Google Slides is a comprehensive online presentation tool within Google Workspace, offering real-time collaboration, intelligent features, and strong security measures. It seamlessly integrates with other Google apps, supports offline access, and provides a wide range of templates for ease of use.
To explore alternatives to Google Slides, users can consider PowerPoint, Canva, Figma, Illustrator, Microsoft Designer, and Adobe Express.
PowerPoint
At the forefront of presentation software resides Microsoft PowerPoint, introduced in 1990 for Windows, and 1987 for Macintosh, asserting its indispensability within the Microsoft Office suite since 1990. Integrating across iOS, Android, and web platforms, PowerPoint inherited Office’s seamless user interface and punctuated its versatility with an advanced feature-set; a living testament to Microsoft’s significant first acquisition, Forethought, Inc.
PowerPoint Top Features
- Innovative Designer and Morph tools for stunning transitions and design.
- Advanced spelling and grammar features.
- Voice capability coupled with dictation and voice commands.
- Interactive features including handwriting conversion and hand-drawn shapes.
- Collaboration tools with real-time editing and progress tracking.
- AI-assisted enhancements for presentation pacing and word choice.
| Features | PowerPoint 2016 |
|---|---|
| Ribbon User Interface | Incorporated |
| Office XML-based file format | Supported |
| AI Infused Presenter Coach | Available |
PowerPoint Limitations
- Feature limitation with free version.
- May require subscription for individual, family, and business needs.
- Lackluster compatibility with non-Microsoft files.
PowerPoint Pricing
While momentarily free for web, iOS, and Android™ apps, Microsoft PowerPoint offers subscription plans ranging from $6.99/month to $9.99/month, affording offline use, extensive template access, and premium apps.
PowerPoint Use Cases
Use case 1: Academic Presentations
PowerPoint shines in its academic application, allowing students and educators to design detailed presentations and provide real-time project editing.
Use case 2: Business Pitches
Brimming with tools to craft a compelling storyline, PowerPoint’s interactive tools empower businesses to deliver impactful pitches and proposals.
Use case 3: Conference Talks
PowerPoint’s extensive customization, seamless transitions, and hand-drawn shapes options enables speakers to deliver unique conference presentations.
Canva
Lnched in 2013 byMelanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht, and Cameron Adams, Canva is a leading online graphic design platform. Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, it boasts a hundred million users globally and employs 3500 people by 2023.
Canva Top Features
- Drag-and-drop design creates visually appealing graphics with ease.
- A wide variety of custom fonts, frames, shapes, grids, icons to choose from.
- Access to pre-built templates for logos, posters, infographics, newsletters, and more.
- Advanced photo editing tools.
- AI-powered Magic Write to assist in copywriting.
- Create custom charts and diagrams using inbuilt data.
| PRODUCT | USE |
|---|---|
| Canva Free | Accessible for every user, forever |
| Canva Pro | Aimed towards professionals with more features |
Canva Downsides
- A major data breach in May 2019, affecting around 139 million users.
- Dependency on internet connectivity for usage.
Canva Pricing
Canva offers a range of packages, the free version is accessible to all users. Canva Pro costs $12.99 USD per month for the first user and $6.99/month for each additional user, while Canva Enterprise is available from $30/month.
Canva Use Cases
Use case 1
Marketing Teams: With Canva’s diverse design tools, marketing teams can create polished, professional materials for campaigns & engagement.
Use case 2
Educators: Canva for Education offers a platform for creative learning resources, engaging classroom materials, and student projects.
Use case 3
Nonprofits: Canva for Nonprofits empowers organizations to drive social impact by creating visually compelling outreach and fundraising materials.
Figma
Born in the classrooms of Brown University, Figma envisions a world where creativity knows no bounds. It is a globally acclaimed, web-based interface design tool hypothesized by Dylan Field and Evan Wallace in the year 2012. Figma’s native ecosystem believes in the democratization of design, resonating with its users across platforms like Android and iOS. Its heralded acquisition by Adobe in 2022, coupled with its strategic ties with Google, mocks its skeptics yet raises questions about the probable distortion of its pure-play business model.
