Comments – GraphComment | AI-Moderated Comment System
Hosted comments, without the usual price to pay Native WordPress comments are where discussions run aground: no live replies, no threading that scales, endless spam. And yet comments are worth fighting for — measured across the GraphComment platform, every commenter draws 21 readers who follow the discussion. That’s audience and engagement you already own, no ad budget required. Hosted comment platforms promise to fix the comment section — but usually at a hidden price: your readers get tracked and served ads, your comments end up locked in someone else’s silo, and your page speed pays for it. GraphComment 5.0 is built to fix the comment section without that price. Here is the deal, point by point — and every claim below is verifiable. 1. Spam never reaches your site. Spam bots don’t fill comment forms — they hammer WordPress’s native comment submission endpoint (wp-comments-post.php) directly, which is why the flood continues even when comments look closed. AI has made that spam cheap, fluent and endless — it no longer looks like spam. With GraphComment active, that endpoint is shut and every comment goes through a moderated pipeline instead: smart filtering, insult detection, trusted-member auto-approval — and AI Moderation Assist, included free for your first 100 AI analyses each month. The AI reads the article before judging the comment, so it catches what keyword filters can’t, then suggests a decision with its reasoning — you stay in control. 2. Actually free — and your readers are not the product. No ads next to your content, ever. No ad-tracking of your readers. The free plan is not a trial: it includes 1M data loads a month — far beyond a typical blog’s traffic — with guest commenting, media embedding, moderation tools and real-time discussions included. And because of point 3, there is no hostage scenario the day you outgrow it. 3. Your comments live in YOUR database — reviewers keep pointing this out. GraphComment continuously synchronizes every comment back into your WordPress database, author identity included — on a schedule, and instantly with the new webhook push. Deactivate the plugin tomorrow and your discussions are still there, in wp_comments, served natively. No export request, no ransom, no dead links. That’s why trying it is risk-free. 4. Your readers comment without creating an account. Guest commenting is on by default, social login is one tap, and your registered users can flow through SSO — included on every plan. Forcing readers to create yet another account is what empties a comment section — GraphComment never does. 5. Near-native performance — measured by independent tests, not just by us. An independent benchmark by Servebolt (2023, updated February 2026) found GraphComment adds as few HTTP requests as WordPress native comments. Our own Lighthouse benchmarks show the same LCP and zero main-thread blocking as a page with no comment plugin at all. 6. Make it yours — without paid add-ons. Your logo, your fonts, fine-grained themes with a beautiful dark mode, hundreds of settings — free. Even the philosophy of your discussion space is yours: Bubble Flow threading that keeps 300-comment debates readable, classic chronological, or flat — switch freely. Elsewhere, image uploads, extra spam protection or comment search come as paid add-ons; here they’re included. And the rest is there too: real-time commenting with instant reply notifications, inline images and videos, one-file import (WordPress WXR or Disqus XML, processed in the background), indexable comments with structured data for search engines, and your comments served as real HTML to the AI crawlers that don’t run JavaScript (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, OAI-SearchBot, Amazonbot and more, as of September 2026 — your discussions show up in generative engines too), a widget in 21 languages with a back-office in 10 and a fully rebuilt RTL layout, and a two-click connection with a setup wizard that ends on your next action. Hosting in Europe, under GDPR, with you as the data controller. Leaving Disqus? Do it before it costs you your community. A fact worth knowing: Disqus’s own comment export contains no commenter email addresses. The longer you stay, the more of your community’s identity stays behind when you leave. GraphComment is the opposite trade: your commenters live in your WordPress database from day one. Migration is one file: export from Disqus (custom XML) or WordPress (WXR), upload it in the plugin, and large archives are processed in the background. No ads, EU hosting, GDPR — and your community stays yours. Everything essential is in the free plan — no paid add-ons The pieces other comment plugins often sell as paid add-ons — image uploads, extra spam protection, comment search, front-end moderation — are part of GraphComment’s free plan, not a growing bill. Spam is handled at the root, too: instead of filtering comments after bots reach your site, GraphComment closes WordPress’s native comment submission endpoint so automated spam never enters your moderation queue, with AI Moderation Assist included on every plan to catch what filters miss. Already have WordPress comments? They stay