Carousel, Slider, Photo Gallery with Lightbox, Video Slider, by WP Carousel

83 Quality Score

Active Installs

22/30

With 70,000 active installs it sits well below category leaders like Smart Slider 3 (800,000) and Shortcodes Ultimate (400,000), suggesting moderate but not dominant adoption.

Update Freshness

25/25

Last updated 2026-07-03 and tested up to WordPress 7.0, so the maintenance signal is excellent and the plugin is clearly being kept current.

User Rating

14/15

A 94/100 rating across 430 reviews is a strong indicator that users are consistently satisfied with what the plugin delivers.

Support Health

8/15

Only one support thread is recorded and it was resolved, giving a perfect resolution rate but a sample size too small to draw firm conclusions about long-term support responsiveness.

WP Compatibility

15/15

Compatibility scores full marks, with a low PHP 7.0 requirement and WordPress 5.0 minimum that covers virtually every modern host.

Scores higher than 92% of indexed plugins

About

Carousel, Slider, and Photo Gallery with Lightbox plugin. Create Image Carousel, Video Slider, Post Carousel, Post Grid, Product Carousel, and more.

Active Installs 70k+

Rating ★★★★½ 4.7/5

Last Updated 2026-09-22 3:54pm GMT

Requires WordPress 5.0+

Tested Up To 7.1.2

Requires PHP 7.4+

Security History

7 known vulnerabilities, all patched

1 High 6 Medium

Most recent: May 4, 2026

View details ▸

WP Carousel Free <= 2.7.10 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'data-caption' Attribute Medium

May 4, 2026 Patched in ["2.7.11"] CVE-2026-4665

Carousel, Slider, Gallery by WP Carousel <= 2.7.3 - Authenticated (Admin+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting Medium

January 31, 2025 Patched in ["2.7.4"] CVE-2024-13314

Multiple Plugins <= (Various Versions) - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored DOM-Based Cross-Site Scripting via FancyBox JavaScript Library Medium

December 3, 2024 Patched in ["2.6.9"] CVE-2024-5020

Carousel, Slider, Gallery by WP Carousel <= 2.6.8 - Authenticated (Editor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting Medium

October 30, 2024 Patched in ["2.6.9"] CVE-2024-4002

Carousel, Slider, Gallery by WP Carousel – Image Carousel & Photo Gallery, Post Carousel & Post Grid, Product Carousel & Product Grid for WooCommerce <= 2.6.3 - Authenticated (Admin+) PHP Object Injection High

April 9, 2024 Patched in ["2.6.4"] CVE-2024-3020

Carousel, Slider, Gallery by WP Carousel – Image Carousel & Photo Gallery, Post Carousel & Post Grid, Product Carousel & Product Grid for WooCommerce <= 2.6.3 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'sp_wp_carousel_shortcode' Medium

April 5, 2024 Patched in ["2.6.4"] CVE-2024-2949

Carousel, Slider, Gallery by WP Carousel <= 2.5.2 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Shortcode Medium

December 22, 2022 Patched in ["2.5.3"] CVE-2022-4482

What It Does

WP Carousel Free lets you build image carousels, video sliders, post carousels, post grids, and product carousels directly inside the WordPress block or classic editor without writing custom code. It includes a built-in lightbox so visitors can view enlarged images or play videos in an overlay without leaving the page. Layouts, navigation styles, and item counts are all configurable from a settings panel, so most sites can get a working slider in under 10 minutes.

Who It's For

This plugin is best for small business owners, bloggers, and WooCommerce stores that want a single, lightweight plugin to handle several common slider and gallery needs instead of installing one plugin per feature. It fits sites that need image carousels, embedded YouTube or Vimeo sliders, and product carousels but do not want to pay for a premium slider suite. Beginners who prefer a guided settings UI over shortcode gymnastics will also find it approachable.

Who Should Skip It

If you run a large media-heavy site that needs advanced effects such as layer-based animations, dynamic content sources, or deep template control, you will outgrow this free tier quickly and should look at Smart Slider 3 or MetaSlider instead. Developers building highly customized slider layouts will also find the options surface too shallow.

The Bottom Line

WP Carousel Free earns an 83.3/100 overall score thanks to strong ratings, fresh updates, and broad compatibility, even though its support thread volume is too low to fully validate. It is a sensible choice for users who want a free, well-maintained all-in-one slider and gallery tool and do not need premium-tier animation features. Treat it as a solid free starting point rather than a replacement for paid slider suites on high-traffic sites.

Related Plugins

Shortcodes Ultimate 93/100

Pick Shortcodes Ultimate when you need sliders as part of a much broader library of content shortcodes and visual elements, not just carousels.

Photo Gallery by FooGallery 89/100

Pick FooGallery when galleries, especially masonry and album layouts, are your primary need and carousels are secondary.

Smart Slider 3 89/100

Pick Smart Slider 3 when you want a much larger install base, more prebuilt templates, and the option to upgrade to a powerful premium tier.

SiteOrigin Widgets Bundle 87/100

Pick SiteOrigin Widgets Bundle when you already rely on the SiteOrigin Page Builder and want slider widgets bundled into that ecosystem.

Robo Gallery 87/100

Pick Robo Gallery when your focus is image galleries with creative layouts rather than multi-content carousels and video sliders.