AI Slide Generators: 10 Tools Compared for Consultants

AI slide generators have fundamentally changed how presentations get built. The promise is compelling: describe what you want, get polished slides in seconds instead of hours.

For consultants and business professionals, the reality is more nuanced. Most AI presentation tools optimize for speed and visual appeal, not for the structured thinking, data visualization, and PowerPoint compatibility that consulting work demands.

After testing 10 AI slide generators over a 4-month period—creating 100+ presentations across strategy, due diligence, and transformation engagements—we identified which tools actually work for consulting workflows and which create more cleanup work than they save.

This guide compares AI slide generators specifically for consultants, with honest assessments of where each tool excels and where it falls short.

Why Consultants Need Different AI Tools#

General AI presentation makers optimize for different outcomes than consulting work requires:

When a partner reviews your deck and leaves 23 comments, you need to address them in PowerPoint—not export, fix formatting, re-import, and hope nothing breaks.

This fundamental difference explains why tools that win awards for "best AI presentation maker" often frustrate consulting professionals.

Evaluation Criteria for Consultants#

We evaluated each tool against five criteria that matter for consulting work:

1. PowerPoint Integration: Does it work inside PowerPoint, or require export?
2. Consulting Structure: Does it follow Pyramid Principle and MBB layouts?
3. Data Visualization: Does it support waterfall, Mekko, and Gantt charts?
4. Iteration Capability: Can it edit existing decks, not just create new ones?
5. Pricing Model: Credits vs. flat-rate for heavy iteration workflows

Tools were tested on Windows 11 and macOS with real client scenarios, not demo content.

AI Slide Generators Compared#

1. Deckary#

Best for: Consultants who need AI slides inside PowerPoint

Website: deckary.com

Deckary takes a fundamentally different approach: instead of building another presentation platform, it works as a PowerPoint add-in. AI slide generation happens where consultants already work.

AI Slide Builder:

• Generate slides from text descriptions directly in PowerPoint
• Optimized for consulting layouts (action titles, 2-3 column structures)
• Works on existing decks—not just new presentations
• No export step—slides are native PowerPoint from the start

Consulting-Grade Charts:

• Waterfall charts with automatic bridges and totals
• Mekko (Marimekko) charts for market sizing
• Gantt charts with dependencies
• Excel linking for automatic updates

Additional Features:

• Keyboard shortcuts for alignment and distribution
• 600+ icon library built into PowerPoint
• Works on both Windows and Mac

Price: $49/year (Starter), $119/year (Premium with AI features), $199 lifetime

What it does well:

• No export—slides are already in PowerPoint
• Consulting-specific layouts and structures
• Works on existing client decks
• Flat-rate pricing (no credits to track)
• Specialized charts other AI tools lack

What it doesn't do:

• Web-based presentation sharing
• Card-based scrollable formats
• Interactive elements (polls, embeds)

Our testing results:

• Slide generation: 30-60 seconds average
• Export required: None
• Formatting cleanup: Zero (already in PowerPoint)
• Consulting structure accuracy: High (Pyramid Principle alignment)

Best for: Consultants at MBB, Big 4, or investment banks who need AI to speed up PowerPoint work without leaving PowerPoint. If your deliverables must be .pptx files, Deckary eliminates the export friction entirely.

2. Gamma#

Best for: Startups and marketers creating standalone presentations

Website: gamma.app

Gamma pioneered AI-native presentations with a card-based, scrollable format that feels more like a webpage than traditional slides.

Key features:

• Fast AI generation from text prompts
• Modern, card-based design aesthetic
• Real-time collaboration
• Interactive elements (polls, embeds, GIFs)
• Export to PowerPoint available

Price: Free (400 credits), Plus ($8/month), Pro ($15/month)

What it does well:

• Fastest generation of any tool we tested
• Visually impressive output
• Great for web-shared presentations
• Interactive features for engagement

What it doesn't do:

• Work inside PowerPoint natively
• Follow consulting slide structures
• Support waterfall or Mekko charts
• Edit existing PowerPoint decks

Our testing results: Gamma's PowerPoint exports consistently required 15-45 minutes of cleanup. Font substitutions, spacing changes, and layout shifts meant "AI-saved time" was often spent fixing export issues. For web-native sharing, Gamma excels. For .pptx deliverables, it adds friction.

Best for: Startup founders creating pitch decks for web sharing, marketers building campaign presentations, and educators creating course content. Not ideal for consulting deliverables that must be PowerPoint files.

