
A lot of elements go into preparing your Shopify store. But when it comes to visual information, a gallery for your product photos and images is one of the most important parts. It makes sense – you can’t really sell anything without showcasing what exactly you’re selling.
Depending on the size of your store, creating a photo gallery for your products can be a difficult task. Thankfully, there are tools that can help – namely, Shopify gallery apps. What do they do? Well, they help you set up a neat gallery layout for all devices, optimize images so your website doesn’t slow down, and subsequently increase conversion rate.
In order to help you pick the right app for your Shopify store, we’ve curated a list of the six best ones. We have chosen them by looking at their Shopify store rating, reviews, features, and pricing options.
Best Shopify gallery apps: overview
- Robin PRO Photo Gallery: An excellent, fast, and mobile-friendly Shopify gallery app
- Image Gallery + Video - EA: A gallery app that offers video galleries as well as image galleries
- Cozy Image Gallery: Fully customizable galleries to match your store’s design
- Lookbook - Shop by Gallery: A great app offering shoppable images within the gallery
- XO Gallery: A simple-to-use Shopify gallery app with easy functionality
- Variants Image Gallery & Zoom: An intuitive app for arranging product images in your store
Optimize images and speed up loading time with TinyIMG Shopify app!
Now that you got the gist, let’s move to our more detailed review of each of the above apps.
1. Robin PRO Photo Gallery
Shopify rating
5/5
Features
Mobile-optimized, flexible gallery layouts, link gallery images to product pages
Pricing
$3.99/month (includes a free plan)
Shopify App store
Robin PRO Photo Gallery is mobile-first, meaning it focuses more on mobile users. People are rapidly substituting computer shopping to mobile shopping, so paying attention to how your store’s photos look like on mobile products is a smart way to go.
Main features:
- Mobile-first gallery, meaning the photos look great on mobile devices
- Images optimized for speed, so your store doesn’t slow down
- Ability to link your gallery images directly to product pages
- Grid or masonry image gallery layouts – choose the best style for your taste
The app has a free plan, but it’s limited to only 12 images. That’s the only disadvantage, as the rest of the features are available. If you want unlimited images, gallery and bandwidth, it’ll cost you $3.99/month.
What do Robin reviews say?
Reviewers praise the image loading speed and layout designs. They also note that the app is easy to get around. The customer support gets some positive mentions as well.
2. Image Gallery + Video - EA
Shopify rating
4.9/5
Features
Four gallery layouts, video availability, create main & sub galleries
Pricing
from $1.99/month (includes a free plan)
Shopify App store
This app stands out by allowing you to add videos from Youtube and Vimeo to your Shopify store gallery.
Main features:
- 4 gallery layouts available – easily add links, titles, and alt tags
- Fully customizable video gallery that allows you to add videos in one click
- Main and sub gallery availability – organize your galleries in a personalized way
If you want to opt for a free plan, it offers one image and one video gallery for up to 25 images. It offers some basic, cool features, like hover effects and captions/links, but for more images and even more features you’ll have to pay. The pricing plans are $1.99/month and $4.99/month.
What do Image Gallery + Video reviews say?
Customers say the app is not complicated, easy to set up, and the galleries it offers look professional. Seems like this one is truly user-friendly!
3. Cozy Image Gallery
Shopify rating
4.8/5
Features
Fully customizable, 4k & 8k image support, image compression
Pricing
from $1.99/month (includes a 21-day free trial)
Shopify App store
Cozy Image Gallery is heaven for those seeking more customization in their galleries. The app allows you to see how your galleries look on desktop, mobile, and tablet.
Main features:
- Fully match the gallery design to your store’s design
- Unlimited galleries with over 13 million images being served from a fast CDN
- Control how your image galleries look on desktop, mobile, and tablet
Unlike its above-mentioned counterparts, this app doesn’t offer a free plan – the cheapest plan is $1.99/month and it allows you to create one image gallery with 50 images (you do get a free trial, though!). If that’s not enough, the next plan is only slightly pricier at $2.99/month and 500 images available.
However, if you want to be able to upload an unlimited amount of images, opt for a $5.99/month plan or even a $19.99/month one. The latter has 4k and 8k image size availability!
What do Cozy Image Gallery reviews say?
Customers praise professionalism and app speed. The support staff gets some decent support as well.
4. Lookbook - Shop by Gallery
Shopify rating
4.8/5
Features
Unlimited galleries, product tagging, direct add-to-cart
Pricing
from $4.99/month (includes a free plan)
Shopify App store
Lookbook offers a direct add-to-cart feature straight from your images. Increase conversions and boost user experience!
Main features:
- Bulk upload feature – organize your galleries with a single click
- Build unlimited galleries with drag-and-drop feature
- Several gallery styles available: slider, grid, masonry, portrait
Lookbook offers a free plan, but it comes with limitations – allowing only 10 images, embedding galleries, bulk image upload and several layouts. If you need more, paid plans start from $4.99/month. The priciest one is at $19.99/month and it allows 20 galleries.
