How to Display Gravatar Avatars from User Emails in WordPress: Templates, Posts & Widgets

As seasoned WordPress developers, we've relied on Gravatar for years to effortlessly display user avatars across our sites. Most commonly used in comments, Gravatar works anywhere you need a profile image—like author bios, sidebars, or about pages. In this practical guide, we'll walk you through displaying Gravatar avatars using any user email address.

Note: Our example draws from a membership site, fetching the email from registered user data. The core technique applies universally, whether for logged-in users or any email.

Display Gravatar from User Email in WordPress Theme Files

To integrate Gravatar into your theme templates, add this reliable function to your theme's functions.php file or a custom plugin. It pulls the current user's email and generates the avatar URL securely.

function wpbeginner_display_gravatar() {
    global $current_user;
    get_currentuserinfo();
    $getuseremail = $current_user->user_email;
    $usergravatar = 'https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/' . md5( strtolower( trim( $getuseremail ) ) ) . '?s=32&d=mm&r=g';
    echo '<img src="' . esc_url( $usergravatar ) . '" alt="User Gravatar" />';
}

Call it in any template file like this: <?php wpbeginner_display_gravatar(); ?>

Display Gravatar from User Emails in Posts, Pages, and Widgets

Need to show Gravatar for any email—even non-registered users—or specific ones in content? Use this shortcode. Add it to functions.php or a custom plugin:

function wpb_display_gravatar( $atts ) {
    $atts = shortcode_atts( array(
        'wpb_user_email' => '',
    ), $atts );
    if ( empty( $atts['wpb_user_email'] ) ) {
        global $current_user;
        get_currentuserinfo();
        $getuseremail = $current_user->user_email;
    } else {
        $getuseremail = $atts['wpb_user_email'];
    }
    $usergravatar = 'https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/' . md5( strtolower( trim( $getuseremail ) ) ) . '?s=32&d=mm&r=g';
    echo '<img src="' . esc_url( $usergravatar ) . '" alt="Gravatar" class="wpb-gravatar" />';
}
add_shortcode( 'wpb_gravatar', 'wpb_display_gravatar' );

This shortcode defaults to the current user but accepts a custom email. Examples:

[wpb_gravatar] – Shows current user's Gravatar.

[wpb_gravatar wpb_user_email="admin@989214.com"] – Displays Gravatar for the specified email.

Style it with this CSS in your stylesheet:

.wpb-gravatar {
    padding: 3px;
    margin: 3px;
    background: #FFFFFF;
    border: 2px solid #eee;
}

We've tested these methods on live sites, ensuring compatibility and security. Questions? Drop a comment below—we're here to help.