3. Beautiful.ai#

Best for: Design-focused teams who value automated layouts

Website: beautiful.ai

Beautiful.ai emphasizes smart layouts that automatically adjust as you add content, enforcing design rules without manual formatting.

Key features:

• Smart Slide templates with auto-formatting
• AI content generation and suggestions
• Brand theme enforcement
• PowerPoint export available
• Team collaboration features

Price: Pro ($12/month), Team ($40/month), Enterprise (custom)

What it does well:

• Consistent, polished design output
• Strong brand management features
• Cleaner PowerPoint exports than Gamma
• Good for non-designers

What it doesn't do:

• Work inside PowerPoint
• Support consulting chart types
• Edit existing PowerPoint files
• Follow MBB slide structures

Our testing results: Beautiful.ai's exports required 10-15 minutes of cleanup—better than Gamma but still not seamless. The smart layouts occasionally fought against consulting formatting preferences (specific font sizes, exact spacing).

Best for: Marketing teams creating brand-consistent materials where design consistency matters more than consulting-specific structures.

4. Microsoft Copilot for PowerPoint#

Best for: Microsoft 365 enterprises wanting integrated AI

Microsoft's Copilot adds AI capabilities directly into PowerPoint, creating slides from prompts or Word documents.

Key features:

• Native PowerPoint integration
• Generate presentations from prompts or documents
• Create and edit existing slides
• DALL-E image generation built in
• Speaker notes generation

Price: $30/month (Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription required)

What it does well:

• Fully integrated—no add-ins or external platforms
• Works on existing decks
• Microsoft ecosystem integration
• Template inheritance (applies organization branding)

What it doesn't do:

• Generate MBB-style consulting structures
• Create waterfall or Mekko charts
• Produce client-ready slides without formatting

Our testing results: Copilot generates functional slides but not consulting-quality ones. In testing across 50+ presentations, we spent 30-45 minutes per deck reformatting Copilot output to meet consulting standards. The AI is helpful for first drafts but not final deliverables.

Recent updates (December 2025) improved brand consistency and generation speed, but the fundamental issue remains: Copilot creates generic business slides, not MBB-style structured arguments.

Best for: Microsoft 365 enterprises who want AI drafting assistance and can invest time in formatting. Not for consultants who need client-ready output.

5. Plus AI#

Best for: Google Slides users who also use PowerPoint

Website: plusai.com

Plus AI works inside both Google Slides and PowerPoint, generating native slides without export steps.

Key features:

• Google Slides integration (primary)
• PowerPoint support
• Works on existing presentations
• AI-powered content suggestions
• Layout recommendations

Price: Starts at $15/month

What it does well:

• Native integration—no export needed
• Works on existing decks
• Good for Google Workspace organizations
• Reasonable PowerPoint support

What it doesn't do:

• Offer consulting-grade charts
• Provide MBB-specific layouts
• Include productivity features (shortcuts, icons)

Our testing results: Plus AI performed well for straightforward text slides. For data-heavy consulting presentations requiring specialized charts, it fell short. The PowerPoint experience felt secondary to Google Slides.

Best for: Teams in the Google Workspace ecosystem who occasionally need PowerPoint compatibility.

6. Pitch#

Best for: Teams who value collaboration and analytics

Website: pitch.com

Pitch combines AI presentation generation with strong collaboration and presentation analytics features.

Key features:

• AI presentation generation
• Real-time collaboration
• Presentation analytics (viewer engagement tracking)
• Brand tone enforcement
• PowerPoint and PDF export

Price: Free (limited), Pro ($20/month for 2 editors), Business ($80/month for 5 editors)

What it does well:

• Strong collaboration features
• Analytics for tracking engagement
• Brand consistency tools
• Professional templates

What it doesn't do:

• Work inside PowerPoint
• Support consulting chart types
• Edit existing PowerPoint decks

Our testing results: Pitch's analytics features are genuinely useful for sales teams tracking prospect engagement. For consulting workflows where decks are edited in PowerPoint by partners and clients, the export requirement adds friction.

Best for: Sales teams and agencies who share presentations digitally and want engagement analytics. Less suited for traditional consulting deliverables.

7. Canva Magic Design#

Best for: Marketing teams and non-designers

Website: canva.com/magic-design

Canva's Magic Design for Presentations brings AI generation to Canva's massive template library.

