74
Lightbox & Modal Popup WordPress Plugin – FooBox
A smooth lightbox experience with a very clingy review request.
HealthyGrowingPoor rating
74/100
The plugin is easy to use but the persistent review prompts and PHP warnings are frustrating.
Active installs
~150,000
our estimate · wp.org shows 100k+
Rating
3.9★
95 ratings
Trend · vs a year ago
+5%
Growing
244 → 256 installs/day
What to watch out for
- MINORverified rating is 3.93★
Downloads over time
real new installs per day · release spikes shown separately from the trend2025-04-302025-08-082025-11-162026-02-232026-06-03
organicrelease spikerelease tailorganic trend · 14d rolling median
Growing · +5% in the last year
244/day a year ago→256/day today
Reviews
what people actually sayFooBox is a well-regarded lightbox plugin for WordPress with a reputation for ease of use and responsive support, though it draws frustration for its persistent review-nag banner and some features being locked behind a paid upgrade.
What people like
- +Easy to set up and use out of the box×5
- +Works well as a modern, actively maintained replacement for outdated lightbox plugins×2
- +Integrates neatly with FooGallery and supports Gutenberg editor
- +Supports useful features like image download links and captions×2
- +Support team is responsive and helpful×3
Common complaints
- −Persistent review-nag banner reappears after being dismissed, annoying users into leaving reviews
- −PHP deprecation warnings raised by the freemium.php file, flagged as unsafe
- −iFrame support requires upgrading to the paid Premium version
- −Premium upgrade alters Media entry behavior, breaking some native WordPress features like Alt text and hover icons
Review trustReviews look organic
- 3.93★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 3.90★
- 2%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members
Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower
2023-09-182025-02-092026-06-04
5★ reviews1–4★ reviews
All-time ratings · 95 total
Latest reviews · 90 analyzed
- 2026-05-16★★★★★I highly recommend using FooGallery and Foobox combotomaszgronczewski
- 2026-03-13★★★★★FooBox is fantasticRonald Huereca
- 2026-02-11★★★★★PHP 8.5 compatibilityvulpecula1-shot
- 2026-01-21★★★★★Igorigormig
- 2025-04-28★★★★★Review nag banner keeps coming backkpolljonker
- 2025-03-31★★★★★Brilliant plugin, Thank YOU!tasmanianflora
- 2024-11-20★★★★★Worked great right out of the boxjonbius
- 2024-05-24★★★★★使いやすいrinsanrinsan1-shot
- 2024-05-09★★★★★stops working after 7 daysaudioscavenger
- 2024-02-20★★★★★wonderful!Thomas “tomek” Holst
Releases
recent versions from WordPress.org SVNAlternatives to Lightbox & Modal Popup WordPress Plugin
Top Media plugins, ranked by score.For developers & the curious
the raw signals behind the grade — none of this is on the friendly summary aboveDownload signals
Baselines are computed on organic days only — release spikes and their tails are excluded, so they're not inflated by the auto-update wave.
254
Baseline · median of last 7 organic days
238
Prior 7-day baseline
530
Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days
6,438
Mean release-day peak (30d)
668
Latest day · 2026-06-03(tail)
+6.7%
Week-over-week organic trend
Review signals
Concentration and drive-by metrics drive the review-burst and fake-review flags. 30–40% solo reviewers is normal; we only flag the extremes.
8%
Max month share · biggest single 30-day window
1.35
Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty
66%
5★ share in analyzed sample
2%
Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity
—
Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo
3.93 → 3.93★
Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered