilities — Google Slides’ basic templates and design flexibility limit its usefulness, especially when compared to more specialized and sophisticated software platforms.
- Static presentation format — Although you can embed videos from YouTube or include quizzes and surveys from Google Forms, Google Slides has limited interactive elements compared to other software.
- No voice narration — Google Slides lets you incorporate prerecorded audio files, but it does not have a built-in feature for recording live narration within the slideshow mode.
- Limited customization — Without the same graphic design capabilities of PowerPoint., Google Slides limits your ability to customize animations and transitions.
- No automated delivery — Google Slides projects require manual presentation and a live presenter.
- Lack of advanced analytics — Google Slides offers limited view tracking without engagement insights, making it difficult to know how to improve your online presentations.
- No lead capture integration — You can’t collect audience data during the presentation without integrating with other tools..
- Limited offline functionality — The cloud-based app is useful for collaborative efforts, but it does require an internet connection for full access to its features. This can be an issue if team members work from areas with unreliable connections.
Top 10 Google Slides alternatives
If you need to build more sophisticated and interactive online presentations, consider using an alternative to Google Slides. This next section explores several worthy options..
1. Jotform’s Presentation Agents
For a revolutionary interactive solution, try Jotform’s next-generation AI-powered presentation platform, Jotform Presentation Agents. It transforms static slides into an interactive experience with the help of AI agents.
What are AI Agents? If you’ve ever needed artificial intelligence that can make decisions autonomously on behalf of your company, Jotform’s AI Agents can help you achieve your goals. Turn your traditional online presentation into a guided audio experience with synchronized slide viewing run by customizable AI Agents. Automated delivery allows presentations to run independently without live presenters, letting you reach larger audiences without having to invest in more staff.
AI-powered content creation also lets you build and edit presentations from text prompts. You can upload Google Slides, PowerPoint (PPT), and PDF files and convert them into interactive experiences. Audiences can ask questions during the presentation and receive instant voice responses.
To make sure this voice matches your brand, you can customize your AI’s voice, accent, avatar, and interaction style to reflect your company’s identity. You can even translate your presentation into multiple languages and have your AI answer questions in a user’s preferred language.
If you need to register or collect payments from guests, Jotform has built-in forms for appointments, donations, and payments. Gather feedback in real time through feedback forms and surveys. All this information can be fed through advanced analytics to track slide engagement and user behavior patterns, helping you learn how to make future presentations more engaging.
Best for: Sales teams, corporate trainers, educators, and customer support, or anyone who needs to create scalable, engaging presentations
Industries: Nonprofits, finance companies, marketing firms, and education institutions
Limitations: Although Presentation Agents excel at responding to FAQs, they can struggle with questions that fall outside of their programmed parameters. Make your prompts as specific as possible when generating presentations with AI, highlighting the points and images you want to emphasize.
Plans/Pricing:
Jotform offers multiple pricing plans:
- Starter plan (Free for up to 5 AI agents)
- Bronze plan ($34 per month for 25 AI agents)
- Silver plan ($39 per month for 50 AI agents)
- Gold plan ($99 per month for 100 AI agents)
2. Microsoft PowerPoint
Part of the Microsoft Office suite, Microsoft PowerPoint helps you create slideshows with text, videos, images, audio, charts, and other multimedia elements. Users can build their presentations from pre-designed templates and themes, then customize them with animations and transitions.
Like Google Slides, PowerPoint can be used by multiple users simultaneously, making it ideal for real-time collaboration. Unlike Google Slides, Microsoft PowerPoint is also available as a desktop application, allowing users to work on projects offline as well.
Best for: Educators, healthcare professionals, and marketers that already use the Microsoft Office suite
Industries: Finance teams, academic institutions, and consulting firms
Limitations: Microsoft PowerPoint presentations can rely too heavily on slides and less on audience interaction, reducing engagement. Too much information on individual slides can also cause information overload.
Plans/Pricing:
Microsoft PowerPoint comes in different price plans:
- Free plan (For single user with basic templates and real-time collaboration)
- Microsoft 365 Apps ($8.25 per user per month, for businesses with up to 300 employees; includes desktop version and 1 TB of cloud storage per user)
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard ($12.50 per user per month, for businesses with up to 300 employees; includes desktop, web, and mobile versions and 1 TB of cloud storage per user)
3. Canva
Canva offers pre-designed presentation templates that can be customized with text, images, videos, and music using an easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface. You can create pre-recorded auto-play presentations or standard presentations with a live presenter. Teams can share and collaborate on presentations simultaneously and download presentations in PDF and PPT formats for use on social media and other websites.
Best for: Teams that need visually appealing presentations for outside pitches or internal meetings
Industries: Marketing firms, small businesses, nonprofits, and educational institutions
Limitations: Free versions of Canva provide limited amounts of storage, pushing some users to opt for a paid version instead with greater storage. The free version also offers limited customization options, preventing users from including more complex design elements in their presentations.