Figma Top Features
- The hallmark of Figma lies in its real-time collaboration capabilities, fostering synergy among team members and enabling a Google Docs-like, frictionless design process.
- Figma is platform-agnostic, flourishing in an OS-agnostic environment, setting no barriers for the passionate designer.
- Accommodating versioning system, both automatic and on-demand, ensures design iterations don’t get lost in the chaos of updates.
- FigJam, a unique digital whiteboarding tool, amps up Figma’s collaboration quotient, serving as an oasis of thought centralization.
- Figma nurtures an asset repository through its ‘Team Libraries,’ ensuring UI components maintain a unified vision, akin to a design constitution of sorts.
| Feature | Benefit |
| API Integration | Pulls together fragments of your design ecosystem, from Uber to Atlassian. |
| Compatible with Zeplin | Augments CSS display capabilities and more. |
| Permissions-based file sharing | Keeps your designs guarded and confidential. |
Figma Limitations
- Post Adobe’s acquisition, potential forceful integration with Adobe Creative Cloud might limit its stand-alone charm.
- Tokes of a potential shift towards an unfavorable business model creates clouds of commercial uncertainty.
Figma Pricing
Figma’s pricing model mirrors its democratic design ethos, sporting options from Free to Enterprise variants, each bundle residing on a spectrum of features.
Figma Use Cases
Use case 1: Collaborative Design Projects
The strength of Figma resides in its core; collaboration. Embellished with real-time collaboration features, versioning, and browser-based nature, it stands as a perfect fit for teams aiming for synchronized design strides.
Use case 2: Education
With its partnership with Google for Education, Figma carves a unique niche in the educational tech sphere, enabling students to dip their toes in the vast ocean of UI/UX design.
Use case 3: Enterprise Design Needs
Figma neatly couples collaboration, design versioning, and confidential asset sharing for large enterprises. Its Enterprise pricing plan further amplifies Figma’s appeal to large organizations, bridging the gap between cost and utility.
Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is a renowned vector graphics and animation software, highly favored by graphic designers and illustrators. It is an industry standard tool equipped with a broad range of sophisticated features ready to tackle complex design tasks, from mobile graphics to product packaging.
Illustrator Top Features
- Vector Graphics Creation: Allows for designing letterforms, fonts, custom weights, and widths with precision.
- Advanced Editing Options: Facilitate mirror images, spacing modifications and other advanced design processes.
- Artboards: Enables designers to create and export custom banners in different formats like JPG, PNG.
- Comprehensive Type Toolkit: With over 18,000 fonts and options like type on path, variable fonts, color fonts, lettering gets a lot more versatile.
- Adobe Creative Cloud Integration: Allowing seamless movement across Illustrator, Photoshop, and Fresco.
| Work with Apple Pencil | Integration with Apple Pencil features point precision. |
| Sophisticated Patterns | Using radial, grid, mirror repeat for sophisticated patterns. |
| Clipping Masks and Special Effects | Shapes can be combined, and clipping masks can be edited to create special effects. |
Illustrator Limitations
- Resources Consumption: Heavily consume system resources and may slow down your system.
- High Learning Curve: Owing to its complex feature set, it might be difficult for beginners.
- Cost: Starting from US$31.49/month for paid version, Illustrator might be expensive for some users.
Illustrator Pricing
The pricing for an individual license is $19.99/month, while for business it’s $29.99/month. Note that Illustrator offers a 7-day free trial.
Illustrator Use Cases
Use case 1
As a critical tool for graphic designers, Illustrator is useful for creating and exporting custom banners in different formats. Its ability to add layers, objects, and crop images makes it an invaluable asset for designing compelling graphics.
Use case 2
Illustrator shines for typography with its vast collection of over 18,000 fonts, and upscale features like custom letterforms, type on path, and variable fonts, empowering designs with varied and interactive forms of text.
Use case 3
Adobe Illustrator is practical for advanced users aiming at raster image conversion or applying sophisticated patterns using tools like radial, grid, mirror repeat. Its integration with Adobe Creative Cloud suites facilitates design procedures to no end.
