In a world where communication needs to be both quick and compelling, creating standout presentations has never been more critical. AI-driven platforms like Gamma and Decktopus are reshaping the presentation landscape by simplifying the creation process, allowing users to prioritize clear and effective storytelling.

However, for those seeking Gamma alternatives, it's essential to compare platforms and understand which one best suits your presentation needs. In this article, we’ll compare Gamma and decktopus across three key areas:

1. Usability
2. Presentation design
3. Features

All of these areas are important aspects of any AI presentation creation tool and as a user, you should consider each area when deciding which AI presentation tool you want to use.

Check out Gamma and decktopus yourself.

ROUND #1: THE USER EXPERIENCE

Ease of use	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Skills required	No design experience required	Design experience required
Requires a lot of editing	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Step-by-step guide	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
In-app editor	✅ Yes	✅ Yes

Question: Which presentation software is easiest to use?

Both tools are very easy to use.

For producing your presentation, Gamma and decktopus use a pretty easy guide that begins with inputting the AI prompt and then allowing the user to customize the look and style of the slides.

Below we will dive a little deeper into each tool by focusing on two key areas of the user experience

• Creating a presentation
• Ease of use

Creating a presentation with Gamma

Both platforms push users to edit the presentation once it is produced. The main customization done at the start is the length and tone of presentation. As well as the content of course.

To begin, Gamma offers users the ability to select how they want to create their presentation.

Users can choose from pasting in text, generate from a prompt and by importing a file or URL.

Here’s how it looks from a user point of view.

The creation process is highly reliable, which is essential for users. During our month-long testing, we rarely experienced any technical issues.

Creating a presentation with decktopus

Much like Gamma, decktopus offers users the ability to decide how they want to create their presentation.

Users can choose to use a prompt or import a file.

Being able to create a presentation from a file is essential for users and both of these tools offer this functionality.

Decktopus does offer a nice step-by-step guide on how to create a presentation. We will demonstrate this later but just know it is pretty straightforward.

How easy is it to create a presentation with Gamma?

We believe Gamma has the best interface for creating a presentation.

As we will discuss later, decktopus has some really cool features like the drag and drop editor + magic images. But there is not enough ground work done in the initial stages.

So for users who are approaching this and wanting a high quality presentation with little to no effort- we recommend Gamma.

Ultimately, you likely want the AI to handle most of the heavy lifting, allowing you to simply add the finishing touches.

Gamma emphasizes keeping the presentation creation process simple and straightforward, while decktopus leans more toward enabling users to edit the content and design themselves.

Here is what the slide interface of Gamma looks like.

Gamma's editing suite does not have all the features that decktopus has but we think that can be a good thing. It feels and runs a lot smoother thanks to its simplicity.

We all know simplicity is key to a great user experience, so if your goal is to create a quick yet high-quality presentation, then Gamma is your best choice.

How easy is it to create a presentation with decktopus?

Decktopus still has a great user experience.

Below you can see the interface for editing your presentation with decktopus. You have editing tools on the left and right hand side.

While the editing tools are quite useful, the screen can feel a bit cluttered at times. You can collapse the editing menu if you'd like.

The interface is visually appealing and functional, but it might be better suited for a specific group of users who are comfortable navigating more complex layouts.

Therefore, the rating of decktopus's usability will depend on the level of design knowledge that the user possesses. We think it is very similar to Canva in that sense.

Which platform has the best user experience?

Therefore, round 1 goes to Gamma.

ROUND #2: PRESENTATION DESIGN

Variety of designs	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Color schemes offered	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Professional design	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Number of templates	15+	30

Question: Which presentation software has the best designs?

Gamma offers some great pre-designed templates for users to choose from. While the number of templates is fewer than decktopus, the designs are sleek, professional, and easy to apply. If you're in search of decktopus alternatives with clean, minimalistic design options, Gamma's templates are ideal for creating polished presentations quickly.

In this section we will show you the templates on offer with each platform.

SlideSpeak template examples

Gamma has just over 15 templates- which when compared to decktopus, is not a lot.

Those templates look good and offer different styles to users e.g. dark or professional.

Gamma does offer users the ability to create their own theme based off some brand guidelines but the feature is a little hit and miss. Until Gamma updates their themes, we think decktopus has the advantage in terms of presentation design.

Decktopus template examples

Decktopus separates their templates by use case. For example, you can see they have a variety of templates for "Business" or "Proposal".

Each template contains different layouts, colors and slide types. This variety means users are likely to find a template that suits their needs.

Which platform has the best presentation designs?

For users who want a broader selection of templates and more creative control, decktopus takes this round. However, for those looking for decktopus alternatives that offer simplicity without sacrificing professionalism, Gamma still delivers solid design options with less effort.

Overall, it is clear round 2 goes to decktopus.

ROUND #3: FEATURES

Speak with files	❌ No	❌ No
Summarize files with AI	✅ Yes	❌ No
Create presentations with AI	✅ Yes	✅ Yes

Question: Which platform is best for creating presentations with AI?

At this point, it is clear that both tools can create high quality PowerPoint presentations with AI. 

Each tool requires a fair amount of user edits but Gamma produces the better content in our opinion.

Crucially, this round looks at the ways in which presentations can be created- from AI prompts to uploading documents.

Let’s begin with Gamma and explore their features.

Creating a presentation with SlideSpeak

As we have mentioned, Gamma allows users to create website pages and documents as well as presentations.

The process still remains the same- you input an AI prompt and then select your theme. Gamma will then create cards that display the relevant information.

Designing web pages is an excellent feature and the design interface is still the same, so you can create custom elements and cards.

But for this comparison, we are focusing on the ability to create a PowerPoint presentation. Of which, it seems as though SlideSpeak offers users the ability to do more.

Gamma allows users to import files, however you can't really enhance them. You cannot get answers from the file or refine the content you really want out of it.

Here we can see that I uploaded a 2023 Uber financial earnings document.

The AI produced a text summary as well as a card by card summary of the information, although the layout it was presented in was quite messy and didn’t feel too user-friendly.

The overall result was quite a bit better than the preview. So even if you think the preview isn't looking good, Gamma will usually deliver a good end result.

Creating a presentation with decktopus

As we have mentioned, decktopus allows users to create presentations from a file or a text prompt.

Whichever way you decide to create a presentation, the platform offers a great step-by-step guide where you can customize the presentation to suit certain audiences or narratives.

Here we can see that I tried to upload an M&A PDF, except the file was too big for decktopus to handle... Decktopus has a 10MB single file upload limit, although you can upload up to 5 files which is super useful.

So let's switch to a presentation I created with a Word document that contained a press release from the company Uber. It's the same file we used to create a presentation with Gamma.

It looks quite good visually and the images were much better than Gamma. We think it demonstrates the slide variety that the tool offers. 

However, I quickly found that even on the paid plan, your AI credits don't last long. Meaning you are limited to the amount of AI you can use each month.

Which platform has the best features?

Both tools use AI to help users create PowerPoint presentations, but they approach it differently.

Decktopus is great for those who want more control, with features like an in-app editor and drag-and-drop customization.

On the other hand, Gamma is the better option if your main goal is to let AI handle the heavy lifting. Its ability to turn documents into presentations quickly and efficiently makes it the stronger choice.

If you’re looking for a solid alternative to Decktopus, Gamma is the way to go.

Try Gamma now!