18 Best Free WordPress Slider Plugins 2023
WordPress slider plugins have to be one of the best WP plugins. Sliders are probably the most modern and most popular. With a slider, you can highlight featured content, publish important announcements, and display your best content stylishly. Since a few years ago, sliders have become just as important for e-commerce storefronts. With the ability to display featured products and promote special deals, slider plugins continue to grow and flourish.
We’ve covered the topic of content sliders extensively, so please explore our other posts for further inspiration:
Then again, finding a plugin that flawlessly adapts to your theme isn’t the most straightforward of tasks. Indeed, many new WordPress themes have some slider support, but depending on your website requirements, you may want to consider external options. As a result, we have handpicked only the best WordPress slider plugins you can download for free. These sliders range from simple header image displays to fully optimized sliders for established business and media websites. As is always the case with WordPress developers, some people like to go the extra mile to provide an outstanding user experience.
Best Free WordPress Slider Plugins
Here are the best free WordPress slider plugins that you can download today.
1. MetaSlider
Popular WordPress slider plugin with over 600,000 users.
MetaSlider is one of the most frequently installed slider plugins for WordPress. Its intuitive and simplistic interface makes it quick to create a slideshow of your liking. You can drag and drop your preferred images directly from your media dashboard. When you do, adding captions and custom slide data is easy. In addition to ease of use, MetaSlider can automatically adjust SEO data for you. MetaSlider supports four unique slider types: Flex Slider, Nivo Slider, Coin Slider, and Responsive Slides.
Main Meta Slider features:
- full-width support for large images
- drag-and-drop user interface for organizing slides
- real-time slide preview in the admin dashboard
- sophisticated cropping engine for adjusting image size
- support for shortcode and widget display
- custom effects and animations
- compatible with plugins that provide translation options
- API access for developers who want to build on top of this plugin
You might want to consider upgrading once you have played around with the free version. The MetaSlider Pro includes additional tools for slider management. For example, you can add video files and load up backgrounds and animations using CSS3. Furthermore, the premium plugin includes dynamic content sliders, premium themes, and a customer support service.
Active installations: 600,000+
2. Ultimate Blocks
Ultimate Blocks is a wonderful Gutenberg block plugin. The Image Slider is one of the heavily used blocks in many websites. The block allows you to add a collection of images to your slider, providing an appealing way to showcase your content.
You can accompany each image in the slider with a caption, alt-text, and source link. You can enable the autoplay option with an autoplay duration. No worries if you don’t love the autoplay option. You may allow users to change images by dragging or by clicking the slide switcher icon.
The Image Slider block includes multiple pagination styles: bullet, fraction, and progress bar. You may select anyone you like. From the Styles tab, you may apply various transition effects and customize the height of the slider.
Upgrading to the premium version of the plugin will allow you to show image thumbnails for the slider. The block is highly responsive for mobile devices. If you have the Ultimate Blocks plugin, you don’t have to depend on any third-party plugin to create image sliders on your website.
2. Slider by Soliloquy
Soliloquy has a reputation in the WordPress community. The guys behind it have built amazing products, but their responsive WordPress slider stands out the most. It’s an easy-to-use slider solution with powerful personal blogs and business websites features. If only they made it available for systems outside of WordPress. So, what makes Slider so amazing? First of all, it’s a drag-and-drop builder with support for video and image sliders.
Next, you have a responsive design that automatically resizes your sliders for tablets, smartphones, and desktop computers. This Slider plugin is also the first in our roundup to support product slider displays from WooCommerce stores. The dynamic sliders option showcases blog posts, social media posts, and testimonials.
The Soliloquy team has ensured that their competition will have difficulty matching their perfection. The plugin’s improved security and performance continue to attract new users daily. Soliloquy has one of the lead developers from WordPress audit the codebase. Finally, independent benchmark tests have shown that this Slider plugin is twice as fast as the nearest competition.
Active installations: 50,000+
3. Master Slider
Most SEO-friendly slider plugin for WordPress.
Master Slider is another community-acclaimed slider. It is responsive-design-friendly, with the option to showcase content or static image slides. Furthermore, it integrates touch and swipe features for better mobile experience. The transition effects of sliders are amplified with hardware acceleration, which is especially useful for mobile displays. Because it is built based on the best WordPress development practices, you will experience performance levels like no other.
