11 Best WordPress Comments Plugins (Tested & Compared)

Looking for the best plugin to manage comments and boost engagement on your site?

A comments section lets visitors to engage with your content, ask questions, and share their thoughts and opinions. However, managing comments can be a time-consuming task, especially if you receive a lot of them.

This is where WordPress comments plugins come in. These plugins can help you automate the comment moderation process, spam filtering, and many other tasks.

We’ve tested and compared the best WordPress comments plugins on the market. In this guide, we’ll discuss their features, pros, and cons, and help you choose the best plugin for your needs.

Overview: Top 3 WordPress Comments Plugins

Plugins	Best For?	Free Version	Unique Features
Thrive Comments	Cultivating a thriving online community	❌	Badges, upvotes, and featured comments
Comment Moderation Role by WPBeginner	Giving permissions to users to edit and moderate comments	✅	WPB Comment Moderator user role
Akismet	Eliminating comment and form spam	✅	Set-and-forget spam protection

How We Test and Review WordPress Plugins

We picked the best plugins by looking at their features, ease of use, user reviews, and how well they integrate with WordPress. Here’s our process:

• Testing: We install each selected plugin on a test WordPress site. Then we evaluate the installation process for simplicity, performance, and compatibility with your website theme and other plugins.
• Feature Review: We review and test its features and interface to check for ease of use, customization options, and reliability. We check if the plugin delivers on what it promises.
• What’s Unique?: With most WordPress plugins, there’s no one-size-fits-all. So we look for unique features to help you decide if it’s the right plugin for your website’s needs.

Our goal here is to find the perfect plugins to help you moderate and enhance your comments section.

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What’s In This Guide?

In this guide, we put the following WordPress plugins to the test:

• Thrive Comments
• Akismet
• wpDiscuz
• Comment Hacks
• Jetpack Comments
• GraphComment
• Super Socializer
• SearchWP
• Uncanny Automator
• WP Mail SMTP

What To Look For In a Comments Plugin?

Every website’s needs are different. Before choosing a WordPress comments plugin, there are a few key considerations to keep in mind:

• Spam protection: Make sure the plugin has robust spam filtering features to protect your site from unwanted comments.
• Moderation tools: Look for plugins with moderation tools that make it easy to approve, reject, or delete comments.
• Customization options: Choose a plugin that allows you to customize the appearance and functionality of your comment section.
• Integration: Consider plugins that integrate with other services, such as social media platforms or CRM systems.
• Performance: Ensure that the plugin is well-optimized and does not slow down your website.

Now let’s take a look at the best WordPress comments plugins you can use on your website.

Best WordPress Comments Plugins

1. The Best WordPress Plugin For Building an Online Community: Thrive Comments

Thrive Comments Thrive Comments is hands down the best WordPress comments plugin that transforms your default WordPress comment system into a sleek, interactive, and engaging platform. It makes it easy to create a thriving online community.

Thrive Comments gamifies the experience with badges, upvotes, and featured comments, rewarding users for participating and encouraging quality contributions.

Next, it gives you actionable insights so you gain valuable intel on your audience through comment voting rates and reports. See which old or new posts resonate most and identify your most active commenters.

Thrive lets you allow visitors to comment directly through their social media accounts, eliminating the need for separate logins.

Overall, you can manage comments efficiently with a dedicated dashboard for sorting, filtering, and assigning comments to team members.

What stands out about ThriveThemes as a whole is that it is conversion-focused. When it comes to Thrive Comments, you can leverage post-comment actions to capture leads, promote social sharing, and guide users toward further engagement.

Pros of Thrive Comments

• Gamified features to encourage user participation
• Detailed comment reports and analytics
• Social media integration for easy commenting
• Efficient comment moderation tools
• Social commenting like share as Facebook comments
• Options to boost conversions after comments

Cons of Thrive Comments

• Thrive Comments is a premium plugin, requiring a purchase.
• Some features, like lightbox popups, require additional Thrive plugins to function fully.

Who is Thrive Comments Best For?

Thrive Comments is a great fit for bloggers, entrepreneurs, and website owners who want to cultivate a thriving online community. It’s ideal for those who value user engagement, insightful audience data, and streamlined comment management.

If you’re looking to breathe new life into your comments section and turn it into a valuable asset for your website, Thrive Comments is definitely worth considering.

✅ Beginner-Friendly ✅ Free Trial ❌ Free version

Why I recommend Thrive Comments: Getting users to comment often helps bring you more traffic from search engines. That said, this plugin is a game-changer for anyone who wants to build an interactive and vibrant online community. 

I particularly like Thrive Comments’ gamification features such as badges and upvotes, as they motivate users to engage more – ultimately getting you more traffic.

Get started with Thrive Comments »

2. The Best WordPress Comments Plugin For Spam Protection: Akismet

Akismet is the most powerful anti-spam plugin for WordPress, Akismet boasts a staggering 99.99% accuracy rate, filtering out comment, form, and text spam before it ever sees the light of day on your site.

Akismet filters out irrelevant and malicious content with impressive accuracy. They claim to have blocked over 500 billion spam messages!

The plugin seamlessly integrates with your WordPress admin panel, making comments and form spam moderation a breeze. No complex setup is required.

Akismet’s cloud-based architecture ensures it won’t slow down your website, maintaining optimal site speed and performance.

Added to that, it integrates smoothly with popular tools and plugins like Jetpack, Contact Form 7, and many others.

What stands out is that it gives you valuable insights into your spam activity with a user-friendly dashboard This shows you what Akismet is blocking and what it’s letting through.

Pros of Akismet

• Extremely high spam-blocking accuracy
• Effortless integration with WordPress
• Set-and-forget spam protection
• Lightweight and doesn’t slow down your site
• Integrates with many popular plugins
• Provides valuable insights into spam activity
• Open-source friendly with a developer API

Cons of Akismet

• Free plan has limited features (paid plans offer additional options)

Who is Akismet Best For?

Akismet is a great choice for any WordPress site owner who wants a simple yet powerful solution to eliminate comment and form spam. It’s ideal for bloggers, businesses, and anyone who wants to protect their website from unwanted content.

✅ Free plan ✅ Beginner-friendly

Why I recommend Akismet: Automatically keeping spam out of your comments could potentially save you hours of manual work every single month. That said, Akismet offers an impressive spam protection service with a 99.99& accuracy rate, making it a must-have plugin for maintaining a clean comment section.

Get started with Akismet »

3. The Best Plugin For Comment Editing: Comment Edit Core

Comment Edit Core offers a free plugin that allows users to edit their comments for a set period of time after posting, giving them a chance to fix typos or clarify their thoughts.

Installation is a breeze, and the plugin works seamlessly with your existing WordPress commenting system. In the free version, you’ll get features like:

• Anonymous Editing: For five minutes after posting, anonymous users can edit their comments.
• Lightweight and Efficient: No need to worry about the plugin slowing down your site.
• Open Source and Customizable: For developers, Comment Edit Core offers opportunities for further customization.

While the free version is a great start, if you want more features, then you need to upgrade to Comment Edit Pro. You’ll get access to features like:

• Enhanced Editing: Allow unlimited editing for logged-in users and moderate comments directly from the frontend.
• Spam Fighting Arsenal: Integrate with services like reCAPTCHA 3 and Cloudflare Turnstile to bolster your spam defenses.
• Comment Character Control: Set minimum and maximum character limits to encourage thoughtful and meaningful comments.
• Community Building Features: Enable comment mentions, user avatars, and up/down voting to foster a more interactive comment section.
• Marketing Integrations: Capture new leads by integrating email marketing services like Mailchimp or ConvertKit with your comment form.
• Advanced Comment Management: Set comment expiration rules, control comment visibility for different post types, and receive notifications for new and edited comments via Slack.
• Seamless Third-Party Integration: Utilize webhooks to connect your comment section with other services like your CRM or sales funnel.

Pros of Comment Edit Core

• Simple and easy to use
• Allows anonymous users to edit comments
• Lightweight plugin
• Developer-friendly

Cons of Comment Edit Core

• Limited features in free version
• Editing window for anonymous users is brief
• Lacks advanced functionalities like comment moderation or spam protection

Who is Comment Edit Core Best For?

