9 Best YouTube Video Gallery Plugins for WordPress

Adding a YouTube video gallery to your WordPress site can make it more engaging.

While WordPress lets you embed YouTube videos in posts, the built-in Embed block isn’t ideal for creating a clean gallery layout. The good news is there are great plugins to help organize your videos neatly.

We tested a bunch of options to find the right one for different types of websites and blogs. Based on our research, Smash Balloon YouTube Feed Pro stands out as the best choice.

That said, we know are there some other good options you might want to consider. So, in this article, we’ll review the 9 best YouTube video gallery plugins for WordPress.

In a hurry? Here are our top picks for the best YouTube video gallery plugins for WordPress:

#	Video Gallery Plugin	Best For	Pricing
🥇	Smash Balloon YouTube Feed Pro	Businesses that want a customizable YouTube gallery	Freemium, Pro starts at $49 per year
🥈	Envira Gallery	Users who need a photo and video gallery	$99 per year
🥉	YouTube Showcase	Bloggers seeking simple video organization	Free
4	YourChannel	Website owners looking for easy channel feed integration	Free
5	Photo Gallery by 10Web	eCommerce site owners needing a mobile-friendly gallery	Free

How We Test and Review YouTube Video Gallery Plugins

When checking out video gallery plugins, it’s important to look at several factors to make sure the plugin works well and is easy to use. Here are 10 things we considered during testing and reviewing the YouTube video gallery plugins:

• Ease of Use: We looked at how straightforward it is to set up and use the plugin, including plugin installation, configuration, and content management.
• Customization Options: We evaluated how much you can customize the video gallery’s appearance and functionality. This can include things like layouts, styling, and the visibility of video elements such as titles, descriptions, and controls.
• Integration Capabilities: While YouTube might be your favorite video platform, you might also need additional integrations. We assessed whether the plugin integrates with multiple video sources, such as both YouTube and Vimeo. We also looked for the ability to combine content from different social media platforms.
• Performance and Site Speed: Plugins can have a big impact on website performance, especially if they are made to add videos to your site. With that in mind, we looked for optimization features like caching and pagination to ensure fast loading times.
• Automatic Updates and Content Fetching: You might not want to have to update your YouTube feed manually. So, we checked if a plugin can automatically fetch and update content from the user’s video channels.
• User Engagement Features: Features that encourage visitor interaction can be super helpful. We looked for things like ‘Subscribe’ buttons, ‘Load More’ buttons, and social sharing options.
• Mobile Responsiveness: Since lots of people use their mobile devices to access websites, we checked how well the video gallery adapts to different screen sizes.
• GDPR Compliance: We also checked whether the plugin complies with data privacy regulations, such as displaying cookie consent messages.
• Support and Documentation: Ideally, you won’t have any issues when using a YouTube video gallery plugin. But, just in case you do, we also looked for the availability of support and documentation to assist users in setting up and troubleshooting the plugin.
• Price: To accommodate every budget, we also assessed the cost of the plugin, including the availability of free versions and the pricing of premium features or bundles.

Now, here are our expert picks of the 9 best YouTube video gallery plugins for WordPress.

1. Smash Balloon YouTube Feed Pro

Smash Balloon YouTube Feed Pro is the best YouTube gallery plugin on the market. While we don’t use it on our website, we’ve researched this plugin extensively. You can learn more about it in our complete Smash Balloon review.

During testing, we found that the plugin allows users to hand-pick specific videos from their account or automatically show all the latest videos from their YouTube channel. You can even combine multiple YouTube channels into a single feed.

Smash Balloon has a ready-made gallery layout, so you can organize your videos with the click of a button. After creating a gallery, you can control exactly how the videos look by choosing whether to show the YouTube description, title, comments, the total number of likes, and much more.

What’s more, you can even encourage visitors to join your YouTube channel by adding a ‘Subscribe’ button to the gallery.

We also found that the gallery layout also has a ‘Load More’ button. This is a great feature as it lets visitors scroll through the entire YouTube channel without leaving the website.

When a visitor clicks on a video, Smash Balloon starts playing it on an embedded video player. This allows you to increase YouTube views and engagement without driving visitors away from your website.

