Comparing Utterances to Waline

Compare Utterances with Waline for adding comments to your static site.

Utterances

A lightweight comments widget built on GitHub issues

Overview

Uses GitHub OAuth; bot creates issues per page; no database needed

+ Pros

• No ads
• no tracking
• open source
• data stored in GitHub issues
• Markdown support
• dark theme
• lightweight

− Cons

• Requires GitHub login for commenters
• no responses display widget
• tied to GitHub ecosystem

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Waline

A simple and cute comment system with backend

Partial free

Overview

Fork of Valine with significant improvements; GDPR-compliant storage options

+ Pros

• Open source
• multiple deployment options
• email notifications
• spam protection
• Markdown support
• reactions
• page views

− Cons

• Moderate setup complexity
• requires Node.js knowledge for self-hosting
• free tier relies on Vercel

Visit Waline →