WordPress and its plugins are inseparable. Even though it is categorized as an additional feature, the use of plugins is what makes WordPress so powerful. In this article, we present to you the review of nine outstanding WordPress comment plugins that will be very useful for your if you’re starting a blog and a website.

First of all, the WordPress site is already equipped with a native commenting system that allows you to create a comment section on each webpage.

The default feature is not that bad. You can sort, read, and track all comments in all of your posts directly from the site’s dashboard. Just go to your Dashboard -> Comments.

You can also customize the comment setting by going to Settings -> Discussion.

On that page, you can configure almost anything in your comment section, including its appearance, the visitor’s privileges, and pingback settings.

Here is a brief explanation of some of the default options on the Discussion page:

1. Attempt to notify any blogs linked to from the article

Checking this option will allow the WordPress system to track any links in your post and notify the link’s owner about it. In other words, the owners will know that your article contains a link to their blog/website.

2. Allow link notifications from other blogs

Checking this option will allow WordPress to send a notification/pingback if anyone wants to put a link to your post or website.

3. Allow people to post comments on new articles

In case you do not want people to comment on your post, you can uncheck this box anytime. If you disable this feature after somebody posts a comment, the comment will not be deleted.

That being said, you can still delete somebody’s comment through the Comment Moderation section. This feature is deliberately designed to moderate any comments on your site.

Just make sure that the feature is enabled by checking “An administrator must always approve the comment” option. This action will prevent your site from potential spam attacks, and abusive comments.

The comment feature in WordPress comes as a double-edged sword, it has a lot of perks as well as some possible drawbacks that might disrupt your work.

On the one hand, the comment section in WordPress can increase your website’s traffic. This can directly provide an SEO boost and increase your value in the search engine. In addition, you can also use user comments as evaluation material and inspiration to create new posts.

On the other hand, the comment column can also be a hotbed of spam, as well as a nest of hateful and abusive comments that can have a negative impact on your user engagement.

These comments are indeed editable, but moderating the comments also takes a lot of time which could be very troublesome for most people.

While it might not be able to eliminate all of the risks above, the use of WordPress comment plugins can be a solution worth trying.

Although the default native commenting feature has covered various basic aspects, the lack of additional functions and very limited customization options make many users choose to use the WordPress comment plugin instead.

Luckily, we have a list of outstanding WordPress plugins for enabling comments. You can compare them to find the one that suits your needs.

Jetpack gives you an interesting combination of functions. Its features will make sure that you do not need to install a lot of plugins to add different functions to WordPress.

One of the features is the Jetpack Comments. This feature can help you manage each post easily and quickly. Through this plugin, your website visitors can leave a comment by using their social media accounts, such as Facebook or Twitter.

This WordPress comment plugin will automatically replace the native comment section in the WordPress dashboard, so you won’t be confused.

Unfortunately, most of the useful features in Jetpack, such as spam filtering, site monetization, and security scanning, can only be used if you use the premium plan, which costs $39/year.

2. wpDiscuz

WpDiscuz is a real-time commenting system specifically designed to enhance the features and functionality of native WordPress comments.

This WordPress comment plugin has a number of striking advantages, such as a simple and clean interface, full integration capabilities with social media (Instagram, Twitter, etc), and an automatic conversion system from URL to image in the comments column.

Moreover, wpDiscuz also provides add-ons packages containing premium features at varying prices, ranging from $9 to $125. To save some money, you can choose the $99 add-ons bundle package that contains a lot of extra functions and perks.

3. Postmatic

Replying to somebody else’s comments on your post is troublesome and takes a lot of time, especially if your post has a lot of engagement from the audience.

Postmatic is a WordPress comment plugin that offers a better approach to this system. The plugin gives you an option to leave comments or reply to other people’s comments directly via email. All you have to do is open your email, write your comment, then hit the reply button (this way, you can even use your phone).

With this system, your visitors do not need to go back and forth to visit the post pages to interact further.

Lazy Load is known as a plugin that can significantly speed up the loading time of a WordPress site. This plugin also provides a special WordPress comment plugin under the name “Lazy Load for Comment”.

The comment feature in Lazy Load is designed for a lightweight and fast default commenting system. It will make the user’s comment function stop for a while when the web page is being loaded.

This plugin is suitable for those of you who want to prioritize website speed rather than providing some additional functions that are actually not too important (like emojis or memes).

However, even though the configuration is very simple, this plugin has already supported automatic translation features, custom hooks for creating an additional function, and a filter system to reduce the number of HTTP requests.

