15+ Best WordPress Lightbox Plugins to Enhance Your Site

Lightbox makes your website newer and more stylish to your site by removing the background or dimming it to how you want the visitor to focus their eyes. With Lightbox, you can show videos, sign-up forms, discount offers, sale notifications, and contact us forms.

Hopefully, this article has helped you decide and identify which WordPress lightbox plugins best suit your needs.

What is a WordPress Lightbox Plugin?

From this review, it is clear that a WordPress lightbox plugin is a valuable tool that enables adding any web content, such as images, videos, galleries, or others, into an overlay on the webpage, thus providing users with a more engaging experience.

It avoids the situation where a user is taken to another page or even a new website location, therefore enhancing the chances of having the user’ engage and use the website more often.

A lightbox plugin is one of the best solutions to present and navigate through the media content in a perfect circle. In every case, be it an image gallery that requires a high-quality image, a portfolio that needs clean product images, or a website that uses video content, a lightbox plugin enhances the overall experience.

Lightbox plugins can be helpful in the following situations:

  1. Image galleries and portfolios: Representing a set of pictures pleasantly to viewers.
  2. Product presentations: Portal navigation focused on the images of products, making it easier for the users to look at them.
  3. Video content: Since it will involve embedding videos, it provides an easy and continuous method of watching videos within the website.
  4. Interactive media: These are maps, charts, and other graphs the user can navigate through once they open the lightbox.

Having given a clear definition of a lightbox plugin and how it can be used, this is an excellent time to look at the best WordPress plugins available to add this excellent effect to your site.

Best WordPress Lightbox Plugins

Here is our list of the most suitable lightbox plugins for WordPress that we’ve examined while looking for the best lightbox available for purchase.

1. OptinAble

OptinAble WordPress Plugin

OptinAble is the most excellent and effective plugin for lead generation, and you can use it to increase the number of subscribers, leads, and sales. It also allows you to create catchy lightbox popups virtually for any element on the page.

They allow you to develop lightweight boxes for signup appeals, contact templates, video and image presentations, and any other messages you want.

Also, it is loaded with more than 100 ready-made themes through which you can build responsive lightboxes with good design without creating them from scratch.

Highlights

  • The super-easy drag & drop builder interface that anybody can use – even with no technical skills- to create attractive lightboxes in a mere five minutes
  • This helps you have a real-time preview and modify your lightbox design as you continue creating it with the help of a visual builder.
  • Enhanced lightbox features such as pop-ups, sticky bar, the appearance of pop-up boxes, and embedded.
  • Build your subscriber list with yes/no opt-in Pop-ups
  • Work with lower bounce rates and lower cart abandonment by using an Exit-Intent Technology, which alerts when a user is about to exit the site and offers him a pop-up.
  • It lets you freely choose when and where the lightbox will appear through inactivity sensors, scroll trigger technologies, and time control.
  • For specific advertising campaigns, seek the best employing A/B comparisons and other analytics.
  • Maximize your outcome by launching creates for exact users and geographic areas.
  • Secure its on-demand library and offer subscribers a compelling reason to convert and renew their subscriptions.

Cost:

Free

2. Elementor Lightbox

Elementors-Popup-Builder

There is a built-in lightbox system in Elementor that allows users to convert images, videos, and galleries into a lightbox pop-up.

Elementor has an in-built feature designed to help users convert images, videos, and galleries into lightbox popups. This feature is helpful if you have Elementor on your site and regularly create new pages.

I want to mention that there is no need to set up anything before and during the lesson, so any task or problem can be used. This one can be enabled for images when you are fashioning the page or the post. However, if you are not using Divi Builder, you will have to have access to another plugin to achieve the lightbox effect.

Highlights

  • It uses social sharing options and is compatible with all screens, including mobile ones, in the form of a lightbox.
  • No setup required
  • For support images, a slider gallery, and video.
  • Allows you to choose the color used as the lightbox’s background.

Cost:

There’s a free version. The premium subscription offers start at $59 per year.

NextGEN Gallery

NextGEN Gallery is another gallery plugin that can easily display images in a full-scale lightbox.

The Pro Lightbox is fully user-defined for one main reason – flexibility. The available options for adjusting the layout include the theme, color, padding, image cropping display, transition, and other page layouts.

As with all our plugins, this can especially be useful for photographers and everyone who wants to present their work in beautiful views.

