Beautiful AI Review 2024: Pricing, Features, Pros & Cons

In today’s rapidly evolving landscape, artificial intelligence (AI) is making its mark on almost every industry. Entrepreneurs and business experts are re-evaluating their operational strategies. Whether it’s optimizing email marketing or crafting content, there’s a collective push to stay ahead and not be overshadowed by this technological revolution.

For years, Microsoft’s PowerPoint has been the go-to tool for presentations. But could Beautiful AI be the next game-changer in this space?

After investing several hours exploring the new Beautiful AI presentation tool, I’m ready to share an unbiased review of this AI-powered slide platform. Here’s the comprehensive lowdown.

What Is Beautiful AI Presentation Software?

Beautiful AI offers more than just templates, design tools, and icons.

With this software, crafting a top-notch slide presentation is notably faster—potentially four times quicker than with other platforms. The reason?

Its integration of artificial intelligence. Beautiful AI smartly auto-arranges icons, tweaks color palettes, and its AI bot can even take the reins to design a whole presentation for you.

Current Approach

1. Start every slide from the ground up.
2. Dedicate hours to adjusting images, pictures, and fine-tuning fonts.
3. Allocate yet another hour just for slide animations and transitions.
4. Manually delegate slide assignments, send individual slides through email, then invest an hour consolidating them.

A More Efficient Method

1. Initiate your presentation.
2. Employ intelligent templates or let the AI bot sketch an initial draft for you.
3. Directly assign slides to colleagues and provide feedback within the software.
4. Animations and transitions are generated without any manual intervention.

How Does Beautiful AI Work?

At its core, Beautiful.ai functions due to its Design AI. This leverages machine learning and natural language processing to pinpoint crucial components of a presentation and automatically implement design principles.

The platform’s user-friendly drag-and-drop interface, combined with a rich library of ready-to-use templates, empowers users to tweak their presentations swiftly.

Additionally, it fosters team collaboration. Users can effortlessly share their visual documents with peers, clients, and a broader audience, thanks to the real-time collaboration tools integrated into the platform.

Steps to Kickstart Your Presentation

I decided to dive in and test out the platform by crafting a presentation titled “How to Implement Artificial Intelligence in Business.”

Once logged in, you’re directed to your individualized dashboard. The design is refreshingly simple, making navigation straightforward for any user.

The main dashboard provides an array of impressive features:

1. Branded Templates: I particularly liked the “Branded” template option. It enabled me to seamlessly integrate my company’s branding elements—like the logo, specific color palette, and fonts. This ensures a consistent look across future presentations without repetitive manual adjustments.
2. Cloud-based Collaboration: The cloud functionality shines here. You’re not just limited to sharing the final presentation; you can also invite teammates to collaborate directly. This method is far more efficient than the old-school way of individually assigning slides and then stitching them together.
3. Folder Organization: As simple as it sounds, the ability to organize presentations into folders is invaluable. It’s surprising how many platforms overlook this basic organizational feature, so it was a pleasant inclusion for me.

When you’re ready to start, click on “Create Presentation”, and you’re presented with choices:

• Opt for predefined presentation templates and construct your slide deck bit by bit.
• Or, you can let their AI bot take the lead, crafting an entire slide deck on your behalf.

Creating a Presentation With AI DesignBot

Naturally, I was intrigued to test out the AI bot.

Interestingly, it’s backed by OpenAI. This leads me to believe that it likely uses technologies akin to ChatGPT to produce the content required for a presentation.

To see it in action, I prompted it with “How to Implement Artificial Intelligence into Your Business.”

In just about a minute, Beautiful AI whipped up an entire presentation based on my brief input, which I found remarkably efficient considering the general nature of my prompt.

The output was a set of twelve auto-generated slides. These encompassed a variety of content, such as a slide defining AI, a chronology of AI’s evolution, notable quotes, and even a thoughtful slide discussing ethical aspects. Quite comprehensive, I’d say!

Here’s an up close look at just a few of the slides it generated:

While the tool’s output was impressive, it wasn’t spot-on for what I had in mind. I was anticipating specific methods for AI application, like the use of AI for SEO, AI-driven email campaigns, or AI-fueled transcription services. Still, the layouts and the depth of information it presented were commendable.