5. Akismet

Akismet is a spam filtering service for WordPress comments. This plugin is quite special since it was developed by the founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg.

Akismet has an algorithm that can recognize and counteract blog comments and pingback spam. The algorithm can learn from errors and actions taken by participating websites.

For example, when a number of sites start reporting a particular type of spam, Akismet will “learn” to identify the same threat as spam in the future. Using this plugin will keep your comment column clean and safe.

GraphComment is a plugin that can change the native commenting system on WordPress into an online social discussion group. Although it has many functions, GraphComment consists of two main components.

The first component is the Bubble Flow. This smart moderation system is built to handle users interaction in the comments column and display discussions in real-time.

The second component is the Bubble Rank. It functions to prevent spam attacks using special algorithms.

Overall, GraphComment is the right plugin to handle large visitor engagement. This plugin is suitable for those who want to open a discussion space on your website.

Yoast is known as one of the best SEO optimization plugins today. Apart from that, Yoast has also developed various types of other plugins on WordPress, one of which is a WP comment plugin called “Yoast Comment Hacks”.

Unlike most WordPress comment plugins, Yoast Comment Hacks does not replace the native commenting system on WordPress. Instead, it only optimizes the default functions by using a little “hack” at WordPress core.

As a result, you can find a number of custom features that usually don’t exist in the native WordPress commenting system, such as the ability to redirect users to special pages, the broadcast feature to send emails to all users who leave comments, and a feature to limit the minimum and maximum words in a comment.

This WordPress comment plugin can display comments from Facebook users directly on your website, which can automatically increase traffic while optimizing the online presence of your blog/website.

Furthermore, it is also equipped with various features to maximize every function, such as the ability to adjust the position of the comment column, a customization panel to change the size and type of text used, and the ability to configure the box title.

The WpDevArt comments plugin has a paid premium plan (costs $10–$31/month) that contains more features, such as custom background settings and dozens of animation effects.

If you are looking for a WordPress comment plugin that is lightweight, easy-to-learn, and fast, Simple Comment Editing should not be missed.

This plugin allows users to edit their comments up to five minutes after the comment is posted. This method will give the user – and yourself – the opportunity to correct typos or misinformation when commenting.

Simple Comment Editing doesn’t require a lot of settings. You only need to install the plugin and everything will run automatically.

If you need extra features, you can use the paid version to get a variety of interesting add-ons. Some of these add-ons are unlimited editing time for registered users, the ability to see the number of users who do the editing process, and the privilege to adjust the number of words in the comment section.

Conclusion

Based on what was mentioned above, it can be concluded that the comment feature on WordPress plays a far more important role than just getting user engagement.

A well-optimized comment column can increase your website traffic, boost SEO, and make your website more popular. Unfortunately, the native commenting system on WordPress cannot do it all alone.

As a solution, there are nine WordPress comment plugins that you can install, namely:

• JetPack Comments – completely replaces the native commenting system on WordPress. It also offers a lot of useful features such as site monetization, security scanning, and spam filtering (you need to get premium membership by paying $39/year).
• wpDiscuz – offers a real-time commenting system for your comment section. You can also buy the paid plan to get a lot of additional features such as custom theme and antispam.
• Postmatic – allows the user to leave comments or reply to other people’s comments directly from the email.
• Lazy Load for Comments – offers a lightweight and fast commenting system that would increase the speed of the web load. It also supports custom hooks configuration and automatic translation.
• Akismet – one of the best spam filters out there. It can learn to identify a new type of spam to keep the comment section clean.
• GraphComment – an excellent plugin to create an online discussion group. It only consists of two components that are fast and reliable.
• Yoast Comment Hacks – modifies the WordPress native commenting system to create a lot of custom features. It is free, fast, and dependable.
• WpDevArt Facebook Comments – this WordPress comment plugin helps you to connect Facebook user comments to your site. Using this plugin can boost your traffic and online presence.
• Simple Comment Editing – allows your visitors to edit their comment up to five minutes after it was posted. This plugin comes with a “plug & play” system. All you have to do is installing the plugin and it will run automatically without needing any manual configuration.

Finally, we hope that this article could give you the necessary information to find the best WordPress commenting plugins for your site.

We suggest you get used to the native commenting system on WordPress first before starting experimenting with these plugins. That way, you will have a better understanding of how to moderate the comment section and find the most appropriate plugin that suits your needs. Good luck!