If you need more than one virtual tour, iPanorama 360 Lite stops you: its free version allows one item, and the full version is a CodeCanyon purchase. Photo Sphere Viewer has no limit on tours or scenes for free, adds 360° video and AR 3D models, and its Pro version starts at $19.99 a year. iPanorama's strengths are scene types like cube and little-planet, background audio and a large animation library.
Disclosure: WPXERO makes Photo Sphere Viewer; this comparison covers version 2.4.0. What we say about iPanorama 360 (version 1.9.2) and HappyVR (version 2.8.0) comes from their WordPress.org readmes and FAQs as of October 27, 2026. Check them before you choose.
At a glance
| Photo Sphere Viewer | iPanorama 360 Lite | HappyVR (free) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free tours | Unlimited | 1 | 5 |
| Free scenes per tour | Unlimited | Unlimited (in the one tour) | 5 |
| Info hotspots | 5 per panorama free; unlimited with photos in Pro | Markers with tooltips and popovers | 5 layers per scene |
| 360° video | Yes | — | — |
| AR 3D models (.glb/.gltf) | Yes | — | — |
| Gyroscope on phones | Yes | Yes | Not stated |
| Background audio | — | Yes | Yes |
| Floor plan | — | — | Pro |
| Block editor | Panorama and tour blocks | Block (select a tour) | Shortcode |
| Elementor | 4 native widgets | — | — |
| Where you build | In the page (block editor) or widget | Separate builder screen | Separate React editor |
| Paid version | From $19.99/yr or $59.99 lifetime | CodeCanyon, one-time | HappyVR Pro |
Why people look for an iPanorama alternative
The one-tour limit. iPanorama 360's FAQ is upfront: "You can create and use only one item. All other features are the same as PRO has." That's fine for a single venue; for an agent with many listings or a photographer with many clients, it means buying the full version straight away.
Where the product is heading. The top of iPanorama's readme now introduces HappyVR, the same developer's "next-generation" builder, built on React with Shadow DOM isolation and tile generation for large panoramas. If you're starting fresh, it's reasonable to ask whether to build on iPanorama at all.
No video or 3D. iPanorama focuses on image tours. If you'll ever need a 360° video or a product model, you'd need a second plugin.
Where Photo Sphere Viewer wins
- No caps. Unlimited panoramas, tours and scenes in the free version — with no watermark.
- Build in the page. In the block editor you insert the 360° Virtual Tour block, pick the photos and click on each doorway to place an arrow. Hotspots are placed the same way, by clicking on the photo.
- Four viewers. Panoramas, tours, 360° video (MP4, with play, seek and volume, muted autoplay and loop) and AR 3D models with an AR button on supported phones.
- Elementor support. Four native widgets — panorama, tour, video and AR.
- Large drone panoramas. WordPress downsizes uploads over 2560px to a
-scaledcopy. Pro loads the original, so high-megapixel drone panoramas stay sharp. See why drone panoramas look blurry on WordPress. - Price. Pro is $19.99 a year or $59.99 lifetime for one site, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Where iPanorama 360 wins
Be fair to it — iPanorama has features Photo Sphere Viewer doesn't:
- More scene types: flat, sphere, cube, little planet and Google Street View scenes.
- Rich popovers: tooltips and popovers with text, images and video, plus 50+ show/hide animations and a marker style creator.
- Background audio with play, stop and volume.
- Stereo view for headsets, and iframe embed to share a tour on other sites.
- Role permissions that control which authors and editors can create tours.
If background audio or cube-face panoramas are essential to your project, iPanorama (or HappyVR, which also has intro and background sound) may suit you better.
What about HappyVR?
HappyVR's free version allows up to 5 tours, 5 scenes per tour and 5 layers per scene, with tile generation so large panoramas load in pieces, view limits, markers, tooltips, popups and background sound. Pro adds interactive floor plans and removes the limits. It's newer, with 70+ active installs at the time of writing, compared with 4,000+ for iPanorama 360.
Photo Sphere Viewer has no scene or tour limit to plan around; HappyVR has floor plans in Pro, which Photo Sphere Viewer doesn't offer.
Switching from iPanorama to Photo Sphere Viewer
- Install Photo Sphere Viewer. You can try Live Preview on its WordPress.org page first.
- Make sure your panoramas are in the Media Library — they're ordinary equirectangular JPEG or PNG files.
- Add the 360° Virtual Tour block where the tour should appear and select the scenes.
- Click on each doorway to place a navigation arrow, set each scene's caption and starting view, and choose which scene opens first.
- Add info hotspots by clicking where they belong on the photo.
- Replace the
[ipano id="…"]shortcode or block, check the page, then deactivate iPanorama.
Tours with many popovers take longest to move; simple room-to-room tours usually take minutes.
Which should you choose?
| If you… | Choose |
|---|---|
| Need more than one tour without paying | Photo Sphere Viewer |
| Want 360° video or AR 3D models too | Photo Sphere Viewer |
| Build in Elementor | Photo Sphere Viewer |
| Need background audio and cube or little-planet scenes | iPanorama 360 |
| Want floor plans and a separate tour editor | HappyVR Pro |
For the wider field, see the 360° panorama and virtual tour plugin comparison, and for the most-installed alternative, Photo Sphere Viewer vs WPVR.