Best WordPress Instagram Plugins That Still Connect
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Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed is the WordPress Instagram plugin to install on most sites. The free version embeds a responsive feed from your own account with a block, a shortcode or a widget, and Pro starts at $49 a year for one site. It earns the top spot on maintenance rather than looks: Instagram plugins live or die by whether their developer keeps up with Meta’s API changes, and Smash Balloon has 1 million active installs and a 4.9 rating funding that work.
Why do so many Instagram plugins stop working?
Meta shut down the Instagram Basic Display API on 4 December 2024. That was the interface almost every free feed plugin used, and plugins that were not rebuilt on the replacement simply stopped pulling photos.
The successor is the Instagram API with Instagram Login, and it connects Business and Creator accounts. A personal Instagram account can no longer be linked to a third-party tool the way it once could. Switching your profile to Creator or Business inside the Instagram app is free and does not change how followers see you, and for most people it is the fix.
So the useful question is not which plugin has the prettiest grid. It is which plugins are still being maintained, and what account type each one needs.
| Plugin | Price | Account needed | Active installs | Rating | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed | Free version embeds your own feed; Pro from $49/year for one site | Personal for a basic feed, Business or Creator for the rest | 1 million+ | 4.9 / 5 (4,350) | Most sites, and anyone who wants the feed to keep working |
| Spotlight Social Feeds | Free version builds feeds in the block editor; Essentials $59, PRO $99, Agency $199 a year | Business or Creator | 60,000+ | 4.7 / 5 (170) | Building feeds visually without touching a shortcode |
| Social Feed Gallery | Free version does galleries and carousels; Pro paid | Personal shows basic posts, Business or Creator unlocks stories and hashtags | 80,000+ | 4.5 / 5 (303) | Photo galleries and sliders rather than a literal feed |
| Feed Them Social | Free version covers several networks; Premium paid | Business or Creator | 20,000+ | 4.7 / 5 (638) | Instagram plus Facebook, YouTube and more in one plugin |
| WPZOOM Social Feed Widget & Block | Free version covers grid, slider and masonry layouts; Pro paid | Business or Creator | 50,000+ | 4.3 / 5 (50) | A sidebar or footer widget on a theme-built site |
Prices checked September 2026.
Which Instagram plugins are worth installing?
Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed
Smash Balloon embeds your Instagram posts as a customisable grid, carousel or highlight, using a block, a shortcode or a widget. It suits almost anyone: a business showing recent work, a blog with a sidebar feed, a shop putting social proof under the product gallery.
It is on version 6.13.0 with more than 1 million active installs, a 4.9 rating from 4,350 reviews and is tested up to WordPress 7.1. Pro licences run $49 a year for one site, $89.10 for five and $119.20 for ten at the prices currently listed.
The capability that decides it: scale buys maintenance. When Meta changes an API, a plugin with a million installs and a paid tier has the revenue and the urgency to ship a fix in days, which is the single most valuable thing an Instagram plugin can offer.
The honest limitation: the free version shows your own posts only. Hashtag feeds, tagged posts, shoppable links and combining several accounts into one feed all sit behind Pro.
Smash Balloon on WordPress.org — Instagram Feed Pro
Spotlight Social Feeds
Spotlight builds Instagram feeds through a visual editor with a live preview, so you set up a feed by looking at it rather than by editing shortcode attributes. It suits people who are comfortable in the block editor and want the result to match the theme without CSS.
It is on version 1.7.5 with 60,000+ active installs, a 4.7 rating from 170 reviews and is tested up to WordPress 7.1. Paid plans are Essentials $59, PRO $99 and Agency $199 a year, and all of them connect unlimited Business or Creator accounts.
The capability that decides it: the design controls are genuinely visual, including a header with your profile picture, bio and follower count, plus lightbox, stories, comments and likes on the entry-level paid plan rather than only at the top tier.
The honest limitation: it needs a Business or Creator account, so a private personal profile is out. Hashtag, tagged and shoppable feeds require the PRO plan at $99 a year.
Social Feed Gallery
This is the plugin many people still know as Instagram Gallery, from QuadLayers. It leans towards photo galleries, carousels and lightboxes rather than a running feed, which suits portfolios, photographers and any page where the images are the content.
It is on version 5.0.8 with 80,000+ active installs, a 4.5 rating from 303 reviews and is tested up to WordPress 7.1. The free version handles galleries and carousel sliders; Pro is paid.
The capability that decides it: it still shows basic posts and profile information from a personal account, which most rebuilt plugins no longer do, so it is the softest landing if you have not converted your profile yet.
