The best WordPress photo gallery plugins compared

Many websites include a nice image gallery. These can be used to convey a general image of the company, to present pictures of products in a visually appealing way or to sell photos. When creating a WordPress website, you will come across countless potentially useful WordPress gallery plug-ins in your search for a suitable tool. So, how do they differ and which functions are important? In the following, we will provide you with a comparison of the best-known plug-ins for photo galleries in WordPress.

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Which functions should a WordPress gallery plug-in provide?

When searching for a suitable WordPress gallery plug-in, you should be clear on the functions you need. There are many different features available a good image gallery plug-in provides:

• Different formats: Image galleries are not all the same. The layout of a website will determine how well different formats work. Whether it be tiled, masonry style or mosaic galleries, a good WordPress gallery plug-in will give you multiple styles to choose from.
• Lightbox view: In WordPress photo galleries, images are displayed as small thumbnails, which vary depending on the layout. To give users a closer look at your images, you should have a lightbox view which opens to display the image in a large size when they click on it.
• Animations and effects: Animations and effects attract the user’s attention when scrolling over images.
• Optimization for mobile devices: The plug-in’s image gallery should be mobile friendly so that browsers can display the image gallery on all devices in an attractive and user-friendly format.
• Image optimization: If a gallery contains many images, this can increase the website’s load time. Using functions like “lazy loading” and image size optimization, the load time can be reduced.
• Individual customization: A good WordPress gallery plug-in will enable you to quickly and easily customize an image gallery to match your branding so that the image gallery can seamlessly fit into your website design.
• Image protection: Some gallery plug-ins provide functions that prevent others from copying and using your images. You should ensure that a similar function is available when choosing a plug-in (e.g. watermarking, disabling right-click).
• E-commerce links: E-commerce links enable you to quickly and easily sell images on your website.
• Drag-and-drop editor: The easiest way to organize images individually in a gallery is with an intuitive drag-and-drop editor.
• Image links: In terms of SEO and user experience design, deep links are important for guiding users to more detailed information about an image.

Note

Before publishing an image gallery, you should make sure you own the rights to the images. By doing so, you can avoid having legal action taken against you later for infringing on the rights of a third party.

Introduction to the four most popular WordPress gallery plug-ins

In addition to the functions listed above, many WordPress gallery plug-ins offer other useful features that may be of value depending on the use case. Before creating an image gallery, you should first compare and test the functions and usability of the plug-ins. We have already done this for you with four of the most popular WordPress extensions.

NextGEN Gallery

NextGEN Gallery is one of the most popular WordPress gallery plug-ins. / Source: https://wordpress.org/plugins/nextgen-gallery/

NextGEN Gallery is one of the most popular WordPress gallery plug-ins with over 800,000 active installations. Even with the free version, you can choose****between four gallery styles and two album styles, which can be extensively customized with the numerous options provided. The paid version offers additional styles for the gallery and an e-commerce function for photographers, watermarking or hotlink protection for images and many other useful features. You can choose from three different plans based on your needs.

Even the free version of NextGEN Gallery offers four different gallery styles to choose from.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Free version available

Relatively long load times

Many different styles for image galleries (e.g. slideshow, thumbnail, masonry, etc.)

A bit bloated due to the large number of functions

Supports retina displays

Does not support videos

Responsive image galleries

Drag-and-drop image sorting

E-commerce function for selling images

The paid version offers a wide range of functions, such as image protection, linking images to specific pages, a comment function, linking to social networks and much more

Lightbox in full-screen mode

Lightroom interface for quickly editing and publishing images

Envira Photo Gallery

Envira Photo Gallery is a lightweight WordPress gallery plug-in. / Source: https://wordpress.org/plugins/envira-gallery-lite/

Envira Photo Gallery is a lightweight WordPress gallery plug-in that contains all the important features. Using the free version, you can configure the general settings for the gallery’s basic theme. If you want something more substantial, the paid plans offer numerous features.

The WordPress gallery plug-in Envira Photo Gallery provides a drag-and-drop function for easily sorting photos.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Free version available

Album sorting only available in the paid version

Drag-and-drop editor

Responsive image galleries

Supports videos in galleries

Lean plug-in requiring little memory

Linking via the e-commerce plug-in WooCommerce

Lightroom interface for quickly editing and publishing images

The paid plans offer additional features such as social sharing, linking images to specific pages and a filter function with tags

Modula

Using Modula, you can create an attractive photo gallery in WordPress in just a few minutes. / Source: https://wordpress.org/plugins/modula-best-grid-gallery/

Modula is a highly flexible and user-friendly WordPress gallery plug-in. With its intuitive drag-and-drop editor, you can create stunning image galleries in just minutes. You can do more than just sort images with this function. The drag-and-drop editor takes it a step further. When you select the custom grid gallery type, it allows you to customize the sizes of the images in the grid. All you need to do is place your cursor on the corner of an image and drag it until you reach the desired size.

The WordPress gallery plug-in Modula allows you to customize the sizes of the images in the grid.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Free version available

Slideshows only available in the paid version

Intuitive drag-and-drop editor

Image sizes can be individually customized

Supports GIFs and videos in galleries

Responsive image galleries

Social sharing icons are included in the free version

Image-entry animations

Many gallery styles (e.g. masonry, grid, and lightbox)

Sorting in albums

There are additional useful features in the pro version (e.g. watermarking, password-protected galleries, filtering, etc.)

FooGallery

The WordPress gallery plug-in FooGallery offers a free lite version at wordpress.org. / Source: https://wordpress.org/plugins/foogallery/

The WordPress gallery plug-in FooGallery offers both a paid and a free version which can be downloaded at wordpress.org. With six different gallery styles to choose from, the plug-in provides a lot of creative freedom as part of the free version. In the pro version, this WordPress gallery plug-in offers three additional gallery styles, video embedding, a lightbox function, filtering, and other important features.

The WordPress gallery plug-in FooGallery provides six different gallery styles as part of its free version.

Tip

If you use the Gutenberg editor, you can use a handy drag-and-drop block to add image galleries to individual pages or articles.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Free version available

Slider only available in the pro version

Intuitive drag-and-drop editor for image sorting

Free lightbox view with FooBox Free

Supports videos

Responsive image galleries

Many gallery styles available in the free version

Filtering option for galleries containing lots of images

Infinite scroll

Sorting in albums

Supports videos

WordPress gallery plug-ins: a comparison of the four providers

All the WordPress gallery plug-ins we have covered can be used to create beautiful image galleries. Their differences only become apparent when you take a closer look at the details. To give you a clearer overview of the different tools, we have compared their features in the table below:

Function

NextGEN Gallery

Envira Photo Gallery

Modula

FooGallery

Different gallery styles

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Slideshow in the free version

Yes

No

No

No

Intuitive drag-and-drop editor for image sorting

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Customizable image sizes in the grid

No

No

Yes

No

Album sorting

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Animations and effects

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Individual image linking

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Supports videos

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Image protection (watermarking, etc.)

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Social sharing

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Image comments

Yes

No

No

No

E-commerce links

Yes

Yes

No

No

Password-protected galleries

No

Yes

Yes

No

Lightbox add-on

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Pro version prices

Starting at $139.00

Starting at $99.00

Starting at $99.00

Starting at $59.00

Tip

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