ProPresenter vs. MediaShout Comparison Guide

ProPresenter vs. MediaShout Comparison Guide

Looking for the best worship presentation software to enhance your church services on Sunday mornings? You’ll find several custom-designed options on the market that are built with worship service in mind. Of these, two solutions used by thousands of churches and houses of worship are ProPresenter and MediaShout 7.

Not sure which one is better for your church’s needs? We can help. We’ve put together a brief comparison guide that looks at many of the top features and functions today’s churches need. 

If you’re debating between ProPresenter and MediaShout, we’ve got you covered. In this post, we’re analyzing how these two worship presentation software solutions stack up and highlighting the most significant differences in this comparison guide.

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What Is MediaShout?

MediaShout has a long history in the church space and was for some years one of the most popular options. It is certainly an upgrade over office-oriented presentation programs like PowerPoint or Google Slides, having a number of features and functions those tools don’t include.

However, the MediaShout interface leaves a lot to be desired. It was at the top of its class in the early 2000s, but it doesn’t appear to have changed much since. By modern standards, the interface is clunky, and the program is missing numerous features offered by others.

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What Is ProPresenter?

ProPresenter is the modern church presentation software trusted by large and small houses of worship around the globe. ProPresenter is an intuitive, easy-to-use worship presentation software solution with an incredibly deep feature set.

The modern interface is streamlined so that volunteers with little training can use it effectively. But just under the surface lies a wealth of professional-grade presentation features. ProPresenter continues to innovate as well, adding pro-grade audio and video support as well as the best streaming codec in the industry.

Platforms and Languages Supported

ProPresenter is a cross-platform app that works equally well in macOS and Windows 10 & 11. ProPresenter also natively supports 10 different languages:

• English
• Spanish
• Korean
• Portuguese
• French
• German
• Russian
• Chinese (Simplified)
• Czech
• Norwegian

MediaShout, on the other hand, is limited to PCs, with no support for macOS in its latest version. It includes native support for English only.

TL;DR: ProPresenter supports 10 languages and offers compatibility with macOS and Windows. MediaShout supports one language and is limited to Windows operating systems on new versions.

Edge: ProPresenter

Support

Both platforms offer support to customers in the form of real-time chat, email, and phone calls. Only ProPresenter allows customers to schedule video calls for training and troubleshooting, though.

TL;DR: ProPresenter offers more comprehensive support solutions for training and troubleshooting. 

Edge: ProPresenter

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Trial Period

Both applications offer a free unrestricted trial of the full application (no limits on functionality). MediaShout gives prospective customers a 30-day trial, while ProPresenter offers a 14-day trial.

Edge: MediaShout

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Slide Capabilities

Both programs display slides with text, graphics, and video and provide an advanced professional editor, making either option a massive step up over PowerPoint or Google Slides. Both offer shapes, gradients, and Bezier curves (though MediaShout has some limitations here), opacity and shadow options, animations, and transitions.

That’s not to say all slide capabilities are equal. ProPresenter gives you the ability to create linked text boxes and implement dynamic text scaling, while MediaShout does not. ProPresenter also lets you drive text fields using external data and offers an unlimited number of customizable views, including producer and operator views. These, too, are capabilities MediaShout doesn’t offer.

MediaShout is even missing some seemingly basic slide editing capabilities. You won’t find guides or rulers on the slide editor. You can’t apply gradients to text itself, either.

TL;DR: ProPresenter offers significantly more slide editing and design functionality.

Edge: ProPresenter

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Live Video Integration

Live streaming has become an indispensable part of Sunday mornings for many churches. If you’re using video for an IMAG feed or a web-based livestream (or both), only ProPresenter allows you to integrate live video and camera inputs directly into your presentation.

You can eliminate the need for a separate video switcher and just run the whole kit and kaboodle from within ProPresenter — even if you’re using pro video formats.

MediaShout can’t do any of this.

TL;DR: ProPresenter offers extensive live video integration features. MediaShout does not. 

Edge: ProPresenter

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Bible Translations and Languages

The ability to display Scripture passages quickly and seamlessly is a must-have feature for worship presentation software, and both ProPresenter and MediaShout offer it.

ProPresenter includes 125 Bible translations across 36 languages in its database. See all translations here. 

MediaShout includes 70 translations spanning 20 languages.

TL;DR: ProPresenter offers almost twice as many Bible translations and language options.

Edge: ProPresenter

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Media Assets

Some churches have already amassed quite a collection of media assets. It’s not hard for them to create new shows from scratch that look unique and visually engaging.

But if you don’t have access to great content libraries, it’d be great if your presentation software came with some, right?

ProPresenter includes free media asset libraries, of free motions and still images. ProPresenter also gives you access to a media store where you can expand your asset library with content that fits your needs and budget.

MediaShout has none of the above. No included assets, no store, no included motions and images.

TL;DR: ProPresenter comes with access to free media assets. MediaShout does not.

Edge: ProPresenter

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Live Alerts

ProPresenter gives you the ability to dynamically display audience alerts like nursery calls. You can also send custom, discreet alerts to your stage/confidence monitors if you need to alert the speaker or leader of something without visibly disrupting the service.

These live alerts can be immensely helpful to the flow of your Sundays, but you won’t find this functionality in MediaShout.

TL;DR: ProPresenter offers live alerts for on-stage talent. MediaShout does not. 

Edge: ProPresenter

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Final Thoughts

ProPresenter and MediaShout are both solid upgrades over free presentation apps or office programs like PowerPoint. Both were originally built for the church, and it shows.

But comparing the two, MediaShout is missing a host of features included in ProPresenter. And, most important of all, ProPresenter has a far more intuitive and powerful user interface, allowing you to do more, faster.

Visit our dedicated worship page to learn more about ProPresenter’s capabilities and view a comprehensive feature breakdown comparing ProPresenter to other industry-standard software.

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