Comparison · updated October 2026
Chekmate vs checking by hand
Someone opens the deck and looks through every slide against the brand guidelines before it goes out.
Short answer
A good designer checking by eye catches the obvious problems: a wrong logo, a clashing photo, a layout that's off. What the eye misses is the exact stuff: a red that's 3% off, Arial standing in for the brand font, slides sitting on a default template. Those are the ones clients notice later. Chekmate reads the file itself, so it catches them every time, in seconds, and lists them slide by slide. The best setup is both: Chekmate for the exact checks, a designer for judgement.
Feature by feature
Chekmate's column shows what it does today. “Not yet” means it's planned but not built.
Checking
Checks decks made in any tool
Decks from freelancers, clients and AI tools, not only its own
Chekmate
Yes
PowerPoint and PDF; Keynote through export
checking by hand
Yes
Anyone can open any deck
Reads exact colours and fonts from the file
Including what slides inherit from the template
Chekmate
Yes
Matched PowerPoint on 99.6% of fonts and 100% of colours in testing
checking by hand
No
The eye can't read a colour code or which font is really used
Catches almost-right colours
Colours close to a brand colour, but not exact
Chekmate
Yes
Measured by how different colours look to the eye
checking by hand
In part
Only when the difference is big enough to see
Catches off-brand and stand-in fonts
Wrong fonts, and lookalikes like Arial for a brand sans
Chekmate
Yes
checking by hand
In part
Obvious ones; lookalikes slip through
Checks slide templates
Default or borrowed templates under the slides
Chekmate
Yes
checking by hand
In part
Only if someone opens the slide master
Checks gradients
Every stop, and whether the mix is a brand gradient
Chekmate
Yes
checking by hand
In part
By eye, not by colour code
Checks against the brand's website
When there are no guidelines, or they're out of date
Chekmate
Yes
checking by hand
In part
If someone thinks to compare
Output
Slide-by-slide report
Each issue with its slide and what it should be
Chekmate
Yes
A PDF you can forward to a client
checking by hand
In part
Usually notes in an email or comments
Fixes issues automatically
Returns a corrected file
Chekmate
Not yet
Quick fixes are listed; automatic fixing is coming
checking by hand
No
Making decks
Creates decks and documents
Templates, generation, a content library
Chekmate
No
Chekmate checks decks, it doesn't make them
checking by hand
Yes
The same person can fix and make decks
Brand asset library
Logos, images and templates in one place
Chekmate
No
checking by hand
No
Works inside PowerPoint
An add-in in Office
Chekmate
No
Works on the file, outside PowerPoint
checking by hand
Yes
Done in PowerPoint
Formats
Google Slides
Checks or creates Google Slides
Chekmate
Not yet
Coming; export to PowerPoint for now
checking by hand
Yes
Pricing
Priced per client brand
Not per person, so a whole team can use it
Chekmate
Yes
$79 for 3 brands, $199 for 10
checking by hand
No
Paid in designer hours, often late at night
Choose Chekmate when
- Decks come in from freelancers, clients or AI tools
- You look after several client brands
- You need a report you can send back to whoever made the deck
Stick with checking by hand when
- You check one or two decks a month for a single brand
- The deck is mostly photos and layout, with little text
See it on one of your decks
Send us a deck that's almost on-brand. We'll set up the brand and send you the report, free while the beta runs.
Join the private beta