Sliders are great additions to a WordPress site, but some WordPress sliders can be slow; their responsiveness can be less than ideal. If it isn’t properly coded, a slider can markedly increase a page’s load time. Other WordPress sliders lack ease of use and are difficult to adapt to using for beginners or intermediate developers.

Responsiveness, speed, and ease of use are the primary factors in narrowing a comparison of the best WordPress Slider plugins down to only three.  

If you’re planning on incorporating a slider into your WordPress site but aren’t sure which slider is the best, please keep reading. Below we will compare 3 of the top WordPress slider plugins based on their benefits, standalone features, and shortcomings.

1. Slider WD

Slider WD is many developers’ preferred slider plugin. It’s a fantastic tool for creating responsive sliders. It utilizes a variety of transition effects and can function as either a plugin or a widget. It can also be incorporated into q theme and displayed using a simple PHP function.

The speed and responsiveness of this slider are comparable to others on this list, but its ease of use is apparent in the fact that an attractive WordPress slider can be created (with the free or premium version of this plugin) in 30 seconds or less.  

Slider WD is at the top of this list because the number of slides that can be added to a slider is unlimited. Numerous layers can be added to each slide, which can add functionality such as social media sharing direct from the slider. This slider is capable of sharing via with Facebook, Tumblr, Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest. The slides are able to redirect to another site.  

Slider WD lets you add still images and videos (via YouTube and Vimeo). This plugin has several demos, which give you examples of the different things you can achieve with the standard slider types. You’re also able to modify the plugin yourself by combining slider types. Four types of sliders are supported: 3D Full-Width Slider, Multi-Layer Slider, Zoom Effect Slider and Filmstrip Slider.

The Multi-layer slider displays text, photos and social media links over the slides. This superimposing is in the same style as PowerPoint or comparable slideshow software.

The 3D Fullwidth Slider is used for displaying any full-sized slider on any WordPress web page. It’s unique in employing a special effect that shifts the slides, thus creating a 3D effect. This slider will consume the width of the web page.

The Filmstrip slider is one that displays preview icons of the slides in the slider. This is a helpful style of slider if you’re working with a large set of slides and want the site visitor to choose which slide of the slider starts the showcase. This style of slider is also a great alternative to boring gallery plugins, which typically open up the images in a larger lightbox or popup, taking the visitor away from the site.  

The Zoom Effect slider is ideal for a scenario in which you have a small amount of space but still want to showcase a main image or enlarged version of a main image. With this slider, the image can be zoomed in without moving to the next slide. Every image and its enlarged rendition are included in a single slide, thus the ideal images for this slider are of HD quality.

A great feature of Slider WD is that you don’t have to limit your WordPress site to one type of the above sliders. Slider WD lets you customize and combine sliders.

2. Soliloquy

Soliloquy is also a highly responsive and popular slider. It’s available in a Lite form. Soliloquy made it to this list because it can create an unlimited number of responsive WordPress sliders with any number of images and in just a few clicks.

Speed and ease of use are obvious with this slider. The makers of Soliloquy know that slow speed impacts a user’s experience and can cost a business money. Soliloquy has proven to be one of the fastest loading sliders. This is because its code is optimized for speed.

This plugin also utilizes a unique technique: it loads the cover slide then the rest of the slides asynchronously. It gives a user-friendly, let-me-visit-this-site-again experience to site visitors because of its apparent speed and design.  

One more way Soliloquy impresses is security. It is considered one of the most secure plugins available. As for ease of use, a recent review by Nuts and Bolts media gave this plugin a 9/10 rating.

3. Slider Revolution

Slider Revolution made this list because it is innovative and responsive. Slider Revolution is just that – a revolution, allowing for the transformation of sliders as the world has known them. Slider Revolution displays content well – with a slider, carousel, hero scene or entire front page visual. The drag and drop editor is easy to use and the speed of the slider is always impressive.  

Slider Revolution has been on the market since 2012 and its developers have sought to continually improve the features and usability. They offer dedicated support for any users with questions or issues and have an ever-growing FAQ database for those curious about functionality, speed and more.

Slider Revolution has nearly 65,000 downloads to date, and this is due largely to the quality of the sliders it achieves. One feature that makes it an easy sell is the layered depth of each slide. Images can be layered or stacked, types of media can be combined (text, video, images) and each layer animated individually, giving truly polished and creative results.

Speed is highly rated and ease of use is surprisingly simple. Despite the complexity of each slider, building them is not that difficult. Slider Revolution allows its users to pull content from all common sources (Facebook, WordPress, YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter, etc.). Each facet of the slide is enhanced in a user-friendly graphical interface and voila – the slider is ready.

Slider Revolution stands out on this list too because it is quite versatile. In addition to easily creating classic sliders, this plugin can build image carousels, one-page websites, homepage sliders and more.

Deciding which slider is best for your WordPress website depends on what you want or need the slider to do. The above three slider plugins are the best available and an excellent place to start considering a decision.