Smart Slider 3 vs Unlimited Elements for Elementor (Premium)
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| Feature | Smart Slider 3 v3.5.1.39 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.9/5 Visit Details | Unlimited Elements for Elementor (Premium) v2.0.21 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Paid Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 800,000+ | — |
| Last updated | August 19, 2026 | — |
| Editions | Smart Slider 3 · Smart Slider 3 Pro ($) | Unlimited Elements for Elementor (Premium) ($) |
| Pros | Visual layer editor with rows and columns; Works with many page builders and themes; Free edition covers core slider types | Over 200 additional drag-and-drop widgets in the premium edition; Widget creator framework for building custom widgets; Includes everything in the free library |
| Cons | Premium sliders and templates need Pro; Template import calls the vendor API; Large plugin with many admin screens to learn | Licensed commercial product, updates come from the vendor store; Several widgets need third-party API keys such as OpenWeather, Google or Instagram |
| Mentioned in our posts | 1 | — |
| More features | ||
| Other features | 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 ($), Pro updater referenced by the free code ($) | Premium widget library (200+ widgets) ($), Premium feature gating for child parameters ($), Elementor widget registration ($), Forms with Google reCAPTCHA verification ($), Weather widget from OpenWeather ($), Instagram feed widget ($) |
| Integrations | ||
| Social | — | Instagram ($) |
| E-commerce | — | WooCommerce ($) |
| Plugins | Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, Advanced Custom Fields, WP Rocket, Rank Math, TablePress | — |
| Other | Smart Slider vendor API (api.nextendweb.com) | Google reCAPTCHA ($), Google Places ($), OpenWeather ($), ExchangeRate-API ($), Freemius ($) |
| Requires WordPress | 5.0 | 5.7 |
| Requires PHP | 7.0 | 7.4 |
| Tested up to | 7.0.2 | 7.1 |
| Phones home | No | Only if you agree |
| External services | fonts.googleapis.com, api.nextendweb.com | api.unlimited-elements.com, v6.exchangerate-api.com, api.openweathermap.org, graph.instagram.com, api.instagram.com, places.googleapis.com, accounts.google.com |
| Blocks | 1 | — |
| Shortcodes | 2 | — |