Numerous business-oriented options characterize it, such as image review, copyright protection, instant print order processing, and integrated web sellers.

Highlights

  • Customizable photo lightboxes and gallery lightboxes
  • Add buttons ‘To share’ and ‘To add comments.’
  • Get ready to transform your gallery into a lightbox slideshow.
  • This should allow you to set your auto-play and, thus, the speed of the slideshow.

Cost:

Starts at $69. 50 per year. There is also a freemium version of the application with quite a restricted functionality.

4. Thrive Leads

Thrive Leads popup

WP Lightbox Plugin is another popular free plugin that creates stunning lightbox popups within the WordPress platform called Thrive Leads.

Created by the authors of Thrive Themes, which are conversion-focused themes for WordPress, this plugin can help simplify the leads’ capture process as the team hardly uses several plugins.

Most of its features work as standalone tools, and it is always designed to easily work with other products in the Thrive family, like Thrive Architect and Thrive Apprentice, for flexible and seamless use.

Highlights

Cost:

Available for $99 annually for the standalone version, it offers all the core functionalities of competitor research and analysis and keyword position tracking. There is also the option of buying an all-in-one package of Thrive Suite – all these Thrive Themes plugins – for $299 per year.

Envira Gallery

If you’re working on a WordPress website, Envira Gallery is the premier drag-and-drop photo gallery plugin that enables you to design captivating lightbox galleries.

I’ve discovered that it can be used easily and that it includes multiple gallery templates and layouts for configuring your WordPress gallery in a few steps.

It provides an exciting supersize lightbox feature that helps you present your images in the most real way on any viewing platform.

It also packs a serious punch through multimedia, photo galleries, social network integration, deep links, eShops, and more.

Highlights

  • Works with Gutenberg blocks
  • Beautiful responsive templates
  • Create watermarked copies of photos, and drop images for friends and customers to download or purchase, along with integrated social sharing and WooCommerce support
  • It also supports supersized images, which are password-protected, as well as images and tags.
  • Sufficient resources in the form of video tutorials and documentation to guide the learners
  • Integrated imports from Instagram, NextGEN, Dropbox, and The. zip files

Cost:

Plans start at $39. 50 per year. The free version can also be found on the official website, although only a Windows version exists.

6. Quick View

Quick View

Quick View is an Ajax loading plugin that enables users to open WordPress pages and posts in the lightbox so that one can read the content of the post above without heading to another new page.

This is excellent for supplementing a blog post. It can enhance the usage experience by enabling users to access your content without browsing other site areas.

Highlights

  • Included 11 templates and seven animation effects
  • Live demonstration of Designer years’ features and online Documentation to assist you.
  • More appropriate pop-ups are meant for mobile sites and the standard desktop access.
  • I can suggest a decent support team that usually responds within 24 hours.
  • Toggles to operate the lightbox upon the background click or escape key
  • It is simple to add a ‘back to top’ button
  • Like many other color options, you can coordinate your lightbox with your site branding using CSS.

Cost:

It costs $15.

Carousel by Jetpack

Carousel by Jetpack is a feature that falls under the JetPack plugin that allows you to add a lightbox to any picture or gallery to make it a full-screen display.

It has 6 gallery templates that are available to make the program look good once installed on your website. Furthermore, it is very easy to configure and has options for changing colors, but the available color options for the background are only black and white.

Highlights

  • It is user-friendly and can be set from the JetPack Control Panel
  • This will display the gallery and allow you to preview and make necessary adjustments as you construct it.
  • Input comment tags for your posted picture and other related comments.
  • There are various kinds of galleries that exist so that one can make comparisons.

Cost:

Carousel is incorporated in the JetPack bundle beginning at merely $3. 95 per month.

8. WP Video Lightbox

WP Video Lightbox

WP Video Lightbox can incorporate pictures, images, and videos in a lightbox feature. It allows for the customization of the lightbox based on the themes available on the WordPress website but employs an embed method which, in some ways, is a bit complex.

On the same note, it enables one to quickly rate limits, enable thumbnail fetchers, add iFrames, and disable related videos. It can also be set to auto-play videos in a lightbox, especially those with music backing.

Highlights

  • It means he/she wants to download Flash, YouTube and Vimeo videos
  • Very easy to install
  • Let you have better control over the lightbox transparency, the time taken by animations
  • Uses tags and classes in the form of shortcodes and HTML to integrate the lightbox

Cost:

Free.

