Envira Gallery
Drag-and-drop WordPress gallery plugin with a free Lite version and paid add-ons for albums, video, proofing, watermarks and WooCommerce selling.
99
Modula Image Gallery
WordPress gallery plugin by WPChill known for its custom grid builder, with paid plans for video, filters, albums, protection and image optimisation.
Free installs100K+WordPress.org, active
Est. Pro installs~31KLikely 16K–62K
Vendor claims160K+Vendor's own figure
Rating4.7/5616 reviews
Price from$78/yrFreemium
Last updated22 Oct 2026Version 3.0.16
Overview
Modula is a gallery plugin from WPChill whose signature feature is a custom grid builder: you resize and reposition individual tiles to design a gallery layout by hand. A free version is on WordPress.org, and paid plans unlock extensions for video, filters, albums, protection and performance.
How it works
You create a gallery, add images, choose a gallery type and tune spacing, borders, captions and effects, then embed it with a block, an Elementor, Beaver Builder or Divi integration, or a shortcode. The free version includes the Creative, Custom Grid and Masonry gallery types, a FancyBox-powered lightbox, two hover effects, loading effects, lazy loading, social sharing icons, caption styling and custom CSS. Modula AI can also suggest titles, captions and alt text.
Free vs paid
Starter unlocks video galleries, the lightbox slideshow and gallery filters. Trio adds albums, password protection, Image Guardian right-click protection, the slider gallery, Instagram feeds, image licensing and SpeedUp image compression with CDN delivery. Business adds watermarking, downloads, EXIF, lightbox zoom, SEO deeplinks, pagination and load more, role management, white label, image proofing and comments. An Agency plan is billed per site for 10 to 100 sites. Free migration plugins move galleries from NextGEN, FooGallery, Envira, Final Tiles and Photoblocks.
- The custom grid builder gives more layout control than most rivals.
- Lifetime licences are available for Starter, Trio and Business.
- Watermarks, deeplinks, EXIF and pagination all sit in the Business plan.
Strengths and limitations
Modula is easy to use and creative layouts are its strength. The free version is limited, though: no video, albums, filters, slider or protection. Several features photographers expect only arrive in the top Business plan, and there are no built-in tools for selling photos.
Who should choose it
Modula suits designers, agencies and portfolio owners who want hand-arranged grid layouts and are happy to pay for the Trio or Business plan to get albums, protection and optimisation.
Best for: Designers and portfolio sites that want hand-crafted grid layouts and will pay for the Trio or Business plan for extras.
Modula's custom grid builder is a genuine differentiator and the plugin is pleasant to use. The free tier is fairly thin, and several important features are reserved for the Business plan, so it is best value when bought with a lifetime licence or at the introductory price.
Pros
- Custom grid builder lets you resize and arrange tiles by hand
- Free version includes social sharing icons and lazy loading
- Free migration plugins from NextGEN, FooGallery and Envira
- Elementor, Beaver Builder, Divi and block editor support
- Lifetime licences offered on three plans
Cons
- Free version lacks video, albums, filters and slider
- Watermarking, EXIF, deeplinks and pagination require the Business plan
- No built-in way to sell photos
- Only two hover effects in the free version
Key features
What Modula Image Gallery highlights on its WordPress.org page and its own website, split by version.
Free version WordPress.org
- Drag-and-resize custom grid builder
- Creative, Custom Grid and Masonry types
- FancyBox lightbox gallery viewer
- Social sharing icons
- Lazy loading and loading effects
- Two hover effects
- Caption styling, borders and shadows
- Gutenberg block support
- Elementor, Beaver Builder and Divi support
- AI titles, captions and alt text
- Custom CSS per gallery
- Free migrator add-ons
Pro / paid adds From $78/yr
- YouTube, Vimeo and self-hosted video
- Gallery filters and sorting
- Lightbox slideshow and slider galleries
- Albums of multiple galleries
- 40+ hover effects
- Password protection
- Image Guardian right-click protection
- Watermarks on images
- SpeedUp compression and CDN
- Instagram galleries
- EXIF, zoom and image downloads
- SEO deeplinks and pagination
- Image proofing and comments
- White label and role management
Feature checklist
23 of 24 features we track in Gallery Plugins, feature score 97/100
Building galleries 7/7
Drag & drop gallery builder Key
Create and reorder galleries visually, with bulk upload from the media library.
Drag-and-drop builder with resizable tiles in the free plugin.
Included
Masonry layout Key
Pinterest-style layout for mixed image sizes.
Masonry gallery type is included free.
Included
Justified & mosaic layouts
Rows of equal height or tiled mosaic grids.
Free Creative gallery builds tiled mosaic grids; Custom Grid lets you size tiles.
Included
Slider & carousel
Show a gallery as a slideshow or carousel.
Slider gallery and lightbox slideshow: slideshow from Starter, slider from Trio.
Paid version Trio
Albums Key
Group several galleries into albums.
Albums included from the Trio plan.
Paid version Trio
Video galleries Key
Add YouTube, Vimeo or self-hosted videos to galleries.
YouTube, Vimeo and self-hosted video from the Starter plan.
Paid version Starter
Filterable galleries & tags
Let visitors filter a gallery by category or tag.
Gallery filters and sorting from the Starter plan.
Paid version Starter
Display & lightbox 6/6
Lightbox Key
Opens images full size in an overlay with navigation.
FancyBox-based lightbox enabled by default.
Included
Hover effects & styling
Captions, hover animations, borders and spacing controls.
Two hover effects plus borders and spacing free; 40+ effects in paid plans.
Included
Captions & EXIF data
Show titles, captions or camera EXIF details.
Caption styling free; EXIF metadata needs the Business plan.
Included
Social sharing
Share buttons on images or in the lightbox.
Free version includes social sharing icons for X, Facebook, Pinterest and more.
Included
Pagination & load more
Paginate large galleries or add load more / infinite scroll.
Pagination and load more included in the Business plan.
Paid version Business
Deep linking
Each lightbox image gets its own shareable URL.
SEO deeplinks included in the Business plan.
Paid version Business
Performance & protection 5/5
Lazy loading Key
Images load only as they come into view.
Lazy loading available in the free plugin.
Included
Image optimisation & CDN
Resizing, compression or a CDN for gallery images.
SpeedUp compression and CDN delivery from the Trio plan.
Paid version Trio
Right-click & download protection
Discourages copying or downloading images.
Image Guardian blocks right-click saving; Trio plan.
Paid version Trio
Watermarks
Adds a text or image watermark to photos.
Watermark extension in the Business plan.
Paid version Business
Password-protected galleries
Restrict galleries with a password.
Password-protected galleries from the Trio plan.
Paid version Trio
Integrations & selling 5/6
Block editor block
Insert galleries with a Gutenberg block.
Gutenberg block support in the free plugin.
Included
Page builder widgets
Elementor or other page builder widgets.
Free version integrates with Elementor, Beaver Builder and Divi.
Included
Instagram & cloud imports
Build galleries from Instagram, Flickr, Google Photos or Dropbox.
Instagram feed galleries from the Trio plan.
Paid version Trio
Sell photos & prints
Sell digital downloads or prints from galleries.
No selling or WooCommerce checkout features in the plan matrix.
Not included
Client proofing
Clients select and approve photos from a gallery.
Image proofing included in the Business plan.
Paid version Business
Import from other gallery plugins
Migrate galleries from NextGEN, Envira or similar.
Free migrator plugins for NextGEN, FooGallery, Envira, Final Tiles, Photoblocks.
Via add-on
Pricing
Free
$0On WordPress.org
Starter
$78per year1 site
Shown discounted to $39/year; 250 AI credits; video, lightbox slideshow and filters.
Starter Lifetime
$269lifetime1 site
One-time payment; 3 years of support and updates per pricing page.
Trio
$138per year3 sites
Shown discounted to $69/year; adds albums, password protection, Image Guardian, slider, Instagram, SpeedUp CDN.
Trio Lifetime
$479lifetime3 sites
One-time payment.
Business
$198per year5 sites
Shown discounted to $99/year; adds watermark, EXIF, deeplinks, pagination, proofing, white label, priority support.
Business Lifetime
$689lifetime5 sites
One-time payment.
