Gravatar

Your free profile for the web

Developer Tools Link Management API Development gravatar.com

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Founded

2004

Starting Price

Free

About Gravatar

Gravatar (Globally Recognized Avatar) ties an avatar and public profile to an email address, so the same picture, bio, and verified links appear on every site that supports it, including WordPress, GitHub, and Slack. It doubles as a free link-in-bio page for individuals and as a profiles-as-a-service API that developers use to prefill user avatars and profile data from an email hash. The service is run by Automattic and has been around since 2004.

Pros & Cons

Pros

Completely free for individuals and free for API use by companies of any size, including commercial apps
Avatars and profiles show up automatically across WordPress, GitHub, Slack, Atlassian, Figma, and thousands of other sites
Avatar URLs need no API key and only a SHA-256 email hash, so integration takes a few lines of code
Profiles API solves the cold-start problem by prefilling names, bios, and avatars at signup
Run by Automattic and operating since 2004, so the service is unlikely to disappear
Free custom domain for the first year turns the profile into a personal link-in-bio site

Cons

Email hashes in avatar URLs let sites correlate the same person across services, and older MD5 hashes have been reversed in research
Profile pages are basic compared with dedicated link-in-bio tools such as Linktree, with limited design and analytics options
Free API use requires attribution and has default rate limits of 100 to 1,000 profile requests per hour
Custom domains renew at WordPress.com rates after the first year and custom email addresses are a paid add-on
Most people only notice Gravatar when a site shows the generic default avatar, so profile completion across users is uneven

Key Features

Email-based global avatars

Upload one avatar tied to an email address and it appears automatically on thousands of sites and apps that query Gravatar, with changes syncing everywhere.

Public profile and link-in-bio page

A profile page at gravatar.com/username with bio, job title, location, social accounts, portfolio links, and gallery images, usable as a free alternative to Linktree.

Verified social accounts

Connect and verify social profiles so other sites and visitors can trust the links on your profile.

Multiple identities

Create separate profiles for work, personal, or anonymous use by registering different email addresses, with privacy controls over what each one shares.

Custom domains

Map a domain registered through WordPress.com (free for the first year) to your profile, with shortcuts like /calendar and /pay, free SSL, and Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and Tag Manager support.

Avatar API

Build an avatar URL from the SHA-256 hash of a user's email with no API key required; avatar requests don't count toward rate limits.

Profiles REST API

The v3 REST API returns display name, avatar, location, bio, job title, company, interests, verified accounts, and (when authenticated) links, contact info, and wallet addresses for 70M+ users.

Quick Editor, hovercards, and QR codes

Embeddable components let users edit their Gravatar from inside your site, show profile hovercards on hover, and generate QR codes for profiles.

iOS and Android SDKs

Native mobile SDKs load avatars, render profile cards, and let users update their avatar from within your app.

WordPress plugin

A WordPress plugin integrates Gravatar profiles and avatars into WordPress sites beyond the default core avatar support.

Pricing

Free

Free avatar and public profile for individuals
Link-in-bio profile page
All developer tools (Avatar API, Profiles REST API, SDKs)
100 profile requests/hour unauthenticated, 1,000/hour with API key
Higher rate limits on request at no cost
Basic attribution required
Community support

Paid (API)

$100/month

Starts at $100/month, tailored to usage
All developer tools
Attribution negotiable
Custom and increased rate limits
99.95% monthly uptime SLA
Dedicated support via private Slack channel
Integration assistance and early access to new features

Best For

Consistent avatar across the web

Commenters, open source contributors, and WordPress users set one avatar and have it appear on blogs, GitHub, and support tools without re-uploading.

Prefilling user profiles at signup

SaaS and community apps call the Profiles API with an email hash to fill in name, avatar, and bio, raising profile completion during onboarding.

Free link-in-bio page

Creators and professionals use the Gravatar profile, optionally on a custom domain, as a digital business card with social links and payment links.

Avatars for apps without image storage

Developers display user avatars from Gravatar instead of building upload, storage, and cropping pipelines, with Quick Editor letting users change them in place.