Comment Edit Core’s free version is a good fit for those who want to allow a short window for anonymous comment editing without needing extensive features.

Comment Edit Pro caters to users who want more control over comment editing, desire robust spam filtering, and seek to build a more interactive comment community. This includes features for marketing integration, advanced comment management tools, and seamless third-party service connections.

✅ Free Version ✅  Easy to Use

Why I recommend Comment Edit Core: In my experience, letting users fix their typos can immediately improve the quality of the discussion on your site. 

Comment Edit Core is a simple but effective plugin that gives users a brief window of time to edit their comments and WooCommerce reviews, keeping your comments accurate and encouraging contributions.

Get started with Comment Edit Core »

4. The Best Comments Plugin For Boosting Engagement: wpDiscuz

wpDiscuz is a feature-rich plugin that ditches the limits of the native comment system. It delivers a modern, engaging experience for both you and your website visitors.

With WPDiscuz, you can engage your audience with live notifications, inline commenting, and comment bubbles. There are multiple layouts available so you can choose from three sleek and modern comment layouts to perfectly match your website’s design.

Next, you can add social logins to your comments section. Users can log in through Facebook, Twitter, and more.

Visitors can then rate your content directly with star ratings. They can also upvote or downvote comments to highlight valuable contributions. Added to that, they can subscribe to comments and receive email notifications when new replies are posted.

The plugin lets you create custom comment forms with additional fields to gather specific information from your readers.
It also comes with built-in security and anti-spam features to keep spam comments at bay.

You can allow logged-in users and guests can edit their comments within a set timeframe.
The best part is that it gives you granular control over comment settings for different content types and user roles.

Pros of wpDiscuz

• Modern, interactive comment experience
• Multiple layout options
• Social logins and post rating
• Customizable comment forms
• Built-in anti-spam protection
• Built-in Gravatar caching
• AJAX real-time comment system
• Add-ons available

Cons of wpDiscuz

• While wpDiscuz offers extensive customization options, it can have a steep learning curve for beginners who are not familiar with WordPress settings and configurations.
• Some users have reported compatibility issues with certain themes or other plugins, which may require troubleshooting to resolve.

Who is wpDiscuz Best For?

Anyone frustrated with the limitations of the native WordPress comment system. It’s also a good alternative to Disqus Comments and Jetpack Comments.

✅  Free version ✅ Customizable

Why I recommend wpDiscuz: If you want to boost engagement, then this plugin adds features like live notifications and social logins, which encourage users to join the discussion.

In my opinion, wpDiscuz is a solid choice if you want to revitalize the native WordPress comment system with a modern interface and new features.

Get started with wpDiscuz »

5. The Best WordPress Comments Plugin For Streamlined Management: Comment Hacks

Comment Hacks is a lightweight plugin that tackles common comment management pain points.

First, it lets you craft cleaner and more streamlined emails, ensuring everyone involved is on the same page.

You can require commenters to accept your comment policy before posting. This ensures they understand your guidelines and helps to foster constructive discussions.

You can forward comments to a dedicated email address (like your support team) for efficient handling, and then trash them to declutter your comment section.

So for instance, you can send these comments to your support team’s inbox. Once addressed, you can easily trash them to declutter your comment section and keep things organized.

You can also set minimum and maximum comment length requirements. This discourages spammers and ensures your comment section remains focused on insightful contributions from your readers.

Now the fun part! You can show appreciation to those who take the time to comment for the first time by redirecting them to a custom “thank you” page. This small gesture of gratitude can go a long way in encouraging further engagement and building a loyal community around your content.

Pros of Comment Hacks

• Simplifies comment moderation tasks
• Improves communication with commenters
• Enhances comment organization and control
• Lightweight and easy to use

Cons of Comment Hacks

• Compared to more comprehensive comment management plugins, Comment Hacks has fewer features and customization options, limiting its functionality for users with specific needs.

