Hesistant between several Comments services

Integrations & API
1

Hi All,
Been reading for a while discussion about comments services in this forum, and thanks to that I have tried almost all the comments services that have been recommended, and now I’m hesitant between some and would like your help:
According to my mail discussion with Ghost Support, the comments feature has been their target for this year but they still don’t know when they will release it. until then, I need to choose between several services:

  • Commentsbox: Light, Free (100 comments/months which is OK for a website that just started) and have all the social login. It is easier for people to comment.

  • Commento: Light and I love the minimalist design and how anonymous can comment without even log in. There are 2 cons: 10$ a month (or 100$ a year) and the log in options are less than Commentbox.

  • Cove Chat: Light, Minimalist, looks like built-in feature in Ghost. 2 Cons: 10$ a month (or 90$ a year) and only subscribers can comment (which for me is a plus, but I asked several friends they said it is annoying to sign in, get a link from the email then comment, instead of log in with social account).

I would prefer a service that is less expensive as I just started my website and I have no profit, but in my mind that Ghost may implement this feature in the near future, I’m hesitant whether to use the Free Commentbox until they release it or go with Cove Chat and pay 1 year (what if Ghost come up with this feature after 2/3 months?)

Also my question: if you have experience with moving from one comment service to other. Which one is easier to export/import? because I would like in future to export my data and import in the Ghost Future Feature.

Would love your opinions.
Thanks

2

For what it’s worth, I’ve tried quite a few, too. I’m currently using TalkYard with anonymous comments enabled, but only present comments for logged-in users, so only subscribers can comment.

However, I’d rather store comments on my server, so may go back to using Remark42, which I liked the most out of the rest.

1 Like
4

Totally agree with you. for now I decided to stick with Commentsbox, as 100 comments a month are more than enough for me, at least for the beginning. once my blog will gain traffic and I see that I can pass this limit, I hope Ghost will come up with their feature, or I will find other solutions for that.

If Commento or cove Chat would be around 5-6$ a month, I would def pay that

2 Likes
6

I like it so far! got all the social log in + very minimalist design.

I wish I know how to block the comments feature only for members as Im not tech guy

7

Depending in your theme, you may wrap the relevant part of comment.hbs with this helper.

{{#if @member}}
…
{{/if}}
8

Hi, I use headline theme.
Should I write this and it will work for Members and also Paid Members?

9

You’ll need to identify the .hbs file that handles comments; it’s probably comments.hbs, but you’ll have to check.

I added {{#if @member}} before <div class=“comments” …, and then {{/if}} at the end of the file.

Once you’re done, upload the theme. If there are any errors, Ghost will inform you.

Yes.

10

I think I may give CommentBox a go. Like Talkyard, they seem to have sensible pricing, and they are privacy focused.

One comment service effectively cost me $20.00 for a single comment. That doesn’t make economic sense when you’re starting out.

1 Like
11

let me know if you like it. $20 is way too much