Displaying author information on your WordPress site can be a great way to build trust and authority with visitors. However, not all themes include built-in support for author boxes.
In this comprehensive guide, we will compare the top 6 WordPress author box plugins to help you find the best fit for customizing author profiles on your site.
Why Display Author Boxes on Your Website?
Here are some of the benefits of using WordPress author box plugins:
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Build credibility – Displaying author profiles establishes you and your writers as experts in your field. This helps build visitor trust.
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Connect with your audience – Author boxes allow readers to learn more about the people behind your content and connect with them.
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Promote your writers – You can use author boxes to showcase your talented writers and even link to their websites and social profiles.
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Improve SEO – Properly optimized author profile pages can rank well and drive more organic traffic to your site.
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Stand out from the competition – Author boxes make your site more memorable and unique compared to sites without them.
Clearly, author profile plugins provide immense value, whether you‘re running a multi-author publication or a personal blog.
Next, let‘s take a look at the top options available today.
1. PublishPress Authors – Best for Advanced Author Management
PublishPress Authors is one of the most feature-rich author profile plugins available for WordPress. It‘s built by the folks behind PublishPress (formerly PublishPress Capabilities Pro), a popular CMS plugin.
Here are some standout features offered by PublishPress Authors:
- Multiple authors support – Easily assign and showcase co-authors for your posts and other custom post types.
- Guest authors – Add guest contributors without needing to create WordPress user accounts for them.
- Author profiles – Build complete public author profile pages with social links, biographies etc.
- Avatars – Upload custom images to use as author profile pictures. Fallback to Gravatar if no custom image set.
- Custom fields – Additional profile fields like expertise, awards, education etc to build robust author bios.
- Widget support – Display author profiles across your site via widgets.
- Theme customization – Modifies your theme files to add author box markup automatically.
- Gutenberg blocks – Easily add and customize author profiles via blocks.
- Premium plugin suite access – Get full versions of ALL PublishPress plugins in one bundle.
PublishPress Authors has free and paid versions. The paid Pro version which includes custom layouts and one year of support starts at a one-time fee of $79.
Overall, PublishPress Authors is the perfect choice to supercharge author features on WordPress.
2. Simple Author Box – Great for Design Flexibility
If you want fine-grained design customization for author profiles, Simple Author Box is a superb option.
Here are some useful Simple Author Box features:
- Responsive author box designs – The author profiles look great on all devices.
- Flexible layout options – Choose from layout styles like regular box, timeline view, carousel, grid box etc.
- In-depth style settings – Customize colors, spacing, typography, borders, background images and more.
- Multiple authors – Assign primary and co-authors to any post or custom post type.
- Guest authors – Add guest writers without needing to create WordPress accounts.
- Drag and drop builder – Use an intuitive builder to easily craft custom author templates code-free. Pro only.
- Display control – Decide where all author profiles show up – posts, pages, widgets etc.
- Enhanced profiles – Add rich profile fields like website links, social media icons, ratings etc.
- Lightweight code – Keeps your site fast and secure unlike bloated page builders.
Simple Author Box is available in 2 versions. The free version has basic styling options. The Pro version starts at just $39 per year for a single site for maximum features and premium support.
For incredible design flexibility without added bloat, Simple Author Box is the way to go.
3. Elementor Pro – Best Author Box Creation with Page Builder
Elementor Pro needs no lengthy introduction. The widely popular page builder plugin powers over 6 million websites with its intuitive drag and drop site building capabilties.
Lesser known is that Elementor Pro also makes it very easy to create custom author profiles and author archive pages with no coding needed.
Let‘s look at some useful author-specific features in Elementor Pro:
- Dedicated author box widget – Add profile boxes with just a few clicks.
- Static vs dynamic modes – Pull data automatically or manually input custom content.
- Archive pages – Build custom author archive pages that list all posts by an author.
- Profile editing – Modify author profiles quickly via Theme Builder.
- Responsive editing – Edit author templates seamlessly across mobile to desktop.
- Design flexibility – Make authors stand out using creative fonts, animations etc.
- Role Manager – Control author permissions and capabilities granularly.
- Bonus tools – Get popups, forms, WooCommerce design tools and more!
Pricing starts at $99 per year for Elementor Pro single site version. Considering everything you get, it provides immense value.
Overall, Elementor Pro is a perfect blend of design flexibility and easy author profile creation without coding.
4. Author Bio Box – Best Free Author Box Plugin
If you want a straightforward, no frills author box solution, Author Bio Box is an excellent free choice.
Here’s an overview of features you get:
- Responsive author box – Displays well on all devices out of the box.
- Basic customization – Change colors and borders easily. Advanced CSS editing possible.
