Slider by Soliloquy vs Smart Slider 3
Compare WordPress plugins and tools side by side. Pick products with “Compare” in the software directory.
| Feature | Slider by Soliloquy v2.8.6 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.7/5 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 | 30,000+ | 800,000+ |
| Last updated | October 23, 2026 | August 19, 2026 |
| Editions | Responsive WordPress Slider - Soliloquy Lite · Soliloquy Pro ($) | Smart Slider 3 · Smart Slider 3 Pro ($) |
| Pros | Drag-and-drop slider builder; Shortcode and Gutenberg block placement; Responsive slides for phones, tablets and desktops | Visual layer editor with rows and columns; Works with many page builders and themes; Free edition covers core slider types |
| Cons | Thumbnail navigation and other addons need Pro; Fetches addon list and notices from the vendor site; Lite upgrade prompts appear in the admin | 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 | 1 |
| More features | ||
| Other features | soliloquy shortcode to place a slider, Soliloquy Gutenberg block, Sliders stored as a soliloquy post type, Thumbnail navigation addon offered as an upgrade ($), Addons page loading the vendor addon list | Import sliders and templates from the vendor API, Find sliders used on a page by URL, Google Fonts CSS fetched and cached locally, Premium sliders need a Pro licence ($), Pro updater referenced by the free code ($) |
| Integrations | ||
| Plugins | — | Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, Advanced Custom Fields, WP Rocket, Rank Math, TablePress |
| Other | Soliloquy vendor site (addons and notices) | Smart Slider vendor API (api.nextendweb.com) |
| Requires WordPress | 5.7.0 | 5.0 |
| Requires PHP | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| Tested up to | 7.1 | 7.0.2 |
| Phones home | No | No |
| External services | fast.wistia.net, soliloquywp.com, plugin.soliloquywp.com | fonts.googleapis.com, api.nextendweb.com |
| Blocks | 1 | 1 |
| Shortcodes | 1 | 2 |