In this post, we will check the best WordPress comment plugins. WordPress comment is effective for increasing reader interaction and participating and helpful for authors to collect feedbacks and generate ideas. However, the default WordPress Comment system is dull and plain, making many people boring and tired. So, we are going to share some of the best WordPress comments plugins, which give readers full ability to customize them according to users’ preferences and unique requirements.
These plugins are completely reviewed by our editors and highly recommended by users. In addition to flexible options and rich features, they are also helpful for blog comment SEO, changing your blog design, encouraging visitor to leave comments, and allowing readers to comment on your articles with a number of social media accounts. In the below part, let’s look at these plugins and see how powerful they are.
#1. WpDevArt Comments plugin
WordPress Facebook comments by WpDevArt is a well-designed comment plugin that embeds a Facebook Comment Form with your blog. There is no need to install any other Facebook comment plugins, this plugin enables visitors to comment on your post by login with their Facebook accounts. This plugin fully performs its task. It’s easy to use and do what you need. This plugin has more than 30,000 active installations and 4.5 average rating on WordPress.org. This is quite a good indicator.
If you want to import Facebook comments form into your blog, then this is the best solution.
#2. Disqus Comment System
Disqus is a specialized WordPress plugin for online discussions and comments. It connects websites and readers through a active discussion community and makes commenting to be easy and interactive. In addition, it offers options for RSS and subscribe, admin and moderation tool, spam filtering system, whitelists and blacklists, and so on. With all these splendid features, Disqus makes WordPress comment system efficient and active.
Most importantly, it makes comments indexable by search engines, which is makes WordPress websites very SEO–friendly.
Disqus is probably the most popular commenting plugin. I’ve personally used this option on several blogs and I can tell you it’s a pretty solid choice with a few irks that I would rather not have to deal with (more on that in a minute). First what’s so great about Disqus? Well if you are looking for pure features, Disqus is the winner. The new version of Disqus works in realtime, which is great since now you don’t have to constantly refresh the page to see all of the new comments (you can check our WordPress Pricing table builder plugin).
People can also share comments on Twitter and Facebook, favorite discussions and sort comments by newest, oldest, or highest rated. It’s also very easy to sign in and comment with either a Disqus account, or a Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ account which helps boost your reader engagement. You can even follow other Disqus commenters, all of this makes Disqus more of a community than ‘just’ a commenting system.
One other thing Disqus has going for it is that fact that plenty of big websites are using it. I’m not talking about popular blogging websites, but giants like CNN and IGN. If websites like those are using Disqus it has to be pretty good right?
While Disqus is an excellent commenting system for bloggers, it is also a slight weight on your website. Sometimes it takes a long time for the Disqus comment section to load, though the official website claims that it does not impact loading time that much. There is conflicting info on this though, Pingdom concludes that Disqus isn’t that significant of a lag on your website (Facebook comments are), while other bloggers note that dropping Disqus and adopting another commenting system helped uptick their page speed a bit.
Advantages to Using Disqus:
- Acts more like a community than a commenting system.
- Boosts reader engagement.
- Realtime comments.
- Easily sign in with your social media profile.
- Able to share comments and favorite discussions.
Disadvantages to Using Disqus:
#3. CommentLuv
CommentLuv is a powerful comment plugin designed for WordPress websites. When readers write a comment, they can choose a blog posts to included and the plugin will link to their sites and return post. By this way, it is effective for increasing comments and the community spirit for blogs.
CommentLuv is an extremely popular commenting plugin that is designed to encourage readers to leave a comment. What makes CommentLuv unique is that it enables people who leave a comment on your website to have a link to their latest blog post left underneath their comment.
This is a huge encouragement to get people to comment on your blog. While, at face value this may seem like a great thing, I was always suspicious about this feature. Unlike Disqus, you literally see no big blogs or websites using this commenting system. If it is so great then why are none of the top websites using it?
Well doing research into this plugin I realized that larger websites/blogs understand that they are wanting genuine comments from their readers, not hit-and-run “great post” comments left by people who just want a link back to their own site. Now it’s true that plugins like Akismet can clean up most of the spam, but it won’t help you against those hit-and-run, two word commenters who have nothing of value to leave on your website (also, check the WordPress Countdown plugin).
I guarantee that using CommentLuv on your blog will get old very fast, especially after you get enough of those non-engaged spammers leaving ridiculous and vague comments on your website because they think a comment link is the same thing as a page link (hint: comment links have been dead for a while).
Advantages to Using CommentLuv
- Boosts reader engagement.
- Leaves link to latest blog post.
Disadvantages to Using CommentLuv
#4. Jetpack By WordPress
Jetpack is a powerful plugin for WordPress websites. It is a social networking integrated with comment system, allowing readers to comment on your posts through many social networks, instead of link to your site. Besides, it also enables readers to integrate with and automatic post to their favorite social networks including Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and more. In addition, this plugin also comes with rich features, such as easily embedding medias from famous sites like YouTube, Digg, and more.
JetPack Comments are a simple yet effective commenting system that is a great option to turn to in order to get rid of the default (and crappy) WordPress comments. Unlike with the default, JetPack allows your visitors to sign in and comment using one of their social media profiles (also, you can check the WordPress Coming Soon plugin).
It also gives readers the option of notifying them via email of new posts and new comments, supports threaded comments and has spam protection. In addition, JetPack Comments come pre-bundled in the JetPack plugin so there is no need to install another plugin to get it up and running on your blog. And as you can see above, JetPack is sleek and simple.
The downside is that it is not as feature packed as Disqus – no comment voting, no sharing comments via Facebook/Twitter, no option to favorite discussions, etc.
Advantages to Using JetPack Comments:
- Simple to install.
- Easy for others to leave comments.
- Readers can subscriber to posts and comments via email.
Disadvantages to Using JetPack Comments:
#5. Subscrile To comment Reloaded
This is a robust WordPress comment plugin that allows commenter to sign up for email notification of subsequent entries. It includes a rich-featured subscription manager, which can be used by readers to unsubscribe to certain posts or suspend all notifications (also, check our WordPress Booking Calendar plugin).
#6. Comments Evolved for WordPress
It is a fantasying comment plugin that allows commenters to add comments from Facebook, Google Plus, WordPress, Disqus and other by choosing the tables. By making the thing easy to leave a comment on your site, this plugin greatly improve your site user experience and participatory.
#7. Live Comment Preview
Just as the name suggests, Live Comment Preview is a functional plugin that let visitors see how their comments will appear when they enter it. It is extremely simple and easy to use, without any configuration and customization needed (also, check this useful post – How To Add Rich Snippets to WordPress).
#8. Comment Images
As WordPress default comment system only allows readers to leave text comment, Comment Images allows readers to include images into their comments. Generally, it supports the major image formats, including PNG, GIF, JPG, and JPEG. It notifies to readers if their attached images is not allowed to be upload (also, check The 50 Best WordPress Plugins 2020).
So Which Commenting System is Better?
There is no “best” option, only what you think would be better for your blog/website. If you are looking for the most feature rich plugin, then Disqus wins hands down. If you want a simple but effective commenting system then JetPack is probably your best bet. And while I have nothing against CommentLuv and know that some bloggers love it, I hate spam and useless comments that contribute nothing to the actual discussion so would never install it on one of my blogs (also, check this useful post – WordPress default .htaccess file).
Again, it’s all about preference. If you don’t mind the occasional (or not so occasional) useless comment, then CommentLuv may work for your. If you are wanting features and nothing more, than Disqus is probably what you should resort to. And finally, if you want a simple plugin then you should probably give JetPack Comments a try.