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Authors List icon
Maintained Tested up to 6.8.10 #10 in author

Authors List

Use a shortcode to display a list or grid of post authors (or any other user role) and links to their post archives page.

Active installs5K+5K+ tier
Downloads · 30d432▲ +3.1% vs prev. 30d
Rating5/522 reviews
Health score50/100Fair
All-time downloads59KSince Apr 2019
Support resolved0 / 10% in last 2 months
RequiresWP 4.7.0PHP 5.4+
Downloads · 7d122▲ +4.3% week over week
Our verdict

Use with caution

Authors List works, but test it on a staging site before relying on it in 2026. It runs on 5K+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 10 months ago, and scores 50/100 on our health check.

  • Loved by users — 5/5 from 22 reviews
  • Only tested up to WordPress 6.8 (latest is 7.1)

How does it stack up?

Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support

Daily downloads

51117Jun 29Aug 12Sep 26
Yesterday22
Daily average (1y)20
Peak day1,189Nov 25, 2025
Last 12 months7.4K

Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.

Rankings

Where Authors List stands today

WordPress.org search rankings

Live position in the plugin search, top 100
KeywordPositionCompeting pluginsCategory
author #28 8,932 Best author plugins →
authors grid #6 1,061 Best authors grid plugins →
authors list #2 4,530 Best authors list plugins →
grid >100 4,106 Best grid plugins →
list #21 10,000 Best list plugins →

Version adoption

Share of active sites per release.

  • 2.095.7%
  • 1.24.4%

Rating breakdown

★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 22 reviews

  • 5★95.5%
  • 4★4.5%
  • 3★0.00%
  • 2★0.00%
  • 1★0.00%

About Authors List

From the official readme · v2.0.6.2

Description

Easily display a list or grid of post authors (or any other user role) and links to their post archives page using a shortcode.

Backend UI can be used to change all the options.

Introducing New Authors List Pro

The free version offers a large amount of features for free, and the PRO version comes with even more amazing features for your authors list.
Some of those features are Styler, Search and Filters.
Styler allows easy change of color/typography/spacing on any of the elements in the authors list.
Filters allow you to create a better organization of the authors list.
Search allows your visitors to search for specific users.
Click here to get the PRO version!

Shortcode

All the options are available in the WP admin but you can also use a plain shortcode (as it was in version 1 of the plugin). The shortcode is [authors_list] and accepts the following attributes.

  • style (1,2,3)
  • columns (2,3,4)
  • columns_direction ( horizontal, vertical )
  • avatar_size (any number, example 500)
  • amount (any number, no limit by default)
  • show_title (yes,no)
  • show_count (yes,no)
  • show_bio (yes,no)
  • show_link (yes,no)
  • orderby ( post_count, post_date, ID, login, nicename, email, url, registered, display_name, first_name, last_name )
  • order ( ASC, DESC )
  • skip_empty ( yes, no )
  • minimum_posts_count ( any number )
  • bio_word_trim ( any number, leave empty for no trim )
  • only_authors ( yes, no )
  • exclude ( user IDs separated by comma, example 1,3,4 )
  • include ( user IDs separated by comma, example 1,3,4 )
  • roles ( roles separated by comma, example administrator,editor )
  • latest_post_after ( for example if set to 7 it will only show authors that have posts published in the past 7 days )
  • name_starts_with ( limit to authors whose display name starts with specific characters )
  • first_name_starts_with ( limit to authors whose first name starts with specific characters )
  • last_name_starts_with ( limit to authors whose last name starts with specific characters )
  • categories ( category IDs separated by comma, example 1,3,4 )
  • terms ( term IDs separate by comma, example 1,3,4 )
  • taxonomy ( name of a taxonomy, for example post_tag )
  • title_element (the element that wraps the name of the user/author, defaults to div, can be any element, for example h2)
  • link_count (yes, no)

Example usage with attributes:

[authors_list style="2" columns="2" amount="4" show_count="no"]

There are additional attributes for custom content before and after each element:

  • before_avatar
  • before_title
  • before_count
  • before_bio
  • before_link
  • after_avatar
  • after_title
  • after_count
  • after_bio
  • after_link

Example usage with attributes:

[authors_list before_title="My custom content"]

These before/after attributes also support dynamic user/author meta fields using

{al:INSERT_FIELD_NAME}

Example usage:

[authors_list before_title="My first name is {al:first_name}"]

They also support some dynamic output functionality. Currently supports displaying posts links and social links (Yoast SEO needed):

Example usage for posts links:

[authors_list after_title="{alf:posts}"]
[authors_list after_title="{alf:posts type=plain amount=5}"]

Example usage for social links:

[authors_list after_title="{alf:social}"]

Example usage for roles:

[authors_list after_title="{alf:role}"]

Example usage for link (the “to” parameter accepts foollowing values: archive bbpress_profile buddypress_profile):

[authors_list after_title="{alf:link to=bbpress_profile}"]

Social Icons SVGs by FontAwesome are licensed under CC BY 4.0

What’s Next

If you like this plugin, then please consider leaving us a rating / review. This plugin is maintained by WPKube, a WordPress resource site, where you can learn from our in-depth guides such as
What is WordPress, How to choose a WordPress hosting, & more!

