The wrong commenting systems can create undesirable reactions. Scary. (via iStockPhoto)
[Image via iStockPhoto. This post is part of the Ultimate Guide to Launching a WordPress-Powered Blog series.]
The commenting system that you use is vitally important and you should put just as much thought into it as you do choosing the right blogging platform and software. In fact, it should definitely inform your choice in the end!
Most people though just go with the “native” commenting system that’s built into the blogging software itself and feel pretty good about it but for those that feel like they need some additional power or feature set there are a handful of well-respected and well-used 3rd party commenting systems that you can choose from.
Here are 5 that you might consider and the one that I (obviously) have opted to use for my blogs:
1. IntenseDebate
IntenseDebate is a commenting system that was independent at one point but was eventually purchased by Automattic, the company behind WordPress. For many bloggers that fact alone is enough to jump right into it but it’s not without issue and I’ve had some patchy installations in my experience.
But it’s a very robust solution and a top contender for sure.
Tons of options available for customization.
Here’s a look at the full feature list:
- Comment Threading
- Reply via Email
- Email Notifications
- Commenter Profiles
- Moderation and Blacklisting
- Reputation Points and Comment Voting
- Plugins and an API
- OpenID
- Widgets
- Twitter Integration
- Facebook Integration
- RSS Readers and Tracking
- FriendFeed Integration
- HTML Formatting
- Gravatar
And specifically for WordPress:
- Two-Way Comment Sync – This is very important as it backs up comments made in ID into WordPress so if you uninstall you still have the comments!
- Admin Panel Integration
- SEO – ID outputs the standard comments so that search engines can index them.
- Trackbacks
- Profile Sync – Logging into ID logs you into your blog.
- Numerous Post Settings
Quick look at the profile page
One of the nice things about this system is the ability to reply to the comments via email which is something that the WordPress system (self-hosted) does not have the capability to do. For many this is the #1 feature and one of the most significant value propositions that bring them over.
I enjoyed it but it wasn’t enough for me to abandon the native system.
2. Disqus
Disqus is another 3rd party system which has found a home on many bloggers systems. It’s very similar to IntenseDebate in feature set and form but you’ll find a few key differentiators as well. Here’s a look at their main features:
- Real Time Commenting System
- Notification and Reply via Email
- Inline Media Embedding
- Mobile Commenting
- Community Profiles
- Social Integration and Social Sharing – Facebook, Twitter, etc.
- Community Box – Widgets
- Moderation Tools
- Spam Management
- Mobile Apps available
- Blacklist, Whitelist
- Internationalization
- Tweets and Reactions via Social Media
- Profile Management
- Activity Streams
- Connected Communities
And for WordPress:
- Import and Export
- SEO Friendly
- Theme and design customization
Fully customizable
One of the nice things about Disqus is that it’s relatively easy to customize via CSS so that you can match the style of it to your blog. Most bloggers won’t touch the styling but for those that have the interest, skill, or cash to do it then it’s available and very powerful.
Pretty straight-forward and easy to use.
Overall I find the differences between IntenseDebate and Disqus to be relatively small and you’d probably be happy with either one.
A look at the dashboard.
Still, it’s not enough for me to jump into it and use it exclusively.
3. JS-KIT, ECHO
JS-KIT, now called ECHO is another 3rd party commenting system that really has some neat features that you won’t find in the above 2 options, especially in terms social media integration. They have really tried to up the ante, so to speak, in terms of real-time commenting and social engagement.
Here’s a list of their core features:
- Real Time Comments – No need to refresh the page.
- Premium Support, Features
- White Label the system for use in other environments, businesses.
- Single Sign On
- Fully Customizable
- Works everywhere
- Moderation
- Analytics
- Game Mechanics, Reward Systems
A look at their commenting system.
A while back I tried their “Premium” solution and paid them a bunch of money that enabled even greater integration and neat options. I tried this for 8 days and it was so broken that I asked for my money back. It just wasn’t that good!
