20 Best Photo Gallery Plugins for WordPress in 2024

Today, it is very difficult to find a website that doesn’t use any image. Pretty much every website heavily relies on images for putting across their messages to their target audience.

It is needless to say that images play a vital role. They can grab user attention more than the text you write on your website.

It is because of this reason; you should also implement images in your website. By implementation I mean not only using images in your blog posts, but arranging them neatly in case you have multiple images for a post.

Haphazardly placed images will do more damage than you can imagine. That’s the reason why photo galleries are quite popular.

That in turn explains why there are many photo gallery plugins for WordPress.

No need to take my words for it! You can go to the WordPress plugins repository and check yourself. At the time of this writing 980 plugins show up (there are 49 pages for the search result with each page showcasing 20 plugins).

But that’s not the end.

There are more plugins – premium ones – exclusively available through Envato and other similar marketplaces.

With too many choices, you can find it difficult to choose the best photo gallery plugin for your website.

That’s why I have tested hundreds of photo gallery plugins and come up with a list of the 16 best options that you can lay your hands on.

You need to make a final call from this list. I cannot literally tell you which one is the best for your specific needs.

If you don’t have enough time to go through the entire article, here is a quick list of the 20 best photo gallery plugins for WordPress that you are going to learn about in this blurb:

Modula
WordPress Photo Gallery Plugin by Gallery Bank
Photo Gallery by GT3
Image Gallery by Robo
Meow Gallery
Photo Gallery by Ays
Photo Gallery Builder
Envira Gallery
Gmedia Photo Gallery
NextCode Gallery
Everest Gallery Lite
Photo Gallery by LIMB (aka LIMB Gallery)
Photo Gallery by Subsystic
Foo Gallery
Responsive Lightbox and Gallery
Jetpack
Justified Image Grid
Portfolio Gallery
NextGEN Gallery
Photo Gallery by 10Web

Before I start with the detailed analysis of these plugins, let’s start by answering a simple question.

What is the method of choosing the best photo gallery plugins for your site?

I just told you the number of plugins you can find on WordPress repository alone. That’s an overwhelming number by itself. Things get messy when you go looking for plugins in CodeCanyon (by Envato), or do a simple Google search.

You need to pick the one that suits your website’s requirements the best. There is the list of features that you should usually be looking at while selecting a photo gallery plugin. Not every feature may be useful for you, but some of them will definitely make sense.

Here is what you should look for:

Gallery Formats: A plugin should have enough flexibility to give you different gallery formats like masonry, mosaic, tiles, etc.
Lightbox: The plugin should allow users to take a good look at individual images by displaying a larger size on a screen.
Image sharing and commenting: People may want to share the images or comment on them. That feature is often necessary for photography blogs, or blogs that rely heavily on images.
Link to Vimeo or YouTube: The plugin should allow you to link your photos to YouTube or Vimeo videos.
Other linking options: You should be able to link your photos to other locations on your blog or website like portfolio, blog posts, etc.
Image protection: If you are displaying images that you own legally, there should be a way to protect those photos from unauthorized downloads and use.
Open graph access: This is necessary if you want third-party tools integration, or if you want to customize your gallery the way you want.
Effects and animations: Beautifully animated galleries with amazing transition effects can grab attention.
Mobile-friendly: The plugins should be able to resize according to screen size. Mobile-friendliness is an absolute necessity if you want your website to perform great in SERPs.
Drag-and-drop builder: There should be a drag-and-drop feature to build galleries quickly, even if you are building a complex gallery.
Customization: The plugin should allow you to customize the galleries to match your branding.
Templates: If you don’t want to start from scratch, there should be a few readymade templates to give you a headstart.
Ecommerce support: Extremely necessary for photography sites that sell photos.
Digital download management: The plugins should allow you to organize and manage your digital photographs neatly using categories and tags.

As I said earlier, you may not need all the features, but you will definitely need a few. So, choose your plugin based on what you need.

Also, don’t forget that not all plugins will have all the features listed (or not listed) here. For instance, some of the plugins may not have support for ecommerce. Some may not have a drag-and-drop feature, while others may not allow you to create custom branding unless you purchase a premium version.

Having said that, it is important to know that you may even find it difficult to grab a plugin that fulfills all your needs. So, grab the one that gets close enough.

Okay, time for a deep dive.

Ready?

Let’s begin.

#1. Modula – No Performance Issues

Macho Themes created the Modula plugin. It is a premium plugin that is available for $39 for a single site use with one year of support. However, expenses can quickly escalate if you want to install it on more than one site.

Barring the price, Modula is one of the finest plugins you can find today. Not only is it user-friendly, but it is also capable of creating both photo and video galleries. One of the strengths of this plugin lies in its ability to resize the images within the gallery container. Yes, you can control the aspect ratio, width, and height.

To put custom measurements, you need to switch to “custom grid” from “creative gallery.”

The good thing about Modula is that you don’t need to have years of experience to use it. Anyone with any level of knowledge can use it without touching the codes. There is a drag-and-drop interface and loads of customization options available.

If you are an advanced user, you can add custom CSS to customize the gallery the way you want it.

There is a free version of the plugin available through WordPress plugins repository, but it is very limited in its capabilities. It goes by the name Modula Image Gallery. Also, do not forget that the lowest plan will not have many of the features that you will find in other plans.

The company offers a 14-day money back guarantee with no questions asked. If you are not happy with their product, ask for a refund within 14 days of purchase, and you will get 100% of your money back!

Quick Features of Modula

Create custom grids and resize images within the gallery container.
Create a lightbox gallery. Different lightbox styles are available.
Add custom CSS if you are not happy with the default styling options of Modula.
Image entry animations and 40+ hover effect animations are available for making the galleries more attractive.
You can add videos to the gallery using a premium extension. You just need to add the video link.
Different grid formats are available. You can settle for regular square grids or settle for masonry grids. You can even go for the old-fashioned lightbox galleries.
You can activate social media buttons for galleries, allowing your readers to share the images.
You can create galleries using GIFs.
There is a “helper grid” that will tell you where you should be placing the image. You can also preview the gallery and see how it looks before publishing your gallery.
The plugin has a drag-and-drop interface.
You can add filters to galleries allowing users to shuffle through images to see the ones they like the most.
The premium version prevents right-clicking and downloading of images from the gallery.
There is a watermark extension that will allow you to add watermarks to your images. This further enhances the security of your digital asset.
You can optimize every image you add to the galleries using their speed extension.
You can put the galleries anywhere on your website using shortcodes.

Performance

Modula is one of the best plugins in terms of performance. It is lightweight, fast, and doesn’t slow down your website. There are no known PHP errors, JS errors, and compatibility issues. You can always use this plugin with confidence.

