Comments live in your own repo's Discussions, so you keep them. giscus is an open source comment widget that stores comments in the GitHub Discussions of a repository you pick. You add one script tag to a page, giscus finds the discussion that matches the page by pathname, URL, title or a specific term, and the giscus bot creates the discussion the first time someone comments. Visitors authorize the giscus app with GitHub to comment, or they can comment on the discussion directly on GitHub. The README says no tracking, no ads and always free, with no database to run, custom themes, more than 30 languages and a self-hosting guide. The repository must be public, the giscus app must be installed and Discussions must be on. The code is MIT licensed with 12.2k stars, and the README warns that features may break or change as GitHub develops Discussions and its API.
Free tier quotas
Price
Free, with no paid plan
Storage
GitHub Discussions in your own public repository
Ads and tracking
None, per the README
Page mapping
Pathname, URL, page title, og:title, a specific term or a discussion number
Themes
GitHub light and dark variants, Catppuccin, Gruvbox and a custom option marked experimental
Languages
More than 30 in the language picker
Reactions
Supported, including on the main post
Self-hosting
Guide in the repository
License
MIT
Last sniffed Oct 7, 2026. Always confirm on the official pricing page.
👍 Good boy
+It costs nothing and carries no ads or tracking. The README says no tracking, no ads and always free, and GitHub shows an MIT license.
+There is no database to run. Comments are GitHub Discussions, so you moderate them on GitHub and keep the data in your own repository.
+Setup is a single script tag generated by the configuration page, with options for language, theme, reactions, lazy loading and comment box position.
+Page mapping is flexible. You can match discussions by pathname, URL, title, og:title, a specific term or a fixed discussion number, with strict title matching to avoid fuzzy-search mismatches.
+It migrates from other tools. The README explains how to convert GitHub issues from utterances or gitalk into discussions, and an r/dotnet post covers moving comments from Disqus to giscus.
+The project is maintained. The latest commit on the main branch was on May 26, 2026, and the repository has 12.2k stars and 1,138 commits.
+A Hacker News commenter described giscus as a GitHub Discussions based comment system with reply and reaction features, compared with the issue-based utterances.
+It can be self-hosted, and there are React, Vue and Svelte component libraries.
👎 Watch out
−Commenters need a GitHub account. They must authorize the giscus app through GitHub OAuth, or comment on the discussion on GitHub directly. An r/statichosting poster asked for something that supports more login methods.
−The repository has to be public. The setup page says visitors cannot view the discussion otherwise, so comment content is public on GitHub.
−It depends on GitHub. The README notes that GitHub is still developing Discussions and its API, so some giscus features may break or change over time.
−Moderation happens in GitHub. The README says you can moderate the comments on GitHub, which means there is no separate comments dashboard.
−Matching can go wrong. The configuration page offers strict title matching because GitHub's fuzzy search can mismatch similar discussion titles, and choosing a specific discussion number disables automatic creation.
−I found no G2, Capterra or Trustpilot ratings for giscus. The evidence here comes from the README, the setup page, a Hacker News thread and Reddit thread excerpts.
The catch
giscus is free and open source under the MIT license. It runs on GitHub Discussions, so you need a public repository with Discussions turned on and the giscus GitHub app installed. Visitors sign in with GitHub to comment.
The README warns that the project is under active development and that GitHub is still developing Discussions and its API, so some features may break or change over time. A self-hosting guide is in the repository if you want to run your own instance and GitHub app.
The commercial use value is based on the MIT license shown on GitHub. I did not read the license text itself.
What’s included
✓Comments on GitHub Discussions
✓Reactions
✓Custom themes
✓More than 30 languages
✓Page to discussion mapping
✓Automatic discussion creation
✓Lazy loading
✓Comment box above or below
✓Strict title matching
✓Metadata events for the parent page
✓Self-hosting guide
✓React, Vue and Svelte components
Free tier value
Generosity
A
Estimated value
Free; no paid plan
Feature parity
One version only. Self-hosting uses the same code with your own GitHub app.
Screenshots
giscus homepage
Paid plans
No paid plan
The README says giscus is always free and has no ads or tracking.
Self-host your own instance
The repository has a self-hosting guide. You supply the hosting and your own GitHub app.
Common questions
Is giscus free?
Yes. The README says no tracking, no ads and always free.
Where are comments stored?
In GitHub Discussions on the repository you choose. No separate database is needed.
Does my repository have to be public?
Yes. The setup page says a private repository means visitors cannot view the discussion.
Can visitors comment without a GitHub account?
No. They authorize the giscus app with GitHub, or comment on the GitHub Discussion directly.
Can I move from utterances or gitalk?
Yes. The README says you can convert existing GitHub issues into discussions and make sure the titles match your pages.
Which discussion category should I use?
The setup page recommends a category with the Announcements type so only maintainers and giscus can create new discussions.
Change history
Checked October 22, 2026
Latest commit on main was May 26, 2026. The repository shows 12.2k stars and an MIT license.
