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VenoBox – Lightweight & Responsive Lightbox Plugin icon
Actively maintained Tested with WP 7.1

VenoBox – Lightweight & Responsive Lightbox Plugin

A fast, responsive, and flexible lightbox for images, videos, and galleries. Zero jQuery dependency.

Active installs200+100+ tier
Downloads · 30d197▼ -42.9% vs prev. 30d
Rating5/51 reviews
Health score76/100Good
All-time downloads4.8KSince Feb 2024
Support resolved1 / 1100% in last 2 months
RequiresWP 4.0PHP 5.3+
Downloads · 7d47▼ -4.1% week over week
Our verdict

Solid choice

VenoBox is a solid plugin choice in 2026, with a few things worth checking first. It runs on 200+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 2 months ago, and scores 76/100 on our health check.

  • Tested with the latest WordPress (7.1)
  • Small user base (200+ active installs)
  • Very few reviews so far

How does it stack up?

Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support

Daily downloads

183755Jul 20Sep 2Oct 17
Yesterday4
Daily average (1y)7
Peak day74Aug 24, 2026
Last 12 months2.5K

Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.

Rankings

Where VenoBox stands today

WordPress.org search rankings

Live position in the plugin search, top 100
KeywordPositionCompeting pluginsCategory
gallery >100 4,398 Best gallery plugins →
lightbox #46 1,545 Best lightbox plugins →
modal #76 3,815 Best modal plugins →
popup >100 5,301 Best popup plugins →
woocommerce >100 10,000 Best woocommerce plugins →

Version adoption

Share of active sites per release.

  • 1.192.7%
  • 1.07.4%

Rating breakdown

★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews

  • 5★100.0%
  • 4★0.00%
  • 3★0.00%
  • 2★0.00%
  • 1★0.00%

About VenoBox

From the official readme · v1.1.7

Description

Tired of slow, clunky lightboxes that rely on jQuery? VenoBox is the modern, lightweight, and performance-focused lightbox your WordPress site deserves.

Built from the ground up with pure JavaScript, VenoBox is incredibly fast and avoids conflicts with other plugins. It intelligently calculates the best display size for your images, offers beautiful touch-swipe navigation for galleries, and seamlessly integrates with WooCommerce product galleries.

Why Choose VenoBox?

  • ⚡ Performance First (No jQuery): Incredibly lightweight and fast-loading. It won’t slow down your site.
  • 📱 Truly Responsive: Smart image resizing and touch-swipe navigation provide a flawless experience on any device.
  • 🛒 WooCommerce Ready: Automatically enhances your WooCommerce product galleries with a beautiful and user-friendly lightbox.
  • 🎬 Multimedia Support: Works perfectly with images, videos (YouTube, Vimeo, HTML5), iFrames, and inline content.
  • 🎨 Highly Customizable: Easily change colors, styles, preloaders, and aspect ratios to match your brand’s design.

Features

  • Responsive Image Handling:
    VenoBox sets itself apart by dynamically calculating the max width of displayed images and maintaining their original height, ensuring your visuals look stunning on any device. No more microscopic resized images on small screens – VenoBox guarantees an immersive user experience.

  • Optional Image Resizing:
    Take control of your visuals with VenoBox’s optional image resizing feature, allowing you to fit images perfectly within the viewport height. Tailor your content for an aesthetically pleasing and responsive display.

  • Multimedia Versatility:
    From images and iframes to inline content, VenoBox supports it all. Seamlessly integrate Vimeo, YouTube, and HTML5 video formats into captivating modal lightbox popups for a truly engaging user experience.

  • Automatic Activation:
    Let VenoBox do the heavy lifting by automatically enabling itself for all linked images and videos on your WordPress site. Enjoy hassle-free implementation and an instantly improved visual presentation.

  • Touch Swipe Gallery Navigation:
    Enhance user interaction with touch swipe gallery navigation. Your audience can effortlessly explore galleries with a simple swipe, creating an intuitive and enjoyable browsing experience.

  • Keyboard Navigation:
    Navigate through your content with ease using VenoBox’s keyboard navigation feature. Provide users with multiple ways to interact, ensuring accessibility and user-friendliness.

  • Custom Preloaders:
    Impress your visitors with custom preloaders that match your website’s style. Choose from a variety of options to create a seamless transition as your images and videos load.

  • Custom Videos Aspect Ratio:
    Fine-tune your video displays with custom aspect ratios, ensuring your multimedia content looks just the way you envision it.

  • Customizable Colors and Styles:
    Tailor the appearance of VenoBox to match your brand with customizable colors and styles. Maintain a consistent visual identity across your website, creating a cohesive and polished look.

  • WooCommerce Compatibility:
    VenoBox seamlessly integrates with WooCommerce product galleries, offering a streamlined solution for displaying your products with style and flair.

3rd party services

YouTube
If you enable VenoBox for videos and link YouTube videos, the plugin embeds the videos inside of your website with the following url:
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/

Terms of service:
https://developers.google.com/youtube/terms/api-services-terms-of-service

Vimeo
If you enable VenoBox for videos and link Vimeo videos, the plugin embeds the videos inside of your website with the following url:
https://player.vimeo.com/video/

Terms of servce:
https://vimeo.com/terms

More from Nicola Franchini

If you find VenoBox useful, you might also like my other tools for WordPress:

  • 💎 QRcdr: From static codes to a full Dynamic QR SaaS. Sell plans, track scans and monetize.
  • 📍 VenoMaps: The ultimate Google Maps alternative. Create fast, privacy-friendly maps using OpenStreetMap. No API keys required, no hidden costs, and zero configuration headaches.

