EchoThread is a privacy-first, embeddable comment platform for blogs and websites. It adds threaded comments, reactions, and a full moderation dashboard to any page with one script tag, and includes a built-in machine-learning filter (Siftfy) that catches AI-generated comment spam. It is fully hosted — no server to run — shows no ads, and uses no third-party tracking.

Does EchoThread support spoiler tags?

Yes. Type ||your spoiler|| in any comment — readers see a masked block and click (or press Enter or Space) to reveal it. Works on every site that embeds the widget, no plugin or configuration required.

What text formatting does the comment composer support?

Bold (**text** or Ctrl+B), italic (_text_ or Ctrl+I), strikethrough (~~text~~ or Ctrl+Shift+S), and click-to-reveal spoiler (||text|| or Ctrl+Shift+X). Each one is also a one-tap button in the composer toolbar.

Are spoiler tags accessible to keyboard and screen-reader users?

Yes. Spoiler blocks are keyboard-focusable, reveal on Enter or Space, re-mask on Escape, and announce their state via aria-label. The treatment is aligned with WCAG 2.1 AA.

Yes. The Hobby tier is free for your first site — no credit card required — and includes 10,000 page views and 1,000 comments per month. It is a permanent free plan, not a trial. Paid plans start at $5/month if you outgrow it.

Will EchoThread always be free?

Yes for the Hobby tier — that's the commitment. Paid plans start at $5/month when you outgrow the free limits (10,000 page views and 1,000 comments per month, per site). See the pricing page for the full breakdown.

Does EchoThread work with WordPress, Next.js, and static sites?

Yes. EchoThread works on any website. Just add a div and a script tag before your closing body tag — no plugins or framework-specific setup required.

Does EchoThread track my users?

No. EchoThread does not use third-party cookies, does not serve ads, and does not sell or share user data. Privacy is a core principle, not a feature toggle.

Will the free Hobby tier ever go away?

No. Hobby is a permanent free plan. Early adopters who joined before launch keep the Hobby tier free for life on every site they had at launch, even if Hobby limits change later.

What authentication options are available?

Up to you, per site. Leave commenting open and readers post with just a display name — no account required — and every guest comment is screened by the Siftfy ML spam filter first. Or require sign-in with Google, GitHub, X, or Facebook. Site owners authenticate via magic-link email.

How does spam detection work?

When spam filtering is enabled, every new comment is scored by a dedicated machine-learning classifier as it is submitted. Borderline cases land in your moderation queue for review. Auto-hiding takes more than a high score on its own — it also needs a corroborating content signal such as a link or a promo pattern, so an unusual-looking but genuine comment goes to review instead of disappearing.

Does EchoThread have an AI spam filter for comments?

Yes. Every comment is scored by Siftfy, a built-in machine-learning classifier trained on real comment spam — including the AI-generated slop that keyword and rule-based filters miss. High-confidence spam is filtered automatically and borderline cases go to your moderation queue. There is no third-party Akismet key to configure.

What language does the comment widget appear in?

Each reader's own, automatically. The widget ships in English, Korean (한국어), Italian (italiano), and Simplified Chinese (简体中文), and picks the language from each visitor's browser — so a Korean reader and an English reader on the same page each get their own interface, with nothing to configure. Timestamps and dates follow the same locale. Add data-lang="ko" to the embed snippet if you would rather pin one language for everyone. Comment text itself is never translated — only the widget interface.

Will comments in other languages get flagged as spam?

No. Spam scoring trained mostly on English can misjudge a perfectly normal comment in another language, so a high score on its own routes a comment to your review queue rather than hiding it — auto-hiding also requires a corroborating content signal such as a link or promo pattern. We tightened this rule after a friendly Korean comment was auto-hidden on score alone.

Free Hobby plan · One site, free forever

AI-moderated comments.
Free for your first site.

Comment spam is AI-generated now — fluent, on-topic, and invisible to keyword filters. EchoThread scores every comment with a trained classifier before anyone sees it. One script tag. No ads, no tracking, no server to run.

Start free in 30 seconds Import from Disqus

Paid plans start at $5/mo — a fraction of Disqus Pro, and unlike Disqus there are no ads on your free tier.

Moderation

Siftfy ML inline

Setup

1 script tag

Migration

Disqus + WordPress

Performance

under 60 KB

Spam filter live

Three comments, scored by the classifier that guards every EchoThread site. None of this is a screenshot.

Scoring the examples…
Scoring the examples…
Scoring the examples…

Now write one yourself

0/1000

Built for modern websites

Works on any website

under 60 KB gzipped

Zero tracking

Free Hobby tier

Built around Google's Core Web Vitals and the HTTP Archive page-weight budget — so the widget is under 60 KB gzipped, loads asynchronously, and doesn't tank your LCP, INP, or CLS scores.