Here is a screenshot of the WP Hive test results:

Note

Modula is perfect for creating grid galleries, and that’s what the free version will give you. If you want slideshows and other layouts, you will need to use their premium version.

#2. WordPress Photo Gallery Plugin by Gallery Bank – No Performance Issues

WordPress Photo Gallery Plugin by Gallery Bank is a very powerful gallery plugin you can lay your hands on. This plugin, according to the developers, has over 200 features that you can use to create the galleries of your choice. You can create galleries from scratch.

The plugin will allow you to create portfolios and showcases, and allow you to display the galleries anywhere you want using shortcodes and widgets.

You can create thumbnail layouts or masonry layouts. Interestingly, the plugin is quite easy to use. Yes, there will be some learning curve because of too many options, but it is not really difficult to master them.

For seasoned users, it may take no more than an hour or two to master the plugin. Rookies will take slightly more time, but it is worth the time investment.

The plugin is a freemium plugin, which means that you will get a limited number of features with the free version. However, those are enough to create your galleries. If you need full access to all 200 features, you have to upgrade your account and become a paid member. Of course, the paid membership brings more on the table in the form of great support.

The only problem, according to me, is that it still works with shortcodes when the world has long transitioned into Gutenberg. So yes, tight integration with Gutenberg will become a clear advantage. Unfortunately, no one knows whether the developers will implement that or not.

Quick Features of WordPress Photo Gallery Plugin by Gallery Bank

Using this plugin, you can create responsive galleries that scale and fit into any viewport size. So, you don’t have to worry about SEO because of this.
The default gallery designs that the plugin can churn out are clean and modern. You don’t even have to play with the setting to get them.
The free version of the plugin will allow you to create only two layouts – thumbnail and masonry. That is unacceptable. Fortunately, the paid version has more layout options.
When you create a gallery by uploading images, a shortcode will be generated that you can paste in pages and posts of your website to display the gallery. The funny thing is that the shortcode is really long! But it works!
The images you upload through the plugin are all stored in a separate folder instead of the wp-uploads folder.
The plugin will allow blog layouts and slideshows for galleries, but only if you buy the premium version.
You can link a gallery to your blog posts. This ensures that the gallery keeps updating continuously as and when you keep publishing blog posts.
The premium version will offer various lightbox layouts to work with. There are colorful lightboxes, and you can even customize them using custom CSS.
The premium version will allow watermarking the videos.
There are special effects to make images spin and bounce on mouse scroll.
The plugin will also allow you to add advertisements to your galleries.

Performance

With absolutely no compatibility issues, no JS errors, no activation or resource errors, this plugin is one of the finest plugins you can lay your hands on. Here is a screenshot of WP Hive test reports:

Note

Except for limited layout options and a few other functions, the majority of the features of the plugin are available in the free version. Unless you really need those premium features, the plugin will allow you to create galleries within minutes. The premium version costs $32 a year, but if you want, you can go for a lifetime membership as well.

#3. Photo Gallery by GT3 – No Performance Issues

The last option on this list is the Photo Gallery by GT3 plugin. The plugin comes with a slightly different approach for creating galleries. There is a Gutenberg block that you need to use for adding photos and creating a gallery.

Yes, you don’t create a gallery in the dashboard area. Upload modules and all settings will show up right inside the Gutenberg editor. This makes sense, because when you are working on a page or a post, you don’t have to go back and forth. Everything is right in front of you.

The end results are also awesome. There are additional Gutenberg blocks that you can use for making standard grid galleries or masonry galleries.

Photo Gallery by GT3 is a freemium plugin. You can use the core plugin with limited capabilities. You can create basic galleries. Customization options are also very limited in the free version. However, when you upgrade to the premium version, you will get additional layouts and various customizations.

Additionally, the paid version will allow social sharing of images and galleries. You can even add an image download button if you want.

On the downside, the plugin does not contain any integrated image optimization mechanism. You need to pay separately for an image optimization plugin. But hey, you can always optimize the images before uploading them. You can do that by yourself, or you can use various free image optimization plugins for WordPress.

The plugin will crop the images, but not to an extent that they look ugly. In fact, it manages to preserve the original image to a great extent. The galleries are clear, simple, and modern.

Quick Features of Photo Gallery by GT3

The free plugin will allow you to great great-looking galleries, but the customization options and the available layouts will be limited.
There are several Gutenberg blocks that you can use for instantly adding galleries to your blog posts and pages.
The settings for galleries are found right inside the WordPress editor. Image sizing, margin adjustments – everything happens inside the editor.
The plugin will allow you to link your Instagram account for creating a dynamic feed. You make changes to your Instagram account and the linked galleries will change automatically.
There are various gallery layouts and you can easily add filters to your galleries for easy management.
The plugin works with a wide range of page builder plugins
The premium version will give you some security measures including watermarking your copyrighted images.
If you settle for the premium version, you can quickly convert a gallery into a slideshow using a single click. Also, social sharing abilities are unlocked only with the pro version.
The plugin also integrates the lazy loading feature to speed up your website.

Performance

It is one of the best performing plugins in WordPress repository in terms of memory uses, coding optimization, compatibility, etc. Here is a screenshot of WP Hive test results:

Note

The plugin is quite unique in the sense that it handles gallery creation and gallery customization and control in a very different way. The free version is good enough for starter blogs. You can choose to go premium anytime, and it will cost you $39. If you want to get their image optimization extension, you can use their extension that will cost another $10.

#4. Image Gallery by Robo – No Performance Issues

Another freemium plugin, the Image Gallery by Robo is designed to create stunning galleries. The best part is that you do not need to fiddle around with the settings too much. The plugin also comes with a Gutenberg module that completely eliminates the need for shortcodes, and allows users to instantly publish galleries with minimal effort.

The plugin will allow you to test the gallery and see how it looks and feels before you go ahead and publish it. There are many demos that you can use for inspiration. The blog style, in particular, is one of the finest that the plugin has to offer, because it allows adding featured images in the galleries.

The free version also comes with a lot of settings to work with, but that shouldn’t hold you back from exploring the offerings of the premium version. The plugin also connects to Vimeo, making it a very good solution for content creators.

It is extremely easy to use the plugin. All you must do is install it, add some photos, and drop the Gutenberg block directly into the page or post of your choice. Don’t worry about the default layouts and designs, because they are just as stunning as you would like them to be.