Microsoft Designer
Microsoft Designer is an AI-driven graphic design app that competes with the likes of Adobe Express and Canva. It enables users to generate unique artwork from text descriptions while offering an initial release of its web app for free with a fuller version available for purchase via Microsoft 365’s subscription.
Top Features of Microsoft Designer
- Unique Artwork Generation: The application produces distinct artworks from text descriptions with the assistance of AI.
- Interconnectivity: It smoothly melds with other software in the Microsoft 365 suite and plans to integrate with additional Microsoft apps and Edge.
- Design Genie: Its “Design Ideas” feature, which offers layout recommendations based on the title or content topic inputted by the user.
- Wide File Format Support: Microsoft Designer auto-saves to the cloud and offers download options in high-quality PNG, small file-size JPG, and minuscule document PDF.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| AI-based Features | Expanded set in the latest preview includes auto-generating image options, writing captions and hashtags, and design suggestions. |
| Photo Editing Tools | Microsoft Designer boasts tools for background replacement/removal and content fill, with more in development. |
| Design Adaptability | It provides design resizing options for up to twenty different social media layout sizes. |
Limitations of Microsoft Designer
- It presently offers no collaboration features, unlike Adobe Express and Canva.
- Microsoft Designer doesn’t support as many project types as Canva (e.g., slide decks, websites).
- Lacks Adobe Express’s advanced features such as content scheduling, integration with pro apps of Creative Cloud, and offering multipage layouts.
Microsoft Designer Pricing
Microsoft Designer is part of the paid Microsoft 365 Personal or Family plan, starting at $69.99 per year. A free but limited version is available via the website.
Microsoft Designer Use Cases
Use case 1 – Creating Engaging Social Media Posts
With its ability to generate attractive graphics as well as written captions and hashtags, Microsoft Designer is ideal for designing eye-catching social media content.
Use case 2 – Personal Graphic Projects
Microsoft Designer enables personal projects to come alive with its intuitive design and layout suggestions based on user input.
Use case 3 – Creative Ideation
For those in the early stages of a creative process, the AI-driven capabilities of Microsoft Designer can help spark unique ideas and concepts.
Adobe Express
Revamped and relaunched as Adobe Express in December 2021, this AI-powered tool is a cloud-based solution for creating high-quality designs. Trusted by businesses in Education, Professional Graphic Designing, Marketing, Property, Finance, and Entertainment, this application enables users to create standout content using a plethora of AI-recommended templates.
Adobe Express Top Features
- AI technology allows background removal from photos, recommends seasonal templates or fonts.
- One-click quick actions for tasks such as image conversion, video reversal, and image resizing or cropping.
- Compatibility with both mobile and web platforms, accessible via an Adobe account.
- Professional AI-recommended templates available for various projects including social posts, ads, logos, posters, flyers, banners, photo collages.
| Additional Features | Description |
|---|---|
| Scheduling Feature | Integrated feature for social media marketers to time their posts efficiently. |
| Interface | Includes tools for learning, project management, and brand management. |
| Brand Manager Tool | Facilitates managing business brand effectively and efficiently. |
Adobe Express Limitations
- Does not provide a complete replacement for high-end graphic software.
- Availability of specific features may vary depending on the device.
- A comprehensive set of tools, including access to the entire collection of royalty-free Adobe Stock photos, requires a premium subscription.
Adobe Express Pricing
Adobe Express is free to download and use. A Premium membership is available at $9.99/month, offering more templates, access to Adobe Stock photo collection, premium features, and effects.
Adobe Express Use Cases
Use case 1 – Professional Graphic Designing
Adobe express, with its high-quality AI-recommended templates, is an ideal choice for graphic designers. The tool’s one-click actions for tasks like image conversion, video reversal, resizing, and cropping can save considerable time and effort.
Use case 2 – Marketing
For marketers, Adobe’s scheduling feature works as a game-changer, allowing strategic timing of social media posts. Its vast array of templates can be used to create stellar social posts, ads, logos, banners, and more, increasing campaign effectiveness.
Use case 3 – Education
In the education sector, Adobe Express helps create informative and visually compelling materials, making learning engaging. Whether it’s flyers, social media posts, or presentations, Adobe Express has got it covered.
