Question 1

What is EchoThread?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 2

Does EchoThread support spoiler tags?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 3

What text formatting does the comment composer support?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 4

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 5

Is EchoThread free?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 6

Will EchoThread always be free?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 7

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 8

Does EchoThread track my users?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 9

Will the free Hobby tier ever go away?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 10

What authentication options are available?

Accepted Answer

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 or GitHub. Site owners authenticate via magic-link email.

Question 11

How does spam detection work?

Accepted Answer

When spam filtering is enabled, every new comment is scored by a dedicated machine-learning classifier as it is submitted. High-confidence spam is filtered automatically; borderline cases land in your moderation queue for review.

Question 12

Does EchoThread have an AI spam filter for comments?

Accepted Answer

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.

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