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WP First Letter Avatar

By DanielAGW

Community & Social / Comments & Discussions

Reviewed by Abdul Hameid

Trusted WordPress expert with 20+ years of experience evaluating plugins for the WP ecosystem.

WP First Letter Avatar Review - In-Depth Analysis

Customize avatars for users without Gravatar by using the first letter of their name on a colorful background.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

6.9/10

User Rating

4.7/5 (based on 33+ reviews)

Active Installations

2,000+

Update Frequency

Below Average It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

1 / 10 (Very Low Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

WP First Letter Avatar sets custom avatars for users without Gravatar. The avatar will be a first letter of the user's name. You can also configure the plugin to use any other letter to set a custom avatar.

WP First Letter Avatar includes a set of beautiful, colorful letter avatars in many sizes. Optimal size will be chosen by the plugin to display high quality avatars without downloading unnecessarily large files.

You can also create your own avatar set by creating a new directory next to the 'default' folder and following the naming convention from 'default'.

By default, custom avatars will be set only to users without Gravatars, but you can change that in settings and choose not to use Gravatar at all.

WP First Letter Avatar helps you bring more colors into your blog. Your readers will be more willing to comment on your posts since they can relate to these avatars better than to a generic image.

All images were compressed using TinyPNG, so avatars are incredibly light and ultra-high quality.

WP First Letter Avatar is also available on GitHub.

Compatibility with other plugins includes full support for bbPress and wpDiscuz. For BuddyPress compatibility, please use the BuddyPress First Letter Avatar plugin.

WP First Letter Avatar requires at least PHP 5.4 and does not work properly on PHP 5.3.x and earlier.

Comparing to Alternatives

WP First Letter Avatar offers a simple solution for avatar customization with no direct competitors matching its exact feature set, but Basic User Avatars is a notable alternative for user avatar management.

Top alternatives

Basic User Avatars ( WPS: 7.24)

Strengths

Lightweight and fast plugin
Effectively replaces Gravatar requests
Allows custom avatar sets with color control
Compatible with PHP 7.1+
No known security vulnerabilities

Weaknesses

Last updated nearly two years ago
Tested only up to WordPress 4.7.12
May have compatibility issues with latest WordPress versions
No pro version or advanced features

User Sentiment Analysis

With a high rating of 4.7 out of 5 from 33 reviews, most users appreciate the plugin's functionality and simplicity, though a small minority report issues.

Positive highlights

"Works perfectly for getting rid of gravatar http requests" — Sandra
"Works great on any properly configured wp installation on php7.1x" — mrkenobi
"Still works and can be GPDR compliant" — gpowerhost
"Fast as Light plugin, very useful" — zepolo

Common complaints

Plugin did not work on some sites

Weaknesses

Potential compatibility problems due to outdated updates
Limited testing with recent WordPress versions
No advanced customization features

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users seeking a lightweight, straightforward plugin to replace Gravatar with first-letter avatars and reduce external requests.

Not ideal for

Those needing a regularly updated plugin with advanced avatar customization or guaranteed compatibility with the latest WordPress versions.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version includes all core features to replace Gravatar with first-letter avatars and customize avatar colors.

Final Verdict

WP First Letter Avatar is a simple and effective plugin that meets the needs of users wanting to avoid Gravatar and use first-letter avatars. Its high user ratings reflect satisfaction with its core functionality and ease of use.

However, the plugin's lack of recent updates and limited testing with current WordPress versions may pose compatibility risks. Users requiring advanced features or ongoing support might consider alternatives.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free WP First Letter Avatar plugin.

custom avatar

user avatars

first letter avatar

Screenshots

FAQ

There may be some conflict with this plugin and some other plugins you are using. If WP First Letter Avatar is overriding your other avatar plugins, please go to plugin settings and change Filter Priority value to a lower value – for example 9, or even -1. If other plugins are overriding WP First Letter Avatar images, try increasing the value to 11 or 9999. Experimenting with these values should give you some results. Filter priority value basically specifies the order that avatar filters are executed in. Setting it to a high value will cause WP First Letter Avatar to execute after other plugins, whereas setting it to a low value will execute WP First Letter Avatar before other plugins.