Kadence Blocks vs Smart Slider 3
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| Feature | Kadence Blocks v3.8.0.2 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.8/5 Visit Details | Smart Slider 3 v3.5.1.39 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.9/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 600,000+ | 800,000+ |
| Last updated | October 22, 2026 | August 19, 2026 |
| Editions | Kadence Blocks · Kadence Blocks Pro ($) | Smart Slider 3 · Smart Slider 3 Pro ($) |
| Pros | Over 20 blocks with design controls inside the native editor; Advanced form block with MailerLite and captcha options; Free core plugin, with an optional separate Pro plugin | Visual layer editor with rows and columns; Works with many page builders and themes; Free edition covers core slider types |
| Cons | Some blocks and features need Kadence Blocks Pro; Form integrations contact third-party services once configured; Prebuilt library and subscribe forms call kadencewp.com | Premium sliders and templates need Pro; Template import calls the vendor API; Large plugin with many admin screens to learn |
| Mentioned in our posts | — | 1 |
| More features | ||
| Other features | Registers more than 20 custom blocks, such as accordion, tabs and advanced button, Advanced form block with AJAX submission and field sanitising, Captcha verification for Google reCAPTCHA, Cloudflare Turnstile and hCaptcha, Option to load Google Fonts locally and swap display, Google Maps block, Lottie animation and vector custom post types, Prebuilt design library REST endpoints, Built-in icon library used by icon and button blocks, Checks for a Kadence Blocks Pro licence key and product licence | Import sliders and templates from the vendor API, Find sliders used on a page by URL, Google Fonts CSS fetched and cached locally, Premium sliders need a Pro licence ($), Pro updater referenced by the free code ($) |
| Integrations | ||
| MailerLite | — | |
| Plugins | — | Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, Advanced Custom Fields, WP Rocket, Rank Math, TablePress |
| Other | Google reCAPTCHA, Cloudflare Turnstile, hCaptcha, Google Fonts | Smart Slider vendor API (api.nextendweb.com) |
| Requires WordPress | 6.6 | 5.0 |
| Requires PHP | 7.4 | 7.0 |
| Tested up to | 7.1 | 7.0.2 |
| Phones home | Only if you agree | No |
| External services | connect.mailerlite.com, api.mailerlite.com, www.kadencewp.com, plugins.svn.wordpress.org, licensing.nexcess.com, software.liquidweb.com, herald.nexcess.com, licensing.stellarwp.com, www.google.com, challenges.cloudflare.com, api.hcaptcha.com, js.hcaptcha.com, fonts.googleapis.com, telemetry.stellarwp.com, content.startertemplatecloud.com | fonts.googleapis.com, api.nextendweb.com |
| Blocks | 60 | 1 |
| Shortcodes | — | 2 |