Quick Features of Image Gallery by Robo

Easy installation and quick gallery publication.
Tight integration with the Gutenberg editor.
Galleries are all responsive irrespective of the screen size of the users.
On mouse hover, the plugin activates fade effects that look great.
There are more than 15 hover effects, some of which are available only in the premium version of the plugin.
The plugin allows batch uploading of the images. You don’t have to worry about the WordPress upload limit. The plugin will take care of that.
The plugin comes with some fun elements like the ability to add Polaroid effects that bring back some nostalgia.
The default configuration includes the settings for shadows and borders, but you can always remove those settings.
There is a color selector integrated right inside the plugin so that you can achieve the look and feel of your overall brand.
The plugin also throws in customizable font settings that will allow you to edit captions, titles, descriptions, etc., with your desired fonts.
There are two very important features – lazy loading and advanced caching. They are both important as they help to improve performance.
There is a manual tool that you can use for resizing and cropping the images.
It supports lightbox with various effects like font color, font transparency, social sharing buttons and more.
The plugin can pull videos from sources like Vimeo and YouTube.

Performance

There are no known performance issues with this plugin. The developers are actively developing the plugin, and it is compatible with the latest WP version, and compatible with latest stable PHP version. Memory and database footprints are very low. So, you can happily use it even on a shared server.

Note

The plugin has a surprisingly high number of free features that should be sufficient for most of the bloggers. However, if you need something professional, you can always upgrade to the premium version with a starting price of $30 one-time payment for a single site license.

#5. Meow Gallery – No Performance Issues

Okay, Meow Gallery isn’t meant for cat images only. It is not even created by cats. Trust me, humans are behind it! The plugin comes from the house of Meow Apps. The brains behind this organization are a small team of Japanese and French developers.

Meow Gallery is a free plugin with a premium version available with extended features and functions. However, there is no reason to think that the core free version of Meow Gallery is not up to the task. In fact, it comes with five gallery layouts – one of the highest I have seen.

The plugin uses WP/LR sync to work seamlessly with Lightroom. The speed of uploading images and deploying a gallery inside a post or a page is incredible. It has tight integration with the Gutenberg editor.

The plugin’s Tiles layout is great especially for people who are running a photo blog. The end result is just impressive. The plugin manages to maintain the original aspect ratio of the images inside the gallery.

In case you need extra features, you can always go for the premium version of the plugin. Your purchase will also entitle you for additional customer support.

Quick Features of Meow Gallery

The plugin will allow adding amazing effects to images inside a gallery using various filters.
The plugin is really quick, and it can help you publish a new gallery within a few seconds.
You can connect the plugin to Lightroom, edit your photos in that program, and then send them back to the galleries directly from that program.
The plugin is lightweight and fast, and it doesn’t strain your server resources.
The plugin works great on mobile devices. Yes, all the galleries you publish are responsive and adapt to the screen size of the users.
The galleries are even retina enabled.
There is a Gutenberg module. However, to make it work, you need to make sure that you are configuring the plugin before launching your gallery in the new Gutenberg editor.
There are various layouts like justified, square, masonry, etc. All of them look stunning.
You can link individual images in a gallery to external links or internal links. You can link them to your portfolio items, too.
You can add audio tracks to your galleries. When someone clicks on a gallery, the audio will automatically start playing.
You can use the plugin’s unique Map layout to share your travel photos. This is ideal for travel bloggers and photographers.
Upgrading will give you access to carousels and slideshows.
You can get animations like colorization, highlights, and fade-ins when you upgrade to the premium version.
The plugin can pull captions directly from file names.
You can set custom sizes for images, or you can use thumbnails or full-size images for creating the gallery.
Infinite loading and lazy loading tools are also available to speed up your website.

Performance

Meow gallery is a polished plugin. It is very well coded, and developers develop and update it actively. It has no known compatibility issues, and it have minimal memory and database footprint. It will not slow down your website in any way.

Note

The Meow Gallery plugin is a powerful tool if you are looking for something to create stunning galleries. The free tool is often good enough for most of the users. However, if you need extras, the premium version is what you need. For instance, animations are absent in the free version. The free tool is available through WordPress plugins repository. You can purchase the premium version for as low as $19 a year.

#6. Photo Gallery by Ays – No Performance Issues

Another freemium plugin, Photo Gallery by Ays is one of the new entrants in market. However, don’t underestimate it. With the ability to create responsive galleries with awesome layout, this has pretty much everything you will need to create visually stunning galleries and albums.

Yes, you read it right! You can club multiple galleries into an album. This is particularly helpful if you are categorizing your galleries, and there are many galleries.

There is no limit set on the number of galleries you can create or the number of images you can use in each gallery. The free version will give you access to masonry, grid, and mosaic layouts, all of which are visually appealing. If you choose to upgrade, you will get 30+ layouts! That’s a lot!

The plugin also allows adding cool hover effect to your images. For SEO, you can use add title and description to each image. Additionally, you can add URLs to images for deep linking.

Quick Features of Photo Gallery by Ays

The plugin comes with a multi-image uploader that allows speedy uploading of multiple images at once.
There is no limit to the number of images you can add to a gallery, or the number of galleries you can create, or the number of albums you can make using galleries.
For SEO, the plugin will allow you to add image attributes like alt attributes, description and URL. In case you accidentally miss the alt text and title, the plugin will automatically fill those fields using the image name you provided.
The plugin allows creating responsive galleries that work perfectly fine on any screen size. All you need to do is leave the width value field blank.
It will also allow you to choose the number of columns you want in your gallery.
You will get 30+ different gallery layouts to work with in the premium version. However, if you settle for the free version, you will get three options, all of which create modern-looking stunning galleries.
You don’t even have to change the setting to get things up and running. The galleries created using the default settings are just perfect. You can finetune things even more.
There are various hover animations and features like hover zoom, hover color, hover opacity that can give stunning looks to your galleries.
The plugin comes with full support for lightbox, creating an immersive experience for the users.
The pro version will give you additional features like share buttons, download button, transition effects and transition speed, key control, thumbnail settings, etc.

Performance

This plugin is one of the best performing plugins you can get. It passes every test that WP Hive puts it through. The memory usage is minimal and it comes with optimized database footprint. Here is a screenshot of WP Hive results:

Note

The plugin is great, and there is no doubt about it. However, the problem is that even though they have a premium version, there is no option available for image protection and user comments. That was not expected.

#7. Photo Gallery Builder – No Performance Issues

Last on our list is the Photo Gallery Builder plugin, which too, is a very new plugin. It is a free plugin. There is no pro version available for it. So, whatever this plugin has to offer, you will get everything once you install it.

The plugin is a very rudimentary one with no high-end features. You can create grid or masonry galleries! That’s all. You will not have any transition animation, or multiple gallery types. Good thing is that there are a few hover animations available.

However, the plugin does have some nifty tricks up its sleeves to make your gallery look cooler. You can give the images rounded corners, and even add shadows. You can define the border spacing.

Working with the plugin is extremely simple with all settings available in a single admin control panel. A big button for upload is available that allows you to upload multiple images at once.

The plugin is perfect for small and casual blogs that do not care about image copyright or do not have too many images to work with. There is no option for creating albums, rendering the plugin unsuitable for photographers, food and travel bloggers or anyone who deals with many images.

