Comentario vs Cusdis
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Comentario
Privacy-friendly, self-hosted web comments engine
VS
Cusdis
Archived
Lightweight, privacy-friendly embeddable comment system
| Feature | Comentario | Cusdis |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 700 | ★ 2,780 |
| First released | 2023 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Disqus | Disqus |
What are Comentario and Cusdis?
Comentario
Comentario is a fast, privacy-conscious commenting platform that you can embed on any website. It is a lightweight self-hosted alternative to Disqus written in Go.
- Embeddable comments widget
- No tracking or ads
- Multiple identity providers
- Moderation dashboard
Cusdis
Cusdis is an open-source, lightweight alternative to Disqus that embeds a tiny comment widget into websites. It is privacy-focused, with no tracking and a small footprint.
- Tiny embeddable widget
- Privacy-friendly, no tracking
- Email and webhook notifications
- Moderation dashboard
Comentario vs Cusdis: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Cusdis's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Comentario is actively maintained. Comentario is written in Go, while Cusdis is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — MIT for Comentario versus GPL-3.0 for Cusdis. Cusdis is the more established project (first released 2021), while Comentario arrived in 2023. Cusdis has the considerably larger community, at 2,780 GitHub stars versus 700.
Why pick each one
Choose Comentario if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Go
Watch out for
- Comments only, not a forum
- Younger project
Choose Cusdis if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.8k GitHub stars)
Watch out for
- Comments only
- Smaller feature set
Frequently asked questions
Is Comentario or Cusdis better?
Neither is universally better. Cusdis has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Comentario and Cusdis free and open-source?
Yes. Comentario is licensed under MIT and Cusdis under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Comentario and Cusdis with Docker?
Comentario: yes. Cusdis: yes.