Presentation Software: a list of 30 tools and the best 10 for us
Table of Contents
Presentation Software: introduction
Presentation software are useful tools if you need tell your story, translate your data and talk about your goals by creating and sharing engaging and impactful presentations, which make visual communication a tool to reach the public in a simple and direct way.
There is also a relevant presentation software trend to be considered that is linked to artificial intelligence. AI is in fact fuelling presentations! Preparing a polished, professional presentation in a limited time can be challenging and AI driven presentation tools can learn the requirements of a user and automatically apply design rules to build impactful presentation slides. For instance, Design AI by Beautiful.AI, one of the tools in our shortlist below, can visualize users’ ideas and design slides accordingly.
Are you looking for a tool to create your business presentations? Are you afraid that your budget is not enough? Do not worry, in this article we will provide you with a selection of 30 presentation software, which are accessible on a low budget or for free, and we will analyse in detail what we believe are the best 10.
What are presentation software, and which are the benefits?
Presentation software helps people create and conduct presentations.
They help users capture required information in slides and present them to an audience, quickly and easily, because they offer a lot of templates. Usually, you can add information in the form of text, images, audio, videos, and graphs.
Presentation software also helps users express themselves creatively and concisely, increasing audience engagement and improving collaboration and sharing of content.
There are some typical features of presentation software, such as:
- Media library: you can select items such as icons, images, graphics, and files from the repository and include them in a presentation.
- Animations and transitions: you can add transition schemes to define how a slide progresses to the next automatically, and even apply animations to text and objects.
- Audio and video content: you can embed audio/video elements into slides.
- Customizable templates: you can create templates with customized layouts, colors, fonts, effects, and background styles, and save templates for future use and repurpose formatting as required.
- Offline presentations: you can share presentations with audience in offline mode.
Most products in the market are priced on a “per month” basis at a starting price of $7 – $15+, but you can also get them for free.
There are some considerations to do when purchasing presentation software:
- Double check file formats and device support: presentation software generally allows to insert images, audio, and video, but you should always remember to double-check the types of supported hardware and the type of supported files too and select a solution that supports a broad range of formats.
- Analyse suitability and cost: simple versions of presentation software may be available for free, with solutions increasing in price based on the number and complexity of features and customizations offered.
- Evaluate the engagement that the presentation can generate: the purpose of presenting information in visual and graphical form using presentation software is to increase its impact for the audience.
The best 10 presentation software
If your goal is to engage your audience and make your business stand out through eye-catching visual communication, what you need is a great presentation software that meets your needs. Let’s see in detail what, in our opinion, are the best 10 on the market.
Beautiful.ai
Beautiful.AI is an easy and fast AI-powered presentation software suitable for anyone, with which you can build clean, modern, and professionally designed slides.
This tool is revolutionizing how people build beautiful visual documents thanks to its AI design that empowers anyone to build presentations in few minutes. It has over 70 smart slide templates and you can add content to your slide that automatically adapts.
Advantages
- Email assistance
- Available for Windows and Mac
- Training with documentation
- Artificial Intelligence
- Customizable branding
- Presentation processing even offline
- Video support
- Customizable templates
- Multimedia library
- Animations
- Reporting and analysis
- Content and audio file management
- Import and export of data
- Collaborative tools
Pricing
Beautiful.ai has a free trial, a free version and two paid plans:
- Pro: $15 per month or $144 per year
- Team: $46 per month or $456 per year
Canva
Canva is a well–known and used graphic design tool. Among the many features offered, it allows you to create effective and impactful presentations without requiring any level of experience, thanks to the intuitive interface and ease of use.
Advantages
- Chat and email assistance
- Available for Windows, Mac, and mobile devices
- Training with webinars and videos
- Customizable branding
- Digital watermarking
- Customizable fonts
- Content management
- Project management
- Import and export of contents
- Content library
- Design templates
- Presentation tools
- Collaborative tools
- Video editing
Pricing
Canva has a free trial, a free version and two paid plans:
- Pro: €9.16 per month
- Enterprise: pricing needs to be requested
If you want to know more, please read also: Graphic design: Canva, the best tool for everyone.
Google Slides
Google Slides is an excellent presentation software, obviously provided by Google. It allows you to create, edit and customize your presentations, providing you with features such as animations, themes, fonts and videos.
Advantages
- Direct assistance 24/7 via chat
- Available for Windows, Mac, and mobile devices
- Training with documentation
- Screen sharing
- Preparation of presentations even offline
- Video support
- Animations
- 3D objects
- Customizable templates
- Collaborative tools
Pricing
Google Slides is totally free.
Mentimeter
Mentimer is a presentation software that is suitable for any type of business. It provides many easy-to-use tools that allow you to make your presentations interactive, engaging and fun.
