Announcing o11's backing from Y Combinator.
Plus AI vs Microsoft Copilot vs o11: Comparing PowerPoint-Native AI
The battle for the PowerPoint sidebar is heating up. In 2026, you no longer have to leave your presentation app to get AI help. But choosing between Microsoft Copilot, Plus AI, and o11 depends on whether you need a general assistant or a specialized slide engineer.
Microsoft Copilot: The Generalist
Copilot is built into everything. It’s the “easy button” for basic tasks.
- Strengths: Great for summarizing existing decks and fixing typos. It has deep integration across the entire M365 suite.
- Weaknesses: It often struggles with complex layouts and has limited ability to “write” to the PowerPoint object model in specialized ways. It’s a general-purpose LLM in a sidebar.
Plus AI: The Template Catalyst
Plus AI focuses on getting you from 0 to 1 as fast as possible using a huge library of templates and a document-to-slide engine.
- Strengths: Excellent at taking a long Word document and splitting it into a draft slide deck. It has a very user-friendly interface.
- Weaknesses: While it lives in the sidebar, it still feels like a “template wrapper” rather than a tool that understands the underlying logic of your data.
o11: The Specialist
o11 was built for high-stakes finance and consulting. It doesn’t just fill templates; it builds slides from scratch based on raw data.
- Strengths: Deep Excel integration. o11 can take a range in Excel and build a native, formatted PowerPoint table or chart. It understands your firm’s complex “Slide Master” hierarchy better than any other tool.
- Weaknesses: Built for professional users—may be “overkill” for a student’s book report.
Which Sidebar Wins?
| Feature | Microsoft Copilot | Plus AI | o11 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data Understanding | Low (Text only) | Medium | High (Excel-linked) |
| Layout Control | Limited | Visual Templates | Native COM Object Control |
| Enterprise Security | High | Medium | Max (Local-First) |
The Verdict
If you just need to summarize a 20-slide deck, use Copilot. If you want to turn a blog post into a quick presentation, use Plus AI.
But if your job involves Excel modeling, M&A pitchbooks, or Quarterly Board meetings, o11 is the only tool that functions as a true slide associate.
