LibreOffice 25.8: New features
By LibreOffice - The Document Foundation ·
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Google Slides Alternatives 2026: 6 Free Options
Google Slides alternatives: Microsoft PowerPoint, LibreOffice, ONLYOFFICE, Canva and 2 more. Prices and licenses checked October 23, 2026.
•4 min read•Office, Docs & Presentations
Verdict:Google Slides is free and good enough for most decks, so leave only for a concrete reason. The usual ones are privacy, since files sit with Google, offline needs, or a client who wants .pptx files that behave exactly like PowerPoint ones. If you want to stay in a browser with a better look, Pitch gives you a free plan with unlimited presentations and a smoother template library. Canva is better if visuals drive the deck. ONLYOFFICE is the choice for a team that wants real-time editing but on its own server: the editor is AGPL-3.0 and free to self-host, while the hosted cloud plan starts at $20 per admin a month. LibreOffice Impress works without an account or internet and opens PowerPoint files, though it has no built-in collaboration. PowerPoint's web version is free with a Microsoft account, per third-party reports, and has richer animation and design controls. Slidev gives developers Markdown slides that can be reviewed in a pull request. The trade-off is sharing. Google Slides lets anyone with a link comment or edit with no installation, and none of these match that frictionless default. If you mainly present to people on Google or in schools, stay. Move to ONLYOFFICE or LibreOffice for control, and to Pitch or Canva for better-looking decks.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft PowerPoint | Free (Free web version with a Microsoft account (reported by third-party reviews; the official page was not readable)) | Windows, macOS, Web, iOS, Android | Heavier design and animation | Docs only |
| LibreOffice | Free (download and use at no cost per its site) | Windows, macOS, Linux | Offline, no account | Docs only |
| ONLYOFFICE | Free (Startup cloud plan with up to 3 admins, unlimited users and guests, 12 rooms and 2 GB of storage); paid from $20 per admin/month (Business cloud plan; only admins are paid) | Web, Self-hosted, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android | Self-hosted collaboration | Docs only |
| Canva | Free (Free plan available; see the pricing page for its current limits) | Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | Visual decks from templates | Docs only |
| Pitch | Free (Free plan: unlimited presentations, 100 one-time AI credits); paid from EUR 10 per month, billed yearly (Plus) | Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android | Modern team decks | Docs only |
| Slidev | Free (Free and open source; slides are written in Markdown and run on Node.js) | Web, Windows, macOS, Linux | Slides as code | Docs only |
| Gamma | Free (Free plan with a one-time allotment of 400 AI credits (Gamma help center)); paid from $8 per user/month, billed annually (Plus; $10 billed monthly) | Web | Presentation | Docs only |
| Visme | Free (Free plan: 500 MB storage, 50 slides per project, JPG/PNG/PDF downloads, 10 AI credits per month); paid from $12.25 per person/month, Starter, billed annually ($147 per year) | Web | Presentation | Docs only |
| Beautiful.ai | Paid from $14.5 per month, billed annually (Pro) | Web | Presentation | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
See the tools in action
Explore the interface and watch a workflow before choosing.
Good fit if
- You need richer animation and design controls (Microsoft PowerPoint is the pick)
- You want to keep files off Google and self-host (ONLYOFFICE is the pick)
- You want offline editing with no account (LibreOffice is the pick)
- You care about visual templates (Canva is the pick)
- Your team wants a modern shared deck tool (Pitch is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Google Slides features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Google Slides today: Free (Free for anyone with a Google account (storage counts against the account quota)) (Google Slides pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Why people look for Google Slides alternatives
Teams that use Slides through a business domain pay for Google Workspace. The pricing page lists Starter at $7 per user per month with 30 GB of pooled storage, Standard at $14 with 2 TB per user, and Plus at $22, with no free Workspace plan, only a 14-day trial. Gemini in Slides is not included on Starter. The free version for personal accounts shares its storage quota with the rest of the Google account.
Microsoft PowerPoint
Compared with Google Slides: Free web version with a Microsoft account per third-party reports; desktop needs Microsoft 365. Richer animation and design tools than Google Slides, but sharing is clunkier outside Microsoft's ecosystem.
Price: Free (Free web version with a Microsoft account (reported by third-party reviews; the official page was not readable)) (Microsoft PowerPoint pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, Web, iOS, Android. Proprietary.
Best for: Heavier design and animation.
LibreOffice
Compared with Google Slides: Impress is free, MPL-2.0 and works offline, unlike Google Slides' browser model. No built-in live collaboration, and templates are plainer.