Plans/Pricing:
Canva pricing plans include
- Free plan (Limited customization options)
- Canva Pro ($120 per year, for one user)
- Canva Teams ($100 per year per user, for 3 or more users)
- Canva Enterprise (Contact for pricing)
4. Prezi
This web-based presentation software provides a canvas-based approach. With Prezi AI, presenters can zoom in on and pan around images on a single canvas, helping make presentations more dynamic and engaging. These images can include videos and charts, offering a unique way to tell visual stories.
You can build presentations using templates and AI assistance. Customization options allow you to refine text, infographics, and videos, and real-time collaboration features allow multiple users to edit a single presentation.
Best for: Marketers, human resource staff, educators, and students seeking to deliver impactful presentations
Industries: Educational industries, financial services, and marketing companies
Limitations: Prezi’s non-linear approach to presentations comes with a steep learning curve for those accustomed to slide presentations. Some viewers find the constant zooming and panning can induce motion sickness.
Plans/Pricing:
Prezi pricing options include
- Standard plan ($7 per month for personal use)
- Plus plan ($19 per month for design experts)
- Premium plan ($29 per month for business professionals)
- All options come with a 14-day free trial
5. Keynote
Part of the iWork suite, Keynote is a presentation software developed by Apple. It’s known for dynamic themes, background images, animations, and cinematic-style transitions. You can design your Keynote presentation on most Apple devices, including an iMac, MacBook, iPad, or iPhone, and collaborate in real time with your team.
Users can deliver their presentations via webcam or iPhone screens by incorporating live video feeds into their presentations, making remote presentation highly flexible. People also find the interface user-friendly when they need to refine text, images, charts, and other visual elements.
Best for: Businesses that want to create cinematic-style presentations with animation, videos, and music
Industries: Marketing, advertising, software, and educational industries
Limitations: Keynote has no Windows or Android versions, requiring non-Apple users to access Keynote via iCloud. However, iCloud does not provide all the features of the native application.
Plans/Pricing: Keynote is free for Apple users and is included with macOS and iOS.
6. Beautiful.ai
Beautiful.ai simplifies the process of creating workplace presentations by providing smart templates that adapt to whatever content you provide. AI-powered design features automate design choices such as slide layout and image placement, making it easy to build a presentation even with limited experience.
This cloud-based platform enables multiple users to collaborate on a presentation at the same time. Users also have access to a library of images, icons, and videos.
Best for: People without a strong design background and business users that need to create professional-looking presentations quickly
Industries: Startups, sales teams, consulting services, and advertising agencies
Limitations: People who want to build specific visuals in their presentations may find Beautiful.ai’s templates limiting.
Plans/Pricing:
Beautiful.ai has price plans for individuals and teams:
- Pro plan ($12 per month, for individuals; includes unlimited slides, AI content generations, and viewer analytics)
- Team plan ($40 per user per month, for 1–20 people; includes Salesforce integration and priority support)
- Enterprise plan (Contact sales for pricing, for 20+ people; includes unlimited team resources and team trainings)
7. Slidebean
An all-in-one pitch deck software, the Slidebean platform helps startups create presentations to raise money from investors. Using AI pitch deck software, users can build slides, add content, and let the app take care of design elements. The platform allows multiple users to collaborate and provides analytics tools that track views and time spent on each slide, helping you to gauge the effectiveness of your presentation.
Best for: Startups and small to medium businesses seeking to raise funds and attract investors
Industries: IT, marketing, design, and construction industries
Limitations: Slidebean templates offer limited customization options. The app’s AI features also help more with design elements rather than narrative structure, which can be an issue for those who use the presentation to organize their ideas.
Plans/Pricing:
Slidebean offers two pricing models:
- Starter plan ($7 per month; includes self-service access to Slidebean AI pitch deck software, templates, and fundraising tools)
- Accelerate plan ($42 per month; includes everything in the Starter plan, along with personalized advice from Slidebean’s fundraising team)
8. Gamma
Gamma.app states you can build, refine, and customize PowerPoint presentations in under a minute using their AI generator. Users provide text prompts, paste existing content, or upload files, then sit back and let the AI generate a draft. You can customize content with pre-designed templates and use the one-click polish feature to automatically apply design elements.
Best for: Users who want to create presentations quickly with minimal effort (Although Gamma allows for real-time collaboration with editors and designers, its user-friendly interface is made to accommodate those without a lot of design experience.)
Industries: Educational institutions, marketing firms, and sales companies
Limitations: The Gamma AIfree plan provides 400 AI credits at signup which can be used to access AI-powered features for generating presentations. However, once the credits are used up, users cannot access Gamma AI. Gamma AI requires an internet connection to edit presentations.
