The best WordPress gallery plugins

July 24. 2019

Everybody knows that one of the critical factors that can contribute to your marketing efforts is the use of images to promote your business and website. However, you need the proper way to organize a larger number of photos on your WordPress website. And the best and simplest way to achieve this is through a gallery plugin. But given the fact that there is more than one, you need to know which the best WordPress gallery plugins are. Today, we examine the most popular and functional plugins to help you determine the best one to implement on your website.

What are the criteria for choosing between WordPress Gallery Plugins?

Although your typical WordPress site is pre-equipped with a gallery, it lacks the functionality most users need. That is why most users opt for installing a gallery plugin. But before you install the first one you come across, you have to consider the following criteria:

• Functionality. The initial need to increase the functionality of your default gallery is what plays a vital role in your choice of a plugin. Hence, you need to consider what type of functions you want. While some plugins expand the core abilities of your gallery, others bring separate features to the table.
• Usability. Features are great and all but they will do you little good if you can’t figure out how to use them. That is why you need to search for ease of use in WordPress gallery plugins. The goal should always be to simplify your WordPress website maintenance as much as possible.
• Speed. Images are one of the most common causes of slow page loading issues. Business, artist, or photographer, speed is not something you can afford to cut corners on. That is why you need to choose a gallery plugin that will ensure no loss in the speed of your website.
• Updates. Sometimes, a gallery plugin can cause compatibility issues with new WP updates, which can cause an additional headache. That is why you need to ensure that you have a proper team that can handle regular WordPress core, theme, and plugin updates.

Our choice of top 8 WordPress Gallery Plugins

Let’s take a look at the best WordPress gallery plugins available on the market.

1. Envira Gallery

The main strengths of the Envira Gallery are that it is powerful and easy to use. Setting it up comes easily given the already prepared templates it has. That way, customization is no issue. What most users find so enticing when it comes to this particular plugin is the lightweight category it belongs in. It has all the necessary features yet none of the weight most other WordPress gallery plugins have. And its functionality can be boosted with the installation of a dozen add-ons.

Here are some of the most important features:

• Drag & drop builder.
• Responsive & mobile-friendly.
• Standalone galleries.
• Tons of add-ons: Social sharing, Videos, WooCommerce, Watermarking, etc.

2. NextGEN Gallery

With over a million active installments, the NextGEN gallery is definitely the most popular among WordPress gallery plugins. Its main strength is that the features it offers cover all the needs you might expect from a gallery. However, this also leads to a downside in the form that it falls in the heavyweight category among plugins.

NextGEN Gallery offers excellent ways to organize your images, as well as the option to group uploaded images into a slideshow or thumbnail gallery. Another reason why professional photographers use it is the eCommerce features it offers.

3. FooGallery

When it comes to best WordPress gallery plugins, FooGallery is definitely among the top contenders. Similar to Envira Gallery, it also comes in a lightweight category, and you can download it from the official WP directory. Some of its main features are:

• Drag and drop option for reordering
• Dozens of gallery templates that simplify gallery creation.
• Easy to convert from NextGEN gallery.
• Very customizable.

4. Modula

The benefit of Modula is that resizing images in your gallery is simplified. With the use of this plugin, you can avoid switching back and forth between your WordPress dashboard and preview. Instead, you can instantly preview any changes that you make.

When it comes to downloading it, the free (and limited) version of Modula is available on the official WordPress.org directory. The pro version of the plugin starts at $29 for a single site and $99 for unlimited sites.

5. WP Photo Album Plus

WP Photo Album Plus has the power you want in a plugin, but it lacks in terms of ease of use.

The plugin setup isn’t as straightforward compared to other WordPress gallery plugins. However, it comes with more customization options than most other free WordPress gallery plugins. On the upside, it grants you full control over the metadata such as EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) and the display sizes. In addition to allowing you to upload images from the frontend of your site, it will enable visitors to rate or comment on images.

The main strength of this plugin is that it comes with two dozens of different widgets to add to your website, including Photo of the day, Photo rating, Featured photos, and more.

6. Grand Flagallery

Developed by CodeEasily, Grand Flagallery is a basic media and image gallery plugin that allows you to upload images and create video & music playlists on your WordPress site. The main benefits that this plugin offers is the option to upload and organize images, as well as the centralized management system for maintaining a customizing your galleries.

7. Photo Gallery by WD

The advantage of Photo Gallery is that it allows you to showcase interactive multimedia galleries. This fully-responsive WordPress gallery plugin comes with four easy-to-use widgets and the option to add both images and videos, in addition to:

• Ten view options – display your gallery in 10 different views such as thumbnails, masonry, mosaic, slideshow, etc.
• Watermark – protect your images with watermarking that you can edit.
• E-commerce – selling your images comes easy.

8. Gmedia Gallery

Another product of CodeEasily, the Gmedia Gallery allows the following features:

• Responsive image and video albums – easily adaptable to all screen resolutions.
• Exif info – display EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) data, including camera model, aperture, etc.
• Supports video and audio – it lets you easily embed video and audio files from YouTube, Vimeo, and custom videos.
• iOS application – you can easily upload images, videos, and other files directly to your WordPress admin without hassle.
• WordPress comments integration: Allow your users to post comments on video galleries.

The endgame conclusion to this analysis

When put into the same ring, the apparent winner among the best WordPress gallery plugins is the Envira Gallery plugin. It matches all the necessary criteria – easy to use and lightweight while offering maximum functionality and two dozens of add-ons.