Owl Carousel WP

41 Quality Score

Active Installs

14/30

With only 1,000 active installs it sits well below the leading carousel and gallery plugins, which all exceed 60,000 installs.

Update Freshness

4/25

The plugin was updated on 2024-12-15 and is tested against WordPress 6.7.5, so it is technically current, but the low commit velocity and tiny user base raise long-term sustainability concerns.

User Rating

9/15

The 62/100 user rating from 14 reviews is mediocre and the small sample size makes it hard to draw firm conclusions about real-world reliability.

Support Health

8/15

Zero support threads opened and zero resolved gives no signal that the developer is actively helping users, which is a real risk if you hit a compatibility issue.

WP Compatibility

8/15

Requiring PHP 5.6 and WordPress 5.2 keeps it broadly compatible, though reliance on the legacy Owl Carousel jQuery library is a concern on modern, jQuery-light stacks.

Scores higher than 1% of indexed plugins

About

Owl Carousel WP is an easy plugin to add carousel in WordPress sites.This plugin is responsive and works using shortcode .

Active Installs 1k+

Rating ★★★ 3.1/5

Last Updated 2024-12-15 4:05pm GMT

Requires WordPress 5.2+

Tested Up To 6.7.7

Requires PHP 5.6+

Security History

1 known vulnerability, all patched

1 Medium

Most recent: January 1, 2026

View details ▸

What It Does

Owl Carousel WP lets you drop image carousels into WordPress pages and posts using a shortcode. It is built on the popular Owl Carousel jQuery library and produces a responsive, touch-friendly slider that resizes for mobile screens. Beyond the basic shortcode output there is very little configuration exposed in the WordPress admin.

Who It's For

This plugin suits small site owners who want a quick image slider on a single page or two and are comfortable pasting a shortcode. It works for photography portfolios, real estate listings, or any visual showcase where a lightweight carousel is the only slideshow needed. Users who do not need lightboxes, galleries, video slides, or custom post type integration will find it adequate.

Who Should Skip It

Anyone who needs more than a basic image carousel, including galleries, lightboxes, video support, or dynamic content from custom post types, should look at a fuller-featured alternative. Developers building production client sites should also avoid it because of the dated jQuery dependency, low install base, and lack of support threads.

The Bottom Line

Owl Carousel WP delivers a simple shortcode-based slider but its 44.72/100 quality score, 1,000 installs, and absent support forum place it well behind established alternatives. It can work for a single low-stakes slideshow on a hobby site, but most users will be better served by Shortcodes Ultimate or Responsive Lightbox & Gallery. Treat it as a stopgap, not a long-term solution.

Related Plugins

Shortcodes Ultimate 93/100

Pick this if you want carousels plus dozens of other content shortcodes from a single, well-maintained plugin with 400,000 installs.

Imsanity 86/100

Pick this if your carousel problem is really about oversized images slowing down your site rather than the slider itself.

Firelight Lightbox 86/100

Pick this if you want click-to-zoom image galleries and lightboxes rather than a sliding carousel.

Responsive Lightbox & Gallery 85/100

Pick this if you need responsive galleries that integrate with your existing media library and a wide range of lightbox scripts.

Default Featured Image 83/100

Pick this if your real need is setting a fallback featured image on posts, not building a carousel.