The Best Free PowerPoint Presentation Templates You Will Ever Find Online
If you’re looking for the best free PowerPoint presentation templates online, then you’re reading the right article. There are many places online where you can download free templates, but to be frank, most look outdated and well, cheap.
You may think the best free PowerPoint templates are those that you need to spend money on. Well, that may be true, but nowadays, there are a lot of websites that offer modern-looking and well-designed templates for free. You’ll get to know several of them later on in this article.
To whet your excitement, here’s a sneak peek at a premium-looking template that’s 100% free from 24Slides’ Template Hub known as Templates by 24Slides! While 24Slides is known for providing presentation design services, their template hub has hundreds of free templates available to download right away!
While there are obvious benefits to using templates, some may not be sold on the idea simply because most free presentation templates leave a lot to be desired design-wise. This is why some people still prefer designing slides from scratch instead of working off of a template.
Do you feel the same way? Check out the next section to find out which option you should go for – use templates or design slides from scratch?
Designing Slides From Scratch Vs. Using PowerPoint Templates
Designing PowerPoint slides from scratch is a time-consuming process. Sure, you may have found a few well-designed presentation slides on SlideShare. And you think you can use these as inspiration for coming up with your own design. But, how much time do you really have to devote to design slides from scratch?
If you’ve got design skills, then perhaps you can easily create your slides. But, if you don’t and you depend on other people’s designs for inspiration, then you may be spending far too much time thinking about colors, fonts, and other design elements. For instance, you could be asking yourself these questions:
Would this foreground color look great with this background?
What about this font? Shall I use a different font for the headlines?
Will it match with the double lines on this slide?
The thing is, these are questions you need answers to for just one slide! When you go to the next slide, you’ll have to think about the best design that will match the next slide’s message.
Think how many times you’ll be asking the same questions over and over again if you need to work on several slides!
If you need to design 10, 20 or 100 slides, then prepare to spend several HOURS (if you’re an experienced designer) or DAYS (if you’re an inexperienced PowerPoint user).
Thinking about the nuances of design can literally make your head spin if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Creating slides from scratch is a good thing if you’ve got design chops as you can make your slides as unique as you want. But even then, if you’re a busy person, you may not want to waste your time designing slides when there are easier and less time-consuming alternatives.
If you’re a time-poor individual, then you need to seriously consider using PowerPoint templates. Not only will these save you a lot of time, but you’ll also need to expend less energy thinking about your slides’ design!
The Pros and Cons of Using Free PowerPoint Templates
The best PowerPoint presentation design templates can be used many times over. You’re not limited to using it a single time. You can edit it as you see fit. With that said, here are the pros and cons of using free templates for your presentation:
Why You’ll Love Free Templates (If You Don’t Already)
1. Free templates don’t cost you money
Free templates are just that – free. They won’t cost you a dime to download. Premium templates can go anywhere from a few dollars to a couple hundred. If you want custom templates made, then you’re looking at a few hundred or a few thousand dollars, depending on your requirements.
Now, you’re probably asking why anyone would want to give away something they’ve worked on so hard for free.
Well, individuals and companies do it for various reasons. They may want to increase brand awareness to get more people acquainted with their services. By giving valuable templates for free, they’re positioning themselves as an authority-figure that people can trust.
Also, some websites use free templates as a way to get more people to sign up to their mailing list so they can sell them premium templates or other services later on.
2. Free templates help free up your time
Obviously, the number one benefit of using templates (whether it’s free or not) is that you’re basically saving yourself tons of time.
Instead of spending hours or even days perfecting your presentation’s look and design, you can simply download a free template or buy a premium one.
With the hours you get to save, you can use these towards more bottom line-impacting activities, such as looking for leads and customers, improving your sales funnel, working on your ad copy, and so much more.
Graphic designers spend hours creating templates – capitalize on their efforts so you don’t have to!
3. You’ve got plenty of free templates to choose from
As you’ll see later on in this article, there are plenty of websites where you can get free PowerPoint templates. From basic-looking templates that look like they were done in a hurry to premium-looking templates carefully designed by professional designers, you’ll usually find something you can use.
A Few Reasons Free Templates May Not Be Good For Your Presentation
There are quite a few cons when using free templates. But they’re not all that bad, as you will find out below.
