Skip to content

Disqus alternative

The Disqus alternative for Jekyll

Jekyll powers millions of blogs on GitHub Pages, where Disqus is the usual comments crutch — and the usual source of ads, trackers, and page weight. EchoThread is the privacy-first swap: one Liquid include, no gems, no plugins, works on GitHub Pages out of the box.

Start free in 30 secondsRead the Jekyll setup guide →

Short answer

Yes — EchoThread is a drop-in Disqus replacement for Jekyll. Add an _includes/echothread.html include and reference it in your post layout. No gems or plugins, and it works on GitHub Pages with zero extra config.

Why switch off Disqus on Jekyll

No ads, no tracking

Disqus shows ads and loads cross-site trackers on its free tier. EchoThread serves no ads and uses no third-party cookies on any plan.

Light, not bloated

The widget is about 37 KB gzipped with zero dependencies and loads asynchronously — a fraction of Disqus's ad and tracking payload.

Free, and yours to leave

A permanent free Hobby tier, one-click import from Disqus, and a one-click export of every comment as JSON or CSV. No lock-in.

Add EchoThread to Jekyll

  1. 1

    Create a free EchoThread site

    Sign up, add your Jekyll site, and copy the API key from your dashboard.

  2. 2

    Add the EchoThread include

    Create _includes/echothread.html with the container div and script tag, using page.url and page.id for the values.

  3. 3

    Reference it in your layout

    Add {% include echothread.html %} to _layouts/post.html and build — comments appear on every post.

Read the Jekyll setup guide →

The difference that matters in 2026

Built for AI-generated comment spam.

Comment spam is now AI-generated — fluent, on-topic, and invisible to keyword filters and Akismet bolt-ons. EchoThread ships a first-party ML classifier (Siftfy) that scores every comment the moment it lands, so your Jekyll comments stay clean without constant babysitting.

Create your free site

Questions

Does it work on GitHub Pages?
Yes, with zero extra configuration. The widget loads from our CDN, so there are no approved-gem or plugin restrictions — it works the same on GitHub Pages as on any other host.
Can I keep my existing Disqus comments on Jekyll?
Yes. Import your Disqus export into EchoThread in one step; it matches old threads to your Jekyll post URLs so existing discussions carry over. Export everything as JSON or CSV at any time — no lock-in.
Is EchoThread free for a Jekyll site?
Yes. The Hobby tier is free forever — 10,000 page views and 1,000 comments per month, per site — with no ads. Paid plans start at $5/month when you outgrow it.

Weighing the options? See the full Disqus alternatives lineup, or the detailed EchoThread vs Disqus comparison.