Silver plating provides the highest electrical conductivity of all metals. However, it is not a precious metal and will oxidize quickly. For less demanding applications in electronics, silver is often used as an alternative for gold. Although silver is a better conductor than gold it does oxidize and so gold is better for contacts. However, variable capacitors are considered of the highest quality when they have silver-plated plates. In this application, there is no make and break contact so gold would not offer any advantage over the silver.

Silver plating is best used for engineering purposes for solderable surfaces. Advantages include electrical contact characteristics, high electrical and thermal conductivity, thermocompression bonding, wear resistance of load-bearing surfaces, utility in spectral reflectivity electrical applications, good corrosion resistance and good solderability.