LinkedIn Carousel Maker Free: 6 Options and Their Limits
The free LinkedIn carousel makers worth trying are Contentdrips (5 carousels a month free), Carousely (3 a month), Reepl, Taplio and SocialCal (free browser editors), and Karou, which renders the PDF inside Claude or ChatGPT with 3 carousels a day free. If you post a few times a month, any browser editor will do. If you already write with an AI and post weekly, Karou skips the editor: the AI writes the slides and the PDF comes back in the same chat. Below is what each free plan gives you, so you can pick on limits instead of landing pages.
What does a LinkedIn carousel maker need to do?
LinkedIn has no native carousel post for personal profiles. What people call a carousel is a document post: a PDF, one page per slide, that LinkedIn shows as swipeable pages. So any maker worth using has to do three things:
- Lay out text on slides that read on a phone, at a size LinkedIn shows well (the dimensions that work).
- Export one PDF, not a folder of images.
- Keep the same look every week, so your feed reads as one author.
Writing the slides is the part the tool cannot do for you well. The layout and the export are where the hours go, and that is what a maker should remove.
Which free LinkedIn carousel makers are there?
These are the free options that show up most when you search, with the free terms each one states on its own page as of October 2026. Plans change, so check the page before you commit.
| Tool | How you make it | Free plan, as stated by the tool |
|---|---|---|
| Contentdrips | Browser editor, from a topic, blog URL or YouTube link | Up to 5 carousels a month |
| Carousely | Browser generator | 3 carousels a month, no card |
| Reepl | Browser editor | Free to design; export needs a free account and keeps a small Reepl band |
| Taplio | Browser generator | Free without an account; scheduling and analytics are paid |
| SocialCal | Browser editor with presets | Free, no sign-up |
| Karou | Inside Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor | 3 carousels a day, small watermark |
The first five work the same way. You open their editor, get the text onto slides, and download the PDF. Karou works the other way round: you stay in the AI chat you already use, and the PDF comes back there.
Why make the carousel inside Claude or ChatGPT?
Because the text is already there. Most LinkedIn carousels start as a conversation with an AI: you ask Claude to turn a post or a newsletter into slides, it gives you a clean list, and then you copy it slide by slide into an editor. That copy step is where a ten-minute carousel turns into forty.
With Karou connected, the same request ends with files:
- The AI writes the slides and calls Karou.
- Karou lays them out on one of three templates (bold, clean, editorial) and renders a PNG per slide, a ZIP and a PDF.
- Thumbnails show in the chat, with download links. You upload the PDF to LinkedIn.
Changing a slide is a sentence (“make slide 3 shorter”), and the edit re-renders the same carousel without counting against the daily limit. How to make a carousel with Claude shows a full run.
What does the free plan give you?
| Free | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Carousels | 3 a day | As many as you post (fair use 100 a day) |
| Templates | The 3 Karou templates | Up to 20 of your own (colors, fonts, handle, footer) |
| Formats | 4:5, 1:1, 9:16 | 4:5, 1:1, 9:16 |
| Downloads | PNG, ZIP, PDF | PNG, ZIP, PDF |
| Watermark | Small karou.si mark | None |
| Price | $0, no card | Free for 14 days, then $12 a month or $97 a year |
Three a day covers a daily LinkedIn poster. The watermark is the reason most people move to Pro: a document post that carries another brand’s mark reads as a template, and your own colors, fonts and handle on every slide is what makes a feed look consistent.
How do you make a free LinkedIn carousel with Karou?
- Create a free account with your email.
- Connect Karou to the AI you use: Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Claude Code. The setup guide has each one.
- Ask: “Turn this post into a LinkedIn carousel, 8 slides, clean template, 4:5.” Paste the post.
- Read the thumbnails. Ask for changes in plain words.
- Download the PDF and upload it to LinkedIn as a document. Give it a title, because search reads the title and the post text, not the slides.
If you need ideas for what to put on the slides, carousel post ideas has thirty formats, and the last slide covers the one most people waste.
Which one should you pick?
| You | Pick |
|---|---|
| Post a carousel once or twice a month and like editing by hand | Any browser editor above |
| Want an editor that writes from a URL or video | Contentdrips |
| Already write with Claude or ChatGPT and post weekly or more | Karou |
| Need your own brand on every slide without a designer | Karou Pro |
The question is where the slide text lives. If it lives in your AI chat, rendering it there saves the copy step every single week.
FAQ
Is a free LinkedIn carousel maker good enough?
For a few posts a month, yes. Free plans usually trade on volume (a handful a month) or on a watermark. Karou’s free plan trades on the watermark, not the volume: 3 a day.
What size should a LinkedIn carousel be?
Portrait 4:5 (1080 by 1350) reads best on phones. Square 1:1 also works. LinkedIn carousel PDF size has the details.
Does Karou write the slides?
No. Karou never writes for you and sends nothing to a model. Your AI writes the slides; Karou turns them into images and a PDF.
Can I post the PDF on Instagram too?
Instagram takes images, not PDFs. Every Karou render also gives you a PNG per slide and a ZIP, so the same carousel goes to Instagram. See Instagram carousel size.
Do I need a card for the free plan?
No. The free plan needs only an email. Pro is free for 14 days, then $12 a month or $97 a year. Cancel during the trial and you pay nothing.
Make your first LinkedIn carousel in the chat you already use: start free, or see Pro pricing.