Plans/Pricing:
Gamma AI offers three pricing options:
- Free plan (Includes access to basic features for creating simple decks and sites)
- Plus plan ($8 per seat per month; includes unlimited AI creation and custom branding)
- Pro plan ($15 per seat per month; includes advanced AI editing and premium AI image generation in addition to Plus features)
- Users can save up to 25 percent with a yearly plan
9. Genially
The Genially platform lets users create interactive presentations without coding skills. You can base your presentation on a pre-designed template or start with a blank canvas. Customization features let you add videos, audio files, web content, or images. Interactive elements include animations and pop-up windows.
Best for: Less tech-savvy content creators and educators that need multimedia and gamification elements to retain audience attention
Industries: Educational institutions and marketing companies
Limitations: Free plans have a Genially watermark on all presentations, requiring teams to purchase plans to remove it.
Plans/Pricing:
Genially has plans for individuals, teams, students, and enterprises:
- Free plan (1000+ free templates for individuals)
- Pro plan ($15 per month; includes premium templates, audio uploads from device, and password protection)
- Master plan ($25 per month per user; includes Brand Kit, team template, and no watermark)
- Author plan ($50 per month per user; includes AI-powered translation and video uploads from device)
- Student Pro plan (discounted price)
- Enterprise plan (Contact sales for pricing; includes unlimited storage and branding links)
10. Zoho Show
Create and collaborate on presentations using Zoho Show’s cloud-based online presentation software. Zoho Show lets you design and customize professional slides, complete with animations, transitions, text, images, charts, and tables. You can also add videos and other media to further engage your audience.
Users can collaborate in real time and import PowerPoint files. The software is compatible on smartphones, desktops, laptops, and tablets, allowing you to build your presentation with remote teams and reach wider audiences.
Best for: Companies already familiar with Zoho applications looking to easily integrate those tools with presentation software
Industries: Real estate firms, education industries, and consultants
Limitations: Zoho Show is web-based and requires an internet connection to build and share presentations. The free plan only allows you to upload files up to 500 MB.
Plans/Pricing:
Zoho Show has two pricing plans:
- Free plan (for individuals)
- Professional plan (Starting at $2.50 per month per user, for teams and organizations)
How Jotform’s Presentation Agents revolutionize the Google Slides alternative space
Today’s audiences expect interactive elements in business presentations, requiring website managers, marketing teams, and business professionals to step up their game if they want to retain their attention. Jotform’s Presentation Agents provide the necessary tools to meet this interactive revolution. Instead of limiting you to static slide decks, Jotform offers new ways to build pitches, proposals, and presentations, which we’ll explore in this next section
Voice-narrated experiences
Each slide provides professional AI narration to guide viewers through your content. You can edit these scripts, making sure that each slide matches your brand and message. In addition, you can choose from multiple voices, accents, and languages to reflect your company’s unique personality.
Real-time audience engagement
Audiences can ask questions and interact with your presentation at any time. The AI agent responds with immediate, context-aware answers using integrated knowledge bases. Audiences can also gain greater clarity by jumping to relevant slides, keeping their focus on your content.
Automated scalability
Connect with new audiences and reach thousands of viewers by leveraging the power of AI. Automated presentations are available 24-7 and don’t require live presenters. And since each presentation offers consistent delivery, you’ll provide audiences with the same quality every time.
AI-powered content creation vs manual slide building
Bypass traditional manual slide building with AI-powered content creation. Other software platforms offer limited design templates and customization options, requiring staff with design skills and time-intensive content development to achieve professional results. With Presentation Agents, you can use AI to carry some of this load, building custom presentations from your own specifications.
AI-powered approach
Use Jotform Presentation Agents to instantly create visually appealing slides with appropriate layouts based on simple text prompts. Advanced customization options provide you with full editing control, allowing you to modify generated content, regenerate slides, and adjust styles to match your company’s brand guidelines.
Business impact and return on investment (ROI) for sales teams
Reach broader audiences with more effective presentations for a lower cost. Jotform’s Presentation Agents let you scale presentation delivery by embedding your content on websites, sharing presentations via email, or including them in your ad campaigns. And since AI delivers the content, you won’t have to hire additional sales staff.
Built-in forms capture contact information and schedule follow-ups with new leads. At the same time, analytics tools can analyze which slides resonate best with prospects, allowing you to improve future presentations.
Training and education
Companies and schools can use Presentation Agents to enhance training and education. Automated presentations allow employees and students to learn at their own pace, while interactive AI support increases clarity by providing immediate answers. Multilingual delivery allows students and workers to consume content in their preferred languages, and engagement analytics track completion rates to identify areas that need improvement, enhancing the overall training program effectiveness.