Who is Comment Hacks Best For?
Best for bloggers and website owners of all levels who are looking to streamline comment management and free up their time. If you’re frustrated by the limitations of the native WordPress comment system or simply value clear communication and efficient workflows, Comment Hacks is a great solution to consider.

✅ Lightweight ❌ Feature-rich

Why I recommend Comment Hacks: Getting comments sent directly to the right inbox can save you a lot of time when it comes to reviewing and responding. This is particularly effective if you’re running a high-traffic site that gets lots of engagement.

Comment Hacks does a fantastic job at streamlining the comment management process. It’s also designed to be lightweight, so it won’t slow your site down.

Get started with Comment Hacks »

6. The Best WordPress Comments Plugin For Social Media Integration: Jetpack Comments

Jetpack Comments lets commenters leverage their existing social media accounts (WordPress.com or Facebook) to seamlessly leave comments on your site.

No need to create new accounts or remember passwords – just a few clicks and they’re ready to engage in the conversation.

Jetpack Comments replaces your default comment form, but don’t worry, activation is a breeze. Simply head over to the Jetpack settings in your WordPress dashboard and toggle the “Let readers use…” option.

While Jetpack Comments takes the place of your theme’s comment form, you can still personalize it to match your website’s aesthetic. Change the introductory message above the comment form and choose from light, dark, or transparent color schemes to ensure a cohesive look.

In WordPress, there are pingbacks and trackbacks which can be a way to discover new content, but they can also be misused for spam. Jetpack Comments allows you to easily disable them entirely or manage them on a post-by-post basis.

Pros of Jetpack Comments

• Simple setup and options to personalize the comment form’s look
• Visitors can comment using existing WordPress.com or Facebook accounts
• Features like hovercards, Markdown support, and comment likes improve engagement
• Disable pingbacks/trackbacks entirely or manage them on a post-by-post basis
• Integrates smoothly with existing WordPress comment moderation settings

Cons of Jetpack Comments

• Requires commenters to have a WordPress.com or Facebook account
• Some users might be wary of connecting social media accounts
• Limited customization for the comment form itself

Who is Jetpack Comments Best For?
Best for existing users of JetPack and those who want to offer a convenient commenting experience for visitors with social media accounts.

❌ Free ❌ Limited Customization

Why I recommend Jetpack Comments: In my experience, allowing users to comment using their existing social media accounts is one of the best ways to encourage participation. Jetpack Comments lets you do exactly that, by adding social media logins to your WordPress site.

Get started with Jetpack Comments »

7. The Best Plugin For Threaded Conversations: GraphComment

GraphComment organizes comments in a threaded format, making it easy for readers to follow conversations and participate in the discussion. Unlike the default WordPress comment system, GraphComment keeps everything organized and easy to navigate, fostering a more inviting atmosphere for your audience.

There are seamless integrations with email. This allows readers to reply to comments directly from their inbox, keeping the conversation flowing even after they leave your website. Plus, the free plan offers social engagement features like reaction buttons (limited in functionality) and sharing tools, encouraging interaction and promoting your content further.

Pros of GraphComment

• Comment threads
• Can improve your website’s search ranking by making comments more easily indexed by search engines.
• Reaction buttons and sharing tools
• Send and receive comment replies directly via email

Cons of GraphComment

• Script files might slow down some websites

Who is GraphComment Best For?
For those who prioritize beautiful email delivery for comments and want to leverage existing subscriber lists, GraphComment excels in this area, even with the free plan.

✅ Free version ❌ Fast

Why I Recommend GraphComment: This plugin’s threaded conversation format makes it easy to follow discussions, so it’s perfect for sites with complex topics that need organized dialog. It’s also a great option for community-focused sites that want to upgrade their comment sections for members. 

Get started with GraphComment »

8. The Best WordPress Comments Plugin For Social Media Features: Super Socializer

Super Socializer is a free WordPress plugin that simplifies adding social media features to your website. You can let users to register or log in using their existing social media accounts (27 supported networks).

The plugin integrates sharing buttons for over 100 social networks, encouraging visitors to share your content.

You can even enable commenting through social media platforms like Facebook or Disqus.