exactly where they are. What’s new in GraphComment 5.x Visible in AI engines (GEO) — your discussions are served as real HTML to AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and more) and show up in generative answers. Structural spam shield — WordPress’s native comment submission endpoint is closed while GraphComment is active: spam bots hit a wall instead of your moderation queue. AI Moderation Assist, now with a free tier — the AI reads the article, flags risky comments and suggests a decision; free for your first 100 AI analyses each month. Connection in two clicks — a simple popup links your site to GraphComment. No more OAuth forms; new users can create their GraphComment site without leaving wp-admin. Gutenberg block — place the comment area anywhere with the GraphComment block, on block themes and classic themes alike. Shortcode & developer filters — [graphcomment] plus graphcomment_init_args / graphcomment_should_apply filters for full control from your theme (see For Developers). WooCommerce support — enable GraphComment on product pages when you want it. Instant backup sync — a secure webhook wakes the synchronization the moment a new comment arrives, instead of waiting for the next cron run. Diagnostic page — one click runs 7 health checks (connectivity, cron, sync freshness…) and produces a copy-paste report for support. Import by file — WXR and Disqus XML upload for large archives, with background processing. Domain migration (Premium) — move your site to a new domain without losing a single thread; 10,000 threads migrated in seconds. 21 languages & rebuilt RTL — plugin admin translated in 21 languages, moderation back-office in 10, with a proper right-to-left layout for Arabic, Persian and Hebrew. Free customization — logo, fonts, fine-grained themes with dark mode, and free choice of discussion layout (Bubble Flow, chronological or flat). Hardened security — site credentials encrypted at rest, signed API calls, and a modernized PHP 8-ready codebase with automated tests. Everything in the free plan: Real-time discussions — Bubble Flow threading, chronological or flat, your choice Custom logo, fonts, fine-grained themes with dark mode, hundreds of settings Guest commenting, social login, automatic registration Single Sign-On with your WordPress user base — on the free plan too Media embedding, text formatting, badges, community profiles Smart moderation, insult filtering, banning tools, multi-moderators AI Moderation Assist for your first 100 AI analyses each month — the AI suggests, you decide One-file import (WordPress WXR, Disqus XML) — and continuous sync back to your database SEO-friendly indexable comments, structured data, analytics — AI crawlers included (GEO) Sliding sidebar panel, counter & Top widgets Widget translated in 21 languages, spam protection When your community grows — Premium: Domain migration — move your site to a new domain without losing a thread (10,000 threads migrated in seconds) Higher AI Moderation Assist volume — 2,000 AI analyses/month on Starter, 10,000 on Pro (extensions available) Fully automated AI moderation (Enterprise) Editorialize & pin best discussions Live PUSH discussions mode Keyword alerts Restricted right to comment Custom sender & ban emails PUSH notification center The Basic plan is free up to 1M data loads per month. Paid plans start at $29/month (Starter, 1.5M data loads — or $25/month billed annually); Pro is $59/month (5M data loads — or $51/month billed annually). See the full pricing and feature list. Support Search our Knowledge Base for solutions to common troubleshooting questions Check out our support community, Discuss GraphComment, to see if your question has been answered Talk to our Support team at support@graphcomment.com Help translate GraphComment into your language on translate.wordpress.org For Developers GraphComment 5.0 exposes a shortcode and two filters so you can place the widget outside the native comments area and adjust its behaviour from your theme or a small companion plugin, without editing the plugin. Full developer documentation ships with the plugin in HOOKS.md. Only one comment space is rendered per page (first render wins): a second [graphcomment], or a shortcode on a page that already shows the native comments, renders nothing. Shortcode [graphcomment] Place the comment widget anywhere in your content: [graphcomment] [graphcomment uid="my-custom-thread" readonly="true"] uid (optional): custom thread identifier, defaults to the post ID. Use it to share one discussion across several URLs. readonly (optional): readonly="true" forces read-only mode for this instance; otherwise the global setting applies. The shortcode obeys the same display conditions as the native integration (bots in SEO mode, plugin activation range, WooCommerce product exclusion). Filter graphcomment_init_args Adjust the widget parameters (a nested array) before the script is generated. It covers every rendering path (native template, block theme, Gutenberg block, shortcode): add_filter('graphcomment_init_args', function ($args, $post) { $args['behaviour']['uid'] = 'my-custom-thread'; return $args; }, 10, 2); Filter graphcomment_should_apply Enable or disable the widget from code — for example, re-enable WooCommerce product pages (excluded by default): add_filter('graphcomment_should_apply', function ($should, $post) { if ($post && get_post_type($post) === 'product') return true; return $should; }, 10, 2);