This plugin supports older versions of Internet Explorer and works fine on other modern web browsers. Transition effects use CSS3 for animations and jQuery for loading them smoothly. The free plugin includes several slider transition effects at no cost and eight custom themes you can use. It is translation-ready, compatible with multisite blogs, and has an extended API for WP developers.
Despite its substantial feature base, the Master Slider remains as lightweight as possible. It prioritizes the performance of loading times more than anything else. Upgrading to the pro version gives you loads of additional slider options. For example, the pro upgrade includes WooCommerce, Facebook, and Flickr sliders. Most of all, it adds superb background images and parallax effect tools.
Active installations: 100,000+
4. Smart Slider 3
Most popular slider plugin that works with any WordPress theme.
Smart Slider 3 is one of the newest slider plugins available for download that has surpassed the success of many others. In addition to being an intuitive plugin, Smart Slider delivers a unique workflow for adding any WordPress-based slider to your blog. You can create sliders using the accessible editor dashboard using drag and drop with real-time preview. This plugin is compatible with WordPress, including the Media Library, shortcodes, widgets, and posts.
The free version, which is enough for medium-sized blogs, gives you a choice of four slider templates. Nevertheless, adding new fonts and styles is not a big deal. Each slider item is layered based on five factors: image, header title, custom text, extra button, and video content from YouTube. The back-end codebase scripts of Smart Slider are optimized by default and adapt to SEO standards. Adding background images allows you to select custom filler modes, like “fill screen” or “stretch.” Likewise, the slides can play automatically, or you can enable manual browsing. Our best advice is to experiment. Not all themes or websites are compatible with autoplay features as they might hinder the user experience.
Active installations: 900,000+
5. Slide Anything
Slider for sliding everything from images to HTML5 pages.
Slide Anything is based on the Owl Carousel library. Owl Carousel is built with jQuery and supports modern browsers and devices. So, the name is trying to tell us something. Slide “Anything,” but what does it mean? First of all, this plugin is mobile-responsive with touch-enabled features. You can bootstrap slides for virtually any content, even plain HTML5. Adding multiple sliders on the same page with a different design for each is just as amazing!
Once you install Slide Anything, you will see an added Sliders dashboard panel. Once you go in there, click the Add New Slider button and tap into the beautiful user interface. This UI allows you to add slides and customize even the smallest details.
Active installations: 100,000+
6. Slider by WD
Great layered slider plugin for WordPress.
With Slider WD, you can build beautiful, responsive content sliders for your WordPress blogs or websites. This powerful plugin is perfect for quickly adding mobile-optimized sliders to your homepage or post pages. Because Slider WD is based on a widget concept, you can call the Slider WD function anywhere on the site. The Slider WD plugin now supports adding videos from Vimeo and YouTube platforms. Most of all, the massive library of custom effects adds a unique feel to the slides.
When you add new images to your project, you can upload them using WordPress or an external image URL. You can use the shortcode to insert your slider rather than the WP galleries whenever you write posts with multiple image galleries. Custom features include image watermarking, protection from image downloading, and universal design customization. Furthermore, when you upgrade your plan to pro, you can enjoy additional benefits of 26+ transition effects and more than 35+ layer effects. Finally, the pro upgrade adds social media buttons, parallax, carousel, and hotspot layers.
This slider plugin is of excellent caliber. Do yourself a favor, and extensively study the documentation. It explains many unique ways of using Slider WD, for example, how to use the 3D effects.
Active installations: 30,000+
7. Slider Ultimate
Simplest responsive slider plugin with basic functionality.
Slider Ultimate from Etoile Web Design has managed to captivate the interest of WordPress bloggers with its impeccable design qualities. Within minutes of adding this plugin, you can insert smooth and clean sliders (with responsive functionality) on any part of your site. The fact that it uses shortcodes helps you insert your slides virtually in any location among your WordPress pages or posts.
No limits exist to how many slides you can create for each slider. Once you go deeper into the features, you can create category-based sliders for unique content areas. Furthermore, Slider Ultimate integrates with plugins like WooCommerce and Ultimate Product Catalog. So, the plugin is also perfect for WooCommerce stores. We thoroughly looked at the demo examples and can see that the slides’ modern design and pristine quality have made Slider Ultimate successful.
Active installations: 1,000+
8. Carousel Slider
Beginner-friendly slider that supports posts, images, WooCommerce products and more.