Agency
$199per year10-100
Priced per site per year, yearly billing only; includes all Business features.
Prices are list prices from the vendor's site, checked 14 Oct 2026. Many vendors discount the first year.
How many sites use Modula Image Gallery?
Free installs from WordPress.org, the vendor's own claim, and our estimate of paid installs.
Free version (WordPress.org)
100K+
Active installations reported by WordPress.org.
Vendor claim
160K+
Sites/users claimed on the vendor's website. source
Estimated Pro / paid installs
~31K
Our estimate, see method below.
How we estimated this: WordPress.org shows 100K+ free installs, which could mean anything from 100K to 200K. The vendor says 160K+ sites, so we put the free count halfway between the middle of that range and the vendor figure, at about 160K. About 160K free installs x 20% (the usual share of free sites that also run the paid version when many key features are paid) gives 31K. Likely range: 16K to 62K. This counts sites running the paid version, including sites whose licence has lapsed. Estimates are rough and based on public figures as of 14 Oct 2026.
Stats & health
Weekly downloads
16,699 downloads last week, 7.8M all time
Rating breakdown
| Version | 3.0.16 |
|---|---|
| Last updated | 22 Oct 2026 (11 days ago) |
| Tested up to | WordPress 7.1.4 |
| Requires | WordPress 5.3+, PHP 5.6+ |
| Support threads (2 months) | 16 of 16 resolved |
| On WordPress.org since | 2 Nov 2015 |
Company & policy
| Refund policy | 14-day money-back (source, 6 Oct 2026) |
|---|
Modula Image Gallery compared
Alternatives to Modula Image Gallery
FooGallery
Fast WordPress gallery plugin with seven free layouts, built-in albums and lightbox, plus affordable PRO plans for video, filtering and WooCommerce.
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NextGEN Gallery
Long-running WordPress gallery plugin by Imagely with free galleries and albums, plus paid plans for pro layouts, proofing, print fulfilment and photo…
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Photo Gallery by 10Web
Freemium gallery plugin from 10Web with nine-plus views, albums, a 15-effect lightbox, watermarks, tag filters and Instagram embeds for photo-heavy sites.
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Robo Gallery
Freemium image and video gallery plugin by Robosoft with grid, masonry, mosaic, polaroid and slider layouts, nested albums and low one-time Pro…
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Meow Gallery
Lightweight block-based gallery plugin by Meow Apps with tiles, masonry and justified layouts free, plus carousel, map and collections in Pro.
62
FAQ
Is Modula Image Gallery free?
Yes. Modula Image Gallery has a free version on WordPress.org. Paid plans start at $78/yr.
How many sites use Modula Image Gallery?
WordPress.org reports 100K+ active installations of the free version. The vendor claims 160K+ sites in total. We estimate around 31K sites run the paid version.
Does Modula Image Gallery have drag & drop gallery builder?
Yes: included. Drag-and-drop builder with resizable tiles in the free plugin.
Does Modula Image Gallery have masonry layout?
Yes: included. Masonry gallery type is included free.
Does Modula Image Gallery have albums?
Yes: paid version (Trio). Albums included from the Trio plan.
Does Modula Image Gallery have video galleries?
Yes: paid version (Starter). YouTube, Vimeo and self-hosted video from the Starter plan.
Does Modula Image Gallery have lightbox?
Yes: included. FancyBox-based lightbox enabled by default.
Does Modula Image Gallery have lazy loading?
Yes: included. Lazy loading available in the free plugin.
What can the free Modula do?
It offers the custom grid, creative and masonry gallery types, a lightbox, social sharing, lazy loading, two hover effects and a block. Video, albums, filters and protection are paid.
Which Modula plan includes watermarks?
Watermarking, EXIF, SEO deeplinks, pagination and proofing are included in the Business plan ($198/year list) and Agency.
Can I move galleries from another plugin to Modula?
Yes, WPChill provides free migration plugins for NextGEN, FooGallery, Envira, Final Tiles and Photoblocks.
Is there a lifetime licence?
Yes, Starter, Trio and Business are available as lifetime licences ($269, $479 and $689), and there is a 14-day refund policy.
Last updated 6 Oct 2026. Spotted something wrong? Suggest an edit.