By default, the player shows related videos when the playback finishes or the visitor pauses the video.

One thing we really liked is that Smash Balloon lets you replace these suggested videos with a custom call to action so you can promote a specific post, page, or even the most popular WooCommerce products from your online store.

You can also use Smash Balloon to embed YouTube playlists, favorites, and live streams on your WordPress website.

The best part about Smash Balloon is that it doesn’t slow down your site. The plugin’s built-in YouTube caching feature will make sure your site always loads fast, which will help with your video SEO.

We were also very impressed that you can combine social content from Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube into a single social wall.

So, if you’re serious about growing your online presence, then we highly recommend the Smash Balloon All Access Bundle, which gives you access to the social wall feature.

Why we chose SmashBalloon YouTube Feed Pro: Smash Balloon YouTube Feed Pro stands out for its flexibility. Meanwhile, its built-in caching keeps things fast, and the customization options let you show your videos exactly how you want. Plus, the social wall feature is a great bonus if you want to pull content from other platforms, too.

Pricing: Smash Balloon YouTube Feed Pro licenses start at $49 per year. If you want to embed Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube content on your WordPress website, then you can grab the All Access Bundle for $598 per year.

2. Envira Gallery

Envira Gallery is generally known as the best WordPress photo gallery plugin. The good news is that there’s also an Envira Gallery Videos Addon that allows you to create a YouTube gallery.

For more on this plugin, you can check out our full Envira Gallery review.

We found Envira Gallery to be very easy to use. You can simply enter the URL for each YouTube video and then specify the thumbnail that you want to show in the gallery. The Videos Addon will then fetch the video automatically.

After adding all your videos, Envira Gallery lets you fine-tune the playback experience. You can autoplay the video, open it fullscreen by default, hide the playback controls, and much more.

When reviewing the plugin, we also noticed that Envira Gallery lets you embed entire YouTube playlists, although you’ll need to get a YouTube API from the Google Cloud Console and then add it to the plugin’s settings first.

We also appreciated that Envira Gallery supports YouTube and other popular video hosting services, such as Vimeo, Wistia, Twitch, VideoPress, and Dailymotion.

One major drawback is that Envira Gallery won’t automatically fetch new YouTube videos from your channel. If you want to update the gallery, you’ll need to manually add each new video using its URL.

Why we chose Envira Gallery: Envira Gallery offers a simple way to create video galleries with powerful customization options. We like how easy it is to use: you just paste in the video link, and you’re good to go. It supports more than just YouTube, so it’s perfect if you have videos on different platforms.

Pricing: To get Envira with the Video Gallery addon, you’ll need to either buy a Pro license for $99 per year or a Lifetime license for $299.

3. YouTube Showcase

With the YouTube Showcase plugin, you can add a YouTube video gallery or grid to your WordPress website. For this guide, our research process involved checking and testing the plugin’s features to see if it actually works as promised.

After activating the plugin, we found that we could add any YouTube video to our site using the 11-digit alphanumeric video key shown at the end of the video’s URL.

To help visitors find what they’re looking for, YouTube Showcase lets you add categories and tags to your videos. Our impression was that they work in exactly the same way as the built-in WordPress categories and tags, so they’re very easy to use.

Once you’ve done that, you just need to add the plugin’s shortcode to any page, post, or widget-ready area. YouTube Showcase will then show all your videos in a nice gallery layout.

One standout feature is that YouTube Showcase automatically adds a row of video thumbnails below the gallery so visitors can easily move between the different videos. For visitors who are using a smartphone or tablet, YouTube Showcase replaces these thumbnails with more mobile-friendly ‘Prev’ and ‘Next’ icons.

We also like that the plugin uses pagination by default, so your gallery should load quickly, no matter how many videos you add.

On top of all, the default gallery layout should be a good fit for most websites. However, if you want to make changes then the plugin has a straightforward settings page.

While it isn’t as customizable as some gallery plugins, YouTube Showcase has a section where more advanced users can add custom CSS and custom JavaScript.

If you don’t like the gallery layout, then YouTube Showcase also has a video grid shortcode. This shows all your YouTube videos in a 4-column grid layout.

