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Microsoft Powerpoint vs. OmniGraffle vs. Microsoft Visio

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Microsoft Powerpoint

    Score7.9 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft 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

    OmniGraffle

    Score9.8 out of 10
    N/AOmniGraffle is a wireframing tool for Mac users.N/A

    Microsoft Visio

    Score7.8 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft offers Visio, a diagramming tool for building flowcharts, diagrams (e.g. network diagrams), org charts and floor plans, available online as a subscription and also in enterprise level packages (e.g. Visio Professional).

    $5

    per month per user

    Pricing
    Microsoft PowerpointOmniGraffleMicrosoft Visio
    Editions & Modules
    One Time Purchase
    $139.99
    No answers on this topic
    Visio Plan 1
    $5.00
    per month per user
    Visio Plan 2
    $15.00
    per month per user
    Visio Standard 2024
    $309.99
    one-time fee On-premises diagramming solution, licensed for one PC
    Visio Professional 2024
    $579.99
    one-time fee On-premises diagramming solution, licensed for one PC
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Microsoft PowerpointOmniGraffleMicrosoft Visio
    Free Trial
    NoNoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Microsoft PowerpointOmniGraffleMicrosoft Visio
    Considered Multiple Products
    Microsoft
    Chose Microsoft Powerpoint
    Did not evaluate other presentation tools besides Microsoft Powerpoint, mostly because Powerpoint is so entrenched in company tools and processes.
    Incentivized
    The Omni Group
    Chose OmniGraffle
    OmniGraffle has a standard and "Pro" version just like Microsoft Visio does.
    OmniGraffle works exclusively on Macs, while Visio can run on both Windows and OS X.
    I probably would be using Visio today if I did not have a Mac background. Even in my past job where I supported …
    Incentivized
    Chose OmniGraffle
    OmniGraffle is a solid Mac based Visio with much added functionality specific to wireframe designs. The libraries, although somewhat out of date, allow rapid designs with low fidelity, exactly what you want in wire frames. We use Sketch increasingly to handle the layout of the …
    Incentivized
    Chose OmniGraffle
    While these other tools are great for what they are, OmniGraffle’s solid focus on and support for diagramming makes it our tool of choice for communicating workflows and concept relationships, creating documentation, and creating other diagrams. Its libraries allow us to create …
    Incentivized
    Chose OmniGraffle
    Because we're primarily a Mac shop, Visio was a non-starter. (It's monstrously complex compared to OmniGraffle, which works against the quick-and-dirty just-enough-documentation ideal common on agile teams.) We've used draw.io on internal projects and when coordinating with …
    Incentivized
    Chose OmniGraffle
    Stands ahead of the competition; native compatibility and robustness of solution make it the tool of choice. OmniGraffle's price and level of functionality surpass the alternatives.
    Incentivized
    Microsoft
    Chose Microsoft Visio
    Some comparable products I have used to complete similar tasks would be Microsoft Powerpoint and Adobe Illustrator. Although both of these are very great programs in their own right, I would say Microsoft Visio is still the best to use, specifically when wanting to create …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Visio
    Microsoft Visio is familiar, drawings look better, easier to integrate with office
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Visio
    Microsoft Visio is very user-friendly and has many options for the created to use in order to get to their final product. The tool helps to get complex ideas into a visual design, therefore making it easier for other team members to understand the message you are trying to …
    Incentivized
    Chose Microsoft Visio
    We were previously using PowerPoint to create our org charts. Visio is much smoother for this and allows us to save time in creating/updating charts.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    64 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    90%
    Would buy again
    54 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    61 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    53 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    62 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    93%
    Happy with the feature set
    56 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    42 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    36 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    50 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    36 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Microsoft PowerpointOmniGraffleMicrosoft Visio
    Small Businesses
    Adobe Presenter
    Score9 out of 10
    Creately
    Score8.5 out of 10
    OmniGraffle
    Score9.8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Microsoft Powerpoint Online
    Score7 out of 10
    SmartDraw
    Score8.4 out of 10
    OmniGraffle
    Score9.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Adobe Presenter
    Score9 out of 10
    SmartDraw
    Score8.4 out of 10
    OmniGraffle
    Score9.8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Microsoft PowerpointOmniGraffleMicrosoft Visio
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.4
    (63 ratings)
    10.0
    (18 ratings)
    8.1
    (79 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    8.9
    (10 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.8
    (14 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.5
    (4 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.3
    (14 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Microsoft PowerpointOmniGraffleMicrosoft Visio
    Likelihood to Recommend
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    The Omni Group
    Omnigraffle is great for documentation, mapping, flowcharting, and other technical diagramming scenarios. It's simple enough to bang out a quick illustration and powerful enough to build complex blueprints for complicated technical systems. If you need cross-platform compatibility, though, you're probably better off looking elsewhere. If you want complex integration with data sources (ala Visio's SQL Server integration for shape metadata), OmniGraffle also falls short — but those scenarios are few and far between in my experience.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Visio is by far and away the best tool that I have used to do Value Stream Mapping sessions with the warehouse I support. It has all of the shapes needed built in to be able to represent all areas of the processes. I also like how you are able to make the drawing as big as needed and when printing it out of Visio you have the ability to use the necessary paper size. The biggest complaint that I have with the software if how it can be cumbersome for non-Visio users (that is, people without a license in the orgnaization) to interact with the Visio Map. We normally have to dedicate one Visio SME to be able to make the changes that Process SME's find since they do not have access to the software.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    The Omni Group
