Photo Gallery – Image, Video & Portfolio
Photo Gallery is a fast, lightweight WordPress plugin designed to help you create stunning photo galleries and video galleries in minutes. Built with a native CSS Grid engine, it delivers high performance and mobile…
Solid choice
Photo Gallery is a solid plugin choice in 2026, with a few things worth checking first. It runs on 1K+ sites, is rated 4.8/5 and was last updated 1 month ago, and scores 77/100 on our health check.
- Tested with the latest WordPress (7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Photo Gallery stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| image gallery | #67 |
| photo gallery | #17 |
| portfolio gallery | #27 |
| video gallery | #41 |
| youtube gallery | #44 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 from 13 reviews
About Photo Gallery – Image, Video & Portfolio
From the official readme · v2.0.3Description
Photo Gallery is a fast, lightweight WordPress plugin designed to help you create stunning photo galleries and video galleries in minutes. Built with a native CSS Grid engine, it delivers high performance and mobile responsiveness across all devices and theme layouts.
Easily add YouTube videos simply by pasting their video links—the plugin automatically fetches high-resolution cover posters for seamless video display. Include photos and videos in the same gallery, customize grid columns, adjust hover effects, and enable interactive lightbox popups. Works effortlessly with WordPress Gutenberg blocks, Elementor page builder, and traditional shortcodes.
Its Premium Version Name is Video Gallery Premium.
Premium Live Demo
Get Video Gallery Premium
Key Features
- Native CSS Grid layout for maximum page loading speed and mobile responsiveness.
- Unified photo gallery and video gallery capabilities to display mixed media.
- Video Poster Manager to automatically fetch YouTube and Vimeo video thumbnails.
- Modern lightbox popup with thumbnail navigation strip and loop toggle.
- Grayscale filter with customizable hover percentage transitions.
- Custom grid column spacing and padding adjustments.
- Integrated shortcode generator and Elementor widget support.
- Gutenberg block integration for live backend preview.
Upgrade to Video Gallery Premium
The official premium counterpart is Video Gallery Premium. Upgrading unlocks features such as:
* Pinterest-style masonry grid layouts.
* Native API syncing for YouTube, Vimeo, Twitch Helix, TikTok, Dailymotion, Wistia, and Meta Reels.
* Server-side AJAX pagination and Load More button for large collections.
* Duplicate gallery action tool for CPT lists.
* Custom redirect targets to send visitors to targeted URLs on slide click.
* Chart.js analytics tracking for video plays and views.
* Advanced lightbox settings, custom play icons, and priority support.
Installation
Automatic Installation
- Go to Plugins > Add New in your WordPress dashboard.
- Search for “Photo Gallery Starter”.
- Click Install Now and then Activate.
Manual Installation
- Download the plugin zip file.
- Go to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin.
- Choose the zip file and click Install Now.
- Activate the plugin.
Usage
- Navigate to Photo & Video Gallery > Add Gallery.
- Enter a title and upload images/videos.
- Adjust the grid layout, columns, and lightbox options.
- Copy the generated shortcode [NPG id=XX] and paste it into any post, page, or widget.
Frequently asked questions
How do I create a photo gallery?
Navigate to Photo & Video Gallery > Add Gallery. Enter a title, upload your images using the media manager, adjust your preferences, and copy the shortcode. Paste this shortcode into your page editor.
How do I add videos to my video gallery?
Under the gallery settings tab, change the slide type to “Video”. Paste the YouTube or Vimeo URL in the field, and use the Fetch Poster button to fetch the video’s cover thumbnail automatically.
Is the gallery responsive?
Yes, the layout uses modern CSS Grid with responsive columns (from 1 to 6) configured for desktops, tablets, and mobile devices.
Can I use it in Elementor or Gutenberg?
Yes, a custom Elementor widget is provided, along with a native Gutenberg block featuring backend previews.
What is the premium version?
The premium version is Video Gallery Premium. It supports Masonry layout, automatic channel API syncing, AJAX pagination, and slide redirections.
Changelog
Redesigned All Gallery page styling, improved shortcode copy UI, and updated Pro links. Recommended for all users.
2.0.3
- Date: 20 July 2026
- Modernized the All Gallery CPT admin page (edit.php) list table styling and shortcode column layout to match Video Gallery.
- Enqueued plugin admin CSS and Inter fonts on the All Gallery admin page.
- Updated Live Demo and Buy Pro Version button links in the Docs page.
2.0.2
- Date: 17 July 2026
- Updated the “Upgrade to Pro” dashboard settings tab to officially showcase Video Gallery Premium features.
- Added a detailed side-by-side Free vs. Premium layout and sources comparison table.
- Corrected invalid dashicon identifier on the API features grid card to restore correct icon visibility.
2.0.1
- Date: 29 June 2026
- Fixed Gutenberg block to use ServerSideRender live preview with modern gradient placeholder.
- Fixed Gutenberg block selectability, movement, and deletion by adding pointer-events fallbacks and flow-root display styling to prevent container collapse in the editor.
- Fixed script errors in Gutenberg editor by wrapping output template’s lightGallery and isotope calls in safe jQuery existence checks.
- Fixed Elementor widget styling and script dependencies enqueuing.
2.0.0
- Date 29 June 2026
- Modernization: Replaced legacy Bootstrap styling with a high-performance, native CSS Grid layout engine.
- UI/UX Upgrade: Redesigned the entire admin dashboard using a premium Indigo & Violet tabbed user interface.
- Feature: Added manual “Fetch Poster” and “Revert” action buttons for video slide thumbnails (YouTube and Vimeo).
- Feature: Added a Grayscale Amount (%) range control setting to customize the Black & White hover filter strength.
- Feature: Added a “Show Lightbox Thumbnails” toggle switch to enable/disable the lightbox thumbnail strip.
- Optimization: Enforced lightweight (medium resolution) image loading for lightbox thumbnails to resolve performance lag.
- Housekeeping: Permanently removed duplicate CSS/JS code, obsolete bootstrap dependencies, and unused icon libraries.
- Housekeeping: Refactored plugin architecture by organizing core files into dedicated assets/ and include/ directories.
1.5.5
- Security: Implemented secure Vimeo thumbnail API parsing and meta caching.
- Compliance: Updated Custom Post Type slug to ‘npg_gallery’ with seamless auto-migration.
- Compliance: Upgraded menu and post save capabilities from ‘administrator’ to ‘manage_options’/’edit_post’.
- Modernization: Replaced deprecated copy commands with navigator.clipboard API.
- Housekeeping: Purged dead/unused assets.
- Housekeeping: Excised TGMPA library to eliminate intrusive admin nags and reduce plugin weight.
- Feature: Added fully dynamic, cached, and translation-ready “Our Plugins” and “Our Themes” submenus matching WP.org standards.
1.5.4
- Tested with WordPress 6.9
- New: Redesigned Settings Page with modern Card-based UI.
- Fixed: Typos in function names and shortcode logic.
- Fixed: Deprecated jQuery load event.
- Improvement: Removed unused code and variables.
- Improvement: Standardized code structure.
Screenshots
For developers
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Best Photo Gallery alternatives
All image gallery plugins →
FAQ
Photo Gallery: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 28, 2026
Is Photo Gallery free?
Yes. Photo Gallery is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory. The developer also sells premium add-ons or a Pro version with extra features.
Is Photo Gallery safe to use in 2026?
Photo Gallery is a solid plugin choice in 2026, with a few things worth checking first. It runs on 1K+ sites, is rated 4.8/5 and was last updated 1 month ago, and scores 77/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Photo Gallery?
Photo Gallery is active on 1K+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 168,146 times since it launched in October 2016. It was downloaded 521 times in the last 30 days.
Does Photo Gallery work with WordPress 7.1?
Yes. The developer has tested Photo Gallery up to WordPress 7.1.2, the latest release. It requires WordPress 4.0 or newer.
What PHP version does Photo Gallery need?
Photo Gallery requires PHP 7.0 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.
When was Photo Gallery last updated?
The latest version, 2.0.3, was released on August 20, 2026 (1 month ago).
Who makes Photo Gallery?
Photo Gallery is developed and maintained by A WP Life.
What are the best alternatives to Photo Gallery?
The most popular alternatives to Photo Gallery are Photo Gallery, Sliders, Pro… (300K+ installs), Photo Gallery by 10Web (100K+ installs) and FooGallery Photo Gallery (100K+ installs).
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