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.

Can readers post GIFs in comments?

Yes. The comment box has a GIF button that searches KLIPY, a free GIF library, with its strictest content filter on. Readers attach one GIF to a top-level comment, with or without text. GIFs are on by default on every plan, including Free, and site owners can turn them off in Site settings. EchoThread saves only a link to the GIF; the reader’s browser loads it from KLIPY.

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 — with unlimited comments. Sites created on or after 1 October 2026 include 10,000 page views a month; sites created earlier keep unmetered page views. It is a permanent free plan, not a trial. Every new account also gets Starter's reader polls, star ratings, Bluesky and Mastodon replies, analytics and webhooks free for its first 14 days, then keeps Hobby; the "Powered by EchoThread" line stays until you upgrade. Paid plans start at $5/month if you outgrow it.

Will EchoThread always be free?

Yes for the Hobby tier — that's the commitment. Comments are unlimited on every plan. Paid plans start at $5/month when you need more sites or a larger page-view allowance (Hobby sites created from 1 October 2026 include 10,000 page views a month; earlier sites are unmetered). 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, Facebook, Discord, Bluesky, or Mastodon. 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), Simplified Chinese (简体中文), and Modern Greek (Ελληνικά), and picks the language from each visitor's browser — so a Greek 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="el" 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.

Widget gallery

Widget theme builder

Paste a URL. Leave with a native-looking widget.

The theme builder turns a page URL into an EchoThread widget theme. It reads the page's theme-color meta tag and CSS custom properties such as --primary and --background, then proposes three treatments: one matched to the site, one dark and one light. If the page can't be read, it starts from presets based on the URL. Pick one, adjust the colors, language and login buttons, and copy an embed snippet with the theme already set.

Fit score78%

Site or page URL

Editorial context

Article page

Theme#fff8f2

Accent#d72d34

URL signalexample.com

<div
  id="echothread"
  data-shortname="YOUR_SHORTNAME"
  data-api-key="YOUR_API_KEY"
  data-identifier="page/theme-preview"
  data-page-url="https://example.com/page"
  data-lang="en"
  data-theme="#fff8f2"
  data-accent-color="#d72d34"
  data-auth-button-style="icons"
></div>
<script src="https://cdn.echothread.io/widget.js" async></script>

Paste a URL. Leave with a native-looking widget.

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