Compare / reveal.js

Kadal Deck vs reveal.js

Name: Kadal Deck
Author: Kadal

reveal.js is the HTML presentation framework most web slide tools grew up next to: around since 2011, MIT-licensed, with about 72,000 stars on GitHub. You write slides as HTML sections, or as Markdown through its plugin, and extend it with plugins.

Kadal Deck starts from a different place: one MDX file compiled by Vite, React components on any slide, and a live room for the audience, with export and publishing in the same command-line tool.

Checked on 23 October 2026 against reveal.js's own site. Something out of date? Write to hello@kadal.cc and we'll fix it.

Feature	Kadal Deck	reveal.js
Licence	AGPL-3.0, or a commercial licence	MIT
Slides written in	MDX (Markdown with JSX) in one deck.mdx	HTML sections, or Markdown through the Markdown plugin
Build step	Vite, through kadal-deck dev and build	None required: one HTML page and the library
Components	React on any slide; other frameworks as islands	HTML and JavaScript; an official React wrapper since 6.0
Vertical slides and steps	Yes	Yes
Animation	Transitions, auto-animate, magic move for code	Transitions and Auto-Animate
Speaker view	Notes, next slide, timer, and the room's questions	Notes, next slide and timer
Maths and code	KaTeX, Shiki, Mermaid	Math plugin (KaTeX or MathJax), highlight plugin
Live code on a slide	Monaco editors with a Run button	Not among the built-in plugins
Drawing on slides	Yes	Not among the built-in plugins
Audience follows on their own screens	Built in, through the hosted room or a room server you run	The multiplex plugin, from its own repository
Polls, quizzes and audience questions	Built in	Not built in
Export	PDF, PNG, PowerPoint (pictures or editable), Markdown, from the command line	PDF through the browser's print dialog, in Chrome
Hosting	Any static host, or kadal-deck publish to deck.kadal.cc	Any static host; Slides.com is its hosted visual editor
Around since	October 2026	2011; about 72,000 stars on GitHub

Fair is fair

Where reveal.js is the better choice

Fifteen years of use

About 72,000 stars on GitHub, plugins for most needs, and answers to most questions already on the web. Kadal Deck is weeks old by comparison.

No build step

One HTML file and the library make a deck. That suits anyone who doesn't want Node or a bundler on their machine.

Plain HTML and MIT

Anything you can put on a web page goes on a slide, with no framework in between, under a licence that asks nothing of you.

A visual editor if you want one

Slides.com is built on reveal.js, so a deck can move between a canvas editor and code.

The other side

Where Kadal Deck is different

Markdown first, components when you need them

A slide is Markdown until you need more; then any React component goes in the same file without an import.

The room, built in

Polls, quizzes, word clouds, upvoted questions and reactions from the audience's phones, with no plugin or server to set up on the hosted service.

Export and tools in one CLI

kadal-deck export writes PDF with bookmarks, PNG, Markdown and an editable PowerPoint file; the same tool checks, formats and publishes the deck.

Your reveal.js deck comes with you

npx kadal-deck import reveal converts a reveal.js deck: sections and vertical stacks, fragments, backgrounds, notes, auto-animate and code steps, with a report of anything that did not carry over.

In short

Which one to choose

Choose reveal.js if you want plain HTML with no build, the MIT licence, or its plugin ecosystem.

Choose Kadal Deck if you'd rather write Markdown with components and want the room, export and publishing built in.

Get started See it live Pricing

Sources for reveal.js, read on 23 October 2026:

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