As website owners, you and I know how crucial visuals are in capturing and keeping our visitors’ attention.
Whether you’re showcasing your photography portfolio, displaying product images for your online store, or just want to spice up your blog posts, a well-designed image gallery can make all the difference.
In the past, I’ve created basic galleries that didn’t really do much for my site. But over the years, I’ve discovered powerful gallery tools that are designed to actually boost engagement and clicks.
These galleries can be set up for images, videos, testimonials, and so much more.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through the best WordPress image gallery plugins available I’ve used as well as tested and liked.
I’ve considered factors like ease of use, customization options, loading speed, and compatibility with various themes and page builders.
Let’s dive in and find the perfect image gallery plugin for your WordPress site.
What to Look For in a WordPress Gallery Plugin
Before you start looking for gallery plugins, consider factors like the types of galleries you want to create, the layout and design preferences, any specific features you need. For instance, you may want to showcase your images in lightboxes or slideshows. You may also want social media sharing options.
Keep all of that in mind as you choose your gallery plugin. Aside from that, here are the essential features that you’ll definitely want your plugin to have:
- Ease of Use: Choose a plugin with an intuitive and user-friendly interface. You don’t want to spend too much time figuring out how to create and manage galleries. Some plugins offer drag-and-drop builders, which can be very convenient.
- Gallery Types and Layouts: Different plugins offer various gallery types and layouts. Look for a plugin that provides the gallery style you prefer, whether it’s a custom grid, masonry, slider, carousel, or lightbox display.
- Features and Customization: A few helpful features include image watermarking, image sorting, image and album management, and image protection. The ability to customize the gallery’s appearance and behavior is crucial.
- Performance and Speed: Ensure that the plugin doesn’t slow down your website so that your users have the best experience. Look for features like lazy loading and image optimization.
- Mobile Responsiveness: With the increasing use of mobile devices, make sure the plugin is mobile responsive and offers a good viewing experience on smartphones and tablets.
- SEO Friendliness: Some gallery plugins are more SEO-friendly than others. Look for features that allow you to add alt text, captions, and descriptions to your images, which can improve your site’s search engine rankings.
From my own experience, with any plugin, always make sure it has good customer support and documentation. It’s essential to have a reliable source for help if you come across any issues or need guidance.
While selecting the plugins in this list, I kept the above factors in mind. Let’s take a look at the best gallery plugins for your site.
Best WordPress Image Gallery Plugins
1. Envira Gallery
Envira Gallery is the #1 WordPress gallery plugin. I absolutely loved what it had to offer including its features and interface.
The plugin lets you create various gallery types, including grid, masonry, justified, carousel, and slideshow layouts. You can display both standalone galleries and albums that contain multiple galleries.
It is optimized for performance with features like lazy loading to help improve page load times.
You’ll get all the essential features you need such as a drag-and-drop builder, making it easy to create and organize image galleries without any coding knowledge.
It also includes responsive lightbox galleries with features like image captions, social media sharing, and keyboard navigation for an enhanced viewing experience. You can also add titles, captions, and descriptions to your images, which is beneficial for SEO and user engagement.
Now that’s not all. Envira is packed with advanced features to organize, protect, and optimize your images.
You can enable right-click protection and image watermarking to protect your images from unauthorized use.
Importing and exporting galleries and their settings is supported, which can be useful if you’re moving your site or setting up galleries on multiple sites.
You can check out gallery demos on their website. You can even request for special demos if needed.
Need more features? Envira has many add-ons and extensions for advanced functionality, such as video galleries, social sharing, WooCommerce integration, and more.
Highlights
- Easy to set up and use
- Multiple gallery plugins
- Auto image compression
- Mobile responsive galleries
- Image sorting and reordering
- Import/export galleries
- EXIF data display
- Custom CSS and styles
- Supports YouTube, Vimeo, and Wistia videos
- Excellent support and documentation
Envira Gallery is available in both free and premium versions. The free version can be installed from the WordPress.org plugin repository. The pro version offers additional features and support options.
Get started with Envira Gallery »
2. NextGEN Gallery
NextGEN Gallery is another popular and feature-rich WordPress image gallery plugin. It lets you create custom gallery types including standard thumbnail galleries, slideshows, image browsers, and more.
Similar to Envira, NextGEN covers all the basics including lightbox displays, watermarking, metadata, and SEO optimization.
Where NextGEN shines is monetizing your images. It comes with eCommerce extensions and payment gateway integrations.
Added to this, NextGEN Pro has a print fulfillment extension. You can take orders and ship prints direct to customers with industry-leading professional print labs.
Highlights
- Premade theme designs
- Auto tax calculation
- Stripe and PayPal payment gateway
- Photo proofing process
- Powerful with dozens of Pro gallery extensions
- Lightroom integration
- Image backups
- Free and paid digital downloads
This photo gallery plugin has an annual plan as well as a lifetime plan. Both come with a 14-day 100% no-risk money back guarantee.
Get started with NextGEN Gallery »
3. Soliloquy Slider
Soliloquy Slider is the most powerful and user-friendly WordPress slider plugin.
You get pre-built templates to customize your WordPress slider. So you can create beautiful image and video sliders with just a few clicks.
To give the user a better experience, you can display your slideshow in a fullscreen lightbox mode.
Want to monetize your photos or products in the slider? Then you can integrate with the WooCommerce plugin.
