A Comparison of WordPress Commenting Plugins

Improving user engagement: WordPress comment plug-in depth comparison

My brother Lee and I are web developers and entrepreneurs, and we are committed to seizing every opportunity to increase user engagement. A crucial part of any strategy designed to increase user engagement is allowing users to comment on website articles/blog posts. WordPress websites can implement comment function through WordPress’s default comment function or install third-party plug-ins. However, WordPress’s default comment feature lacks some important features that can increase user interaction. It also requires installing the Akismet plugin to keep website comments free from spam. Additionally, recent news reports revealed that WordPress comments have cross-site scripting vulnerabilities (0 Day vulnerabilities) without Akismet (but the patch has been released). For these reasons, we chose an alternative to WordPress default comment feature.

We looked at four popular WordPress third-party review plugins: Disqus, Facebook, Livefyre, and Google Plus. We delve into the user and administrator features that each plugin provides, their configuration process, and some of the shortcomings to make an in-depth comparison of your choices.

Key Points

• Disqus has the most active installations and offers a wide range of user and administrator features including image uploads, social media integration, and advanced auditing capabilities.
• The Facebook Comment Plugin is highly integrated with the social network, enhancing visibility and interactivity, but lacks features like guest comments and synchronizing comments with WordPress.
• Livefyre offers powerful auditing tools and social media integration, but some WordPress themes may experience layout issues due to avatar size issues.
• Google Plus Reviews offer basic review features and have the advantage of comment SEO visibility, but when used outside of Blogger.com, it lacks official support and review tools.
• For those who have existing comments and consider switching from WordPress default system, Disqus and Livefyre are better choices because they have import capabilities.
• Overall, Disqus is recommended for its comprehensive functionality, ease of integration, and the ability to enhance user engagement with a variety of interactive options.

Disqus Comments

The Disqus comment system plugin has the largest number of active installations (200,000) of all the plugins we checked. At the time of writing this article, this plugin was last updated by Disqus on December 9, 2014, and it is compatible with WordPress 4.0.4 or below (but we used this plugin on 4.1.5 and it works great), and It received 3.5 stars (out of 5 stars) from 80 people. The following websites currently use the Disqus comment function: wired.com, npr.org, politico.com, ew.com (Entertainment Weekly). You can find this plugin at the WordPress plugin directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/disqus-comment-system/. Overall, this information gives us a good idea of ​​what we can get from this plugin. The Disqus plugin may work reliably and consistently (even in high traffic), and its creators may provide support/update if errors are found, and its popularity may indicate that it is easy to use and implement. But we won't let them go easily; we need to see it with our own eyes to believe it. We installed and activated the Disqus Comment System plugin on our WordPress website. We document the configuration process and different user and administrator functions.

Configuration process:

1. Add, install and activate the Disqus comment system. Follow the on-screen instructions
2. Login – Sign in via Facebook, Google Plus, or Twitter, or sign up for a Disqus account
3. Add to your Disqus account the website name and URL where you will add Disqus comments
4. Select your website
5. Ready! You should see a Disqus comment box (as shown below) in any blog post on your website.

User Functions

• Login to comment (using Disqus, Facebook, Google Plus, or Twitter), sign up to comment (using Disqus, Facebook, Google Plus, or Twitter), or comment as a guest if enabled
• Responsive design to suit different devices – Comment feature is set to 100% width of the container it is located in. Therefore, its appearance depends on the design quality of the theme.
• Add pictures to comments
• Share comments on Facebook or Twitter
• Sorted comments by best, oldest and latest
• Able to recommend comment streams on articles
• Ability to subscribe to a comment stream on an article (allowing you to know who is commenting on your article or what you are interested in)
• Share a single comment or share a direct link on Facebook, Twitter
• Reply to every comment
• Edit every comment
• Ability to vote up or down on certain comments
• Notification and reply via email
• Support Disqus Community Widget
• Ability to connect to their discussion community
• Increase the exposure of comments through users in their community (but not sure how many views these comments are)
• Users can view all Disqus comment threads they participate in by clicking on the voice bubble next to the username

Admin Function

How to access: Log in to your Disqus account, click the gear icon in the upper right corner, and click "Admin". This should bring you to the audit panel.