Simple user profile.
They responded eventually and gave me a free lifetime copy of the system but I still won’t use it. Some people swear by this system but I never understood why
4. Livefyre
Livefyre is definitely one of the newer players out there and as of this posting has been around for about a year and a half. It’s gained a significant user baser of niche blogs and technologists who are unhappy with the “mainstream” 3rd party comment systems like IntenseDebate and Disqus.
Here’s a list of the full features:
- Live Comment Stream
- User Ratings
- Media
- Moderation
- Comment Voting
- Nested Replies
- Live Listener Count
- Mobile Specific Interface
- Comment Import
- Community Moderation, Flagging
- Multiple Moderators
- Email Notifications
- Spam Control, Whitelist, Blacklist
- Social Media Integration
- Site Profiles
- Game Mechanics
- Single Sign On
- API
- Custom Domain Integration
Familiar interface for comments.
I used it for a few moments and instantly decided it wasn’t for me. The feature set was nice but it seems like it lacked the userbase for it to grow and become ultimately successful – even their business blog hasn’t been updated since December of last year!
A look at the profile page.
Without continued support and community use a system like this will ultimately die. I’m not interested in having that happen!
5. Facebook Comments
Facebook has continued to release more options for bloggers who want to closely engage their blog users with Facebook itself, and one of the biggest changes recently in that side of the house is Facebook Comments.
The features set isn’t nearly as robust as the other systems but it might just be more effective for you, depending on your particular needs and strategy.
Sure, it doesn’t have integration with Twitter or Google but you get the instant viral nature of having any comment posted on your blog sent to Facebook directly as well as any “Likes”. It also forces people to have a real identity thus getting rid of the “anonymous” commenter.
Simple yet effective.
The biggest issue though is that there are currently no backups or synchronization systems (unless you use a plugin) so that any comments made in this system aren’t going to be saved into your WordPress blog.
If you’re interested in using this system you can integrate it yourself (which might prove to be a little more difficult for the average user) or try one of these WordPress Plugins:
- Facebook Comments
- Facebook Comments for WordPress
- Facebook Comments Plugin
- Simple Facebook Comments
- Facebook Import Comments – This offers some synchronization
I personally tried this on a smaller blog and was happy with the results but would not use it for larger and more established blogs.
I like my comments straight up!
Love Me Some WordPress Native
Now that I’ve gone through what I consider to be the Top 5 Commenting Systems that are currently available I’d like to simple tackle the one that I use: The native commenting system that ships with WordPress!
Now this is what I’m talking about! As you can see I’ve opted to use the commenting system that comes right out of the box with WordPress and the style is simple (via Standard Theme).
Why have I chosen to do this when the feature sets of the previous commenting platforms seem so attractive? Here’s why:
- Adding another system obviously adds complexity and more complexity means that you will have tons of other issues, such as styling issues, browser and caching challenges, loading of scripts from other sources, and even simply outright failure (unfortunately not uncommon).
- Comments are really important to me and I’d rather control the entire blog experience as best as I can from end-to-end without banking on another 3rd party to serve up this valuable part of my experience.
- Load time can significantly increase for many blogs as the some of the scripts aren’t exactly light. For shared servers and hosting this could increase the page load time by more than a few seconds. Is it really that worth it especially when load time is factored into SEO?
- I honestly have never found the feature sets compelling enough to switch, even if a few of them were pretty attractive. Call me simple but that’s one of the biggest reasons.
And unless I probably create my own system I’m quite satisfied to never abandon them. In fact, I’ve done quite well and been able to create comment user workflows out of the native system – I’m not sure we can do stuff like that with 3rd party systems!
What about you? Which ones do you use and why? Do you really understand the full impact of using another solution?
Please note that I’m not dogmatic about using WordPress’ native system and many of you will find great value in a 3rd party system! I’ve just chosen not to use them.
[Image via iStockPhoto. This post is part of the Ultimate Guide to Launching a WordPress-Powered Blog series.]
used ID for a long time and finally it broke (started assigning comments to old posts instead of the ones they were initially left on…weird).
I went back to native comments, and I truly miss the ability to respond via email. Maybe WP can incorporate this in a future build.
don,
it’s available to wordpress.com people…
thinking about developing one out for .org.
Timely post, John … I just switched to Disqus last week, mainly for the ease of replying via email. I tried IntenseDebate a few times, and it was always a problem.
I stayed true to the native system for a long time … and who knows, may go back to it … but have been impressed w/ Disqus so far. (It’s only been a few days)
let me know how this experiment goes!
The biggest issue I face that made me consider going third party is spam.
However, with the recent headaches I had, the only thing I had to add to my blog was a good CAPTCHA. Between that and Akismet, I’m now virtually 100% spam comment free. I just continue to see the spam count climb instead of seeing and having to mark the comments as spam.
Otherwise, I’m with you, John. I’d rather not have to induce some other feature that would hinder performance unless the pay off was there. I think your post goes to confirm that there isn’t really a huge benefit for the added cost/headache that a 3rd party app would cause.
spam was crazy in intensedebate… it was like spammers had a “back door” into that system for a while…!
Totally agree! I have found these 3rd party systems to load really………really slowly on my computer. I’m not sure if it is my cpu or the system itself?
it could be a combination of both.
I’ve really have been happy with Disqus. For one reason it allows me now to tag others in comments either on my site comments or others. Plus Disqus.com tracks all my comments on the web and will import ones not made via disqus into the database giving me a way to go back over blogs I have enjoyed in the past and revisit. I agree it can be cumbersome to install but the tweaks were not that big. John what is your opinion regarding non-native comment systems being a road block to comments being left?
some might be put off with feeling the pressure of signing up for a new system or connecting a commenting system with another account (fb, twitter, etc). it might deter some but I’m not sure its too bad.
Are there any studies that have been done about which commenting systems induce the most comments? The facebook one, for example seems as though it would pose a bit of a conundrum – on the one hand, any comment a person posts would show up on facebook thus leading their friends to see the comment/post and potentially come to your site. On the flip side, people may avoid posting a comment if it was something they didn’t want all their friends to see.
reena,
that’s a good question… i’m not sure…! i’ll have to take a look.
Using facebook comments over at blog.diamondcandles.com because our entire marketing strategy to this point has been on facebook so when we send people from our facebook page over to a new post than it is natural to have the facebook commenting system setup.
Great write up though, have used disqus for some projects and can definitely see how it depends on your situation as to what option you go with.
that’s awesome. a focused strategy like that can be very good!
Michael over at the Standard Theme support forums talked me into leaving disquss and using native comments. I actually get more compliments on my commenting system now!
I did install a subscription plugin for obvious reasons. Which plugin are you using?
I do miss the ability to reply via emai, though. I get more comments now than before. I think it’s because of the simplicity of the comment form.
that’s awesome! michael is a true gangster, in all the best meanings of that phrase.
I will only use the standard native comments. I actually wrote a now infamous post on how I Hate Commenting Systems.
http://www.geekforhim.com/commenting-systems/
Actually dealing with a client now that will loose over 500 comments since March if I delete Disqus.
Don’t use them!!
yikes….!
i lol’d on this.
I use Intense Debate, Disqus and native comments on a few different sites.
I like the two 3rd party systems because they seem to do a fairly good job (sometimes) of tracking social media mentions. They also have built in subscription options so people can be alerted when others comment on their comments.
But as you mentioned, the third party apps tend to be bloated and if their servers aren’t working right – it can have a devastating affect on your site.
For spam, neither seem to make much improvement over the native system with Askimet and the GrowMap Anti-Spambot plugin – which ads a simple JavaScript check box as a spam check – instead of an annoying Captcha.
how is growmap? i haven’t used that one.
