10 Best Change Author Alternatives in 2026
Updated September 7, 2026 · Ranked by how closely each plugin matches, from WordPress.org data · How this works
Change Author has 1,000+ active installs on WordPress.org. These 10 plugins share its category or its tags on WordPress.org, are actively maintained, and each has at least 100 active installs. They are ordered by how closely they match, not by our opinion.
The 10 closest alternatives to Change Author
- 1
Smart User Slug Hider
Closest match4.9 (55) 3,000+ active installsHide usernames in Author Pages URLs to enhance Security
Shares the author, user tags on WordPress.org. About 3 times the installs, no update since April 17, 2024.
- 2
Author Avatars List/Block
4.8 (32) 4,000+ active installsDisplay lists of user avatars using widgets or shortcodes. With Gutenberg support.
Shares the author tag on WordPress.org. About 4 times the installs, last updated 30 days ago.
- 3
Starbox – the Author Box for Humans
4.5 (203) 10,000+ active installsStarbox is the Author Box for Humans. Professional Themes to choose from, HTML5, Social Media Profiles, Google Authorship
Shares the author tag on WordPress.org. About 10 times the installs, no update since May 9, 2025.
- 4
4.6 (46) 1,000+ active installsSell books via Amazon and other retailers directly from your author website with this easy-to-use system. Creates book pages, widgets, and book grids.
Shares the author tag on WordPress.org. A similar number of installs, no update since December 13, 2024.
- 5
(Simply) Guest Author Name
4.7 (23) 2,000+ active installsCreate a post and override the author name with one or more names or text. You can also create a link for the author name field
Shares the author tag on WordPress.org. About 2 times the installs, last updated February 22, 2026.
- 6
GS Books Showcase – Display Books in Grid, Slider & More | Library for WordPress
4.8 (42) 500+ active installsShowcase your books in Grid, Slider, Filter & Flip layouts. GS Books Showcase is the ultimate book library plugin for WordPress.
Shares the author tag on WordPress.org. About half the installs, last updated 13 days ago.
- 7
5.0 (22) 5,000+ active installsUse a shortcode to display a list or grid of post authors (or any other user role) and links to their post archives page.
Shares the author tag on WordPress.org. About 5 times the installs, last updated November 24, 2025.
- 8
4.2 (42) 3,000+ active installsAdds action links to user table to approve or unapprove user registrations.
Shares the user tag on WordPress.org. About 3 times the installs, last updated 17 days ago.
- 9
4.8 (45) 10,000+ active installsGive a temporarily limited admin access to themes designers, plugins developers and support agents.
Shares the user tag on WordPress.org. About 10 times the installs, last updated 18 days ago.
- 10
4.9 (28) 6,000+ active installsAutomatically generate beautiful user avatars based on their initials.
Shares the user tag on WordPress.org. About 6 times the installs, last updated December 18, 2025.
Switching from Change Author: common questions
What is the best alternative to Change Author?
Smart User Slug Hider is the closest match: it shares the same WordPress.org tags and has 3,000+ active installs with a 4.9 out of 5 rating.
Which Change Author alternative has the most users?
Starbox, with 10,000+ active installs reported by WordPress.org.
Which Change Author alternative is rated highest?
Smart User Slug Hider, rated 4.9 out of 5 by 55 reviewers. Only plugins with at least 50 reviews are counted.
Are these Change Author alternatives free?
Every plugin listed here is free to install from WordPress.org. Where WordPress.org marks a plugin as commercial, the developer also sells a paid version or add-ons, and that is shown on each plugin.
How are alternatives chosen?
Automatically, from WordPress.org data: plugins that share a category top 10 with Change Author score highest, then plugins that appear in the same WordPress.org rankings, then plugins with the same tags, weighted so rare tags count more than common ones. Plugins by the same author and plugins rated under 4.0 are left out.
How we choose these alternatives
Nothing on this page is picked by hand. Every day we walk the whole WordPress.org directory, then score every plugin against Change Author on three signals: sharing a category top 10 counts most, then appearing in the same WordPress.org rankings, then carrying the same tags, with rare tags counting for more than common ones like "wordpress". Plugins by the same author are excluded, so an author's own add-ons cannot fill the list, and so is anything rated below 4.0 or with fewer than 100 active installs. The ten highest scores are what you see, in that order. Full methodology.
The bottom line
Smart User Slug Hider is the closest match to Change Author by the data we track, and Starbox has the widest reach with 10,000+ active installs. GS Books Showcase shipped the most recent release, on August 25, 2026. The list is rebuilt every day from WordPress.org, so a plugin that stops being maintained drops out on its own.
Weekly · free
What moved this week
One email a week, built from the same daily snapshots these rankings come from: the plugins that climbed, what launched, and one ranking worth a look.