Slidev vs Reveal.js in 2025: Which Is Better for Developer Talks?

If you're a developer preparing a conference talk, a meetup presentation, or even a team demo, you've probably narrowed your framework choices down to two: Reveal.js and Slidev.

Both are open source. Both produce HTML presentations. Both have strong communities. But they represent fundamentally different philosophies about how presentations should be built — and the right choice depends on how you work.

I've used both extensively. Here's an honest comparison based on what actually matters when you're building a real talk, not a toy demo.

The 30-Second Summary

Reveal.js is a JavaScript framework where you write HTML. It gives you maximum control, works without a build step (for simple decks), and has a decade of battle-testing. It's the jQuery of presentation frameworks — not trendy, but reliable.

Slidev is a Vite-powered tool where you write Markdown. It gives you a modern developer experience with hot reload, Vue component support, and opinionated defaults that get you to a finished deck faster. It's the Vite of presentation tools — fast, modern, delightful.

Setup and Getting Started

Reveal.js

There are two paths with Reveal.js:

Simple (no build step): Download the release, open index.html, start editing. Your slides are HTML <section> elements inside the reveal container.

<div class="reveal">
  <div class="slides">
    <section>
      <h1>Slide One</h1>
      <p>Hello, world.</p>
    </section>
    <section>
      <h2>Slide Two</h2>
      <pre><code>console.log('hi');</code></pre>
    </section>
  </div>
</div>

Full setup (npm): Clone the repo, npm install, run the dev server. This gives you the plugin system, Markdown support, and hot reload.

The simple path works for basic decks but breaks down quickly when you want plugins, syntax highlighting themes, or custom CSS. Most serious users end up on the npm path.

Slidev

One command:

npm init slidev@latest

This creates a project, installs dependencies, and opens a dev server with hot reload. Your slides live in a single slides.md file:

---
theme: default
---

# Slide One

Hello, world.

---

# Slide Two

```javascript
console.log('hi');
```

Winner: Slidev. The gap here is significant. Slidev gets you from zero to presenting in under 2 minutes. Reveal.js takes 5-15 minutes depending on which path you choose and what you want to configure.

Authoring Experience

Reveal.js

You're writing HTML. For developers, this is either comfortable or tedious depending on your tolerance for angle brackets. Adding a new slide means creating a new <section>. Formatting text means HTML tags. Adding an image means an <img> tag.

Reveal.js does support Markdown slides (via a plugin), but it's a second-class citizen. The Markdown is embedded inside <section data-markdown> blocks, which feels awkward.

Slidev

You're writing Markdown. New slide? Type ---. Bold text? **bold**. Code block? Triple backticks. If you write README files or documentation, you already know how to author Slidev presentations.

Slidev also supports frontmatter for per-slide configuration — layout, background, transitions — and you can embed Vue components directly in your Markdown for interactive elements.

Winner: Slidev. Markdown is faster for content authoring. HTML gives more precision, but for the 90% case of text + code + images, Markdown wins.

Code Highlighting

This is make-or-break for developer talks.

Reveal.js

Uses highlight.js by default. It works, but configuration requires adding the plugin, choosing a theme, and sometimes debugging CSS conflicts. Line highlighting (drawing attention to specific lines) requires additional setup.

Slidev

Uses Shiki (the same highlighter behind VS Code) out of the box. Line highlighting, line numbers, and even click-to-highlight animations work with simple Markdown syntax:

```javascript {2|3-4|all}
function greet(name) {
  const message = `Hello, ${name}!`;
  console.log(message);
  return message;
}
```

That {2|3-4|all} syntax means: first show line 2 highlighted, then lines 3-4, then show all lines. It's incredibly useful for walking an audience through code step by step.

Winner: Slidev. Shiki produces better output than highlight.js, and the click-through line highlighting is a killer feature for technical talks. Reveal.js can achieve similar results with plugins, but Slidev has it built in.

