55 Preloader Examples for a Seamless User Experience

Preloaders (loading animations) can help improve the overall user experience (UX) on a website or web page, as leveraging these loading animations makes wait times feel less annoying for the users. Check the preloader examples we've compiled in our list, which show you all the ways you can entertain and engage users in places where user interaction is typically met with a loading process.

The examples include SVG Loaders, CSS Loaders, CSS Spinners, Progress Bars, 3D Page Loaders, Page Loading Animations, and our Designer’s Pick: Splash Full-Screen Animations. Loading animations can help you offset UX obstacles like frustrating processing times, low user patience thresholds, or long wait times.

Designing preloaders that incorporate your brand’s colors or features of your product can turn every loader into a nifty branding asset. Sprinkle a touch of humor on top and aim for a seamless loop to make the most of this UI element. Its sole purpose is to grab and hold attention for this long 🤏!

Table of contents:

• SVG Loader Examples
• CSS Loader Examples
• CSS Spinner Examples
• Progress Bar Examples
• 3D Page Loader Examples
• Page Loading Animation Examples
• Designer’s Pick: Splash Full-Screen Animation Examples

What Is a Preloader?

A preloader, or loading animations as they're also named, is primarily an interface element that users see on screen when a web page is loading, or anytime the server is processing a request that involves a discernible waiting time.

A preloader’s job is to buy you those few extra seconds of patience from an easily distracted user base as they are actively interacting with your website or web page. Even a simple CSS loader can keep the momentum going in the customer’s decision-making process, preventing them from leaving the page!

Check them all out! 👀

SVG Loader Examples

The advantage of SVG preloaders lies in their minuscule file size, which is crucial for optimal loading performance. Heavier UI elements could in fact slow down your page loading speeds, and that’s the last thing we’d want when trying to prevent user frustration. Besides that, SVG loading animations can also be easily customized to fit any brand’s style and tone of voice.

Here’s a “mixed bag” of some of our favorite examples:

1. Generative AI

AI generators are giving loaders an entire new suite of use cases. The lengthy wait times that come with generative AI are an inconvenience that the average user simply isn’t accustomed to, nowadays. Of course, the mind-boggling output of AI tools, like Midjourney, are worth the wait, but even cutting-edge technology is subject to established user expectations.

Generating results in most AI tools takes a long time, compared to all the lighting-fast processes that take place as a user navigates the web/an app. To conceal this disruption, and to prevent frustrating users, your preloaders have to be enjoyable to watch, and have that allure about them that makes it hard to look away from the screen. To show you exactly what we mean, we’ve created this example from scratch with SVGator!

2. Rearranging Lego Bricks

The three reshuffling Lego bricks show just how easily you can use the same theme without limiting yourself to a single design. You can also create multiple versions of the same preloaders to differentiate between the UX on your website vs your mobile app.

Made using only the Rotate and Position animators!

3. Self-Assembling Burger

Deliciousness in the making 🍔 featuring a yummy-looking loading animation that has a burger’s layers self-assemble on a loop. This is a creative preloader that can make the wait time seem shorter when ordering takeout or delivery!

4. Heart Monitor

The rhythm line and the pulsating heartbeat effect make it hard to look away. This health-themed SVG loader is designed using the scale animator and basic stroke offset animation. Ideal for healthline websites or health insurance form pages!

5. Checkmark Shield

A great loader choice for a digital security scanner or a business that offers cyber security services! This design can be easily customized to serve branding purposes as well. Just color-match to your own brand colors and/or substitute the company’s iconmark logo for the shield.

6. Anthropomorphic Characters

These adorable characters are serotonin boosters! Who could be frustrated when met with this happy-go-lucky bunch? Anyone can spare a few seconds to hang out with them. Made with only the most basic of shapes and friendly human features.

7. Halloween Loading Animation

Spooky vibes can be a way of life for the right brand, and not just a Halloween season gimmick. Costume e-shops, creepy prop stores, haunted house attractions, and even mobile app games can take the route of an eerily-entertaining SVG loading animation.

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8. Recycle Spinner

A recycling-themed spinner that not only indicates that the system is processing a request, but that also portrays the life cycle of recyclable materials. A very on-brand pick for any business that caters to an eco-conscious audience.

