Top 10 Free WordPress Slider Plugins

The slider is a must have element for any WordPress site that wants to attract the attention of visitors. Modern sliders may include not only simple images, but video or interactive elements. Thus, the slider can become a versatile tool in the field of visual content. Even if you run a simple blog theme, slider can increase the involvement of readers, just showing the last publication or the most popular blog posts.

Most modern premium WordPress themes include the plugins for the creation of sliders. But if you are already using a convenient free WordPress theme and do not want to change it, then free plugins for creating sliders will come to the aid for you. These tools allow you to quickly and easily create a slider of any complexity without any knowledge in web development or design.

Modern plugins allow you not only to easily create sliders, but also make fine adjustments for this element of your site. For example, you can switch methods of changing slides, the time delay between slides, display different content types, the size of the display area and place for the slider placement. And this is not the whole list of features of the most sliders.

In this article, we will examine the 10 best WordPress slider, which you can download and install on your website or blog. All of our ranking plugins have paid premium version, which greatly enhance the functional and allows for finer adjustment. Let us find out all the features of sliders, which will be primarily of interest to beginners in the field of WordPress administration.

Nivo Slider Lite

Nivo Slider is a leader in the number of downloads among plugins of its category and has more than 3 million downloads. Free version of Nivo Slider offers all the necessary functions for setting up a beautiful and interesting slider. Here you will find settings to display different content, various slide transitions, custom change time, and much more.

The paid version allows you to use more variants of transition effects, creating sliders and galleries from fixed posts of the blog, as well as the use of ready-made themes for sliders and professional technical support for users. The main advantage of Nivo Slider is the possibility to get acquainted with the most important features and settings of the entire group of such plugins in free mode.

Slider WD

Slider WD is a responsive tool to build your perfect slider on a WordPress site or blog. The free version includes 5 types of transition effects, support for full-screen mode, the creation of shortcodes for easy placement of sliders on the pages of your WordPress website or blog, the ability to open a link from a slider on the page placement and many other interesting features.

The Pro version of Slider WD expands choice of transition effects for 26 units and a variety of layouts to 38 options. The paid version also allows you to place the slider within video from YouTube and Vimeo, social share buttons, Instagram and Flickr embed codes and so on. Parallax and carousel effects are also available on premium mode.

Meta Slider

Meta Slider is a simple tool to create fast and beautiful sliders for your WordPress project. Features of the free version of the plugin include all the basic functionality for creating sliders: support for full-screen mode, drag-n-drop slides editor, settings for SEO optimization, support for many languages, most WordPress themes.

The paid version of Meta Slider extends the functionality to create video slide show, using ready-made design templates, inclusion of thumbnail navigation, and technical support for users. Meta Slider has the full support for the design of modern formats for custom slides with HTML5 and CSS3.

Cyclone Slider 2

Cyclone Slider 2 is extremely simple to set up tool, which newcomers will particularly appreciate. Free version of Cyclone Slider 2 supports 5 formats of slides: images, YouTube, Vimeo, custom HTML, and testimonial slides. Also, the set includes 4 ready-made themes from which you can choose the most suitable design for your site.

The Pro version of Cyclone Slider 2 allows you to crop the image in 6 different ways, to put the delay for the launch of the slider, include swipe mode for mobile users, and many other interesting features. The paid version also expands the range of available templates for design of your slider on the WordPress website or blog.

Ultimate Responsive Image Slider

As you might guess from the title, Ultimate Responsive Image Slider focuses on working with different pictures to attract the attention of users on the site. Functional of free version includes the possibility of placing an unlimited number of images in a slider, placing multiple sliders on the same page, the automatic or manual adjustment of image parameters, and more.

The paid version of Ultimate Responsive Image Slider expands opportunities to design the sliders for your WordPress website or blog. The extended functionality includes 5 ready-made design templates, the ability to put a slider on pause, full-screen support, a huge set of Google Fonts and many other tweaks.

Slider by SupSystic

Slider by SupSystic is a simple and clean tool for creating ideal sliders on your WordPress website or blog. The free version of Slider by SupSystic already included interesting themes ready to use on sliders, and support for display on mobile devices, customizable captions for images and additional thumbnail sliders.

The Pro version connects the ability to use video sliders, carousel and HTML layer slideshow styles. 12 most popular languages are included in the free version of the slider, and the rest are available for translation in the paid mode. Technical support is also an additional paid service.

Huge-IT Slider

Huge-IT Slider is another simple and convenient tool to attract the attention of users through visual content. Features of the free version include an unlimited number of images to load in the slider, built drag-n-drop editor, optimized for mobile devices, editing metadata for images in the slider, and much more.

Premium version of Huge-IT Slider adds the ability to display videos from YouTube and Vimeo, 16 different navigation buttons, and 9 positions for placing a slider on the pages of your WordPress site, fine tuning slider design, technical support and other advanced features.

Master Slider

Master Slider is an excellent choice for those who want to get a responsive slider to display a mobile version of your WordPress site. Free functionality includes built-in drag-n-drop editor, 6 different slide transitions, 8 finished design templates, loop and linear sliding options, built-in cache boosting and other outstanding features and possibilities.

The paid version of the plugin will be interesting not only for experienced administrators through the expansion of functionality, but also for the owner of online store thanks to integrated WooCommerce filter. Advanced set of patterns for design, slide transitions and animation effects are also available to users of the Premium version of Master Slider.

GIGA Slider

GIGA Slider stands out among its competitors due to the large number of available templates and transition effects in the free version of the plugin. 32 skins and 25 transition effects are available to everyone for free! Free version also includes optimization for mobile devices, various settings for pagination and placement of images, the ability to use the slider as a widget and many other features.

Premium version of GIGA Slider provides an in-depth opportunities to use video in the slider. For example, you can use the extra thumbnail sliders and play videos automatically right in the slider. Also pro version offers a wide range of skins and transition effects. 24-hour support is included into the premium plugin service.

Smart Slider 3

Smart Slider 3 comes with 4 prepared sample sliders, 9 smooth background animations, built-in user-friendly editor and much more interesting features for the novice WordPress administrators. Free version includes everything you need to get acquainted and initially work with sliders in all their diversity.

Smart Slider 3 Pro version significantly expands the range of available background animations, layers and slider types. Also pro version includes a built-in editor for images and in-depth settings for all elements of the sliders on your WordPress site. Technical support is available for all premium users.

Final Words

We recommend to use the free versions of the listed plugins to get acquainted with the slider`s possibilities in common. After the first months of work you will be able to make your own choice in the variety of premium slider services, knowing all the features.