9. Foobox

Foobox

Foobox is an HTML5 / CSS3 WP plugin that responds to the lightbox on pictures, videos, and HTML. It includes integrating social sharing buttons for visitors to share the content within your lightbox.

The plugin has not received high ratings and approval from its users, but they have an excellent support team.

Highlights

  • No installation is required as a lot of software for data analysis does not need to be installed in the system.
  • Popular hosting sites like YouTube and Vimeo should also be integrated to offer their videos.
  • Built-in slideshow for galleries
  • A custom module of Fomoto that allows you to put your pictures up for sale on your website
  • It has Integrating with WooCommerce to show lightbox pictures of the products

Cost:

It has a free version, but it is important to note that any free platform is not free without all costs involved and is likely monetized differently. An annual subscription to the pro plan costs $87, although you can pay quarterly at $29. 99 per year.

10. Simple Lightbox

Simple Lightbox

The Simple Lightbox is a simple tool for creating lightboxes in your WordPress blogs. It allows users to show images or a slideshow with lightbox effects that can be tailored to the user’s liking.

It is famous for being a free plugin that is not difficult to install; however, when installing the plugin, you may need to ensure some technicalities on the WordPress theme to operate the plugin.

Highlights

  • Lightbox popovers are also designed for use on mobile devices.
  • This coinciding allows for greater personalization options to match the theme and branding.
  • No coding knowledge needed
  • Many third-party plug-ins opened

Cost:

Free.

11. Nivo Slider

Nivo Slider

Another quality plugin I recommend for this purpose is Nivo Slider, which allows you to convert your website content, blog posts, and galleries into sliders. You can then enable the lightbox slideshow effect on any of the sliders you have developed.

Nivo Slider was established to have a pro version a time ago, but the developer has retired the product. The basic version is also useful, but if the plugin is causing issues, the only course of action available to you is to turn to the WordPress forum.

Highlights

  • Despite its ease, it does not require setup, and you can get started within five minutes.
  • Works with all themes
  • We resize all images and remove space around them to give images a perfect look on any device.
  • Ready-made themes available

Cost:

Free.

12. ARI Fancy Lightbox

ARI Fancy Lightbox

The requested ARI Fancy Lightbox plugin is one of those well-known for its social share and viral options. It is compatible with images, videos, audio, documents, maps, and any other media type, which means you can add the lightbox effect to any content on your site.

However, when you purchase this plugin, most of them come with 6 months of support, and you will be required to renew your support to enable you to access future support.

Highlights

  • In its current form, users can directly interact with the elements of the application without the need for coding knowledge.
  • Lightbox functionality is added to any media item
  • Allows images, videos, links to webpages and documents, attached content, maps, and webpages.
  • Comes in various formats for compatibility with YouTube, Vimeo, and Daily Motion.
  • Mobile-friendly and responsive

Cost:

It costs $12.

13. ModuloBox

ModuloBox

As an effective lightbox, including a popup slideshow, ModuloBox is an incredible plugin you can’t fail to download.

It features more advanced tools and is compatible with WooCommerce galleries. It also has multi-touch gestures, which means you can swipe, drag, and pinch content on your smartphone.

As a highly-rated premium plugin, imagine my surprise when found that there wasn’t even a demo of the plugin available.

Highlights

  • Color-coded to support images, videos, and HTML elements
  • The Finetune client, annotated with extended features and settings
  • Item 3: User engagement: the interface provides users with infinite scrolled pages that keep them engaged.
  • Sharing buttons to expand your social network
  • This would involve using keys on the keyboard to toggle between the two modes of viewing the slides.

Cost:

It costs $20.

14. Easy FancyBox

Easy FancyBox

Easy FancyBox is an immensely portable plugin that allows you to add the functionality of the lightbox pop-ups to your WordPress website. It is compatible with any media link, and the lightbox options can be configured through its settings menu on the WordPress admin panel.

Easy FancyBox comes in two types: Standard and Pro The Standard version is fully functional and allows you to generate and stylist a lightbox. You need a Pro version if you wish to have more complex operations.

Highlights

  • Supports most of the conventional graphics types, including GIF, JPG, PNG, BMP, and TIFF, and is compatible with HTML and PDF pages.
  • Suitable with YouTube, Dailymotion, and Vimeo
  • Interacts with another web page of the domain
  • Apply a practical attribute such as fade or elastic spring
  • There are many possibilities for the color’s style, including Its degree of transparency and the appearance of a border.