1. Free templates aren’t exactly known for having professional design
Not all free templates are going to be professionally designed. Far from it, in fact. Most of them will be far from professional. Here’s one example:
And here’s another free process flow template which will probably make you think twice if you’re going to include it in your presentation (hopefully not!):
With 24Templates, however, our templates are all professionally designed by our in-house team of graphic designers. As you can see in the screenshot below, our free templates are professionally designed and look miles better than the 2 examples above!
2. Most free templates don’t have consistent design
Consistency may vary across free templates providers. Some designers just want to get their name out there without really thinking about providing a higher level of consistency in their templates.
At 24Templates, however, we can assure you that our designers create not only visually-pleasing and professional-looking templates, but that design consistency is there, too. Here are screenshots of our free HR Template Slides:
This is the Title slide of 24Templates’ Free HR Template slides pack
This sample slide from 24Templates’ Free HR Template slides pack is still consistent with the colors and design used in the previous slides
3. Free PPT templates don’t really help with your branding
Some free templates include placeholders for logos and company names. But that’s about it. If you’re using your presentations as a branding opportunity, then you’d have to edit your templates to make it fit with your brand’s image.
For branding purposes, you may want to consider having a bespoke template made especially for your company.
Another alternative is you can hire a PowerPoint design company like 24Slides to edit your slides professionally. Our team of experts will help you either brush up or completely redesign your slides, all while making sure your company branding sticks!
Not All Free PowerPoint Templates Are Created Equal
When it comes to templates, people basically fall into two camps, those who say Yay to templates and those who say Nay.
But why say Nay when templates are literally lifesavers for many presenters?
Well, I’d like to offer an opinion. Those who say Nay are actually saying no to the basic, outdated, and overall terrible-looking PowerPoint templates they find on the PowerPoint dashboard itself.
Don’t believe me? Let’s go take a peek at the pre-loaded PPT templates!
First, open up PowerPoint on your computer. You’ll then see PowerPoint’s welcome screen which displays a number of free templates like you see in the screenshot below:
Do any of these templates look familiar to you? I wouldn’t be surprised if you said ‘yes.’ After all, thousands or maybe even millions of PowerPoint presentations have been built on these pre-loaded templates through the years!
With that said, my point is that not all templates are created equal. Check out this image of 24Templates’ free Sales Presentation template:
Now, you know that not all free templates are ugly. Therefore, you shouldn’t hesitate to use free templates as long as it’s visually pleasing, and of course, easy enough to edit to fit your needs.
How To Get Your Hands On Great PowerPoint Presentation Templates
So, now you know the power of using PPT templates for your presentation. How do you get your hands on them? Well, there are generally 3 options:
Option 1. Download free PowerPoint templates from sites like 24Templates and SlidesCarnival (more on this in the next section).
Option 2. Buy a premium PowerPoint template from online marketplaces like GraphicRiver or CreativeMarket.
Option 3. Hire a competent PowerPoint designer on freelancer marketplaces like UpWork or Freelancer.com. Alternatively, you can hire a good design agency to create custom templates for you.
Obviously, with options 1 and 2, you’ve still got to do the work yourself. The quality between free and premium templates vary greatly.
As you’ve seen in some of the screenshots above, many free PowerPoint templates aren’t worth downloading. But thankfully, there are some websites like 24Templates which offer 100% free and premium-looking templates.
Of course, premium templates come with better support, theme options and an impressive number of layouts and template slides. But nevertheless, free PPT templates are a good starting point (more on this below).
With option 3, you’re going to invest a considerable sum of money to hire a PowerPoint expert. Services like these don’t come cheap since you’re paying for talent. But the good thing is your template will be custom and tailor-made for you.
This is obviously great for your company’s branding activities. If the presentation is done correctly, a custom corporate PowerPoint template will open doors for your business.
Since our article’s focus is about free templates, we’ll be focusing on option 1. Scroll down to read where you can find the best free PowerPoint presentation templates online!
The Top Places To Find The Best Free PowerPoint Presentation Templates Online
1. 24Templates
Of course, the first one on the list is our very own 24Templates. This is a 100% free template directory that’s open to anyone who’s looking for premium templates, but can’t afford to spend money for it just yet. This is our way of providing value and giving back to the global PowerPoint community.
We have a few hundred templates available for download now. Over time, we’ll be adding even more professionally-designed free templates! You’ve already seen samples of our free templates. Here’s more!
Free PowerPoint Timeline Templates
You can use this free PowerPoint timeline template to present timelines and roadmaps for both business and non-business presentations. You can add your logo on the lower left section of the slide, though of course, you can move it around somewhere else.