Quick Features of Photo Gallery Builder

The plugin has a fantastic drag and drop feature for arranging the images the way you want.
The plugin supports deep linking, which means that you can add URLs to individual images. You can do basic SEO like adding title and description.
Each gallery type has six different layout options, and all of them look great.
The plugin generates shortcodes for every gallery that you can paste on a page or a post to add the galleries quickly.
The plugin also offers widget support, which means that you can add galleries directly to your sidebars or even the footer.
You can sort images in three ways – ascending, descending, and random.
The plugin allows you to play with font colors, font size, etc.
It does support custom CSS in case you want to create styles by yourself.
The galleries created by the plugin are responsive by default. You don’t have to worry about the width of the galleries, you create. They will automatically adjust to the screen size.
The plugin has full lightbox support allowing users to go full screen while viewing the galleries.

Performance

A simple yet effect plugin, the Photo Gallery Builder has outstanding performance. WP Hive tests reveals that the plugin is extremely well-coded, and it doesn’t cause any memory issues. Here is a screenshot of WP Hive test results:

Note

If you are looking for features like image protection, social sharing, commenting, etc. You will be disappointed. Do not forget that the plugin is very new, and down the line, it may end up being a more advanced photo gallery plugin for WordPress.

#8. Envira Gallery – Update Frequency Issue

It is not possible to compile a list without Envira Gallery listed in it. Envira also offers both free and premium versions. The core plugin is quite powerful, however, to unlock the true potential, you must buy the premium version.

The free version will let you create basic galleries, but the best of the features like video support, social sharing, image deep linking, albums, watermarking, WooCommerce support, etc., are all present only in the premium version.

The interface is very simple allowing you to create galleries within short time spans.

Quick Features of Envira Gallery

Envira Gallery comes with a drag-and-drop feature that allows you to quickly create immersive galleries with little to no experience, at all! You just need to drop the images in the location and hit the publish button. The gallery will be created.
The Pro version will let you use videos in your image galleries. There are tons of features in the Pro version, but if you want to activate all those features, it can get pricey.
The plugin will allow you to add social media buttons that allows users to share the images on various social media platforms.
You can link social media pages to your galleries, allowing the galleries to pull the images from those pages.
Even the free version of the plugin comes with various ready-to-use templates.
You can organize your galleries using categories and tags. This will help you with gallery management.
You can get deep linking features for sending your users to different pages where they can get more information.
The galleries are mobile-friendly, as well. They scale perfectly on mobile devices, keeping your overall site very responsive and SEO optimized.
Envira Gallery has deep integration with the Gutenberg editor. There are Gutenberg blocks available that can be dropped anywhere within the post. Evira is one of the very few WordPress photo gallery plugins that offers Gutenberg blocks.
There are features like password protection, watermarking, etc., that will help you to uphold your copyright and protect your images from unauthorized thefts.
You can import images directly from Pinterest and Instagram.
WooCommerce integration, Lightroom support, etc. are all available through addons.
You can always customize the CSS styles (if you have the knowhow) and create something unique that matches your overall website design.

Performance

Envira doesn’t have any known performance issues. It uses 151.93 KB memory, making it better than 99% of the plugins. It only adds 0.04 seconds to page load time, and hence, it has minimal impact on page speed, as well. With proper CDN and caching policies, you can achieve incredible speed even with Envira installed.

Here are the test results for Envira:

Note

Envira has a lot of features, but it might not be an easy choice. You have to test the plugin before you can decide whether it is right for your needs or not. The Pro version starts with a $29 price tag for a single site license. However, if you want to unlock all the premium features, the price will jump to $69.

#9. Gmedia Photo Gallery – Update Frequency Issue

Gmedia Photo Gallery plugin can create some sleek and beautiful galleries for your WordPress site. The plugin comes with an interesting pricing structure.

For a single site license you need to pay $29.99 per year. If the number of sites keeps increasing, the price per license keeps decreasing. For instance, if the number of sites is 20+, the price per license will be $8.50 per year.

Don’t worry, you can use the plugin for free. They have a freemium model. Of course, it goes without saying that the free version will have limited features. But you have to agree that the pricing is quite reasonable for the plugin, and by paying for their premium version, you will be unlocking a host of new features that the free version doesn’t offer.

There are various demos to test. You can settle for the one that you like the most. Essentially, these demos are meant to help you with your purchase decision.

The only caveat is that Gmedia Photo Gallery is quite confusing to use. However, it is worth mentioning that the end results are impressive. So, if you are not running with time constraints, you can always try using the plugin to get a hang of it.

Quick Features of Gmedia Photo Gallery

It has tight integration with the Gutenberg editor. There are four Gutenberg blocks available that will allow you to rapidly add your galleries to your posts and pages.
There are plenty of demos on the plugin’s website. You can follow those demos and create something stunning, or you can just skip creativity and use one of their several templates available from the plugin backend.
What’s weird is that the plugin can create a related posts entry for your blog posts, thereby eliminating the need for using a different plugin for that.
There is a widget option available that will allow you to quickly add galleries to the sidebars and footers.
It allows users to leave comments on photos and engage in a proper communication.
The plugin allows playing videos and music in the gallery.
Unlike its competitors, Gmedia Photo Gallery has a very tight integration with WordPress search bar.
The plugin also offers both email sharing and social media sharing tools so that users can share your images and galleries.
You can organize your photos within the galleries using their drag-and-drop feature.
What else? It also allows geolocating. You can geotag your photos!
There are integrated image editing tools in this plugin that you can use from the WordPress backend.
Gmedia Photo Gallery also supports shortcodes, which means that you can completely ditch Gutenberg blocks. This is especially helpful for those who are still using the classic editor.

Performance

It is a very well-optimized plugin with no known errors, compatibility issues, or memory usage issues. You can safely use it even on shared hosting servers. The only complain that WP Hive has is that of update frequency. At the time of this writing, the plugin was last updated 4 months ago. That’s acceptable. Here is a screenshot of what WP Hive has to say:

Note

The plugin is complex and involves a steep learning curve. The multitude of options you get with the plugin appear to be improperly organized, making it difficult to figure out things quickly. This means that it is not a great option for rookies. However, developers will have a fun time using this plugin. The core plugin is free, but you can unlock the plugin’s most powerful features by upgrading.

#10. NextCode Gallery – Update Frequency Issue

With over 20,000 active installations NextCode Gallery is one of the finest photo gallery plugins for WordPress. The plugin is designed to be beginner-friendly.

Just like other options you have read earlier, NextCode is a freemium option, which means that you will get the core plugin for free. If you want to unlock advanced features, you need purchase the premium version.

The plugin comes with five different gallery styles that include slider, grid, carousel, tiles, and justified. With the ability to use videos, you can happily create even video galleries if you want. Interestingly, the plugin will allow you to add unlimited videos and photos to a single gallery.