Key features:

• AI presentation generation from prompts
• 100+ million design assets
• Magic Write for content assistance
• Brand Kit integration
• Export to PowerPoint and PDF

Price: Free (limited), Pro ($13/month), Teams ($10/user/month)

What it does well:

• Huge template and asset library
• Strong visual design options
• Familiar interface for Canva users
• Good for marketing materials

What it doesn't do:

• Work inside PowerPoint
• Follow consulting structures
• Support business chart types
• Edit existing PowerPoint decks

Our testing results: Canva produces visually attractive slides but they read as "marketing decks" rather than "consulting decks." Partners and clients at MBB firms immediately recognize Canva output and often request reformatting to match firm standards.

Best for: Marketing teams, educators, and small businesses creating visually appealing presentations where consulting-specific structures aren't required.

8. SlidesAI#

Best for: Budget-conscious users in Google Slides

Website: slidesai.io

SlidesAI focuses on Google Slides, generating presentations from text prompts with a simple interface.

Key features:

• Google Slides integration
• Document-to-presentation conversion
• 150+ templates
• Basic customization options

Price: Free (limited), Pro ($10/month)

What it does well:

• Budget-friendly option
• Simple, straightforward interface
• Good for basic presentations
• Google Workspace integration

What it doesn't do:

• Work in PowerPoint natively
• Offer consulting-specific features
• Support complex data visualizations
• Edit existing presentations

Our testing results: SlidesAI is functional for basic presentations but lacks the sophistication consulting work requires. The output quality was noticeably below Gamma and Beautiful.ai.

Best for: Students, educators, and small businesses who work in Google Slides and need quick, basic presentations.

9. Slidebean#

Best for: Startup founders creating pitch decks

Website: slidebean.com

Slidebean focuses specifically on startup pitch decks, with AI that formats content based on design best practices.

Key features:

• AI-powered design formatting
• Startup-specific templates
• Financial model builder
• Investor CRM integration
• Presentation analytics

Price: $8-19/month, Accelerate plan $99/month with strategy calls

What it does well:

• Startup pitch deck specialization
• Financial model templates
• Investor-focused features
• Good design automation

What it doesn't do:

• Support general business presentations
• Work inside PowerPoint
• Offer consulting structures
• Handle complex data visualization

Our testing results: Slidebean is narrowly focused but effective for its target use case. For startup founders raising capital, the pitch deck templates and investor tools add genuine value. For broader consulting work, it's too specialized.

Best for: Startup founders creating investor pitch decks. Not suitable for general consulting presentations.

10. Presentations.AI#

Best for: Quick text-to-presentation conversion

Website: presentations.ai

Presentations.AI focuses on converting text content into slides automatically, identifying themes and structure.

Key features:

• Text-to-presentation conversion
• Theme identification
• Multiple export formats
• Quick generation (30 seconds)

Price: Free tier available, paid plans vary

What it does well:

• Fast conversion from existing text
• Simple interface
• Good for repurposing content

What it doesn't do:

• Work inside PowerPoint
• Offer consulting structures
• Support data visualization
• Edit existing decks

Our testing results: Presentations.AI is useful for quickly converting existing documents into presentation format. The output requires significant formatting for consulting use, but it's a reasonable starting point.

Best for: Users who need to quickly convert existing text content into presentation format.

Comparison Table: AI Slide Generators for Consultants#

The Export Problem: Why It Matters for Consultants#

Seven of ten tools we tested require exporting to PowerPoint. This creates real workflow problems:

Time cost: In our testing, export cleanup averaged 15-45 minutes per presentation. For a consultant creating 3-4 decks per week, that's 3-12 hours monthly spent fixing AI-created formatting issues.

Font substitution: AI tools use modern web fonts that don't exist in PowerPoint. Export converts them to fallbacks, changing the visual design.

Layout drift: Precise spacing and alignment shift during export. Elements that looked perfect in the AI tool overlap or misalign in PowerPoint.

Template incompatibility: Most AI tools can't apply your firm's master template. You get the AI's design system, not yours.

Iteration friction: When partners provide feedback in PowerPoint, you can't address it in the AI tool and must work in PowerPoint anyway—making the original AI generation less valuable.

For consultants, the export step often negates the time savings AI promised.

Credit Systems vs. Flat-Rate Pricing#

Several AI tools use credit-based pricing that consultants should understand:

Credit-based tools:

• Gamma: 40 credits per presentation, edits consume additional credits
• Pitch: AI actions consume credits from monthly quota
• Canva: Magic Design limited to 10 uses on free plan

Flat-rate tools:

• Deckary: Unlimited use for annual subscription
• Beautiful.ai: Unlimited AI content creation on all plans
• Copilot: Unlimited use with subscription

For consulting work involving heavy iteration—10+ revisions per deck is normal—credit-based pricing creates unpredictable costs. One complex engagement could exhaust monthly credits.

