Best Free & Open Source Alternatives to Microsoft PowerPoint

What is Bento?

Bento is a privacy-friendly, open-source office suite that ships as a single self-contained HTML file. It bundles a slide editor, a word processor, and a spreadsheet tool into one app that runs entirely in the browser, with no server, no account, and no tracking.

Slides without the bloat

Bento's slide editor is the headline feature: a clean, modern deck builder inspired by tools like Pitch and Notion, with smooth animations, easy layout, and inline media. It is designed to feel lightweight while covering the everyday needs of pitch decks, internal presentations, and slide-based storytelling.

A whole office in one file

Beyond slides, Bento includes:

• A document editor for long-form writing
• A spreadsheet tool for quick data work
• A local-first data model: everything you create lives in your browser's storage or in a .bento file you can save, share, and open anywhere

Why choose Bento over PowerPoint?

• Truly open source under MIT, with no premium tier gating features
• No cloud lock-in — your files are just HTML, so they are portable and future-proof
• Privacy by default — nothing leaves your device unless you choose to share it
• Single file — share a deck by sending the file itself; no signups, no installs for viewers
• Modern UX — built with contemporary web tech instead of decades of accumulated PowerPoint features

How it compares to PowerPoint

What is Slidev?

Slidev (slide + Vite) is a Markdown-based slide deck framework aimed at developers. You author slides in plain .md files with --- separators, and Slidev turns them into a polished, web-presentable deck with code highlighting, animations, and embedded interactive components.

Key features

• Markdown-first with first-class support for code blocks, code groups, and live coding via Shiki and Monaco
• Themable — switch between built-in themes or install any npm-published Slidev theme
• On-demand styling with UnoCSS utility classes
• Embedded Vue components for interactive slides (demos, charts, forms, etc.)
• Presenter mode with a separate window and even phone control
• Drawing and annotations on slides during talks
• LaTeX math equations via KaTeX
• Mermaid diagrams rendered inline
• Icon sets from any Iconify collection, used directly in Markdown
• Built-in recording with camera view and audio
• Portable export to PDF, PNGs, and PPTX
• Hackable — extends via Vite plugins, Vue components, and any npm package

Why Slidev?

Slidev is the most popular Markdown-based slide tool for developers, with 47k+ stars and an enormous theme ecosystem. Unlike PowerPoint or Keynote, your deck is plain text in Git, code-reviewed, version-controlled, and reproducible. Run npm init slidev to get started, or try it in the browser at sli.dev/new.

What is Marp CLI?

Marp CLI is the command-line interface for the Marp (Markdown Presentation Ecosystem) project. You write your slide deck in plain Markdown with Marpit's directives, and Marp CLI converts it to HTML, PDF, PPTX, PNG, or JPEG — perfect for sharing on the web, printing, or importing into PowerPoint.

Key features

• Plain Markdown authoring with a simple --- separator between slides
• Local front-matter and global directives to control theming, pagination, sizing, and more
• Built-in and custom CSS themes — including the official default and gaia themes
• Math typesetting via KaTeX, plus Mermaid diagrams, emoji shortcodes, and syntax highlighting via Prism
• Multiple output formats — HTML (with web UI), PDF, PPTX, PNG, JPEG
• Watch mode for live preview while authoring
• Plugin system to extend directives, themes, and output formats
• Bundled VS Code extension for in-editor preview and export

Why Marp?

Marp is one of the original and most widely used Markdown slide tools, with a stable CLI, a thoughtful ecosystem of themes, and bindings for React and Vue if you want to embed slides in a web app. If you want to write your talk in Markdown and ship it anywhere — Markdown source in Git, HTML on the web, PDF for handouts, PPTX for stakeholders — Marp CLI is the most batteries-included option.

What is Kova?

Kova is an open source desktop application that turns plain Markdown into polished slide decks. It pairs a live-preview editor with auto layouts, themes, and PPTX export, giving you a PowerPoint-style workflow without the lock-in or the price tag.

Key features

• Markdown-first authoring — write slides in plain text, separated by ---
• Auto layouts — title, section, split, two-column, grid, quote, full-bleed, and more, applied automatically based on your content
• Live editor with synced preview — see your slides update as you type
• Syntax highlighting for code blocks via highlight.js
• LaTeX math support (inline and block) via KaTeX
• Mermaid diagrams — pie, bar, line charts and flowcharts inline
• Themes — 11 built-in themes, community themes, and custom YAML themes
• Focus mode for writing, plus fullscreen presentation with speaker notes and keyboard navigation
• PPTX export to PowerPoint (16:9 and 4:3)
• YouTube and poll embeds for richer decks
• File watcher that reloads when your file is edited externally
• Configurable keybindings via ~/.kova/keybindings.yaml

Why Kova?

Unlike Reveal.js or Slidev, which require you to run a web server and present in the browser, Kova is a native desktop app you can launch like PowerPoint or Keynote. It runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux, with official .dmg, .msi, .deb, and .rpm packages, and is built on Tauri (TypeScript + Rust) so it's lightweight and fast.