Price: Free (download and use at no cost per its site) (LibreOffice pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, Linux. MPL-2.0 (open source).
Best for: Offline, no account.
Worth knowing: Desktop suite of Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Base and Math; it has no built-in cloud storage or email.
ONLYOFFICE
Compared with Google Slides: Presentation editor with co-editing on a self-hosted AGPL-3.0 server, free to run. Keeps your files off Google's servers, though setup is on you and paid cloud starts at $20 per admin a month.
Price: Free (Startup cloud plan with up to 3 admins, unlimited users and guests, 12 rooms and 2 GB of storage); paid from $20 per admin/month (Business cloud plan; only admins are paid) (ONLYOFFICE pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android. AGPL-3.0 (Docs server) (open source).
Project activity: 7.1k GitHub stars · latest release v10.0.0 (Oct 12, 2026) · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Best for: Self-hosted collaboration.
Canva
Compared with Google Slides: Free plan with a big template library and easy sharing. Better visual starting points than Google Slides, weaker for text-heavy or data-heavy decks.
Price: Free (Free plan available; see the pricing page for its current limits) (Canva pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android. Proprietary.
Best for: Visual decks from templates.
Pitch
Compared with Google Slides: Free plan with unlimited presentations and 100 one-time AI credits; Plus is EUR 10 a month yearly. Collaboration feels closer to Slides but with better templates.
Price: Free (Free plan: unlimited presentations, 100 one-time AI credits); paid from EUR 10 per month, billed yearly (Plus) (Pitch pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android. Proprietary.
Best for: Modern team decks.
Slidev
Compared with Google Slides: MIT, Markdown slides, free. Nothing like Google Slides' point-and-click, and it needs Node.js, but your slides live in Git.
Price: Free (Free and open source; slides are written in Markdown and run on Node.js) (Slidev pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web, Windows, macOS, Linux. MIT (open source).
Project activity: 49.2k GitHub stars · latest release v53.0.0 (Sep 16, 2026) · last commit Oct 23, 2026
Best for: Slides as code.
Worth knowing: Developer-oriented: slides are written in Markdown and served from a local dev server, so it needs Node.js.
Other popular options (paid)
Gamma
Compared with Google Slides: Free plan starts with a one-time 400 AI credits, and Plus is $8 per user monthly billed annually. It is built around AI-generated presentations, so the workflow differs from editing slides by hand in Google Slides.
Price: Free (Free plan with a one-time allotment of 400 AI credits (Gamma help center)); paid from $8 per user/month, billed annually (Plus; $10 billed monthly) (Gamma pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Visme
Compared with Google Slides: Free plan gives 500 MB storage, 50 slides per project and JPG, PNG or PDF downloads; Starter is $12.25 per person monthly billed annually. Google Slides is free with a Google account, so Visme is a paid step up.
Price: Free (Free plan: 500 MB storage, 50 slides per project, JPG/PNG/PDF downloads, 10 AI credits per month); paid from $12.25 per person/month, Starter, billed annually ($147 per year) (Visme pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Beautiful.ai
Compared with Google Slides: Pro is $14.50 per month billed annually, and the pricing page mentions free plans only for students. Google Slides costs nothing with a Google account, so Beautiful.ai is a deliberate paid switch.
Price: Paid from $14.5 per month, billed annually (Pro) (Beautiful.ai pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Which one to pick
- You need richer animation and design controls: Microsoft PowerPoint
- You want to keep files off Google and self-host: ONLYOFFICE
- You want offline editing with no account: LibreOffice
- You care about visual templates: Canva
- Your team wants a modern shared deck tool: Pitch
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Microsoft PowerPoint, LibreOffice, ONLYOFFICE, Canva, Pitch, Slidev: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Google Slides. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
More in Office, Docs & Presentations
All Office, Docs & Presentations alternatives →Sources
- Google Slides pricing
- Google Slides (more detail)
- Microsoft PowerPoint pricing
- Microsoft PowerPoint (more detail)
- LibreOffice pricing
- LibreOffice (more detail)
- ONLYOFFICE pricing
- ONLYOFFICE license
- Canva pricing
- Pitch pricing
- Slidev pricing
- Slidev license
- Slidev GitHub repository
- Gamma pricing
- Gamma (more detail)
- Visme pricing
- Beautiful.ai pricing
Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-23: Google Slides, Microsoft PowerPoint, LibreOffice, ONLYOFFICE, Canva, Pitch, Slidev, Gamma, Visme, Beautiful.ai. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.