5 Best Commenting Plugins for WordPress

Comments are one of the best ways to engage with your users. They allow your readers to not only connect with you, but with other individuals who share similar interests as well. From asking questions to creating discussions, having a commenting system on your blog is key. That’s why WordPress created a default system for its websites. Unfortunately, even though this system is built-in and ready for you to use, it has not had many notable updates and provides an outdated user experience for today’s social culture. It doesn’t allow your users to vote on comments, share comments or subscribe to user replies - all which could potentially boost your engagement.

For a more user-friendly and functional commenting system, you’ll want to look outside of WordPress and install a modern plugin that encourages user interaction. In this post, we’ll share the best commenting plugins along with their key features so you can create a better user experience and start to increase user engagement.

wpDiscuz

wpDiscuz is a modern WordPress plugin that has gained popularity by adding key features to the native system. It allows for a clean and simple interface while keeping your page load time in mind through a boosted core processor. Since a slow-loading page can be detrimental to your user experience, wpDiscuz provides a “lazy loading” model so content only begins to load when a visitor reaches the bottom of the page. Additionally, wpDiscuz is great for driving user engagement. It allows visitors to easily comment on posts with one-click logins through supported social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Once a visitor posts a comment, they are able to rank other user comments and enable real-time response notifications which will keep them coming back to your website to further engage. wpDiscuz is also 100% customizable. You can change the colors, backgrounds, buttons, fields and more to best match your brand.

Disqus

Disqus has become one of the most popular external WordPress commenting plugins. It not only supports rich media by letting users add images and videos to their comments, but it allows for real-time commenting through upvotes, downvotes, threading, recommendations and more. It also automatically adapts to your site's design and colors so you don’t have to worry about formatting. Though if you prefer, you can manually set this as well.

With a one-click integration process, no coding knowledge is needed to start engaging visitors. Disqus even offers analytics which will help you better understand your audience, monitor engagement and optimize your content strategy. With this plugin, your visitors can easily log-in through their Facebook, Twitter or Google account and use the brand new reactions feature to better express themselves. Additionally, users can opt for instant email notifications and track their comment history and frequented communities through their profile.

JetPack

JetPack offers a combination of features for those looking for additional functionality without installing a wide range of plugins. For example, it provides analytics on how many visitors come to your site and allows for automatic post scheduling. It also has powerful customization tools to match your website to your brand. Jetpack even provides security tools like brute-force attack protection, two-factor authentication and back ups of your entire website.

As for logging in and posting comments, users are able to either make an account for your website or log in with one of their social profiles. The comment formatting is sleek and easy to understand and users can even choose to be notified of new posts or follow-up comments through their own email.

Thrive Comments

Thrive Comments was built to foster community discussion and with the theory that you shouldn’t expect your users to comment and get nothing in return. Much like social media platforms, this plugin allows users to ‘like’ other comments, upvote and become featured, unlock badges to show their activity level and share their comments on social websites. Thrive Comments also provides a dashboard where you can sort comments on a specific post and assign a comment to a member of your team who is best suited to reply. It will even notify you when a comment needs your attention. These features take the conversation to the next level by allowing you to stay organized and proactive and by providing some sort of immediate incentive to users for commenting on your blog.

WpDevArt Facebook Comments

WpDevArt Facebook Comments is a plugin integrated through Facebook that shows a feed of comments under your blog post. Because it is connected through Facebook itself, users can log in through their profile instead of signing up for a new account on your site. Additionally, the comments are shared on the users’ Facebook pages, easily increasing brand awareness for your blog and potentially driving traffic from their connections.

The installation process does require some code to be used on your site in order for the plugin to work. Having a developer on hand to help you would be beneficial and help ease the process if you aren’t familiar with frontend coding. After it’s installed, you’ll be able to ‘like,’ reply and comment just like you would on Facebook.

Which plugin is best for you?

With so many commenting plugins to choose from, it can be difficult to identify the key benefits of each and which is best suited for you. Think about the strengths and weaknesses of each system and consider how their features fit your site’s needs. If you’re currently using a commenting system that you’re unhappy with, analyze where your current system is falling short and pick a new system that addresses the most obvious issues. Once you select and install your new commenting plugin, you’ll be able to start interacting with your users, boosting SEO and driving brand awareness as an industry leader.