Free PowerPoint Chart Templates
Here’s another example PowerPoint chart template. If you want to reveal trends or progress over a specific period of time, you can use a line graph like you see in the screenshot above. The graph is divided into 4 quarters. You can rename and edit as you see fit.
Free PowerPoint Organizational Chart Templates
If you need to use an organizational chart to display your company’s structure, then this free organizational chart template from 24Templates is perfect for you. Obviously, you may need to add more or delete some of the pre-filled boxes depending on your company’s size.
If you’re looking for an organizational chart that will display a smaller subset or division in your company, then this particular slide design may be a good fit for your needs. Feel free to put your team’s photo on the left!
Free Sales Presentation Templates
Here’s an example Sales Presentation Template. You can use this template when you’re communicating your company’s purpose, a value proposition, or a pain point. You can easily customize this free template to suit your situation.
If you’re looking to impress potential clients and investors, you can use this free sales flowchart template from 24Templates. You can add a simple animation while you go from one point to the next so your audience can follow along and understand your sales process.
Here’s another free sales presentation template which you can quickly edit. You can add up to 7 points in the flowchart. If you need to add more, it’s best to create a duplicate slide and just continue points 8, 9, and so on, in the next slide. Otherwise, if your sales process has fewer than 7 points, you can simply delete the points you don’t need and maybe reposition the circles a bit.
Free Marketing Presentation Templates
When marketing your products or your services, you need to convince your audience of why they need to choose your brand and not your competitor. This product comparison table will allow you to easily show your audience why you’re the best.
You can use this template to compare your product or service to your competitors. You can even try enlarging your product’s box (say you’re product A) to make it look bigger. That way, your audience can easily spot the best from the rest. Alternatively, you can also use this template to list down your product features or components and maybe break down product costs.
Free Project Presentation Templates
If you’re looking for PPT templates you can download for free for your project presentation, then check out this template. Whether you’re presenting a school or a business project, this free Project Presentation template from 24Templates will allow you to display a vibrant image of your project, along with some text and ratings for your project.
If your project involves maps, you can use this template to display data and information about your project’s locations. You can easily replace the map in the background, if you’re using a more local map, say for instance, your country or your state. Simply swap out the map, edit the text, and you’re good to go!
Free Professional PowerPoint Presentation Templates
If you’re looking for professional PowerPoint templates you can download for free, then you may want to check out this particular template from 24Templates. While these slides are originally designed to illustrate the distribution of tasks, these are generic enough to be applied to many contexts. You can use this as an academic presentation PowerPoint template or maybe even in conferences and seminars.
Just like the previous sample template, this professional-looking PPT template can be edited to fit a variety of presentations. Whether you’re using this slide as part of your pitch deck or maybe as a conference presentation PPT template, with just a little bit of editing, you can make this template uniquely yours!
These are just a few samples of what you’ll find in 24Templates. You can download templates for your corporate and business presentations. There are specific templates for presenting data like tables, graphs, and charts, as well as a variety of maps and text slides. We even include free icons which you can use along with your free templates!
2. Slides Carnival
Slides Carnival is a side project of Jimena Catalina, a visual/UI freelance designer from Madrid, Spain. She made the site because, according to her bio, she suffers a lot when she sees poorly designed presentations. Also, she’s publishing these templates so that presenters can focus on creating meaningful content without worrying too much about design.
She has categorized her professional PPT templates (free download) into different categories like formal, inspirational, creative, simple, startup, elegant, business and playful. She includes about 2 dozen slides per template as well as free icons.
3. SlideIst
Designed by freelance graphic designer, Kata Ragasits, the free PowerPoint templates on her site showcases her design skills. If you use any of these modern and cool PowerPoint templates in your presentation, no one’s going to think you got it for free!
Each template includes several layouts, these include title slides, title+content slides, image slides, chart designs, and so much more. She even includes free fonts and a free icon pack for each template.
4. Behance
There are many talented designers on Behance who chose to give away their premium-looking templates for free. Most templates include several layouts you can choose from, so you’ve got plenty of options to go through. Some designers request a link back to their sites or to their Behance profiles, so if you do choose to benefit from their talent and their hard work, don’t forget to credit them accordingly.
5. Graphic Panda
Graphic Panda curates both free and premium PowerPoint templates, Keynote templates, and Google Slides templates. You can easily tell which templates are free as it will say that in the title just like you see in the screenshot above. Their free templates include real estate, medical, health, minimalist, business, and many more categories. For premium templates, you’ll be redirected to template marketplaces like GraphicRiver.