Carousel Slider is a touch-enabled slider plugin with extensive customization capabilities. It has a stylish design with a responsive function. When you use Carousel Slider, you are not limited to using just your images from the media gallery. You can also upload videos, insert posts, or use custom URLs. For the back-end, this plugin uses the Owl Carousel 2 library. It’s a state-of-the-art JavaScript library that provides professional slider functions.
For example, if you plan to create a post-based carousel, you can choose from specific posts or use custom categories and tags. The WooCommerce integration is very similar, where you can choose products based on tags, categories, ratings, and selling ratios. Furthermore, it’s super lightweight because it does not load any junk files whenever necessary. Instead, Carousel Slider loads only the required files for one specific page. If you own a copy of WPBakery Page Builder, you will also get a separate widget within the VC dashboard.
Active installations: 40,000+
9. Slider – Ultimate Responsive Image Slider
Responsive and SEO-friendly slider plugin which is easy to use.
Weblizar is a reputable name among WordPress users. With countless successful plugins under its belt already, you can count on the Ultimate Responsive Image Slider to assist your slideshow needs. The number one feature that Weblizar developers highlight is “limitless” capacity. You can undoubtedly add unlimited numbers of sliders anywhere on your site. Save yourself some extra time by uploading all of your images at once. You can display multiple sliders on a single page, including WordPress Pages and Posts. Elements like titles, descriptions, buttons, and thumbnails can be enabled or disabled individually.
The free version of the plugin is sufficient for any personal blog or a small business website. However, you might be running a more editorial-oriented platform and need some extra functionality. In that case, consider investing in the pro version. It has additional features, like touch and carousel sliders, auto image adjustment, and layouts.
Active installations: 50,000+
10. Video Slider
Best plugin for displaying video content in a slider.
If you would like to skip the classic image sliders, you better put Video Slider plugin to use. You do not need much explanation of what this tool is all about. However, let’s speak about some of the features and functions it has in store. And even though it is a free WordPress plugin, Video Slider is packed with goodness.
First and foremost, Video Slider works with all WordPress themes out there. Moreover, it is also perfectly in harmony with mobile devices, retina screens and web browsers. The experience is guaranteed to be striking regardless of their device and platform.
Moreover, Video Slider is also insanely simple, perfect for beginner and pro users. You can enable or disable auto-start and specify with which slide/video you want the slider to begin rolling the content. There is a ton more to it, making sure you create an impactful slideshow to impress all your website visitors.
Active installations: 7,000+
11. Slider Carousel
A similar approach to the last WordPress slider plugin is that Slider Carousel is exclusive to images. Slider Carousel also works with posts, pages, and other custom content. The plugin will quickly acclimate to your needs and regulations without much work. You also do not need to worry about responsiveness and browser compatibility. Slider Carousel follows all the latest practices, ensuring your creation will stand the test of time.
Slider Carousel sports drag and drop technology for rearranging images’ sequence and full-width, full-screen and boxed layouts. It also operates smoothly on mobile and desktop devices, supports touch navigation and has no limits on the number of slides you would like to create. Slider Carousel includes comprehensive documentation to ensure you will not run into an issue.
Active installations: 7,000+
12. WP Responsive Recent Post Slider
Great for displaying your recent posts in a slider above your content.
Displaying recent posts in a slider has never been easier. Thanks to WP Responsive Recent Post Slider, the tool does most of the work for you. Not just that, it even comes with four post slider and one post carousel designs for you to spice things up on your website. Also, the entire setup process is a little breeze, ensuring newbies and experts get the most out of it. Let your users and readers easily locate your recent post and see what’s fresh without jumping from page to page to find the content.
When it comes to including the recent post slider on your website or blog, all you need is to configure the shortcode and you can add it already. You have many different options and functions and the plugin even supports RTL languages.
Active installations: 30,000+
13. WP Logo Showcase Responsive Slider
Most popular slider plugin for showcasing partner and client logos on your website.
If you want to add extra shine to your partners, sponsors, or clients, you can do it with WP Logo Showcase Responsive Slider. This WordPress slider plugin creates – hence the name – an attention-grabbing slider, showcasing the different logos. This comes handy if you are an agency, a freelancer, an event organizer or a charity. But if you own an eCommerce website and want to display your brands, you can also make it with WP Logo Showcase Responsive Slider.
Thanks to the convenient shortcode, you do not need to configure it to start displaying the logos you would like to push on your website. You can even perform styling tweaks, add paginations or arrows, hide border and enable the RTL mode.
Active installations: 50,000+
14. GS Logo Slider
Simple slider for listing customer or partner logos on your website.
