Plugin info

Total downloads: 1,393,935
Active installs: 20,000
Total reviews: 77
Average rating: 3.5
Support threads opened: 2
Support threads resolved: 0 (0%)
Available in: 19 language(s)
Contributors: 8
Last updated: 10/20/2025 (71 days ago)
Added to WordPress: 4/24/2009 (16 years old)
Minimum WordPress version: 5.9
Tested up to WordPress version: 6.8.3
Minimum PHP version: 7.4

Maintenance & Compatibility

Maintenance score

Actively maintained • Last updated 71 days ago • Support resolved 0% • 77 reviews

55/100

Is Co-Authors Plus abandoned?

Likely maintained (last update 71 days ago).

Compatibility

Requires WordPress: 5.9
Tested up to: 6.8.3
Requires PHP: 7.4

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Description

Assign multiple bylines to posts, pages, and custom post types via a search-as-you-type input box. Co-authored posts appear on a co-author’s archive page and in their feed. Co-authors may edit the posts they are associated with, and co-authors who are contributors may only edit posts if they have not been published (as is core behavior).

Add writers as bylines without creating WordPress user accounts. Simply create a guest author profile for the writer and assign the byline as you normally would.

On the frontend, use the Co-Authors Plus template tags to list co-authors anywhere you’d normally list the author.

For more detailed documentation refer to the GitHub Wiki for this plugin.

Co-Authors Plus is an almost complete rewrite of the Co-Authors plugin originally developed by Weston Ruter (2007). The original plugin was inspired by the ‘Multiple Authors‘ plugin by Mark Jaquith (2005).

Installation

  1. IMPORTANT: If you are using the original Co-Authors plugin, disable it before installing Co-Authors Plus.
  2. Extract the coauthors-plus.zip file and upload its contents to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory. Alternately, you can install directly from the Plugin directory within your WordPress Install.
  3. Activate the plugin through the “Plugins” menu in WordPress.
  4. Place co-authors template tags in your template.
  5. Add co-authors to your posts and pages.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I add Co-Authors Plus support to my theme?

If you’ve just installed Co-Authors Plus, you might notice that the bylines are being added in the backend but aren’t appearing on the front end. You’ll need to add the template tags to your theme before the bylines will appear.

What happens to posts and pages when I delete a user assigned to a post or page as a co-author?

When a user is deleted from WordPress, they will be removed from all posts for which they are co-authors. If you reassign their posts to another user, that user will be the co-author instead.

Can I use Co-Authors Plus with WordPress multisite?

Yes! You can use Co-Authors Plus on WordPress multisite. Co-Authors Plus can be activated on a site-by-site basis or network-activated. If you create guest authors, however, those guest authors will exist on a site-by-site basis.

Who needs permission to do what?

A WordPress user will need the edit_others_posts capability to assign co-authors to posts. This is typically granted to the Editor role but can be altered with the coauthors_plus_edit_authors filter.

A WordPress user will need the list_users capability to create new guest author profiles. This is typically granted to the Administrator role but can be altered with the coauthors_guest_author_manage_cap filter.

Can I easily create a list of all co-authors?

Yes! You can create a list of all co-authors with a template tag coauthors_wp_list_authors() template tag. This template tag accepts many of the same arguments as wp_list_authors(). Look in template-tags.php for more details.

Can I disable Guest Authors?

Yes! You can disable guest authors entirely through a filter. Having the following line load on init will do the trick:
add_filter( ‘coauthors_guest_authors_enabled’, ‘__return_false’ )

Review feed

Sociality
9/28/2020

No Support - Not compatible with WPML

No support at all , also it doesn't work with wpml
MartinCV
5/29/2021

Not working

The print links function is not printing
dudo
7/5/2021

Works!

The plugin works as described.
smerriman
4/28/2022

Cannot trust developers

I rarely ever give 1 star reviews, but developers who take over a plugin - making a breaking change that took a while to resolve - and then refuse to follow standard practice by providing a changelog (despite requests) for future updates, cannot be trusted. Avoid at all costs.

Screenshots

  1. Multiple authors can be added to a Post, Page, or Custom Post Type using an auto-complete interface.

    Multiple authors can be added to a Post, Page, or Custom Post Type using an auto-complete interface.

  2. Guest authors allow you to assign bylines without creating WordPress user accounts. You can also override existing WordPress account meta by mapping a guest author to a WordPress user.

    Guest authors allow you to assign bylines without creating WordPress user accounts. You can also override existing WordPress account meta by mapping a guest author to a WordPress user.