The great thing about Soliloquy is that you aren’t limited to photos. You can create dynamic sliders from Featured blog posts, Instagram images, Testimonials, and more.
Soliloquy lets you create thumbnails, carousels, video sliders and social media sliders. You can even add cool transition effects to elevate this section on your site.
Highlights
- Easy to use interface
- Image download protection
- Scheduled sliders
- Supports CSS
- PDF sliders
- Social media integration
Get started with Soliloquy Slider »
4. FooGallery
FooGallery is a WordPress image gallery plugin known for its simplicity and ease of use.
You get a library of customizable templates, allowing you to control the layout and appearance of your beautiful galleries to match your website’s design. You can even fine tune the small details such as the thumbnail size, change the borders, add loading icons, hover effects, and more.
Highlights
- Drag and drop builder
- Customizable gallery templates
- Frontend gallery filters for users
- Focus speed and SEO
- Supports lazy loading
- Advanced filtering
5. Modula
Modula is a gallery plugin suitable for personal websites, portfolios, photography websites, and business sites.
It stands out from the rest for its automatic gallery layouts. You simply have to specify the gallery’s height, and their algorithm will intelligently arrange images within the given space. So you don’t have to spend time trying to customize your gallery.
Highlights
- Albums and sliders
- SpeedUP CDN for blazing fast images
- Password protection
- Right-click protection
- Blazing-fast CDN
The advanced plans come with user role management, EXIF, watermark, deeplink, and pagination.
6. Smash Balloon
Smash Balloon is a powerful social media feeds plugin. You can connect your WordPress site to social media profiles like Instagram and Facebook.
Then you can display your image feed directly from these profiles. You just have to set it up once and Smash Balloon will run automatically. It will look for new content and display it on your site for visitors to see.
You can filter by post type, hashtag, media type, and more.
You can also make your feed shoppable by adding links on your photos, so people can buy things. If someone wants to buy something, they can click the link and go to the product page.
With Smash Balloon, you can connect to multiple profiles and platforms to showcase a powerful feed of all your social media activity.
Highlights
- Set and forget configuration
- Customizable galleries
- Shoppable gallery
- Optimized for speed
- GDPR compliant
- Connect to Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter
Get started with Smash Balloon »
7. Photo Gallery by 10Web
Photo Gallery by 10Web is a free gallery plugin for WordPress. You can make standard grid galleries, masonry gallery, thumbnails, mosaic, and slideshow galleries.
You can create unlimited galleries and you get full control over the style and display of your images. Plus, it helps you organize your images making it easier for users to navigate.
When you install this plugin, you get 2 default themes. This lets you add custom styling, colors, layout settings, and image navigation options.
For better reach, you can let users share photos on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr with social sharing buttons.
Highlights
- Customizable gallery views
- Unlimited photo galleries and albums
- Responsive lightbox
- Audio and video support
- Watermarking and download protection
- Social sharing
This free plugin is best for small websites, bloggers, and individuals.
Get started with Photo Gallery by 10Web »
That’s our list of the best gallery plugins for WordPress. Our #1 pick is Envira Gallery. It has everything you need to make a stunning gallery that’s served to users at lightning-fast speeds. It’s beginner-friendly and has tons of customization options.
If you’re looking to monetize your gallery, then NextGEN is a great choice.
FAQs on the Best WordPress Gallery Plugin
What is the best WordPress photo gallery plugins?
Envira and NextGEN Gallery are the best WordPress gallery plugins.
Is Envira Gallery plugin free?
Yes, Envira Gallery offers a free version on WordPress org. They have a premium version as well that gives you access to advanced features.
Which are the best freemium gallery plugins for WordPress?
Almost all WordPress gallery plugins use a freemium model where the basic features are free and you can upgrade to a pro plan for advanced features. Our top picks are Envira Gallery, NextGEN, and Soliloquy plugins.
How do I manage media in WordPress gallery plugins?
Most gallery plugins seamlessly integrate with the WordPress media library. You can easily upload, organize, and select media from the media library when creating galleries.
Can I use WordPress gallery plugins with popular page builders?
Yes, many gallery plugins are compatible with popular page builders like Elementor, SeedProd, Divi, and Beaver Builder, ensuring a smooth integration with your website design.
Will my WordPress theme and gallery plugin be compatible?
Before choosing a gallery plugin, you need to make sure it’s compatible with any WordPress themes you’re using. Always check the plugin documentation and reviews or connect to the support team to ensure a smooth integration.
Are there other WordPress gallery plugins?
Yes, there are plugins like Gmedia, JetPack, and Supsystic. I’ve listed just the ones I think offer the best features like the gallery builder, compatibility with themes and other plugins, gallery management, image resizing, readymade widgets and Gutenberg blocks, shortcode support, and more. I also tried and tested these plugins to ensure they offer a great user experience, along with speed and performance.
Which plugin offers polaroid-type galleries?
FooGallery Pro lets you create Polaroid galleries from your media library.
When you add galleries to your site, it can potentially slow down your website. Make sure you’re using a reliable web hosting provider like Bluehost or Hostinger.
Also, make sure your website is always secure with a WordPress security plugin and a valid SSL certificate installed on your site.
I hope you found the right gallery plugin for your WordPress website. Next, you’ll also want to read our Ultimate Guide: 40+ Top WordPress Plugins You Need.