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Alternatives to Disqus in 2020

What is Disqus?

By Ishini AvindyaPublished 4 years ago 5 min read
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The Disqus app is a global blog comment plugin. This particular platform differs from the default commenting system that comes with most blog services in a few ways. It integrates features such as social media, moderation tools, and email notifications.

Basic features are free to use, both for commenters who use Disqus login services and for the websites that run the platform. There are additional features that websites must pay for to unlock. These include shadow banning, temporary bans, and advanced analytics. A single Disqus login designed to help web masters access these features with ease is also available for a fee.

Why alternatives to Disqus?

Users have reported numerous Disqus problems over the years. Most of the user-reported problems with Disqus related to privacy concerns. The Disqus app tracks each user’s web browsing activity, even when they are not logged in.

The terms of service allow the platform to sell this information to third parties. Most worrisome is the content of the information they can sell, which includes the user’s IP address, referring pages, and exit links. Taken together, this information could identify users by name.

Additionally, another one of Disqus’ problems is the way they handle user profiles and web comments. For example, users could not opt for a private profile until very recently. This means that a person’s entire comment history was available online. Additionally, they could not block other users, which lead to widespread harassment.

The Disqus app has also been the subject of two notable security breaches. Given the nature of the type of data collected, this is problematic for many users. The first breach happened in 2013.

A Swedish hacking group was able to obtain and release the personal information of many users. Some of these members even visited the users at their homes. The second breach happened in 2017. This breach exposed the Disqus login names, passwords, and sign up dates

Though Disqus is one of the best services in terms of both administration capabilities for website owners and convenience for commentators, it isn’t free anymore. Even the “Free” plan isn’t truly free because instead of a payment for the service, Disqus displays ads in the comments area on your site.

As it was initially popular as soon as it was developed, the above mentioned highly caused users to find alternatives to Disqus.

Here are best alternatives to Disqus. You can try these on your websites.

1. Hyvor Talk

This is the best among every commenting plugin as an alternative to Disqus. What makes Hyvor Talk the best?

Hyvor Talk is a privacy-focused, fully-customizable, fast and smooth comments and reactions plugin for websites. Hyvor Talk can be used in any kind of website including blogs and other web applications. When Hyvor Talk is added to your website, any user who has a Hyvor account can comment on your website, which means that anyone who has joined the Hyvor network is very likely to engage on your website. Or, anyone can comment as a guest.

We have designed our pricing plans to be affordable to anyone. For those who are developing their website or running a small/startup website, Hyvor Talk is completely free and no credit card required. When your website grows, you may exceed the limits of the free plan. At that moment, you can upgrade to our premium or unlimited plans.

You may refer to our Plans and Pricing page for more details about pricing and limitation in each plan.

Here are some benefits over Disqus.

  • No ads or affiliate links placed
  • You can customize the colors, fonts, and texts (see above screenshots)
  • Easy moderation
  • Lazy loading supported by default
  • Generous free plan (atm 40,000 page views per month)
  • Blazing fast

Most of the people choose Hyvor Talk instead of Disqus now.

2. Muut

This isn’t just a comment tool, it is a robust plugin that combines site comments, web forums, and instant messaging to make one huge online community platform.

It’s basically an all-in-one social commenting solution for your website. It is, however, more valuable to websites. But it is not free of charge at all. Muut Inc. is one of the most popular alternatives to Disqus available. One of the reasons is its easy integration with multiple web platforms and the variety of use. Not only is Muut a comment hosting service, it also facilitates messaging and can support forums. This versatility makes it attractive to websites that encourage active and frequent communication between commenters You will need to have at least 20$ dollars to get the service of Muut. Most of the startup website owners choose Mutt, Disqus over Hyvor Talk.

3. CommentLuv

CommentLuv is also an good alternative to Disqus that website users recommend. This comment tool is popular with webmasters that are looking to boost their sites’ SEO. This plugin will visit the site of the comment author while they type their comment and retrieve their last blog posts which they can choose to include at the bottom of their comment when they click submit.

It has been found to increase comments and the community spirit for the thousands of blogs that have installed it. With a simple installation user will immediately start to find new and interesting blog posts from your own blog and community. User will even be able to build your list/network/community even more by offering your readers the opportunity to register to your site to unlock advanced features of the plugin like being able to choose from any of their 10 last posts when they comment or other features like dofollow links and more.

The plugin will work with administrators and logged on users provided they have their homepage url set in their profile page in the dashboard of the site.

4. wpDiscuz

This commenting plugin is quite similar to Disqus even by name. wpDiscuz is an AJAX realtime comment system with an ability to create custom comment forms and fields. Designed to supercharge WordPress native comments. Super fast and responsive with dozens of unique features. Users need to have 15$ - 25$ to have intrusive features of wpDiscuz. It is also not free at all.

There are many commenting plugins other than the above mentioned commenting plugins like LiveFyre, Discourse, UseResponse, Freshdesk, Helprace, Help Scout, Zendesk, Desk.com, Uservoice etc.

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About the Creator

Ishini Avindya

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