Apple Keynote vs. Microsoft Powerpoint

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Apple Keynote
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
Keynote, from Apple is a presentation software with tools and effects, designed to make it easy to create memorable presentations, and comes included with most Apple devices. Use Apple Pencil on an iPad to create diagrams or illustrations that bring slides to life. With its real‑time collaboration features, teams can work together, whether they’re on Mac, iPad, iPhone, or using a PC.N/A
Microsoft Powerpoint
Score 7.9 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
Apple KeynoteMicrosoft Powerpoint
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
One Time Purchase
$139.99
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Apple KeynoteMicrosoft Powerpoint
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Apple KeynoteMicrosoft Powerpoint
Considered Both Products
Apple Keynote
Chose Apple Keynote
If you want to create presentations more often, Prezi and Canva or not even options, both of tools take a lot of time. So the real competitor for Apple Keynote is Microsoft Powerpoint. For me, Powerpoint is so feature-filled that makes it a little complex. On the other hand, …
Chose Apple Keynote
I use Microsoft Powerpoint, Apple Keynote, and Google Slides. Of these three slideshow programs, I find PowerPoint to be the most robust in features and capabilities and in integrations with other programs. It also can be easily used across various devices, platforms, and …
Chose Apple Keynote
Keynote is much easier to learn and use than either PowerPoint or Canva. The only advantage Canva has over Keynote is its collaboration features. Canva is gradually improving as a usable presentation software. Its problem lies in its file management, which is counterintuitive, …
Chose Apple Keynote
Simpler than PPT, more Powerful than Slides, better graphics and more pagination friendly than Miro, Simpler to use (and cheaper) than illustrator.
Chose Apple Keynote
To be honest, Apple Keynote was my choice for my youth group presentation needs at first because it was free. But as I have used it more and more, I've come to really appreciate the abilities it has and the ease at which I can create a quality presentation to share with my …
Chose Apple Keynote
Apple Keynote is superior to all except Figma in terms of design functionality. Figma has even more precise alignment with their auto layout features, layers and frame grouping. The only downside of Figma is that we do not purchase licenses for every person at our company, so …
Chose Apple Keynote
It's not cloud based, which is a good thing. There are many similarities. Prezi and other cloud based products are much more powerful.
Chose Apple Keynote
Keynote has a simpler interface, which is definitely a plus for us because presentations are edited by people from different departments. It's more elegant and intuitive. In my observations, it also runs faster than PowerPoint on Macs, but that may be subjective. Keynote is …
Chose Apple Keynote
While I don't use Keynote for every slide deck project need (software preference often is dictated by what the client has access to), I will promote KeyNote as the preferred format if the client is software-agnostic. The drag and drop feature is incomparable with other software …
Chose Apple Keynote
Apple Keynote is preinstalled and free to use on any Apple device which makes it very accessible. The ease of use of this tool is much better than the competitive one. The time needed to prepare the nice-looking and high-quality slides in this tool is much lower than in other …
Chose Apple Keynote
Keynote is a better visual aid and generally runs better for us since we use MacBooks (less errors when presenting which really matters in a remote context). It takes more effort to get to a finished product though, since we have to neuter what we present (less slides and …
Chose Apple Keynote
To sum up, Keynote is easier to use, less complicated, and elegant. When you use Keynote, your presentation doesn't look like everyone else's. That alone sets it apart as something special. If you're already a Mac user, then it's a no-brainer because the software comes with the …
Microsoft Powerpoint
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 …
Chose Microsoft Powerpoint
The lack of widespread use on Keynote makes it less appealing. Have to convert to PowerPoint most of the time.
Best Alternatives
Apple KeynoteMicrosoft 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 7.1 out of 10
Mentimeter
Mentimeter
Score 7.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Mentimeter
Mentimeter
Score 7.1 out of 10
Mentimeter
Mentimeter
Score 7.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Apple KeynoteMicrosoft Powerpoint
Likelihood to Recommend
7.7
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.5
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Apple KeynoteMicrosoft Powerpoint
Likelihood to Recommend
Well Suited: Setting up in-person presentations for clients. The transitions are nicely integrated, the master template easily adjusted, and the file size relatively small for ease in download and emailing as a leave behind. Less Appropriate: Clients often feel that EVERYTHING needs to be set up as a slide deck. However, it is key to listen to the client's needs to first determine the final output. What was initially predetermined to be a slide deck may often be more effective as an email, brochure, or flyer. Keynote does what it is intended to, well, but that doesn't mean that it should ALWAYS be the end product format.