6. All PPT
While it’s branded as AllPPT.com, the website’s domain name has been updated as you’ll notice when you visit the site. There are tons of free templates available, and they claim to add new templates every day. As of this writing, they have over 66 pages of templates.
Templates can be used for school, business and even commercial presentations. If you’re logged in to Google Drive, you can preview what the slides look like without downloading the template files to your computer.
7. Slide Model
Slide Model offers membership packages for those who want to get access to their premium templates, however, if you’re not willing to shell out any money for templates, you can check out their free PowerPoint templates. Some of their most popular templates include academic, business and general purpose templates. They give away a free template every week.
If you want to sign up for a membership, the cheapest option is $24.90 for 1-day access where you can download up to 5 templates in a day. Their annual plan goes for $199.90/year where you can get unlimited downloads per day, and you can license for up to 10 employees.
More Free PowerPoint Templates
If you’re looking for a free PowerPoint poster template, you can check out GeniGraphics, MakeSigns, and PosterPresentations. Their free templates come in various colors, styles, and sizes. Simply choose the template you want to use and download it to your computer so you can start working on your poster.
If you want to print your poster, simply send it back to the website where you downloaded your poster presentation template from so they can print and ship it to you!
For free PowerPoint game templates, check out this article on The Balance where they provide direct links to several PPT game templates like Jeopardy, The Price Is Right, Deal or No Deal, Family Feud, Wheel Of Fortune, and Cash Cab.
If you want some free infographic templates which you can edit in PowerPoint, HubSpot’s freebie is a great resource. Here’s a screenshot:
All you have to do to download the free templates is fill out a short form and give a few details about yourself. Now, you’re going to have to decide if that’s something you want to give away in exchange for the 15 free infographic PowerPoint templates.
Free Templates From Microsoft Itself
From a personal point of view, I don’t find most free templates from Microsoft visually appealing. But still, many people use these templates, so I thought I had better include this in the list too.
As more and more designers contribute to Microsoft’s free templates, over time, we may see better-looking templates pre-loaded in PowerPoint as well as on the Microsoft website itself.
If you want to use any of Microsoft’s free PowerPoint templates, these are your options:
- Search for online templates by typing in the search bar. Note you need an Internet connection to do this [see (1) in the screenshot below]
- Scroll down through the pre-loaded templates and double-click the template you want to use [see (2) in the screenshot below]
Here’s what it looks like:
If you want to check out the pre-loaded template’s gallery of available layouts and themes, simply click on a template and you’ll see something like this on your screen (I clicked on the Atlas template):
As you can see on the left side of the screenshot, this is the template’s Title slide layout. On the right, you’ll see the available color themes for this particular template.
If you want to see what other layouts are available, click on More Images at the bottom. Here are the other available layouts:
If you want to use one of the pre-loaded templates as a base for your PowerPoint presentation, simply click on the Create button.
What do you think? Do you think the free built-in templates look great? Maybe. Maybe not.
If you do choose to use any of the built-in templates, then know that you’ve got millions of other people using the same templates. So, if you value being unique and standing out from the crowd, then perhaps you may want to browse the other websites I listed in this article.
Now, Microsoft’s free templates aren’t too bad especially if you’re pressed for time, and you really have no other choice. Just don’t expect to win any design or presentation awards though.
Of course, one of PowerPoint’s best features is its versatility. You can use any of the available templates, and redesign it to make it your own. But obviously, that kind of beats the purpose of using a template, right?
You use a template because you want to save time. You don’t have hours to spend creating a template from scratch, so you use a template with pre-designed layouts and colors, etc. But the pre-loaded ones just don’t cut it nowadays.
Back in the 1990s or early 2000s when PowerPoint was a relatively new software, we were more accepting of cookie-cutter templates. But not anymore. In 2018 and beyond, free templates that look like they were created in 1999 are not going to capture anyone’s attention.
Final Words
I hope your journey to get access to the best PowerPoint templates – free or otherwise – has come to an end in this article. Many talented designers are putting their love for PowerPoint design above all else. They are giving away some of the best PPT templates you’ll ever find online.
Just remember that using templates is just a tool to help you save time. It’s not going to be doing the presenting for you. You still need to work on it yourself. The good thing is, with the amount of time you’ll save with using a cool PowerPoint template, you’ll be able to spend more time perfecting your presentation.