One of the reasons why WordPress is the most used content Management System in the world is its scalability. Avatar WordPress Plugins just do right that.
You can grow your website functionality as the need arises by simply adding the desired plugins from thousands of plugins available on the WordPress plugin directory.
One of the functions many webmasters find important is the addition of User profile pictures. WordPress comes with the default “mystery man” image placeholder but it may not look very attractive.
Many experienced WordPress webmasters use Gravatar to show user avatars. Gravatar is the most widely used option for user profile images.
For many newbies in this business, Gravatar may not be their most preferred method to personalize user profile pictures.
While it’s absolutely easy to change one’s avatar from gravatar, you may want to just use an easier plugin to manage your profile pictures.
ALSO READ: Changing a WordPress User Profile Picture – Avatar
We review the best and free avatar WordPress plugins that you can quickly and easily deploy to display custom user profile pictures on your website.
This is my best Avatar WordPress Plugin. The plugin will allow your users to choose any image from their media folder as their profile image, offering the possibility to play around with the avatars regularly.
If you are scared that users will be adding too many high-resolution images that eat up your hosting space, the plugin controls that too!
WP User Avatar allows you to limit the file size for pictures that your users can upload. There are several options you can play around with to ensure your avatar plugin works the way you want it to.
I love the simplicity of this plugin. I also love the fact its fairly lightweight yet it renders the function you want!
You will be able to select the rating of your avatar to select what audience can view your avatar.
I have used this avatar plugin for a while now and I never get disappointed. In fact, I am using this plugin on this website. Scroll to the bottom and see it in action.
It’s simple, easy to use and greatly effective.
This one is not like any other on the list. Instead of using images, it actually creates letter avatars. The plugin replaces the ugly “mystery man” image place holder by the first letter of the user’s name.
You can change colours, letter font, as well as the font size. What is even better is that you can combine this plugin with WP USER AVATAR. Users with custom user profile pictures will display images while those without a set avatar will default back to Letter avatars.
This should be a great WordPress avatar plugin but I have ranked it lower because it has not been updated in over 2 years now and could have potential vulnerabilities working with the latest WordPress.
If an un-updated plugin doesn’t scare you though, then this plugin will make use of your social profile pictures as the website avatar!
The plugin pulls the users’ social media profile picture and displays it as their avatar. This means that every time a user changes their social media profile picture the avatar will automatically change.
Besides the normal display of avatars, this plugin will display lists of user avatars, grouped by user roles, on your (multiuser) site.
The Plugin also has Gutenberg Block compatibility meaning that you can easily inster the avatar in the front end. All you will need is to place it in the block using the Gutenberg page builder!
This plugin should be higher on this list but sadly it hasn’t been updated in over three WordPress upgrades so it might not work well with the latest version of WordPress.
You can use this plugin to upload custom pictures to use as user avatars. You may also choose to simply pull the user’s twitter profile picture as their profile picture. Amazing! Isn’t it?
You also have the option to use this plugin in site builder so you have more uses for this plugin.
This plugin gives you the chance to combine both Gravatar and local avatar. You can simply choose if you want to use your gravatar or you want to upload an image to use as your custom user profile picture.
8. Simple User Avatar
As the name suggests, this is a very simple lightweight WordPress plugin that gets the job done! users can add or remove his Avatar simply using images from his Media Library. If you want a really simple Avatar WordPress Plugin this is it.
Bonus: SVG Avatars Generator
I have given this plugin as a bonus because this plugin is actually not free but it’s awesome.
If you are willing to part with $39, you will find it a nice addition to your website. This plugin allows you to provide your website users with an option to create their own custom avatars.
This means that your users will not just add their picture but will spend more time on your website trying to create their own look and feel of the avatar.
The plugin is worth the price but I know for a fact that too many website owners, $39 is too expensive for an avatar even an awesome.
Conclusion:
There are many free Avatar WordPress Plugins available for your choice. We have only included a few that we think will get you on the road without hustle. We also considered those that we found up to date. If you want us to review any other avatar plugin, we would be happy if you left us a comment in the comment section below.
