AI deck generators produce a consistent artefact: twelve slides, each with a heading and four bullet points, professionally formatted. It looks like a presentation and it is a document. When you stand up and present it, the audience reads ahead and stops listening, which is the failure mode every good presenter spends their career avoiding.
The free tools are competent at the thing they do. The question is whether that thing is what you want.
TL;DR
- Generated decks default to bullet points, which is the format that makes presenting worse
- One idea per slide, and as few words as possible. The words belong in your mouth
- Free tools are fine for internal and reference documents where nobody presents live
- On 8frame: slide visuals from 6 credits, diagrams with correct text at 21
- A deck to be read and a deck to be presented are different objects. Decide which you are making
The two kinds of deck
A reading deck. Sent by email, read alone, never presented. It should be dense and self-contained, because there is no presenter to supply the context. Bullet points are appropriate here, and AI generators are genuinely useful for producing them.
A presenting deck. Shown while you speak. It should be sparse, because anything on screen competes with your voice. One image, or one number, or six words.
Most people make the first and use it for the second, and AI generators default to the first because it is what a document-shaped model produces.
The rule that fixes most decks
One idea per slide, and the fewest words that convey it.
If a slide has four bullets, it is four slides, or it is one slide and three things you say out loud. The test: can you remove a word without losing meaning? Remove it. Repeat until you cannot.
A slide with six words and one image, presented by someone who knows the material, outperforms a dense slide every time, because the audience listens instead of reading.
Where generation genuinely helps
The visual layer. Concept images, section dividers, backgrounds, cover art. This is real and it is cheap.
Diagrams. A process with four boxes and three arrows, made once, reused. Nano Banana Pro at 21 credits when the text inside the diagram must be exactly right.
First drafts of structure. An outline you then cut in half is faster than a blank page.
Consistency across many decks. A templated visual language applied at volume.
What it costs
Canon 8frame prices, a credit is $0.01 at pack rate:
| Asset | Route | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Slide visual or concept image | Seedream 5 | 6 |
| Diagram with exact text | Nano Banana Pro | 21 |
| Cheapest volume visuals | Imagen 4 Fast | 4 |
| Section divider backgrounds | Seedream 5 | 6 |
| Motion background for a title, 5s | Wan 3.0 at 480p | 24 |
| Upscale for a large screen | Clarity image upscale | 13 |
A 15-slide deck: twelve visuals (72), three diagrams (63), a cover (6) is about 141 credits, roughly $1.41.
What generated decks get wrong
Generic structure. Problem, solution, market, team, ask. Correct and forgettable, because every deck the model has seen follows it.
No argument. A deck is a case for something. Generation produces topic coverage rather than a line of reasoning.
Wrong numbers, confidently. If your deck contains figures about your business, a model does not know them. Every number needs a human who knows it is true. For an investor deck specifically, a wrong number is not an embarrassment, it is a diligence problem.
No sense of the room. Who is in it, what they already believe, what they are worried about. That determines the deck, and it is the part nobody can generate for you.
For a pitch deck specifically
The structure is conventional for good reasons and the content is entirely yours. Investors are evaluating your judgement, and a deck that reads as generated signals that you have not thought hard about your own business.
Use generation for the visual layer. Write the argument yourself, know every number, and practise it out loud until the slides are unnecessary.
FAQ
What is the best free AI presentation maker? For a reading document, any of them work. For a deck you will present, they produce the wrong format.
Should I use AI to make a pitch deck? For visuals, yes. For the argument and the numbers, no.
How many words per slide? As few as possible. Six is a reasonable ceiling for a presented slide.
How much do deck visuals cost? About $1.41 in credits for a 15-slide deck.
One idea per slide, words in your mouth, visuals generated. The 8frame canvas is free and unlimited, and generation is paid from $19/month.