Customer support
Interactive presentations provide every customer with the same accurate, up-to-date information in the form of product tutorials and troubleshooting guides. In addition, AI-powered narration can offer automatic answers to common questions, reducing ticket volume for human customer support reps.
Feature comparison: Google Slides vs top alternatives
When looking for the best Google Slides alternative, it helps to take a close look at the features offered by each option. Most companies focus on three areas when examining Google Slides competitors: templates, content generation, and multilingual support. Here’s how they all stack up:
Google Slides
- Templates: Visual presentations for sales pitches, lesson plans, and reports
- Content generation: Requires integration with Gemini AI to generate images, text, and slides
- Multilingual support: No built-in instant text translation
Jotform Presentation Agents
- Templates: AI-powered options for sales, healthcare, brand presentation, and more
- Content generation: Can transform ideas and existing content into slide decks and interactive, narrated presentations
- Multilingual support: Automatically narrates and responds in supported languages
Microsoft PowerPoint
- Templates: Marketing plans, sales strategy, company overview, etc.
- Content generation: Microsoft Copilot generates drafts from prompts and existing documents
- Multilingual support: Provides text translation and real-time subtitles; Presentation Translator add-in offers live translation
Beautiful.ai
- Templates: Customizable smart slide options for timelines, flowcharts, brand positioning, etc.
- Content generation: AI generates text, images, and presentation decks from prompts
- Multilingual support: AI assistant translates text on slides
Keynote
- Templates: Business proposals, annual reports, pitch decks, etc.
- Content generation: Apple Intelligence can rewrite or compose new text for slides
- Multilingual support: Can translate presentation text to match locale; no built-in real time translation
Genially
- Templates: Presentations, infographics, quizzes, games, etc.
- Content generation: AI can generate images, convert text to speech, edit text, and suggest questions and answers for quizzes
- Multilingual support: AI voiceover feature can generate audio narration in 20+ languages
Zoho Show
- Templates: Pitch decks, sales, HR, education, etc.
- Content generation: OpenAI integration can generate text and image content from prompts
- Multilingual support: Viewers can click on the translation icon on published presentations to display the presentation in multiple languages
Gamma
- Templates: Pitch decks, proposals, sales presentations, etc.
- Content generation: Gamma AI can generate drafts from topics and ideas
- Multilingual support: Gamma AI can translate entire presentations into multiple languages
Slidebean
- Templates: 150+ free templates for pitch decks, proposals, etc.
- Content generation: AI tools automate design and help structure existing content
- Multilingual support: No built-in automatic translation feature; requires a third-party translator
Canva
- Templates: Pitch decks, proposals, business plans, and more
- Content generation: AI-powered writing assistant Magic Write can generate text content; Magic Media AI tool can translate text descriptions into images and videos
- Multilingual support: Built-in AI Canva Translate tool automatically translates presentation text into over 100 languages
Prezi
- Templates: Sales presentations, budget presentations, social media strategy presentations, and more
- Content generation: Prezi AI can generate text for presentation slides with a prompt
- Multilingual support: Prezi AI can generate subtitles for Prezi videos in supported languages but cannot automatically translate an existing presentation into another language
Use case scenarios: When to choose an alternative
Google Slides remains a good choice for companies that need free, basic presentation software and don’t require advanced design or interactive features. Large teams looking for a cloud-based application to assist in real-time collaboration and editing will find Google Slides a useful tool for creating traditional presentations.
However, if you want to provide your audience with large-scale interactive experiences that don’t rely on live presenters, Jotform’s Presentation Agents provide the tools you need. AI-powered agents can present your content to audiences across multiple time zones and in different languages, offering immediate answers to questions all while nurturing more leads.
Jotform’s built-in forms can collect data during presentations, helping you improve your content while building your clientele. All this comes without the need for investment in a bigger staff, improving the effectiveness of your sales, training, education, and customer service departments.
Choosing an effective alternative to Google Slides
While Google Slides continues to offer a solid platform for collaborating on basic presentations, companies may need to invest in more sophisticated software tools as their audiences demand more interactive, engaging experiences.
Jotform’s Presentation Agents are an excellent next-generation solution for companies that want the accessibility of Google Slides with the upgraded capability for more dynamic business presentations. Just import any Google Slides presentation into Jotform’s Presentation Agent with a public URL and enhance the existing slides with AI-powered features such as customizable voice narration and interactive Q&A sessions. This allows you to scale up your presentation without investing in additional staff.Although other companies offer advanced digital tools, Jotform is great for companies already familiar with Google Slides. They can still use Google Slides for basic collaboration, but with the added AI power of Presentation Agents, they can improve engagement and generate measurable business results as well. Visit Jotform today and discover all the ways our AI Agents can improve your existing presentations.
This article is for website operators, content managers, marketing teams, educators, and business professionals who want to enhance their presentations with more interactive, engaging, and scalable alternatives to Google Slides.
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