Disqus alternative for Publii: what still works in 2026, and what was removed
In August 2026 Publii reviewed every comment plugin in its marketplace: two were added, three were updated, and three were removed, including Cusdis, the option most forum threads used to recommend. Here is the current list, what each one costs, and how to move off Disqus without losing your threads.
If you search the Publii forum for "Disqus alternative" you will find threads recommending Cusdis, Commentbox and GraphComment. Most of that advice is now out of date. On 20 August 2026 the Publii team reviewed every comment plugin in their marketplace: they added two integrations, EchoThread and Commentix; released version 3.0.0 of Hyvor Talk, GraphComment and Disqus Comments; and removed three, Commento, Cusdis and Facebook Comments.
This post is the replacement for those forum threads: why people leave Disqus, what the five remaining plugins actually cost, and how to switch without losing existing comments.
Why leave Disqus at all
Disqus's free Basic plan is, in their own words, "free, ads-supported with a Top ads placement required". Removing the ads means Plus, which is $12 a month for up to 100,000 monthly page views and three sites, $20 for 350,000, or $35 for 900,000 (Disqus plans and pricing). Sites that cannot run ads, for example anything with adult content, may not be eligible for Basic at all.
The other reasons are the ones Publii users bring up on the forum: the tracking that comes with an ad network, and the weight of the embed on a site whose whole point is being fast. A Publii site is static HTML; a heavy third-party widget is the one thing that can make it slow. We wrote up the privacy side of switching away from Disqus separately.
What the forum used to recommend, and why that changed
- Cusdis was the community favourite: open source, about 5 KB, anonymous comments with just a nickname and email, and a hosted plan at $12 a year. Its maintainer marked the project deprecated and archived the repository on 17 July 2026. The README now reads "Cusdis is deprecated now. If you want to export your data. Please email hi@cusdis.com." Publii removed the plugin the following month. If you are on it, the Cusdis alternative guide is the migration path.
- Commento was removed because the project is unmaintained and its original domain is inactive. Self-hosted forks exist, but there is no plugin any more.
- Commentbox was the "easy free-ish" suggestion, with a 100-comments-a-month ceiling on the free plan. It never had a Publii plugin; you paste its snippet into the theme.
- Facebook Comments was discontinued by Meta on 10 February 2026.
The five plugins in the Publii marketplace today
| Plugin | Free plan | Ads or tracking | Comment without an account | Spam filtering |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EchoThread (new, v1.0.0) | Yes: Hobby, one site, unlimited comments, no card | None on any plan | Yes, guest comments, per-site switch | Machine-learning classifier scores every comment |
| Commentix (new) | No: paid, 14-day trial | States no advertising or tracking cookies | See their docs | See their docs |
| Hyvor Talk (v3.0.0) | No: paid after a 14-day trial | None | Yes | Akismet-style add-on |
| GraphComment (v3.0.0) | Paid plans; check their site for the current free ceiling | None claimed | Yes | Yes |
| Disqus Comments (v3.0.0) | Yes, with a required top ad placement | Ads and cross-site tracking on Basic | Guest mode optional | Akismet |
Two notes on the table. First, all five plugins are free to install; the columns describe the hosted service behind each one. Second, we run EchoThread, so read our row as a claim to check, not a verdict: the EchoThread versus Disqus comparison and the Hyvor Talk comparison say where each competitor is the better call.
What the 3.0.0 plugins share
The Publii team gave all the updated plugins the same foundation: a stable discussion identifier derived from the Publii content ID (so renaming a post no longer creates an empty thread), lazy loading when the reader scrolls near the comments, and better handling of Preview. The EchoThread plugin was built on that same base from day one, which is why its setup is one API key and a switch. The full walkthrough is in how to add comments to a Publii site.
How to leave Disqus without losing the threads
- Export from Disqus: Admin, then Community, then Export. Disqus emails you an XML file. The Disqus export guide shows where the link hides and what to do if the export never arrives.
- Import into EchoThread from the dashboard. The importer reads Disqus's XML directly, keeps the reply structure, and matches each old thread to your page URLs, so existing discussions light up under the right posts.
- Install and enable the EchoThread plugin in Publii, paste the API key, and disable the Disqus plugin.
- Regenerate and sync.
One Publii-specific detail: the plugin keys threads on the Publii content ID, while your Disqus threads were keyed on URLs. The importer matches on URL, and the widget then reads the page's public address, so as long as the imported thread's URL is the URL the post is published at, the two line up. Keep your permalinks unchanged during the switch and it is a non-event.
What it costs
EchoThread's Hobby plan is free for your first site: unlimited comments, no ads, no reader tracking, and 10,000 page views a month on sites created from 1 October 2026 (a site created before that date keeps unmetered page views). Paid plans start at $9 a month for three sites and 100,000 page views; see pricing for the full ladder. Compare that with Disqus Plus at $12 a month for 100,000 page views and three sites: EchoThread's Starter is $9 for the same three sites and 100,000 page views, without an ad placement to opt out of.
Which one to pick
If you want the largest possible commenter network and do not mind ads or tracking, Disqus is still in the marketplace and still works. If you are willing to pay from day one for a mature, feature-rich product, Hyvor Talk is the safe choice. If you want a free plan that stays free, no ads, guest comments and a spam filter built for the AI-spam era, install EchoThread. Whichever you choose, choose one that is still maintained: the three removals in August are what happens when a comment system disappears, and your readers' comments go with it.
Discussion
Comments
This thread runs on EchoThread — the same widget you would add to your own site.