Discover all my solutions at veno.es.
High-quality scripts, premium add-ons, and professional tools designed for performance-focused developers.

Installation

  1. Upload the plugin folder venobox to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory
  2. Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu in WordPress
  3. Adjust the plugin settings in WP Admin > Dashboard > Settings > VenoBox

Frequently asked questions

How to group links for gallery navigation?

Every WP image gallery will be treated as individual gallery; To group specific links add the following class to any parent element of the links venobox-gall

How to reinitialize the plugin for dynamic links added to an already loaded page?

Use this snippet once your new links have been added: if (typeof window.VenoBoxPlugin === "function") { window.VenoBoxPlugin(); }

How to open remote content inside iFrames?

Add the class venobox-iframe to your links

How to get results from ajax calls?

Add the class venobox-ajax to your links

How to open inline content inside iFrames?

Add the class venobox-inline to your links

Can the images be resized to fit within the viewport height?

Yes, with the global option Fit view, or to individual links or group of links adding the class venobox-fitview to one of their containers

Changelog

1.1.7

  • Update: tested up to WordPress 7.1

1.1.6

  • Update: New helper class .no-venobox to disable specific links.

1.1.5

  • Update: VenoBox JS 2.2.0: WCAG compliance – Hidden scrollbar

1.1.4

  • Update: Support for the new Woocommerce block Product Gallery
  • Update: Minified bundle, performance improved
  • Update: tested up to WP 7.0

1.1.3

  • Update: Discrete plugin review notice

1.1.2

  • Update: Tested up to WP 6.9

Full changelog on WordPress.org →

Screenshots

VenoBox interface
VenoBox interface
Plugin Options
Plugin Options
UI Style
UI Style
Integrations
Integrations
Disable VenoBox on specific post or page
Disable VenoBox on specific post or page

For developers

Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.

Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.

Active installs badge Rating badge Health score badge

Best VenoBox alternatives

All gallery plugins →
Alternatives
Rank Plugin Active installs Rating Updated Health
1 Smart Slider 3 Smart Slider 3 Responsive slider plugin to create sliders in visual editor easily. Build beautiful image… by Nextendweb 800K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 (1.1K) 2 months ago 89
2 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider Slider, gallery, carousel plugin for WordPress. Build your image slider, video slider, post… by MetaSlider 500K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 (741) 3 weeks ago 94
3 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes The most popular gallery plugin that lets you create galleries and albums in seconds. by Syed Balkhi 300K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 (4.3K) 3 days ago 92
4 Firelight Lightbox Firelight Lightbox Formerly Easy Fancybox. The most popular WordPress lightbox plugin. Simple, fast, and… by Firelight 200K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 (360) 2 weeks ago 90
5 Photo Gallery by 10Web – Mobile-Friendly Image Gallery Photo Gallery by 10Web – Mobile-Friendly Image Gallery Photo Gallery is a powerful image gallery plugin with a list of advanced options for… by 10Web 100K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 (1.6K) 3 days ago 65
6 Responsive Lightbox & Gallery Responsive Lightbox & Gallery The most popular lightbox plugin and responsive gallery builder for WordPress. by dFactory 100K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 (2K) 2 weeks ago 83
7 Simple Lightbox Simple Lightbox The highly customizable lightbox for WordPress by Archetyped 100K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 (239) 1 month ago 74
8 Envira Gallery – Image Photo Gallery, Albums, Video Gallery, Slideshows & More Envira Gallery The fastest drag & drop photo gallery plugin. Create stunning image galleries, albums… by Syed Balkhi 100K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 (1.6K) 1 week ago 95
9 Lightbox & Modal Popup WordPress Plugin – FooBox Lightbox & Modal Popup WordPress Plugin – FooBox A responsive image lightbox for WordPress galleries, WordPress attachments & FooGallery by FooPlugins 100K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 3.9 (95) 6 days ago 84
10 Carousel, Slider, Photo Gallery with Lightbox, Video Slider, by WP Carousel Carousel, Slider, Photo Gallery with Lightbox, Video Slider… Carousel, Slider, and Photo Gallery with Lightbox plugin. Create Image Carousel, Video… by ShapedPlugin LLC 60K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 (434) 3 days ago 94

FAQ

VenoBox: quick answers

Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.

Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 18, 2026

Is VenoBox free?

Yes. VenoBox is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.

Is VenoBox safe to use in 2026?

VenoBox is a solid plugin choice in 2026, with a few things worth checking first. It runs on 200+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 2 months ago, and scores 76/100 on our health check.

How many websites use VenoBox?

VenoBox is active on 200+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 4,821 times since it launched in February 2024. It was downloaded 197 times in the last 30 days.

Does VenoBox work with WordPress 7.1?

Yes. The developer has tested VenoBox up to WordPress 7.1.3, the latest release. It requires WordPress 4.0 or newer.

What PHP version does VenoBox need?

VenoBox requires PHP 5.3 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.

When was VenoBox last updated?

The latest version, 1.1.7, was released on August 24, 2026 (2 months ago).

Who makes VenoBox?

VenoBox is developed and maintained by Nicola Franchini.

What are the best alternatives to VenoBox?

The most popular alternatives to VenoBox are Smart Slider 3 (800K+ installs), Slider, Gallery, and Carous… (500K+ installs) and Photo Gallery, Sliders, Pro… (300K+ installs).

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