Gamma and Other Presentation Tools
Gamma builds slide decks, one-page sites and documents from a prompt; how it compares in 2026 with Claude Design, NotebookLM slides, Canva and the rest.
On this page
Gamma (gamma.app) turns a prompt, an outline or a pasted document into a finished slide deck, a one-page website or a document. Through 2025 it was the group's default for Torah-class slides and shiur visuals. In 2026 it has more competition, and some members have moved on. This page covers Gamma and the alternatives members actually use.
What Gamma costs
Gamma has five plans: Free, Plus, Pro, Ultra and Business (Gamma help center). AI generation runs on credits.
- Free: a starting balance of credits that does not refresh each month (you can earn more by referring others), up to 10 slides per prompt, and basic image models.
- Plus: 1,000 credits a month, up to 100 slides per prompt, advanced image models, and no "Made with Gamma" badge.
- Pro: 4,000 credits a month, premium image models, custom domains for Gamma sites, analytics, and API access.
- Ultra: 20,000 credits a month and the newest models first.
Plans are billed per user. Gamma's prices change often, so check gamma.app/pricing before you subscribe.
What shluchim use it for
From the chats, August 2025 to October 2026:
- Weekly Torah classes and shiur visuals. One member: "once you create a few projects and get the hang of it it's really easy and quick."
- Hebrew school projects with the kids.
- Teen program decks built from Chabad.org articles (August 2025).
- One-page websites. The Artificial Wisdom site (artificialwisdom.ai), made by a shliach, is built on Gamma.
- Webinar decks. The group's April 2026 vibe-coding webinar deck was a Gamma document.
- Brochures and budget presentations, alongside Manus and Genspark (March 2026).
Strengths members mention: polished output with almost no effort, quick changes of layout and theme, and adequate Hebrew for slide titles. Weaknesses: the look can feel templated, you have less control than a designer would want, and serious volume needs a paid plan.
The alternatives
Claude Design
Anthropic's design tool (claude.com/product/design), launched 2026-04-17. You describe what you need, Claude builds a first version, and you refine it by chatting, commenting or editing directly. It can apply your own brand system from your logo and design files, and it exports to Canva, PDF, PPTX or standalone HTML (Anthropic). As of October 2026 Anthropic's pricing page lists Claude Design, along with Claude Slides and Claude Docs, on every plan, including Free. Usage counts against your plan's limits.
Members' experience:
- A Tanya class handout: "a much nicer job" than Gamma. That member cancelled Gamma (June 2026).
- Cue cards from a document and one reference image: "One try. No changes needed" (April 2026).
- Six Shavuos sichos visualized as an infographic site, with the actual text of each sicha supplied (May 2026). It took several steps and had some mistakes to fix, and the text was too small on phones.
- It does not generate images. Bring your own photos and art.
NotebookLM slide decks
NotebookLM can turn the sources you uploaded into a slide deck, drawn by Google's Nano Banana Pro image model (Google). Because the deck comes from your own sources, it suits a shiur built on specific maamarim or articles. The slides are images, so changing a word means asking NotebookLM to revise the slide. In January 2026 one member preferred NotebookLM slides to Gamma.
Canva
Ask ChatGPT for the content, then send it to Canva through the Canva connector and edit there (a member's answer to "Canva or Google Slides?", February 2026). "Canva AI (once it receives it) takes some liberties. But it gives you a very good base to start with." In May 2026 a member called Canva "a big letdown" for a donor photo deck. See Canva.
PowerPoint files from Claude or ChatGPT
To get a real .pptx you can open and edit in PowerPoint, members pointed to Anthropic's official PowerPoint skill (on GitHub), which works best in Claude (April 2026). One member's blunt advice from the same thread: "nothing works better than building your PowerPoint from scratch." For a long deck, keep each chat short; one member noticed that "the more tokens consumed, the more it minimizes."
Others named in the chats
- Genspark, an all-in-one AI workspace that also builds slides. Named alongside Gamma for brochures (January and March 2026).
- Manus, an agent that produces decks along with many other outputs; members found it capable but costly.
- Beautiful.ai, Napkin (turns text into diagrams and visuals), and SlideSpeak: mentioned in 2025, with no strong reports either way.
Which to pick
- A weekly class deck, fast: Gamma or Claude Design. Try both on the same outline.
- A deck that must match your brand: Claude Design, set up once with your logo and colors.
- A shiur built on specific sources you have uploaded: NotebookLM.
- A file someone will edit in PowerPoint: Claude with the PowerPoint skill.
- You already design everything in Canva: ChatGPT or Claude, sending to Canva.
Still unsolved as of October 2026: a good automatic slideshow from 70 or more event photos. Members asked several times between April and May 2026 and got no tested answer.