Google Slides vs. Microsoft Powerpoint

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Google Slides
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
Google Slides is a presentation tool that enables users to create, edit, collaborate, and present. It is free for personal use, and available to businesses via a Google Workspaces subscription.N/A
Microsoft Powerpoint
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation software designed to allow users to create slide-based presentations including video and images, as well as slide transitions and animations.
$139.99
Pricing
Google SlidesMicrosoft Powerpoint
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
One Time Purchase
$139.99
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google SlidesMicrosoft Powerpoint
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Google SlidesMicrosoft Powerpoint
Considered Both Products
Google Slides
Chose Google Slides
On a standalone basis, where no collaboration is needed, Microsoft Powerpoint is a superior tool because the functionalities are easier to use and much more robust. But if collaboration is needed, Google Slides is optimal for business, sales and strategy collaboration. It is …
Chose Google Slides
PowerPoint has the most features but doesn’t sync as well as Google Slides. Keynote is not compatible for many people. Google Slides is by far the best option for collaboration and ease of use.
Chose Google Slides
Google Slides is easier to learn and share than PowerPoint. While Miro is better for a working collaboration, Slides is a better presentation tool. Lumio and Nearpod are great for leading presentations where each person has a device, Slides is more compatible for presenter …
Chose Google Slides
Google Slides works both online and offline, they are free to use if you have a Google account. Easy to share and are supported by most web browsers. A great addition to your arsenal of interactive educational online platforms.
Chose Google Slides
It has probably around 90% of the common features that are present in PowerPoint but is more appropriate for today's workflows of being online. Conveniently included with GSuite packages often makes it more of a default option over PowerPoint in modern times. I have not listed …
Chose Google Slides
Skids is so much easier to use than PowerPoint and the design is much, much simpler. You can be more creative with Slides because it is flexible enough to use unlike PowerPoint. The downside is there is a learning curve because it isn’t the same old crappy software everyone …
Microsoft Powerpoint
Chose Microsoft Powerpoint
Google Slides is good too and very similar to Microsoft PowerPoint, however, I have been using Microsoft PowerPoint for over 10 years and very familiar with the features and prefer to use it. It is very user friendly and any one can use it. It is also very easy to learn it if …
Chose Microsoft Powerpoint
There is a thin line difference between Google Slides and PowerPoint, from my point of view PowerPoint provide online templates like Live pictures and all 3D images and videos on templates which make PowerPoint presentation more attractive then the slides having PowerPoint …
Chose Microsoft Powerpoint
Google Slides is like a Microsoft Powerpoint lite. It has similar functionality in enabling you to add items easily to a slide deck and has good shareability for businesses that use Google apps. It lacks some of the sophistication of Microsoft Powerpoint - I find slide decks …
Chose Microsoft Powerpoint
Both Google Slides and Canva are way more complex to use than Microsoft Powerpoint. They have specific symbols that are hard to memorize, many tools are hidden, they are harder to navigate, and shortcuts are not customizable, which makes everything less efficient. Google Slides
Chose Microsoft Powerpoint
Microsoft Powerpoint looks more polished than Google Slides, which can get glitchy and have formatting errors.
Chose Microsoft Powerpoint
Microsoft Powerpoint does a better job with graphic tools, slide layout design, bullet animations, slide themes, spell checking, AI integration, HTML export, PDF export, Posters and other classroom visual aids. Although opensource alternatives make it a challenge to justify the …
Chose Microsoft Powerpoint
Microsoft Powerpoint stacks up quite well against its competitors mentioned above. It offers better set of features which are more advanced and intuitive most of the times. It is professionally a more popular and a better choice overall.
Where it lacks is when really specific …
Chose Microsoft Powerpoint
Microsoft PowerPoint is just unbeatable when it comes to presenting. The software is reliable in terms of experience and security (we have multiple threats on the internet). The other reason why I use mostly Microsoft PowerPoint instead of Apple Keynote is because of the rich …
Best Alternatives
Google SlidesMicrosoft Powerpoint
Small Businesses
Canva
Canva
Score 9.1 out of 10
Canva
Canva
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Mentimeter
Mentimeter
Score 8.3 out of 10
Mentimeter
Mentimeter
Score 8.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Mentimeter
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Score 8.3 out of 10
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Score 8.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Google SlidesMicrosoft Powerpoint
Likelihood to Recommend
6.6
(8 ratings)
9.3
(63 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.0
(4 ratings)
8.9
(10 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.5
(4 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Google SlidesMicrosoft Powerpoint
Likelihood to Recommend
Google
If I am unsure of how technology-friendly the coworker is, I am more likely to recommend Google Slides, as it is very intuitive for making normal to basic presentations. However, the more advanced the user, or the more specific the need, the more likely I am to point the coworker in a different direction.
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Microsoft
The learning curve with Microsoft Powerpoint is not too steep, and most everyone can create really nice-looking presentations. The thing I like most about the new advancements in Microsoft Powerpoint comes to formatting. If you are creating a newsletter, don't get bogged down by all of the annoying formatting rules and issues you would have if creating in Publisher or Word. Microsoft Powerpoint makes it very simple. You can add text boxes and move them anywhere on the page. The templates are a nice touch, but they could use more, as most of these are outdated. I believe there are many free websites for downloading more templates.
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Pros
Google
  • Easy to create and manage (lecturer side).
  • Intuitive and easy to use (students side).
  • Various sharing options, well integrated in most web browsers.
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Microsoft
  • Insert Photos from my computer and from the web with ease.
  • Auto arrangement of graphics and texts is made available through suggested formatting.
  • Spell check as I type is very valuable to me. It autocorrects many words. I like for my presentation to be accurate.
  • The ability to change any font or any size of font is very valuable to me.
  • The ability to cut and past from Microsoft Word is valuable to me. It also allows me to import tables I have already created in Word.
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Cons
Google
  • Sometimes bugs in changing fonts or other formatting
  • Edit tracking, while good, could still be improved
  • Better basic flow-charting
  • Better UI navigation, specifically around zooming instead of 'enlarging everything in browser'
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Microsoft
  • 3D objects that can be manipulated in slideshows by presenters
  • AI tool to cleanup presentations
  • AI tool to create graphics
  • AI tool to create photo-realistic images
  • AI tool to create vector art
  • AI tool to create videos
  • Blender 3D object importer
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Likelihood to Renew
Google
The popularity for Google Slides among the casual technology tool users is so great that we are not in a position to replace this tool with anything else. Every other tool either doesn't have the popularity, or doesn't match the ease of sharing level of Slides. The training needed to learn a different tool is too great. Google Slides is very easy to pick up and master.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Usability
Google
I have LOVED how accessible and intuitive Google Slides has proved to be. The controls and options may be simple, but if you have had any experience with PowerPoint or Keynote before, Google Slides will come easily to you. I also love the fact that it is synced to my Google Drive, and that therefore it is stored in "the cloud", meaning I can access my slide presentations anywhere and from any device that is connected to the internet.
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Microsoft
It’s great overall! I can think of a few improvements that would make it a 10, for example: better Smart Art graphs, automatic distribution of columns and rows in tables, and being able to more easily save templates for graphs. For example, if I could determine that a same brand name in all graphs would have a specific color, it would be great
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Reliability and Availability
Google
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
I've never had any issues with its availability. As it is installed on my machine, it's ready when I need it, online or offline. Creating large slide decks with complex elements like video and audio doesn't affect its stability. The only limitation would be the capability of your own computer, as far as I can tell.
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Performance
Google
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
The performance is very strong. It loads reasonably quickly. Large presentations load relatively quickly too, given their complexity, and once loaded each slide is readily available. It's easy to scroll up and down through your slide deck and go to the slide you want. Videos, pictures and music all load on demand, controllable by clicks.
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Support Rating
Google
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
I have never had to use the actual support. Most of my questions are "how to" questions and there is a rich internet full of users sharing their tips and tricks with this application. Sometimes I find the answers on Microsoft support site but often I don't
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Alternatives Considered
Google
PowerPoint has the most features but doesn’t sync as well as Google Slides. Keynote is not compatible for many people. Google Slides is by far the best option for collaboration and ease of use.
Read full review
Microsoft
Adobe Illustrator is an excellent software but it's not easy to use for [everyone without] having any training or previous experience in working with illustrator. Microsoft Powerpoint is very easy to use and it's fantastic as it saves time more than illustrator. Another thing is it takes small space while illustrator takes a significant amount of space in the business machine
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Scalability
Google
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Scaling up use of Microsoft Powerpoint would be a simple case of buying further licences. The software is intuitive and therefore training demands from scaling it to more departments or more individuals would be relatively straightforward. Google Slides may be easier to share among those organisations that use Google's suite of apps, however.
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Return on Investment
Google
  • We're switching from microsoft to google and it has had a decently positive ROI due to reduced friction of figuring out and managing sharepoint
  • The negative impact is that it does not do everything we need for product and design so we do have to supplement it with more specific software
  • Another positive is that it has reduced the friction in easily creating and sharing PPTs during client-facing meetings making it easier for our bd, sales and product teams to make a positive impact on potential + current clients
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Microsoft
  • Helped reduce time we spend modifying and sharing back and forth different versions.
  • Saved us the frustration of having to work with an online program with limited functionalities.
  • Macros make it easy to share data in one excel file and automatically update presentation.
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ScreenShots