10 Best Simple Colorbox Alternatives in 2026
Updated September 7, 2026 · Ranked by how closely each plugin matches, from WordPress.org data · How this works
Simple Colorbox has 1,000+ 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 Simple Colorbox
- 1
WP Colorbox
Closest match4.3 (23) 5,000+ active installsView image, video (YouTube, Vimeo), page, inline HTML, custom content in lightbox. Add jQuery Colorbox lightbox effect to your WordPress site.
Shares the colorbox, lightbox tags on WordPress.org. About 5 times the installs, no update since August 16, 2025.
- 2
4.8 (33) 8,000+ active installsEasy Footnotes lets you quickly and easily add footnotes throughout your WordPress posts using a simple shortcode in the text editor.
Shares the hover tag on WordPress.org. About 8 times the installs, last updated 12 days ago.
- 3
5.0 (24) 3,000+ active installsExtends the WordPress Plugin Leaflet Map with Leaflet Plugins and other functions.
Shares the hover tag on WordPress.org. About 3 times the installs, last updated 27 days ago.
- 4
5.0 (23) 7,000+ active installsClone of the standard Meta widget plus options to hide log in/out, admin, feed and WordPress.org/custom links.
Shares the simple tag on WordPress.org. About 7 times the installs, no update since February 9, 2018.
- 5
4.6 (41) 4,000+ active installsEasily create an image gallery on your posts, pages or any custom post type
Shares the simple tag on WordPress.org. About 4 times the installs, last updated May 29, 2026.
- 6
4.9 (28) 10,000+ active installsQuickly and easily reorder taxonomy terms with an easy to use and intuitive drag and drop interface.
Shares the simple tag on WordPress.org. About 10 times the installs, no update since March 22, 2023.
- 7
Video Popup – Video Lightbox for YouTube, Vimeo & MP4
4.5 (43) 10,000+ active installsVideo Popup plugin lets you create unlimited, responsive Video Lightbox and Popup for YouTube, Vimeo, MP4 & WebM on click or page load.
Shares the lightbox tag on WordPress.org. About 10 times the installs, last updated 17 days ago.
- 8
4.9 (186) 10,000+ active installsThe elegant lightbox built for photographers. Fast, responsive, and displays your photos beautifully with EXIF data and maps. You'll love it! 💕
Shares the lightbox tag on WordPress.org. About 10 times the installs, last updated 3 days ago.
- 9
ARI Fancy Lightbox – Popup for WordPress
4.7 (71) 10,000+ active installsLightbox for WordPress with social and viral features. Show photos, gallery, PDF, videos, WooCommerce images, inline content, Google Maps links.
Shares the lightbox tag on WordPress.org. About 10 times the installs, last updated September 24, 2025.
- 10
4.7 (85) 10,000+ active installsPop-up Popups
Shares the lightbox tag on WordPress.org. About 10 times the installs, last updated 10 days ago.
Switching from Simple Colorbox: common questions
What is the best alternative to Simple Colorbox?
WP Colorbox is the closest match: it shares the same WordPress.org tags and has 5,000+ active installs with a 4.3 out of 5 rating.
Which Simple Colorbox alternative has the most users?
Simple Taxonomy Ordering, with 10,000+ active installs reported by WordPress.org.
Which Simple Colorbox alternative is rated highest?
Meow Lightbox, rated 4.9 out of 5 by 186 reviewers. Only plugins with at least 50 reviews are counted.
Are these Simple Colorbox 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 Simple Colorbox 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 Simple Colorbox 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
WP Colorbox is the closest match to Simple Colorbox by the data we track, and Simple Taxonomy Ordering has the widest reach with 10,000+ active installs. Meow Lightbox 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.