• Free use
• Get the email address associated with all commenters.
• Ability to approve, mark as spam or delete any comments in the approved, pending, spam or deleted category (in the review panel)
• Ability to mark as spam, delete, blacklist, review or recommend individual comments you see on the website
• Ability to close comment thread or open closed thread
• Add/Remove Auditor
• Spam filtering by being able to add users to blacklists (block users in this list from posting) and whitelists (allowing users in this list to bypass certain audit settings)
• Add words (such as swear words) to a restricted list (approval is required before publication)
• You can view user profiles (including the total number of comments posted, the number of comments marked as spam or tagged, the email and IP address associated with this user, the Disqus user rating, and the length of time the user has been a Disqus member).
• Set community rules
  • Comments require approval by the auditor before posting, all comments will be posted automatically, or comments from unverified emails require approval
  • Add to comment from visitors
  • Require approval before posting comments containing links
  • Automatically display and include pictures and videos included in comments
  • Send an email to the auditor when marking comments
  • Comments are not displayed after being marked X times
  • Comments are not allowed after a certain number of days
  • Set a Twitter username for comments tweeted to reply @
• Import existing comments (imported to Disqus' audit panel via WX R files)
• Can be crawled and indexed by search engines
• Export Disqus comments as backups (not for future imports – if you need to upload later, you need to export comments on WordPress)
• Migrate threads to new domain, upload URL maps (if your URL changes) or crawl your website to find 301 redirects (Disqus crawls your old page and updates the threads to associate with the new URL)
• Analysis – View Popular Comments, Reviews and Votes in the Last 30 Days and the Last 3 Months
• Adjust the appearance of the comment (color scheme, font, auditor badge)
• Adjust the comment count link text
• Adjust the default sort (default is best, but you can change it to the latest, oldest or best)
• Comments posted with Disqus will also sync with your WordPress database (this also allows you to restore to WordPress default comments without losing any comments you made when using Disqus)

Disqus performance

Disqus has a total of 46 HTTP requests related to the load comment function.

Facebook Comments

Another comment plugin we checked uses Facebook's comment plugin. You may not have heard of this small social network called Facebook ;). They have more than 1.4 billion users and have a market value of over $220 billion. According to the WordPress plugin directory, the most popular WordPress Facebook Review Plugin has 90,000 active installations, 4.5 stars (out of 5 stars) reviews from 81 people, compatible with WordPress 4.1.4 and below (but we are on version 4.1.5 This plugin was used and it worked very well), last updated on April 4, 2015. Facebook comments can be found in techcrunch.com, espn.com and foxsports.com (of course, this feature comes from Facebook's internal comment engine). This background provides a solid foundation for use; it shows that the plugin can be easy to use and very reliable on both the user and administrator side (we can prove this). You can get this plugin at https://wordpress.org/plugins/facebook-comments-plugin/ or add it to your WordPress site using Facebook's documentation. We installed the Facebook Comment plugin on our WordPress website and documented the configuration process and different user and administrator features.

Configuration process:

1. Create Facebook app at https://developers.facebook.com/apps (select WWW)
2. Enter the app ID you obtained after creating the app to the Facebook Comment Plugin Settings page
3. Ready! You should see the Facebook comment box (as shown below) in all your blog posts. You can disable Facebook comments for each post by selecting a checkbox on each post editing page.
4. * Remember that if you use this Facebook Comment plugin, you will need to disable WordPress comments on your website (otherwise, WordPress default comments and Facebook comments will appear on the page). To remove the default WordPress comments, we recommend installing WordPress disable comment plugin. Download the plugin at https://wordpress.org/plugins/disable-comments/, add it as a new plugin to your WordPress site, and activate it.

User Functions

• Allow users to comment on your blog posts after logging in to their Facebook account or after signing up for Facebook. Users cannot comment with other login providers (this was possible in the past, but it hasn't worked since Graph API v2.3)
• Responsive design to suit different devices – Comment feature is set to 100% width of the container it is located in. Therefore, its appearance depends on the design quality of the theme.
• Reply, edit, delete or like every comment
• Thread Comments and Replies
• Users can like, tag and reply to each comment
• Comments Sort – By Time, Top (highlight the most active discussions and hide spam and put high-quality comments on top)
• Increase the exposure of comments to the Facebook community (but not sure how much exposure you can get from it)
  • Users can post their comments at the same time and share their comments on Facebook by selecting the checkbox next to "Post on Facebook Also". This allows users to easily share their activities with friends
  • If a friend commented on the same post you commented, you will be notified to remind you of their comments.
  • If the user directly responds to your comment, you will receive a Facebook notification – reminding you to reply.
  • Ability to follow posts associated with articles (follow comments) (allowing you to keep abreast of comments you are interested in).
  • Ability to unfollow comments (delete any other notifications you may receive).

Admin Function

How to access: Log in to the Facebook account you used to create the Facebook app associated with the comment plugin. You can then visit the following link https://developers.facebook.com/tools/comments, or click on the "Audit Tool" link on the page with the Facebook Comment plugin for your website. For more information, please check out the following link https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/comments#moderation-setup.

• Free use
• Create blacklisted words (probably standard Facebook restrictions or custom lists)
• Add/Remove Auditor
• Ability to make all comments public and add to the Auditor view by default, make all comments public and only comments containing blacklisted words to the Auditor view, or hide all comments and add all comments to the Auditor view by default, or hide all comments and add all comments to the Auditor view by default, Auditor view
• Approve or hide comments. You can approve or hide multiple comments at once using the checkbox or the checkbox in the left column.
• Set the default comment sort (social ranking, oldest, latest).
• Automatically more normal syntax error
• Always show comment writer or fold when more than 5 comments are available
• Create a list of banned users (they can still comment, but only they and their friends can see the comment).
• The language of the comment plugin can be changed to suit the language of your website (support these languages ​​http://www.facebook.com/translations/FacebookLocales.xml)
• Set the width of the plugin
• Set the color scheme of the plug-in
• Set the number of comments to display
• Technical Note* You can add the class and data-href attribute to the HTML element, which will output the number of comments associated with that href. You can also export Facebook comments as backups. You can use the Facebook Graph API call to get all the comments associated with a specific URL, but this is hard to figure out for non-technical people. Also, there is little you can do about these comments (because you can't import them into Facebook).

The following lists some features that are missing from Facebook comments.

The shortcomings:

• The email address associated with the commenter cannot be obtained
• Is not allowed to add images to comments
• User comments cannot be allowed
• Cannot import existing comments
• Comments cannot be crawled and indexed by search engines (it doesn't seem to be the case, but if we are wrong, feel free to correct us in the comments below)
• No analysis function.
• Comments posted using Facebook won't sync with your WordPress database (which makes switching from Facebook comments to other comment solutions and keeping existing comments very, very difficult)
• Cannot delete comments from Facebook
• Must have a Facebook account or register an account to comment

Facebook Comment Performance

Facebook requires 8 HTTP requests to load the comments feature on our demo site.

Livefyre Comments

Livefyre Comments 3 is another popular alternative to WordPress's default comment feature. Livefyre Comments 3 has 8,000 active installations, 4-star (out of 5-star) reviews from 4 users, last updated on December 5, 2014, and is compatible with websites with WordPress 3.5.2 and below. (We used this plugin on the WordPress 4.1.5 website and the effect is exactly as expected, but the avatar image is too big for the design and overlaps slightly with the comment box. So you should definitely stick to the listing compatibility of this plugin . ) You can download this plugin in the WordPress plugin directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/Livefyre-comments/. The following websites are using Livefyre's commenting features: tennis.com, hotesuite.com, spinsucks.com and thecommunitymanager.com. Below, you can view the configuration process of the Livefyre Comments 3 WordPress plugin and a complete list of user and administrator features.

Configuration process:

1. Click on the "Confirm your blog configuration with Livefyre.com" link at the top of the WordPress dashboard
2. Login your Livefyre account (or create one)
3. Livefyre Once you import existing comments, you are ready to go! Create Facebook App at https://developers.facebook.com/apps

User Functions

• Allow users to comment on your blog posts (if enabled) after logging in to their account or as a guest. They offer you a variety of options to make the login process easier; you can use your Livefyre, Twitter, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, or OpenID credentials.
• Click on the "Follow" button to follow comments that occur on a specific page.
• Responsive design to suit different devices – Comment feature is set to 100% width of the container it is located in. Therefore, its appearance depends on the design quality of the theme.
• Use the above network for social media login
• Add an image to your comment
• @mentioned others in comments on Twitter
• Change text format by clicking on the small pencil in the upper left corner (make the text bold, italic, underlined, numbered or bulleted)
• Sorted by latest, oldest or popular comments
• Share to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or use the link
• Edit or delete your own comments
• Tag, like or reply to a single comment

Admin Function

How to access: Log in to your Livefyre account. Go to your website's page with a comment plugin, hover over your image, and click the "Admin Console" link.

