PluginScout

Meow Lightbox — WordPress Portfolio Plugin

by Jordy Meow · WordPress.org page · Website

v5.6.1 Tested up to WP 7.1 PHP 8.1+

Meow Lightbox has 10,000+ active installs on WordPress.org and 440,648 downloads all time. We have tracked it since September 4, 2026; download trends appear after 30 days of data. The last update was on September 4, 2026, tested up to WordPress 7.1.

Meow Lightbox at a glance

Active installs
10,000+
Total downloads
440,648
Downloads, last 30 days
–
available after 30 days of tracking
30-day growth
–
tracking since September 4, 2026

Is Meow Lightbox well maintained?

Support threads resolved
5 of 5
recent threads on the WordPress.org support forum
WordPress compatibility
Current
tested up to WordPress 7.1, the current release is 7.1
One-star reviews
<1%
1 of 186 reviews on WordPress.org

Features

The feature list from the plugin's own readme on WordPress.org, trimmed to the essentials.

  • Deep-Linking: Share URLs that open specific images
  • Slideshow: Auto-play through your gallery
  • Social Sharing: Let visitors share your photos
  • Animation: Beautiful open/close transitions
  • Google Maps: Display shooting locations
  • Priority Support

Meow Lightbox reviews and ratings

186 reviews on WordPress.org, with the most recent ones as their authors posted them.

All reviews
4.9 out of 5

186 reviews

5★
173
4★
12
3★
0
2★
0
1★
1

  • Excellent Lightbox plugin

    Excellent plugin and equally important, there support is the best !

    jhmnieuwenhuis

  • Almost perfect replacement for Simple Lightbox

    My site uses both Simple Lightbox and Jetpack's Carousel.They work well enough, but I hate that I need two separate plugins to display solo and gallery images, particularly that they look different from each other. With Meow Lightbox and Gallery, well, it's still two separate plugins but at least the look of the lightbox and galleries are consistent. I also didn't need to edit PHP files unlike with Simple Lightbox. One caveat though: both plugins don't seem to play well with the LiteSpeed Cache plugin for any preset above Essential. I wager its because of the QUIC.cloud connection... while I have encountered minimal problems with Jetpack and Simple Lightbox even with QUIC.cloud.

    Lazylonewolf

  • Großartig Meow Lightbox

    Als einfacher Anwender und Internetseitenbetreiber (www.pixelzeiten.de) kann ich die Lightbox nur empfehlen. Die Einstellungen sind übersichtlich und super schön in ihrer Umsetzung. Als Hobbyfotograf ist man sehr glücklich, das es die Plugins von Meow gibt. Einfach nah an der Praxis.

    pixelzeit

  • Does what is says

    Easy to use, and looks great. Many ways to costumize.

    FormidlerLone

  • Funzina correttamente, visualizzazione rapida delle immagini

    Mi sono trovato subito bene grazie ai programmatori

    gpcammino

  • By far the best lightbox plugin for WordPress

    This lightbox plugin is incredible. It works equally well with keyboard, mouse, or touchscreen - the UX is really snappy and intuitive. The overlay is nicely designed, responsive (in terms of both layout and interactions), and honestly joyful to use. One of my favorite features is that the lightbox will collect all the images from your post, even if the images are separated by paragraphs (other lightbox plugins struggle with this). All told, another amazing plugin by Jordy!

    kaiyoma

Where Meow Lightbox ranks on WordPress.org

The rankings we track that Meow Lightbox appears in, and how its position changed over 30 days.

Ranking WordPress.org placement Position 30 days
Best Portfolio Plugins #59 in search, not tagged #92 –

Meow Lightbox alternatives

Plugins that solve the same problem, ranked by how closely they overlap with Meow Lightbox.

All Meow Lightbox alternatives

Details

The elegant lightbox built for photographers. Fast, responsive, and displays your photos beautifully with EXIF data and maps. You'll love it! 💕

The full description, screenshots and every review live on the WordPress.org page.

Tags

  • exif
  • lightbox
  • photography
  • photoswipe
  • responsive

More from Jordy Meow

Version
5.6.1
Last updated
Sep 4, 2026
First published
Aug 23, 2016
Requires WordPress
6.0
Tested up to
7.1
Requires PHP
8.1
Pricing
Free on WordPress.org

Meow Lightbox FAQ

What does Meow Lightbox do?

According to its WordPress.org readme, Meow Lightbox offers Deep-Linking: Share URLs that open specific images, Slideshow: Auto-play through your gallery, Social Sharing: Let visitors share your photos, Animation: Beautiful open/close transitions and Google Maps: Display shooting locations.

How many active installs does Meow Lightbox have?

WordPress.org reports 10,000+ active installs for Meow Lightbox as of September 7, 2026.

Is Meow Lightbox still maintained?

Yes. The last release was on September 4, 2026 and it is tested up to WordPress 7.1.

Does Meow Lightbox have good support?

On the WordPress.org forum, 5 of 5 recent support threads for Meow Lightbox are marked resolved. That is the developer's free support; a paid version usually comes with its own channel.

Is Meow Lightbox free?

Meow Lightbox is free to install from WordPress.org. Many plugins also sell a paid version or add-ons.

Where does Meow Lightbox rank among Portfolio Plugins?

Meow Lightbox is #92 in the WordPress.org Portfolio Plugins ranking.