- Avatar support – Shows author‘s gravatar image if available.
- User profile integration – Pulls website, bio and social media dynamically from user account.
- Display options – Add author box automatically only on posts, homepage or disable completely.
- Lightweight code – Won‘t slow down your site speed.
While the features are basic compared to paid plugins, Author Bio Box provides decent capability considering it‘s free.
The lack of multiple authors support may be a limitation for some. But otherwise it‘s great for simple author highlighting without spending money.
5. WP Post Author – Another Great Free Choice
WP Post Author is an alternative free author box plugin with slightly more features than the previous option.
Here are its notable features:
- Responsive author templates – Displays well across device sizes.
- User profile integration – Pulls data like avatar, description etc dynamically.
- Multiple output options – Show author box on posts, homepage, author page etc.
- Widget – Add author profile widget anywhere.
- Shortcode – Display author details anywhere by shortcode.
- Basic style options – Customize alignment, profile shape etc. CSS editing allows more styling control.
- Social icons – Displays social media links from user profile.
- Lightweight – Won‘t impact site performance.
The main downsides are lack of multiple authors and inability to create dedicated author archive pages natively.
But if you want a simple yet customizable author highlight box without spending, WP Post Author is a good choice.
6. Starbox – Great Author Box Design Variety
Starbox is the unique author profile plugin on this list since it focuses purely on creative designs rather than features.
Let‘s look at why it stands out:
- Prebuilt designs and layouts – Comes packed with 6 creative author box styles to choose from. More available via ThemeForest.
- Styled social icons – Social media links look attractive with automatic branded icons assigned.
- Latest posts tab – Showcases author‘s latest posts directly in profile box. Great for engagement.
- Template kits – Get additional tailored templates for niches like food blogs, magazines, reviews sites etc.
- Easy customization – Reorder box elements easily and adjust colors, sizes and text styling quickly.
- Shortcode and widgets ready – Display author profiles sitewide easily.
- User profile integration – Pulls user profile data to populate author box dynamic fields.
- Developer friendly code – Well organized code that‘s easy to customize further.
The free version has enough design variety to stand out. Paid premium version ($39 single site) unlocks more templates, support and customization capability.
For making your author profiles pop with stylish designs instead of complex features, Starbox is the perfect fit.
Key Factors to Consider When Choosing an Author Plugin
Here are some key considerations when selecting the best author box plugin:
Your budget – If funds are tight, one of the free plugins like Author Bio Box may suffice. For advanced features and customization, the paid premium plugins are worthwhile.
Design appeal – If visual appearance is most important, Starbox has the highest quality templates while Simple Author Box offers extreme flexibility.
Multiple authors needs – PublishPress Authors has the most robust co-authors and guest authors support. But Simple Author Box Pro and Elementor Pro also allow assigning multiple post authors.
Drag and drop preference – For easy visual building, Elementor Pro is best followed by Simple Author Box Pro‘s template builder.
Level of technical expertise – Starbox and the free plugins work well out of the box while Elementor Pro and PublishPress may appeal more to developers.
Ideally, shortlist plugins that meet must-have needs, align with budget and then compare to see which option resonates most.
Get Creative with Author Profiles to Stand Out
Using author profile plugins allow you to turn boring footers like "Post by John" into rich, engaging author boxes that encourage user interaction.
Here are some creative ideas you can try with author box plugins to make them more effective:
- Spotlight rising talent – Identify up and coming writers on your team and promote them via enhanced author profiles.
- Humanize your brand – Help visitors relate to your company better by highlighting relevant staff bios.
- Share author credentials – Display testimonials, awards badges and expertise details to establish authority.
- Enable post subscriptions – Allow visitors to subscribe to email updates when particular authors publish posts. Useful for gaining loyal readership.
- Fan growth – Link to author landing pages and social media profiles to help them gain more followers.
- Lead generation – Add opt-in forms and CTAs to download expert resources from talented authors.
The possibilities are truly endless when you leverage these flexible author box plugins creatively.
Get Started with WordPress Author Profile Plugins Today
I hope this detailed comparison of the top author box plugins for WordPress has helped you find the best solution for your website and use case.
The right plugin can help you add an exclusive touch to your site while showcasing your fantastic authors better.
All that‘s left is to pick the option that appeals to you most and start enhancing user experience today!
To summarize, here are the top recommendations based on specific needs:
- Best Overall Plugin – PublishPress Authors
- Most Design Flexibility – Simple Author Box
- Best Free Plugin – Author Bio Box
- Best for Non-Coders – Starbox
- Best with Page Builder – Elementor Pro
Over to you now. I hope you found this guide useful!
