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Splide Carousel Block

By David Jensen

Design & Themes / Page Builders & Visual Editors

Reviewed by Omar Dabbas

Trusted WordPress expert with 20+ years of experience evaluating plugins for the WP ecosystem.

Splide Carousel Block Review - In-Depth Analysis

Create flexible and accessible carousels with the Splide Carousel block. Easily add sliders to your Gutenberg editor with various customization options.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

6.93/10

User Rating

5/5 (based on 12+ reviews)

Active Installations

3,000+

Update Frequency

Below Average It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

5 / 10 (Medium Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

The Splide Carousel block introduces the capability to create carousels and sliders within the block editor. Each carousel may contain an infinite number of slides, with each slide containing its own inner blocks.

Use the Splide Carousel block to create image carousels, testimonial rotators, and more in Gutenberg. This plugin offers features such as arrows navigation, dots pagination, autoplay, and various transition effects.

Additional options include infinite loop, API control, fixed or variable slide dimensions, number of slides per page, and lazy loading. The block is fully accessible and supports RTL layout, ensuring a great user experience across all devices.

Comparing to Alternatives

Splide Carousel Block stands out in the WordPress carousel block category with its lightweight design and developer-friendly customization options. It competes with several well-known slider plugins offering various features and user experiences.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Lightweight with minimal dependencies, ensuring fast page loads
Highly flexible and customizable for developers and non-developers alike
Well-implemented block integration for Gutenberg editor
Consistently high user satisfaction with a perfect rating
Supports essential slider features without bloat

Weaknesses

Has a known medium-severity security vulnerability fixed only in recent versions
Lacks a pro version with advanced premium features
Some users desire additional block controls like customizable previous/next buttons
No built-in query-loop block support for dynamic content

User Sentiment Analysis

With a perfect 5-star rating from all 12 reviewers, user feedback is overwhelmingly positive, highlighting the plugin's performance, ease of use, and flexibility. There are no recorded negative reviews.

Positive highlights

"Everything you want in a slider block, and nothing you don’t" — Eric Michel
"I LOVE IT... Worth its weight in gold." — beatty67
"Really useful for an experienced developer to customise their carousels and is enough for those that have no experience to use as well!" — cherlynne134
"Splide, my favorite slider/carousel now in WP" — cucom
"Best slider block plugin... very low on resources." — Ankit Punia

Common complaints

Weaknesses

Security vulnerability fixed only in version 1.7.2 and later
No premium or pro version to access advanced features
Limited block controls for navigation button placement
Missing dynamic content query-loop block support

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Developers and site owners seeking a lightweight, efficient, and flexible carousel block for Gutenberg that performs well without adding unnecessary bloat.

Not ideal for

Users requiring advanced premium features, dynamic content integration, or those concerned about past security vulnerabilities without updating to the latest version.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version offers a fully functional, lightweight carousel block with essential features suitable for most users.

Final Verdict

Splide Carousel Block is a top-rated, lightweight, and flexible carousel solution for WordPress Gutenberg users, praised for its performance and ease of use. It is ideal for those who want a simple yet customizable slider without the overhead of large libraries or complex setups.

However, users should ensure they update to the latest version to avoid a known security vulnerability and consider that advanced features or dynamic content support are not available in this free-only plugin. Overall, it offers excellent value for users prioritizing speed and simplicity.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free Splide Carousel Block plugin.

carousel

slider

splide

Screenshots

FAQ

Yes, under the Splide Carousel block Advanced Settings, you can provide a valid JSON string containing additional options located here.

e.g.: {"focus":"center","trimSpace":false}

Yes, we need to listen to a JavaScript event that is fired when the carousel is ready, and then add the defaults.

document.addEventListener( 'splideReady', function( e ) {     e.detail.defaults = {         arrowPath: 'M30.2 19.4L11 .2c-.3-.3-.9-.3-1.2 0-.3.3-.3.8 0 1.2L28.4 20 9.8 38.6c-.3.3-.3.9 0 1.2.3.3.9.3 1.2 0l19.2-19.2c.3-.3.3-.9 0-1.2z',         perPage: 3     }; } );

Yes, each carousel is given a unique ID by default, or you can provide your own using the HTML Anchor field under the block Advanced Settings.

Each block exposes a global variable that follows this convention: {ID}Carousel. For example, if your carousel ID is testimonials, the global variable will be testimonialsCarousel.

Using this global variable, you can control the carousel programatically using the Splide API.

Example to navigate to the third slide:

testimonialsCarousel.Components.Controller.go(2);

Contributors and developers

“Splide Carousel Block” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

David Jensen

CloudCatch

Free Version Docs Live Demo

WPS

6.93

Average

Ratings

5 out of 5 | 12

Version

1.8.0

Last updated

3 weeks ago

Active installations

3,000+

WordPress version

7.1 or higher

PHP version

7.0 or higher

Languages

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Splide Carousel Block Review - In-Depth Analysis

Performance Overview

What It Does

Comparing to Alternatives

User Sentiment Analysis

Who Should Use This?

Pricing & Value

Final Verdict

Other Notable Features

Screenshots

FAQ

Contributors and developers

Ratings

Reviews (12)

Sort by:

Contributors & Developers

Interested in development?

Changelog

Security Status

Secure

No Unpatched Vulnerabilities

Known Vulnerabilities (1)

Previous Versions

WPS

6.93

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