• Free use
• Single comments recommended
• Tag Comments
• Mark each comment as approved, pending or stupid (spam) or move it to the trash
• You can quickly filter comments (by approved, approved and marked, all side notes, all content, pending)
• You can also by status (approved, pending, idiot, trash), source (Livefyre, Facebook, Twitter), tag (spam, off topic, offensive, disagree, swear words, spam), Create date/time (start date and end date), modify date/time (start date and end date), author (IP, display name, user ID), inclusion (keyword, media), collection (collection ID, Collection tags, parent ID) filter comments more in-depth.
• Editor's Comments
• View comments replies
• View more information related to comments (author IP address, username, whether it has passed spam check, content ID, collection ID)
• View tags and reports associated with comments
• Add comments to comments
• The ability to view collections (comments associated with a single page) and add new collections
• View all users who comment through plug-in (view all their activities (comments, likes, participating conversations))
• View analysis of dialogue and review reports
• Insert all comments into WordPress database. This also allows you to restore to WordPress default comments without losing any comments you made while using Livefyre
• Add to comment from visitors
• Delete replies to comments marked as idiot or deleted
• Rules that define discarded, marked as a fool or pre-reviewed comments based on the number of times they are tagged
• Define a list of prohibited IP addresses (block comments from these IPs)
• Enable swear checking or use a website-specific swearing list.
• Add/delete auditors, owners, whitelisted users, banned users, banned browsers
• Allow users to edit their comments
• Show link
• Approval is required before the content is published
• Add photos to upload
• Highlight recently recommended comments above the editor
• Show Facebook and Twitter content related to your article

The following lists the key features missing from Livefyre comments.

The shortcomings:

• The email address associated with the commenter cannot be obtained.

Livefyre Performance

Livefyre requires 15 HTTP requests to load the Livefyre comments feature.

Google Plus Review

The last WordPress comment plugin we surveyed was Comments Evolved for WordPress. Comments Evolved plugin allows you to include multiple comment options on your WordPress website through a tabbed interface. We just want to use Google Plus reviews, so we make sure there is only one tab corresponding to Google Plus. While Google does not formally support Google Plus reviews outside of Blogger.com, the creators of this WordPress plugin have found a way to use it on WordPress sites. This plugin has 10,000 active installations, earned 4.5 stars (out of 5 stars) reviews from 65 people, last updated on March 31, 2015, and is compatible with WordPress 3.6.1 and below (but we are in WordPress 4.1. 5 version of the website used it, everything works fine). This plugin can be found at https://wordpress.org/plugins/gplus-comments/.

Configuration process:

1. When the plugin is activated, make sure that the only value in the Tab Order input is gplus. If there are multiple values ​​in this field, your users will have multiple comment options.
2. Save the changes and you are ready to go!
3. * Remember that if you use the Google Plus Review plugin mentioned below, you will need to disable WordPress reviews on your website. To remove the default WordPress comments, we recommend installing WordPress disable comment plugin. Download the plugin at https://wordpress.org/plugins/disable-comments/, add it as a new plugin to your WordPress site, and activate it.

User Functions

• Comments after logging in to your Google Plus account.
• mention others in comments
• Comments Sort – Sort by latest and popular comments and public comments with comments in your Google Plus circle only
• Reply, 1 and tag each comment
• Link, report spam or abuse, or mute any comments
• Edit, link, delete, disable the comment thread you wrote
• Responsive design to suit different devices – Comment feature is set to 100% width of the container it is located in. Therefore, its appearance depends on the design quality of the theme.
• Comments can be crawled and indexed by search engines

Admin Function

• None. Since Google Plus Reviews are for Blogger.com, they provide audit tools for Blogger blogger authors (https://www.php.cn/link/e5c69c0e3063671d1cd77ef51c041b83 Plus Reviews are not officially supported, and we can't Find a way to use audit tools on WordPress.
• Free use

The following are the shortcomings of Google Plus reviews.

The shortcomings:

• When used on sites other than Blogger.com, there is no audit function.
• The default comment approval settings cannot be created.
• Unable to delete, mark as spam, approve or hide comments from Google Plus.
• Must have a Google Plus account or register an account to comment
• The email address associated with the commenter cannot be obtained
• Is not allowed to add images to comments
• User comments cannot be allowed
• Cannot import existing comments
• No analysis function.
• Comments posted with Google Plus won't sync with your WordPress database (which makes switching from Google Plus comments very, very difficult). So if you decide to switch the comment plugin later, you won't be able to bring the comments posted here to another plugin
• Using Google Plus reviews on sites other than Google or Blogger.com does not receive official Google support. So if something goes wrong when using it on other sites, Google may not fix them.

Google Plus Review Performance

The Google Plus plugin requires 11 HTTP requests to load comments.

Conclusion

While you can use any of these comment plugins, some plugins are more useful than others in some cases. For example, you might have existing WordPress reviews and want to make sure they are continued to be added to your new comment feature. If you switch to Google Plus or Facebook Reviews, you will lose your existing WordPress reviews. However, Disqus and Livefyre have the ability to import existing comments; this makes them an obvious choice in this case. You may also not have existing comments, but you want to be able to switch to different comment platforms flexibly in the future. Again, in this case, you don't want to use Facebook or Google Plus reviews either. We recommend using Livefyre or Disqus. When choosing between Livefyre and Disqus, we recommend using Disqus. Disqus offers more features that give you access to email addresses associated with all commenters, have the most active installations, and is designed better than Livefyre.