Cost:

There’s a free version. The pricing plan starts from $19 for their Pro plans.

15. Image Hover Ultimate

Image Hover Ultimate

Image Hover Ultimate is another great plugin for Lightbox WordPress that enhances your images’ hover effects and animations. It comes loaded with over 500 sophisticated effects, such as a lightbox and magnifier compatible with all advanced editors.

This small plugin delivers a new level of interactivity for your images and enhances the website’s look.

Highlights

  • Creates mobile responsive lightbox
  • Works with well-known page builders created by third-party developers such as Divi, Elementor, and WPBakery.
  • Copy settings option used to apply these settings to other images
  • It is friendly to users and developers due to its efficient composer.
  • Precision as well as auto-resize features for font tools

Cost:

There is a lite version, but many features are in the paid version, and the pricing starts from $19. 99.

Photonic Gallery and Lightbox

Photonic Gallery and Lightbox give you the unique ability to make your WP site more interesting with different lightbox effects. It is the one that has the most options and varieties of lightbox types and options for you.

It functions well with images and videos and also enables modifications to the images and videos. Also, it enables you to share photos with photo hosting sites such as – flickr, Google Photos, zenfolio, smugmug, Instagram, and many more.

Highlights

  • They work well with widgets, shortcodes, and the new Gutenberg editing blocks.
  • Most of the built-in lightbox scripts feature a large number of images
  • How to further tailor its appearance to your branding or specific events
  • Finally, it is recommended that the user’s password be protected for all his accounts and that proper authentication be ensured.

Cost:

Free.

How to Install and Configure a Lightbox Plugin on WordPress

Lightbox is widely used everywhere, especially for displaying images on websites. The images can be displayed in an overlay together with the rest of the page being darkened, which gives the image a good display and gives the page a good and appealing look.

For those who own WordPress sites, difficulty arises when one aspires to add a lightbox; installing the plugin is the best way to do this.

To help you with the process, here is the step-by-step guide on how to add a Lightbox plugin to your WordPress site.

Step 1: Selecting A Lightbox Plugin

WordPress website has numerous lightbox plugins, each with unique features and flexibility. When selecting a lightbox plugin, it is crucial to use search engine results and select the most suitable one among them.

Lightbox Plus Colorbox, WP Lightbox 2, and Simple Lightbox are some of the best and most well-known lightbox plugins that can easily be integrated with WordPress. The plugins listed here include Flex and responsive, integrated social site, and custom animation features.

Step 2: Installing the Plugin

After deciding which lightbox plugin you would require, you next need to install the plugin on your WordPress website.

  • To edit the site, locate your WordPress login credentials and type them into the space provided.
  • On the left navigation panel on WordPress, click Plugins and then the Add New button.
  • In the search bar at the top of the page, write down the name of the lightbox plugin you decided to use.
  • After that, find the plugin you want to install and click the “Install Now” button.
  • Once installation is over, the last step is to click on the option that says “Activate” to activate the plugin on your website.

Step 3: Configuring the Plugin Settings

As it is within the plugin, it is now the time to set the preference of each of the options to your desired value.

  • To access the plugin, go to the WordPress dashboard, navigate to the Plugins option, and click the Installed Plugins submenu.
  • Find out the Lightbox plugin and click on ‘Settings.
  • Based on the above information, you will expect to see this on the settings page of your chosen plugin. Nevertheless, many of the lightbox plugins are flexible so that you can change everything you need for the lightbox.
  • You can change the information in the boxes to your preferred values by entering the data and then clicking the Save or Update button to save the changes you made.

Step 4: Modifying Image to Incorporate Lightbox

The next step will cover using and tweaking the plugin you installed and configured previously to add images with the lightbox effect to your website.

  • To perform this step, log in to WordPress and go to the desired post or page, which can be a new post, a new page, or an existing one.
  • To upload, record, or link multimedia materials, select “Add Media” on the blue bar of the content editor.
  • Find the image you want to add and hit the button “Insert into post.
  • Choose “Media File” in the “Link To” section in the gear menu before the images.
  • Click ‘Update’ and then click on’ Publish’ in the top right-hand corner of the page to see your changes live.

When the light brown part is clicked, it will zoom in at the center of the page with the overlay, and the rest of the page will gray out.