I believe a more detailed prompt might have guided the AI to produce a closer match to my expectations. Nevertheless, Beautiful AI seems to be an excellent tool for generating a swift initial draft that can be further refined.

Designing from Smart Templates

Though the DesignerBot offers a head start in crafting a presentation, there might be times when you have a clear blueprint in your mind.

Staying with my AI-themed presentation, I decided to explore their smart templates. I dove back in and picked one of these templates to kick things off.

Beautiful AI boasts a wide array of ready-made, eye-catching presentation templates. To give you a glimpse, here are some of the comprehensive presentation templates they offer for free:

For Start-Ups:

• Project status updates
• Product proposals
• Market research insights
• Budget reviews
• Usability tests

Presentation Makeovers:

• These templates allow you to create slide decks with a touch of expert design inspiration.

Business Oriented:

• Investor presentation samples
• Clear scopes of work
• Product roadmaps
• Engaging pitch decks
• Conference keynote slides

For the Marketers:

• Detailed SEO competitor analysis reports
• Webinar summaries
• Quarterly project status updates
• Proposals for influencer marketing campaigns
• Comprehensive event marketing strategies

They also offer tailored templates for Sales, Creative professionals, and HR.

Slide Editing Capabilities

Whether you’re sculpting your presentations from the ground up or leaning on a template, here’s a snapshot of what you can expect from their individual slide editing options:

As illustrated in the image, when I started crafting my first slide, here’s what I found at my fingertips:

• Layout Adaptation: Customize the arrangement of the image, the slide layout, or both.
• Text Customization: Alter text colors from a broad palette, adjust its position on the slide, among other modifications.
• Animations: Set animations to “automatic” or hand-pick your preference.
• Audio Integration: A nifty feature where you can append audio to your slide. The transition to the next slide is programmed to happen once the audio finishes.
• Presenter’s Aid: A ‘Presenter Notes’ section at the bottom, reminiscent of PowerPoint’s feature.

On the whole, the platform is a breeze to navigate, with a clear, user-friendly interface.

Comparing Smart Slides vs. Classic Slides

Up until now, I’ve mainly showcased features available in Beautiful AI’s smart templates or “smart slides.”

While working in Smart Mode, you might notice that to reposition text or imagery, you’re given options like right, left, bottom, and so forth. Direct drag-and-drop or manual resizing, like in PowerPoint, is absent.

That’s because Smart Slides operate on predefined layouts. To clarify:

Smart Slide:

• Swiftly swap or add icons.
• Automatic formatting takes care of everything – from slide placement to color coordination, images, and beyond.
• Auto-Resizing: For instance, if you reduce a list of four items to three, the software intuitively resizes and rearranges the trio to optimally utilize the slide space.
• For unique designs not inherently available, you won’t be able to tweak the slide layout. Instead, you’d switch to “Classic Mode.”

Classic Slide: This is your PowerPoint equivalent. Any slide can be converted into a classic one, granting you full autonomy to shuffle, rotate, resize, and modify as you please.

Slide Templates & Charts

Once my title slide was in place, I was eager to explore more intricate features, like integrating graphs, videos, widgets, and other commonly used elements in presentations.

Let me give you a brief overview of some of the options Beautiful AI provides:

Clearly, Beautiful AI offers a rich variety of design templates catering to diverse content needs. To provide a more detailed perspective, let’s delve into a comprehensive breakdown:

• Bullets
• Text Box
• Timeline
• Icons with Text
• Table
• Photo Grids
• Agenda
• Section Breaks
• Contact Us
• Table
• Message Carousels
• Column & Line Charts

Once you’ve pinpointed the type of slide you’re aiming for, the choices are aplenty. As an example, when I selected the “Timeline” template, it presented me with a diverse range of design options.

You’re equipped to craft slides that not only communicate effectively but also exude a sleek, professional aesthetic.

If you’re curious about integrating more data-driven visuals, like line charts or bar graphs, fret not. Beautiful AI simplifies this process. You can effortlessly import data from various sources—be it Excel sheets, CRMs, or other software platforms.