The plugin is not designed to be fancy. Of course, you can add certain subtle hover effects on images to make the galleries look cool.

Quick Features of NextCode Gallery

The plugin offers different gallery styles. Five to be precise, and all of them look gorgeous.
There are subtle hover effects that you can implement to the galleries.
The plugin is capable of pulling videos from YouTube and Vimeo, allowing you to create video galleries, or you can use a combination of videos and images in a single gallery.
There are no limits to the number of images or videos you can add to a single gallery. It is particularly helpful if you have many similar or related photos that you want to put in a single place.
You can add title to individual items in a single gallery. You can even add descriptions. This is particularly helpful for SEO.
Deep linking is there. You can add links to individual images and send people to different URL on your blog or website. You can even send them to different websites.
The plugin allows editing images within a gallery. You can even replace the images if you want. Not just that, you can go back to any existing gallery and edit individual image information.
The plugin has a lightbox function that opens images in a larger size creating an immersive experience with easy navigation.
The plugin never crops the images and maintains their original aspect ratio.

Performance

The plugin is very well coded with minimal impact on memory and other server resources. The only problem is that the developers are a bit slow in updating the plugin. Here is what WP Hive tests have to say about the plugin:

Note

The plugin is very simple and easy to use. However, it does lack some advanced features like image protection. If you want that feature, you can always look for alternatives. However, if you are making galleries with images that you don’t own, this will work just fine. The plugin also lacks social sharing options. The premium version starts from $19.99 (one-time) for a single site license.

#11. Everest Gallery Lite – Update Frequency Issue

Comparatively new, the Everest Gallery Lite is a lightweight photo gallery plugin for WordPress that comes from the house of a reputed developer – AccessPress.

The plugin offers different gallery templates that include masonry and grid layouts. The free version is quite powerful, and that’s quite surprising. There is 30+ gallery layouts to work with configurable columns so that the galleries can adjust properly to the screen sizes.

Yes, the galleries you create using Everest Gallery Lite are responsive!

The free version also offers things like lightbox options, hover animations, and a preview feature to see how the gallery looks and feels without the need for publishing it. If you want more features, you can always go ahead and explore the premium version of the plugin.

Most of the layouts you find in Everest Gallery Lite have a very modern feeling to them.

Quick Features of Everest Gallery Lite

The free version of the plugin is quite powerful.
The galleries you create using the plugin have a modern look and feel irrespective of the selected gallery layout.
The plugin has a drag-and-drop feature that allows easy usage without the need for fiddling around with codes.
The free version comes with four beautiful layouts. You can get access to additional 30+ layouts if you opt for the premium version.
The plugin allows amazing customizations. You can customize everything from image sizes to scroll and hover effects.
There are many predefined hover animations that you can implement with a single click.
The plugin can grab images as well as videos from a wide range of platforms including YouTube, Instagram, etc.
There are many pre-design image filters that you can apply with ease.
You can use the load more button or a simple pagination, both of which come with various effects, fonts, and colors to work with.
The lightbox feature will display a larger version of each of your images in the gallery.
There are many controls that are easy to master.
The plugin also allows room for custom CSS if the predefined controls and features are not good enough for you to achieve the overall look and feel of your website.

Performance

The only performance issue that this plugin has is the update frequency. However, that shouldn’t be a big concern, because developers tend to roll out a plugin update only when it becomes incompatible with the newer WordPress versions, or if they want to add new features or fix some bugs.

Unless a plugin drops out of active development, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. That’s the scenario depicted in WP Hive test results. Everest Gallery Lite was updated only a month ago (at the time of this writing), making it pretty much in active development.

Here are WP Hive test results:

Note

Everest Gallery Lite is a very advanced tool. Of course, the free or the lite version has limited capabilities, but it is good enough for those who want to have something simple and yet powerful. If you are willing to pay for the plugin’s premium version, you will unlock a treasure trove of features. The premium version is available for $21 one-time payment! That’s all. You can pay extra for extended support.

#12. Photo Gallery by LIMB – Update Frequency Issue

Another highly advanced photo gallery plugin that you can use is Photo Gallery by LIMB. It is a relatively new plugin, but it comes with some exceptional features. It, too, is a freemium offering with a few highly advanced features available only for the premium users.

However, the free version is highly advanced with so many features that you will feel as if you are working with a premium plugin.

This lightweight gallery plugin allows 5 different gallery layouts and 3 different album layouts, and has an astonishingly simple admin interface with all controls in a single place.

What you will like about this plugin is that it comes integrated with an image uploader laced with advanced functions like renaming and deleting images, creating folders, etc.

The plugin also offers a drag-and-drop feature that you can use for creating a custom image arrangement order.

Quick Features of Photo Gallery by LIMB

The plugin allows creating unlimited galleries and albums. This is particularly helpful if you need to work with numerous photos.
The plugin is tightly integrated with the Gutenberg editor so that you can quickly insert galleries and albums in your posts and pages. This eliminates the need for using shortcodes.
The plugin allows creating full-width gallery for an immersive experience.
What’s good about this plugin is that it can pull images from social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, etc. to create a gallery.
It can even create video galleries using YouTube and/or Vimeo videos.
The plugin has lightbox support. For the free version you get only one lightbox, but it is customizable. If you want more lightbox options, you need to upgrade.
The free version will allow social sharing of individual images in the lightbox.
Other features include scroll loading, load more buttons, and pagination with numbers.
The plugin also has shortcode support that you can use if you don’t like using the Gutenberg block.
The galleries you create are completely responsive, and hence, perfect for mobile SEO.
Once you upgrade, you get access to unlimited themes, filmstrip gallery layout, mosaic gallery, mosaic widget gallery, 3D carousel gallery, and 26 lightbox effects.
The pro version will also allow users to leave comments on pictures when they view individual images on lightbox.
You have the freedom to choose which premium features you want to purchase, so that you don’t have to pay for everything. That’s kind of refreshing.

Performance

It is a lightweight photo gallery plugin with minimal impact on memory and other server resources. Of course, the update frequency is not good according to WP Hive insights, but that should become a deterrent only when a plugin is not updated for at least two consecutive major core updates.

Note

The free version of Photo Gallery by LIMB is extremely powerful with almost all necessary features available. If you want a few extras, you can always upgrade. You don’t need to choose all advanced features. You are free to selectively purchase pro features.

#13. Photo Gallery by Subsystic – Memory Usage Issue

Photo Gallery by Subsystic is yet another one among the most famous photo gallery plugins for WordPress. Just like the ones mentioned above, this too, is a freemium plugin that will allow you to use the core version for free, but offer the most advanced options and features only through the premium version.

There are different templates that you can use to create unlimited photo galleries. It is easy to customize the galleries, because the plugin will allow you to edit shadows, borders, margins, etc.

The various gallery types that are allowed by Subsystic are masonry, video, carousel, and Polaroid.

What’s interesting is that the free version will allow you to create stunning galleries with some customization. If you are a blogger looking for free options, this plugin will serve the purpose without having to upgrade to the premium version.

The plugin also has support for bulk import of images using FTP. You can even import images from Instagram, Facebook, and various other social media platforms.

If you want to display videos by pulling videos directly from YouTube in your galleries, you can do that using their premium version.

Quick Features of Photo Gallery by Subsystic

It allows adding images to the gallery using bulk import through FTP.
It has the ability to import images from different social media networks like Instagram, Facebook, etc.
Even the free version of the plugin will allow you to add watermarks to your images.
The premium version of the plugin will allow paginating your galleries, and adding categories to your galleries.
The plugin supports many different gallery types. The galleries support mosaic design, personal captions, and social sharing buttons.
You can customize the galleries by customizing icons, borders, margins, shadows, etc. You can perform such customizations in both the free and pro versions.
All the galleries that you create using this plugin are perfectly responsive, which means that they scale according to the screen size of the viewer.
The galleries you create will be SEO-friendly.
The plugin comes with an integrated image compression capability that compresses images whenever you upload a new one.
The plugin includes a few options for fast loading of pages with galleries. They include lazy loading, load more button, pagination etc.
The plugin also has a CDN option. You can always use that.
Image filters, captions, etc. are a standard offering of the plugin.
Scrolling over photos in the gallery can create animations, if you choose to set that.
You can manage the photos using tags and albums. This helps in easy management of photos if you have a large collection.
You can control the other visual elements like fonts, font colors, captions, buttons, etc.
The plugin has support for multiple languages that include Turkish, Italian, and Japanese.

Performance

This plugin has some memory usage issues. Apart from that, there are no known issues. If your server has enough memory, there shouldn’t be any issue. I will prefer not to use it on shared servers, but cloud hosting, managed WP hosting, VPS, and dedicated servers with extra memory should be good to go. Here is a screenshot of the test results:

Note

There is one problem that you may not like – the interface for creating the galleries. It seems a bit busy and complicated. The plugin can create some amazing fun galleries like Polaroid templates. Customizations are available for both the free and premium versions, but the premium flavor allows way more customization. The Pro version has a starting price of $39 for a single site license.

#14. FooGallery – Memory Usage Issue

FooGallery is also a freemium plugin. The core version is free with limited capability. If you open your pockets for the developers, they will give the stunning features for you to use! The plugin will allow you to create responsive galleries using different layouts.

What’s interesting is that all the galleries that you create using the FooGallery plugin are all retina-ready. The free version will allow you to create different albums by grouping galleries. This is helpful if you are using a lot of images on your blog.

The plugin packs in several templates that will help you to get started immediately. The galleries that you create are quite beautiful. What else?

There is a Gutenberg block available that you can use for quickly inserting galleries in your posts and pages. That eliminates the need for using shortcodes.

Among other important features, you get dot navigation, infinite scroll, lazy loading, image hover effects, video support, etc. Some of them are available in both the free and premium versions, while others are reserved exclusively for the premium users.

Quick Features of Foo Gallery

Lazy loading is a standard feature of FooGallery. It loads images only until the images reach the viewscreen. This speeds up the website.
FooGallery has a tight integration with Gutenberg, giving the users a proper block that can be dropped quickly into the editor to add galleries.
There is a gallery widget that you can add to sidebars and/or the footer.
They have a premium extension that will allow you to create video galleries or a combination or image and video galleries.
The plugin makes it possible to drag and drop all images in the background, making it easy to manage and rearrange.
There are templates for various types of galleries including masonry, single thumbnail, justified, etc.
There are fascinating hover and animation effects that can instantly grab user attention.
There are several premium templates available like slider, Polaroid Pro, etc.
It also provides a gallery filtering feature that makes working with a large number of images easy.
There is a feature for infinite scroll that can keep revealing a large collection of photos.
It even allows copying the gallery effect from one gallery to another. This is particularly good if you want to create galleries with the same effects on a different website.

Performance

There is one performance glitch of FooGallery. It uses more memory that it should. However, it doesn’t impact the page speed at all. Use FooGallery only if your server has enough memory. I don’t recommend running FooGallery on a server with only 1GB memory or less. You should have at least 2GB memory at your website’s disposal. Here are the test results from WP Hive:

Note

The free version has many customization options available, but the majority of the advanced features and stunning gallery formats are hidden behind a paywall. The premium version of FooGallery begins with a price of $59 a year for a single site license.

#15. Responsive Lightbox & Gallery – Memory Usage Issue

Responsive Lightbox & Gallery is a brilliant solution for those searching for the best photo gallery plugins for WordPress. The core plugin has several extensions available to increase its functionalities. Some of these extensions are completely free, but some others are premium extensions.

The plugin offers several lightbox formats. So, you can always try out the different options to find out what works best for your website.

The plugin itself is a lightweight plugin that doesn’t put strain on your website’s server resources. It is extremely flexible, allowing you to add specific functions through extensions. This means that you don’t need to have all the extensions. Use only the ones that you need. There are extensions for more lightboxes, hidden galleries, and masonry galleries. Of course, those aren’t the only extensions.

It nicely integrates with the Gutenberg editor, as well. There is a specific Gutenberg block that you can drop anywhere in your post or page to insert your galleries.

On the downside, it has some memory usage issues. It consumes more memory than what a plugin should normally do. So, it is not recommended that you use this plugin on a shared hosting server. If you are on a managed WP hosting server, or you are using cloud hosting, or perhaps a VPS or a dedicated server with high memory allocation, you should go for it.

Quick Features of Responsive Lightbox & Gallery

The plugin tightly integrates with the Gutenberg editor.
It is extremely flexible and allows extending its functions using extensions. You can choose which extensions you need.
The learning curve is minimal, making it a suitable option even for the beginners.
The gallery allows you to search for Creative Commons photos or images directly from inside the plugin.
There are a total of eight lightbox formats to select from.
Drag-and-drop feature dominates the interface of most of the design tools.
You can show your product images in a beautiful gallery through its WooCommerce support.
You can insert galleries to sidebars and the footer using a widget.
The plugin allows adding lightbox to links throughout the website, and that too, automatically.
You can easily link to videos.
The plugin supports multi-site setups.

Performance

Performance wise, Responsive Lightbox & Gallery takes some hit. It uses more memory compared to a plugin of its complexity should normally use. This is reflected in WP Hive tests. However, if you are on a server with high memory allocation, it very safe to use. Here are the rest results of WP Hive:

Note

While the plugin is simple to use, you need to make adjustments to get the formatting right. It is not a big deal, because the myriads of controls that you get can help you do that with ease. Its Gutenberg integration and extension-enabled flexibility is what makes the plugin a powerful option.

#16. Jetpack – Memory Usage Issue

Jetpack! Who doesn’t know this plugin? Developed by Automattic, Jetpack has a hardcore fan following. It is a multipurpose plugin that transports various WordPress.com features to WordPress.org.

One of the core features of Jetpack is gallery functionality. So, if you are using Jetpack extensively, you can rely on its gallery feature.

Yes, you may argue that Jetpack’s gallery feature is not as robust as the ones you have read so far, but you do need to agree that it is a great solution that works best for people who want something basic without the need for installing other plugins or dealing with their taxing settings.

Jetpack’s gallery feature comes completely free of cost. You don’t need to pay anything. There are no upgrades available.

Quick Features of Jetpack Gallery

Free – always free!
Creates simple and clean galleries and eliminates too much of hassle.
You get to create tiled galleries with or without cropping.
Jetpack will make you turn on the image CDN tool to improve the loading speed of the galleries and images.
It is deeply integrated with Gutenberg, and it offers a tiled gallery block for easily adding galleries to posts and pages.
There are simple tweaks for the galleries like adding more columns to galleries, arranging images in a random order, etc.
You can add captions to each image.
Custom coding will allow you to create custom width for the galleries. However, this is meant only for advanced users who know coding.

Performance

In my Jetpack review I argued against Jetpack, and the sole reason for that was performance. It is a great plugin, but it takes up a lot of memory because of its nature. It performs a lot of tasks using different modules. So, when you activate every feature, Jetpack indeed becomes very memory intensive. This is what shows up in WP Hive test results.

So, if you are inclined towards Jetpack, you should consider using a server that has more memory. Jetpack isn’t a great choice especially when you are on shared hosting.

Also, I will never recommend using all features of Jetpack!

Note

Jetpack is not meant for those who are looking beyond simple tiled galleries. It is very basic and gets the job done without flashy things like animations and effects.

#17. Justified Image Grid – Available Only Through Code Canyon.

Justified Image Grid is not going to give you any free version. You have to purchase it through Codecanyon. However, don’t be saddened by the absence of a free version. You can always purchase this plugin for a small price of $27, which is a one-time fee.

The good news is that the plugin is a highly-rated plugin out there with well over 21,000 sales. The numbers speak for themselves.

Yes, you can check out the demo provided by the developer and decide whether to purchase it or not.

The plugin is designed to maintain the original aspect ratio of your images and create a beautiful image grid. You can use the plugin to import images from a number of services including Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, and even RSS.

The plugin has a drag and drop feature that makes life easy for the users with zero coding knowledge. The plugin also integrates perfectly with the famous WPBakery plugin. Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer any integration with the Gutenberg editor.

Quick Features of Justified Image Grid

The plugin can seamlessly link to many third-party content services and import images from them. You can even connect it with WooCommerce that will allow it to pull images from WooCommerce.
The plugin will never crop your images. Rather, it will keep the aspect ratio unchanged and create a beautiful horizontal image grid. Yes, cropping images is a possibility, but only if you request that in the settings.
The plugin has support for videos and works by using the URL of the videos you want in the gallery. It works only with YouTube and Vimeo.
The galleries created by the plugin are not only retina-ready, but are also completely responsive and scale to the screen size used by the visitors of your website.
There is a lightbox feature available for displaying larger images, and guess what? The lightbox will also show social sharing buttons to allow the visitors to share your images on various social media platforms.
Despite the fact that there is no tight integration with the Gutenberg editor, it works perfectly fine with Gutenberg.
There are certain special effects available that you cannot find in any other image gallery plugin. You can apply the effects to individual images in the gallery, or you can perform a gallery-wide implementation of a single effect.
It integrates nicely with WPBakery. This feature will give you the drag-and-drop feature of the plugin.
You can define custom photo behavior through adjustments in custom links settings, infinite scrolling settings, and filtering settings.
You can apply further customizations in the form of various special effects like sepia, glow, blurr and more!
There are special tools available to resize and redefine your images’ aspect ratio.
The plugin has shortcode support, allowing you to put a gallery just about anywhere you want.
It allows deep linking to your downloads page or blog posts.
There is CDN compatibility, as well! That ensures speedy loading of the website.

Performance

Because Justified Image Grid is available only through Codecanyon, WP Hive tests cannot run on it. WP Hive can only test plugins that are available through the WordPress plugins repository. However, during use, I never encountered any compatibility issues. The website didn’t slow down either.

Note

Justified Image Grid doesn’t have a free option available. If you want it, you have to buy it. It is a one-time investment, but it is a powerful tool that you can use for creating awesome galleries.

#18. Portfolio Gallery – PHP Errors and PHP Compatibility Issues

Portfolio Gallery is yet another amazing photo gallery plugin for WordPress. It is a freemium plugin, which means that you will get the core for free with limited capabilities. When you pay for the premium, the plugin gets all its extended capabilities.

The plugin is extremely simple to use. It doesn’t matter whether you are a tenured developer or a rookie, you can use the plugin with ease. The backend is simple and clutter-free. The galleries that this plugin will create are responsive and they come out beautifully on any screen size.

The galleries have some sleek effects like rounded edges, shadows, and fine animation make the galleries look great. When you scroll your mouse pointer over the images in the gallery, they will be subtle animations that look great.

Quick Features of Portfolio Gallery

There is a lightbox feature that works equally well on both desktops and mobile devices.
You can decide the number of columns you want in your galleries, and implement the same with just one click.
There are some pre-designed templates that you can use. These templates include the simple grid style and the beautiful masonry style, as well.
You can set filters for the galleries you insert in your website, thereby allowing you to quickly turn your galleries into portfolios.
Everything is customizable. You can change colors, define how much rounded the edges should be, play with the shadows, and more.
The premium version will give you various optimization tools and hover effects.
You can add multiple galleries to a single post or a single page.
You can even add galleries as widgets in the sidebar and/or footer.
You can show captions, titles, number of images in the gallery, and filters.
You can add custom CSS to customize the galleries even further so that they match the overall design theme of your website.

Performance

Though it is a great plugin with amazing end results, it is riddled with various PHP errors and PHP compatibility issues. It may just work for you, or you may run into troubles. So, use at your own risk. Good thing, however, is that if it works, you should not run into any page speed issues.

Here is a test report by WP Hive Insights:

Note

As always, some advanced options are available only to the premium users of the plugin. However, the free version can get the job done for those who don’t want to invest. Having said that, the plugin costs only $25. At this price, you will get additional tools including the options for image optimization.

#19. NextGEN Gallery – Memory Usage and Page Speed Issues

NextGEN Gallery is one of THE MOST popular gallery plugins for WordPress. The plugin is downloaded well over 1.5 million times every year. Developed by Imagely, you have the option to choose between their free offering, or upgrade to their premium version.