Why we chose YouTube Showcase: YouTube Showcase keeps things simple with straightforward settings and an easy shortcode. It’s great if you want a no-fuss way to add videos to your site. We also like the built-in pagination and mobile-friendly features that keep your gallery looking good on all devices.

Pricing: You can download YouTube Showcase for free from the official WordPress repository.

4. YourChannel

Compared to the other plugins on this list, using YourChannel is one of the easiest ways to create a YouTube gallery. It allows visitors to browse your entire channel feed and watch any video without leaving your website.

While we don’t use this plugin on our website, our experience with it was very positive.

To set up YourChannel, you can simply enter your YouTube username or channel ID. After that, the plugin will automatically fetch banner images, video thumbnails, your subscriber count, and your total number of views.

When using the plugin, we found that its settings are straightforward and user-friendly, so you can create a beautiful-looking gallery simply by checking a few boxes and typing some numbers.

You can change how many videos YourChannel shows when the gallery page first loads, and set a maximum number of videos that visitors can scroll through. This is particularly useful for creating a mobile-friendly video gallery.

We also appreciate that YourChannel has a built-in WordPress caching system to help keep your website running smoothly.

YourChannel also helps you stay GDPR compliant by showing an ‘Allow Cookies’ message when a visitor first clicks the ‘Play’ button. This message includes a link to your privacy policy.

When you’re happy with how the gallery looks, you can add it to any page, post, or widget-ready area using a shortcode provided by the plugin.

Why we chose YourChannel: If you want visitors to browse your entire YouTube channel without leaving your website, YourChannel is the perfect plugin to help you get the job done. We also appreciate its built-in caching and user-friendly settings, making it super simple to get started.

Pricing: Simply visit the WordPress repository and download the YourChannel plugin for free.

5. Photo Gallery by 10Web

According to our marketing statistics research, 70% of people visit YouTube on a smartphone or tablet. If you run an online store using a plugin such as WooCommerce, then you’ll be interested to learn that 90% of consumers watch videos on a mobile device.

With that in mind, you’ll want to make sure your YouTube gallery looks just as good on mobile, as it does on desktop. After extensively reviewing Photo Gallery by 10Web, we found that we can create a mobile responsive image and video gallery within minutes.

Despite the name, Photo Gallery supports all the best video hosting sites, including Vimeo, Dailymotion, and YouTube. Simply copy the video’s URL, and Photo Gallery will add that video to your website.

After that, you can fine-tune how the gallery looks by choosing different layouts, switching between dark and light themes, adding pagination, and more. You’ll also have complete control over the content that appears in your gallery, including adding or removing the video title, description, tag box, and more.

Visitors can watch each video directly on your website using the Photo Gallery lightbox popup. The lightbox comes with built-in social share buttons, which make it easy for visitors to share your videos on Facebook and Twitter. This can help you create a buzz on social media, get more engagement, and grow your social media following.

Why we chose Photo Gallery: We like how Photo Gallery makes it easy to quickly create a mobile-friendly video gallery. Plus, the customization options let you make the gallery match your site’s style, and the social share buttons make it easy for visitors to spread the word about your content.

Pricing: You can download Photo Gallery for free from the official WordPress plugin repository. If you need more advanced features, then there’s also a premium 10web Photo Gallery plugin.

6. Embed Plus for YouTube

Embed Plus for YouTube allows you to create a YouTube gallery using videos, playlists, shorts, and live streams. We don’t use this plugin daily, but we downloaded and tested it to see if it lives up to its claims.

During testing, we found that this plugin has a few unusual but interesting features. One of which is ‘Modest Branding,’ which reduces the amount of YouTube branding in your video gallery.

Another unique feature is ‘facade mode,’ which aims to speed up your WordPress website by loading a lighter version of the video player initially and then downloading the rest of the player when the visitor clicks a video.

Then, to make your pages load even faster, ‘Embed Plus’ can defer JavaScript while serving minified CSS and JavaScript.

We learned that ‘Embed Plus’ can even convert non-HTTP videos to HTTPS. Since Google uses HTTPS/SSL as a ranking factor in its search results, this can improve your search engine rankings.

