Co-Authors Plus
View on WordPress.orgScores higher than 57% of indexed plugins
About
Assign multiple bylines to posts, pages, and custom post types with a search-as-you-type input box.
Security History
What It Does
Co-Authors Plus lets you credit more than one person to a single WordPress post, page, or custom post type. It replaces the single-author dropdown in the editor with a search-as-you-type field where you can attach multiple contributors, each linking to their own author archive. Byline templates, guest author profiles, and per-author attribution are handled through its underlying template tags.
Who It's For
Editorial teams that routinely publish collaborative content, such as newsrooms with rotating desks, magazines produced by department editors, podcast and video sites needing to credit hosts and producers, and academic blogs co-written by research groups will get the most out of it. It also fits guest post platforms where outside contributors must receive proper bylines and archive pages without needing their own WordPress accounts.
Who Should Skip It
Solo bloggers, single-author sites, or small lifestyle blogs that already get by with the default WordPress author field should skip it: the extra UI layer adds complexity without solving a real problem. Teams that need editor-level workflows, editorial schedules, or content calendars will be better served by a full publishing suite rather than a bylines-only plugin.
The Bottom Line
Co-Authors Plus scores 82.26 out of 100 and is a dependable, actively maintained solution for sites that genuinely need multiple bylines per post, a use case WordPress core still does not handle well. It is not for everyone: single-author blogs should ignore it, and teams chasing a full editorial platform should look at PublishPress Authors instead. For its specific job, it is the most battle-tested free option available, and its maintenance and compatibility scores make it safe to adopt today.
Related Plugins
Pick User Switching instead if your real problem is admins needing to swap between accounts for testing or support, not multiple bylines per post.
Choose One User Avatar when you want richer profile photos and avatars on top of standard single-author posts, without any byline expansion features.
Simple Local Avatars is the lighter option if you only need local avatar uploads on a single-author site and have no use for co-authorship at all.
Metronet Profile Picture fits if avatar and profile image management is the priority and co-authoring is irrelevant.
Choose PublishPress Authors if you want similar co-author bylines plus a richer author box, guest author support, and tighter integration with the PublishPress editorial suite.