Post-import, the platform avails a plethora of functionalities to determine the presentation style or highlight specific data points.

Comparatively, I personally found Beautiful AI to be more intuitive and user-centric than traditional stalwarts like PowerPoint or Google Slides.

Additional Features of Beautiful AI

1. Automated Formatting:

• The platform intelligently adjusts to your choices. For instance, when you pick a dark background, the font colors adapt to a lighter shade for better visibility.

2. Brand Consistency:

• Keeping a unified brand image is no longer a hassle. Whether you’re a budding startup or a large corporation with multiple presentations, maintaining a consistent brand image is simplified. You can design bespoke templates ensuring a consistent portrayal of your brand.

3. Enterprise Integrations & Security:

• For larger enterprises, integrations with apps like Slack and Outlook are available. Moreover, with SAML single sign-on, secure sharing becomes effortless.

Team-Centric Features

Beautiful AI clearly prioritizes collaborative work. Its features can drastically cut down the time spent on presentations and elevate team productivity:

• Streamlined communication with in-platform commenting (similar to Google Docs or Word).
• Option to invite members for viewing or collaboration.
• Ability to assign specific slides to team members.
• Craft team-specific templates for easier access and brand consistency.

Beautiful AI – The Good and The Room for Improvement

Pros:

• DesignerBot: This feature, albeit in beta, is promising. It significantly automates the slide creation process, giving users a head start.
• Rich Template Library: An abundance of pre-designed decks to choose from eliminates the need to purchase external templates.
• Design Fluidity: Everything from color coordination to transitions is handled for the user, simplifying the process of conveying a cohesive brand image.
• Team Collaboration: The platform is built with teams in mind. Collaborative features and brand consistency tools are especially beneficial for businesses.

Cons:

• DesignerBot Hiccups: My initial interaction with the DesignerBot was rocky. A slight rephrasing was needed to get it up and running.
• Stock Image Selection: While adequate, a broader variety of stock images would be welcome.
• Limited Control in Smart Mode: Smart templates might feel restricting for those who prefer granular control. Transitioning to “classic” mode offers more control, but the switch is irreversible.

Pricing Insights

Beautiful AI provides a 14-day free trial for users to get a feel of its offerings. However, the significant difference between monthly and annual pricing might push users towards the latter, a distinction I wasn’t particularly fond of.

Here’s the breakdown:

The real value lies not just in the direct pricing but in the hours and effort your team saves while crafting their project presentations.

Key Takeaways

Frankly, I’m all in. As a busy entrepreneur tasked with crafting sales pitches and informative slides to secure funding, I often find myself pressed for time. I’d rather focus on the content of my slides than labor over their design.

Beautiful AI is remarkably user-friendly, turning what used to be a chore into an engaging experience. I truly believe it stands a chance to rival the longstanding dominance of PowerPoint. And considering Microsoft’s ties with OpenAI, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re already in the works to bring similar AI-enhanced capabilities to PowerPoint.

For the time being, however, I’m sticking with Beautiful AI. It genuinely feels like having a seasoned presentation designer right by your side, ready to assist.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What exactly is Beautiful AI?

Beautiful AI is a presentation software, akin to PowerPoint or Google Slides. Its unique proposition lies in its integration of artificial intelligence and smart templates. These features facilitate the creation of high-quality presentations in a fraction of the time, complemented by robust team collaboration functionalities.

2. Can I access Beautiful AI without spending?

You can enjoy Beautiful AI’s features through a 14-day free trial. Once this period concludes, a subscription is required. Both individual and team subscription plans are available, billed either monthly or annually.

3. How does Beautiful AI craft an entire presentation so swiftly?

The magic is in its smart templates and AI algorithms. These tools streamline the design process, enabling users to concentrate on content rather than fussing over aesthetics.

4. Does Beautiful AI support audio collaboration?

Absolutely. Beautiful AI has integrated audio features, facilitating collaborative efforts among team members. Additionally, there are chat and comment tools for enhanced communication.

5. Can presentations from Beautiful AI be used on other platforms?

Yes, they can. Beautiful AI allows users to export their creations as PDFs or PowerPoint decks, ensuring compatibility with other presentation tools.