If you are a freelancer, you might want to show all the companies and brands you have already worked with. On the other hand, if you run a company, you are probably interested in showcasing your partners. Yet again, as an eCommerce website, have you considered displaying brands you carry? GS Logo Slider is the right WordPress plugin to achieve these results. Hence the name creates a slideshow that features brand logos for the most part. And you do not need to set up much if you want to activate GS Logo Slider.
GS Logo Slider is lightweight, meaning there is no chance it will slow down your website. Furthermore, the add-on supports any WordPress theme, is compatible with Gutenberg, and is indeed straightforward. Making adjustments, as well as adding and removing logos, also does not require any prior experience.
Active installations: 20,000+
15. Testimonial Slider
Most popular testimonial slider plugin for WordPress.
One of the best ways to build customer trust is to add real testimonials to your website. And if you are wondering how it is done, Testimonial Slider is the free WordPress plugin that does all the hard work for you. It comes with an option to create a slider or a grid layout, displaying customer or client testimonials, heck, even reviews, on your website with a modern and clean design. Of course, the testimonial slider you will add to your page will also be responsive, working on handheld and desktop devices without a hitch.
With Testimonial Slider, you can create unlimited shortcodes, set the primary color, add pagination and specify how many testimonials you would like to display per row. It even supports widgets, so you can use different locations on your website to show testimonials and make them more visible to potential customers and clients.
Active installations: 30,000+
16. Social Slider Feed
Slider plugin that supports Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook and YouTube
Like any other social network, Instagram is about building a brand image. Whether you are a solo writer or a small business company, being engaged on Instagram is helpful to your business. You might think that sites like Facebook drive more customers to you, but the simple fact is that you never know where exactly the next customers will come from. It could be Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Instagram is such an easy social network to use as well. With hundreds of millions of monthly users, you don’t want to miss your chance to get a pie slice.
Social Slider Feed gives you a smooth widget to add to your blog. It can grab photos from any public profile or a specific hashtag. All images this plugin shows are automatically downloaded on your WordPress website and shown as local images. You can order Instagram photos by their date or how popular they are or show them randomly. So, in essence, it is a multifunctional Instagram widget. It’s slightly different from a standard WordPress slider, but we know the value of having as much social exposure on your site as possible.
Active installations: 70,000+
17. WooCommerce Products Slider
Best WooCommerce product slider to improve your online store.
What would e-commerce look like if it wasn’t for WooCommerce? It’s a tough question, but regardless of the answer, we are happy that this amazing plugin has remained consistent with quality and functionality. Unfortunately, not all WordPress slider plugins can integrate WooCommerce products, and while some do, it’s best to use an easy solution such as this plugin. WooCommerce Products Slider allows you to display your products in a slider style. Its countless slider styles are its most prominent feature. These styles cover the needs of the most popular WordPress themes.
It is mobile-ready, and like other plugins, it offers a limitless number of slider displays. You can set any number of items to show per slider. You can, in the same way, customize how many items to show in a single column. Sticking to smaller column sizes is likely best if you run a website with a boxed layout. The product slider navigation features include auto play, stop on hover, and touch/mouse dragging.
Active installations: 10,000+
18. WP Featured Content and Slider
Best plugin for highlighting your most popular content.
When you write a fantastic blog post or an article, you naturally want to put it in front of your readers. There are countless ways to do this, each one different. However, it seems that the most popular are specific content sliders. With the WP Featured Content, you can create sliders. You can make two-column grids or individual “featured” boxes that can be put anywhere using a shortcode. Like the plugin, the WP Featured Content module uses its custom post type. So, your featured pieces are always separate from your main blogging posts.
There can be downsides to this, but it’s all about your intention in using this plugin. In our perspective, this plugin would be super helpful in creating highlights of posts that would somehow benefit your business. For example, you could add a featured content box at the end of each article to promote your book. The way that the featured boxes are displayed makes it a reasonable option. With the shortcode, you can add custom settings, like the design, grid style, category ID, excerpt limit, the read more button display, and similar settings.
Active installations: 3,000+
Which is the best slider plugin for WordPress?
Now that you have read everything about WordPress slider plugins, you might wonder which one is best for you. My top choices are MetaSlider and Smart Slider 3. Hundreds of thousands of users use these amazing slider plugins, which tells you a lot. Both sliders are easy to set up, customize and implement within your content.
Now that you have a slider, we recommend looking at our top pics for WordPress gallery plugins.
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