So, you’re trying to show off your Instagram posts on your WordPress site, smart move. Narrowing your choices down to find the right plugin that can make a huge difference in how your feed looks and works.
Spotlight vs Social Feed Gallery, which one is the right fit for you?
While both plugins offer great features and customization options, they cater to different needs. Each one takes a different approach to help you share your Instagram content the way you want.
In this article, we’ll break down everything you need to know to choose between Spotlight and Social Feed Gallery — from features and ease of use to design flexibility and pricing.
Let’s dive in!
What each plugin brings to the table
First, let’s take a closer look at what makes each of these plugins stand out among other social feed gallery plugins (there are a lot of them!).
Spotlight
Spotlight is a versatile Instagram feed plugin that focuses on customization, flexibility and business integration. With over 60,000 active installations, it’s designed for WordPress users who want complete control over how Instagram content appears and functions on their website. Additionally, the free version of the plugin supports unlimited feeds.
The plugin uses a four-step setup process: select your design, connect your account, customize it and display your feed anywhere on your site. With Spotlight, you can set up an Instagram feed for your website in minutes or spend some time customizing it so it looks exactly how you want.
Social Feed Gallery (formerly Instagram Feed Gallery)
Social Feed Gallery takes a streamlined approach to Instagram integration. It prioritizes ease of use with minimal setup requirements while still offering essential customization options.
In terms of actual features, Social Feed Gallery gives you access to multiple design styles for your feeds and offers automatic content updates. Social Feed Gallery designs are mobile friendly, ensuring your Instagram content looks great and engages visitors whether they’re browsing on phones, tablets, or desktops.
The free version of the plugin only supports up to one account. For unlimited accounts and feeds, you’ll need a premium license.
Side-by-side feature comparison
Before we dive into the specifics about customer support, ease of use, pricing, and other factors. Here’s a quick overview of what Spotlight and Social Feed Gallery offer:
| Feature | Spotlight | Social Feed Gallery |
|---|---|---|
| Free Version Limits | Unlimited accounts & feeds | Single account |
| Content Types | Photos, videos, reels, galleries | Photos, videos |
| Hashtag Feeds | Premium only | Not available |
| Tagged Posts | Premium only | Not available |
| Shoppable Feeds | Premium only | Not available |
| Moderation Tools | Premium only | Limited |
| WooCommerce Integration | Premium only | Not available |
| Elementor Integration | Premium only | Premium only |
| Performance Optimization | Lazy loading, caching | Caching |
| Responsive Design | Device-specific controls | Adaptive layouts |
| Custom CSS | Yes | Limited |
| Multiple Feed Types | Yes | Limited |
| Price (Premium starts) | $59/year | $39/year |
Feature showdown
When it comes to choosing the right Instagram plugin, the specific features can make all the difference for your workflow and the results you get. Let’s break down how these two plugins compare across key areas.
Ease of use
Spotlight: Setting up new feeds follows a logical four-step workflow that’s intuitive even for WordPress beginners. You select a feed type, connect your Instagram account, customize it and then choose where to display it using shortcodes, blocks, or widgets. The dashboard interface organizes options clearly, with separate tabs for feed creation, account management, and settings.
Here’s what the user interface for setting up new feeds looks like. It’s intuitive and easy to navigate:
Social Feed Gallery: If you’re looking for the fastest path from installation to having an Instagram feed on your site, Social Feed Gallery delivers. Its authentication process requires one click to generate an access token, and the minimalist settings panel focuses on essential options without overwhelming users. For simple implementations, you could have a feed running in under two minutes.
Overall, connecting your account and setting up feeds for both plugins is simple, but Spotlight offers a lot more customization options (which we’ll discuss in a bit). Just keep in mind that both Spotlight and Social Feed Gallery require you to use a Professional (Business or Creator) Instagram account to connect to the plugin.
Note: Here’s how to connect your Professional Instagram account with Spotlight.