What do Lookbook reviews say?
Reviewers pay the most compliments to customer support.
5. XO Gallery
Shopify rating
5/5
Features
19 predefined effects, unlimited photos, video availability
Pricing
from $5.95/month (includes a free plan)
Shopify App store
XO Gallery describes themselves as a simple yet powerful tool that will enrich your website with a structured image gallery.
Main features:
- Multi-platform optimized tool, fit for desktop and mobile alike
- Unlimited galleries and unlimited images
- Easily customizable to perfectly fit your needs
The app offers a free plan: you’ll be able to upload 12 images and use four gallery types (grid, masonry, justified, and stack). The feature availability on a free plan does not exactly inspire, so to have unlimited images and galleries, as well as more advanced features, you’ll have to pay either $5.95/month or a whooping $14.95/month.
What do XO Gallery reviews say?
Customers talk positively about an easy setup and responsive, fast customer support.
6. Variants Images Gallery & Zoom
Shopify rating
4.9/5
Features
multiple images for one product variant, mobile-friendly, image resizing
Pricing
$9.99/month (includes a 31-day free trial)
Shopify App store
The app offers variant-specific images that allow you to assign multiple images to one product.
Main features:
- Easy setup and no coding required
- Two image zoom options: hovering and lightbox popup
- Assign multiple images to each variant/product
- All elements are mobile and tablet friendly
The app doesn’t offer a free plan. In fact, it only has one paid plan that will cost you $9/99/month (you do get a 31-day free trial, though). No hassle, just all features in one paid plan.
What do Variants Images Gallery & Zoom reviews say?
Customers say the app is intuitive and easy to use. They praise simplicity and functionality, as well as customer support.
What to look for in a Shopify image gallery app?
The choices for a Shopify image gallery app are plenty – so what to look for in order to pick what’s best for your store? These are our insights:
- Mobile friendly. It’s no surprise that mobile devices are often a primary device in a modern person’s life. Make sure people don’t click away as soon as they enter your store on their iPhones – choose an app that offers functionality for mobile devices.
- Image optimization. Image compression is key for a good site speed (which corresponds with higher conversion rate), so look for an app that offers that.
- Image count. Make sure to check how many images your chosen plan allows. If your Shopify store is relatively small, you can stick with less images and only spend more money on a pricier plan when you need to.
As a general advice, be precise in what you need in an image gallery app and carefully read app descriptions.
How did we choose the best image gallery apps?
With so much choice in the market, you might rightfully wonder how we chose those six apps. Here’s our criteria:
- Shopify store ratings. All the apps we’ve chosen have a rating above 4.7 – a nearly flawless score.
- Customer reviews. Reading as many reviews as you can is essential to choosing the right app. We paid attention to what reviewers praise and what they criticize.
- Main features. We tried to include a range of quite different apps with different features and functionalities, so you can choose the app according to your priorities.
- Pricing plans and value for the price. All six apps we’ve chosen have either a free plan, or a free trial. It’s important because it allows the user to try out the app and see if they like it before committing to a paid plan.
We’ve laid out our criteria, but essentially it’s up to you to decide what is important. We hope we’ve been a good guidance for you.
Summary
Your Shopify store wouldn’t be much without images. And in order to make sure your image gallery is organized, optimized and functional, you should try out one of the six apps we’ve recommended.
Our overall winner this time is Robin PRO Photo Gallery: its overall appeal lies in mobile-friendliness, image optimization, gallery layouts, and an ability to link your gallery images directly to product pages. As the app offers a free plan, it’s definitely worth a try!
Whichever app you decide to go for, we’re sure it’ll help you boost conversions and enhance user experience.
Other Shopify apps you might be interested in:
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Shopify image gallery app?
The best Shopify image gallery app is Robin PRO Photo Gallery. It’s fast, mobile-friendly, and allows you to link images to your product pages. You can generate sales directly from your photo gallery.
Will an image gallery make my Shopify store slower?
No. Good Shopify gallery apps work quietly in the background and allow your store to fully load before rendering your image gallery. Some apps also offer SEO image optimization by making your images smaller in size without ruining their quality, this way allowing your store to load faster.
Is there a free image gallery app for Shopify?
Yes. Shopify offers plenty of free image gallery apps, as well as apps that have several pricing plans, including a free (but limited) one. Robin PRO Photo Gallery, Image Gallery + Video - EA, Lookbook - Shop by Gallery, XO Gallery are a few options that have free plans you can try out.
Can I create an image gallery without an app?
Yes, you can definitely create an image gallery without an app. It will take you more time than simply getting an app, but if you want more control, you can go for it. An app is a great choice for people with no experience in gallery creation or coding – and the result you’ll get will be worth it.