Top 10 Best WordPress Preloader Plugins
According to Google’s John Mueller, you should target a site loading speed of around 2-3 seconds. But even then, you might see a bounce rate of around 6-11%. Now, WordPress users can minimize this number by setting up a WordPress loading screen to engage your audience while your site loads. And to help you do this, we have put together a list of the top 10 best WordPress Preloader plugins in 2021.
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For those of you who don’t know, a preloader is what you see on the screen while a webpage gets loaded. This can be anything from a small animation to a full-screen image. What is right for you depends on your website and its content.
As such, we have put together a diverse list of preloader WordPress plugins that allows you to add a pure CSS-based preloader element or a full-blown image or GIF as your WordPress loading screen. We also made sure to include a good mix of free and paid plugins, so there’s something for everybody.
So without further ado, let’s get started:
WordPress Preloader Plugins
#1. LoftLoader
Loftloader is a simple yet powerful WordPress preloader plugin designed to help you add beautifully animated preloaders to your website. It’s available in both free and paid versions.
As you might imagine, the free version gives you access to the basic functionalities, whereas the more advanced tools are made available in the premium version – LoftLoader Pro, which will cost you $26 for a lifetime license.
But with that being said, it’s worth considering that its free version has over 40,000+ active installations making it the most popular preloader WordPress plugin. If you don’t have many fancy requirements, then going with the free version should suffice.
Here’s a more detailed look at the key features of LoftLoader to give you an idea of what it has to offer.
Key Features:
- The Pro version has 19 types of preloader animations, with 6 of them supporting custom images. The free version has 7 types of preloader animations with 2 supporting custom images.
- All animations are based on pure CSS3 and supported by all modern browsers.
- Add different preloader animations to different pages on your site.
- Use a progress bar or percentage counter as the preloader. (Pro)
- Option to enable/disable preloader for specific posts and pages. (Pro)
- Animations can be set to loop until the page loads or just runs once. (Pro)
- Enter a custom welcome or loading message for your readers. (Pro)
- Disable page scrolling while loading. (Pro)
- Extremely fast and lightweight. Built using SASS. CSS & JS minified.
#2. Preloader Plus
The Preloader Plus – WordPress Loading Screen plugin is a feature-packed preloader plugin that’s also completely free to use. Unlike LoftLoader, it doesn’t come with that many pre-designed animations, but it lets you create your own preloader animations using custom images.
The plugin comes with many of the basic tools you will need to create an engaging preloader animation for your readers. This free plugin also lets you set a progress bar or percentage counter as the preloader – features exclusive to the premium version of LoftLoader.
Key Features:
- Show preloader animation only on the first visit.
- Show preloader animation for all pages or just for the front/home page.
- Access to 6 different animated icons.
- Add custom images for the preloader. Supported formats include – jpg, png, gif, svg.
- Set animation for the preloader image. Control animation speed, opacity, direction, distance, scaling, duration, and delay.
- Set a progress bar or percentage counter to show the current site loading state.
- Supports custom HTML and Shortcodes.
#3. Preloader
Like its simple and straightforward name, Preloader is a simple plugin for adding a WordPress loading screen.
It doesn’t overwhelm you with too many features or options. You will get access to 10 preloader options that you can choose to enable for the entire website or to only your posts/pages. The plugin also lets you choose a custom background color on top of which the preloader animation will take place.
Now going by its simple and minimal feature set, you might have already guessed that the plugin is free to use. It’s also extremely popular with over 20,000 active installations, so you can bet that it’s great at what it claims to do.
Key Features:
- Comes with 10 options to display preloaders.
- Option to display preloader over the entire website, or on just posts/pages, etc.
- Add a custom background color.
- Retina-ready preloader animations.
- WooCommerce support.
- Based on JQuery and CSS3.
#4. WP Smart Preloader
WP Smart Preloader is another free WordPress loading screen plugin that uses CSS spinners and throbbers to create preloader animations on your website. It’s super fast and lightweight, made using just CSS and very minimal HTML markup.
However, despite its extremely minimal footprint, the plugin does provide you with many of the necessary features to customize the preloader and make it blend in with your site’s design and aesthetics.
It also gives you the option to add your own custom animation and also adds custom CSS to change the look and feel of the preloader animation.
Key Features:
- Comes with a bunch of CSS-based preloaders. No Gifs or images that can add extra unnecessary bulk.
- You can add your own custom CSS-based preloader as well.
- Add custom CSS to change the look and feel of the preloader.
- Option to show preloader on only the homepage, or on the entire website.
- Control the duration of the preloader.
- Enable the preloader to fade out and show the webpage when loading is complete. Option to control fade-out delay.
#5. Flat Preloader
If your website uses a flat design language, you can use the Flat Preloader plugin to add a flat WordPress loading screen and create a coherent user experience.
The plugin comes with over 25 preloader options based on the flat design language that looks clean, minimal, and modern. It even gives you the option to add an emoji as a preloader if you want.
Other than this, there’s an option to add a custom text to appear with the preloader. You can also set a delay time for the preloader to fade out and show the loaded webpage.
And the best part? All these options are available completely for free!
Key Features:
- Tons of preloader options based on the flat design style.
- Option to add emojis as a preloader.
- Show preloader on the homepage only or on the entire website.
- Set custom text to appear under the preloader.
- Set a delay time for the preloader to fade out into the fully-loaded webpage.
#6. Maz Loader – Preloader Builder for WordPress
Maz Loader is a preloader builder plugin for WordPress that will let you create a custom preloader for your website. The plugin gives you access to tons of fields that you can use together with animations and transition effects to create unique preloaders and engage your users till your site gets loaded.
Now similar to LoftLoader, this is also a freemium WordPress preloader plugin, meaning the base plugin is available for free, but you can access more features by going with the paid version.
