4 free alternatives to PowerPoint

Whether for work or school, whenever we need to make a presentation, we often rely on the crutch that is Microsoft PowerPoint.

While PowerPoint is a great tool in the Microsoft Office Suite, we can’t help but think that it has gotten dull. Given the sheer amount of PowerPoint presentations we have all seen, whatever presentation we create just comes off as uninspired. 

Luckily, there are alternatives to PowerPoint that are free! We found some of our favorites. If you’re looking to spice up your next board meeting or your next presentation for class, these are all good options.

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Alternatives to PowerPoint

Prezi

At about a decade old, Prezi is pretty well-known in the world of creating presentations.

To put it simply, Prezi makes your presentations look dynamic. It allows you to take a non-linear approach to your presentation so that you can jump in at any point.

Instead of your presentation being a straight line, Prezi makes it a spiderweb that you can journey through however you’d like.

PROS

1. It highlights the content very well.

2. It grabs your attention.

Cons

1. Expect to make a long presentation that will take a long time to make. If you were planning on just making around five slides, Prezi probably isn’t for you.

2. There is a learning curve. Watch others use it before you jump in to avoid headaches.

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Google Slides

Yeah yeah yeah, Google has everything. Seriously though, if you don’t want to spend the dough on PowerPoint, Google Slides is basically the same thing, but it’s free. 

If you can work your way through a PowerPoint, you can work your way through Google Slides with no problem. To make things even better, you can also upload it right to Google Drive or Google Docs. 

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Microsoft Sway

We’re swapping one Microsoft product for another!

Sway is not PowerPoint by any means. You do not get some of the same functions you get with PowerPoint, so, for some, it can be a limiting experience. Then again, how often do you REALLY use all of the tools in PowerPoint’s toolbelt?

You can use Sway on both mobile and desktop. To make things even better, the presentation you create will stay in the cloud, so you don’t have to carry a USB around with you anymore.

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PowToon

A big hurdle we all have to jump with our presentation is trying to figure out how to make it not boring. All of our hard work culminates into the presentation, so we want to make sure that our audience is going to pay attention. How do you make sure they listen? Add cartoons, of course!

PowToon adds comic characters and animations to make our presentations pop! It does a good job of keeping the tone of your presentation lighthearted, but still professional.

This obviously not the right format for every presentation. If you’re giving a presentation about something serious, you probably should avoid using PowToon. However, your average college presentation or work presentation could benefit from PowToon! 

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Wrapping up

If you’re looking for basically a free version of PowerPoint, Microsoft Sway and Google Slides are going to essentially give you just that. However, if you are looking to go beyond what PowerPoint offers, PowToon and Prezi are top-shelf presentation tools.

Regardless of whichever program you choose, just remember that there is a world beyond Microsoft PowerPoint!