Avada comes with a purpose-built slider tool, Fusion Slider, which gives you the flexibility to add animated and responsive WordPress sliders to your site. The theme also comes bundled with three more slider plugins — Slider Revolution, LayerSlider, and Elastic Slider — giving you even more options for building stunning Avada sliders for your site.

But as we’ll explore in this post, when you use these bundled plugins, you won’t be able to access slide libraries, templates, updates, support and other features you thought you paid for when you bought Avada.

So let’s take a look at why the slider plugins that come with Avada don’t provide the full slider functionality you’re probably expecting. We’ll also take a look at the free version of Smart Slider 3, which is a better alternative for creating stunning Avada sliders for WordPress.

The Problem with Bundled Avada Slider Plugins

When you purchase the Avada theme, it comes with four different slider options, which is impressive! Not only does it come with Fusion Slider, which has been developed especially for Avada, but there are three more slider plugins included. Lots of choices, right?

The problem is, the slider plugins that are bundled with Avada lack important features and functionality you need when building a slider for your website, including:

• You can’t import premium slider libraries or templates,
• Updates aren’t available, and
• There’s no premium support.

ThemeForest themes such as Avada offer slider functionality via an extended license that the theme author buys from the plugin developer. This means that:

• The slider plugins bundled with Avada can only be used with Avada. This means you can’t use these plugins if you switch themes;
• If you need help, you can’t access support directly from the slider plugin developer. You can only ask Theme Fusion for support (and they might not be able to help you anyway); and
• Bundled slider plugins can only be updated when new versions of Avada are released, i.e. you have to wait for updates, which leaves your site vulnerable to security threats.

In fact, it’s actually a good idea to use a standalone slider plugin, not a bundled one. These slider plugins give you access to more features, updates, and support without any licensing restrictions.

Why Smart Slider 3 is the Best Slider Plugin for Avada Theme?

A better, lightweight and feature-packed solution for Avada sliders is Smart Slider 3 — and, it’s free!

So what makes Smart Slider 3 a great solution for creating an Avada slider? It offers just the right number of features so you can create a beautiful slider with a complex design, all without having to upgrade or purchase a license.

Smart Slider 3 comes with content and canvas editing modes, which allow you to visually build your sliders using drag and drop headings, text, images, buttons and YouTube or Vimeo videos. You can also create layers and control everything from your typography and navigational arrows to your animations and slider autoplay.

If you like working from templates, there are eight free templates to choose from, which you can import and edit to suit your website. Here is an example of one of Smart Slider 3’s free slider templates:

The best part is, Smart Slider 3 is really easy to use and the free version comes packed with features that rival most premium slider plugins. There’s a pro version of Smart Slider 3 available, which I’ve compared with Slider Revolution here. But really, the free version is all you need to get started adding a beautiful Avada slider to your website.

How to add Smart Slider 3 to Avada Theme

After you finished working on your new, beautiful sliders, it’s time to make them show up on your site. After all, that’s the reason you made them: to enhance your site with beautiful pictures and effects. Since Avada is a WordPress theme that doesn’t integrate Smart Slider 3, it’s a little bit tricky to make your sliders show up. But worry not, there’s a couple of easy way to add Smart Slider 3 to your website!

Publishing Smart Slider 3 using Fusion Builder

The easiest way to add an Avada Slider to your site using Smart Slider 3 is via Fusion builder. Create a Column, add a new element and search for “Smart Slider 3”. Add this element, then select the slider you want to show.

Using a child theme to add Smart Slider 3

Another great way to add Smart Slider 3 to your Avada theme is using Avada’s child theme. Child Themes allow modifying the theme without an update erasing them. We put together an excellent tutorial which has detailed instructions on how to publish the slider using the child theme.

WordPress themes that integrate with sliders – and vice versa – provide an ideal way to display multiple images fluidly and in an eye-catching way that grabs your visitors’ attention the moment they land on your site.

But before you go downloading that theme you like with its shiny built-in slider, there are a few things you need to know first…

The Problem with Bundled Slider Plugins

What you might not know is that themes that offer slider functionality usually provide it via a third-party plugin. Here’s how it works:

• The theme author buys an extended license for a slider plugin from a plugin developer, and
• This extended license allows the theme author to include the slider with a theme they sell.

A popular example of this is Slider Revolution, which is by far the most popular slider plugin for WordPress. How did it get so popular? It is bundled with hundreds of themes in the hugely popular ThemeForest marketplace, including Avada, the best-selling theme of all time on the site.

You might be thinking, bundling plugins with themes makes sense. After all, if a theme author designs a theme to include a hero slider header, they should provide the functionality to achieve it. Plus, bundling plugins makes it easier for users to get a site up and running quickly since they don’t have to buy additional plugins to use with the theme.

Yes, it does make sense. But it’s important to be aware of a few traps. Specifically:

• Bundled slider plugins can only be used under the same license as the theme they came with, i.e. you can’t use the slider plugin with a different theme;
• If you need help using the slider plugin, you’ll need to get in touch with the theme author you purchased from during your support period – you can’t access support directly from the slider plugin developer; and
• Bundled plugins can only be updated when a new version of the theme they are attached to is released. Unless you buy the slider plugin separately, you’ll have to wait until the author of the theme provides the latest version of the bundled plugin with their next theme update.

When users purchase a theme bundled with a slider plugin and later realize the plugin they thought they had also purchased is completely useless with other themes, well… let’s just say it’s caused confusion and later frustration amongst ThemeForest customers:

Look, I’m not out to bash Slider Revolution here. I think it’s a fantastic plugin. It’s just unfortunate that the licensing around bundled plugins – especially themes bundled with slider plugins – is confusing. Users aren’t getting what they thought they paid for.

Which is why I think the solution is to use standalone plugins.

Why Standalone Plugins Are Best

A standalone plugin is a plugin that you download or buy on its own, i.e. it doesn’t come bundled with another product. You can download standalone plugins from the official WordPress Plugin Directory and from marketplaces like CodeCanyon (which is part of the Envato company umbrella that ThemeForest also falls under).

When you download a standalone plugin, you get all the benefits of a regular license, including:

• You can use the plugin independently with any theme;
• You can update the plugin whenever there are new updates available from the developer – you don’t need to wait until your theme can be updated; and
• You get access to support.

If you’re launching a new website or planning a redesign and know that you’ll need a slider, it’s best to download or buy it separately from a trusted slider developer. This way, you’ll know that the plugin will work with any theme and if you need support you can count on a quick response from the very people who built it.

Smart Slider 3: The Highest Rated Slider Plugin for WordPress

When it comes to slider plugins, yes, Slider Revolution is the most popular premium option. But did you know Smart Slider 3 is the highest-rated slider plugin for WordPress? With 430 five-star reviews and 200,000 active installs recorded in the WordPress Plugin Directory, you can’t go wrong. Plus, it’s free to download.

There’s a pro version of the plugin, which I’ve compared with Slider Revolution here. But really, the free version is all you need to get started adding a beautiful slider to your website.

Let’s take a look at themes that integrate nicely with Smart Slider 3, along with ideas for how you can feature sliders in your theme.