79
WP User Avatars
The minimalist sanctuary for users fleeing bloated profile plugins.
Healthy
79/100
Users appreciate this simple Gravatar replacement even though support seems abandoned.
Active installs
~25,000
our estimate · wp.org shows 20k+
Rating
4.5★
29 ratings
Trend · vs a year ago
+3%
Holding steady
30 → 31 installs/day
Downloads over time
real new installs per day · release spikes shown separately from the trend2025-04-302025-08-082025-11-162026-02-232026-06-03
organicrelease spikerelease tailorganic trend · 14d rolling median
Holding steady · +3% in the last year
30/day a year ago→31/day today
Reviews
what people actually sayWP User Avatars is a lightweight, well-regarded Gravatar-replacement plugin that earns praise for its simplicity and compatibility, but carries real concerns about abandoned support and a lack of frontend upload functionality.
What people like
- +Lightweight and simple with no conflicts reported×5
- +Works as a straightforward Gravatar replacement×6
- +Integrates correctly with WordPress core avatar APIs (e.g. get_avatar_url())×2
- +Popular refuge for users displaced by ProfilePress (formerly WP User Avatar), which became bloated×3
Common complaints
- −Support appears abandoned — numerous forum questions left unanswered and topics closed×2
- −No frontend avatar upload interface or shortcode for non-admin users
- −Does not change individual user avatars for some users' use cases — only affects the default avatar
Review trustMostly organic
- 4.52★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 4.50★
- 0%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members
- past spikeReview timing — up to 100% of all reviews landed in a single month
Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower
2023-12-172025-03-112026-06-04
5★ reviews1–4★ reviews
All-time ratings · 29 total
Latest reviews · 29 analyzed
- 2023-12-16★★★★★Replaces GravatarDennis Bareis
- 2022-04-20★★★★★Does not replace WP User Avatarctmartin2020
- 2021-08-25★★★★★Nice and simplemikejcandy
- 2021-06-12★★★★★Refugee Seeking replacementsxn31
- 2021-05-31★★★★★Excellent replacement for rival pluginLars
- 2021-05-30★★★★★Great Replacement for WP User AvatarLe Isaac
- 2021-05-19★★★★★Light & stable – keep up the good work!boogieboa
- 2021-03-09★★★★★Superb, works with Elementor author boxlaymonk
- 2020-11-12★★★★★Best user avatar or pofile picture pluginKnut Sparhell
- 2020-10-06★★★★★Very Goody.ryslan
Releases
recent versions from WordPress.org SVNFor developers & the curious
the raw signals behind the grade — none of this is on the friendly summary aboveDownload signals
Baselines are computed on organic days only — release spikes and their tails are excluded, so they're not inflated by the auto-update wave.
23
Baseline · median of last 7 organic days
24
Prior 7-day baseline
34
Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days
88
Mean release-day peak (30d)
49
Latest day · 2026-06-03(tail)
-4.2%
Week-over-week organic trend
Review signals
Concentration and drive-by metrics drive the review-burst and fake-review flags. 30–40% solo reviewers is normal; we only flag the extremes.
100%
Max month share · biggest single 30-day window
5.48
Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty
83%
5★ share in analyzed sample
0%
Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity
—
Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo
4.52 → 4.52★
Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered