Google Slides vs LibreOffice Impress

Google Slides

• Teams that build and review the same deck together in a browser
• Organizations that already pay for Google Workspace
• Presenters who share their slides in Google Meet calls

LibreOffice Impress

• People who want a desktop presentation app with no subscription
• Linux users who need to open and edit PowerPoint files
• Presenting from a laptop with a second screen or a phone remote

Google Slides

• There is no standalone paid Slides plan; the business version comes only as part of Google Workspace, with Gmail, Drive and Meet.
• Gemini in Slides is not in Business Starter; it starts at Business Standard, $14 per user / month on a 1-year commitment.
• Slides recording and speaker spotlight are not available with a free personal account; Google limits them to some Workspace plans.
• Google's help lists Slides for computer browsers, Android, iPhone and iPad; no Windows or Mac desktop app is listed.

LibreOffice Impress

• There is no hosted cloud version; The Document Foundation says it does not plan a service like those from Google and Microsoft.
• On Android the foundation offers only a viewer with experimental editing, and Impress Remote for Android and iOS controls a slide show but does not edit it.
• The Mac App Store version costs $8.99 and the Microsoft Store version also carries a charge; downloads from the website are free.
• The Presenter Console works only when two displays are connected.

Google Slides

Co-editing and revision history

Several people can work on the same slide at the same time. Sharing settings control who can view, comment or edit, and revision history restores earlier versions.

Gemini in Slides

Generates new slides and images from a prompt, summarizes a presentation, rewrites text and can draw on files in Drive. It requires an eligible Google Workspace or Google AI plan.

Slides recording

Records a presenter talking through a deck and saves the video to Drive for sharing. Each recording is limited to 30 minutes and can only be made in Chrome or Edge.

Presenting in Google Meet

Slides and Meet controls appear in one place during a call, and speaker spotlight places the presenter's video inside the slide. Both are limited to some Workspace Business and Enterprise plans.

PowerPoint and Canva files

PowerPoint presentations can be edited directly without making a copy, or converted to Slides format. Canva presentations can also be imported.

Offline editing

Presentations can be opened, created and edited without a connection. On a computer this requires Chrome or Microsoft Edge with the Google Docs Offline extension.

LibreOffice Impress

Slides with charts and multimedia

Slide shows can combine text, charts, drawing objects and multimedia, starting from the templates included with Impress.

PowerPoint files

Microsoft PowerPoint presentations can be imported and modified in Impress, so existing decks do not have to be rebuilt.

Animations and transitions

Dynamic effects, including object animations and slide transitions, can be assigned to slides for on-screen shows that run automatically or manually.

Presenter Console

With a second display connected, the audience sees the slide show while the presenter's screen shows the current slide, the next one, the notes and a timer.

Impress Remote

An open-source Android and iOS app controls a slide show over Bluetooth or a network link, showing slide thumbnails and speaker notes and offering an on-screen pointer.

Views, handouts and export

The Slide Sorter shows thumbnails of every slide and the Handout page pairs slides with text for the audience. Slide timings can be rehearsed, and decks published as handouts or HTML.

Google Slides

• Personal Google Account$0

  Create, edit and present slides in a browser or the mobile apps, with co-editing, comments, templates and offline access.

• Business Starter$7

  per user / month, 1-year commitment ($8.40 flexible)

  Google Workspace with Slides and 30 GB of pooled storage per user. Gemini in Slides is not included.

• Business Standard$14

  per user / month, 1-year commitment ($16.80 flexible)

  2 TB of pooled storage per user. The lowest Business edition that includes Gemini in Slides.

• Business Plus$22

  per user / month, 1-year commitment ($26.40 flexible)

  Everything in Standard with 5 TB of pooled storage per user, plus Vault, eDiscovery and advanced endpoint management.

• EnterpriseCustom

  No minimum or maximum user count, with data loss prevention, context-aware access and data regions; priced through Google sales.

LibreOffice Impress

• LibreOffice$0

  The full office suite, including Impress, downloaded free from libreoffice.org for Windows, macOS or Linux.

Google Slides

• Annual discount

  Save 16% with a 1-year commitment

  Business Starter is $7 per user per month on the Annual/Fixed-Term Plan against $8.40 on the Flexible Plan. Standard drops from $16.80 to $14 and Plus from $26.40 to $22.

• Nonprofit

  Google Workspace for Nonprofits at $0

  Eligible nonprofits get Google Workspace for Nonprofits at $0, or Business Standard at $3.50 and Business Plus at $6.16 per user per month on a 1-year commitment.

• Education

  Education Fundamentals at no charge

  Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, which includes Slides, is available at no charge to qualifying institutions.

LibreOffice Impress

No public discounts listed.