giscus
A free comment system for websites that stores comments in GitHub Discussions.
- Stars
- 12.2k
- Forks
- 490
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- TypeScript
- Last update
- 5 months ago
- Type
- App
What it is
giscus is a commenting widget you add to a website, such as a blog. Visitors leave comments and reactions, and those comments are stored as GitHub Discussions in a repository you choose, so no separate database is needed. It is open source, and the README says it has no tracking or ads.
- Add a comment section to a static blog post
- Let visitors react to and discuss pages via GitHub Discussions
- Migrate existing utterances-style GitHub Issue comments into Discussions
- Use custom themes and multiple languages for the comment widget
Great for
- Developers who run a blog or docs site and want comments without a database
- Projects whose audience already uses GitHub
- Site owners who want to moderate comments on GitHub
- People who prefer open-source, self-hostable tools
Not ideal for
- Readers who do not have or want a GitHub account, since the README says visitors must authorize the giscus app or comment on GitHub directly
- Non-technical site owners who would find repository and app setup difficult
- Sites that need a built-in comment admin panel instead of moderating on GitHub
How to get it
- 1
Clone and build from source
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/giscus/giscus - 2
Run it
- Install the giscus app on the GitHub repository that will hold your comments
- Enable Discussions on that repository
- Visit giscus.app to generate the embed snippet for your site
- Paste the snippet into your page and load it to confirm comments appear
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Use the advanced usage guide to allow specific origins
- Choose a mapping such as pathname or title so each page maps to the right discussion
- Use the giscus component library for React, Vue, or Svelte
- Convert existing GitHub Issue comments into Discussions when migrating from utterances or gitalk
Downloads
Strengths
- No database to run, since comments live in GitHub Discussions
- Open source under the MIT license, with no tracking or ads according to the README
- Configurable, with custom themes, multiple languages, and optional self-hosting
Trade-offs
- The README warns that the project is under active development and some features may break or change as GitHub's Discussions API changes
- Visitors need a GitHub account to comment, which limits who can take part
- No latest release is listed, so users track the main branch rather than a versioned release
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| giscus (this) | 12.2k | App | intermediate | 5 months ago | Developers who run a blog or docs site and want comments without a database |
| zustand | 58.9k | Library | beginner | 15 days ago | React developers who want simpler shared state than Redux |
| gitea | 58.8k | App | intermediate | 4 days ago | Teams that want to host their own code instead of using a public cloud service |
| gatsby | 55.9k | Framework | intermediate | 17 days ago | Developers building content-heavy sites such as blogs or documentation |
| react-hook-form | 44.9k | Library | intermediate | 5 days ago | React developers building forms with several fields |
| refined-github | 32.4k | App | beginner | 4 days ago | Developers who use GitHub daily for code review, issues, and pull requests |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.