I like the native system but one the blogs i visit I see Disqus or the native. One thing I like
about Disqus as a commenter is that one I’m logged in I don’t have to again for other blogs. But for my blog I’ll stay with what WP gave me cause I have no problems with it.
I’m using Disqus and I’m pretty happy with it. I do see that it affects my load time and it’s pretty annoying when they have issues that craps out the entire commenting system.
I’ve been contemplating a redesign. I’m possibly switching to Standard Theme and using the native comments. We’ll see.
Holler brother – I want to help!!
I think that would be a great move!
matt below can help!
Hi John,
Now that is an intense review about all the important third party commenting systems and then you say that you stick to the native one. Yes I am with you, though I have not tried the 3rd party systems, I should say that prefer the inbuilt one. I didn’t even had the guts to try them out.
And, I have heard many people complaining about the not-so-easy kind of registration requirements and lack of commentluv-type backlinks.
I don’t have plans to change to a 3rd party commenting system in the near future.
Jane.
jane,
love it. i think the native one works quite well thank you!
I use Disqus and love it! The ability for people to receive an email when their comment is responded too makes them more willing to continue in the conversation.
cool! hey, do you have a gravatar? http://tentblogger.com/gravatar/
Nice post. I have been using Disqus for a while now. I tried out Intense Debate, but for whatever reason it slowed down my site considerably. Wasn’t aware of these other ones though, might have to take a look at them.
patrick,
cool. do your research and use what is best for you!
I was back and forth between native and Disqus for a bit. But now I’m stuck on Disqus. No problems so far and I’m happy with it. But this post really helps me in that I really don’t know much about the systems. Thanks John!
joseph,
great! what features do you like best?
I have stuck with the native commenting system. I just do not want the bloat the commenting systems bring with it. I would love to see the native system integrate the ability to reply to comments via email like disqus offers.
I would like that!
looking into it…
I’m not a WordPress user, so this may not count.
Compared to the native commenting system of Blogger, DISQUS is a major winner as far as I’m concerned. I went with it thinking it would allow some modicum of trackback capability, but no such luck.
I must admit that I do like WordPress.com’s subscription management page, which resembles a centralized system. That doesn’t carry over to self-hosted blogs, of course.
oh yeah! blogger’s comment system is terrible!
On one of my newer sites I’ve been using Disqus and I like it a lot. It’s nice not having to type your name/email/URL every time you want to comment. I find myself commenting more on blogs that use Disqus just because of how easy it is.
I don’t like the extra load time but there are numerous benefits going to Disqus (being able to post using your Twitter/Facebook account etc).
I’ve got Firefox extensions that remember (usually) my name/URL combo for a site, but that doesn’t help when I’m replying from my work machine, where we’re not allowed to install anything.
I should add, too, that Disqus seems to remember my login credentials more frequently than IntenseDebate. In fact, Disqus’ login screen is sourced by disqus.com (or one of its CDNs), whereas ID appears to be sourced from the blogger’s server, forcing you to remember the same username & password for every ID blog, without your browser’s help.
joe,
interesting stuff about the cdns… i had no idea!
if you’re browser uses page caching then you don’t have to fill in your info either (sometimes).
I’ve been contemplating this over the past couple days. I love the commenting system here, which I knew was WordPress, so I hadn’t considered a different system. But I had a friend who also just started a blog and immediately installed Disqus.
But I don’t have a compelling reason to switch. I think email replys would be more distracting to my mind, interrupting my workflow in other areas.
If I switch, it looks like Disqus is the way to go though.
Thanks for the post.
jacob,
for many it really helps to email reply but i can see how some people are sick of all the email already and don’t want to spend any more time there anyways!
I’m with you John. I do enjoy the native comments in WordPress, especially the way they look in the Standard theme
Totally agree with you there on load times. It seems to me that none of the 3rd party systems pull their JS/CSS from a CDN, and if they do it’s not from a reputable one! …and caching external scripts isn’t my favorite thing to do, either…It slowed things down way too much for me. I’ll never leave WP’s native system
i’m with you!
Native WP comments all the way.
take it to the bank.
I agree. I’ve tried ID, and Discus. I don’t like either of them and would much rather stay native to avoid bugs and slow load times on my site.
I thought about using FB comments because I get comments all the time on there, but then realized that I want pageviews on my blog and not FB. Native all the way!
i like to keep my pageviews, thank you!
I’ve never really liked 3rd party commenting systems.
HOWEVER, I really like the look of the Facebook commenting system, I think that could be really good to attract people who are new to blogs to comment. People are very used to making comments with the Facebook system.
this is true. some people see it and just want to “update” all over the place.
Excellent post, I’ve tried the first two, Disqus and IntenseDebate in the past. I’ve never liked either one, and the main reason I really dislike Disqus is my experience with it on other blogs. I am sure there have been at least over 20 other blogs where I have avoided leaving feedback because those systems where in place and I couldn’t post as a guest, they don’t support gravatar and I personally don’t want to post comments with my Facebook or Twitter accounts.
I do like the Facebook System to a point. But me personally, I don’t want my comments tied back to my Facebook Profile, I’d rather they be tied back to my website.
If Facebook allowed me to leave comments as a “Page” on websites, well then that would make the system more attractive.
Sometimes more is not better. That’s why the default has always worked for me.
ah. great perspective mike. someone had asked whether it would stop people from commenting and you’re proof-positive that it does.
Disqus supports Gravatars. I’ve had guests comment on my blog with their Gravatars. Maybe it’s a setting within Gravatar that you have to set to allow Disqus to pull the image [ie. G-rated]? Also, the blogger is the one responsible for allowing/disallowing guest comments, rather than just Twitter/Facebook.
I’ve always been annoyed with those who use Blogger and require that you sign into Google in order to comment.
this is true!
My heart will always be with IntenseDebate. I WAS going to catch up with Jim Gray in terms of overall comments one day. Until everyone stopped using the system.
boo.
I go native.
On my blog anyway…
haha. native in any other context……..
I’m trying to implement facebook comments to our new blog at work. Its part of our main strategy but it’s proving to be VERY fiddly!
Currently using Intensedebate as a backup.
My question is this. We want to allow our readers to use social media services however when using services like ~Disqus and INtense Debate it’s not hugely intuitive that they can use facebook and twitter even with the icons staring them in the face.
Do we think this is down to technophobia/lack-of-clarity/speed/other?
http://livingthedream.tearfund.org/ is the blog btw
sweet. checking it out.
it could be all three. i don’t know your particular niche or community but you want to provide the most accessible system for them first.
what does “fiddly” mean?
HA! – its an Irish thing! The Fiffle is a violin so when one plays the fiddle you are running your fingers busily over the strings and frets thus if something is fiddly it is complicated or complex.
This is now my fav comment I’ve posted this year!
haha! thanks for that.
Did you turn on automatic subscriptions to comments? I noticed this in the last day or two…
Have you seen any uptick to your blog traffic and comments as a result?
i did not. that’s been there for a while…
I am also a big fan of the native WordPress commenting system. I’ve just never been a fan of a commenting system that requires me to sign up for yet another account.
Great breakdown John.
thanks dustin!
I used Discuss for a while…. it worked fine but when I switched to Standard Theme I decided to give the native commenting system a go… since then my comments have increased and I’ve found it easier to manage comments. I think the ease of use of the native system has probably been the main cause for the increase but this is just a hunch. EWhat ever the reason I’m happy with the results so will stick with it.
awesome! that’s good to hear rich.
I switched to Disqus a couple days ago and really like it so far. I’ve had many people tell me the native commenting system was too hard to figure out (they felt like they had to subscribe or something), but the Disqus format is really easy. We’ll see, I guess!
sweet! let me know how that goes over the next month or so.