9. Valentine's Day Loader

Curious concept combinations make the best attention hooks! Buy yourself a few moments of patience with a preloader that looks like a pencil’s journey in writing a never-ending love story. This would make a great choice for an online dating platform, or even as a temporary Valentine’s Day themed UI Easter egg for any brand.

10. Cat Spinner

Cats and the internet are an unofficial match made in heaven, and it’s been that way since the dawn of the world wide web! If your brand guidelines allow for it, a cat loading animation (of any kind!) is sure to lighten up the mood and add a playful undertone to your website’s UX.

11. Newton's Cradle Galaxy

Ever spend a bit too long staring at a Newton’s cradle desk toy? You’re not alone. They are marketed as adult stress-relief toys, after all. For that exact reason, with this loading animation we’re aiming for the same effect as a cradle: conservation of momentum, aka the user, staying on page even with a brief processing delay.

12. Shuffle Loader

The bounce, the shuffle, the smooth loop! It’s safe to say that this is a playfully creative take on the classic three-dot loader. It’s a perfect example of how even the most basic UI elements can be taken to the next level with a bit of SVG wizardry.

CSS Loader Examples

CSS loading animations are the epitome of speed and simplicity. They also, more often than not, have a tiny file size that will make any developer happy.

Here are a few crafty preloader examples you can recreate with CSS-only:

13. Stroke-Path Loaders

Stroke animations make for great CSS-only preloaders! To achieve this effect, SVGator simplifies the use of “stroke-dasharray” and “stroke-dashoffset” CSS properties. You can easily manipulate these properties without writing code by using the Stroke offset and Stroke dasharray animators in our tool’s interface. SVG path animation is child’s play when you’re using a no-code tool. Not the same can be said about coding these loader examples from scratch!

14. Ping-Pong Loader

Created using only basic animators, this CSS loader is ideal for any website that features sports-related content, from sports news websites to fitness routine planning apps. This ping-pong paddle is doing its warm-up thanks to the Position and Rotate animators.

15. Bike on a 360° Loop

Trying to make shopping for cycling accessories or spare parts in a bike shop or sporting goods store a breeze? Get a daredevil biker doing a loop-the-loop stunt to keep cycling enthusiasts engaged all the way to a successful purchase. Less chance of having shoppers back-pedal off page!

16. Fingerprint Scan

This digital fingerprint scanner is animated using rotation and self-drawing lines. It takes a bit to find just the right easing settings for the scanning effect, but this CSS loading animation makes for an ingenious preloader on any authentication page.

17. Icon Shuffle

Having progress percentages on display creates the illusion of faster processing. We love this example because the clever icon shuffle concept is so easy to customize! You just need to use iconography that makes sense for your own website. Try using any type of icon animations that essentially reiterate everything your brand has to offer.

18. Atom in Motion

This entrancing website loader uses a few animators to put the electron orbits in motion. The nucleus rotates back and forth, while the orbiting electrons are animated using stroke offset animation. Great for an eLearning platform or any edu-tech app!

19. Moving Car

A travel-themed preloader that would be a great fit for a route-planning service or a digital road trip planner! The car doesn’t actually move along a path, but instead the sequence of lines moves in the opposite direction. The bounce in the car’s body creates the illusion that the car is driving along a track.

20. WLAN Search Eye

A tech-savvy cyclops scanning the horizon in search of a strong connection should provide just enough distraction for one wait-time that all users dread. The WiFi search can feel like an eternity for most users.

CSS Spinner Examples

CSS Spinners come in all shapes and sizes, and we encourage designers to step out of the simple-circle blueprint and experiment with creating designs that are more complex and more likely to draw attention.

Here are some of the CSS Spinners we wouldn’t mind watching on a loop while waiting:

21. Lettermark

The multipurpose nature of a lettermark logo is one reason why we love them! You can turn it into a self-drawing loading animation and play around with clipping paths and stroke offsets to create the illusion of lights and shadows for a subtly hypnotic effect.

22. Neumorphic Spinner

Preloaders created following trending styles are perfect low-commitment updates for your website’s interface. No need for a full-fledged redesign if you’re only experimenting with the design world’s flavor-of-the-month. For example, this soft-UI element has all the traits of the trending neumorphism style and uses gradients. The spinning effect is easy to nail by just making the ball rotate around a centered anchor point and around its own axis, in opposite directions

23. Iris Blades

Say cheese! You can animate the blades of a camera shutter with just the Position and Rotation animators. A simple yet snappy example meant for a digital photo storage service or an app for booking photoshoot sessions.

