Microsoft PowerPoint has been the dominant slideshow presentation software in the market for many, many years now. While MS PowerPoint may have everything you need from a slideshow maker, it does get a little stale after a while – especially if everybody else in your office or school uses it too. Luckily, MS PowerPoint is not the only good slideshow software in the market.

There are many other great products out there that can do everything Microsoft PowerPoint can. Many of them, unlike PowerPoint, are even free! Some of the better ones even add features not found in PowerPoint. If you’re tired of MS PowerPoint, here are 5 alternatives to it that you can use to make some kick ass slideshows.

Google Slides – An Online Solution

Google docs contain “Google Docs Presentation” (also called Google Slides), which is a part of their online office suite. If you don’t want to waste time installing bloated software on your PC or if you want to be able to access your presentation from any computer, then Google Docs Presentation is perfect for you.

See Also: Google Docs vs. MS Office Web Apps – Which one’s a better Online Office Suite?

The software was not as fancy as some of the other software on this list a while ago, but Google recently updated it add new templates, animation, and effects to make it more interesting. Ease of use is its biggest draw and you can easily jump in and create or collaborate on a presentation without breaking a sweat.

To begin using Google Slides, all you have to do is navigate to this Google page and start creating.

KingSoft Presentation Free – A Free PowerPoint Clone

If you’re looking for something exactly like MS PowerPoint but less expensive, then KingSoft Presentation is what you’re after. If you have experience using MS PowerPoint, you won’t have a problem with KingSoft Presentation – both software offerings have similar interfaces and a similar layout.

You can make some good-looking presentations with KingSoft and the software is compatible with Windows, Android and Linux systems. The best part is that the software is completely free to download and use.

KingSoft Presentation can be downloaded separately or together with the KingSoft Office Suite.

CustomShow – Business Presentation Software

The CustomShow presentation software is suitable for small and medium businesses. The software lets you build big, content rich presentations that can be shared with everyone in the organization. Apart from being good looking, these presentations come with additional features like expiration dates and authentication.

Also read : 10+ Very Useful Online Presentation Tools to Help You Share Slides Online

A presentation, for example, can be set to be valid for just a few months and then it will automatically expire. The authentication feature lets you track who exactly has been watching your presentation and as well as how popular it is with your colleagues or employees. You can even import your other presentations created on any other programs. What’s more you can send your presentations as links and can be viewed online and offline.

You can learn more about CustomShow here.

Prezi – Build Dynamic Presentations

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxhqD0hNx4Q&w=640&h=360] If you’re tired of the much-abused, run of the mill presentation software and are looking for something that let’s you be creative, look no further than Prezi. Prezi doesn’t use the typical linear slide formula. Instead, it lets you create a dynamic, visual presentation spread across a large canvas.

On this canvas, you can place objects, create relationships between them and scale them to be bigger or smaller. During the presentation, you are supposed to use Prezi tools to navigate between them, zoom in and zoom out and even rotate the entire canvas. Prezi is perfect for when you want to get your audience to see the bigger picture. It’s also more engaging than most other presentation software products.

That it’s available across a range of devices like the iPad and even a viewer on iPhone means that you can always capture ideas and create presentations on the run. The basic version of Prezi is free but if you depend heavily on creating and presenting ideas then we suggest the paid version starting at $59 a year.

You can learn more about Prezi here.

Haiku Deck – For Your iPad

Haiku Deck is made for the iPad. There is a web version too, but we find it much easier to use on the iPad because of the touch screen. Haiku Deck lets you can create presentations on the go in no time – so if you’re on your way to work and forgot that you had to make a presentation at the office, Haiku Deck can bail you out.

Haiku Deck stands out because of all the great artwork it lets you add to your slides. This artwork is customized to the words you type. If you type in “money”, for example, Haiku Deck will give you a ton of money images that you can use in your slides. With these images, it’s easy to create themed presentations.

The app is available for free on your iPad and on the web. You can also purchase additional themes in the application.

You can head here to get inspired or create your own Haiku deck.

Finally…

Meetings, pitches, reviews, they’re a part of our work life and can’t be avoided. But, presentations don’t need to be boring. With a little ingenuity and some of these tools, you can turn the boring slide-fest into interesting stories. There are plenty of options out there to get the job done. If you still need more alternatives, you might also want to take a look at Powtoon if you are a Mac user.

What software or tools do you use to tell your stories? Share them with us in the comments below.