Markdown to web slides: Marp, Presenterm, MkSlides, and the AI + link option

If you want to turn Markdown into web slides, the open-source command-line tools — Marp, Presenterm, MkSlides, and reveal.js — are free, local, and let you keep the deck in version control. The tradeoff is that you install the tool, write the styling, and host the output yourself. A hosted tool like Plain takes the other side of the bet: AI drafts the deck from a prompt and you get a shareable link instead of a folder to deploy. Neither is "better" — they solve different parts of the same problem.

I'll lay out what each tool is good at, where the lines are, and who should pick which. No tool here is bad; they just optimize for different people.

What the open-source CLI tools actually do

These tools share one premise: your slides are a Markdown file. You write headings, bullets, and code fences; a renderer turns them into slides. That premise is excellent — Markdown is plain text, diffs cleanly in git, and outlives any single app.

• Marp is the most widely used. CLI plus an official VS Code extension; renders Markdown to HTML, PDF, or .pptx. Theming is CSS. It's the default answer to "Markdown to slides" for good reason — mature, fast, well documented.
• reveal.js is the HTML presentation framework underneath many tools. Markdown support, presenter mode, fragments, speaker notes, deep interactivity. The most flexible if you're comfortable in JS/CSS.
• Presenterm renders slides in the terminal — built for engineers giving code-heavy talks who never want to leave the shell. Syntax highlighting, live reload, image support in capable terminals.
• MkSlides brings the MkDocs workflow to slides: if you already document in MkDocs, it renders your Markdown into reveal.js decks with the same project conventions.

All four are free and open source. All four keep Markdown as the source. All four put you in control of the toolchain — which is exactly the point, and exactly the cost.

Where the open-source tools stop

These are honest limits, not flaws. They're inherent to "a renderer you run yourself":

• You install and run it. Node for Marp, Rust for Presenterm, a Python/MkDocs environment for MkSlides. Fine for developers; a wall for a teammate who just wants a deck.
• No AI drafting. They render Markdown you've already written. The blank-page problem is yours. There's no "make me a 6-slide overview of this topic."
• You own delivery. Output is files — HTML, PDF, PPTX. To share a web deck you push to GitHub Pages, Netlify, or your own host, and re-deploy on every edit. There's no built-in stable link that always shows the latest version.
• Design is on you. Themes exist, but polished layout means writing or adapting CSS. The renderer won't make design decisions for you.

If you're a developer who values control and zero cost, none of this is a dealbreaker — it's the deal you wanted. The friction only matters if you'd rather not own the toolchain at all.

Markdown to web slides, side by side

Read the table as two columns of philosophy. The left column is "I control the renderer and the hosting." The right is "AI drafts it and I send a link." Most rows are consequences of that one split.

What about Markdown to Google Slides?

There's no clean, official Markdown-to-Google-Slides pipeline. The practical route is to render your Markdown to .pptx (Marp can export it directly, or use Pandoc) and import that file into Google Slides. Text and slide structure survive; precise layout and effects usually don't.

Plain handles this the same honest way. The deck lives as a web page at a link; when someone needs it inside Google Slides or PowerPoint, you export .pptx as a fallback and import it. Like the Markdown-to-PPTX route, the export keeps text, structure, fonts, and charts but degrades animation and embedded media. The link is the real deliverable; the file is a bridge to people who live in Office or Google Slides. We treat Office formats as a fallback, not the default.

Where Plain fits — and where it doesn't

Plain is an AI-era office suite: a Markdown source becomes a web deck, doc, or dashboard, delivered as a link, with .pptx / .docx / .xlsx exports as fallbacks. For slides specifically, the difference from the CLI tools is two things: AI writes the first draft, and the output is a hosted link instead of files you deploy.

Plain is the right call if you'd rather describe a deck — "a 6-slide overview of our Q3 plan, clean editorial theme" — and get a shareable web deck back without installing or hosting anything; if your audience opens links in Slack and email rather than running a static site; or if you want one Markdown source to also produce a doc and a dashboard. You can still read and edit the Markdown directly — the source is an open, portable format, so your content isn't trapped.

Stick with Marp, Presenterm, MkSlides, or reveal.js if free and local matter most; if you need the deck fully self-hosted or working offline; if you want to own every line of CSS; or if you already have a CI pipeline that builds slides from Markdown and you like it. Plain is hosted and paid past the free tier — it does not self-host, and it isn't trying to replace a toolchain you're happy running.

A quick way to decide

Ask one question: do you want to own the toolchain, or skip it?

• Own it — you like installing tools, writing themes, and deploying static sites: Marp is the default, Presenterm for terminal talks, reveal.js for interactive decks, MkSlides if you're in MkDocs. Free, controllable, yours.
• Skip it — you want AI to draft the deck and a link to send: Plain. The Markdown stays portable underneath, so you keep the part that mattered about these tools — plain text as the source — while handing off generation and hosting.

Both bets are legitimate. The open-source CLI tools have earned their place; if they fit your workflow, use them and don't look back. Plain is for the case where the deck should write itself and ship as a link.

Plain turns one Markdown source into a web deck, doc, or dashboard — delivered as a link, with .pptx export as a fallback. Free tier, no credit card. Try it at inplain.app, or read how to make a pitch deck from one Markdown file and why we think documents should be links.