Visual content is the most important part of any website. It is the one that decides how effective a site is and how much I can attract viewers. So that is the reason most of the websites use images and WordPress gallery plugins to display the images in an attractive manner. But with so many options in the market, it can get a bit difficult to find the right plugin that offers the right features and functions that you as a user are looking for. In this article, we have covered the best gallery plugins for WordPress.

Modula (free+premium)

Modula is as cool as its name sounds. It is a user-friendly gallery plugin for WordPress created by Macho themes that allows you to create interesting and alluring photos and videos galleries. It comes with various flexible options that you can choose from to modify your gallery and create a new one as per your liking. Modula comes with custom grid functionality using which you can resize images in gallery all you need to do is switch from creative gallery to custom grid and change the dimensions of the images as per your requirement.

Modula come s with an easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface and customization features help you to create an attractive gallery in less than 5 minutes. If you wish to explore advance features, it comes with advance customization section using which you can add CSS features that you can apply to different galleries. The free version of Modula called Modula lite includes custom grid functionality and it also offers settings like margins, shadows, border-radius, etc.  However, if you want advance features like 6 lightbox styles, 12 images hover effects, create filterable galleries, adding unlimited pictures then its plans start at $29.

Pros

1. You can design custom grids
2. Offers 6 lightbox styles
3. Can  add image-entry animations
4. Customization of gallery with CSS

Cons

1. Modula is just for grid galleries it doesn’t help you to create slideshows and all
2. Premium version starts at $29, and its free version doesn’t offer any good features. It offers basic editing only.

Download and Demo

Nextgen Gallery (free+premium)

Nextgen Gallery is 2^nd one on the list and all due to good reasons. It comes with both free and paid versions. Its free version provides two main gallery styles (slideshows and thumbnail galleries) and two album styles (compact and extended)which comes with array option to control the size, style, controls, effects and more.  Its premium version comes with more advance features like e-commerce functions to sell images, image protection and images deep linking for lightbox galleries.  The cheapest premium plan for Nextgen Plus starts at $79.

Pros

1. You can create albums of different galleries, which help you to display lots of different pictures
2. Can create slideshow galleries and lots of other gallery types based on the plan that you choose
3. Nextgen Pro includes e-commerce functionality
4. Its pro version includes features like watermarks, image deep links and more

Cons

1. The free version includes basic features
2. Nextgen Pro is a little expensive at $79.

Download and Demo

Foogallery (free+premium)

Foogallery is a freemium photo gallery plugin that enables you to create responsive galleries choosing different layouts. All the galleries that will be created by you will be set retina-ready by default. It comes with both free and paid versions. Its free version comes with album support built-in, to create and group multiple galleries. You can club galleries together as per the category of images. As you move up in the plan the number of features also increase. It pro-version you get features like Support for videos in galleries, Image hover effects, Simple dot pagination, More gallery templates, Infinite scroll, Image loading effects and more. One noteworthy feature is that it provides lazy loading to optimize image performance. Its pro plans start at $49 for a single-site license.

Pros

1. Can create both image and video galleries by taking premium plan
2. Includes a built-in tool to help you generate boilerplate extensions
3. Good templates in free version

Cons

1. Grid template available in paid version only
2. $49 for a single-site license can be a bit expensive for newbies

Download and Demo

Photo Gallery by Supsystic (free+premium)

Photo gallery by Supsystic is another freemium plugin that comes with a good free version and advanced pro-version. Using this plugin you can create unlimited photo galleries using various templates. It also allows the customization of created galleries as well. If you want to make bulk image imports then this plugin comes with pretty cool features that empower you to Import images from social media networks, adding images to gallery by FTP and features like displaying videos in galleries, importing videos from Youtube are available in the pro-version. Its pro-version starts at $29 for a single-site license.

Pros

1. Adding images to the gallery by FTP
2. Importing images from social media networks
3. Pro version includes pagination and image categories
4. Can add watermark to images for free

Cons

1. Complicated gallery creation interface

Download and Demo

Envira Gallery (free+premium)

Envira gallery is a freemium plugin. Evira is designed with an easy interface that makes it easy to run and create an attractive gallery. It comes with both a free and paid version. Its free version is good for basic galleries, the various premium plans have features like social sharing, video support, watermarking, albums, image deep linking, WooCommerce support and more. The basic premium version starts at $29 for a single-site license, but it costs around $99 for a full-featured pro version.

Pros

1. Well-designed interface
2. Tons of features in the pro version
3. Helpful add-ons for Woocommerce, lightroom, etc

Cons

1. Some features which are free in other plugins are included in the pro version here
2. $99 for a pro version is pretty expensive

Download and Demo

Photogallery by WD (free+premium)

It is one of the most popular on WordPress. Its lets you create unlimited albums. One of the amazing features about this plugin its that you can create galleries from embedded videos and including an option to mix and match galleries.  Its premium version starts at $30 for a single –site license. It contains loads of features like;

1. Social sharing
2. Images watermarking
3. Different gallery template option
4. Ecommerce add-ons to sell digital content

Pros

1. Premium version allows adding both images and videos in your galleries
2. Creating tons of gallery types including masonry, slideshow, filmstrip, etc.
3. Add-ons for advanced features for selling digital content

Cons

1. Good templates are available in pro version only
2. Premium version starts at $30 for a single –site license

Download and Demo

Jetpack (free)

I am sure you might have heard this name before, its a multi-purpose WordPress plugin. As it provides many features, it is known for its enhancement to the core WordPress gallery functionality. Jetpack galleries aren’t as heavy-duty as other on the list, so it a good option if you want to create basic and simple galleries. You can use it for free if you have already installed it on your site. Jetpack provides both square and circular gallery options.

Pros

1. Basic enhancement to the core WordPress gallery is required
2. No need to do additional downloads, included in Jetpack plugin
3. Free

Cons

1. It is not good as other gallery plugins as a gallery is one of the many features that it offers. So if you installed it to design galleries then you will be disappointed, my friend
2. Less flexibility in functions

Download and Demo

Final tiles gallery (free+premium)

Final tiles gallery uses a unique algorithm to make your photo galleries engaging and interesting. The free version of the plugin can be downloaded from the official website The algorithm used doesn’t allow cropping of images and allows to create unique looking galleries using original size images. The best part about the algorithm in this plugin is no matter how big your images are the galleries adapt the browser using smooth animation to give to the best visual experience. It is fully compatible with mobile devices which makes it easy to manage. You can use Final Tiles Gallery different purposes like designing a wedding gallery, a product showcase, a design portfolio gallery,  etc. Its free version comes with two different layouts;

• Tile
• Masonry

Moreover, it includes the ability to sort images both manually and randomly, it comes with lightbox support, social sharing and ability to create video galleries. However, if you want more features you can always upgrade to pr plans, which starts at $24.99/ year which is reasonable for a beginner.

Pros

1. Can create more unique gallery layouts to post appealing content
2. Easy to use plugins
3. Allows gallery customization

Cons

1. Its free version lacks a lot of essential features, which makes is pro version a must

Download and Demo

To conclude, there is no per recommendation here. As the mentioned gallery plugins are good in one way or the other. If you want to create good looking galleries in no time then Modula is the one with the most user-friendly interface. On the other hand, if you are a professional photographer looking for plugins to display your images more attractively then Nextgen and Envira gallery plugins are good to go. If you still don’t know which one the right on for you then you can go through the demos provided by all the galleries and make comparisons to know which one suits you the most. The best part is that all the gallery plugins on the list come with the free version so you can always try and find the right one, play with the template and filters for a while, create galleries, edit images and videos then make your decision that which one is right for you