Adding YouTube videos to your WordPress website can boost engagement, drive traffic, and provide shareable content for social media. Videos are a powerful tool for promoting branding and marketing and showcasing diverse content that appeals to audiences. Moreover, featuring videos on your site can improve its visibility in search engine ranking pages (SERPs), making them valuable for search engine optimization (SEO). To help you find the best WordPress YouTube plugin for your site’s needs, we’ve compiled a list of our top recommendations in this post.
Let’s get started.
What Are WordPress YouTube Plugins?
A WordPress YouTube plugin is an extension that can be installed on a WordPress website to display YouTube videos or feeds. It allows users to easily embed videos from YouTube onto their website and customize the display of those videos, such as changing the layout, adding branding, or adding additional options like video playlists or live-streaming. They are designed to simplify the process of adding YouTube videos to a WordPress site without requiring users to have technical knowledge or coding skills.
10 Best WordPress YouTube Plugins
To determine the best WordPress Youtube plugins, we considered several factors. First, we examined reviews and the number of installs, as these metrics can provide insights into a plugin’s popularity and credibility. Then, we took into account the features available in both the free and paid versions of each plugin. Based on these considerations, we present our list of the best WordPress Youtube plugins.
1. Feeds for YouTube
Feeds for YouTube is a versatile WordPress YouTube plugin that allows you to embed YouTube feeds on your website and customize them to match your site’s branding. You can connect to YouTube in two ways: through an API, which is the recommended method, or by connecting your YouTube account. While connecting your account is a simpler process, creating an API Key is more complex but offers additional options, such as adding playlists, favorites, live-streaming capabilities, or single videos.
Key Features for Feeds for YouTube:
With Feeds for YouTube, styling your YouTube feed is effortless. The plugin offers several templates, including a carousel, cards, list, gallery, and feature your latest video, among others (pro only). Additionally, there are multiple layouts to choose from, giving you plenty of options to customize the appearance of your feed. You can also select a custom color theme and style the header and buttons of your feed, ensuring that it perfectly matches your website’s aesthetic. With these features, you can create a cohesive look and feel throughout your website, enhancing your users’ experience.
Best For:
Feeds for YouTube is one of the best WordPress YouTube plugins that offers a plethora of customization options for YouTubers, bloggers, and businesses. It provides a straightforward way to showcase YouTube content on a website and elevate its visual appeal and engagement. However, to access all of the plugin’s features, you need to obtain an API Key, which could be challenging for beginners. If you’re seeking a more straightforward solution for embedding videos, Embed Plus YouTube might be a better option.
Pricing: Free, with premium prices starting at $49 per year.
Envira Gallery is one of the most feature-rich gallery plugins for WordPress that also has benefits for YouTubers. With Envira Gallery, you can easily embed video galleries, feature videos in a lightbox, and embed video thumbnails on pages to create a visually appealing gallery to feature your YouTube content.
Key Features for Envira Gallery:
Envira Gallery offers various customization options such as enabling lazy loading, defining dimensions, margins, padding, pagination, and choosing the number of columns. However, to access these features for videos, upgrading to a pro license is required.
Best For:
Envira Gallery is ideal for photographers, artists, and bloggers who want to create robust image galleries and showcase videos. It’s user-friendly and highly customizable. However, a pro license is required to access all the features. If you’re looking for a more cost-effective solution, consider the Video Gallery plugin.
Pricing: Free, with pro licenses starting at $89 per year.
3. Embed Plus YouTube
The Embed Plus YouTube plugin is a powerful tool for WordPress users who want to improve their YouTube embeds. One of its special features is offering more customization options than the standard YouTube embed code. With Embed Plus, users can easily control video playback, autoplay, and other video settings. Additionally, it has a video editor that lets users trim videos, add annotations, and create chapters, all within the WordPress text editor. This is convenient since users don’t need to visit YouTube to edit their videos, saving time and effort.
Key Features for Embed Plus YouTube:
Embed Plus also supports live streams, live chat, and YouTube playlists, which can be added with the YouTube Wizard block in either the Gutenberg or classic editor. Moreover, it’s compatible with other WordPress plugins, such as caching plugins, which allows for easy integration into existing websites.
Best For:
Overall, Embed Plus is an excellent tool for website owners who want more control and flexibility over their YouTube embeds. Its user-friendly interface and customization options make it an attractive choice for those looking to enhance the functionality of their WordPress site with embedded YouTube videos. However, one downside is that users need an API Key from YouTube to feature galleries on their site. Although this is not a dealbreaker, it might be a bit cumbersome for those who are unfamiliar with creating API keys through Google.