For more on this topic, please see our complete guide on how to move WordPress from HTTP to HTTPS.

To keep people on your website for longer, ‘Embed Plus’ can also automatically play the next video in the gallery. This can be particularly useful if you’re adding playlists to your WordPress blog.

We also found that this plugin has in-depth and detailed settings that cover several tabs. This gives you complete control over how the YouTube gallery looks and acts, but it can be confusing when you first activate the plugin.

Thankfully, Embed Plus has a built-in setup wizard that asks questions about the kind of gallery you want to create and then changes the default settings based on your answers.

Why we chose Embed Plus for YouTube: Embed Plus offers unique features like ‘Modest Branding’ and ‘facade mode,’ which optimize performance and branding. It also provides detailed settings for fine-tuning the gallery, appealing to users who want full control over the look and functionality.

Pricing: You can download Embed Plus YouTube for free from the official WordPress repository. If you need more advanced features, then there’s also a Pro YouTube plugin.

7. Automatic YouTube Gallery

Automatic YouTube Gallery lets you create unlimited video galleries on your site. Fortunately, we found that, as the name suggests, this plugin automates most of the setup process so you can create a YouTube video gallery in minutes.

With this plugin, you can create a YouTube gallery using a channel ID, username, playlist, search terms, or even by entering specific video URLs. You can also embed live streams on your WordPress website.

After choosing your videos, Automatic YouTube Gallery lets you fine-tune how the gallery looks. This includes changing the number of columns in the gallery layout, changing the ratio, adding or removing the video titles, and more.

Automatic YouTube Gallery also has some settings to help keep visitors on your website for longer, such as auto-playing the next video and looping a single video.

You can also make your YouTube gallery more accessible, thanks to the flexibility to activate closed captions by default or change the language used by the video player’s interface.

Based on our experience, with Automatic YouTube Gallery, you don’t have to worry about videos slowing down your site. The plugin has a caching feature that can reduce page loading times and boost your WordPress speed and performance.

This plugin is also fully compatible with WordPress multisite.

Why we chose Automatic YouTube Gallery: This plugin’s automatic features are a big help if you want to set up a YouTube gallery hassle-free. We also like how you can easily adjust the gallery layout to fit your site’s design.

Pricing: You can download the Automatic YouTube Gallery plugin for free from the official WordPress repository.

8. All-in-One Video Gallery

You can use All-in-One Video Gallery to show videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Rumble, and more in an HTML5 video player.

Unlike other WordPress plugins with their own editors, All-in-One Video Gallery integrates with the familiar WordPress content editor. It also has video categories and tags that work exactly the same as the built-in WordPress categories and tags.

With this in mind, it’s very easy to get started with the All-in-One Video Gallery. We also have tested it thoroughly to learn about all its features.

After adding your videos, All-in-One Video Gallery lets you customize the player controls, playback options, and video quality levels. This plugin also aims to make your videos more accessible by supporting WebVTT subtitles and showing the subtitles automatically.

The plugin is GDPR compliant and will get the visitor’s consent before loading YouTube, Vimeo, or embedded videos from third-party websites. If you prefer, then you can also disable the plugin’s cookies for added privacy.

When you’re ready, you can either show all your videos in a single gallery or create different galleries using the plugin’s category feature. This allows you to create lots of different galleries, with different content.

Another option is embedding the All-in-One Video Gallery search form. This allows visitors to search through all your videos to find exactly the content they’re looking for.

Why we chose All-in-One Video Gallery: All-in-One Video Gallery has everything you need to show off your videos in style. We like that it integrates seamlessly with WordPress categories and tags, making it feel like a natural part of your site.

Pricing: You can download All-in-One Video Gallery for free from the WordPress plugin directory.

9. Video Gallery by Total Soft

Video Gallery by Total Soft can add an unlimited number of professionally-designed video galleries to your website. During our research, we found that this plugin supports YouTube plus other major video platforms such as Vimeo and Wistia.

When building a gallery, you can choose between 16 different themes and 9 layouts. If your YouTube channel has lots of videos, then you can use pagination to spread the content across multiple pages.

This plugin puts a strong focus on gallery thumbnails. Every time you add a video to a gallery, you can replace the default YouTube thumbnail with an image of your choice.

