Meow Gallery vs Responsive Lightbox & Gallery
Updated 6 Oct 2026. 24 features compared side by side.
Lightweight block-based gallery plugin by Meow Apps with tiles, masonry and justified layouts free, plus carousel, map and collections in Pro.
Free lightbox and gallery plugin by dFactory with eight lightbox scripts, a gallery builder, media folders and paid layout and lightbox extensions.
Choose Meow Gallery if…
- You need albums and image optimisation & CDN
- You also want right-click & download protection
- You want the more complete feature set (62/100 vs 55/100)
- You want the lower entry price ($29/yr vs $69/yr)
Choose Responsive Lightbox & Gallery if…
- You need page builder widgets and Instagram & cloud imports
- You prefer the more widely used option
Meow Gallery includes 3 features that Responsive Lightbox & Gallery lacks, including Albums, Image optimisation & CDN and Right-click & download protection; Responsive Lightbox & Gallery has 2 that Meow Gallery lacks, including Page builder widgets and Instagram & cloud imports. Both include 10 of the 24 features we track. 4 features are not yet verified for one or both plugins.
At a glance
Feature comparison
Click a screenshot to see both plugins side by side.
Meow Gallery Responsive Lightbox & GalleryBuilding galleries6/75/7
Gallery block and Gallery Manager for building and reordering reusable galleries.
Drag-and-drop builder using Media Library, featured images or media folders.
Masonry is one of the free layouts.
Basic masonry template is free; Masonry Gallery Pro extension adds more options.
Justified and tiles layouts are included free.
Needs the paid Justified Gallery extension ($29 or in the bundle).
Carousel layout, also usable as a hero, is Pro-only.
Basic slider gallery template is included free.
Collections of galleries were added for Pro users.
No album or nested gallery feature is offered.
Videos can be added in the Gallery Manager.
Linked YouTube/Vimeo videos open in the lightbox; gallery video embeds need paid lightbox extensions.
No visitor-facing filter by category or tag.
Changelog mentions filtering galleries by category, but a front-end filter is not documented.
Display & lightbox4/65/6
No built-in lightbox; pairs with the free Meow Lightbox plugin or any other.
Eight free lightbox scripts, applied automatically to images, galleries and videos.
Caption background styling free; animations are a Pro feature.
Builder design tab offers five hover effects plus colour and border controls.
Captions with styling options; EXIF is displayed via Meow Lightbox.
Titles and captions from image title, caption, alt or description; no EXIF.
Sharing is not documented for the gallery itself.
Sharing comes with the paid PhotoSwipe Lightbox extension.
Infinite loading with a load more option is Pro.
Standard, AJAX or infinite-scroll pagination with load more on click.
Per-image URLs are not documented.
No per-image URL option is documented for the core lightboxes.
Performance & protection3/50/5
Free skeleton loading placeholders; infinite/lazy loading of large galleries is Pro.
Lazy loading is not mentioned in the readme or docs.
Serves responsive, retina-ready image sizes; no compression or CDN.
Lets you choose image sizes but offers no compression or CDN.
Right-click protection option in the free version.
No image protection feature is listed.
No watermark feature.
No watermark feature in the plugin or its extensions.
No gallery password option.
No gallery password option is offered.
Integrations & selling1/63/6
Gutenberg Gallery block with gallery and collection management.
Gallery and Remote Library Image blocks plus WP Gallery block support.
No dedicated page builder widget; the shortcode can be used instead.
Readme claims page builder compatibility; no dedicated Elementor widget is documented.
No Instagram or cloud photo source; Photo Engine handles Lightroom sync separately.
Free Remote Library imports from Flickr, Unsplash and Wikimedia; Pro adds Instagram and more.
No photo sales feature.
No photo sales feature.
No client proofing workflow.
No client proofing workflow.
Overrides native galleries, but no importer for other gallery plugins.
No importer for other gallery plugins is documented.
Statuses: Yes Pro Add-on Partial 3rd-party No ?
Pricing compared
Meow Gallery Freemium
| Free | $0 |
|---|---|
| Starter | $29 per year, 1 site |
| Standard | $49 per year, 5 sites |
| Professional | $79 per year, 20 sites |
| Standard Life | $149 lifetime, 5 sites |
| Professional Life | $249 lifetime, 20 sites |
| Developer Life | $399 lifetime, 500 sites |
| Agency Life | $599 lifetime, 2500 sites |
Responsive Lightbox & Gallery Freemium
| Free | $0 |
|---|---|
| Photo & Art Bundle – Personal | $69 per year, 1 site |
| Photo & Art Bundle – Business | $79 per year, 5 sites |
| Photo & Art Bundle – Developer | $99 per year, Unlimited |
Downloads trend
Meow Gallery
5,801 downloads last week
Responsive Lightbox & Gallery
13,399 downloads last week
Verdict
Meow Gallery scores higher on our feature checklist (62/100 against 55/100) and includes albums, image optimisation & CDN and right-click & download protection that Responsive Lightbox & Gallery does not. Responsive Lightbox & Gallery still has the edge on page builder widgets and Instagram & cloud imports. Paid plans start at $29/yr for Meow Gallery and $69/yr for Responsive Lightbox & Gallery. Check the features you rely on in the table below before deciding.
Biggest differences
Meow Gallery: paid version (Starter). Responsive Lightbox & Gallery: not included. Collections of galleries were added for Pro users.
Meow Gallery: partial. Responsive Lightbox & Gallery: not included. Serves responsive, retina-ready image sizes; no compression or CDN.
Meow Gallery: included. Responsive Lightbox & Gallery: not included. Right-click protection option in the free version.
Meow Gallery: not included. Responsive Lightbox & Gallery: partial. Readme claims page builder compatibility; no dedicated Elementor widget is documented.
Meow Gallery: not included. Responsive Lightbox & Gallery: included. Free Remote Library imports from Flickr, Unsplash and Wikimedia; Pro adds Instagram and more.
Written from the feature, pricing and install data on this page, not from hands-on testing. How we compare.
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Meow Gallery vs others
FAQ
Which is better, Meow Gallery or Responsive Lightbox & Gallery?
Meow Gallery scores higher on our feature checklist (62/100 against 55/100) and includes albums, image optimisation & CDN and right-click & download protection that Responsive Lightbox & Gallery does not. Responsive Lightbox & Gallery still has the edge on page builder widgets and Instagram & cloud imports. Paid plans start at $29/yr for Meow Gallery and $69/yr for Responsive Lightbox & Gallery. Check the features you rely on in the table below before deciding.
Which has more features?
Meow Gallery includes 14 of the 24 features we track, against 13 for Responsive Lightbox & Gallery. Feature count is only part of the picture; check which of the differences matter to you.
Is Meow Gallery free?
Meow Gallery has a free version on WordPress.org. Paid plans start at $29/yr.
Is Responsive Lightbox & Gallery free?
Responsive Lightbox & Gallery has a free version on WordPress.org. Paid plans start at $69/yr.
Feature data last changed 6 Oct 2026. Spotted something wrong? Suggest an edit to Meow Gallery or Responsive Lightbox & Gallery. Some links are affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no cost to you; it never affects our data or rankings.