Grade C

Lightbox for Gallery & Image Block

Name: Lightbox for Gallery & Image Block
Rating: 5.0 (88 reviews)
Author: Johannes Kinast

⤓ Download v1.16.1 on WordPress.org ↗

by Johannes Kinastupdated 2026-05-28🎲The Mixed Bag

It is the minimalist lightbox your block editor deserves.

Declining

70/100

This lightweight tool works immediately without bloat despite many reviews being quite brief.

Loved33/40

Trustworthy10/15

Fair & Honest15/15

Maintained18/18

Momentum4/12

Composite 80, adjusted to 70 (×0.88) for a low verified rating or signs of review manipulation.

✂️

You might not need this plugin. Its core job is small enough to live in your theme's functions.php.

Show the snippet

add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', function () {
    if ( ! is_singular() ) {
        return;
    }

    $post = get_post();
    if ( ! $post || ! has_blocks( $post->post_content ) ) {
        return;
    }

    // Only load when the post contains a gallery or image block.
    if ( ! has_block( 'core/gallery', $post ) && ! has_block( 'core/image', $post ) ) {
        return;
    }

    // baguetteBox via CDN — swap for a local copy if preferred.
    wp_enqueue_style(
        'baguettebox',
        'https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/baguettebox.js/1.11.1/baguetteBox.min.css',
        [],
        '1.11.1'
    );
    wp_enqueue_script(
        'baguettebox',
        'https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/baguettebox.js/1.11.1/baguetteBox.min.js',
        [],
        '1.11.1',
        true
    );
    wp_add_inline_script( 'baguettebox', 'document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){baguetteBox.run(".wp-block-gallery,.wp-block-image");});' );
} );

Keep in mind:The snippet loads assets from a CDN; host the files locally for a fully self-contained solution. It does not cover Media and Text blocks or third-party gallery blocks without adding their selectors.

More plugins you can skip →

Active installs

~25,000

our estimate · wp.org shows 20k+

Rating

5.0★

88 ratings

Trend · vs a year ago

-15%

Declining

84 → 72 installs/day

What to watch out for

MAJORnear-100% 5★ in bursty pattern

Downloads over time

real new installs per day · release spikes shown separately from the trend

2025-04-302025-08-082025-11-162026-02-232026-06-03

organicrelease spikerelease tailorganic trend · 14d rolling median

Declining · -15% in the last year

84/day a year ago→72/day today

Reviews

what people actually say

Lightbox for Gallery & Image Block is a well-regarded, no-configuration lightbox plugin praised for its simplicity and lightweight footprint, with no notable complaints surfacing across reviewed users.

What people like

+Lightweight and does not rely on jQuery or add unnecessary bloat×4
+Works immediately after install with no configuration required×5
+Works reliably with WordPress galleries and image blocks, including the Twenty Twenty-Four theme×3
+Described as seamless and elegant by multiple users×3

Common complaints

Review trustReviews look organic

4.99★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 5.00★
9%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members

Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower

2023-10-182025-02-092026-06-04

5★ reviews1–4★ reviews

All-time ratings · 88 total

5★

4★

3★

2★

1★

Latest reviews · 88 analyzed

2025-11-19★★★★★Super simple and works perfect zwex
2025-10-28★★★★★Simple & Fast teelanovela
2025-09-19★★★★★Супер!Peter Levchenko
2025-08-21★★★★★Simple and works human02d
2025-08-02★★★★★Simple & Clever dida110
2025-04-15★★★★★What I was looking for!enevevet1-shot
2025-03-21★★★★★A worthy successor to WP Featherlight skirridsystems
2024-12-18★★★★★Very helpfull Lightbox, lightweight, zero configuration Moktar
2024-11-21★★★★★Parfait !chrisdubasrhin
2024-08-09★★★★★Lean, beautiful, accessible, unobtrusive lightbox for users of the block editor Bjarne Oldrup

Releases

recent versions from WordPress.org SVN

2026-01-29v1.16.1
2025-03-24v1.16.0
2025-03-21v1.16
2024-09-23v1.15
2024-08-08v1.14
2023-01-23v1.13
2022-09-22v1.12
2022-04-04v1.11

For developers & the curious

the raw signals behind the grade — none of this is on the friendly summary above

Download 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.

Baseline · median of last 7 organic days

Prior 7-day baseline

Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days

119

Mean release-day peak (30d)

Latest day · 2026-06-03(organic)

-5.6%

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.

21%

Max month share · biggest single 30-day window

1.42

Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty

99%

5★ share in analyzed sample

Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity

-100%

Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo

4.99 → 4.99★

Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered