Slideshows are one of the most commonly used building blocks in modern internet, a versatile tool for showcasing important information with catching pictures without taking up unnecessary space. Stores are no exception specially on Shopify, as image sliders and carousels are a perfect way of showing off top sellers, new additions, products on sale and any other kind of collection a store owner might want their clients to find easily.

It should come to you as no surprise that not only Shopify has a slideshow section, but many developers have created their own apps implementing that very functionality, each with their own twists, vantages and issues.

The variety is such that it can be hard for Shopify users to pick the slideshow that better match their store and needs, so we tested a few popular slideshow apps, from Shopify's default to our own EZFY Slideshow Section Pro. You can find out how they compare to each other below.

Shopify Dawn's Default Slideshow Section

So we have a point of comparison, we'll start with the default Shopify Slideshow for Dawn and free themes. It's available as a section in the customization page, meaning it's easy to access and use at any location of any page which is an advantage compared to some other Slideshow apps that despite having more features, often suffer from a more roundabout implementation.

Each individual slide can have its own accompanying heading, subheading and button but their customization is virtually non-existent, all of it being laid on top of a box with a few different preset color schemes and an optional black overlay with customizable opacity that blocks the slides.

The overlay can be disabled but the box can't, if you don't want the slides' images to be covered the most you can do is move the box to the least intrusive location. Customization for the slideshow as a whole is similarly limited, with few different options for the section's size and sliding speed. It's a very basic tool easy to use and does the minimum it needs to, but it's as barebones as it can be: it looks and works one way and if you'd like something different, there's barely anything you can do.

POWR

POWR does not operate directly from you Shopify's admin apps section, instead taking you to their slideshow building tool in their own website. It is however easy and intuitive to use and you can learn how to do it in just a few minutes. If you're using the free version customization is limited but you still have access to the basics, for example adding text to your slides or even turning images into links that'll lead the user to any page of your choosing.

Text is customizable with font type, color, size and alignment which is already a step up from the default Shopify Slideshow, although you can't choose different settings for each individual slide. You're also limited to just 3 pictures for each slideshow, but you you can create as many as you want. Paid subscription give you access to a number of advantages as well, from increasingly bigger sliders to more detailed customization options such as special transitions and slider speed, and much more. It's a rather versatile tool as well, which can also be used for logos, a hero section and even accepts videos.

Once you created your slider and proceeds to implement it in your store, one thing stands out from other slideshow apps. In most apps we tested newly creates sliders are imported into your store as sections that you can add to any location of any page from your theme customization page, which is a simple way of handling it. POWR however asks you which page of your store should receive the slider and then lets you choose between its top or bottom, with no straightforward way of picking a more specific location. If you want your own custom location you are given the HTML for your slider that you can manually add to your store's code, but that's a more complicated procedure that takes some know-how.

All in all POWR is a strong slideshow creation tool that offers a surprising amount of options for its free plan and much more depending on how much you're willing to pay, with its biggest issue being implementation methods that might be a bit awkward to use.

Slider Revolution

Slider Revolution impresses with everything it can do, with dozens upon dozens of pre-built templates for you to choose from, ample customization choices and even the tools necessary to create a variety of other Shopify sections and pages, proving itself to be an even more potent page builder than POWR. While it lacks a free plan, it offers a 7 days trial and has demo store that showcases everything it can do and how you can achieve everything, so you know exactly what you're getting into before you subscribe.

You have access to every tool available straight away, but the number of sliders you can create is limited by your subscription plan in numbers that can be rather harsh depending on your intended use. Its strength is also its biggest weakness however as with options come complexity: while their website offers plenty instructions it's still a lot to take in, resulting in a learning process that can be overwhelming.

Therefore, Slider Revolution is one of the more complete slideshow apps for Shopify, but it can take a while to learn and can be overkill depending on your needs.

Good App Galleries

Good Apps Galleries is a lightweight but efficient app that lets you create sliders, carrousels and even static image galleries with a few different layout options. It doesn't offer much in terms of customization but is very easy to use, perfect if you're looking for something that isn't complex. It has no live demo or free trial but the subscription is cheaper than most other apps, giving you access to all features straight away and letting you create limitless galleries and sliders of any size you want, the only limit being that of 1 TB of bandwidth per month. It isn't fancy, but it'll serve your needs if you're looking for something simple and easy to use, or you're on a budget and other free sliders aren't doing enough for you.

Enorm Image Slider Pro

Enorm is in many ways similar to the POWR image slider we covered above, but differs from it in a few key ways. For starters, it can be accessed directly from your Shopify store's admin page without having to go to a different site and sliders can be installed in your store as sections, a more widespread and easier to use method than the one employed by POWR.

Its free plan only allows you to create a single slider and the number of slideshows you can create even with a paid subscription is somewhat limited, although it allows you to work with a much bigger amount of pictures, starting from 5 for the free plan and going all the way to 600, while POWR limits slideshows to 10 slides long even if you're using its most expensive plan.

We can say that if POWR tickled your fancy you might want to take a look at Enorm too, as it allows you to create less but bigger slideshows with similar customization options and subscriptions plans, but with a more flexible installation method. Both offer a free plan, so you can test them yourself and decide which one works best for you!

EZFY Slideshow Section Pro

The Slideshow Section by EZFY works a little different from other Shopify slider creators you'll find because as its name implies, it uses custom code to create a new slideshow section for your theme. Installation is simple, involving only some copy and paste code that can be done in a minute or two at most.

Once it's finished the slider creator can be accessed directly from your store's customization page much like the default one, with all the practicalities and advantages that method offers: you can create a slideshow on any page of your store directly from there without having to build it in a separate site and then importing it. Since each slider can be created and customized on its own, you have full control of everything you create without having to rely on templates, and no harsh restrictions on the number and size of slideshows either.

Customization options are plentiful as well, allowing for resizing of images, parallax scrolling and lazy loading for better performance as well as navigation with customizable bars, dots and arrows. You have full control of the text as well with separate customization for font size and color in each piece of text, as well as a second button.

You can even pick the color for the overlay or add a shadow under the text: you choose how much of the picture remains visible and have all the tools needed to make sure the text continues readable regardless. Much of the customization allows you to pick differing settings for desktop and mobile devices, including the very pictures used in the slides

It boasts as many options as the best slideshow apps available if not more without any of the restrictions, and when you factor in that it's a one time purchase equivalent to 2-3 months worth of the subscription of most other apps, it's a clear winner.

Speed Comparison

While features and customization options are the biggest selling point when choosing which slideshow to use, a not so obvious but important factor to consider as well is performance: some sliders may take a longer or shorter time to load depending on how they're coded and hosted, which can be bad for the UX.

We used Google Chrome's built in Lighthouse tool to compare how some of the slideshow builders we covered compare to each other. First we have POWR:



As you can see it has a performance score of 73, leaving some to be desired. Next we have Enorm:



Similar performance to POWR, but it's not only less accessible it also has a considerably lower SEO rating, meaning browsers are less likely to find your store through search engines. If we consider how similar the POWR and Enorm slideshow apps are in terms of features, this can be a huge deciding factor in favor of the former. Finally, we have EZFY:



Just as accessible and SEO friendly as POWR, but better practices lead to a not insignificant increase to the performance.

Again, the EZFY slideshow section proves itself to be the best out of the slider creators we have tested.

Conclusion

If you're a Shopify store owner and are looking for a slideshow app to use there's many good options to pick from according to your needs and budget, but EZFY Slideshow Section Pro stands out as one of the most complete options, boasting a high performance as well as a very affordable cost. You can also purchase it bundled with other custom sections at a discount, so be sure to check it out!