How to add a comment section to any website

The 3 ways to add comments to a website

A 2016 Center for Media Engagement survey of 1,471 Americans found that 77.9% have read online comments at some point and 55.0% have left one, so a comment section is worth adding.

Which route fits depends on where your site lives: a hosted embed works on any site, platforms like WordPress already have comments, and developers who want full control can self-host.

Method 1: Paste a hosted comment embed

A hosted service stores the comments; you paste one script into your pages. It's the standard fix for comments on static sites, or when you want more than your CMS offers.

• CommentCamp: $0 for site owners, free forever, with no hidden tiers and no ads; it's funded by optional member Pro for readers. It launches with an official WordPress plugin and a universal embed script for any HTML or CMS-backed site, unlimited comments and automated spam filtering, with full data exports on the roadmap. It's in private early access with a waitlist.
• Disqus: The Basic plan is free and ad-supported ("Top ads placement required"), though Disqus says ads are optional for personal blogs, .edu sites and non-profits, which can get a free Plus subscription. Paid Plus starts at $12/month or $132/year for up to 3 sites, with a 30-day free trial.
• Hyvor Talk: No free plan, a 14-day free trial and no ads. Personal costs EUR 5/month billed annually (EUR 50/year) for 1 website; Premium starts at EUR 12/month.
• FastComments: Usage-based pricing at $1 per 100,000 page loads; its pricing page says "Most sites only pay $0.99" a month.

Disclosure: CommentCamp is our product.

How to add a comment embed, step by step

1. Choose a comment provider that fits your budget and privacy needs.
2. Create an account and register your site's domain so the service knows where comments are allowed.
3. Copy the embed snippet the provider gives you.
4. Paste it into your post template where comments should appear, for example after the article text and before the footer.
5. Set your moderation rules and choose how readers log in.
6. Import your existing comments if you're moving from another system.
7. Test it on a live post and on a phone, in a private browser window, so you see exactly what a new reader sees.

Method 2: Turn on your platform's built-in comments

• WordPress: Comments are built into WordPress core under Settings > Discussion. You can require a name and email or a registered login, nest replies up to 10 levels deep (5 by default), split comments into pages (50 per page by default), auto-close comments on older posts (14 days by default once switched on), require manual approval and hold any comment with 2 or more links.
• Blogger: Under Settings > Comments you pick a comment location (embedded, full page, popup window or hidden), who can comment (anyone including anonymous, users with Google Accounts or only blog members) and whether moderation is on always, sometimes or never. Blogger puts no limit on comments per post.
• Ghost: Native comments are included on every Ghost(Pro) plan. As of October 2026, plans start at $15/month billed yearly ($18 billed monthly), with Publisher at $29/month and Business at $199/month billed yearly. Commenting is limited to logged-in members, and you can open it to all members or paid members only.
• Squarespace: Plans start at $19/month billed annually ($25 billed monthly), with a 14-day free trial and no free plan. Blog settings cover approval, anonymous comments, threaded replies and auto-disabling comments after a set number of days.
• Wix: Wix Blog comments are on by default, with a per-post "Allow commenting on this post" toggle. You can let everyone comment or only members, and owners, admins and editors can reply, delete or mark comments as spam.

Method 3: Self-host open-source comments

If you want one of the free comment systems that you control completely, run open-source software yourself.

• Remark42: MIT-licensed. Run it with Docker or as a single binary; readers sign in with Google, GitHub, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple and others, use email login, or comment anonymously if you allow it.
• Isso: MIT-licensed, written in Python and stores comments in SQLite, with anonymous comments. Version 0.14.0 came out on March 26, 2026 and needs Python 3.10 or newer.
• Comentario: MIT-licensed and free to self-host, with anonymous comments, local accounts and social login.
• giscus or utterances: Both are free, MIT-licensed and store comments on GitHub instead of your server. giscus uses GitHub Discussions and commenters sign in with GitHub; utterances stores comments as GitHub issues.

Without a GitHub-backed tool, you need a small server. A DigitalOcean Basic Droplet starts at $4/month for 512 MiB RAM, 1 vCPU, 10 GiB SSD and 500 GiB transfer, or $6/month with 1 GiB RAM. You also handle updates, backups and spam yourself.

Which method fits your site?

For most indie sites, a hosted embed or built-in comments is the practical move; self-host only if you're happy to maintain a server.

What to check before you choose

• Moderation: Can you hold comments for approval, block keywords and close old threads?
• Spam: What catches junk before it reaches your page? WordPress can hold comments with 2 or more links, and hosted tools often filter automatically, so you don't fight comment spam by hand.
• Reader login: Anonymous comments mean less friction; logins add accountability. Ghost requires members, and giscus requires GitHub.
• Privacy and ads: Free hosted tools have to pay their bills somehow. CommentCamp is funded by optional member Pro, not ads; Disqus Basic shows ads unless your site qualifies to make them optional; Hyvor Talk runs no ads.
• Page weight: Every third-party script adds weight, so test its impact on your own pages first.
• Data export: Make sure you can export a full copy of your comments if you ever leave.
• Still maintained: Projects shut down. The hosted Cusdis service is offline, and its GitHub README now says "Cusdis is deprecated now," so it can only be self-hosted.

If you want a free hosted option that never runs ads or sells reader data, join the early-access waitlist for CommentCamp and we'll email your invite as rollout expands.