What About Tome?#

Tome was a pioneering AI presentation tool that gained significant traction after its 2022 launch, reaching 1 million users within four months. However, in March 2025, Tome announced sunsetting its presentation features to pivot toward sales automation.

The Tome presentation product shut down on April 30, 2025. Former Tome users have migrated primarily to:

• Gamma — Similar web-native approach and modern design aesthetic
• Beautiful.ai — Comparable AI generation with better PowerPoint export
• Deckary — For users who wanted PowerPoint-native workflow

If you're evaluating AI slide generators in 2026, Tome is no longer an option for presentation creation.

Consultant-Specific Considerations#

MBB Slide Structure#

McKinsey, BCG, and Bain follow specific slide conventions:

1. Action titles: Headlines that state the insight, not describe the content
2. Pyramid structure: Lead with conclusion, support with evidence
3. MECE organization: Mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive
4. Minimal text: Bullets support the title, don't repeat it

Most AI tools generate descriptive titles ("Q3 Revenue Analysis") rather than action titles ("Revenue declined 12% due to three factors"). This requires manual rewriting.

Deckary's AI is specifically trained on consulting slide structures. Other tools require post-generation reformatting.

Data Visualization Requirements#

Consulting work frequently requires:

• Waterfall charts: Revenue bridges, EBITDA walks, cost breakdowns
• Mekko charts: Market sizing, share of wallet analysis
• Gantt charts: Implementation timelines, project planning

Only Deckary among AI slide generators supports these chart types. All others require:

1. Generating basic slides with AI
2. Manually creating charts in PowerPoint or dedicated tools
3. Inserting charts into AI-generated slides

This workflow negates much of AI's time savings for data-heavy presentations.

Existing Deck Iteration#

Consulting rarely starts from blank slides. Typical workflows involve:

• Updating last quarter's board deck with new numbers
• Modifying a proposal template for a new client
• Iterating on a working document based on partner feedback

Tools that only create new presentations (Gamma, Beautiful.ai, Canva, Pitch) can't help with this workflow. You're back in PowerPoint anyway for 80% of the work.

Tools that work on existing decks (Deckary, Copilot, Plus AI) integrate into actual consulting workflows.

Which AI Slide Generator Is Right for You?#

Choose Deckary if:#

• You work primarily in PowerPoint
• You need consulting-grade charts (waterfall, Mekko, Gantt)
• You iterate on existing decks regularly
• Your deliverables must be .pptx files
• You want flat-rate pricing without credits
• You use both Windows and Mac

Choose Gamma if:#

• You create standalone presentations for web sharing
• Export cleanup time is acceptable (15-45 minutes)
• You don't need consulting-specific structures
• Modern, card-based design appeals to you
• You don't need to edit existing PowerPoint decks

Choose Microsoft Copilot if:#

• You already pay for Microsoft 365 Copilot
• You want native integration without add-ins
• You can format AI output to consulting standards yourself
• Your organization requires Microsoft-only tools

Choose Plus AI if:#

• You work primarily in Google Slides
• You occasionally need PowerPoint compatibility
• You need to edit existing presentations
• Consulting-specific features aren't required

Choose Beautiful.ai if:#

• Design consistency is your priority
• You create marketing materials rather than consulting deliverables
• Your team values automated layout enforcement
• PowerPoint export quality matters more than native integration

Choose Canva if:#

• You need access to massive template libraries
• Visual appeal matters more than consulting structure
• You create marketing or educational content
• You're already in the Canva ecosystem

The Bottom Line#

AI slide generators have matured significantly, but most optimize for general users rather than consultants. The fundamental divide is between:

Web-native tools (Gamma, Beautiful.ai, Pitch, Canva) that create impressive presentations but require export to PowerPoint, adding cleanup time and formatting friction.

PowerPoint-native tools (Deckary, Copilot, Plus AI) that work where consultants already work, eliminating export issues but varying in consulting-specific capabilities.

For consultants who need AI to speed up PowerPoint work without leaving PowerPoint, Deckary offers the best combination: AI slide generation, consulting-grade charts, and productivity tools in one add-in. At $49-119/year with unlimited use, it provides predictable value without credit calculations.

For marketers and startup founders creating standalone presentations for web sharing, Gamma and Beautiful.ai offer faster generation and modern design aesthetics—just budget for export cleanup time.

The best approach: try your top two choices on a real project, not a demo. Create an actual client deliverable and measure total time including any formatting cleanup. That's the true test of whether AI saves time or shifts where you spend it.