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Well suited for: Business presentations, storyboarding, instructor-led training, content slide creation for courseware, interactive kiosks and slideshows, logo design, posters, scalable PDF text, multimedia integration. Not well suited for: 3D object manipulation, layer editing, object trigger programming, complex graphic themes, advanced audio editing, advanced video editing, advanced photo editing, 3D modeling.
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Pros
  • Enables the integration text, images and graphics extremely seamlessly
  • Allows realtime collaboration across teams
  • Allows fine tuned control over graphic elements, images and text to achieve superior design (relative to PPT or Slides)
  • Enables for presentation or for print equally well
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  • Powerpoint is excellent for structuring your ideas as you before you present them
  • Powerpoint should be used as s skeleton for your presentation for maximum effectiveness, rather than just "reading off the slides"
  • Powerpoint on a high DPI system with screencasting software and microphone allows you to record a high resolution product demonstration video quickly.
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Cons
  • The way you adjust timings for builds and transitions was a bit counterintuitive for me. Once I got the hang of it, it was fine. The timings don't work the same as they do in PowerPoint. So if you are a PowerPoint user, that may be something you have to adjust to when you switch to Keynote.
  • I feel that adding images can be clunky when working with image placeholders. Apple Keynote forces you to use the Photo app to replace image placeholders.
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  • Smart Art can really improve its graphs
  • Tables should be defaulted to redistribute columns and rows
  • Sometimes the links to Excel files get lost and I never understood why
  • I wish there was an easier way to save graph templates and defaults in a same presentation
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Likelihood to Renew
It is already included with my Macbook and the design functionality is pretty advanced so I can upload my custom brand fonts and it is easy to create templates where you can drag and drop different images while keeping overall alignment and placement the same
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No answers on this topic
Usability
Apple Keynote is incredibly user-friendly and largely intuitive. In the rare areas that Apple Keynote is not intuitive, there is a robust online community of fellow Apple Keynote users that can answer most questions I have about the program. I would encourage any of my coworkers - and anyone else in my same line of work - to adopt Apple Keynote because of its user-friendliness.
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Microsoft Powerpoint is a strong tool specially when it comes to giving presentations and visually presenting ideas. It is a great tool to bridge the gap between technical and non-technical management and staff members, helping to present ideas in a clear and concise way. But when it comes to internal usage, Microsoft Powerpoint needs to be used along with a host of other tools to present details and adding diagrams
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Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
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
No answers on this topic
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
No answers on this topic
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
If you want to create presentations more often, Prezi and Canva or not even options, both of tools take a lot of time. So the real competitor for Apple Keynote is Microsoft Powerpoint. For me, Powerpoint is so feature-filled that makes it a little complex. On the other hand, Apple Keynote is a very simple and elegant, and easy-to-use tool.
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Canva: The animations and effects are very limited and hard to customize unless you are a Canva Expert. Too many of the items are only available to premium subscribers (which can be highly frustrating). Some of the stock images, icons, etc., will be copied to your presentation. But when you go to download the presentation, Canva puts one of those annoying watermarks on the image, icon, or stock photo. Adobe Express: Although it is a free service like Canva, it still has the annoying issue with only paid users have access to the premium content. But with Express, the design options are almost limitless. Text is so easy to edit and create stunning text moments. Express does offer animations and effects, but most are only available to premium members (requires a monthly fee). Prezi: What I thought was going to be an amazing presentation creator falls so far from the mark that I hardly ever use it. The learning curve is very steep, and it does not offer all the bells and whistles that Microsoft Powerpoint offers.
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Scalability
No answers on this topic
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
  • Improved efficiency since my presentations are quick to update
  • Improved efficacy since the UI makes creating attractive presentations easy to create
  • There have been a few occasions when I need to convert my files to PowerPoint when using virtual conference platforms since Keynote is not as ubiquitous
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  • Microsoft has made it easier through the years with upgrades to make presentations quicker and better for us.
  • Flexibility to use wide screen views has enhanced our ablate to share more information on fewer slides.
  • There have not been any negative impacts on my business at all.
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ScreenShots