Customization options
Spotlight: The free version alone offers 20+ design settings and multiple templates to customize your Instagram feeds. You can adjust everything from layout style (grid, masonry, highlight) to color schemes, spacing, and border radii. The plugin also provides device-specific adjustments, letting you create different layouts for desktop, tablet, and mobile views:
Social Feed Gallery: While not as extensive as Spotlight, Social Feed Gallery offers solid customization through its gallery and carousel layouts in the free version. Premium users also gain access to masonry and highlight layouts, plus a boxed mode with custom colors and borders. The interface makes customization straightforward with visual previews that show you how your feed looks as you adjust its settings.
Performance and speed
Spotlight: Performance optimization is a core feature, with advanced caching that reduces API requests and minimizes impact on page load times. The plugin also uses lazy loading technology to ensure your site stays fast even when displaying multiple Instagram feeds with photos, videos, and reels. Images are also optimized automatically to balance quality and loading speed.
Social Feed Gallery: The plugin implements robust caching to reduce API calls and optimize performance. It handles the basics well, ensuring that feeds don’t significantly slow down your site. For larger feeds or complex layouts, you may notice slightly longer initial load times compared to Spotlight, but the difference might not be noticeable unless you measuring loading times closely.
Integration capabilities
Spotlight: The free version supports unlimited Instagram accounts and feeds per website. Premium versions add integrations with Elementor, WooCommerce for shoppable feeds, and the ability to combine feeds from multiple accounts. You can also create feeds from hashtags or tagged posts, which makes it perfect for showing user-generated content on your website.
Recommended: How User-Generated Content Helps Your Brand Make More Money
Social Feed Gallery: The free version limits you to a single Instagram account and you need to upgrade to a premium license to connect further profiles. Integration with page builders is available, though it’s not as extensive as Spotlight’s options. The plugin lacks some of the advanced filtering and combination features found in Spotlight and instead, it focuses instead on straightforward Instagram display.
Advanced features
Spotlight offers advanced features like hashtag and tagged post features that automatically collect and display content where customers mention your brand.
The shoppable feed functionality links Instagram posts directly to product pages, while moderation tools filter content by keywords or allow manual approval of posts.
Finally, analytics tools track how visitors interact with your feeds, showing which posts receive the most attention and how content contributes to site engagement.
These features are available with Spotlight’s licenses.
Social Feed Gallery offers masonry and highlight layouts for visual variety, plus infinite scrolling through its “load more” function to display more content without cluttering the page.
On top of that, the enhanced profile display feature enables you to show your Instagram avatar, username, and bio information alongside feeds. This can be a great way to drive traffic from your website to Instagram and get more followers (Spotlight also does this!).
Pricing comparison
Both Spotlight and Social Feed Gallery offer free versions that enable you to set up Instagram feeds on your website. With Spotlight, you even get support for unlimited accounts and feeds with the free version.
If you’re considering upgrading to a premium license for either plugin to get access to some of the advanced features we covered earlier, here’s what you need to know.
Spotlight
- Free: Includes unlimited feeds, basic templates, and core customization
- Essentials ($59/year for 1 site): This unlocks all templates, layouts, and Elementor integration
- PRO ($99/year for 1 site): This license adds support for hashtag feeds, tagged posts, moderation, and shoppable feeds
- Agency ($199/year for 20 sites or $697 lifetime): This plan includes advanced analytics and engagement tracking, perfect for agencies that need to report to customers.
Social Feed Gallery
- Free: Basic functionality with gallery and carousel layouts.
- Premium (Starting at $39/year for a single site): This license unlocks all features, including additional layouts and support for unlimited Instagram accounts.
- Agency: Social Feed Gallery also offers custom agency plans if you need access to priority support and custom functionality.
Overall, both plugins offer great value with their free versions. In terms of pricing, Social Feed Gallery is slightly cheaper but it offers fewer advanced and customization features. Spotlight pricing is a bit more expensive, but the plugin comes with a more comprehensive feature set, particularly for business users who need marketing tools like shoppable feeds and analytics.
Customer support and reviews
Any plugin geared toward businesses and professionals needs outstanding support to deliver a great experience. When choosing between multiple plugins, you’ll always want to take a look at the user reviews and check out what support options they offer.
