6 Best Lightbox WordPress Plugins

A lightbox is a WordPress plugin that overlays content in a modal window with images, videos, and other media files, dimming the background when users click respective media elements on the website. According to many research, if implemented correctly, popups can ensure conversions from 3.50% to 4.01%.

However, you can take this conversion rate much further by strategically implementing lightbox popups during campaign times. Not only conversion but also they can contribute a lot in generating leads whom you can convert into your customers through regular nurturing.

In this article, we’ll list and discuss the best lightbox WordPress plugins, including their key features, pros & cons, and pricing. Let’s get started!

Things to Consider in a Lightbox WordPress Plugin

Once you start using a plugin on your site, it really becomes difficult to switch to another one. So, it’s better to select a plugin with utmost caution. Below are the things you need to consider when selecting a Lightbox plugin.

Media Support

Confirm that the plugin supports various media types (images, videos, and GIFs) so you can present your content most convincingly.

SEO Features

Although SEO is not that important for popups, features like lazy loading and mobile responsiveness can still play a crucial role in popup performance and lightweight.

Animation Effects

Animation effects can significantly enhance engagement, hook attention, reduce bounce rate, and convey brand personality. So, choose a popup plugin that has many animation effects.

Support & Documentation

Support and DIY documentation are a must if you are looking for a premium plugin. Otherwise, you may face unsolvable troubles if your plugin ever conflicts with the site.

Best Lightbox WordPress Plugins

Hope by now you know the things a standard lightbox WordPress plugin must have. In this context, we will discuss below some of the best lightbox WordPress plugins.

1. Firelight Lightbox

Firelight Lightbox was previously known as the Eaxy Fencybox plugin. It currently has over 200,000 active installations, which indicates its popularity. It provides a flexible solution to add and show up images, videos, maps, and PDF content in a visually appealing lightbox format.

After installing the plugin, it automatically detects links to various media types. It supports multiple media formats like svg and webp, allowing you to open the media files on new web pages. However, you can customize the appearance of the lightbox to fit the website’s design and brand.

Key features of Firelight Lightbox:

Automatic Media Detection: As said before, the plugin automatically detects all the images and galleries on posts and pages. As a result, when users click on images/gallery links, they automatically open up with a lightbox.

Supports Multiple Media Formats: The plugin seamlessly supports a wide range of media types, such as images, videos, PDFs, GIFs, maps, etc.

NextGEN Gallery Integration: NextGEN is a popular WordPress gallery plugin. This integration lets users enhance the gallery presentation with the lightbox functionality.

Supports Video Streaming Platforms: The plugin can open up videos from YouTube, Vimeo, and Dailymotion if their links are embedded on the site.

Customizable Appearance and Behavior: It’s easy to customize the lightbox’s appearance, color, size, animations, and more to ensure aestheticness.

Pricing of Firelight Lightbox:

Firelight Lightbox has a free version available. Its premium version starts from $39/year.

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2. WP Video Lightbox

WP Video Lightbox is a shortcode-based video lightbox plugin. It allows you to embed videos from streaming platforms like YouTube and Vimeo on WordPress posts/pages and display them as lightbox using shortcodes. You’ll get the shortcodes on the plugin’s WordPress.org page.

You just have to copy-paste your desired video link into the respective place of the shortcode. You can define the height and width of the particular lightbox within the shortcode. Besides, the plugin creates a Video Lightbox section under the Settings menu on the admin bar. You can configure animation speed, autoplay, opacity, size, and more things from that section.

Key features of WP Video Lightbox:

Mobile Screen Compatible: Embedded videos can be viewed as lightbox on iPad, iPhone, and Android devices.

Support Multiple Media Types: In addition to videos, the plugin can display other media types, such as iframes and images.

Customizable Appearance: It’s easy to define separator, padding, height, width, theme, animation, etc. However, you cannot do complex customizations.

Lightweight and Fast: WP Video Lightbox is indeed a lightweight plugin that keeps your site fast loading. As a result, your web pages tend to perform well on SERPs.

Pricing of WP Video Lightbox

WP Video Lightbox doesn’t have a premium version yet. So, it’s completely free to use.

3. Responsive Lightbox & Gallery

The Responsive Lightbox & Gallery is a comprehensive gallery plugin with a lightbox feature. It has a drag-and-drop gallery builder that offers a straightforward way to create and manage stunning image galleries without any coding knowledge. So, you can customize and update galleries in just a few minutes.

As a result, both beginners and experienced people can use this plugin at the same speed. Besides, the plugin is developed with the SEO factor in mind, meaning it’s lightweight and maintains an optimal page loading speed. It’s great for portfolios, personal blogs, and online stores.

Key features of Responsive Lightbox & Gallery

Vast Customization Options: The plugin offers you numerous customization options so you can tweak your galleries and lightbox to suit your website’s branding and audience needs.