The plugin goes one step further and lets you display social media follow icons to build trust and credibility.

Pros of Super Socializer

• Combines social login, sharing, comments, and follow icons
• Free to use
• Simple configuration process with clear instructions
• Social login options adds a layer of security against fake accounts
• Claims minimal impact on website performance
• 24/7 customer support

Cons of Super Socializer

• Won’t work on local development environments
• Collecting user data raises privacy considerations

Who is Super Socializer Best For?

This plugin is a good fit for anyone who wants to easily add social media functionality to their WordPress website

✅ Free plan ❌ Data privacy

Why I recommend Super Socializer: Want to add social login and sharing to your site? This plugin does both, providing visitors with familiar ways to interact with your comment section.

With that in mind, Super Socializer is my top choice for sites that want to boost their social media engagement, along with their comment sections.

Get started with Super Socializer »

9. The Best Plugin For Making Comments Searchable: SearchWP

SearchWP optimizes the search feature, making it easier for users to find relevant content, including comments.

How it works is it indexes your content, including comments, making them searchable. It makes sure comments pop up in those search results, so visitors can find discussions quicker.

It even highlights the words the user is looking for in the comments. That way, they can see where the words are mentioned in the comments.

Aside from this, what we also loved about this plugin is that it plays nice with different WordPress themes and plugins, so you don’t have to worry about compatibility issues.

Pros of SearchWP

• Make it easy for users to search through comments
• Works on top of the default WordPress search functionality
• Customize the search settings
• Works well with various WordPress themes and plugins
• Ajax live search free plugin available

Cons of SearchWP

• SearchWP is a premium plugin
• While the basic setup is straightforward, fully optimizing SearchWP for your site may require some learning and experimentation, especially for users unfamiliar with advanced search configurations.

Who is SearchWP Best For?

Best if you want a search plugin to make it easier for people to find what they’re looking for in the comments section of your WordPress site, making the whole experience more enjoyable and user-friendly. It’s great for eCommerce (WooCommerce) sites too!

✅ Easy to use ❌ Free plugin ✅ Premium version

Why I recommend SearchWP: Allowing visitors to search comment threads can help them find valuable information you didn’t include in the main post. The problem is that WordPress comments aren’t searchable by default. 

SearchWP is a user-friendly search plugin that fixes this problem by making all your site’s content searchable – including the comment sections.

Get started with SearchWP »

10. The Best WordPress Comments Plugin For Automation: Uncanny Automator

Uncanny Automator is a powerful tool for automating tasks and creating workflows on your WordPress site. While it doesn’t directly moderate user comments, can help you automate some of the tasks associated with your comments section.

Let’s show you how this plugin works. Uncanny Automator uses recipes that contain 3 elements:

Triggers: Something happens, like a new comment.
Conditions (optional): This acts like a filter. Maybe only comments with over 50 words trigger the next step.
Actions: This is the magic! Uncanny Automator can automatically approve the comment, send an email to the author letting them know someone commented, or even share the comment on social media.

Basically, you set the rules (recipes) and Uncanny Automator handles the chores. This can save you time and create a more engaging comment section.

You can set up a recipe to automatically welcome new commenters with a friendly email, or notify you about comments containing specific keywords so you can jump in on the conversation.

Pros of Uncanny Automator

• Automate repetitive tasks
• Streamline workflows and create a more efficient comment management process
• Personalized welcome emails or automatic comment approvals can create a more positive experience for commenters
• Triggering social media shares or notifications can encourage further discussion around comments

Cons of Uncanny Automator

• Setting up recipes requires some understanding of the plugin and its functionalities
• The free version offers a limited number of triggers and actions, you’ll need to upgrade for complex workflows

Who is Uncanny Automator Best Suited For?

Those who want to automate tasks related to their comments section.

✅  Automation ✅  Easy to Set Up ✅  Free Version

Why I recommend Uncanny Automator: Automating notifications or user roles based on comment activity can save you a ton of time, especially on high-traffic sites. After testing various automation plugins, Uncanny Automator is my top pick for anyone who wants to automate repetitive tasks related to comments.