Spotlight
- WordPress.org rating: 4.9/5 stars (based on hundreds of reviews)
- Support channels: Documentation library, video tutorials, and a ticket system
- Response time: Most support tickets receive responses within 24 hours
- User feedback: Spotlight gets consistent praise for its responsive support and their willingness to help customers troubleshoot errors and implement custom fixes (when reasonable).
Social Feed Gallery
- WordPress.org rating: Approximately 4.7/5 stars
- Support channels: Documentation, email support, and limited community forums
- Response time: Generally within 48 hours
- User feedback: Social Feed Gallery has great reviews and they have a solid track record of resolving basic user technical issues.
Pros and cons of each plugin
Before you make your final decision, let’s briefly recap what Spotlight and Social Feed Gallery offer in terms of pros and cons.
Spotlight Pros
- Fantastic Instagram feed customization capabilities
- Business-focused features like shoppable feeds
- Excellent performance optimization
- Comprehensive documentation and support
- Unlimited feeds even in the free version
Spotlight Cons
- It can take some time to learn how to use all the customization features the plugin offers
- Some advanced features limited to higher-tier plans
Social Feed Gallery Pros
- Incredibly easy setup process
- Streamlined, intuitive interface
- Lower price point for premium features
- Good basic customization options
Social Feed Gallery Cons
- Limited layout options in the free version
- Fewer marketing and business integration features
- The free version only supports connecting a single Instagram account
- Less robust filtering and moderation tools
Which plugin should you choose?
By now, you have a good idea of what both plugins offer in terms of features and pricing. Now let’s take a minute to discuss how each of them fares for specific use cases and which plugin we recommend for these scenarios.
Best for bloggers and personal sites
Social Feed Gallery offers the simplicity and core features that most personal users need. It’s also the cheaper option if you just want to display your Instagram feed on your site without tinkering too much with customization settings. However, if you’re looking to maximize engagement and drive conversions to the digital products on your website, Spotlight might be a better fit.
Best for small businesses
Spotlight gives you plenty of flexibility with Instagram feeds and customization options — even in its free version. But if you’re running a business, the Pro plan could be a game-changer. It unlocks advanced features like Hashtag, Tagged, and Shoppable feeds, letting you showcase and promote different aspects of your business across unlimited pages — something Social Feed Gallery doesn’t quite match.
Convert casual browsers into buyers by directing them to your product pages
Best for E-commerce sites
Spotlight’s Pro plan is the clear winner for online stores. The shoppable feeds directly link Instagram content to your product pages, and WooCommerce integration streamlines the entire process. The conversion potential alone justifies the higher price when compared to Social Feed Gallery.
Best for agencies and developers
Spotlight’s agency plan provides the best value for managing multiple client sites. The advanced analytics, bulk management tools, and white-label options make it ideal for agencies. The lifetime plan option also offers substantial long-term savings.
Making the best decision for your needs
Both Spotlight and Social Feed Gallery offer quick and simple ways to connect your WordPress website with Instagram. You can use either plugin to link your Instagram account and display feeds on your site, but Spotlight offers more options for customization. Additionally, it allows you to connect unlimited accounts and set up as many feeds as you need, even with the free version.
Social Feed Gallery is a solid option for personal websites that need basic Instagram integration. It’s simple to use and provides a straightforward way to display Instagram content. However, if you’re looking for more flexibility and features, Spotlight is the better option. Its ability to handle multiple accounts, customize layouts, and offer detailed analytics means it can scale with your website as it grows.
For business projects, Spotlight’s shoppable feeds, hashtag content aggregation, and analytics tools provide practical solutions, making it the stronger choice. If you’re running an online store or a marketing campaign, these features allow you to increase engagement, track performance, and turn your Instagram feed into a revenue-generating tool. Additionally, Spotlight’s customer support make it a reliable long-term solution for any WordPress site.
In conclusion, if you’re looking for a simple, easy-to-use plugin for personal use, Social Feed Gallery could be sufficient. However, if you want a plugin with more customization, scalability, and business-oriented features, Spotlight is the clear winner. Check out the Spotlight demo page to get a better idea of how the plugin works.
