10 Best Categories Images Alternatives in 2026
Updated September 7, 2026 · Ranked by how closely each plugin matches, from WordPress.org data · How this works
Categories Images has 50,000+ active installs on WordPress.org. These 10 plugins share its category or its tags on WordPress.org, are actively maintained, and each has at least 100 active installs. They are ordered by how closely they match, not by our opinion.
The 10 closest alternatives to Categories Images
- 1
BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin
4.0 (1,321) 400,000+ active installsBack up, restore, and protect your WordPress website with automated backups, cloud storage, one-click recovery, and AI-assisted backup management.
About 8 times the installs, rated 4.0 against 4.5, last updated 4 days ago.
- 2
LightStart – Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon and Landing Page Builder
4.3 (873) 400,000+ active installsEasy Drag & Drop Page Builder that adds a splash page to your site that it's perfect for a coming soon page, maintenance or landing page.
About 8 times the installs, rated 4.3 against 4.5, last updated 18 days ago.
- 3
MetaSlider
Paid version availableSlider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider
4.6 (738) 500,000+ active installsSlider, gallery, carousel plugin for WordPress. Build your image slider, video slider, post slider, YouTube slider, or WooCommerce product slider.
About 10 times the installs, rated 4.6 against 4.5, last updated 7 days ago.
- 4
FooGallery
Paid version availableGallery : FooGallery
4.8 (987) 100,000+ active installsFooGallery is a fast, responsive photo gallery and image gallery plugin with 7 gallery layouts, built-in lightbox, albums, and SEO optimization.
About 2 times the installs, rated 4.8 against 4.5, last updated 3 days ago.
- 5
ShortPixel Image Optimizer – Optimize Images, Convert WebP & AVIF
4.5 (819) 300,000+ active installsOptimize images & PDFs smartly. Create and compress next-gen WebP and AVIF formats. Smart crop and resize.
About 6 times the installs, last updated 18 days ago.
- 6
reSmush.it : The original free image compressor and optimizer plugin
4.3 (165) 100,000+ active installsreSmush.it is the FREE image compressor and optimizer plugin - use it to optimize your images and improve the SEO and performance of your website.
About 2 times the installs, rated 4.3 against 4.5, last updated 18 days ago.
- 7
Robin Image Optimizer – Unlimited Image Optimization, WebP & AVIF
4.4 (129) 100,000+ active installsUnlimited automatic image optimization for WordPress. Compress images, convert to WebP, and improve site speed without losing image quality.
About 2 times the installs, rated 4.4 against 4.5, last updated 18 days ago.
- 8
Optimole – Optimize Images | Convert WebP & AVIF | CDN & Lazy Load | Image Optimization
4.7 (638) 200,000+ active installsAutomatically optimize images with bulk compression, lazy loading, WebP/AVIF conversion & CloudFront image CDN. Boost Core Web Vitals & conversions.
About 4 times the installs, rated 4.7 against 4.5, last updated 12 days ago.
- 9
Converter for Media – Optimize images | Convert WebP & AVIF
4.9 (1,099) 500,000+ active installsSpeed up your website by using our WebP & AVIF Converter. Optimize images and serve WebP and AVIF images instead of standard formats!
About 10 times the installs, rated 4.9 against 4.5, last updated 19 days ago.
- 10
Variation Swatches for WooCommerce – Color, Image & Size Swatches
4.6 (47) 200,000+ active installsVariation Swatches for WooCommerce replaces dropdowns with color, image & size swatches, helping shoppers decide faster and buy with confidence.
About 4 times the installs, last updated 12 days ago.
Switching from Categories Images: common questions
What is the best alternative to Categories Images?
BackWPup is the closest match: it shares the same WordPress.org tags and has 400,000+ active installs with a 4.0 out of 5 rating.
Which Categories Images alternative has the most users?
MetaSlider, with 500,000+ active installs reported by WordPress.org.
Which Categories Images alternative is rated highest?
Converter for Media, rated 4.9 out of 5 by 1,099 reviewers. Only plugins with at least 50 reviews are counted.
Are these Categories Images alternatives free?
Every plugin listed here is free to install from WordPress.org. Where WordPress.org marks a plugin as commercial, the developer also sells a paid version or add-ons, and that is shown on each plugin.
How are alternatives chosen?
Automatically, from WordPress.org data: plugins that share a category top 10 with Categories Images score highest, then plugins that appear in the same WordPress.org rankings, then plugins with the same tags, weighted so rare tags count more than common ones. Plugins by the same author and plugins rated under 4.0 are left out.
How we choose these alternatives
Nothing on this page is picked by hand. Every day we walk the whole WordPress.org directory, then score every plugin against Categories Images on three signals: sharing a category top 10 counts most, then appearing in the same WordPress.org rankings, then carrying the same tags, with rare tags counting for more than common ones like "wordpress". Plugins by the same author are excluded, so an author's own add-ons cannot fill the list, and so is anything rated below 4.0 or with fewer than 100 active installs. The ten highest scores are what you see, in that order. Full methodology.
The bottom line
BackWPup is the closest match to Categories Images by the data we track, and MetaSlider has the widest reach with 500,000+ active installs. FooGallery shipped the most recent release, on September 4, 2026. The list is rebuilt every day from WordPress.org, so a plugin that stops being maintained drops out on its own.
Weekly · free
What moved this week
One email a week, built from the same daily snapshots these rankings come from: the plugins that climbed, what launched, and one ranking worth a look.