What it does
Disqus embeds hosted comments on websites and gives publishers an administration panel for review. Basic is free with required advertising; paid subscriptions change ad controls, site limits and moderation features. Publishers register an account and their website before installing the embed.
Advertising and combined site traffic determine the plan choice:
| Plan | Scope |
|---|---|
| Basic | Free, with required top ad placement and content eligibility rules |
| Plus | Optional ads; up to 3 sites, with traffic bands up to 900,000 monthly pageviews |
| Pro | Up to 20 sites and 5 million monthly pageviews; additional moderation and analytics |
| Business | Custom pricing, site login integration and additional support |
Paid plans offer monthly or annual billing. Traffic bands change the fee. Exceeding the organization's pageview or site-count threshold without updating its subscription can cause ads to return. Polls is a separate subscription.
Under Settings > Moderation, choose a profile and adjust its rules. Set Pre-moderation to All to hold every comment, or apply review to an individual thread. Guest comments always need moderator approval. Pro and Business can hold new commenters for a chosen period.
Restricted-word matching removes punctuation, and wildcards may catch unintended words. Check each rule's recent statistics and review pending submissions. In the moderation panel, select comments individually or in bulk and choose Approve, Delete or Spam. The History tab shows earlier decisions.
Registration creates a site shortname. Use that identifier in the platform-specific installation or Universal Embed Code so comments belong to the right community.
Strengths
- Pre-moderation can cover one article thread or the whole site
- Bulk decisions and commenter histories support staff review
Watch out for
- Free Basic requires advertising and content eligibility
- Unresolved traffic or site-count overages can bring ads back
Best for
- Publishers wanting hosted article discussions with configurable staff review
Sources
- Disqus Comments Pricing and Plans (Oct 27, 2026)
- Disqus Moderation Settings (Oct 27, 2026)
- Disqus Moderating 101 (Oct 27, 2026)
- Disqus Publisher Quick Start Guide (Oct 27, 2026)