Total Slider
Note:: Total Slider is not in active development at this time.
Consider an alternative
Total Slider shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 80+ sites, is rated 3.6/5 and was last updated 11 years ago, and scores 31/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (80+ active installs)
- No update in 11 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 4.2 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Total Slider stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| rotation | >100 |
| rotator | #77 |
| slider | >100 |
| slideshow | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 3.6 from 9 reviews
About Total Slider
From the official readme · v2.0.1Description
Note:: Total Slider is not in active development at this time.
Total Slider is a plugin for WordPress from Van Patten Media that helps web developers build sliders that can be easily managed by non-technical users.
Build your own templates in HTML/PHP, CSS, and JavaScript, and Total Slider will supply a WYSIWYG interface designed to blend seamlessly wit the WordPress core.
Note to non-technical users
Total Slider makes editing sliders easy, but it typically needs to be installed and configured by an experienced developer first. Out of the box, Total Slider does not provide a way to edit your theme, add previous/next buttons, and otherwise customise the look of the slider without diving into code.
It does, however, ship with three built-in templates and is very easy to use if you are happy using those.
If you’re looking for a slider solution that won’t involve editing code to set it up, Total Slider probably is not for you.
How it works
Total Slider allows you to create a number of ‘slide groups’. Each slide in the group can be given a title, some description text, a background image and, optionally, a link. You can then have these displayed in a slideshow interface on a portion of your page.
Once this plugin is installed and activated, use the Slider tab in your WordPress dashboard to assemble a group of slides with text, backgrounds and so on. You can then have the slides show up on any page of your site using the Total Slider widget.
Go to Appearance > Widgets in WordPress and drag a new Total Slider widget to the correct area. Then, simply select the slide group to show in this area of your site. You can also use the Total Slider shortcode to add a slider into a post or page by clicking the new button in the editor toolbar.
Available in: English, Français
Key links
Installation
- Install Total Slider either by searching for it under Plugins > Add New in your WordPress site dashboard, or download it here from the Plugin Directory, extract the zip file and upload the total-slider directory to wp-content/plugins.
- Activate the plugin on the Plugins page of your dashboard.
- Click Slider in the admin menu and get started on your first slide group!
Changelog
Fixes various bugs, including orphaned slides during v1.1.x -> v2.0 upgrades.
2.0.1
- Fixes some uncommon issues that may cause slides to become orphaned during an upgrade.
- Fixes any slides that have become orphaned due to the issue above, re-connecting them to their slide groups.
- Fix for issue where a slide with a blank description would display the previous slide’s description (reported by Rachel on WP.org Support Forums)
2.0
- Major new release, featuring drafts, auto-saving drafts and improved behind-the-scenes data storage.
1.1.5
- Fixes compatibility with WordPress 4.0. No longer requires you to enter a slide description if you do not want one.
1.1.4
- Important fix for WordPress 3.7 — prevents new slides from replacing old ones when you add a new slide.
1.1.3
- Fix a bug where Total Slider’s interface would not be functional if the user preferred to not use WordPress’ rich text editor.
1.1.2
- Support for the WordPress 3.5 uploader.
- Code cleanup, now complies with WordPress Coding Standards.
Screenshots
For developers
Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.
Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.
Best Total Slider alternatives
All rotation plugins →
FAQ
Total Slider: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 18, 2026
Is Total Slider free?
Yes. Total Slider is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Total Slider safe to use in 2026?
Total Slider shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 80+ sites, is rated 3.6/5 and was last updated 11 years ago, and scores 31/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Total Slider?
Total Slider is active on 80+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 28,886 times since it launched in May 2012. It was downloaded 78 times in the last 30 days.
Does Total Slider work with WordPress 7.1?
Total Slider is officially tested up to WordPress 4.2.39, while the latest release is 7.1.3. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was Total Slider last updated?
The latest version, 2.0.1, was released on May 9, 2015 (11 years ago).
Who makes Total Slider?
Total Slider is developed and maintained by Van Patten Media.
What are the best alternatives to Total Slider?
The most popular alternatives to Total Slider are Image Rotation Repair (7K+ installs), Post Rotation (300+ installs) and Cube 3D Slider (100+ installs).
Powered by PageForge
Want thousands of pages that rank like these? Build them in an afternoon.
This directory runs on the same engine as PageForge. Turn any spreadsheet, CSV or API into thousands of fast, SEO-ready WordPress pages — with schema, internal links and AI-written copy baked in.
- CSV, Google Sheets & API data sources
- AI content, schema & internal links per page
- Works with Elementor, Gutenberg, Yoast & Rank Math
- Free on WordPress.org — no credit card
