PowerPoint vs Keynote, Which One is Better?

PowerPoint vs Keynote : What they offer ? 

For a long time, if someone asked about making a presentation, the most answer is PowerPoint. Microsoft PowerPoint is so popular in the presentation industry that the word is considered synonymous with a presentation itself.

According to Visual Hacker, PowerPoint is one of the most popular software for presentations. It is part of the Microsoft Office suite and can be used for personal, business, and educational purposes. PowerPoint infographics, our social media posts, and presentations for clients. 

89% of people use PowerPoint to create presentations. According to Boundless Communications, PowerPoint can accommodate a range of uses, with intermediate to more technical options. Microsoft estimates that thirty million presentations are made each day using the PowerPoint program. As of 2012, various versions of PowerPoint claim approximately 95% of the presentation software market share, having been installed on at least 1 billion computers.

According to envato tuts+, Keynote has a few tricks up its sleeve that make it a viable alternative to PowerPoint. Noticeable is its simplicity of use and easy cross-device compatibility. According to enlyft, We have data on 1,237 companies that use Apple Keynote. The companies using Apple Keynote are most often found in United States and in the Marketing and Advertising industry. Apple Keynote is most often used by companies with 50-200 employees and 1M-10M dollars in revenue. Our data for Apple Keynote usage goes back as far as 7 years and 1 months.

But now, Keynote is the first choice for Mac users. Both are software for making a presentation. The only question hanging is, PowerPoint vs Keynote, which one is better?

 Let’s analyze it from each other pros and cons! 

What is PowerPoint ? 

One of the most popular presentation software programs in the world is Microsoft PowerPoint. Most people who know how to make a presentation are familiar with PowerPoint because it is one of the oldest presentation tools around. PowerPoint is available for both Windows and Mac, although the Windows version is more robust. And unlike Keynote, PowerPoint is not free. As part of a Microsoft 365 subscription or separately, you can purchase it.

What is Keynote ? 

Apple’s Keynote presentation software is sleek and sophisticated. With it, Mac, iPhone, and iPad users can create presentations and share them across multiple devices for free. In fact, the software comes built-in with Mac. Among the features of Keynote are beautiful templates, animations, cinematic transitions, 2D and 3D charts, and more.

PowerPoint vs Keynote: The Pros and Cons

PowerPoint pros and cons

PROS

User-friendly: The user interface is quite user-friendly, easy to use from a noob to master design.
Easy to integrate: The software allows you to easily add Excel tables, editing it straight from Excel without quitting PowerPoint.

Bullet points : The use of mighty bullet points drive your message to the point. Bullets make it easy to highlight the key messages and topics of the entire presentation.

Eye-catching slides : PowerPoint offers templates and themes you can use or tweak to create visually-appealing slides. You don’t need to know a lot about graphic design to pull this off.

Easy to tweak :  PowerPoint slides are easier to edit than other visuals like charts, graphs or posters.

Drag and drop :  It’s easy to reorder slides using the program’s drag-and-drop feature or its special keystrokes.

Viewer’s consideration : PowerPoint slides are easy to see and read even by the people at the back of the room.

Presenter’s consideration : It’s easy to present the slides using the keystrokes so you won’t have to break eye contact with the audience.

No handouts needed : With PowerPoint slides, you don’t have to make hard copies of the presentation to distribute to the audience.

PowerPoint’s popularity is its main selling point. It can also conveniently add animations and graphs that make the slides richer in context. PPT slides can be exported to YouTube without stress. The program is also designed to manage different text formats so it’s ideal for text-heavy slides.

CONS

Design fluff: PowerPoint can give an illusion of coherence and control even if there’s little substance or context to the slides.
Convenient props: The slides can sometimes turn into convenient props if you are unprepared and unfocused. You may just simply abbreviate topics and messages on the slides and get away with it rather than give an actual presentation.
Equipment required: To fully optimize PowerPoint, you must have both a computer and projector in place to present the slides.

Overgeneralization of topics : The direct-to-point aspect of PowerPoint makes it tricky to expound complex subjects. The bullet points can force you to condense issues into a listicle.

The abundance of feature :  If unchecked, you can get carried away with how easy it is to add multimedia files on the slides. This can result in an abundance of sound effects or animations that can shove the main topic out of the way.

Well, it can be underlined that PowerPoint is the safe presentation software for all range peoples, especially new users. They will easily adapt to the software’s straightforwardness.

Keynote pros and cons

PROS

Product integration: Keynote’s integration with other iPhones, iPads, and iPods is100% smooth.
Transparency effects: It allows you to smoothly blend an image background into the slide background and creating a transparent effect.

Theme options : Keynote offers a wide range of eye-catching themes to create a more engaging presentation.

Position-ready : It allows you to easily align and position elements with basic setup options.

Multimedia-friendly : The program is specially designed to naturally integrate images, sounds, videos, and other multimedia files.

Magic Move : Both the animation and transition effects of the program are show-stoppers.

Straightforward preview : The program provides an easy-to-use formatting toolbar and inspector window for instant preview and tweaking.

Product integration : Keynote’s integration with other iPhones, iPads, and iPods is100% smooth.

Keynote features a neat, eye-catching design. It presents a variety of built-in templates that give the slides a modern perspective. The program also provides engaging themes, cool animation effects, and streamlined transitions.

CONS

Exclusivity: Keynote slides don’t work with Microsoft systems. Although you can export your slides into PPT, it won’t guarantee that everything will be presented the same way. Often, exported files lose bits and pieces of the graphics or animations used.
Time-consuming: If you’ve used PowerPoint before and have now switched to Keynote, the learning process can be time-consuming and, at times, frustrating.

In some ways, Apple’s Keynote is PowerPoint 2.0. It’s a more sophisticated and design-driven version. Keynote the ideal program if you want to create slides that are complex-looking or “techy.”

See also:

6 Graphic Design Tools Our Team Can’t Live Without

Work from Home Pros and Cons You Must Know

24 Common Mistakes in PowerPoint Presentations Design

15 Best PowerPoint and Keynote Template in 2020

PowerPoint vs Keynote : Which one is better, then?

The answer is; use whatever suits your needs. If you are new to presentation design, you better use PowerPoint because it is easy to understand and not too complex for the newbie. But if you are an expert designer and want to present your works in an edgy, complex, and techy way, then use Keynote. You will improve your personal branding.

Keep in mind that when you’re creating a presentation, you must choose the program that offers you convenience, versatility, and high-quality output. If you’ll look closely, PowerPoint and Keynote offer parallel features. Both can be used to create a top-notch presentation. So, it’s up to you to decide which one is more up your alley. What do you think about this “Powerpoint vs Keynote” write-up?

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