28
Disqus Comment System
It manages your comments while silently hijacking your affiliate revenue.
GrowingPoor rating
28/100
Users hate the injected ads and hijacked affiliate links because the free tier feels like a trap.
Active installs
~45,000
our estimate · wp.org shows 40k+
Rating
2.7★
219 ratings
Trend · vs a year ago
+27%
Growing fast
119 → 151 installs/day
What to watch out for
- MAJORverified rating is 1.72★
- MINORreviews unevenly distributed over time
Downloads over time
real new installs per day · release spikes shown separately from the trend2025-04-302025-08-082025-11-162026-02-232026-06-03
organicrelease spikerelease tailorganic trend · 14d rolling median
Growing fast · +27% in the last year
119/day a year ago→151/day today
Reviews
what people actually sayDisqus Comment System was once a well-regarded commenting solution but has developed a strongly negative reputation due to pervasive injected ads, affiliate link hijacking, and broken core functionality, with no meaningful path to opt out without paying.
What people like
- +Historically valued as a feature-rich commenting system that worked well for many years×4
- +Easy to add a comment system to a WordPress site×2
Common complaints
- −Injects large volumes of spammy, inappropriate, and sometimes sexually explicit ads into site pages without user consent and with no free opt-out×10
- −Hijacks affiliate links and replaces them with Disqus/VigLink affiliate tags, silently stealing revenue from site owners×2
- −Comment sync is broken or severely limited — Disqus comments do not reliably sync back to WordPress, and sync is capped at comments newer than 12 months×5
- −Removing the plugin risks permanent loss of comments older than 12 months, which remain locked in Disqus's system×2
- −Plugin is effectively abandoned, with no active support and closed support threads×3
- −Makes sites significantly slower due to heavy scripts
- −Not genuinely AMP compatible despite claims; requires manual code tweaks
- −Does not work correctly on WordPress 6
- −Removing ads requires a paid subscription ($132+/year), effectively monetising users who installed a free plugin×2
Review trustReviews look organic
- 1.72★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 2.70★
- 15%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members
Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower
2023-08-192025-01-102026-06-04
5★ reviews1–4★ reviews
All-time ratings · 219 total
Latest reviews · 89 analyzed
- 2026-02-22★★★★★Work Correctslavomir12
- 2025-09-02★★★★★I don't want SPAM ads.ryo2net1-shot
- 2025-08-19★★★★★Скрытая рекламаViktor Androshuck
- 2025-08-05★★★★★latest updates have helped!caper2zxc1-shot
- 2025-03-26★★★★★Fake/Spammy plugin never use it will put spammy ad's on your siteahmadraza125151
- 2025-03-26★★★★★Suddenly: SPAMtiborblomhall
- 2024-04-05★★★★★Hey syncing actually works?mikechrome1-shot
- 2024-03-03★★★★★Won't Load Comments, and Seemingly No Supportnatrev121
- 2024-01-30★★★★★SCAMxyr0x
- 2023-08-09★★★★★Sync comments does not workAnton Korotkoff
Releases
recent versions from WordPress.org SVNFor developers & the curious
the raw signals behind the grade — none of this is on the friendly summary aboveDownload signals
Baselines are computed on organic days only — release spikes and their tails are excluded, so they're not inflated by the auto-update wave.
145
Baseline · median of last 7 organic days
155
Prior 7-day baseline
114
Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days
706
Mean release-day peak (30d)
147
Latest day · 2026-06-03(organic)
-6.5%
Week-over-week organic trend
Review signals
Concentration and drive-by metrics drive the review-burst and fake-review flags. 30–40% solo reviewers is normal; we only flag the extremes.
20%
Max month share · biggest single 30-day window
1.97
Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty
16%
5★ share in analyzed sample
15%
Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity
-67%
Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo
1.78 → 1.72★
Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered