As a popular comment hosting service, Disqus is used by many websites to provide comments on their articles. But the company has been plagued with some problems in recent years.
From security breaches to privacy concerns, it’s no wonder that people are looking for alternative platforms that offer better features and more protection.
Another major drawback of Disqus is that it doesn’t allow you to create folders for comments so if your blog has a lot of different categories or topics, it might get cluttered quickly.
Fortunately for us, there are plenty of alternatives that offer better interfaces and tools.
Here are the 13 best alternatives of Disqus:
Best Disqus Alternatives
1. Native Comments
Native comments are those built into the blogging platform. You don’t need to install anything and they just work.
They are good replacements for Disqus if you’re looking for something that’s free and easy to set up.
However, their functionality is limited and you can’t style them with CSS as per your requirements. Popular platforms that have native commenting include WordPress, Blogger, etc.
Although this is basic, it’s the best choice to use native comments as they provide a richer user experience and are easier to manage.
Of course, using native comments may not always be ideal. There are some noticeable flaws such as lack of spam protection and the inability to have different styles for comments.
You shouldn’t expect a lot from native comments as they are just a basic comment system built into websites/blogs by default.
However, there are ways to mitigate these issues. For example, you can install a plugin for WordPress called “Spam Karma” to prevent spam comments from being posted on your blog.
You can also install Akismet to deal with spam comments automatically.
Also Read: Best Wordpress Alternatives
2. Jetpack Native Enhanced
This is a WordPress plugin that allows you to add native enhanced comments to your site. It includes many useful features such as threaded and nested comments, spam filtering, social sharing buttons, and more.
It ranks as one of the best solutions like Disqus because it allows you to place comments within your content and not on a separate page.
It is very popular on WordPress with over two million downloads.
Jetpack will modify every component of your website to make it secure.
Every single site is different, so the best approach to security is to be consistent about what you do across all of your sites.
By using Jetpack’s website security features on every WordPress installation, you are guaranteed a secure and reliable platform for managing client sites or powering your business online.
Jetpack gives users access to one of the most complete WordPress sites with a suite of tools that provides site owners security, backups, subscription services, and more.
This plugin is great for websites where you have multiple authors because it allows users to comment without being registered or logged in.
Users will be able to quickly share posts on various social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Tumblr.
The plugin also allows users to customize how they want their comments displayed and whether or not they would like a reCAPTCHA verification on the comment form.
3. Postmatic
Postmatic is a great replacement for Disqus, but it’s more tailored for bloggers and may not be as good of an option if you want comments on your website from the general public.
Since WordPress now has native support for both Facebook comments and Google+ Comments, these are two other alternatives that may give Disqus some competition in time.
Postmatic integrates into WordPress very easily, and you can also integrate it with your MailChimp account.
Social media integration is available for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and more so that users who comment on posts will have their profiles automatically pulled in after they leave a comment.
The social sharing options are great as well: when a user comments on a post, their friends who are also logged into Postmatic receive messages in the form of emails or notifications.
It allows commenters to receive new posts by email and keep track of all comments made on a website with the discussions section.
It’s free to use, which is awesome, but it does have premium features for those who want more out of their commenting system.
While the plugin is free, Postmatic is not free itself, and it needs to be purchased for $20/month.
For users who comment on posts will have their profiles automatically pulled in after they leave a comment.
It allows commenters to receive new posts by email and keep track of all comments made on a website with the discussions section.
While the plugin is free, Postmatic is not free itself, and it needs to be purchased for $20/month.
4. Facebook Comments
Facebook has become one of the most popular social networking sites used by millions.
Unfortunately, this also means that it is open to spamming and hacking attempts.
For those who are looking for ways on how they can protect their Facebook account from hackers, there’s good news as you will learn more about Facebook Comments here.
Facebook Comments are visual snippets that appear below any Facebook post.
It is where you can join the conversation by leaving a comment of your own related to what was posted, or just simply click on “like” if it pleases you.
Facebook Comments are often considered in place of Disqus because it is not only free but can also be accessed from any computer or mobile device.
With the help of Facebook Comments, you will have a wide range of options in terms of how your posts look on social media.
This is because you can choose between “Graphic” and “Text Only” formats for each post that goes live on your page.
Another feature that makes Facebook Comments popular is the fact that you can use it to provide a response back to anyone who has commented on any of your posts.
Unfortunately, there are people out there who tend to troll other users by posting inappropriate comments just for laughs or simply because they want their posts seen more than others.