The honest limitation: the features people usually want next, meaning stories, hashtag feeds, tagged media and comments, need a professional account anyway, so the personal-account support only postpones the switch.
Social Feed Gallery on WordPress.org
Feed Them Social
Feed Them Social pulls Instagram alongside Facebook, YouTube and other networks into one plugin with a shared set of shortcodes. It suits a site that wants several social feeds without installing several plugins, each with its own settings screen and its own scripts.
It is on version 4.4.2 with 20,000+ active installs, a 4.7 rating from 638 reviews and is tested up to WordPress 7.0.4.
The capability that decides it: one plugin, one settings area, one place to reconnect tokens when a network changes its rules. On a site running three or four feeds that is a real saving in both admin time and page weight.
The honest limitation: it is explicit that the Instagram connection needs a Professional account with Creator or Business selected, so there is no personal-account route at all. Being a generalist, its Instagram layouts are also plainer than a dedicated plugin’s.
Feed Them Social on WordPress.org
WPZOOM Social Feed Widget & Block
WPZOOM’s plugin is built around dropping a feed into a widget area or a block: grid, masonry or slider, with a follow button and a header. It suits classic theme sites where the Instagram feed belongs in a sidebar or footer rather than in the middle of a page.
It is on version 2.3.6 with 50,000+ active installs, a 4.3 rating from 50 reviews and is tested up to WordPress 7.1. The free version covers the main layouts; Pro is paid.
The capability that decides it: it is deliberately small. There is no feed builder to learn, and the settings fit on one screen, which is what you want when the feed is a decoration rather than a feature.
The honest limitation: it states plainly that Instagram’s API rules require a Business or Creator account and that personal accounts are no longer supported. It also has the fewest reviews here, at 50, so the rating is less settled than the others.
WPZOOM Social Feed on WordPress.org
Which Instagram plugin should you choose?
For most people, install Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed. The free version does what the majority of sites need, and its million-install user base is the best available insurance that someone will fix the plugin quickly the next time Meta changes the rules.
For the harder case, running several social feeds on one site, use Feed Them Social. Instagram, Facebook and YouTube through a single plugin means one set of tokens to maintain and one set of scripts loading, instead of three plugins each doing a fifth of the job.
Skip AccessPress Instagram Feed. It is closed on WordPress.org as of 30 March 2023, with a guideline violation given as the reason, and it receives no updates. If it is still active on your site, deactivate it, delete it and rebuild the feed in Smash Balloon. The old Instagram Slider Widget is a happier story: it is now published as Social Slider Feed under Themeisle and is still updated, though at a 3.9 rating it is not the one to start with.
Whichever you pick, convert the Instagram account to Creator or Business first. It is free, it takes a minute in the app, and it is the difference between a feed that survives the next API change and one that quietly empties. From there, plugins for the other big visual network and for short-form video follow the same pattern, and social login plugins let those same accounts sign people in. If social is the point of the whole site, start from a theme built for social networks.
Frequently asked questions
Do WordPress Instagram plugins still work after the Basic Display API shutdown?
The maintained ones do. Meta shut down the Instagram Basic Display API on 4 December 2024 and replaced it with the Instagram API with Instagram Login. Plugins that were rebuilt on the new interface, including Smash Balloon, Spotlight, Feed Them Social and WPZOOM, connect and display feeds normally. Plugins abandoned before that date no longer pull any photos.
Do I need an Instagram business account to show my feed on WordPress?
In almost every case, yes. The replacement API connects Business and Creator accounts, so plugins such as Spotlight, Feed Them Social and WPZOOM require one. Switching from a personal profile to Creator or Business is free, takes a minute in the Instagram app, and does not change how your followers see your posts.
What is the best free WordPress Instagram plugin?
Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed. Its free version embeds a responsive feed from your own account through a block, shortcode or widget, and it holds a 4.9 rating from 4,350 reviews across more than 1 million active installs. Hashtag feeds, tagged posts and multiple accounts in one feed require the Pro version, which starts at $49 a year.
Can I display an Instagram hashtag feed on WordPress?
Yes, but it is a paid feature almost everywhere. Smash Balloon puts hashtag feeds in Instagram Feed Pro, Spotlight puts them in its PRO plan at $99 a year, and Social Feed Gallery lists hashtag feeds among the features that need a professional account. A hashtag feed also requires a Business or Creator account in every case, because Meta’s replacement API does not expose hashtag search to personal profiles.
Is AccessPress Instagram Feed safe to use?
No. The plugin is closed on WordPress.org as of 30 March 2023, with a guideline violation given as the reason, and it has received no updates since. If it is installed on your site, deactivate and delete it, then rebuild the feed with Smash Balloon or Spotlight.