Get started with Uncanny Automator »

11. The Best WordPress Comments Plugin For Reliable Email Deliverability: WP Mail SMTP

WP Mail SMTP is a free WordPress plugin that fixes WordPress email issues.

If you have a comments section and use WordPress to send emails, you’ll want to enable this plugin on your site.

By default, WordPress uses your web server’s built-in mail function to send emails, which can be unreliable. This can lead to comment notification emails getting lost in the shuffle, never reaching readers or post authors.

WP Mail SMTP acts as a bridge. It connects your WordPress site to a reputable SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) server. Think of an SMTP server as a professional email delivery service, ensuring your emails reach their intended inboxes.

With WP Mail SMTP configured, whenever someone comments on your site, the notification emails are sent through the reliable SMTP server, significantly increasing the chances of them being delivered successfully. This keeps commenters informed and the conversation flowing.

Pros of WP Mail SMTP

• Easy setup
• Works with Gmail, Yahoo, Office 365, Zoho, and more
• Reliable delivery
• Boosts sender reputation

Cons of WP Mail SMTP

• While WP Mail SMTP connects to reputable services, it ultimately relies on a third-party for email delivery. In rare cases, there might be outages or service disruptions with the SMTP provider.

Who is WP Mail SMTP Best For?

Want to learn how to use this plugin the right way? Check out WP Mail SMTP 101 »

✅ Free ✅ Easy to Use

Why I recommend WP Mail SMTP: This plugin ensures your emails arrive safely in the user’s inbox, and not in their spam folder. In this way, it makes your emails more reliable which is crucial for maintaining good communication between commenters. 

While it’s not a traditional comment plugin, this is still a must-have for anyone who wants to improve their WordPress comment section.

Get started with WP Mail SMTP »

What Is the Best WordPress Comments Plugin?

Every website has unique needs, so the best comments plugin for you will vary depending on your specific goals. Despite this, I generally recommend Thrive Comments to most users.

This plugin does a really good job at building an online community through its innovative gamification features, which encourage user interaction and foster a vibrant platform for discussion. In my experience, motivating users with badges and upvotes is a very effective way to keep them coming back to your site.

In addition, there’s a few other options that I recommend to most users:  

• If you want to protect your comment section against spam, Akismet is the standout choice. It offers near-perfect accuracy when it comes to filtering spam without disrupting the flow of your comment sections.
• If you want to add seamless comment editing to your site, then Comment Edit Core provides a very straightforward and user-friendly plugin that helps you achieve exactly that.
• If you want to make your comments searchable, then SearchWP ensures that visitors can easily find relevant content in your site’s comment threads. This adds value for visitors, while encouraging further discussion in your comment sections.

Frequently Asked Questions About WordPress Comments

I often hear from readers who are trying to improve their website’s comments section. With that said, here’s the answers to all those common questions I get from WP101’s audience.

Do I really need a plugin for comments? 

Not necessarily, as WordPress does have a default comment system that works right out-of-the-box. However, this built-in comment system is pretty basic.

A dedicated WordPress comment plugin can add lots of useful features, such as social logic, upvoting, and better layouts to encourage more engagement. These can improve the overall user experience and ultimately increase your engagement. 

Which plugin is best for stopping spam? 

In my opinion, Akismet is the best plugin for filtering spam automatically. It compares comment submissions against a huge, global database of known spam sources, which makes it extremely accurate. 

In addition, many other comment plugins come with built-in moderation tools that can help keep your site clean, such as Thrive Comments. 

Do blog comments help with SEO? 

Yes, comments can boost your SEO. They add more relevant keywords to the page and help to keep your content fresh, which search engines love. Every time a reader leaves a thoughtful comment, Google sees it as a fresh content update, which can help your content rank better for long-tail search terms.

Just make sure to moderate your comments so you don’t accidentally publish spammy links, as this can hurt your SEO. 

Can I disable comments on specific posts? 

Yes, you can disable comments for individual posts inside the WordPress editor. You can also disable them globally in the main WordPress discussion settings. 

I hope you found this review helpful. You may also want to check our WPForms, it’s the best forms builder with built-in spam protection.

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