Here, we have put together a quick look at some of the key features available with the free version as well as the paid version of the plugin. This should help you decide which one best fits your needs.
Key Features:
- Uses fields to populate the preloader content. The Free version supports the text field, image field, and icon field. The Pro version supports the progress bar field, percentage field, Lottie field, and custom HTML field.
- Fields can be customized with a variety of settings and options. Animations and Transition effects are only available with the Pro version.
- Option to customize the preloader background with custom colors, patterns, or a background image.
- Add custom CSS or JS code to control preloader behavior. (Pro)
- Publish settings gives you granular control over where you want the preloader to appear – just the homepage, the entire website, only posts, only pages, only on specific categories, tags, custom post types, and so on. (Pro)
#7. Best Preloader
Is the Best Preloader really the best WordPress Preloader plugin? Well, it’s definitely one of them, thanks to its accessible and intuitive feature set!
The plugin is free, easy to use, and gives you all the basic features necessary for setting up a preloader WordPress loading screen. By default, it comes with a simple GIF preloader image. However, you can also add your own custom image, tweak its size, and create your own preloader.
Key Features:
- Comes with a basic preloader GIF out of the box.
- Option to use a custom image as the preloader. Tweak the size of the uploaded preloader image.
- Tweak the preloader background color using a color picker.
- Show preloader on the full website or just on the homepage.
- Set a delay time for the preloader to appear on the screen.
#8. PageLoader
PageLoader is a premium WordPress loading screen and progress bar plugin. Unlike the other plugins on the list, this one doesn’t have a free version. But it does give you access to a whole host of awesome features allowing you to turn your loading screen into a full-blown branding tool.
To get you started, the plugin features 10 awesome-looking preloader icons. You can customize its position, animation speed, size, color, blur effect, and the likes. But if you don’t like it, you can also add your own custom loading image with the option to add animation effects.
Other than this, the plugin gives you tons of options to add and manipulate a loading screen background, progress bar, loading messages, post-load animations, and much more.
Key Features:
- Comes with 10 professionally designed animated preloader icons.
- Set preloader icon position, animation speed, size, color, blur & fade effects.
- Use a custom image as a loading screen. Add pulsating animation over the custom image.
- Add and customize a loading screen background with fade or slide animations, different color options, and transparency effects.
- Add a progress bar to show site loading status.
- Add a loading page to keep the user entertained while the site gets loaded.
- Give users a close function in case a webpage fails to load.
- Set a loading animation for the preloader to transition into the loaded webpage.
- Display the preloader on your entire website or specific posts/pages, or just on specific devices like phones & tablets.
- Extremely lightweight and resource-efficient.
#9. Ultimate WordPress Preloader
Download Ultimate WordPress Preloader
With the Ultimate WordPress Preloader plugin, you get access to 53 pure CSS3 (no images) animated preloader styles along with 29 animated GIF preloaders. If you are looking for tons of different preloader options, then this premium plugin is your best bet.
It’s also highly customizable, giving you the option to play around with the preloader element size, element color, and even the background color for the preloader loading screen. There’s even the option to upload your custom GIF preloader and then tweak it around with the plugin tools. Cool right?
Key Features:
- Access to 53 CSS3 coded animated preloaders. No images used. This is excellent if you are seeking fast performance.
- 29 animated GIF preloader styles. These are image-based and useful if you want a more fun WordPress loading screen.
- Option to add your GIF preloader image.
- 7 different sizes for all preloader elements.
- Option to tweak the color of all preloader elements using the inbuilt color picker.
- Option to tweak the color of the loading screen background using the inbuilt color picker.
#10. WordPress Preloader Unlimited
Download WordPress Preloader Unlimited
And saving the best for last, we have the WordPress Preloader Unlimited. This is by far one of the most featureful WordPress loading screens out there. And even though it’s a premium plugin, it’s quite affordable at just $17.
So what do you get in exchange for that money?
To start off, you get access to a large library of over 50 GIF-based preloader animations. On top of that, you have another 50+ pure CSS3 preloader animations, and these are extremely cool-looking and professionally designed.
But that’s not all! You can set any text or image as a fill animation to take up the entire screen as the webpage loads. There’s even support for 2D/3D style lettering to make your WordPress loading screen animations funkier.
And once you factor in the plugin’s powerful customization options, you will see that you can create just about any kind of loading screen you can think of.
So if you want to create a unique and fun preloading or loading screen to entertain and engage your audience, then WordPress Preloader Unlimited is one of the best plugins for the job!
Key Features:
- Over 50 GIF preloader animations.
- Over 50 pure CSS3 preloader animations.
- Option to upload and use your own custom image as a preloader.
- Add any image or text as a custom loading screen.
- Use 2D/3D style text to make loading screen text more entertaining.
- Powerful customization options let you control almost every aspect of every preloader element.
- Enable/disable preloader for the entire website, for specific posts/pages, or on specific devices like phones & tablets.
Wrapping Up – Top 10 WordPress Preloader Plugins
So this was our list of the top 10 best WordPress preloader plugins in 2021. We hope you found this list useful and that it helped you in finding the tool to set up your WordPress loading screen.
However, if you are still not sure as to which preloader WordPress plugin to choose, then you can follow this guideline.
If you are looking for strong balance of options and affordability, LoftLoader is a great option.
For users looking for the absolute best with access to tons of preloader animations, powerful customization options, and don’t mind shelling out some cash, then WordPress Preloader Unlimited is the best option. But in case you are looking for all that power but for free, then Flat Preloader and Preloader Plus are good options as well.
But that’s just our opinion. You tell us which WordPress Preloader plugin you find the best. And if it’s not included in the list, mention it in the comments.