Migration paths

Switch without losing the conversations you already earned.

Most teams looking for a comment system are not starting from zero. EchoThread is built for the four moments that create purchase intent: leaving Disqus, adding comments to docs, outgrowing GitHub-only comments, and cleaning up spam-heavy communities.

Create a migration workspace Read the import guide

Leaving Disqus or WordPress

Import existing threads from a Disqus or WordPress (WXR) export, keep old page discussions together, and remove ad-network weight from article pages.

Best first action: import test

Adding comments to docs

Drop the widget into static sites, product docs, changelogs, and tutorials without pulling in a heavy framework plugin.

Best first action: embed guide

Outgrowing GitHub-only comments

Keep reader discussion on your site instead of forcing every commenter into a developer account or issue-thread workflow.

Best first action: live demo

Cleaning up spam

Let readers comment without an account and still stop drive-by spam — Siftfy ML scoring and moderation queues do the gatekeeping instead of a login wall.

Best first action: dashboard demo

The widget

This is the real thing

Not a screenshot — the same widget your readers would get, embedded on this page. Post as a guest or sign in with Google, GitHub, X, or Facebook. Every comment here goes through the same filter you just used — guest comments are always screened, whatever a site's other settings are.

Try**bold**_italic_||a spoiler||

Features

Everything you need,
nothing you don't

A complete commenting system that respects your users and gives you full control.

Conversations

Threaded replies

Nested conversations up to 5 levels deep keep discussions organized and easy to follow.

Emoji reactions

Like, Love, Haha, and Angry reactions let readers engage without cluttering the thread.

Image attachments

Upload JPEG, PNG, GIF, or WebP images directly into comments. Automatic resizing and optimization.

Link previews

Paste a URL and get a rich Open Graph preview card with title, description, and thumbnail — automatically.

Bold, italic & spoiler tagsNEW

**bold**, _italic_, and ||spoiler|| render natively. Masked spoilers stay hidden until clicked — perfect for movie, TV, gaming, and book threads.

Trybolditalicspoiler

Smart sorting

Sort comments by newest, oldest, most liked, or most replied. Readers find the best content first.

Moderation & Safety

AI spam filter (Siftfy)FLAGSHIP

A purpose-built ML classifier scores every new comment as it lands — flagging promo spam, scam links, AI-generated noise, and bot floods. No competitor at our price point ships a real ML moderator.

Moderation dashboard

Approve, reject, or delete comments from a clean, purpose-built dashboard. Filter by status with one click.

Passkey sign-in

Sign in to the dashboard with Face ID, Touch ID, Windows Hello, or a hardware security key. Passwordless and phishing-resistant by default; magic link is the fallback.

Auto-approve mode

Choose between manual review for every comment, or auto-approve for a hands-off experience. Toggle per site.

Notification bell

See unread counts when new comments arrive or spam is detected. Never miss a conversation.

Edit & delete

Comment authors can edit or delete their own comments. Moderators can override any comment status.

Comment without an accountNEW

Turn on guest commenting and readers post with just a display name — no login wall. Every guest comment is screened by the Siftfy ML filter first, so you get the reach without the spam. Prefer accounts? Google, GitHub, X, and Facebook sign-in are one click away.

Built for everyone

Visible focus rings on interactive controls, ARIA labels on icon buttons, a focus-trapped image lightbox, and broad prefers-reduced-motion coverage — aligned with WCAG 2.1 AA.

Developer experience

Lightweight & fast

Under 60 KB gzipped. Zero dependencies. Pure vanilla JavaScript that won't slow down your page.

Fully themeable

Light and dark themes built in, or pass any hex color for a custom background. Use the theme builder to preview a native-looking setup before install.

Mobile-first responsive

Looks great on every screen size. Touch-friendly interactions and adaptive layouts out of the box.

Simple API

RESTful API with API-key authentication. Manage sites, threads, comments, and users programmatically.

CORS-ready embed

One script tag on any domain. No iframes, no third-party cookies, no cross-origin headaches.

Your data, always

Backed by DynamoDB and S3. Full API access to export your data anytime. No vendor lock-in.

Quick setup

Add comments in 3 steps

From zero to live comments in under a minute.

Create your site

Drop in the snippet

Paste two lines of HTML before your closing </body> tag.

<div id="echothread"
     data-api-key="YOUR_API_KEY"></div>
<script src="https://cdn.echothread.io/widget.js"></script>

You're live

Comments appear on the page after submission. Manage everything from the moderation dashboard — approve, reject, filter spam, and track conversations across all your pages.

How we compare

EchoThread vs. the alternatives

An honest comparison — including where the open-source projects we admire win.

