Top 6 WordPress Video Plugins for a Superior Website

Last updated on Mar 20, 2024 by Southie Williamson

Incorporating videos into a WordPress site can significantly enhance user engagement and provide a dynamic way to showcase content. With a plethora of WordPress video plugins available, you can find an ideal solution that caters to your specific needs, such as video galleries, responsive video players, video sliders, and more.

Selecting the right video plugin is crucial for the speed and performance of your website. Your videos should align well with your site’s aesthetics and functionality without compromising on load times or user experience.

We’ve tested tons of video plugins for WordPress, and in this article, we’ll share which ones came out on top.

Can I Add Video in WordPress?

Yes, you can add videos to WordPress with the Gutenberg block editor. By default, WordPress lets you add videos to posts, pages, and widget-ready areas like the sidebar. However, WordPress doesn’t offer a user-friendly way to display multiple videos in a professional layout like a gallery or carousel.

WordPress also isn’t optimized for hosting and playing videos, so uploading a lot of videos can dramatically slow down your site. You can get around this by embedding YouTube videos directly on WordPress, but the lack of layout customization is still a problem. That’s why using a dedicated video plugin is by far the recommended solution.

Here’s a quick cheat sheet on WordPress videos for reference:

Method	Use Case	Pros	Cons
Direct Upload	Small, individual videos, infrequently uploaded	Full control over video display	Uses server space, may affect loading times
Direct Upload Video Widget	Small, individual videos, used in a sidebar or footer	Easy to place and manage	Uses server space, constraints depending on your WordPress theme
URL Embed	Individual, one-off videos from an external platform	Saves server space, easy to implement	Limited control over video appearance and customizations
Video Plugins	Single or multiple videos from various sources, large videos, embedded feeds	Enhanced functionality, professional look, advanced customization	Requires plugin installation and setup

Top WordPress Video Plugins

These plugins are designed to streamline the video integration process, offering features like easy embeds, customizable player controls, performance optimization, and more.

Without further ado, let’s get into it!

1. Envira Gallery

Overall Best Video Gallery Plugin for WordPress

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Yes, we’re a bit biased here, but with good reason! With more than 3 million downloads, Envira Gallery is widely regarded as the best photo gallery plugin on the market. And with its robust Video Addon, Envira Gallery also takes the cake as the best video gallery plugin for WordPress.

You can seamlessly add videos from popular video hosting sources like YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, VideoPress, Twitch, and self-hosted files to your galleries with Envira.

The plugin offers a user-friendly drag-and-drop builder, multiple templates, and numerous customization options that make it easy to arrange your videos and images in a visually appealing layout tailored to your website’s branding.

Check out some of our favorite video features in Envira Gallery:

• Responsive, mobile-friendly galleries.
• Supports YouTube playlists.
• Automatic thumbnail generator.
• Custom captions and titles.
• Ability to start any YouTube video at a particular min/sec clip.
• Featured content galleries and a native widget block to easily embed a gallery with new or popular videos anywhere on your site.
• Organization and filterable galleries using albums and tags.
• Social sharing buttons
• Integration with popular page builders like Elementor and Beaver Builder.
• eCommerce integration.
• And lots more!

Envira Gallery’s built-in lightbox also means that you can create a seamless pop up gallery with video thumbnails for an enhanced viewing experience.

All in all, Envira Gallery is a versatile WordPress video gallery plugin that allows you to easily create beautiful photo and video displays on your website.

Who’s it for: As the overall best image and video gallery plugin for WordPress, we recommend it to anyone who needs fast, user-friendly, and powerful photo and video galleries.

Pricing: The Video Addon is included in Envira Gallery Pro, which starts at $99.50 / year.

Get started with Envira Gallery today!

2. Smash Balloon

Best Video Plugin for YouTube and TikTok Feeds on WordPress

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Smash Balloon offers a popular suite of WordPress plugins that simplify the process of embedding video and social feeds on your site. In its suite of products, Smash Balloon offers two plugins that are particularly excellent for video – YouTube Feed Pro and TikTok Feed Pro.

Smash Balloon’s YouTube Feed Pro

Out of all the plugins we tried, YouTube Feed Pro is the best WordPress YouTube gallery plugin. Setting up and managing your YouTube video feeds with Smash Balloon is a breeze. The intuitive interface guides you through the process of creating feeds, selecting specific videos, or automatically displaying the latest videos from your YouTube channel. You can even combine multiple YouTube channels into a single feed.