Theming and Visual Design

Reveal.js

Ships with several built-in themes (black, white, league, beige, sky, etc.). Custom themes are CSS files, which gives you total control but requires writing CSS from scratch. The default themes show their age — they work but feel like 2015.

Community themes exist but are scattered across npm packages, GitHub repos, and blog posts. Finding a modern-looking Reveal.js theme takes effort.

Slidev

Slidev has a proper theme system with npm-installable themes. The defaults look modern. Community themes are growing but still limited compared to Reveal.js's decade of ecosystem.

The key difference: Slidev themes can include custom layouts and components, not just CSS. A Slidev theme can provide a "two-column" layout or a "cover" slide layout that you reference in frontmatter.

Winner: Draw. Reveal.js has more themes available. Slidev's theme system is more powerful and produces better-looking defaults. If you want a specific look, you'll end up writing CSS either way.

Advanced Features

Reveal.js has:

• Nested slides (vertical navigation)
• Multiplexing (presenter controls audience slides remotely)
• PDF export (solid, well-tested)
• Speaker notes with timer
• Plugin API for extending functionality
• Auto-animate (morph transitions between slides)

Slidev has:

• Recording mode (export talk to video)
• Drawing/annotation mode (draw on slides live)
• Camera overlay (picture-in-picture of presenter)
• LaTeX math rendering
• Mermaid diagram support
• Monaco editor integration (live code editing in slides)
• Vue component embedding

Winner: Depends on your needs. Reveal.js is better for traditional presentation features (multiplexing, nested slides). Slidev is better for modern developer-talk features (live coding, recording, diagrams). For most conference talks in 2025, Slidev's feature set is more relevant.

Community and Ecosystem

Reveal.js: ~68k GitHub stars. Created by Hakim El Hattab in 2013. Massive ecosystem, tons of Stack Overflow answers, used by major conferences. Development has slowed but the codebase is stable.

Slidev: ~34k GitHub stars. Created by Anthony Fu in 2021. Growing rapidly, active development, strong community in the Vue ecosystem. Fewer resources but excellent documentation.

If you Google a Reveal.js problem, you'll find an answer. If you Google a Slidev problem, you might need to check the docs or Discord. The gap is narrowing, but Reveal.js's maturity advantage is real.

Deployment and Sharing

Both produce static HTML that can be hosted anywhere — GitHub Pages, Netlify, Vercel, your own server. Both work offline once built.

Reveal.js output is simpler — fewer files, smaller total size. A basic Reveal.js deck can be a single HTML file.

Slidev output requires the Vite build step. The result is a static site with multiple files, but it's still lightweight and deploys to any static host.

For sharing with non-technical people, both have a problem: you're sharing a website, not a file. If your audience expects a .pptx or .pdf, both tools can export to PDF, but neither does it perfectly. This is where tools like HTML Decks have an advantage — single-file HTML output that you can share like a document.

The Verdict: Which Should You Choose?

Choose Reveal.js if:

• You want maximum control over every aspect of your slides
• You prefer HTML over Markdown for authoring
• You need nested vertical slides or multiplexing
• You want the security of a battle-tested, mature framework
• You need a single self-contained HTML file

Choose Slidev if:

• You want the fastest authoring experience
• Code highlighting with step-through is important
• You want live coding, diagrams, or recording features
• You're comfortable with the Vue/Vite ecosystem
• Modern DX (hot reload, fast builds) matters to you

For a broader view of all the options — including Marp, Beamer, and visual tools — check our guide to the best presentation tools for developers.

The Third Option: Skip the Framework

Here's the thing nobody says in these comparisons: most developers don't want to maintain a presentation framework. They want to build a deck, give the talk, and move on.

Both Reveal.js and Slidev require a toolchain. Both require you to learn a framework's conventions. Both require maintenance if you come back to a deck months later and dependencies have changed.

If you want the HTML output without the framework overhead, tools like HTML Decks give you a visual editor that produces clean, single-file HTML presentations. No build step. No node_modules. No framework to learn. You get the portability of HTML with the simplicity of a template.