Feature	EchoThread	Disqus	Giscus	Cusdis	Hyvor Talk
Free tier	Yes (Hobby, forever)	Yes (with ads)	Yes (open source)	Yes (self-host)	No (trial only)
Open source	No (fully managed)	No	Yes	Yes	No
Self-hostable	No	No	Yes (uses GitHub)	Yes	No
Sign-in for commenters	Optional (or Google/GitHub)	Account required	GitHub only	Optional	Optional
Bundle size	under 60 KB	Heavyweight	~30 KB	<10 KB	Heavier, lazy-loaded
Spam filter	ML classifier (Siftfy)	Akismet	GitHub gating	Manual	Akismet / add-on
AI-generated spam	Caught by ML	Not specialized	None (login wall)	None built in	Add-on
Image uploads	Yes	Yes	Markdown only	No	Yes
Reactions	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Reader languages	4, auto per visitor	36, owner picks one	35, owner picks one	~23, owner picks one	30+, owner picks one
Hosted backend	Yes	Yes	No (uses GitHub)	No (self-host)	Yes
Ads / tracking	Never	Yes	No	No	No

Comparison reflects publicly documented features as of August 2026. Giscus and Cusdis are open-source projects we admire — if hosting your own backend or routing comments through GitHub fits your workflow, they're great choices.

See the full Disqus-alternatives comparison

Scored on arrival

Your queue

live

??
crypto_winz_2026 Spam · 0.97
🔥🔥 CLICK HERE FOR FREE BITCOIN bit.ly/x42 limited time only...
SC
Sarah Chen Approved · 0.04
Great write-up — the ESM section finally cleared up our import errors.
??
replica_outlet Spam · 0.94
Best replica handbags 70% off! visit our store at outlet-deals(dot)example...
MR
Marcus Rivera Approved · 0.02
Does this play nicely with Astro's view transitions? Migrating off Disqus.
Scoring…

Siftfy classifier— ML scoring inline

typically sub-second

What happens next

Spam gets caught.
Nothing gets buried.

A score on its own decides nothing. High-confidence spam with a corroborating content signal is hidden outright; anything else the classifier is unsure about lands in a queue you control, with the score and the reasons attached — so a false positive is something you restore in one click, not something you never find out about.

Trained on real comment data
Catches modern spam patterns — promo URLs, AI-generated filler, copy-paste scams — that keyword filters miss entirely.
Inline scoring
Scoring runs during comment submission. Low-risk comments can publish immediately when auto-approve is on; high-risk spam goes to the spam queue.
You stay in control
Flagged comments land in a queue you can review or restore. Toggle spam filtering and auto-approval per site.

No lock-in

Your comments are yours. Always.

Import what you already earned, export it whenever you want, and never get held hostage by a platform. Data portability is built in on every plan — including the free one.

Bring it with you

One-step import from a Disqus or WordPress (WXR) export. Old threads light up on the matching pages — no broken anchors.

Export anytime

Download every comment as JSON or CSV from your dashboard whenever you like. No support ticket, no waiting.

No vendor lock-in

Backed by your own exportable data — not an ad network. Leave whenever you want and take the conversation with you.

Read the import guide See data export

Moderation

A dashboard built for moderators

Approve, reject, and filter comments with one click. See pending counts, spam flags, and unread comment notifications. Manage multiple sites from a single dashboard.

Filter by status: pending, approved, rejected, spam
Notification bell with unread count
Auto-approve toggle, spam filter, and per-site settings
One-click embed code with copy to clipboard

Try the dashboard

Moderation queueThe Slow Web Weekly

9 caught by AI 6 waiting on you

Pending6Approved128Rejected3Spam9

Next best actionApprove the obvious good comments first

Why we moved our docs to a static site
Priya RaghunathanpendingSpam 3%12m
Waiting for your decision.
Did you keep the old URLs? We moved ours last spring and the redirects were the part that took a week — the build was the easy half.
ApproveARejectRDeleteD
Daniel OkaforpendingSpam 61%41m
Borderline score. Read the body before publishing.
Solid write-up. I put together a checklist for this exact migration if anyone here wants to compare notes before they start.
ApproveRejectDelete
The case for slower software
Marcus VelapendingSpam 91%1h
Borderline score. Read the body before publishing.
This is such a thoughtful and well-articulated piece. I really appreciate the way you broke down each point — it has given me a lot to reflect on, and I will definitely be sharing it with my team.
Siftfy scored this 0.91 — fluent, on topic, and carrying no link to corroborate it, so it waits for you rather than being hidden.
ApproveRejectDelete

Illustration — not live data. The filter demo higher up this page is the live one.

Built in public

Made by Yoni Ryabinski

Indie developer, founder of VectraSEO and a handful of other small products. EchoThread is one person, no VC, no surveillance ad model — just a comment platform built for the open web.

Learn more

Docs, guides, and migration walkthroughs

Whether you're embedding the widget for the first time or migrating thousands of threads from another platform, we've written the guide.

Documentation

EchoThread docs — add comments in 60 seconds

Quick-start snippet, configuration reference, theming, and step-by-step embed guides for WordPress, Next.js, Hugo, Astro, Ghost, Jekyll, Eleventy, and Gatsby.

Read the docs

Theme builder

Preview your widget theme

Paste a page URL, compare treatments, tune hex colors and login buttons, then copy the matching embed fields. Browse the gallery from there when you want more examples.

Build your widget theme

Blog

EchoThread blog — moderation, migration, monetization

Practical playbooks on running a healthy comment section, migrating from Disqus, stopping spam with AI, and monetizing a reader community.

Browse the blog

Popular guides

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know before getting started.

What is EchoThread?: EchoThread is a privacy-first, embeddable comment platform for blogs and websites. It adds threaded comments, reactions, and a full moderation dashboard to any page with one script tag, and includes a built-in machine-learning filter (Siftfy) that catches AI-generated comment spam. It is fully hosted — no server to run — shows no ads, and uses no third-party tracking.
Does EchoThread support spoiler tags?: Yes. Type ||your spoiler|| in any comment — readers see a masked block and click (or press Enter or Space) to reveal it. Works on every site that embeds the widget, no plugin or configuration required.
What text formatting does the comment composer support?: Bold (**text** or Ctrl+B), italic (_text_ or Ctrl+I), strikethrough (~~text~~ or Ctrl+Shift+S), and click-to-reveal spoiler (||text|| or Ctrl+Shift+X). Each one is also a one-tap button in the composer toolbar.
Are spoiler tags accessible to keyboard and screen-reader users?: Yes. Spoiler blocks are keyboard-focusable, reveal on Enter or Space, re-mask on Escape, and announce their state via aria-label. The treatment is aligned with WCAG 2.1 AA.
Is EchoThread free?: Yes. The Hobby tier is free for your first site — no credit card required — and includes 1,000 comments per month. Page views are never metered, on any plan. It is a permanent free plan, not a trial. Paid plans start at $5/month if you outgrow it.
Will EchoThread always be free?: Yes for the Hobby tier — that's the commitment. Paid plans start at $5/month when you outgrow the free limit of 1,000 comments a month. Page views are never metered. See the pricing page for the full breakdown.
Does EchoThread work with WordPress, Next.js, and static sites?: Yes. EchoThread works on any website. Just add a div and a script tag before your closing body tag — no plugins or framework-specific setup required.
Does EchoThread track my users?: No. EchoThread does not use third-party cookies, does not serve ads, and does not sell or share user data. Privacy is a core principle, not a feature toggle.
Will the free Hobby tier ever go away?: No. Hobby is a permanent free plan. Early adopters who joined before launch keep the Hobby tier free for life on every site they had at launch, even if Hobby limits change later.
What authentication options are available?: Up to you, per site. Leave commenting open and readers post with just a display name — no account required — and every guest comment is screened by the Siftfy ML spam filter first. Or require sign-in with Google, GitHub, X, or Facebook. Site owners always authenticate via magic-link email.
How does spam detection work?: When spam filtering is enabled, every new comment is scored by a dedicated machine-learning classifier as it is submitted. Borderline cases land in your moderation queue for review. Auto-hiding takes more than a high score on its own — it also needs a corroborating content signal such as a link or a promo pattern, so an unusual-looking but genuine comment goes to review instead of disappearing. You can also enable manual approval mode to gate every comment before it goes live.
Does EchoThread have an AI spam filter for comments?: Yes. Every comment is scored by Siftfy, a built-in machine-learning classifier trained on real comment spam — including the AI-generated "slop" that keyword and rule-based filters miss. High-confidence spam is filtered automatically and borderline cases go to your moderation queue. There is no third-party Akismet key to configure — it works out of the box.
What language does the comment widget appear in?: Each reader's own, automatically. The widget ships in English, Korean (한국어), Italian (italiano), and Simplified Chinese (简体中文), and picks the language from each visitor's browser — so a Korean reader and an English reader on the same page each get their own interface, with nothing to configure. Timestamps and dates follow the same locale. Add data-lang="ko" to the embed snippet if you would rather pin one language for everyone. Comment text itself is never translated — only the widget interface.
Will comments in other languages get flagged as spam?: No. Spam scoring trained mostly on English can misjudge a perfectly normal comment in another language, so a high score on its own routes a comment to your review queue rather than hiding it — auto-hiding also requires a corroborating content signal such as a link or promo pattern. We tightened this rule after a friendly Korean comment was auto-hidden on score alone.

Ready to upgrade your comments?

Set up EchoThread in under a minute. Free for your first site, no credit card required.

Get started free

AI-moderated comments.Free for your first site.