Features we loved:

• Offers easy WordPress YouTube embeds for channels, livestreams, playlists, and individual videos.
• Ability to replace suggested videos with custom call-to-actions that promote specific pages, products, or content on your website.
• Embedded Subscribe button.
• Built-in YouTube caching to improve load time and optimize SEO.

Note: If you’re on a tight budget, you can grab a free version of the YouTube Feed plugin. Despite having limited features, we still found it more than adequate for creating a simple YouTube gallery.

Smash Balloon’s TikTok Feed Pro

Similar to the YouTube plugin, Smash Balloon’s TikTok Feed Pro lets you embed a dynamic TikTok feed on WordPress. You can filter your videos based on a word or hashtag, create curated feeds for different parts of your website, and customize feeds to look exactly how you want.

Aside from the two plugins we’ve already mentioned, SmashBalloon also offers Facebook Feed Pro, Instagram Feed Pro, Twitter Feed Pro, Reviews Feed Pro (combined feed from different review sites like Google Reviews, Yelp, and TripAdvisor), and the Social Wall, which lets you combine feeds from all the plugins into one cohesive design.

All of Smash Balloon’s plugins include multiple template styles like grid, carousel, and masonry and are optimized for speed and mobile devices right out of the box.

Who’s it for: Smash Balloon is perfect for content creators and site owners looking to integrate YouTube, TikTok, and other dynamic social feeds into their website content.

Pricing: All of SmashBalloon’s individual plugins, like YouTube Feed Pro and TikTok Feed Pro, start at $49 / year. Or, you can get all 7 plugins in the All Access Bundle, which starts at $299 / year.

Get started with Smash Balloon today!

3. Soliloquy

Best WordPress Plugin for Video Sliders

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If you’re looking for a simple and effective WordPress plugin to create video sliders on your website, look no further. Soliloquy is a powerful and flexible slider plugin that offers a wide range of multimedia capabilities.

While not exclusively dedicated to videos, Soliloquy’s robust features make it an excellent choice for showcasing video content on your website. With support for various formats, including videos from YouTube, Vimeo, and self-hosted sources, you can seamlessly incorporate video content into your sliders alongside images, PDFs, and more.

You can control various aspects, such as slider dimensions, navigation controls, carousel thumbnails, transition effects, autostart settings, video player settings, and more. Soliloquy also supports caching and lazy loading, which can significantly improve your website’s performance.

One feature that stood out to us was Soliloquy’s WooCommerce integration, which lets you showcase product videos in an engaging carousel to enhance your online store’s appeal and increase conversions. Soliloquy’s ability to handle various multimedia formats in the same slider also impressed us. It’s perfect for presentations and eLearning sites that need to share images, PDFs, and video lessons in the same slider.

Who’s it for: Overall, Soliloquy’s versatility is a compelling factor for any website looking to incorporate sliders on their site and showcase a multimedia-rich experience.

Pricing: Starts at $19.50 / year.

Get started with Soliloquy today!

4. All-in-One Video Gallery

Best Free Video Gallery Plugin

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As the name suggests, All-in-One Video Gallery is a dedicated gallery plugin for videos on WordPress. The plugin simplifies the process of creating layouts for your video content and provides a range of customization options to ensure visual appeal. It makes a great choice if you’re looking for a free video plugin.

You can display videos in a list or grid layout, and the plugin includes playback buttons for users to control viewing in its HTML5 video player. One feature that stood out to us was the ability to organize videos on the backend using tags and categories, which is something we didn’t find in most other free WordPress plugins.

During our testing, we determined that All-in-One Video Gallery is an overall solid choice for those looking for a simple, free video gallery. You won’t find many of the advanced features, like lightbox popups, thumbnails, and social sharing, that are available in paid plugins like Envira Gallery. However, the plugin integrates with the WordPress content editor rather than using its own video editor, which some users may find more intuitive.

Who is it for: Due to the included organization features, All-in-One Video Gallery may work especially well for site owners who need a free tool to help with categorizing and managing a large amount of videos on the backend.

Pricing: Free.

Get started with All-in-One Video Gallery today!

5. Presto Player

Best Free WordPress Video Player

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When it comes to delivering a seamless video playback experience, Presto Player stands out as the best free video player plugin for WordPress. It’s a reliable and lightweight plugin designed to provide a hassle-free way to embed and play various video formats.

One of Presto Player’s key strengths is its versatility in supporting a wide range of video formats. Whether you’re working with MP4, WebM, OGV, or videos hosted on popular platforms, this plugin can handle them all. However, keep in mind that this plugin is simply a video player, so it won’t help with combining multiple videos into a gallery.

Presto Player’s interface was intuitive and straightforward during setup. With just a few clicks, you can embed videos into your posts, pages, or custom post types to ensure a consistent viewing experience across your site. The plugin lets you customize various aspects, such as player controls, color schemes, and advanced styling with custom CSS.

We noticed, when reviewing the plugin that even as a free plugin, Presto Player provides multiple features for eLearning video content. For example, it includes LMS Learner controls, LearnDash video progression, RankMath integration, and multilingual captions.

While the plugin won’t replace a full gallery plugin, Presto Player is an excellent video player in its own right. Our overall impression was that it’s geared primarily toward course creators who need a higher level of customization over embedded videos.

Who’s it for: Preto Player is perfect for online course creators and those who want a cohesive video player when embedding videos from various sources.

Pricing: Free.

Get started with Presto Player today!

6. Easy Video Player

Best Free Video Player with Shortcode Customization

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When it comes to embedding videos on your WordPress website, simplicity and ease of use are often key factors. Easy Video Player excels in this regard, prioritizing a streamlined experience for users.

The plugin ensures compatibility with your existing video assets or third-party hosting services by supporting a variety of video formats. We particularly appreciated the easy setup. Just install the plugin, add your video URL to the shortcode, and you’re good to go.

All of the player’s customizations are available through shortcodes. You can adjust things like looping, autoplay, the size of the player, and even add poster images using the embed code. Videos embedded with Easy Video Player are automatically adjusted for different screen sizes and devices. This ensures a consistent viewing experience across desktops, tablets, and mobile devices.

Overall, Easy Video Player is an excellent choice for WordPress users who value simplicity and ease of use. And it doesn’t sacrifice essential video embedding and playback capabilities. However, it’s not the best option for users who don’t have a thorough understanding of shortcodes.

Who’s it for: Users who are looking for a free, lightweight video player that can be customized via shortcodes.

Pricing: Free.

Get started with Easy Video Player today!

What Is the Best Video Gallery Plugin for WordPress?

Envira Gallery stands out as a comprehensive solution for creating video galleries that are both elegant and user-friendly. The plugin allows you to easily craft galleries with a mix of images and videos in a variety of layouts. It supports videos from various platforms, such as YouTube and Vimeo, doesn’t slow down your site, and ensures responsiveness across all devices.

Envira Gallery provides ample customization options and advanced gallery features like lightbox display, tags, albums, WooCommerce integration, social sharing, pagination, lazy-loading, deeplinking for SEO, password-protected galleries, and much more.

What Is the Best Video Streaming Plugin for WordPress?

Smash Balloon’s YouTube Feed Pro is the best video streaming plugin for WordPress. It allows you to embed dynamic feeds and livestreams from your YouTube channel. With its beginner-friendly interface, you can design a stunning layout and stream videos in minutes. The plugin also offers features to promote engagement, such as an embedded Subscribe button and the ability to replace the “suggested videos” with custom call-to-actions to promote specific pages, products, or content on your website.

What Is the Best Free Video Player Plugin for WordPress?

Out of all the plugins we tried, Presto Player was the best free video player plugin. It supports a variety of video formats, is fully responsive, and provides an accessible interface for users. The plugin lets you fully customize various aspects of the player, such as player controls, color schemes, and advanced styling with custom CSS. It also includes multilingual captions and multiple features that are tailored to online course creators.

Additional Video Plugins for WordPress

With nearly 60,000 plugins in the WordPress directory, it’s pretty much impossible to provide an in-depth review of all of them (assuming we have a life outside of this 😅). However, there are a few additional plugins that, while they didn’t make our main list, provide certain niche video features.

• Elite Video Player – Premium video player that offers unique compatibility with YouTube 360 VR Videos.
• Ultimate Video Player – Premium video player that uses VAST templates (video Ad serving template). It’s compatible with Google AdSense and designed to maximize ad revenue.
• MonsterInsights – A Google Analytics plugin that excels in delivering video analytics within WordPress. We’ve leveraged this to gain insights and make data-driven decisions to enhance our video marketing strategies.
• AIOSEO – An SEO plugin that provides additional video tools to greatly enhance video SEO. It helps get our video content to rank in search results by generating video sitemaps and optimizing metadata.
• Embed Plus YouTube – This plugin lets you create a YouTube gallery using videos, playlists, shorts, and livestreams. We didn’t find it to be as user-friendly as Smash Balloon’s Reviews Feed Pro and the features are similar. However, it does offer a unique feature that we liked called Modest Branding, which reduces the amount of YouTube branding on your videos.

That’s it. You made it to the end!

We hope this article helped you discover the perfect WordPress video plugin for your site!

Not using Envira Gallery? Get started today!

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