Smart Slider 3 vs Visual Composer
Compare WordPress plugins and tools side by side. Pick products with “Compare” in the software directory.
| Feature | Smart Slider 3 v3.5.1.39 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.9/5 Visit Details | Visual Composer 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 ($) | — |
| Pros | Visual layer editor with rows and columns; Works with many page builders and themes; Free edition covers core slider types | — |
| Cons | Premium sliders and templates need Pro; Template import calls the vendor API; Large plugin with many admin screens to learn | Shortcode-based content is hard to migrate away from |
| Mentioned in our posts | 1 | 1 |
| More features | ||
| Other features | Import sliders and templates from the vendor API, Find sliders used on a page by URL, Google Fonts CSS fetched and cached locally, Premium sliders need a Pro licence ($), Pro updater referenced by the free code ($) | — |
| Integrations | ||
| Plugins | Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, Advanced Custom Fields, WP Rocket, Rank Math, TablePress | — |
| Other | Smart Slider vendor API (api.nextendweb.com) | — |
| Requires WordPress | 5.0 | — |
| Requires PHP | 7.0 | — |
| Tested up to | 7.0.2 | — |
| Phones home | No | — |
| External services | fonts.googleapis.com, api.nextendweb.com | — |
| Blocks | 1 | — |
| Shortcodes | 2 | — |