This plugin will allow you to create thumbnail galleries or slideshow galleries. You can create an extended album style, or settle for the compact style. Of course, you can control aspects like size, timing, transition, style, slider controls, lightbox styles, and various other things.

If you want an ecommerce facility, you can get that in their premium version. The premium version also throws in hotlink protection, watermarking facility, and image deep linking if you are using lightbox galleries.

The premium version also comes with various gallery templates that you can use to create eye-catching galleries that your readers will love.

Quick Features of NextGEN Gallery

You can not only create as many galleries as you want, but also create several albums using the galleries. This is beneficial if you are working with many images.
It also has support for slideshow galleries and various other gallery types. The type of gallery you can create totally depends on the plugin version you have.
There are advanced features like watermarking, hotlink protection, deep linking, etc., but they are available only in the premium version.
There are different gallery types like blog style galleries, list albums, thumbnail galleries, etc.
There are two different gallery layouts to select from. Those are compact and extended.
The plugin also allows image sharing on social media platforms using the included social media buttons.
If you are looking forward to selling your images, the premium version has that function as well.
The plugin has payment gateways, too! You get both Stripe and PayPal.
You can allow visitors to comment on the images. You can even turn off the function in case you don’t need it.
If you are selling photos using this gallery, it will automatically generate sales tax.
The premium version has a Lightroom plugin so that you can rapidly edit and publish your images.
You can even activate the Print lab fulfillment feature if you have a partnering lab for printing your photos.

Performance

As far as performance is concerned, you should think about page speed while using this plugin. It adds a whopping 0.58 seconds to page load time. That’s not good! Also, it uses a lot of memory. The average memory usage of this plugin is 1922.96 KB. That’s more than 97% of the plugins.

You will need an effective caching mechanism and a good CDN to deal with the speed issue. Also, I will never recommend using it on shared servers with low memory (1GB or less).

Here are the test results:

Note

The free version is a basic one with limited capabilities like adding timing and navigation arrows to the slideshows. The true power of the plugin shows up when you install their premium version that comes for $24 a year for the Starter plan. You can opt for other plans with greater pricing, but way more features than the basic plan.

#20. Photo Gallery by 10Web – High Memory Usage, PHP Errors, and Compatibility Issues

One of the most downloaded photo gallery plugins for WordPress, Photo Gallery by 10Web also follows the freemium model where you get a basic free version and a pumped up pro version. The core plugin or the free version will allow you to create basic grid galleries through an easy-to-use interface.

Getting a few galleries up and running on your website within a few minutes will not be a problem at all. However, in case you are looking for other advanced gallery layouts such as masonry or cropped images, you have to settle for their premium version.

There is no limit to the number of galleries you can create. Also, you can create unlimited albums using those galleries.

If you want, you can create galleries using embedded videos, or you can settle for galleries with a mix and match of images and embedded videos. The choice is yours.

Some of the interesting features that you can get with either the premium version or the free version of this plugin include right-click protection, watermarking, social media sharing, Facebook album display, different gallery templates, and even ecommerce options for selling your photographs.

As usual, the free version of the plugin will not give you too many customization options. For that, the premium version is required.

Quick Features of Photo Gallery by 10Web

The premium version will allow adding both videos and images to the galleries.
Filmstrip, slideshow, masonry – there are many types of galleries. Unfortunately, most of the gallery types are available only when you settle for the premium version of the plugin.
You can prevent image theft using their right-click protection and image image watermarking features.
You can sell digital contents or display Facebook albums using premium addons.
You can use the blog style gallery format for using the galleries in blog posts.
There are various SEO settings available that will help you to improve your SEO. You can add metadata, tags, etc., directly from inside the WordPress dashboard.
The plugin supports social sharing so that your users can keep sharing your photos on their social media profiles.
The plugin comes with a lightbox feature, too! It looks absolutely gorgeous on mobile devices.
There are 15 different slideshow effects that can instantly grab attention of your readers.
The lightbox also comes with an autoplay feature that eliminates the need for manual navigation.
The plugin supports image commenting so that you can engage your users and drive a community.
The plugin allows pulling media from Vimeo, Flickr, Instagram, and YouTube.
The plugin also supports widgets. You can insert galleries into footer and sidebars.
There are premade themes that you can use, but you will also have the flexibility of adding colors, or resizing images so that the design for your galleries matches the brand design and colors.
There are a host of addons available to extend the functionalities of the plugin. Some of them are free addons, while others are premium.

Performance

True! This plugin is used by hundreds of thousands of people globally. True! This plugin has some exceptional features. But there are various performance issues. You may run into errors while using it. So, be careful!

The plugin is known to run into PHP error, because it is not 100% compatible with PHP 7.4.8. Test results show that it also uses 54% more memory than other similar plugins.

Because of PHP errors, there may be conflicts with your latest version of WordPress even though the plugin developers say that it works without any glitch.

Here are the test results:

Note

The free version of Photo Gallery by 10Web will only give you basic galleries that are not so good looking. The premium version will allow you to create stunning galleries. The premium version starts with a price tag of $30 for one-site license. The price goes up if you want to use the plugin on multiple websites.

Final Thoughts

The list you just went through is a quick sneak peek into the many hundreds of options you can get. There is no shortage of photo gallery plugins for WordPress. You need to choose wisely. There are various factors that come into play, and they are:

Your requirements (the type of blog you have, the number of images you will work with, and so on). For instance, if you are a photographer selling your photography, you need a plugin that will help you to protect your photos.
Your budget. Like it or not, budget is a big constraint. New bloggers may not be able to afford a premium plugin. That was exactly what I faced years ago. Forget plugins, I didn’t have money for a proper theme. I used free themes, and often resorted to nulled themes. NEVER EVER USE NULLED THEMES. They will mess up your website.
Your expertise. If you are a rookie, going for a simple plugin that is easy to use will make more sense. You can work your way up later.

You also need to think about your website speed. If your website is slow, Google will push you down in the SERPs. No one likes that! So, if you don’t have a budget to get a premium plugin that will unlock image optimization features, it is better that you learn image optimization and combine your expertise with a free plugin with some basic customization capabilities like color and font editing.

If there is a plugin out there that does not allow at least a couple of layouts or basic editing even in the free option, it is better you steer away.

If you do have a budget, it is necessary that you get a premium plugin that will give you many advanced features. Afterall, a blog or a website that is heavily dependent on images, it is essential to have a tool that can help with proper organization of those images, and a photo gallery plugin for WordPress is the best thing that can get as close to divinity as possible.

If you think that the list should have contained a few more plugins that deserve a mention, feel free to drop a message. I will try to include them in the list during scheduled article updates!