ACF Photo Gallery Field vs Smart Custom Fields (2026)
Detailed side-by-side comparison of two WordPress plugins, based on real-time data from WordPress.org.
ACF Photo Gallery Field
60K+ active installs
Free
Quick Verdict
As of April 2026, Smart Custom Fields has a higher user rating (4.9/5 from 20 reviews) while ACF Photo Gallery Field leads in active installations (60K+ vs 50K+). Both are free WordPress plugins. ACF Photo Gallery Field has accumulated 638K+ total downloads while Smart Custom Fields has 346K+.
Detailed Comparison
| Metric | ACF Photo Gallery Field | Smart Custom Fields | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4/5 | ► | 4.9/5 |
| Total Reviews | 29 | ◄ | 20 |
| Active Installs | 60K+ | ◄ | 50K+ |
| Total Downloads | 638K+ | ◄ | 346K+ |
| Support Resolution | N/A | N/A | |
| Last Updated | 3 months ago | ► | 2 weeks ago |
| First Released | 2016 | 2014 | |
| Age | 10 years | 12 years | |
| WP Requires | 5.8+ | 6.4+ | |
| PHP Requires | 7.0+ | 7.4+ | |
| Business Model | Free | Free | |
| Latest Version | 3.1 | 5.0.7 |
Rating Breakdown
ACF Photo Gallery Field
Smart Custom Fields
Download Trends
Over the past 30 days, ACF Photo Gallery Field averaged approximately 195 daily downloads while Smart Custom Fields averaged 451.
Recent Reviews
ACF Photo Gallery Field Reviews
Excelent free option for ACF photo gallery field
I have been using ACF Photo Gallery Field for about 4 years now, and it worked excelent. I use it with Elementor Pro and custom templates, and I am able to access the dinamic data in the gallery field
Too buggy
Does not work inside ACF fields groups. Simply does not saving any selected images. Also, if a lot images was added, sometimes spontaneously losing all of them when saving the post. Updated 05.1
Great solution! It works perfectly! thanks Devs!
It works perfectly! thanks Devs! This topic was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by pedrocunhaweb.
Smart Custom Fields Reviews
very simple and great
very simple and great
Great simple product but needs update
This is a great, simple product, but it hasn’t been updated for four months. At this time it has a critical vulnerability and needs to be updated.
image
How can we display image field, like ACF: <?php $image = get_field(‘hero_image’); ?> ” alt=”<?php echo $image[‘alt’]; ?>” /> SCF: <?php echo SCF::get(‘img’)[0]; ?> isn’t work.
More Custom Worth Comparing
Top alternatives in the same category as ACF Photo Gallery Field and Smart Custom Fields
Gallery Custom Links allows you to link images to a specified URL. Tested with WordPress Gallery, Gutenberg, the Meow Gallery and others.
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This plugin allows Admin users to individually add HTML, custom CSS, Classes and JavaScript directly to Post, Pages or any other custom post types.
Easily create custom blocks and custom meta fields for Gutenberg without hard coding.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is ACF Photo Gallery Field or Smart Custom Fields more popular?
Which has better ratings — ACF Photo Gallery Field or Smart Custom Fields?
Are ACF Photo Gallery Field and Smart Custom Fields free?
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Plugin data sourced from WordPress.org. Comparison and analysis by PluginSift.