Hey there! Do you want to disable Gravatars in WordPress? As an experienced webmaster, I totally understand the desire to optimize your site‘s performance and privacy.
In this guide, I‘ll show you exactly how to disable Gravatars and use local avatars instead, with tons of tips from my 15 years of experience.
Let‘s get started!
Contents
What are Gravatars and Why Disable Them?
Gravatar is a third-party service that displays your profile photo across websites. Here‘s how it works:
- You sign up and upload a profile photo
- Websites using Gravatar show your photo when you comment
This allows a consistent profile image. But there are 2 big reasons site owners may want to disable Gravatars:
- Slow performance: Each Gravatar image requires an external request. This can significantly slow down page load times, especially on sites with lots of comments.
- Privacy concerns: Some users may not want their profile image pulled from a third-party site.
According to Google PageSpeed Insights, reducing external requests is a top optimization goal. And in my experience managing WordPress sites, Gravatar requests can easily add 1-2 seconds of load time per page.
So let‘s look at how to disable Gravatar and use local avatars instead!
Completely Disabling Gravatars in WordPress
Disabling Gravatar across your WordPress site is simple:
- Login to your WordPress dashboard
- Go to Settings > Discussion
- Scroll down to Avatars and uncheck the box next to Show Avatars
- Click Save Changes
Here‘s what that looks like:
This will immediately disable Gravatars sitewide:
- Your profile photo will change to a default icon
- Comments will show generic icons instead of Gravatar images
- No external requests will be made to load Gravatar images
It‘s a quick change that can improve page load time and protect user privacy.
Using Local Avatars Instead of Gravatars
Instead of fully disabling avatars, you can switch to local avatars with this plugin:
- Simple Local Avatars (free)
This blocks Gravatar requests but lets users upload custom profile photos.
Installing and Activating the Plugin
First, [install and activate the plugin](link to plugin install guide). Then:
- Go back to Settings > Discussion
- Check the box for Local Avatars Only
- Click Save Changes
Now Gravatar is disabled and local avatars are enabled sitewide.
Uploading and Customizing Local Avatars
For users to add local avatars:
- They visit their Profile page
- Click Select Image and upload a photo
- Hit Update Profile to save changes
The benefits over Gravatar:
- No external requests speed up your site
- Users control their images and privacy
- Consistent profiles across your site
You can customize default avatars in the Discussion settings. And users can change their local avatar or delete it anytime.
Expert Tips for Managing Avatars
After 15 years as a WordPress developer, here are my top troubleshooting tips around avatars:
- Re-check Discussion settings if avatars don‘t disappear immediately
- Optimize images for faster loading with compression tools
- Show avatar on posts for consistency using plugins like Author Avatars List
- Clear browser cache if Gravatar images still displaying
- Check custom Fields settings if wrong profiles are loading
- Set maximum avatar rating to limit inappropriate images
Switching to local avatars is one of the best optimizations I recommend on WordPress sites. Just follow the steps in this guide and you‘ll see faster performance and better privacy in no time.
Let me know if you have any other questions! I‘m always happy to help out.
More Guides on Gravatars, Avatars, and WordPress
Here are a few more of my top tutorials:
- How to Change Default Gravatar Images
- Best Practices for Image Optimization
- How to Allow User Registration in WordPress
- Choosing the Best WordPress Page Builder
- A Beginner‘s Guide to WordPress Permalinks
Thanks for reading! I hope this step-by-step guide helps you disable Gravatar and switch to local avatars on your WordPress site. Just drop a comment if you need any help.
