An active comments section below each of your posts is an excellent method to improve your website engagement. They add value to your posts, demonstrate that your readers care about your site, and provide a reason for visitors to return. In this article, we’ll list the best free WordPress commenting plugins.
Best Free Commenting WordPress Plugins
To get an active comments section, you must make it where your readers want to hang out. The following list of free WordPress commenting plugins will help you with it.
Disqus Comment System: Commenting WordPress Plugins
Disqus is a hosted comments platform that’s one of the most popular commenting systems in the world. It works externally with WordPress (using the Disqus API), so it can also be used on other sites and systems, such as Blogger, Tumblr, Squarespace, etc.
Disqus pronounced “discuss,” is a popular third-party commenting system for WordPress. If you’ve been browsing the web for more than a week, you’ve probably come across a site using Disqus. Many popular sites, including CNN, The Next Web, Bloomberg, CNBC, The Atlantic, and now Visualmodo are also using it.
wpDiscuz
Native WordPress plugin wpDiscuz tries to capture much of the same functionality you’d get with something like Disqus, just in a self-hosted package. It has quickly established itself among the best on the WordPress plugin directory, with 50,000-plus downloads and an impressive 4.8 out of 5 ratings. A really good rating.
WPDiscuz provides an alternative to Disqus, JetPack, and the default WordPress comments. WPDicuz allows you to have all the most desired features while using the native WordPress comment system.
Comment Edit Lite: Best Commenting WordPress Plugins
Simple Comment Editing has one unique attribute that we found to be effective enough to include in our list of the best comment apps for WordPress. It has a neat function that allows the commenter to add, edit or change their comment before it is published.
The fundamental plugin is cost-free and delivers a great result. It doesn’t require any special configuration, install and play. You can masquerade the timer as an invisibility device that will hide from users, or you can show it, enable email notifications for comment additions, or disable comment destruction.
Lazy Load for Comments
Lazy Load for Comments is another simple comment plugin that performs one outstanding task. In this instance, the solution is in the name. This add-on is intended to facilitate an increase in page speed and a decrease in server requests.
It achieves this by not loading the comments section until the user reaches it and begins to read. This implies that there will be a lower number of requests and that the page will be more responsive. Effective but simple.
Lazy Load for Comments is compatible with most WordPress themes, including Astra, and it requires only one configuration in the admin to produce its effects.
WP Facebook Comments (WP Social Comments)
The WP Facebook Comments plugin lets people comment on content on your site using their Facebook account. People can also share their comment activity with their friends (and friends of their friends) on Facebook. Also, you can moderate the comments by using Facebook tools.
Other advantages include one-click social logins (with Facebook) and reply notifications. Also, because of the Facebook association, visitors are more likely to share your content, and because a Facebook account is a prerequisite for commenting, expect a significant reduction in spam.
The biggest downside to Facebook Comments is that it’s somewhat tricky to integrate, involving creating an app over on the Facebook for Developers website, which can be quite a technical process.
Jetpack Comments WordPress Plugin: Best Commenting WordPress Plugins
Jetpack Comments replaces your default comment form with a new comment system with integrated social media login options.
Breaking down the barriers between you and your audience. When someone reads an article on your site and wants to comment, they can now use one of their existing social networking accounts to post a comment. No longer do they need to create yet another account and profile!
Jetpack Comments are opt-in since it will replace the default WordPress comment form. To activate it. Just visit Jetpack. → Settings. → Discussion on your Dashboard and switch it on. “Let readers use WordPress.com, Twitter, or Facebook accounts to comment.”
CommentLuv
CommentLuv is a specific feature upgrade to the native WordPress comments system rather than a standalone commenting plugin. It takes an incentivized approach to comment. When a commenter fills in the optional website field of the comment section. CommentLuv automatically adds a titled link to their latest blog post.
You can also use tools to grow your email list by providing further incentives. For example, you may decide to let registered users choose which post they want to link to. Or you can offer to do-follow their links.
You can expect an active comment section because many bloggers comment exclusively for the backlink. With the tantalizing prospect of a titled link, many commenters will go the extra mile to ensure their comments attract clicks.
Replyable (Outdated – Honorable Mention)
Replyable works with your existing WordPress comment system to let users subscribe to comments received only the best and be able to respond directly from their favorite email client. What makes it ‘smarter’?
Firstly, Replyable avoids spamming your visitors with individual comment notifications in two ways: It uses machine learning to rate comments and only sends email notifications for high-quality comments. For example, if someone comments ‘Thanks!’, Replyable won’t waste people’s time with email notification for such a trivial comment. In the case that your comments section is super busy.
Reliable automatically combines multiple comments into a single digest rather than sending separate emails. Secondly, the comment notification emails look great and offer a better experience by including user avatars and comment threading in the email body.
Second, Replyable is a two-way conversation. That is, people can respond to comments by sending an email. In conclusion, it is much more user-friendly than requiring them to respond to your website. (Though that’s also a downside. So, people are not incentivized to return to your site).
