WordPress Fastest Sliders

Sliders, Carousels, Slideshows. Whatever you want to call them, sliders are an amazingly adaptable design tool that let you to present photos, video, and other material more effectively while conserving valuable online space.

If you have ever seen an image of a woman without makeup on a website, then 2 or 3 seconds later, the image transitions to the woman with makeup on. That is a perfect example of what a Slider does.

Whether you’re looking for an easy way to showcase a slideshow of photographs on an eCommerce or real estate website, or a bold video banner with call-to-action buttons, sliders can help you instantly capture your visitors’ attention.

At the end of the day, I have personally seen several websites that used Sliders properly and within a tasteful manner, which resulted in very successful results.

If you search on Google, you will see several articles on why you should not use a Slider. Below are some of the top reasons given and my responses to their arguments.


Users Treat Sliders Like Banner Ads

I don’t think that is true, again it depends on the website, but I have seen many examples of some very nice sliders on websites that added value, and conveyed a clear image on the nature of the product being sold, or the purpose of the website. As a matter of fact leveraging a Slider in a tasteful way, can lead to a huge uptick in conversions.

Sliders Slow Down Your Website

First thing I need to state is that not all Sliders are created equal. There are some Sliders on the market that will slow down your website. However, the Sliders we will go over in this article all have been tested to be among the fastest WordPress Sliders available on the market.

You can also improve you Sites loading speed by leveraging a CDN such as the one offered by Cloudflare.

In addition, you can also optimize your Sliders by having them load from the footer by using an optimizing tool plugin such as Hummingbird Pro. I highly recommend the Hummingbird pro plugin because it significantly improves your site’s loading speed and you can optimize not just the Slider plugin, your entire Site and theme as well.

The last thing on this topic that I would like to bring to your attention, many of the articles about loading speed of Sliders on mobile devices, where written when we all had 3G Networks. Today most people now have a 5G network that is anywhere between 10-20 times faster than 4G. To add to that, 4G networks are also 6 times faster than the old 3G networks.

Sliders displayed on Mobile websites

One of the main arguments against using Sliders is that they are not responsive. By responsive, I mean that the Slider will look great on any device whether it is viewed on a Desktop computer or a Mobile device.

Sliders on Mobile websites in the old days were not responsive. But today, that is no longer the case. All the Sliders listed in this article are all responsive sliders.

List of The Best & Fastest WordPress Sliders

1. Soliloquy

Soliloquy is a drag & drop slider plugin that’s both easy to use and offers very powerful functionality. Additionally, it is a responsive image slider. This ensures that your slideshows look fantastic on all devices (mobile, tablet, laptop, and desktop).

Soliloquy allows you to create beautiful image and video sliders for your WordPress site in minutes, the plugin is very easy to us and intuitive.

Another great feature about this plugin is that it is highly optimized for web and server performance. It was the fastest plugin that I tested among the list of fastest Slider Plugins.

The Pro version of the plugin has all of the capabilities you’ll ever need, including templates.and sliders for: PDFs, WooCommerce, featured content, carousel, Lightbox, thumbnail navigation, Instagram, image protection, and a lot more.

Partial List of additional features

  • Themes
    You can use the many pre-made templates.
  • WooCommerce Products
    Easily create product slideshows with just a few clicks.
    You can filter by category, price, availability, featured, or another criteria.
    You can also include or exclude specific products.
  • Lightbox
    For your images, photos, and galleries. Opens your images in a full screen mode that’s easy to browse on all devices.
  • Carousel
    You can create slideshows for carousel images, videos, or even complete gallery carousel.
  • Dynamic Slides
    Automatically create slideshows from blog posts, testimonials, Instagram images, and galleries.
  • PDF Slides
    Great for showing your presentation slides on your website.
  • Video Slides
    Show videos from multiple sources: YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, and even self-hosted videos
  • Transition Effects
    Soliloquy includes a variety of transitions. You can choose between a fading image transition, a horizontal scroll picture transition, a vertical scroll image transition, and a ticker scroll image transition.
  • Schedule Addon
    The schedule feature is great for holiday sales and special events
  • Pinterest Media button
    Allows users to easily share your images on Pinterest

Soliloquy’s Performance Test

2. Smart Slider 3

Smart slider features features a drag & drop editor that  enables you to easily add, copy, and delete layers. You may construct everything from simple sliders to sophisticated carousels, blocks, and even entire pages. Additionally, you can develop entirely bespoke layouts with dynamic data by integrating content from many sources.

Smart Slider sites are responsive by default, so they display and run flawlessly on every device.

Partial List of Additional Features

  • Dynamic Content
    180+ Stunning Templates to pick from. Choose change anything you want: add your images, videos, etc.
  • Slide Library
    Build your project piece by piece using pre-designed and simple section.
  • 24 Layers
    PRO
    Smart Slider comes with an expanding collection of layers. Each layers offers advanced customization’s.
  • Lightbox
    Popup a full-screen image or video lightbox that opens when visitors click on images, links or buttons.
  • Background Video
    A background video is a great way to grab attention, giving motion to the background of the content.
  • Absolution Position
    Use absolute positioning to drag any layer to any location on the canvas, regardless of the content sections.
  • Animations & Effects
    It offer the following animation effects, Layer,Text Background,Ken Burns, Parallax & Particle.

Smart Slider 3 Performance Test

3. MetaSlider

MetaSlider has a beautiful, intuitive interface that will let you create stunning slideshows with ease. You can create a powerful, SEO-optimized slider, slideshow, carousel, or gallery in minutes.

MetaSlider has been designed to work seamlessly with the new Gutenberg WordPress block editor. In addition all slideshows adapt to screen size for desktop, mobile, and tablet.

Partial List of Additional Features

  • Any Content Type
    Images, videos, layers, products, post feeds, and HTML.
  • Carousel Slides
    Show multiple images at one time using carousel slideshows.
  • SEO Optimized
    Ensure all slides are optimized for search.
  • Thumbnail Navigation
    Give your slideshows a gallery feel with thumbnail navigation image previews
  • 4 Slider Designs
    Choose from Flex Slider, Responsive Slides, Nivo Slider & Coin Slider.
  • Slider Themes
    MetaSlider now has 11 stunning new professional slider themes
  • Integrated with Other Plugins
    Use MetaSlider along with other popular WordPress plugins including WooCommerce, the Events Calendar, and WPML.
  • Scheduled Sliders
    Schedule sliders to appear only within specific dates.

MetaSlider Performance Test

4. Slider Revolution 6

This resourceful WordPress plugin helps beginner-and mid-level designers impress their clients with pro-level visuals. You’ll be able to create Stunning visual elements such as sliders & carousels

Version 6 of the Slider Revolution WordPress Builder has an optimized editor with all options categorized intuitively, so you can work faster. In addition the new version offers Improved loading times

Instead of only allowing layer in/out animations, the Slider Revolution WordPress Builder has the ability to add multiple animation steps to each layer animation.

Partial List of Additional Features

  • 200+ ready to go templates
    To get you started, Slider Revolution has a large library of beautiful templates. You will have the right template for every occasion
  • 2000+ elements object library
    Our library of royalty free media assets includes Assorted background images,HTML5 Videos,Object PNGs,Font Icons & SVGs, Premade Layer Groups
  • 20+ powerful Add-Ons included
    The Slider Revolution WordPress Builder includes a library of over 20 add-ons that add additional functionality to the core plugin.
  • Helpful Support Team
    Our highly qualified support team to get you quick technical help with a Response time below industry average

Slider Revolution 6 Performance Test