Slide or Swing on a Narrow Lot
Narrow lots decide this question for you more often than preference does. The site test applied at Mount Pleasant Sliding Gates Narcoculture is a tape measure rather than a catalogue, because sliding leaves need side room that many Mount Pleasant properties simply do not have, and a swing pair needs arc clearance that others do not have either.
Measure the Side Room First
A ground supported slider needs roughly the width of the opening in clear parking room alongside, and a cantilever needs about one and a half times it. Walk that distance from the gate post along the fence line and see what is there. A shed, a bay window, a mature tree or a neighbour boundary ends the discussion immediately.
Then Measure the Arc
A swing pair needs the ground within its arc to be clear and level enough to keep clearance under the leaves through the whole sweep. A driveway that rises, a kerb inside the line, a downpipe or a bollard all interfere. Swinging outward over a public sidewalk is generally not permitted, so the arc usually has to go inward.
What Slope Does to Each
Ground that rises away from the opening is the classic reason to choose a slider, since a swing gate loses its clearance quickly. Ground that falls along the fence line is the classic reason not to, since the track becomes a drain. The slope direction matters more than the amount.
Cost and Hardware
A swing pair uses simpler hardware and two smaller leaves, and it is normally the cheaper installation. A slider is one leaf with more sophisticated support, and a cantilever adds heavy posts and deep footings. Automation costs are broadly similar, though a slide operator is easier to protect from weather than two swing arms.
The Honest Conclusion
Most narrow sites permit exactly one of the two, and the measurements say which. Where both are genuinely possible, a swing pair is cheaper and a slider needs less clearance and copes better with a rising approach, and that trade is the whole decision. Take the measurements before any quote is requested, because a fabricator quoting from a photograph will assume whichever configuration is easier to build, and the assumption only surfaces when the posts are being set.