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FotoGrids vs Smart Slider 3

FotoGrids ships a slider in the free plugin — swipe, autoplay, transitions, templates — and then keeps going: grid, masonry and justified layouts, albums, tags, filtering and a lightbox. Smart Slider 3 has the better animation canvas, and its own documentation tells you to find a gallery plugin for the rest.
FotoGrids
8 vs 2
Layouts in FotoGrids Free, slider included, vs Smart Slider 3 free
30+ vs 15
Templates in FotoGrids Free vs Smart Slider 3 free
0
Lightboxes in Smart Slider 3 free — the vendor states it twice
0
Albums or collections in Smart Slider 3, free or paid
16
16

16 features Smart Slider 3 keeps for Pro — or doesn’t offer at all — are free in FotoGrids.

Why FotoGrids

Four reasons to pick FotoGrids over Smart Slider 3

FotoGrids
Smart Slider 3
Choosing a layout
FotoGrids
Slider, grid, masonry and justified, all in Free
Smart Slider 3
Their own docs advise against using it for grids
Grouping more than one gallery
FotoGrids
Albums and collections in Free
Smart Slider 3
No album concept; free can’t even make a folder
Letting visitors filter
FotoGrids
Filtering and predefined sorting in Free
Smart Slider 3
Filters are author-side, applied when you build
Opening an image full-screen
FotoGrids
Advanced lightbox in the free plugin
Smart Slider 3
No lightbox in free — it begins at Pro
Building a gallery

Their documentation tells you to use something else

It is rare for a vendor to write down which job their product is wrong for. Smart Slider did.

Smart Slider 3 — “we don’t suggest using it for this”

Their own help article on using Smart Slider as a grid gallery: “Smart Slider isn’t really good for creating image grids or galleries, so we don’t suggest using it for this purpose.” The workaround they describe is designing every slide by hand.

FotoGrids — In the free plugin

Grid, masonry, justified, slider, image viewer and single item, all selectable in Free, with 30+ templates to start from. Pro Starter takes it to eleven layouts and 70+.

Organising your work

There is no folder, let alone an album

One slider is easy. The question is what happens on the fortieth, when you want them grouped by client or by year.

Smart Slider 3 — Groups exist as strings, not features

There is no album or collection construct anywhere. The free build ships the words “Create group” and “Change group” in its translation file, but the method behind the button has an empty body and nothing calls it.

FotoGrids — Albums and collections in Free

Group galleries into albums and collections, with tags, people and locations on every image, breadcrumbs and smart navigation — all in Free, on unlimited sites.

Clicking an image

In the free build, nothing opens

A lightbox is the difference between a wall of thumbnails and something a visitor can actually look at.

Smart Slider 3 — “only in the Pro version”

Two of their own articles say it: “You can only have lightboxes in the Pro version of Smart Slider,” and “If you use Smart Slider Free, you cannot use lightboxes. Grid/gallery plugins offer lightbox in their free versions as well.”

FotoGrids — In the free plugin

The advanced lightbox is part of the free plugin and part of the gallery you are editing, not a separate configuration screen or a paid add-on.

In fairness

The better animation canvas, and the narrower plugin

Smart Slider is very good at the thing it is actually for, and we would rather say so than have you find out later.

Smart Slider 3 — A better canvas than ours

Their free build has a layer editor with absolute positioning, rulers, guides, smart snapping, undo and redo, per-device overrides, reusable font and style presets and twenty page-builder integrations. For building an animated slider it is excellent.

FotoGrids — A slider too, and everything after it

Our slider is in Free — swipe, autoplay, transitions and templates — with carousel and video playlist layouts at Pro Starter. What Smart Slider sends you to another plugin for, we already have in the same box.

Feature by feature

What Smart Slider 3 keeps for Pro

Smart Slider builds sliders. FotoGrids builds sliders and galleries. Rows it was never trying to cover are marked as not documented rather than as missing.
Feature
FotoGrids
Smart Slider 3
Flexible Gallery Layouts
Free
2 slider types in free
Grid Layout
Free
Not offered at any tier
Masonry Layout
Free
Not offered at any tier
Albums & Collections
Free
Not offered at any tier
Templates Library
Free
15 free — 179 with Pro
Advanced Lightbox Experience
Free
Pro only
Filtering
Free
Not offered at any tier
Tags, People & Locations
Free
Not documented at any tier
Lazy Loading
Free
Pro only
Social Sharing
Free
Not offered at any tier
Analytics Dashboard
Free
Not offered at any tier
Migration from Other Plugins
Free
Not documented at any tier
Migration

Move from Smart Slider 3 in an afternoon

Step 1
Bring the galleries across
Your slider comes across too. FotoGrids has a slider layout in Free, so this is one plugin replacing two rather than a sidegrade.
Step 2
Keep the URLs
Galleries get their own addresses, and the permalink settings let you keep the URLs you already have indexed.
Step 3
Try it alongside
Free is a full plugin, not a trial. Build one gallery in FotoGrids beside your slider and compare on your own site.
Step 4
Make it yours
Add the albums, the tags and the lightbox, then save the whole arrangement as a default for the next gallery.

Frequently asked questions

Yes. FotoGrids has a slider layout in the free plugin, so you are not giving one up — you are adding grid, masonry, albums, tags and a lightbox to it. For multi-layer animated heroes with a keyframe timeline, Smart Slider is still the stronger tool.
Grid, masonry and justified layouts, albums and collections, tags with filtering and sorting, a lightbox, 30+ templates, social sharing, EXIF viewing, watermarking, password-protected galleries and an analytics dashboard — on unlimited sites.
Yes, and it is in Free — swipe, autoplay, multiple transitions and templates, with carousel and video playlist layouts at Pro Starter. What we do not do is multi-layer keyframe animation, and that is where Smart Slider is genuinely ahead.
The same as this year. Pro Starter, Pro Plus and Pro Agency are $39, $79 and $129, and those are renewal prices as well as joining prices. Free stays free, on unlimited sites. The tiers are on the pricing page.
We read each plugin’s own source rather than its marketing pages, then run a second pass whose only job is to disprove what the first one found. Anything that doesn’t survive gets dropped before publication. The method is in the methodology section, and every line in the table has a source behind it.
A slider, a grid and an album. Free, on unlimited sites

Install the free plugin, apply a template, and change the parts that are not yours yet. Customize every detail from your very first gallery.

Download Free
Compare Free and Pro