24. WiFi Network Search

Another great example of a loading animation that’s sure to take the edge off when the system’s searching for a WiFi network! The bouncy easing on the self-drawing effect is a playful touch and makes it easy to achieve the seamless loop we want in a spinner.

25. Spiral Preloader

The quicker the spinner spins, the faster the request is getting processed, right? That might not always be the case, but that’s the impression we’re trying to create. A spiral spinner is perfect for fast looping!

26. Simple Spinners with Varying Speeds

Friendly reminder: you can put a spin on even the most basic CSS spinners. What they may lack in complexity, they make up for in versatility! There’s a good reason why we’re still talking about simple-circle loaders in the era of complex motion graphics. They’re easily customizable and a safe choice when you’re designing for an MVP (minimum viable product).

Progress Bar Examples

Custom animated progress bars are excellent blank canvases for you to show your user base a sneak peek into how processing looks behind the scenes.

Here are a few examples of progress bars that you can draw inspiration from, and come up with your own dazzling designs:

27. Peridot App Loader

Peridot, an AR real-world pet game, stays true to the whimsical nature of the app’s concept for their loader. The result is both cute and skillful! Adding a bit of the game’s lingo into the mix only reinforces the idea that users are part of an exclusive community, which makes this preloader an all-around UX win.

28. Bottling Line

Cheers! A loading animation that moves like a genuine bottling line is sure to quench the thirst for a cold one for a few extra seconds. An on-brand preloader for a website selling home brewing kits or a wholesale drink supplier’s online store!

29. Rolling Ball

You could say that this is a less-than-conventional progress bar animation, since it eliminates the need for accurate progress indication. Just roll with it, and your requests will be fulfilled in no time! Good choice for companies that err on the side of whimsy with their branding.

30. Vertical Progress Bar

Cloud rendering/storage services have the perfect value proposition to warrant a vertical progress bar. Showing the exact process that’s taking place while the user waits is one of the easiest ways to come up with a unique concept for this UI animation.

31. Piano Musical Notes

You know the output is going to be spectacular when musical notes are already jamming with a bounce on the progress bar! Just like a mini-concert, this lively loading animation has major potential to keep visitors engaged, even if it’s just in anticipation of the tunes still to come.

32. Flipping Coins

Just look at that stash of coins growing! What more motivation for a bit of extra patience would one need other than seeing their savings balance go up? UX aside, UI animations like these can also add a layer of gamification to an otherwise dull part of adulthood like money management.

3D Page Loader Examples

Whether you’re a 3D designer or you simply like working with faux-3D to challenge yourself, page loading animations should be on your radar! They’re sleek and modern-looking and have lots of potential to grab attention.

Here are a few 3D preloaders we like:

33. Tilting House

Here’s a good example of how less is sometimes just enough. This fake 3D loading animation uses just a house icon and morphing shapes for the left-to-right movement. Fitting for a home rental agency’s website or a real estate broker’s page.

34. Location Pin

A location pin icon created with a bright color palette to match the excitement of looking for new places to visit! Add it to any website that offers driving directions, traveler’s navigation tips, or one that makes business recommendations based on location.

35. Circle Stack Loop

Inspired by Microsoft’s Fluent design system, this rapid-fire 3D loader is somewhat hypnotic, and all the way cool. The flawless loop and the satisfying perfect fit is something straight out of the r/thingsfittinginthings subreddit. A delight!

36. 3D Logo Loader

We’ve explored in depth the benefits of logo animation, and the option to repurpose your logo icon as a UI element to reinforce brand recognition has to be one of the most applicable perks. Having your animated 3D logo also be a preloader is a great move for consistent branding design as well.

37. 3D Cube Loader With Pure CSS

CSS is really like a magic wand if you’re willing to think outside the box (or cube, in this case). This 3D loader looks like it’s breaking the laws of physics, and it provides just enough distraction to get your users past the small hump in the road to customer success.

38. Surface Tension UI

It’s easy to tell that this is not your everyday page preloader. The artist behind this peculiar UI design exploration also dabbles in AR/VR design, which explains the hyperrealistic approach to this loading animation. Entrancing, to say the least!

