If someone wants to be aware of the best WordPress galleries then this blog is written exactly for them. Surely, it is impracticable to present all plugins in one single post but I’ll try to do my best. Logically, it is useless to mention the necessity of using galleries for a site creation because reasons are as clear as day. The criterions due to which I’ve excluded plugins from others are responsiveness, exquisite appearance, and easiness of usage. As for me, these are the most vital peculiarities that not only galleries but also other plugins should have. The order of galleries presentation is not going to be as usually from the worst one to best or vice versa. I am going just present the plugins, which I’ve tested for making my website without any fixed order. So, I hope that readers will not rely on their order but will pick out the most efficient one for them depending on their taste. Let’s try to dig and find galleries which are the best ones.
The first one is going to be Photo Gallery designed by Huge-IT. It is very comfortable and full of different peculiarities. peculiarities.
First of all, Free and Pro features are separated. So, a user can simply understand what can be expected from the Pro and the Free version. A gallery can be created with the help of “Add new gallery” button. This plugin supports not only image but also video galleries. After adding images the following picture will appear.
According to this page a user can select from 7 beautiful views, can choose if show the content using pagination, load more or just show the whole content, can chose either show ratings of images or not. The view about which I would like to mention is a Masonry view.
As for me this view is very modern and attractive. It is showing images with same position as original ones are. There is no deviation or any distortion of the image, which is crucial for any gallery plugin. The lightbox is again simple and exquisite.
Besides, it is worth to mention that in this plugin all views have their separate options, which is making gallery creating process very convenient and fast. It is almost impossible to mess up some options in different views. This means that the backend design is adopted to the users convenience and the developer of this plugin are thinking about the way this plugin can be used easily.
In this gallery it is possible to change everything, which can a user imagine. It is possible to change text style, image style, ratings option style, load more and pagination style. Consequently, without any doubt this plugin can satisfy even the most scrupulous users needs and expectations from the plugin.
The next one is Gallery Pro plugin. This gallery is customizable, responsive, it has 2 views with various fonts. It gives an opportunity to make image or video galleries. Let’s pass to plugin’s backend and try to make up a gallery on our own.
After pressing an “Add new gallery” button the following popup appears.
As it’s shown in the picture, this is a page where a site creator needs to act and equip a gallery with all significant tools.
Options are not miscellaneous, but I want to point out ability of changing a gallery’s layout. Thus, it helps in managing the count of columns in a gallery. Besides, it is possible to change button font color, size of the font, description font color and so on. It worth to mention that not all galleries have font style option but Gallery Pro plugin has.
Added images can be modified separately, they can have labels, video URLs, links, descriptions. The order of them can be easily changed with a drag and drop tool. Image’s URL can lead a user to a new tab or refresh the same tab. Besides ready and created options it is also possible to use custom CSS. A gallery can be published with copy and paste simple action. There is nothing easier. Let’s have a look what we get as a final result.
This is an appearance of the gallery added to a post. But after one click on the picture the following grid will appear.
As I don’t have anything written in the description/title fields they are completely empty. Only a blue zoom button persist in the grid which is just enlarging an image and presenting it with ist full rate.
As it is obvious from the picture, image is placed on the black background and there are two little arrows at the bottom of it. In general, the plugin is comfortable and light. All persisted options are completely enough for making a lovely gallery.
Let’s go to the next plugin and see how that one is designed. The way this gallery works is really joyful and I’ll try to explain why. I think that all WordPress users are used to add images directly in a plugin but this one differs from others. I am speaking about Meow Gallery plugin which re-uses the standard WP Gallery and enhances it.
For creating a gallery it is just needful to get to a post/page, click Add Media button then Create a Gallery with the help of images taken from a Media Library.
Minimalistic options are designed for this plugin: a layout option which contains two views – masonry and justified, it has an option for changing image size- thumbnail, medium, large, full and a gutter option, which is changing spaces between images.
Despite the fact that options are not various, they are completely enough for creating a modern gallery. It’s worth to note that Meow Gallery doesn’t have a lightbox but a click on a picture refreshes a page, where it is added.
The next is Image Gallery designed by Rich Web
Let’s start from the backend. “New Gallery” directs a website creator a page where a process of creation takes place. The only disadvantage of the plugin is that there is no ability of adding several images at one dash. Besides, it is necessary to save each image separately. However, if we do not pay attention to this point, it’s good enough for being used.
Rich Web Image Gallery has several layouts but the main difference between them is a “view more” option design and image on hover design. It worth to note that it has pagination and load more options, which were absent in the previous galleries presented. The result of using pagination can be as follows: 
Justified layout has a little bit varied appearance and it opens images through a lightbox. It has a black background and sliding arrows.
Rich Web Image Gallery has URLs for images, description and title capabilities, which are regular for almost all plugins. This gallery is working through shortcode, which is again very convenient in its usage.
The following gallery is Ape Gallery, which is very interesting as well as other galleries are.
Adding images can be reached with the help of “Gallery Resources” green button, which directs a website owner to a place from where pictures should be taken. An amusing difference which I have faced during testing plugins is an option for moving images. Ape Gallery gives an opportunity to arrange gallery items with a drag and drop instrument directly from a media library. Also, at this stage it is possible to write titles for images.
Ape Gallery has all necessary options for creating a glorious gallery. Its mosaic image order and blue border for pictures is sympathetic. An interesting fact is that the Animation (that is same as a view) is not changing a gallery shape, but especially image hover type.
It is enlarging an image in a simple and beautiful lightbox. The most irritating factor in this plugin for me is that both free and pro features are presented in a one page only. Besides, in the free version it is possible to have no more than two galleries. The rest is fine.
Finally, we reached the conclusion of this post and hope that it was interesting for you to read. I am not sure if I was able to present all necessary features which can be included to the best plugins but I am completely sure that every website creator could find something useful for them in this post. So, the decision of which one to use and which one to label as the best one is every user’s personal opinion. However, hope that this post somehow helped WordPress users to make an opinion about the best gallery type and it description.