Crafting an appealing online portfolio can be challenging and time-consuming. You’ll need to figure out how to create a stunning gallery for showcasing your work, or how to add a special animation to make your portfolio more attractive. Thankfully, there are plenty of portfolio plugins out there to make this process a lot easier.
In this article, you’ll get a basic understanding of what makes a good portfolio plugin and get to know the best options out there.
Table of Contents
Why use a WordPress Portfolio Plugin
Turning your WordPress website into an online portfolio is not that difficult. Thanks to the numerous WordPress portfolio themes and plugins, you can create a great portfolio website in a few clicks.
However, using WordPress portfolio themes might be insufficient, especially if you’re considering switching your site’s theme in the future. You may lose some of your site’s data and need to rebuild your online portfolio from the ground up. Meanwhile, portfolio plugins are mostly compatible with different WordPress themes. Thus, changing the site’s theme won’t directly affect your online portfolio.
Keep in mind that it’s always recommended to create a full backup of your site before modifying code or making any big changes, just in case something goes wrong. Additionally, to avoid inconveniencing users, you also might want to make WordPress private or use maintenance mode while making some changes.
4 Best WordPress Portfolio Plugins
Now, let’s get to know the best portfolio plugin options for your WordPress website.
1. WP Portfolio
WP Portfolio comes with a fully-featured portfolio page where you can showcase four different types of work – websites, images, videos, or a single page. It also provides a handy search and filter feature, so potential clients can effortlessly move around your portfolio area and view your best work.
This plugin also allows you to import your web design demos. The best thing is, visitors can preview the live version of your designs and see how they will look like on different screens.
Additionally, WP Portfolio gives you the liberty to customize and create custom elements from your portfolio by using shortcodes. It is also compatible with multiple page builders, including Beaver Builder, Elementor, and Visual Composer. Thus, you can make your online portfolio design stand out among others.
Last but not least, WP Portfolio is a lightweight plugin and also features lazy loading. That means it won’t affect your site’s speed and performance. To get this plugin, you can choose its Annual Plan (starting from $49) or opt for the Lifetime Plan (starting from $199).
2. Go Portfolio
Go Portfolio is another feature-rich premium plugin option for your website. With this plugin, you can craft an online portfolio in minutes. Thanks to its 38 starter templates and useful tools for exporting, importing, and cloning, you can quickly launch your portfolio website without any coding skills.
This plugin is best for showing off your impressive images, videos, audio, with the ability to sell them through WooCommerce. The best part is, you can showcase all of your work in different modern-looking gallery styles, such as Delux, Door, Flex, and Vario.
Other than that, Go Portfolio comes with plenty of customization features to display your online portfolio in whatever way you want. It offers unlimited color options, overlays, hundreds of Google fonts, and multiple grid layouts. Plus, you can select thumbnails from your gallery, set up post excerpts, and choose stylish lightbox effects to display your content.
Furthermore, Go Portfolio allows you to upload .mo or .po files to translate this plugin into your language. And most importantly, it is compatible with the latest WordPress version, WPBakery Page Builder, and modern browsers. You can get Go Portfolio for $26.
3. Nimble Portfolio
Nimble Portfolio can be your option if you’re looking for a free portfolio plugin. It also provides paid premium addons if you want to extend the plugin’s functionality and features, skins, lightboxes, and a filter and sort addon.
This plugin is mobile-friendly and fully responsive to all screen sizes. With Nimble Portfolio, you can create different content for your portfolio page, including posts, custom post types, PDFs, pictures, and WooCommerce products. You can also add your videos from YouTube, Vimeo, and Quicktime.
Moreover, Nimble Portfolio provides the PrettyPhoto gallery ‒ a built-in jQuery lightbox feature for previewing your portfolio’s content. You’ll also have three different thumbnail styles for your gallery, including Normal, Square, and Round. Last but not least, this plugin supports sorting and categorization features for a better user experience.
4. Cube Portfolio
Cube Portfolio is another responsive portfolio plugin option. With its eight starter templates and a live template builder, you can easily create and customize your online portfolio without tweaking any code. It is also compatible with the latest WordPress versions, themes, and can be accessed from different browser platforms.
This premium plugin also features a built-in CSS3 lightbox to display images or videos from various sources, such as Vimeo, YouTube, Ted.com, or any other self-hosted platform. Plus, you can show off numerous portfolio entries on a single page using shortcodes.
Other than that, Cube Portfolio allows you to create an outstanding gallery with various customization options. There are 22 animations for your grids, 14 animations for captions, and unlimited Google fonts.
Similar to WP Portfolio, Cube Portfolio supports lazy loading to speed up your site’s loading time. It also provides default and dropdown filtering features for easier navigation. You can purchase this plugin for $19. But there will be additional payment if you want to get 12 months of support.
Wrapping Up
A WordPress portfolio plugin is a powerful tool to simplify the process of creating an online portfolio. The good news is, it is compatible with different WordPress themes and multiple website builders.
Amongst many WordPress portfolio plugins, here are the best options you can choose:
- WP Portfolio ‒ best for web designers to show off their work.
- Go Portfolio ‒ the preferable option for non-tech savvy users to effortlessly and quickly craft and launch an online portfolio.
- Nimble Portfolio ‒ a great option for those of you who are looking for a free but feature-rich portfolio plugin.
- Cube Portfolio ‒ best for creating a unique gallery with stunning animations and layouts.
You can see the plugin demos and check out their documentation to better see how they work. So, have you made your decision? Share your preferred option with us in the comment sections below!