LibreOffice 25.8: New features
By LibreOffice - The Document Foundation ·
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Best Open-Source Presentation Software 2026: 6 Options Compared
Best open-source Presentation Software compared: LibreOffice, ONLYOFFICE, Slidev, reveal.js and 2 more, with licenses, platforms and prices from official pages checked October 24, 2026.
•3 min read•Office, Docs & Presentations
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LibreOffice | Free (download and use at no cost per its site) | Windows, macOS, Linux | Traditional slide decks | 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 | Teams co-editing .pptx files | Docs only |
| Slidev | Free (Free and open source; slides are written in Markdown and run on Node.js) | Web, Windows, macOS, Linux | Technical talks | Docs only |
| reveal.js | Free (Free and open source HTML presentation framework) | Web browser | Web-based decks | Docs only |
| Marp | Free (Free and open source Markdown presentation ecosystem) | Desktop, Command line, VS Code | Fast Markdown-to-PDF slides | Docs only |
| Quarto | Free (Free and open source publishing system) | Command line | Slides sharing code with reports | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
See the tools in action
Images from the linked documentation. Versions and features may differ from current plans.
LibreOffice Impress — official interface example
The Document Foundation · Source · CC BY-SA 3.0
Good fit if
- Colleagues send and expect .pptx files (LibreOffice is the pick)
- You give developer talks with code on slides (Slidev is the pick)
- You want a deck in Markdown exported to PDF quickly (Marp is the pick)
- You want a fully customisable HTML deck (reveal.js is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You cannot host, patch and back up a server yourself and want a vendor to run it
Open-source presentation tools fall into two styles. Traditional slide editors, LibreOffice Impress and ONLYOFFICE Presentation Editor, behave like PowerPoint: you drag boxes around, pick themes and export. Code-driven tools, Slidev, reveal.js, Marp and Quarto, treat slides as text. You write Markdown or HTML, and the tool turns it into a deck that runs in a browser or exports to PDF. Text-based decks are version-controlled, easy to diff and hard to break, which developers and teachers like; they are less comfortable for people who want to place a diagram by dragging. Slidev leans on Vue components and live code, reveal.js is an HTML framework with a large plugin and theme ecosystem, Marp is built around plain Markdown with a VS Code extension and command-line tool, and Quarto publishes slides from the same document that creates reports. Pick Impress if colleagues expect .pptx files, since compatibility is imperfect but workable. Pick reveal.js or Slidev for technical talks, and Marp for the quickest path from Markdown to PDF. The cost is learning a syntax. Licences below come from the projects' repositories as of the check date; no decks were exported for this comparison.
LibreOffice
MPL-2.0 desktop suite whose Impress tool is the direct PowerPoint substitute. Opens .pptx but animations and fonts may shift.
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) (license source).
Best for: Traditional slide decks.
Worth knowing: Desktop suite of Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Base and Math; it has no built-in cloud storage or email.
ONLYOFFICE
AGPL-3.0 server with a presentation editor and strong Microsoft-format handling. Startup cloud plan has 12 rooms and 2 GB of storage.
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) (license source).
Project activity: 7.1k GitHub stars · latest release v10.0.0 (Oct 12, 2026) · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Best for: Teams co-editing .pptx files.
Slidev
MIT, free, Markdown-based slides that run on Node.js with Vue components and live code. Built for developers.
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) (license source).
Project activity: 49.2k GitHub stars · latest release v53.0.0 (Sep 16, 2026) · last commit Oct 23, 2026
Best for: Technical talks.
Worth knowing: Developer-oriented: slides are written in Markdown and served from a local dev server, so it needs Node.js.
reveal.js
MIT HTML presentation framework for creating presentations in a browser for free. Large ecosystem; the same authors run a paid editor, Slides.com.
Price: Free (Free and open source HTML presentation framework) (reveal.js pricing, checked 2026-10-24).
Platforms and license: Web browser. MIT (open source) (license source).
Project activity: 72.5k GitHub stars · latest release 6.0.2 (Sep 10, 2026) · last commit Sep 30, 2026
Best for: Web-based decks.
Marp
MIT Markdown presentation ecosystem. Write slides in plain Markdown and export with its tools; a CLI is available.
Price: Free (Free and open source Markdown presentation ecosystem) (Marp pricing, checked 2026-10-24).
Platforms and license: Desktop, Command line, VS Code. MIT (open source) (license source).
Project activity: 12.7k GitHub stars · last commit Jul 29, 2026
Best for: Fast Markdown-to-PDF slides.
Quarto
MIT publishing system from Posit. Presentation output was not confirmed from the README, so check its docs before relying on it.
Price: Free (Free and open source publishing system) (Quarto pricing, checked 2026-10-24).
Platforms and license: Command line. MIT (open source) (license source).
Project activity: 6.1k GitHub stars · latest release v1.10.19 (Oct 6, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Slides sharing code with reports.
Which one to pick
- Colleagues send and expect .pptx files: LibreOffice
- You give developer talks with code on slides: Slidev
- You want a deck in Markdown exported to PDF quickly: Marp
- You want a fully customisable HTML deck: reveal.js
Limits of this review
Docs-only for LibreOffice, ONLYOFFICE, Slidev, reveal.js, Marp, Quarto: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you commit.
Related guides
More in Office, Docs & Presentations
- Microsoft PowerPoint alternatives
- Google Slides alternatives
- Google Docs alternatives
- Microsoft Word alternatives
Sources
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, license and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-24: LibreOffice, ONLYOFFICE, Slidev, reveal.js, Marp, Quarto. 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.