Local Gravatars

Locally host gravatars for the privacy-concious.

Author:Ari Stathopoulos (profile at wordpress.org)
WordPress version required:5.3
WordPress version tested:5.5.5
Plugin version:1.0.1
Added to WordPress repository:07-10-2020
Last updated:12-10-2020
Warning! This plugin has not been updated in over 2 years. It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when used with more recent versions of WordPress.
Rating, %:100
Rated by:1
Plugin URI:https://github.com/aristath/local-gravatars
Total downloads:1 190
Active installs:30+
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Allow your users to use gravatars, but without sacrificing privacy.

The plugin will get your users gravatars and host them locally on your website.
Your visitors will get the gravatars directly from your website instead of the gravatar CDN, therefore increasing privacy and performance.

To avoid cluttering the filesystem and to allow refreshing gravatars, the files get flushed on a weekly basis (interval can be modified using a filter).
To avoid performance issues server-side, the download process for gravatars is limited to a maximum of 5 seconds (value can be modified using a filter).

The code is simple, easy to read, well-documented and includes filters you can use to modify the behavior of the plugin:

  • Changing the folder where gravatars get downloaded.
  • Change the URL of downloaded gravatars.
  • Change the cleanup frequency.
  • Change the maximum process time to avoid performance issues.
  • Change the fallback image to use (defaults to blank) – also allows using the remote URL (not recommended as it will defeat the purpose of this privacy enhancement).