Whether you want to show off customer testimonials, your latest blog posts, your best images, or just celebrate the members of your team, there is a WordPress slider plugin or WordPress carousel slider plugin out there that’s right for you.
But before we share the 10 best WordPress sliders and carousels to be found at the Envato Market this year, maybe we should clarify the difference (or the lack thereof) between a slider and a carousel plugin. Some say that there’s little difference between the two because they both do a variation of the same thing: display a number of images in a slideshow format while offering some controls like previous an next arrows, thumbnail navigation, and sometimes transition effects between the slides.
Others insist that though this may be true, the important distinction between a WordPress slider plugin and a WordPress carousel plugin is that a slider slides the images horizontally or vertically while a carousel rotates the images on an axis with the image always facing the viewer. While the jury is still out which camp is right, for the purpose of this article we’ll treat the two terms as interchangeable and get on with the business of revealing the 10 Best WordPress sliders and WordPress carousel plugins of 2019.
1. RoyalSlider
The single most downloaded slider at CodeCanyon, RoyalSlider for WordPress is packed with irresistible features. Used by companies as diverse as Coca Cola, Ralph Lauren and Land Rover, this plugin does just about everything you could possibly want from a slider.
The most appealing feature is the fullscreen feature with native HTML5 fullscreen support. Perfect for showing high-resolution photography!
Other standout features include:
- multiple sliders per page are allowed, even with different skins
- touch swipe navigation support
- responsive design
- vertical or horizontal thumbnails, bullets or tabs for navigation
RoyalSlider will definitely wow your visitors with its clean design and professional functionality.
2. Slider Pro
Slider Pro provides a clean and intuitive user interface in the admin area with a smooth navigation experience for the end users.
Slider Pro avoids unnecessary fanciness, which many times is an obstacle for end users in getting the information they need, and instead focuses on simplicity and performance, while still providing a wide range of customisation possibilities.
My favourite feature is the deep linking feature where each slide change will update the URL in the browser’s navigation bar with the appropriate URL hash. That means users can copy and share links directly to individual slides!
Standout features include:
- optimised image loading
- easy customisation
- smooth animations
- multiple layouts
Slider Pro, as the name suggests, is the professional solution you need.
3. Logos Showcase
The Logos Showcase plugin is specifically created for users who want to make a grid of images with external or internal links or need to display a list of clients’ or sponsors’ logos.
The standout feature with Logos Showcase is the ability to display logos in a grayscale version with the option to display with original colours by hovering if desired.
Standout features include:
- choice of three different ways to display images
- control of transition speed and auto scroll is enabled
- control of default size of logo images
- option to set URLs to each logo which can open on the same page or in a new page
Logos Showcase is the slider to choose if your priority is to display logos and lists most effectively.
4. All Around
All Around, as the name suggests, is a really well-rounded slider. It gives you a clean, responsive design, a number of predefined styling options, and support for swipe gestures. Use one of the 6 layouts or customise the plugin manually as needed.
Standout features include:
- 6 premade styles
- support for videos
- vertical or horizontal sliders
- supports multiple sliders on one page
- autoplay mode
The All Around slider isn’t all-around by name only. If this is your first WordPress slider and carousel plugin, it just might also be the last one you’ll ever need.
5. Super Bundle
One of the best slider plugin for WordPress, Super Bundle is a collection of terrific elements, settings and tools that are design to take your WPBakery Page Builder site to the next level with the ability to turn any content into a carousel, add a video light box, animate text. etc.
Standout features include:
- parallax background and video background options
- over 70 customisable, high-quality SVG row separator designs
- 13 entrance animations and 14 exit animations
- 6 unique text effects
- video or image thumbnails that when clicked open a large video lightbox popup
What’s great about Super Bundle is that apart from creating great carousels, it allows you to add a ton of other many other cool features to your WordPress site. A great multipurpose plugin.
6. Global Gallery
Global Gallery is a WordPress image slider that helps you to create awesome galleries from a variety of image sources including Flickr, Facebook or other social media platforms, WordPress custom elements, and any RSS feed. The plugin offers four gallery layouts and also includes both a responsive image slider and a full featured carousel.
Standout features include:
- 4 gallery layouts
- drag-and-drop gallery builder
- image tags filter
- images slider with fixed or responsive sizing
- images carousel with multi-column layouts
With it 1-click fast setup, the Global Gallery plugin will help you create filterable, fully responsive and adaptive galleries on your website in no time.
7. Carousel Anything
If you’re in then market for a highly versatile WordPress image carousel, Carousel Anything is for you. With Carousel Anything, you can create carousels for any of your content: blog posts, image sliders, video showcases, testimonials, team members, and more. The plugin comes with two designs: one displays your posts in a simple and clean layout while the other offers a bit more design features.
Standout features include:
- works great with touch devices
- create carousels from your post types
- lightweight
- works with any theme
This WordPress carousel slider plugin gives you one of the easiest and quickest ways to create carousels for your website.
8. Progress Map
Progress Map unique among the WordPress plugins listed here in that it combines carousel slider features with a Google Map feature. The plugin’s aim is to help users create WordPress sites that provide listings for hotels, real estate, restaurants, job posts, etc. With this plugin, you can plot your listings on Google map using markers and then feature the same listings in photos on a carousel—with connections between them! When an item is selected on the carousel, its location on the map is indicated. Likewise when the marker on the map is clicked it activates the image carousel.
Standout features include:
- carousel can be positioned to the right, to the left, over or under the map
- provides clustered map markers for a map with a large number of locations
- carousel items are fully resizable and fully customisable
- connect plugin with any custom post type
If you’re looking for a visually powerful way to display a number of different locations on a map using a image carousel, the Progress Map plugin in is a great solution.
9. Viba Portfolio
Viba Portfolio is all about showcasing your latest blog posts, portfolio, customer testimonials, etc. to their best advantage. This WordPress gallery slider provides you with four different gallery types, as well as 60 skins to change the looks of your slider easily and quickly. It also offers full control of all customisation features from layouts, to font size, to colour and overlays.
Standout features include:
- 60 skins
- 4 gallery types
- 3 filter types
- reponsive grid and responsive carousel layouts
Use Viba Portfolio as a WordPress testimonial slider, WordPress post slider or any other kind of slider you need. It’s that versatile!
10. Ultra Portfolio
Ultra Portfolio will primarily appeal to users who are interested in building portfolios with slider features included. It offers a large number of layout options and really delivers on flexibility and functionality. The most appealing feature of this slider is the ability to control animation effects and animation speed.
Standout features include:
- unlimited layouts
- WooCommerce integration
- Google Font integration
- responsive layout lets you control the number of columns for different screens
Ultra Portfolio should be your choice if you want to combine slider functions with a wide range of portfolio options.
Choose Your WordPress Slider and Carousel Plugins
That’s it for our 10 best WordPress sliders and best WordPress carousel plugins of 2019. This is just a small selection of WordPress carousel plugins and WordPress slider plugins available in the Envato Marketplace. If you don’t find what you’re looking for here, why not look at what else is available?
Looking for a free WordPress theme to get started fast? We have some great ones for you to choose from!
Furthermore, if you’re interested in getting more into WordPress development, don’t hesitate to review the the many tutorials we have available.
Learn How to Use WordPress
Are you new to using WordPress? Learn how to use WordPress in our complete guide. This guide will take you through the full process, from the basics of creating posts and pages right through to installing and customising your first WordPress theme and setting up plugins for security and performance.