Advantages
- Assistance via chat, email, and phone
- Available for Windows, Mac, and mobile devices
- Training with documentation, videos, webinars and live online
- Customizable branding
- Animations
- Interactive content
- Preparation of presentations even offline
- Content and audio file management
- Screen sharing
- Import and export of data
- Image, multimedia, and content library
- Customizable templates
- Presentation streaming
- Collaborative tools
- Video support
Pricing
Mentimeter has a free trial, a free version and three paid plans:
- Basic: $9.99 per month
- Pro: $24.99 per month
- Enterprise: pricing needs to be requested
Microsoft Power Point
Microsoft Power Point is perhaps the best known and most used presentation software in the world. For years, it has allowed businesses of all sizes and sectors to create, edit and share company presentations in a simple but professional and effective way.
Advantages
- Assistance via chat, email, and phone
- Available for Windows, Mac, and mobile devices
- Video training
- Animations
- 3D objects
- Video support
- Management of templates and audio files
- Image editing
- Processing of presentations even offline
- Creation of charts
- Multimedia library
- Customizable templates
- Collaborative tools
Pricing
Microsoft Power Point has a free trial and is supplied with the Microsoft 365 package, available for purchase at a starting price of £ 59.99 per year for the home version, and a starting price of £ 45.60 per year for the Business version.
Piktochart
Piktochart is a presentation management tool that helps teams of all sizes and companies in all industries to create, edit and customize infographics, templates, digital assets and, of course, corporate presentations.
Advantages
- Chat and email assistance
- Available for Windows, Mac, and Chromebook
- Training with documentation, videos, webinars, live online and in person
- Customizable branding
- Image editing
- Customizable fonts
- Preview functionality
- Library and content management
- Interactive content
- Design templates
- Collaborative tools
- Presentation tools
Pricing
Piktochart has a free trial, a free version and two paid plans:
- Pro: $24 per month or $168 per year
- Enterprise: pricing needs to be requested
Prezi
Prezi is a great solution for business presentations. With this tool you will be able to put your hands to a dynamic and versatile format that will allow you to move easily between the various topics and adapt them to highlight what interests your audience most, preferring a type of communication known as conversational presentation.
Advantages
- Assistance via chat, email, and phone
- Available for Windows, Mac, and mobile devices
- Training with documentation, videos, webinars, live online and in person
- Customizable branding
- Animations
- Offline presentation processing
- Creation of charts
- Management and customization of templates
- Import and export of data
- Multimedia library
- Collaborative tools
- Video support
Pricing
Prezi has a free trial. Pricing needs to be requested for paid plans.
Renderforest
Renderforest is an all-in-one branding platform, known and chosen by its users mainly for creating videos. Thanks to its ease of use and the wide range of templates, fonts, graphics and playlists, you will be able to create engaging, captivating and impactful presentations.
Advantages
- Direct assistance 24/7 via email and telephone
- Available for Windows, Mac, and mobile devices
- Training with documentation
- API
- Customizable branding
- Video creation
- Management and customization of templates
- Multimedia library
- Video streaming
- Collaborative tools
- Video support
Pricing
Renderforest has a free version and four paid plans:
- Lite: €4.99 per month
- Amateur: €8.99 per month
- Pro: €17.99 per month
- Agency: €49.99 per month
This tool also allows you to pay for the export of individual products, without requiring any subscription. In this case, the price range changes according to the type of product, quality and quantity and has a starting base of €4.99, up to €39.99.
Slides
Slides is an emerging presentation software that is getting noticed for its modern approach, the easy-to-use editor, and the ability to present your slides in a fluid and engaging way. Furthermore, this tool allows teams to work on the same project in complete safety with the Slides for Teams version.
Advantages
- Chat assistance
- Available for Windows and Mac
- Training with documentation
- Screen sharing
- Customizable templates
- Animations
- 3D objects
- Multimedia library
- Video support
- Preparation of presentations even offline
- Collaborative tools
Pricing
Slides has a free trial, a free version and four paid plans:
- Lite: $7 per month or $60 per year
- Pro: $14 per month or $120 per year
- Team: $28 per month or $240 per year
- Custom: pricing needs to be requested
Visme
Visme is a well-known and appreciated presentation software, chosen by over 1.7 million users. This tool promises to build the reputation that your business deserves thanks to a professional, dynamic, engaging and fun approach with which you can create engaging and never boring presentations.
Advantages
- Direct assistance 24/7 via chat, email, and telephone
- Available for Windows and Mac
- Training with documentation, videos, webinars and live online
- Image and video editing
- Content management
- Multimedia library
- Presentation tools
- Monitoring of engagement
- Collaborative tools
Pricing
Visme has a free trial, a free version and three paid plans:
- Personal: $25 per month or $180 per year
- Business: $49 per month or $348 per year
- Enterprise: pricing needs to be requested
Presentation Software: the full list
If you are not satisfied with our shortlist, please give a look at our full list below to find out the right tool for you!
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Presentation Software: conclusions
Presentation software are essential to give voice to your business and attract your audience, therefore choosing the right tool is a fundamental aspect. With this article we hope to have provided you with all the information you need to take the right path!
Be curious! Do not limit yourself and do not stop at our proposal of tools! Check out our article Software Discovery platforms: the top 9 for us to find the one that best suits your needs.