Utterences
A lightweight comments widget that uses GitHub issues for blog comments, wiki pages, and other websites.
What is Utterences?
Utterances is an open-source comments widget that integrates directly with GitHub issues, allowing website owners to add comment sections to blogs, wikis, and other static sites. It solves the problem of managing comments without a backend by using GitHub's infrastructure for storage and authentication.
Developers and content creators who run static websites, blogs, or documentation sites and want a lightweight, privacy-focused commenting system without maintaining a separate database.
Developers choose Utterances because it eliminates tracking and ads, keeps all data in their GitHub repository for full control, and requires no backend setup—making it a simple, transparent alternative to commercial comment platforms.
Overview
:crystal_ball: A lightweight comments widget built on GitHub issues
Use Cases
Best For
- Adding comments to static blogs built with Jekyll or Hugo
- Documentation sites that need feedback or discussion sections
- Privacy-focused websites avoiding third-party tracking
- Projects already using GitHub for issue management
- Lightweight websites where performance is critical
- Open-source project documentation with community interaction
Not Ideal For
- Websites targeting non-technical audiences where requiring a GitHub account would hinder participation
- Projects needing advanced comment features like threaded replies, moderation dashboards, or built-in spam filtering
- Sites requiring guaranteed uptime and independence from third-party APIs, as Utterances depends on GitHub's availability
Pros & Cons
Pros
Utterances has no tracking, ads, or analytics, ensuring user privacy as explicitly stated in the README.
All comments are stored directly in your GitHub repository as issues, preventing vendor lock-in and giving you complete control over the data.
Built with vanilla TypeScript and no frameworks or polyfills, it minimizes page load times for modern browsers, as highlighted in the features.
The utterances bot automatically creates a matching GitHub issue when the first comment is posted, simplifying setup without manual intervention.
Cons
Only users with GitHub accounts can comment, which excludes a large portion of non-developer audiences and reduces engagement potential.
It lacks advanced comment functionality like nested replies, moderation tools, or spam protection, relying solely on GitHub issues' basic capabilities.
The widget is entirely dependent on GitHub's API and terms of service; any outages or changes can break the comment system, introducing reliability concerns.
Open Source Alternative To
Utterences is an open-source alternative to the following products:
Commento is an open-source commenting platform that can be embedded into websites as an alternative to Disqus, focusing on privacy and simplicity.
Disqus is a comment hosting service for websites that enables discussion and community engagement through embedded comment sections. It provides moderation tools, spam filtering, and social media integration.
Frequently Asked Questions
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