FreeShow is a free, open-source presentation tool built specifically for churches, live events, and stage productions — giving operators full control over lyrics, slides, and outputs without the subscription fees of incumbent platforms.
What is FreeShow?
FreeShow is an open-source stage-presentation application for macOS (and Windows/Linux) that lets worship teams, event producers, and educators manage multi-screen lyric and slide shows from a single operator interface. Where PowerPoint is built for boardrooms and ProPresenter carries a recurring license cost, FreeShow was designed from the ground up for the live-production context — meaning fast song search, Scripture look-up, and confidence-monitor support are first-class features, not bolt-ons.
The project is actively maintained on GitHub and ships as a native Electron app, so it runs comfortably on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs without a Rosetta translation layer slowing things down.
What does FreeShow do best?
FreeShow excels at church and worship-production workflows where you need to push lyrics to a projector, text to a stage monitor, and a clean operator view to a laptop screen — all simultaneously. I've run it through a full Sunday service workflow and the output-routing setup, while unconventional at first glance, becomes second nature within an hour.
- Song library with CCLI-style tagging — import your existing lyric library or build one inside the app; search is instant even with hundreds of songs.
- Scripture integration — pull verses directly into a show from bundled Bible translations; no copy-paste required.
- Multi-output routing — map different outputs (NDI, display, stage monitor) independently, each with its own layout and template.
- Show builder — drag items from the library into a running order the same way you'd sequence a playlist.
- Timers and clocks — countdown timers that display on stage screens are genuinely useful for speaker prep.
Is FreeShow free?
Yes — FreeShow is completely free to download and use, with no feature gating, no seat limits, and no subscription. It is open-source software licensed under GPL, meaning you can even inspect and modify the source code. There is no paid tier or "Pro" upsell hiding the features you actually need.
This puts it in striking contrast with ProPresenter 7, which charges a substantial annual subscription per seat, and with MediaShout, which requires a one-time licence fee. For smaller congregations or community organisations watching their software budget, FreeShow is a serious alternative rather than just a compromise.
Who should use FreeShow?
FreeShow is purpose-built for worship leaders and church tech volunteers, but its audience is wider than that. Anyone running a live event where lyrics, titles, or scripture need to reach a projector or confidence monitor will find it fit for purpose — think school drama productions, outdoor concerts, or community ceremonies.
If you're a solo presenter who just needs clean keynote-style slides, stick with Keynote or the excellent Deckset. FreeShow's interface is optimised for the operator who is running a live show in real time, not the designer crafting a deck ahead of time. The learning curve is real but shallow — most operators are comfortable within an afternoon.
How does FreeShow compare to ProPresenter?
ProPresenter is the industry standard in professional church production and brings features like advanced media curation, rich video-background support, and a polished macOS feel that FreeShow doesn't fully match yet. If your church runs a full AV production team and has the budget, ProPresenter 7 earns its subscription.
FreeShow closes the gap faster than you'd expect, though. NDI output, stage display, and Scripture integration are all present. The areas where ProPresenter still leads are media-layer compositing, the quality of the built-in theme library, and overall UI polish. For congregations that were previously running PowerPoint or LibreOffice Impress because ProPresenter was out of budget, FreeShow is an unambiguous upgrade.
What are the best FreeShow alternatives?
The main alternatives depend on your context and budget:
- ProPresenter 7 — the gold standard for professional church AV; subscription required.
- EasyWorship — long-running church software with a large template library; paid licence.
- OpenLP — another open-source church presenter; more mature in some areas but a clunkier interface.
- Keynote — excellent for polished general presentations but lacks live-production features like stage monitors or lyric queuing.
For zero-budget deployments where ProPresenter isn't an option, the real contest is between FreeShow and OpenLP. I find FreeShow's output-routing model more intuitive and its active development cadence more reassuring.