In all other cases, we recommend that you do not use Google Plus. Google Plus doesn't have any auditing capabilities, and Google does not officially support using it on any website other than Blogger.com. Last updated date and compatibility information are also strong signs that you should not use Google Plus reviews through WordPress’s Comments Evolved plugin.

Therefore, Facebook, Disqus, and Livefyre are the best alternatives to WordPress default commenting features. We tend to choose Facebook and Disqus because they are both more popular than Livefyre, have features we prefer, and have a more modern and beautiful design. Facebook comments have some simple and reliable admin features, but we prefer the extra admin features Disqus offers. However, Facebook is a staple product and almost everyone knows how its features work. We also really like the prospect of users sharing their Facebook comments to Facebook and receiving Facebook notifications to continue their conversations on different comment threads, which makes user engagement easy and improved. However, the ability to share conversations or comments on Twitter and/or Facebook with Disqus, subscribe to comment threads, add images to comments, vote up or down on comments, and recommend conversations for users more than Facebook comments to participate in your website Opportunity. Finally, Disqus is more open than Facebook comments and offers more access to login and registration, the possibilities of visitor comments, and gives you access to the email addresses of all commenters. These features are invaluable for building a highly engaged community.

So, ultimately, it's hard not to choose Disqus for those of us who love user engagement.

Continue the conversation: We always like more insights, so please comment on the comment plugin you like and why.

WordPress Comment Plugin FAQ

What key features need to be considered when choosing a WordPress comment plugin?

Several key features need to be considered when choosing a WordPress comment plugin. First, the plugin should be easy to use and integrate with your existing WordPress website. It should also provide customization options to match the design and branding of your website. Second, the plugin should have a powerful auditing tool to help you manage and control comments on your website. This includes features like spam filters, user blocking and comment approval settings. Third, the plugin should support social media integration, allowing users to comment using their social media accounts. Finally, consider the performance impact of plugins on your website. Some plugins can slow down your website, which can negatively affect user experience and SEO.

What are the free WordPress review plugins available?

Yes, there are several free WordPress review plugins available. These include popular options like Disqus, Jetpack Comments, and wpDiscuz. While these plugins provide basic commenting features, they may lack the advanced features found in advanced plugins. Be sure to evaluate your website’s needs and budget before selecting a plugin.

How to install WordPress comment plugin?

Installing the WordPress Comment Plugin is an easy process. In your WordPress dashboard, navigate to the Plug-in section and click Add New Plug-in. Search for the plugin you want to install and click "Install Now". After the plug-in is installed, click "Activate" to start using it. You can then configure the plugin settings according to your preferences.

Can I use multiple comment plugins on my WordPress website?

While technically multiple comment plugins can be installed on WordPress websites, this is usually not recommended. Using multiple plugins can cause compatibility issues and can slow down the website. Instead, it's better to choose a powerful comment plugin to meet all your needs.

How to review comments using WordPress comment plugin?

Most WordPress review plugins come with built-in audit tools. These tools allow you to approve or reject comments, block users, and filter spam. You can usually access these tools on the plugin settings page on the WordPress dashboard. Some plugins also allow you to set up automatic audit rules, which can save you time and effort.

Can WordPress comment plugin improve my website SEO?

Yes, the WordPress review plugin may improve your website SEO. Comments add new content to your website, and search engines like this. They also increase user engagement, which can improve your site's search engine rankings. However, be sure to review your comments carefully, as spam or low-quality comments can harm your SEO.

Does the WordPress Review Plugin support user ratings and comments?

Some WordPress review plugins do support user ratings and comments. This feature allows users to rate and comment on your content, which can increase engagement and provide valuable feedback. If this feature is important to you, make sure to select a plugin that supports it.

Can I customize the look of the comment section using the WordPress comment plugin?

Yes, most WordPress comment plugins allow you to customize the look of the comment section. This may include changing the color scheme, layout, and typography. Some plugins also offer advanced customization options via CSS.

Does the WordPress comment plugin support threaded comments?

Yes, many WordPress comment plugins support threaded comments. This feature allows users to directly reply to other comments, thus creating a conversation thread. Threaded comments can make the discussion easier to understand and encourage more user interaction.

Can I migrate comments between different WordPress comment plugins?

Migrating reviews between different WordPress review plugins can be complicated and may require technical knowledge. Some plugins provide built-in migration tools, but others don't. If you are considering switching plugins, be sure to look into the migration process and consider seeking professional help if necessary.

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