Pricing: Free, with pro plans starting at $39.99 per year.
Our next best WordPress YouTube plugin is Video Gallery. With its user-friendly interface, it’s effortless to create stunning video galleries on your WordPress website. Unlike other plugins, there’s no need for an API Key – simply paste YouTube links into the setup wizard, and voila! You can customize your gallery by adding titles, descriptions, and overlay images to each video. The best part? There’s no limit to the number of videos you can feature in your gallery. Plus, with the option to configure Ajax pagination styles, your users can seamlessly navigate through all your videos.
Key Features for Video Gallery:
Video Gallery is a user-friendly plugin that provides a simple yet effective interface, including 9 themes, fields, and various styles, to embed a YouTube video gallery into your WordPress site with ease. Users can follow the setup wizard to configure the settings and embed galleries with a simple shortcode, making it easy to use even for those with limited technical skills.
Best For:
If you’re searching for a hassle-free way to create video galleries without the need to host live streams or chat, then Video Gallery is the perfect solution for you. No need to fuss over creating a Google API Key, simply create a shortcode to create a simple yet stunning video gallery. Though it may not offer many advanced features, it’s still the best WordPress YouTube plugin for beginners. However, if you need a more robust plugin, we recommend checking out Feeds for YouTube.
Pricing: Free, with pro licenses starting at $15 for six months.
Our next top YouTube plugin on the list is WP YouTube Lyte – a straightforward and easy-to-use plugin for embedding YouTube videos. While you’ll need a Google API Key to use this plugin, once you have it set up, embedding video is a breeze. It offers customization options such as player size and position, and even the ability to force HD quality for your videos. Additionally, the caching feature helps keep your site clutter-free by removing old data.
Key Features for WP YouTube Lyte:
WP YouTube Lyte stands out with its ability to transform links directly into lazy-loading videos that significantly reduce download size and rendering time. This unique feature allows you to easily paste links into the page editor, saving you time and effort. Alternatively, you can use shortcodes to embed videos and playlists, giving you greater control over customization options such as auto-play, start time, and more.
Best For:
For those seeking a straightforward YouTube plugin that doesn’t require extensive configuration to function optimally, WP YouTube Lyte is an excellent solution. This plugin offers user-friendly features and simple customization options, making it an ideal choice for those who prioritize ease of use.
Pricing: Free
6. ELEX WordPress Embed YouTube Video Gallery
The next YouTube plugin on our list is the ELEX WordPress Embed YouTube Video Gallery, which offers an array of customization options to embed videos, playlists, and video galleries using shortcodes. With ELEX, you can tailor your video display with features such as customizable pagination, popup and inline play modes, and even the option to add a subscribe button.
Key Features for ELEX WordPress Embed YouTube Video Gallery:
Additionally, the plugin offers extensive layout configuration options, including custom video containers, colors, hover effects, and drop shadows.
Plus, ELEX WordPress Embed YouTube Video Gallery offers unique integration with WooCommerce. With this feature, you can easily add product videos to your WooCommerce products, and even specify their placement within the product gallery. Whether you prefer to display videos at the beginning or the end of the gallery, ELEX makes it easy to enhance your product pages with engaging video content.
Best For:
ELEX WordPress Embed YouTube Video Gallery’s extensive customization options make it ideal for those who want to tailor the appearance of their video content to match their site’s design. Additionally, the seamless integration with WooCommerce makes it an excellent choice for those who want to enhance their product offerings with engaging video content.
Pricing: $79 per year
Feed Them Social is a versatile social media plugin that lets you embed feeds from Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or any combination of these platforms. Whether you’re using the free or pro version, you’ll have access to a wide range of customization options for your feeds.
Key Features for Feed Them Social:
Setting up Feed them Social is a simple process. The plugin doesn’t require API, so you just need to connect to your Google account to display your videos. The plugin offers several customization options, including follow button placement, container color, and the number of columns, all of which are available in the free version. If you want to display more than six videos, enable Ajax pagination, or play videos in a popup window, you will need to upgrade to the pro version.
Best For:
Consider using Feed Them Social if you want to display multiple social media feeds on your website. The plugin allows you to easily add YouTube videos by connecting your Google account, without requiring an API. However, if you only need to display YouTube videos and don’t require integration with other social platforms, you may want to consider using Video Gallery or WP YouTube Lyte instead.
Pricing: Free, with premium licenses starting at $50 per year.
