Introducing Convocept: fast, native comments for WordPress
WordPress comments have two kinds of options today. You can keep core comments: fast and native, but with a reader experience that has barely changed in a decade. Or you can hand the thread to a hosted widget or a heavyweight plugin, and pay for a nicer interface with page weight, tracking or both.
Convocept is our answer to that trade-off. It is a free WordPress plugin that replaces your theme’s comment section with a modern thread, without giving up either speed or ownership.
Zero JavaScript until readers reach the comments
The thread is rendered on your server, as part of your page. Search engines see every comment as HTML, and readers who never scroll that far never download a byte of comment JavaScript.
As readers approach the thread, Convocept loads a small interaction script — under 8 KB gzipped — that adds posting in place, replies, sorting and voting. These budgets are enforced in continuous integration: a change that breaks them does not ship.
Your comments stay yours
Every comment lives in the standard wp_comments table. Akismet, exports, backups and the core Comments screen work exactly as before. Uninstall Convocept and nothing is lost; your theme’s comment section simply comes back.
What ships in 1.0
- A server-rendered thread for classic and block themes
- A composer with Markdown, preview and an edit window
- Threaded replies, sorting and “load more”
- Upvotes, pinned comments and an author badge
- Front-end moderator tools
- Reply and post subscriptions with double opt-in
- Structured data for comments
- A Disqus importer, in the dashboard and through WP-CLI
What comes next
Version 1.1 adds importers for Subscribe to Comments Reloaded and wpDiscuz, and a free Insights dashboard. Version 1.2 brings reactions and an opt-in AI spam check. The full plan is on the roadmap.
Convocept is free on WordPress.org. If you try it, we would love to hear how it goes on the support forum.