39. Perpetuum Mobile

Like the Newton’s cradle preloader example, a 3D perpetuum mobile can keep the momentum behind the user’s decisional process going. Designed for the Commercial Bank of Dubai’s app, this whimsical UI element is sure to lighten up the mood around processing sensitive data like financial information.

Page Loading Animation Examples

The benefits of having a lengthier and more intricate loading animation can outweigh the advantages of an ultra-lightweight loader, in some cases. If the processing time is inevitably going to be sizable, it’s smart to bring out the big guns and aim to entertain.

Here are our top picks of page loading animations for mega entertainment value:

40. ZeroCater Logo Preloader

A clever animated logo-turned-preloader that’s a great fit for a food delivery website! The awesome transitions in this animation put the user right in the chef’s kitchen.

41. Dribbble Preloader

An animated progress doughnut chart featuring Dribbble’s iconic basketball logo makes for a fantastic loading animation. The whimsy easing and anti-gravity design style are fantastic finishing touches!

42. Car Drifting

Break the mold on classic loading spinners! Appealing to car and racing enthusiasts, this spinner would be a good match for a website that sells car parts or tickets to motorsport competitions.

43. Rainbow Paint Roller

Waiting for a page to load shouldn’t be as boring as watching paint dry, right? But you can sure use a rainbow color palette and some creative motion vector graphics to hold users on page longer. A great fit for an arts and crafts supply eShop or a library of digital painting classes!

44. Paw Prints

These disappearing paw prints are sure to make any pet lover go, “Aww!” Perfect for a dog walking business or a pet groomer’s appointment scheduling page! No one’s walking away from this level of cuteness in UI design.

45. Cheesy Pizza Slices

Cheesy pizza anyone? Each pizza slice moves clockwise to fill in the next empty slot, mimicking an analog clock. A great design for a pizza restaurant’s menu page!

46. Witty List Scroll

By sliding the phrases upward, much like a user would when scrolling, this loading animation pulls off wittiness and good humor with ease. An awesome preloader for a brand that doesn’t mind acknowledging the awkwardness of a lengthy wait time!

47. Email Character

This is a clever page loader that’s sure to make most wait times feel imperceptible. Character-themed preloaders tend to be fantastic attention-grabbers. Animate a brand’s mascot to boost brand recognition at the same time!

48. Tally Marks

Keep a tally of every second going by! Processing wait times better not be long enough to have users drawing tally marks on a wall 😮 . A loading animation like this shows that you at least commiserate with the user during a less pleasant part of the customer journey.

49. Waiting Finger-Tapping

Mirroring exactly what the user might be doing on the other side of the screen is a lighthearted way to own up to the inconvenience of the situation. Nothing like a bit of wit to defuse the tension!

50. Morphing Preloaders

Dark-mode preloaders and gradients are a great match! Pair that up with the versatility of animated vector icons and you’ve got yourself a fantastic blueprint for any kind of loading animation.

51. UberEats Loader

A mouth-watering page loader! Before anyone gets too hangry, this foodie-friendly UI element builds anticipation to the deliciousness that awaits. Designed for UberEats, this example is top-tier inspiration for food delivery or meal planning apps.

52. Cat Chase

Created for a pet health insurance service, this cat-tastic page loading animation has us rooting for the butterfly catch at the end. Truth be told, any design choice infused with a bit of cat-titude is an easy win!

53. MemeChat Messenger

Snazzy and cute, MemeChat’s mobile app preloader animation appeals to its user base with a hilarious choreographed dance on loop. The platform revolves around creating viral content, so wacky motion graphics are a given.

54. Design Into Code

We’re biased toward no-code solutions, so it’s easy to tell why this made our list of favorites! SVGator enables users to create stunning designs with no coding, and instead auto-generates the code for smooth dev handoff. Processing-time is a breeze compared to animating SVG from scratch!

55. Mortgage Service

Homeownership responsibilities are daunting enough as it is. A cheery page loading animation can help you create a friendly and inviting UX/UI design for businesses where making users feel more at ease is a priority.

Designer’s Pick: Splash Full-Screen Animation Examples

Here are a few splash screen animation examples created by SVGator’s team of designers:

Final Thoughts

Use this extensive collection of preloader examples as a creative catalyst. The UX benefits and the opportunities to boost brand recognition make this UI element truly indispensable.

Create your own page loading animation with SVGator, and share your work with the rest of the community! We’re on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Youtube, Pinterest, and Reddit.