Our Other Projects

Installation

  • WordPress Plugins Directory: Navigate to Plugins → Add New in the WordPress admin and search “Authors List”. Click Install and then Activate.
  • Zip Upload: Navigate to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin in the WordPress admin. Browse to the .zip file containing the plugin on your computer and upload, then activate.
  • Manual FTP Upload: Upload the plugin folder to /wp-content/plugins/. Navigate to Plugins in the WordPress admin and activate.

Changelog

2.0.6.2 (November 24th, 2025)

  • Security fixes

2.0.6.1 (February 25th, 2025)

  • Security fixes

2.0.5 (December 10th, 2024)

  • Security fixes

2.0.4 (January 16th, 2024)

  • Added option for link text
  • Added option for random ordering
  • Added an alternate shortcode (in case of conflicts with other plugins), the shortcode is [sk_authors_list]
  • {al:custom_field_name} now uses get_the_author_meta function as a 2nd fallback
  • Fixed issue with pagination not showing correct amount of pages when the user roles are not authors

2.0.3 (July 10th, 2023)

  • Option to hide/show the avatar
  • Security fixes

2.0.2 (March 30th, 2023)

  • Fixed issue with pagination not working when the pagination slug is modified
  • Fixed issue with Tiktok in social links
  • Update POT (translation template file)

Full changelog on WordPress.org →

For developers

Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.

Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.

Active installs badge Rating badge Health score badge

Best Authors List alternatives

All author plugins →
Alternatives
Rank Plugin Active installs Rating Updated Health
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2 WP Meta and Date Remover WP Meta and Date Remover Remove meta author and date information from posts and pages. Hide from Humans and Search… by prasadkirpekar 90K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 (71) 4 months ago 77
3 Hide/Remove Metadata Hide/Remove Metadata Hide/Remove Metadata is a free WordPress plugin that helps you hide author and published… by Catch Plugins 20K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 3.6 (14) 4 months ago 64
4 Disable Author Archives Disable Author Archives Disable Author Archives completely removes author archives and makes the web server return… by freemp 10K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 (7) 1 month ago 79
5 Meks Smart Author Widget Meks Smart Author Widget Easily display your author/user profile info inside WordPress widget. by Meks 10K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 (8) 2 years ago 29
6 VK Post Author Display VK Post Author Display Display to Post Author Information Box on bottom of the contents. by Hidekazu Ishikawa 10K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 (8) 1 month ago 79
7 Starbox – the Author Box for Humans Starbox – the Author Box for Humans Starbox is the Author Box for Humans. Professional Themes to choose from, HTML5, Social… by SEO Squirrly 10K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 (203) 1 year ago 43
8 WP Author, Date and Meta Remover WP Author, Date and Meta Remover Don't need the post date and author meta data on your pages? Install WP Author, Date and… by Johnnie 10K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 3.2 (25) 6 years ago 38
9 Guest Author Guest Author Add a guest author to any post without needing to register the guest author as a user on… by WebFactory 5K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 (13) 1 month ago 81
11 WP Custom Author URL WP Custom Author URL Set a custom URL for your author name link, on a global or author-specific basis. Also… by Poodle Plugins 5K+ ★★★★★★★★★★ 5 (8) 6 months ago 62

FAQ

Authors List: quick answers

Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.

Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 27, 2026

Is Authors List free?

Yes. Authors List is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.

Is Authors List safe to use in 2026?

Authors List works, but test it on a staging site before relying on it in 2026. It runs on 5K+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 10 months ago, and scores 50/100 on our health check.

How many websites use Authors List?

Authors List is active on 5K+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 59,024 times since it launched in April 2019. It was downloaded 432 times in the last 30 days.

Does Authors List work with WordPress 7.1?

Authors List is officially tested up to WordPress 6.8.10, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.

What PHP version does Authors List need?

Authors List requires PHP 5.4 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.

When was Authors List last updated?

The latest version, 2.0.6.2, was released on November 24, 2025 (10 months ago).

Who makes Authors List?

Authors List is developed and maintained by WPKube.

What are the best alternatives to Authors List?

The most popular alternatives to Authors List are Edit Author Slug (100K+ installs), WP Meta and Date Remover (90K+ installs) and Hide/Remove Metadata (20K+ installs).

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