Starbox – the Author Box for Humans

60 Quality Score

Active Installs

18/30

With 10,000 active installs, the plugin sits well below competing author box solutions like Simple Author Box at 90,000 installs, indicating modest market adoption.

Update Freshness

10/25

Last updated in May 2025 and tested against WordPress 6.8.5, the plugin is current, though the 54/25 score reflects that update frequency is low relative to release history patterns.

User Rating

14/15

A 90 out of 100 rating across 203 reviews is strong and shows that users who install it tend to be very satisfied with the result.

Support Health

8/15

Zero support threads and zero resolutions technically means no complaints, but it also strongly suggests the developer is not actively engaging with users through the support forum.

WP Compatibility

11/15

Compatibility scores well at 75/15 thanks to a PHP 7.0 minimum and WordPress 4.6 baseline, making it accessible to older sites, though it lacks support for newer PHP 8.x-only environments.

Scores higher than 9% of indexed plugins

About

Starbox is the Author Box for Humans. Professional Themes to choose from, HTML5, Social Media Profiles, Google Authorship

Active Installs 10k+

Rating ★★★★½ 4.5/5

Last Updated 2025-05-09 7:26am GMT

Requires WordPress 4.6+

Tested Up To 6.8.8

Requires PHP 7.0+

Security History

6 known vulnerabilities, all patched

6 Medium

Most recent: September 9, 2024

View details ▸

Starbox <= 3.5.3 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Twitter URL Field Medium

September 9, 2024 Patched in ["3.5.3"] CVE-2024-8239

Starbox – the Author Box for Humans <= 3.5.1 - Authenticated (Admin+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting Medium

August 20, 2024 Patched in ["3.5.2"] CVE-2024-7955

Starbox <= 3.4.9 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting Medium

February 13, 2024 Patched in ["3.5.0"] CVE-2024-1273

Starbox <= 3.4.8 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Job Settings Medium

February 6, 2024 Patched in ["3.5.0"] CVE-2023-6806

Starbox <= 3.4.8 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Profile Display Name and Social Settings Medium

January 31, 2024 Patched in ["3.5.0"] CVE-2024-0256

Starbox – the Author Box for Humans <= 3.4.7 - Insecure Direct Object Reference Medium

January 30, 2024 Patched in ["3.4.8"] CVE-2024-0366

What It Does

Starbox adds a customizable author bio box to your WordPress posts and pages, displaying contributor profiles with social media links, avatars, and biographical content. It includes pre-built themes, HTML5 markup, and Google Authorship support so visitors can learn more about who wrote each piece of content. The plugin integrates with WordPress user profiles to pull author information automatically.

Who It's For

This plugin suits multi-author blogs, news sites, magazines, and guest posting communities that want to highlight individual contributors and build credibility through author profiles. It works well for content-driven publications where showcasing writers encourages return readership and social engagement. Solo bloggers and small personal sites will find the feature set heavier than they need.

Who Should Skip It

If you run a single-author site or simply want a small avatar and name under each post, this plugin is overkill and a lighter solution like Simple Author Box or Simple Local Avatars will be faster and easier to manage.

The Bottom Line

Starbox delivers solid user satisfaction (90/100 ratings) but is held back by a tiny install base, a puzzlingly empty support forum, and an overall quality score of 63.72/100 that trails competitors like Simple Author Box. It is a reasonable choice if you want its specific theming options, but most multi-author sites will find better-maintained and more widely trusted alternatives. Recommended only after comparing directly against Simple Author Box.

Related Plugins

User Switching 86/100

Pick this when you need to swap between user accounts for testing or support, not for displaying author bios.

One User Avatar | User Profile Picture 84/100

Choose this if your main need is letting users upload custom profile pictures rather than building full author boxes.

Simple Local Avatars 84/100

Go with this lightweight avatar-only solution when you do not need full bio boxes and want a faster, simpler plugin.

Simple Author Box 83/100

Pick this as the leading alternative with 90,000 installs and a higher overall score when you want a comparable author box from a more widely adopted plugin.

WP Meta and Date Remover 82/100

Choose this only if your goal is to strip metadata rather than add author presentation features.