La Sentinelle antispam
Feel safe knowing that your website is safe from spam. La Sentinelle will guard your WordPress website against spam in a simple and effective way. It has antispam filters for comment forms and registration forms and can be extended to support plugins. The default settings should catch most spambots, and there is a settingspage to set it up according to your wishes. Current features include: 3 antispam features; Honeypot, Nonce, Form Timeout. These 3 spamfilters depend on JavaScript on the frontend. 1 antispam feature; Stop Forum Spam. Settingspage to set things up according to your wishes. Transparent to the visitor, no nagging with Captcha’s or other annoying things. By default no use of third-party services and no tracking of visitors. Lightweight and simple code. Logging for WordPress Comments and which spamfilter marked it as spam. Logging for Custom forms and which spamfilter marked it as spam. Statistics for every form how many spam submissions were blocked. WordPress forms that are protected: WordPress Comments form. WordPress Login form. WordPress Register form. WordPress Lost Password form. Form Plugins that are protected: Caldera Forms. Clean Login (Login form). Contact Form 7. Easy Digital Downloads (Login form, Register form). Everest Forms. Formidable Form Builder. Forminator. Newsletter Optin Box plugin (noptin) (standalone forms). Ultimate Member (Login form, Register form and Lost Password form). WooCommerce (Login form, Lost Password form). WPForms Lite. WP Job Manager plugin (submit job form when registering is enabled). Support If you have a problem or a feature request, please post it on the plugin’s support forum on wordpress.org. I will do my best to respond as soon as possible. If you send me an email, I will not reply. Please use the support forum. Translations Translations can be added very easily through GlotPress. You can start translating strings there for your locale. They need to be validated though, so if there’s no validator yet, and you want to apply for being validator (PTE), please post it on the support forum. I will make a request on make/polyglots to have you added as validator for this plugin/locale. How to choose an antispam plugin When you look through the WordPress Plugin Repository you will see more than a hundred antispam plugins. Which one is the best one? Short answer, there is no “best one”. No spamfilter and no method for spamfiltering is perfect. Slightly longer answer, you could try about twenty and choose the one that fits your needs best. But there is also a really long answer. There are different methods that can be used against spam, and every method has its drawbacks. In my opinion, having a low number of false positives is more important than perfectly marking all spam, you don’t want to miss out on important people or information. Nagging the user in some way has a similar effect, the user might not even want to bother with that and just walk away. Third party services: Services like Akismet, OOPSpam, Stop Forum Spam and also reCAPTCHA offer third party services to check for spam. This can be very effective, but you are giving user submitted data away to these third parties and are also giving your users up for tracking them. Captcha’s, reCAPTCHA and Quizz Questions: You are annoying your users and probably sending some of them away. This especially counts for reCAPTCHA for visitors who have third party cookies disabled. Blacklists: Often running behind the facts. That goes for the way of getting users off that list, and also in getting users on that list. Referer check: check if the Referer header is set correctly. You can never trust it is set correctly. Modern browsers are limiting the use of Referers, though for now that is mostly for third-party domains. JavaScript methods: Spammers often (always?) don’t use JavaScript, they just post the form with spammy data. Drawback for this method is that statistics say that about 1 percent of users has JavaScript disabled. Also, some websites have broken JavaScript, which might make the spamfilter break as well. Activation email for registering users. Users only get activated after clicking a link in an activation email. You still have all the non-activated users in your site however. You could have a bright idea about combining several methods, but then you get the drawbacks of all the methods you use. Another complication of choosing a good plugin is that most antispam plugins don’t tell you what methods they use. The documentation doesn’t tell you, and looking at the source code just leaves you confused at the chaos that it often is. My main motivation for writing this plugin is to offer a plugin that does spamfiltering with JavaScript methods in a simple and effective way. The claimed 1 percent of users that has JavaScript disabled will also be tech-savy enough to enable it again for your website. Compatibility This plugin is compatible with ClassicPress. Contributions This plugin is also available in Codeberg.