Lots of Premium Extensions: You’ll find plenty of premium plugin extensions on its website. Using them, you can enjoy more flexibility and customization options.

Easy to Build Galleries: We’ve already described above. Using its drag-and-drop builder, you can create galleries quite easily on your website.

DIY Documentation: You’ll get an extensive collection of DIY documentation guides on how to use the plugin and its extensions.

Pricing of Responsive Lightbox & Gallery

The Responsive Lightbox & Gallery plugin is free to use. But you have to buy its extensions.

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4. Photonic Gallery & Lightbox

The Photonic Gallery & Lightbox plugin has integration with Flickr, Google Photos, SmugMug, and Zenfolio platforms. As a result, you can easily import images to your web posts/pages and showcase them as albums or galleries. Thus, the plugin introduces you to an abundance of media resources.

Its lightbox feature includes pure JavaScript and jQuery-based lightbox scripts to ensure a top-notch user experience. Beyond these, the plugin includes several beautiful layouts to display galleries. They are grids, masonry layouts, and slideshows. It also covers deep linking support for social sharing.

Key features of Photonic Gallery & Lightbox

Gallery Shortcode and Block Support: If your site is designed with a page builder, you can display galleries with shortcodes. In the case of posts, it’s possible with the Gutenberg block.

Extensive Lightbox Support: As already said, the lightbox feature includes pure JavaScript and jQuery-based scripts. This provides popular options like LightGallery, Fancybox, and PhotoSwipe.

Video Support: Not only can you incorporate videos from external sources like YouTube and Vimeo, but also you can upload self-hosted videos in the MP4 format.

Authentication for Private Photos: If there is any private media collection in the gallery, only authorized users can view them through authentication. This feature is great if you want to show specific collections to clients.

Comprehensive Documentation: No matter what problem you face, you will find its DIY solution in its comprehensive documentation collection.

Pricing of Photonic Gallery & Lightbox

This is a free WordPress plugin. It doesn’t have a premium version yet.

5. ARI Fancy Lightbox

The ARI Fancy Lightbox plugin allows you to access a variety of content in the compelling lightbox format on all device types through the Fancybox popup. Not only from WordPress gallery but also the plugin can showcase images in lightbox popups from gallery plugins, like Jetpack, FooGallery, Justified Image Grid, and NextGEN.

The plugin also supports videos from streaming platforms like Dailymotion, Vimeo, and YouTube. In addition to all these, you can display PDFs, Google Map links, and inline content. This means ARI Fancy Lightbox is extremely versatile. Just install the plugin. It will automatically integrate with existing galleries.

Key features of ARI Fancy Lightbox

Supports Deep Linking: The plugin can generate links for each lightbox item. It automatically opens the lightbox when the link is opened in a new browser.

Security: By right-clicking on images, people usually check the image URL. You can limit this option only for authorized users. As a result, the right-clicking option won’t work for unauthorized users.

Social Sharing: By enabling this option, you can allow users to share the lightbox content on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, VK. Send by e-mail.

WooCommerce-Friendly: Integration with WooCommerce allows product images to be viewed in the lightbox, enhancing user experience.

Integration with Popular Galleries: As already said before, this plugin has integration with NextGEN, FooGallery, Jetpack, and more, which are known as some advanced gallery plugins.

Pricing of ARI Fancy Lightbox

It has a free version available. It’s premium version costs $15/month.

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6. Meow Lightbox

The Meow Lightbox is a responsive lightbox plugin designed specifically for photographers. Not only images but also the plugin can display EXIF data, such as camera, aperture, shutter speed, and lens information. This allows photography enthusiasts to showcase the technical details of their work to viewers.

The plugin works with various gallery systems. However, its developers suggest the Meow Gallery for optimum results. The pro version includes deep linking for direct image sharing, social sharing capabilities, and image slideshows.

Key features of Meow Lightbox

Responsive Layout: As already said, the plugin is responsive. But a new point is to add that it also supports responsive images. This means the resolution of the images automatically adapts to the device screen sizes.

Selector Customization: By default, the plugin targets these selectors – .entry-content, .gallery, and .mgl-gallery. To add new selectors, you can easily update the settings.

Slideshow Functionality: It empowers users to initiate a slideshow directly from the lightbox so they can have a dynamic viewing experience for galleries.

Pricing of Meow Lightbox

It has a free version available on WordPress.org. Its premium version starts from $29/year.

Conclusion

In the world of content marketing, the right presentation and storytelling ability can make all the difference. Using a lightbox plugin not only can enhance your website’s appeal but also provide a wonderful experience to users and visitors. If your site relies much on media content, the lightbox feature can take it to a new height.

Hope you will be able to find your desired plugin from all the ones described above. It’s now your time to explore their features in a local host and finally choose one that meets your demands.