After that, Video Gallery will play different hover effects when the visitor moves their mouse over the thumbnail. This includes some advanced hover effects that animate the video’s title, description, and other elements. In this way, your gallery can catch the visitor’s attention before it starts playing videos.

Video Gallery allows you to show videos from different online platforms, and even self-hosted videos, in the same gallery.

After building a gallery, you can add it to any page, post, or widget-ready area using a shortcode. Video Gallery also provides a code snippet that adds the gallery to your WordPress theme. For more information, please see our guide on how to easily add custom code in WordPress.

Why we chose Video Gallery: Total Soft’s Video Gallery excels in visual appeal, with multiple layouts and hover effects that catch visitors’ attention. Its support for various video platforms and self-hosted content adds to its versatility, making it a comprehensive solution for dynamic galleries.

Pricing: You can download Video Gallery for free from the official WordPress repository.

What Is the Best YouTube Video Gallery Plugin for WordPress?

If you’re looking for the easiest way to add a gallery to WordPress, then Smash Balloon Youtube Feed Pro is our top pick.

This plugin guides you through the process of connecting YouTube and WordPress and then makes it easy to build a professionally-designed gallery. It also lets you fine-tune every part of the gallery so it perfectly suits your WordPress theme.

When you’re happy with how the gallery looks, you can add it to any page, post, or widget-ready area using either a shortcode or the plugin’s Feeds for YouTube block.

Unlike some other plugins on the list, your Smash Balloon gallery will update automatically as you publish new videos to YouTube. This means visitors will always see the latest videos, and you don’t have to worry about updating your gallery manually.

While Smash Balloon YouTube Feed Pro is our top choice, it is a premium plugin. If you’re looking for a free YouTube gallery plugin, then Feeds for YouTube is a great alternative.

While this plugin is missing some of Smash Balloon’s advanced features, it still has everything you need to create a YouTube video gallery for your WordPress website.

This makes Feeds for YouTube our top pick for anyone who is just getting started, has a limited budget, or just wants to embed a small number of videos in their WordPress website.

Best YouTube Video Gallery Plugins for WordPress FAQ

In this section, we’ll answer some of the most frequently asked questions about YouTube video gallery plugins.

How do I create a YouTube video gallery in WordPress?

You can use a plugin like Smash Balloon YouTube Feed or Envira Gallery. These make it easy to create and customize a video gallery by embedding your YouTube videos.

How do I optimize a YouTube video in WordPress?

To optimize videos in WordPress, you’ll want to lazy-load your videos to improve page speed. You can also add relevant keywords to your video title and description. These strategies help with boosting loading times and SEO.

How do I maximize YouTube quality?

Instead of uploading videos directly, You’ll want to embed your YouTube video using the link. YouTube will automatically play the highest available resolution. Just make sure your original upload is high-quality, like 1080p or 4K, so viewers get the best playback.

For more details, you can check out our guide on why you should never upload a video to WordPress.

How do I make my YouTube video responsive in WordPress?

Typically, you’ll need to add a responsive embed code to ensure your video adapts to any screen size. However, you can also use a plugin like Photo Gallery by 10Web to make your YouTube video responsive.

Bonus Tip: Display All Your Subscriber Counts in WordPress

Now that you’ve learned about the best YouTube gallery plugins for WordPress, you might want to enhance your YouTube channel promotion. One easy way is to display your subscriber counts.

A subscriber count shows how many people follow or subscribe to a service, and adding subscriber counts to WordPress acts as social proof.

When visitors see a large following, they’re more likely to trust your site as an authority. For example, at WPBeginner, we show our total readers to encourage more people to subscribe.

The good news is that you can easily display different subscriber counts, including your YouTube subscribers.

To display your YouTube subscriber count, you need to find your YouTube channel ID first. Then, you can use the YouTube developer’s website to input that ID, which will help you generate the necessary code to display the subscriber count on your website.

For detailed instructions, you can check out our guide on how to display all your subscriber counts in WordPress.

We hope this article helped you choose the best YouTube gallery plugins for WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to add YouTube subscribe button or how to add your social media feeds to WordPress.

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