If you've ever used Apple's Keynote to create a presentation, you won't need to read a recommendation for it. For years, it's been the gold standard of presentation apps for Mac users, and it still is. Its success is partly attributable to tight integration with the Mac ecosystem, giving easy access to iTunes tracks, iPhoto images, and videos.
And with real‑time collaboration, your team can work together, whether they’re on Mac, iPad, or iPhone, or using a PC. Download Keynote for Mac from the Mac App Store Download Keynote for iOS from the iOS App Store Preview Keynote for iOS in the iOS App Store Preview Keynote for Mac in the Mac App Store Start using Keynote at iCloud.com.
Keynote isn't the only high-scoring presentation app, however. The latest version of provides strong competition, and if you already have PowerPoint, you needn't suffer from Keynote envy. They're both Editors' Choices. You can't go wrong with either, although Keynote has the edge on the Mac. Note that there is no longer a single suite of productivity apps called iWork, which is what Apple used to call its Microsoft Office competitor.
You can, however, buy all the software for one fee, in the form of what Apple calls Bundle for iWork, which includes Keynote, word processing app and spreadsheet app, for a total of just $19.99. That's one-third what you'd pay for them separately. Additionally, there's a version of Keynote on iCloud.com that's free to use by anyone who has an iCloud account and an Internet connection.
PowerPoint, the biggest name in the presentation space, costs $69.99 per year as one component of a Personal subscription to Microsoft Office. For that price, you get much more than just PowerPoint, though. You also get Word, Excel, Outlook, Publisher, and Access. That's six apps for one price, or a little less than $12 per app per year. If you don't use all those apps, however, and only need PowerPoint, then you're still paying $70 per year just for PowerPoint.
If you want to buy the software outright, you can also get PowerPoint 2016 for Mac for a one-time fee of $109.99., which is an Editors' Choice for nontraditional presentation apps, costs more than either Keynote or PowerPoint: $59.04 per year (yes, it's an odd price) for its Enjoy plan, $159 per year for Prezi Pro (which adds unlimited storage, access to presentations on any device, offline access, premium support, and image-editing tools), and $240 per year for Pro Plus (which adds advanced training). Monthly plans run $10, $20, and $30, respectively. Given that Keynote costs either nothing or a one-time fee of $19.99, that $30 monthly fee for Prezi Pro Plus might seem hard to swallow.
Is another unusual presentation app. It helps you create animations instead of typical slideshow presentations, but it comes at a high price as well. A PowToon Pro account costs $228 per year or a very steep monthly price of $89. A Business plan starts at $708 per year or $197 per month for one user; organizations looking to add multiple seats can contact PowToon for a price quote.
There is a free version of PowToon, but any presentations you make are watermarked with a logo and contain an advertisement for PowToon at the end. That's reason enough not to use the free version for anything other than getting a basic feel for it. If you want a truly free presentation tool that works on both Mac and Windows, Google Slides is your best bet. Its collaboration features are stronger than Keynote's (which are still in beta).
Google Slides has an option for presenters to generate on demand a URL at which audience members can submit questions while watching a presentation. The presenter gets the questions in real time. It's one of the more interactive features we've seen in any presentation app. Keynote's Interface If you've used Apple Pages or Numbers, Keynote will seem instantly familiar. The app's major convenience is its three-panel interface, with a thumbnail panel at the left, large editing panel in the middle, and formatting options at the right. As in the other former iWorks apps, the formatting panel works like a spacious version of an old-style inspector window. You use a toolbar to switch the panel among controls over layout, animations, and the whole presentation.
The panel itself displays a different set of controls depending on the kind of visual element you've selected in the editing window. Easy-to-use orange guidelines appear when you resize or move visual elements, complete with pop-up displays of width and height in pixels.