John,
This is a great post, very detailed and in depth. I noticed you talked about performance issues with third party apps like disqus but won’t a lot of comments on your own server eventuallly slow your site down because there is more content to load an hence using a third party app actually helps improve load time? I read on Mashable a blog post once that that is why they were using disqus, but I see that they are no longer using it. I however like to use disqus it enalbes me to reply via email as well as manage comments from the multiple blogs that I have, so I’m going to stick with disqus.
matt,
not if you’re using caching… you should have no problem with load time.
Hi John,
I came here thinking that you would have a review of the ComLuv plug-in, but…?… I’m considering using that one as I think it is a nice touch that you can choose to leave the name and URL of an actual post, as well as your homepage.
Do you have any thoughts pros/cons about CommentLuv?
All the best,
Neil
i don’t use it… think it’s kinda of spammy looking.
I use the native system with WP.com and love it. Gives me everything I want in a comment system: reply via email, back ups, simple to use, commenters can log into with email, Facebook or Twitter username, commenters can subscribe to comment threads, and nested replies. And the built-in spam filters for WP.com are awesome.
Thanks for this great post John. Gonna save it in Evernote for sure.
sure thing! i was a fan of evernote for a while but no longer use it a lot.
Great post John
I used Disqus some 12 months ago and I lost most of my comments
I have noticed that some big bloggers are infact utilising LiveFyre
This time I will look to see if teir blogs are doing well eith it
Greg
Great post John
I used Disqus some 12 months ago and I lost most of my comments
I have noticed that some big bloggers are infact utilising LiveFyre
This time I will look to see if teir blogs are doing well eith it
Greg
Very nicely written post.
very nicely written comment.
I just wanted to check out your comment system…
ah. ok.
Disqus improved a lot recently. ID has its own problems. Unless you use the ID wordpress plugin, there are SEO drawbacks.
yeah, disqus looks better than ID at this point…
Thanks for the post John. We’re launching a new blog in a few weeks and are toying with the idea of Disqus versus sticking with WordPress native.
Have you added any plugins to the native system you have in place here?
Thanks again for the post.
interesting…?
I prefer WordPress commenting system over any other commenting system and sometimes I post with Discuss. Many people love posting comments via their Facebook account but I’ve never used Facebook commenting system as I don’t want to share my comments with my Facebook contacts. Leaving comments or responding to a comment is such a bliss on WordPress & Disqus powered systems. Commentluv and Keywordluv are also some great wordpress features as well.
Thanks
Ravi
thanks ravi! not a super fan of commentluv but i know a of people who like it.
Thanks for this post. I love to subscribe your blog..
ok…!
Well the comment system u are using looks much better than u mentioned in the post
love the look of your native comment system and the fact that it allows people to login with other credentials (like FB or twitter) what are you using that powers THAT? A plugin for logging in?
jetpack actually.
Nice article . I am going to go with simple comment system
Thanks for the post John! I just moved my site to a customized Standard 3 theme and was tired of fighting with Disqus. Reading this post and others I decided to move from Disqus to the commenting system in Jetpack. All is good!
Hi John, I also use the default comment system.
Actually, I’m developing a WordPress comment plugin, which might be interest
to you and people who use the WordPress default comment system.
http://wordpress.debiki.com/demo-1/
It’s supposed to work well also when there are very many comments — when the
interesting ones would otherwise be lost among all others. (There’re 105
comments on this page)
And it uses a novel two dimensional layout — which hopefully gives a better
overview of the comments, but might make it harder to integrate. (If an
article of yours was very short, the comment might overlap some right hand
sidebar stuff.)
Hey John.. where do you think best?
what do you mean?
Hey man, I’m a big fan of the current commenting system you use. This is default!? How did you put the login from twitter / fb / WP things? awesome.
jetpack.
Still buddy, you’re using WordPress.com Jetpack comments.