EmbedPress is a WordPress plugin that allows users to embed and display various types of media content on their websites with just a URL. It supports over 75 different types of media sources, including YouTube. EmbedPress provides customizable options for embedding, including player size, aspect ratio, and autoplay settings, among others. It offers Gutenberg block, classic editor, and Elementor integration, as well as shortcodes for easy insertion of media content into pages and posts.
Key Features for EmbedPress:
With EmbedPress, you can fully customize your YouTube feeds. You can adjust the number of videos to feature, set custom start and stop times for autoplay videos, enable fullscreen mode, and more. Additionally, EmbedPress provides custom blocks for both Elementor and Gutenberg users, allowing for even more advanced customization options.
Best For:
For those who use Elementor or Gutenberg and want to embed feeds from various platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, Twitch, or Google Calendar, EmbedPress is an ideal solution. With its user-friendly interface, setting up EmbedPress is a breeze. Additionally, it offers a variety of customization options to make embedding videos on your website more convenient.
Pricing: Free, with premium licenses starting at $39 per year.
9. Video Gallery – YouTube Playlist, Channel Gallery by YotuWP
Another popular YouTube plugin that allows you to easily embed videos from your YouTube channel is called Video Gallery – YouTube Playlist, Channel Gallery by YotuWP. With this plugin, you can create specific display parameters using a shortcode generator for displaying a playlist, channel, single video, or videos by keyword. The plugin offers multiple layout types and customization options to determine the number of videos per page, columns, pagination type, and more.
Key Features for Video Gallery – YouTube Playlist, Channel Gallery by YotuWP:
YotuWP allows you to customize your video gallery by adding video box effects, tweaking video thumbnails, page layout, pagination, and colors for each feature. Additionally, YotuWP’s caching feature allows you to specify how often videos are refreshed, ensuring that your content is always up-to-date and your site remains speedy.
Best For:
If you’re looking for a plugin that offers a variety of layout options, and the ability to style buttons, pagination, and feed type, then YotuWP is an excellent choice. Like other similar plugins, YotuWP requires an API key, but once you have that setup, the configuration process is easy.
Pricing: Free, with the pro license for a $21 one-time fee.
Finally, if you’re looking for a simple and user-friendly YouTube gallery plugin, Automatic YouTube Gallery is worth checking out. With this plugin, you can easily feature your channel’s videos or playlists on your WordPress site. The setup process is fast and straightforward, with options to select a theme (classic for the free version, inline, popup, slider for pro), the number of columns and videos per page, as well as how your videos appear on your page or post.
Key Features for Automatic YouTube Gallery:
Automatic YouTube Gallery is a plugin that works by allowing you to configure your desired display options and then generate a shortcode that can be used on any post or page in virtually any WordPress theme. While the free version of the plugin gets the job done, you may want to consider upgrading to the pro version to access additional features, such as the ability to feature your videos through different display methods.
Best For:
Whether you’re a blogger, marketer, or business owner, Automatic YouTube Gallery offers a simple and effective way to showcase your YouTube content on your WordPress site.
Pricing: $3.99 per month (billed annually).
What is the Best WordPress YouTube Plugin Overall?
Choosing the best YouTube plugin for your WordPress website can be a tough decision, especially with so many great options available. However, after careful consideration of features, ease of use, customization options, and support, our overall top pick is Feeds for YouTube.
| Plugin | Price | Free Option | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | Feeds for YouTube | $49 per year | ✔️ | Visit |
| 🥈 | Envira Gallery | $89 per year | ✔️ | Visit |
| 🥉 | Embed Plus YouTube | $39.99 per year | ✔️ | Visit |
| 4 | Video Gallery | $15 for six months | ✔️ | Visit |
| 5 | WP YouTube Lyte | / | ✔️ | Visit |
| 6 | ELEX WordPress Embed YouTube Video Gallery | $79 per year | ❌ | Visit |
| 7 | Feed Them Social | $50 per year | ✔️ | Visit |
| 8 | EmbedPress | $39 per year | ✔️ | Visit |
| 9 | Video Gallery – YouTube Playlist, Channel Gallery by YotuWP | $21 one-time fee | ✔️ | Visit |
| 10 | Automatic YouTube Gallery | $3.99 per month (billed annually) | ✔️ | Visit |
Not only does Feeds for Youtube offer an extensive range of features and customization options, but it also has excellent performance optimization and caching capabilities. This ensures that your site runs quickly and smoothly, even when displaying multiple videos.
Need more plugins? Check out all our articles featuring the best plugins to use in WordPress.
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