    • OmniGraffle is fairly simple to use, but the one thing I think it does best is working with curved lines, particularly if you are using some of the available arc templates. Drop an arc onto your page, then tell it the dimensions it needs to be, and viola! Done. Manipulating the arcs is as simple as clicking and dragging offset points.
    • OmniGraffle has also done an excellent job in stirring up the creative minds of many people who create templates and tools to work with OmniGraffle (not that Microsoft hasn't done so either), and managed to get the bulk of those into well organized repositories.
    • What it all boils down to for me is: it just works. One doesn't need to have a computer science degree to work with it either. It is as simple or complex as you want it to be.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Microsoft Visio is excellent for organizing thought processes related to our more complex research.
    • The diagrams created with Microsoft Visio are ideal for graphically displaying the internal organization of work and research groups through flow diagrams.
    • Microsoft Visio is a great tool for managing our students' activities by creating flowcharts that help us graphically visualize the steps of their group work.
    Read full review
    Cons
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    The Omni Group
    • I'd love to be able to keep more than one of the different tool tabs open at a time.
    • The stencils are amazing. Would be great if a whole lot more of the free ones came standard as opposed to having to download them from Graffletopia or other sites.
    • Built in tutorials would be great.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • When navigating through swim lanes, the user must be careful between switching from the point to the connection features as it can be difficult to remember which mode you’re in.
    • When drawing “decision points,” it can be difficult to type words like “yes” or “no” between the connection lines.
    • The exporting options aren’t ideal. They are hard to create in PDF format.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    The Omni Group
    Best product for my needs on the market
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    We use Microsoft Visio to keep our diagrams updated and to that end we will need the subscription to keep using the software. Otherwise we will be left with PDF versions of the diagrams.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    The Omni Group
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    I have always struggled with some basics, such as connection points, object alignment, font consistency, arranging layers and their order (bring forward, send backward), and managing overlap. I usually need to create an initial rough draft and then do a separate cleanup pass to bring the diagram up to my quality standards. If I skip that step, the result generally does not look very good. And once a diagram becomes busy or the file gets large, Visio has been unstable for me in the past, including occasional crashes that caused non-recoverable edits.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    The Omni Group
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    The Omni Group
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    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
    Incentivized
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    The Omni Group
    OmniGraffle is an excellent application for chart and diagrams development. Been using it for a while now and it's a multiple platform application.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Overall, I feel that Microsoft's support is weak. They are now such a behemoth that their model of putting documentation online for their users to sift through is totally outgrown. Given the amount of money you pay for these licenses, Microsoft should provide easy one-on-one support for their products via email or chat. The idea of paying their rates for support incidents is ridiculous. If you have an enormous amount of time on your hands, use their support websites and you will eventually find a solution most of the time.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    The Omni Group
    While these other tools are great for what they are, OmniGraffle’s solid focus on and support for diagramming makes it our tool of choice for communicating workflows and concept relationships, creating documentation, and creating other diagrams. Its libraries allow us to create designs quickly, and its ease of use enables us to use the tool widely across the company without much time or effort spent on onboarding.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Even though it’s a more expensive solution, Vizio is built for the enterprise. Therefore, it integrates perfectly with our existing Microsoft stack, and quite frankly, because it’s such a more mature product, it provides exactly the functionality we need and expect.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    The Omni Group
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    The Omni Group
    • Omnigraffle isn't an expensive software tool, so there isn't really any negative from the perspective of raw cost. Thinking in terms of time spent using it on a project - what you create in omnigraffle will inevitably lead to a dead end. It's useful only as documentation. There are other tools like Sketch that integrate into prototyping software and can create useable visual assets for applications in addition to being able to create wireframes.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Reduces the amount of time I need to create process flow diagrams. In the past I would use Powerpoint or Word which required a lot more effort and time and never looked as good. Visio just takes that headache away.
    • Only negative is that I personally believe it should always have been part and parcel of the Office suite, thus giving more users the opportunity to use it rather than specifically having to justify its separate purchase within our organisation. Different now with Office 365 of course!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots