Epoch – A native Disqus alternative with a focus on speed and privacy for WordPress Plugin Directory
By Josh Pollock
Epoch – A native Disqus alternative with a focus on speed and privacy is the #156 ranked cache app on WordPress, with a 4.5 average rating from 21 reviews, as of Aug 31, 2026.
Epoch – A native Disqus alternative with a focus on speed and privacy is a WordPress Plugin Directory app by Josh Pollock. With a rating of 4.5★ from 21 reviews, it currently ranks #156 in the Cache category.
AppRanks data: Epoch – A native Disqus alternative with a focus on speed and privacy ranks #156 in Cache on WordPress Plugin Directory, placing it in the top 43% of that category.
AppRanks verdict
Generated from live marketplace data — refreshed daily
Epoch – A native Disqus alternative with a focus on speed and privacy is a highly rated WordPress app with a limited review volume. It is listed in the Cache category on WordPress Plugin Directory, which AppRanks treats as the canonical taxonomy node for ranking and competitor comparison. 21 reviews put it in the early-traction tier — useful for early-stage stores willing to be on the leading edge. Early-traction review counts are sensitive to single launch periods or feature events, so a 30-day re-check before bigger commitments often resolves whether the trend is sustained. Paid-only pricing means evaluating fit on the marketplace listing or via the developer's documentation before installing. AppRanks tracks rating, review count, pricing tier, and category position daily — the figures on this page reflect the most recent scrape from the canonical WordPress Plugin Directory listing.
Pros
- +High average rating (4.5★) signals consistent merchant satisfaction
- +Published by Josh Pollock — established developer track record
Cons
- −Limited review base (21) — ratings can shift significantly with new feedback
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How Epoch – A native Disqus alternative with a focus on speed and privacy works
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Epoch is a new plugin from the creators of Postmatic. The goal: To provide a realtime commenting/chat experience using fully native comments while being compatible with page caching, cdns, mobile, other comment plugins, and seo best practices. A tall order? For sure. Try it out.
Epoch provides an amazing commenting experience to your users while improving site performance at the same time.
Key Features
WordPress native comments
Realtime with minimal server load
Fully ajax commenting for both sending and receiving comments
Integrates with any theme while still blending in with your brand
Front end moderation with realtime updates. It’s insanely fast.
Epoch solves three big native commenting problems User Experience
Comment forms and display are often neglected by theme developers. We’ve been there ourselves. The functions and templates involved in WordPress commenting are complicated, frustrating, and no fun to work with. Every day we see fantastic themes with ridiculously poor commenting experiences. So that’s the first thing Epoch fixes.
Speed and context
No more submitting comments and watching the page reload. All Epoch comments are submitted via ajax and post instantly in their proper place within the conversation.
And, as it should be, new comments from other users show up like magic automatically. It doesn’t matter if they are posted from the web, or from email via Postmatic. The conversation is instantly updated.
Cacheing, page load, and CDNs
Epoch is hands down the fastest commenting system available for WordPress, all the while supporting page cacheing and CDNs. Epoch comments lazy load into a placeholder container only when needed. This means your post will load instantly, your comments will load instantly, and your server won’t blink. Comments are magically injected into your page so your full SEO mojo stays in tact.
Success through compatibility Epoch is built for compatibility. It uses fully native WordPress commenting, plays nicely with most all other commenting plugins, and employs WordPress coding standards. Use it with your favorite social login, voting, moderation, and other commenting plugins.
Epoch is fully integrated with Postmatic
When running Epoch along with Postmatic the magic really happens. The comment stream is updated in realtime with comments being posted from web as well as email. Subscribing to new comments is quick and simple while users are intelligently invited to become site subscribers as well. All without ugly checkboxes and obtrusive forms.
Want to jump into the ring and help with development?
This is just 1.0. We’re hoping the WordPress community will lend strength, ideas, and code to this project. That’s why we’ve kept it open-source. You can find Epoch on Github and jump right in. We can’t wait to see where commenting goes next.
Combine Epoch with [Postmatic](http://gopostmatic.com) for the ultimate engagment package Postmatic is a free plugin which lets users subscribe to comments but also reply right from their inbox by hitting reply. Postmatic and Epoch integrate perfectly to let you take the conversation on the road and keep the conversation going months after you hit publish.
Category rankings
As of Sep 4, 2026- Cache#156of 369Top 43%
See 90-day rank history for each category
Track daily rank changes, category shifts, and position volatility.
Competitors & alternatives
Epoch – A native Disqus alternative with a focus on speed and privacy doesn't have curated competitor matchups yet. Other tracked cache apps on WordPress:
Frequently asked questions
What is Epoch – A native Disqus alternative with a focus on speed and privacy?
Epoch – A native Disqus alternative with a focus on speed and privacy is an app for WordPress. It currently holds a 4.5-star rating from 21 merchant reviews, and AppRanks has been tracking its public marketplace data on the refresh cadence published in our methodology. It is listed under the Cache category on AppRanks, where you can see its current category position, review-velocity trend, and how it compares against the top alternatives in the same space. Developed by Josh Pollock.
Who uses Epoch – A native Disqus alternative with a focus on speed and privacy?
Currently around 60 active stores have installed Epoch – A native Disqus alternative with a focus on speed and privacy. Its review base is still building, which usually maps to early-stage merchants and stores piloting a new workflow. It is part of the Cache category on WordPress.
Where does Epoch – A native Disqus alternative with a focus on speed and privacy rank on WordPress?
Epoch – A native Disqus alternative with a focus on speed and privacy currently sits at position #156 in the Cache category on WordPress. That places it in the top 42% of 369 apps tracked in the same category. Category positions are read from the live marketplace ranking and refresh on each scrape, so the number you see here reflects the most recent crawl rather than a long-running average.