With Facebook Comments, you will have the option to block out users who post inappropriate content or ban them from your page altogether.
By doing so, it means that they won’t be able to leave any more comments on any of your posts again.
You also have an option for “reactions” where users can choose to react with any of the following: Like, Love, Haha, Wow, and Angry.
This is a great way for you to see which posts are getting attention from your readers or followers.
The more reactions that appear on your post means it will be shared even further than before until everyone knows about who you are and what kind of content you’re providing.
5. Muut
Muut is a popular and highly customizable blog commenting system that has been around since 2006.
With its open-source code, blogs can be customized to easily fit their brand’s look and feel.
Muut also fits perfectly with WordPress as it gives the option of either using WP comments or MUA (or both).
If you want to make a switch from Disqus, you will like Muut because It is a typical all-in-one social media commenting plugin that includes such features as public and private messaging, follow/unfollow users, user profiles with avatars, and bios.
Muut has a unique way of moderating comments through the use of hashtags (e.g., spam) which can be helpful in filtering out inappropriate comments or content.
The plugin comes in different packages with different pricing plans, so you can choose one that fits your budget.
More features of this plugin include:
- Comments are threaded just like forums allowing for conversation between commenters.
- The ability to moderate comments on posts and approve/delete them if necessary.
- Integrates with Google Analytics which allows you to monitor where traffic is coming from.
- Comments can be up/downvoted which creates automatic sorting of comments based on user preferences.
6. wpDiscuz
wpDiscuz is an open-source commenting platform that empowers users to take control over their data.
It has a pretty simple interface and easy integration with any website or blog.
You can also embed the comment section on multiple pages of your site, for different topics, without duplicating the code again and again.
It has over 20,000 installations and a very active community.
You can also get your code customized or ask for help from the forum if you have any trouble with it.
wpDiscuz is one of the best Disqus alternatives for you if you are seeking an easy-to-use platform that does not require any coding skills.
It also offers a wide range of robust features to help your readers interact with each other on your website or blog, while protecting the privacy of their personal information.
It can also be integrated with popular CMS like Drupal, Wordpress and Joomla.
You can also unlock other features such as community engagement, user profiles, and more for a nominal fee.
7. CommentLuv
CommentLuv is a tool like Disqus that allows you to add comments and feedback on your blog posts. It comes with many advanced features such as:
- CommentLuv is free for everyone
- Ad Free
- Subscribe via Email or RSS Feed (optional) – You can choose how often people receive notifications about new articles by selecting one of three options.
Users can subscribe via email and get notified every time they publish a new post (the default option). They can subscribe to receive notifications for all posts within a day or week.
You choose the days of the week, and it defaults to Monday through Friday. You can also opt out of receiving weekday updates if desired.
You can also flag posts as important. The posts will be marked accordingly and users can subscribe to receive notifications for them only.
CommentLuv is a popular and loved tool by bloggers because of its flexibility and options it gives to them, unlike Disqus which does not give many choices for the blogger to choose from their end.
8. Cackle Comments
Cackle Comments is an online community where you can discuss anything with anyone.
It is one of the most popular Disqus alternatives out there and it has some really cool features like live chat, video conferencing, etc.
This tool allows users to share Dropbox files or generate code snippets for embedding on their own sites.
The platform also provides a simple integration with Git and Bitbucket for code sharing.
Cackle Comments offers users the opportunity to create online communities where they can chat, share files, and more.
Some of the best features of Cackle includes:
- The ability to create online communities and share files.
- Cackle has the same features as Disqus such as live chat, video conferencing, and integration with Git/Bitbucket for code sharing. Cackle is easy to set up because it doesn’t require an account or installation.
- Users can also upload their own logo and branding, which can be a great way to add your own unique identity to the platform.
9. Comments Evolved
Comments Evolved is a community-building tool that helps you build a thriving and loyal audience.
It allows you to easily start conversations with your readers, convert blog visitors into email subscribers, increase engagement on social media, and much more.
Comments Evolved also comes with an inbuilt commenting system that makes it easy for users to engage in conversation without leaving the site or signing up for another service.
Comments Evolved is one of the best tools you can use in place of Disqus as it offers a lot of features and functionality at an affordable price point.
There are several other options users can use to replace Disqus such as Livefyre, Facebook Comments Box, IntenseDebate, and much more.
Some of the best features of Comments Evolved include the ability to find and follow other users, allowing multiple authors on the same WordPress site, providing a wide range of tools for moderating comments.
It also includes several features such as email notification when someone responds in the comments, being able to choose from a list of existing avatars, or uploading your own custom avatar.
It is clear of Disqus in that it has a better interface and is more customizable.
10. Intense Debate
Intense Debate is a popular WordPress plugin. It has wooed many bloggers due to its ease of use and visually appealing design.
One thing that makes this tool more desirable than Disqus is that it lets you integrate Facebook, Twitter, or any other social networking website with your blog instantly.
This saves heaps of time for the blogger as they can easily promote their blog on social media platforms.
- The interface is pretty simple to use in the sense that even a novice blogger can start using it without any hassles.
- It comes with an inbuilt chat that allows you to take part in conversations related to your blog posts or topics of interest. This helps build up relationships between bloggers and readers, thereby increasing the popularity of your blog.
- It comes with a spam protection feature that does not allow spammers to enter comments on your posts, thereby saving you from negative feedbacks and bad reviews.
- You can also use third-party plugins or extensions in order to integrate it with other platforms like BuddyPress, bbpress, and WooCommerce.
- It allows you to moderate the comments by deleting or editing them at your discretion. This can be done without logging into the admin panel, thereby saving you the time required for moderating spammy or negative feedbacks on other websites.
- You can also use third-party plugins in order to create a membership system that offers paid packages for commenting on posts.
11. Isso
Isso is an open-source alternative to Disqus written in PHP.
It allows users to sign in with their Twitter or Facebook account out-of-the-box which makes it easy to integrate into your codebase.
The creator of Isso, Paul Annesley, said he designed this for developers who wanted a replacement for the popular comment platform that was easy to integrate into their code.
It is a lightweight and fast commenting system. It is very easy to install and provides a lot of options for you as the developer or site owner.
The code, which can be found on GitHub, allows website admins to customize everything from colors and layout, through widgets like links and user profiles, right down to how things work under the hood. Isso is easy to integrate into your code.
The advantage of Isso over Disqus is the fact there are no third-party advertising and tracking scripts in it.
The editor interface is also quite simple and minimalistic giving you full control over how things look on your site without needing any coding knowledge.
Isso is also open source and available for free to install on your own server, so if you’re looking for an ad-free commenting system without tracking scripts, this might be a perfect choice.
The only downside of using Isso at the moment is that it doesn’t allow users to log in with their Twitter or Facebook accounts like Disqus, but the developers are working on adding that support.
12. Hyvor Talk
Hyvor Talk is a free community chat plugin for WordPress, which allows you to add live chat on your website easily. It supports multiple languages too.
The live chat makes it easy to engage your audience and receive feedback.
The community management feature of the plugin enables you to moderate messages, delete offensive comments, adjust privacy settings for certain conversations, etc.
It features multiple languages, live chat with push notifications, etc.
It’s easier to moderate messages and delete offensive comments through the community management feature of the plugin on Hyvor than on Disqus.
Hyvor Talk also supports social media integration features like Google+, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Key Features:
- Live chat with push notification support
- Multiple languages supported
- Moderation tools for community management feature
- Social media integration (Facebook, Twitter, Google+)
It has a Visitor Statistics feature that shows detailed statistics of your visitors for each post or page on your blog.
This helps you to know about your audience and their preferences so that you can better understand what they want from your blog.
13. Discourse
Discourse is a great open-source alternative to Disqus. It’s a modern conversation platform with all the features of traditional commenting systems and social media combined, minus the silos.
Discourse is simple for site owners to set up and easy for commenters to use.
The interface has been designed from the first principles around conversations. Comments are threaded like email or chat apps, with @mentions and link previews.
This Rails-based project is built for community discussion around any topic from technology, politics, sports, or anything else.
Unlike Disqus, Discourse is free to use. It offers hosting services that can be helpful for those who are not very tech-savvy, but it is nice that you don’t have to go through this process in order to get started with Discourse.
Some of its other features include:
- Real-time notifications of new comments, messages, and mentions.
- Seamlessly integrated with Twitter, Facebook, or Google accounts.
- Customizable display options for your forum’s look and feel including color schemes that can be updated without touching any code.
Last Words
There you have it, the 12 best Disqus alternatives for your blog.
Some of these can be installed on your website, others are browser extensions, and some you just have to copy-paste a line or two in order to get them working.
Remember, the best Disqus alternative is the one that you will actually use, so give them all a try and see which ones work best for your website.
