What is Waline used for?

Waline is a lightweight comment system with a backend, designed for blogs and static sites and deployable on many platforms and databases. It is a good fit for adding comments to a static blog and replacing a hosted comment widget.

Is Waline open source?

Yes. Waline is open source under the GPL-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at walinejs/waline and is written mainly in JavaScript.

Yes. Waline is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Waline?

Yes. Waline can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Waline an alternative to?

Waline is an open-source alternative to Disqus. Other open-source alternatives to Disqus include Isso, Remark42 and Discourse.

Is Waline actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Waline was on 2 October 2026. The project has 3.1k stars on GitHub.

Waline: open-source alternative to Disqus

About Waline

Waline is a simple, lightweight comment system with its own backend, aimed at blogs and similar websites. It supports full Markdown syntax in comments and emphasizes safety, including spam and abuse controls. Its topics reference Disqus, so it is often considered by sites looking for a self-managed alternative to hosted commenting services.

A client library, @waline/client, is embedded in the page, while the server can run on Vercel, CloudBase, Railway, Render, Zeabur, Netlify, Alibaba Cloud ComputeNest or in Docker on your own machine. Storage options include PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, TiDB, MongoDB, CloudBase and GitHub. The project advertises a very large number of deployment combinations.

Moderation and engagement features include email, WeChat, QQ and Telegram notifications, Akismet spam checking, IP-based rate limits, keyword restrictions, an IP disallow list, duplicate content checks, sticky comments, comment likes and comment management with deletion. Login support covers social accounts, there is an article counter, and the interface is internationalized with custom language support. It is licensed under GPL-2.0.

Key features

Comment system with Markdown support
Deploys to Vercel, Netlify, Railway or Docker
Storage on PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite or MongoDB
Akismet spam checking and IP rate limits
Email, Telegram, WeChat and QQ notifications
Sticky comments and comment likes
Social login and comment management

Good fit for

→Adding comments to a static blog
→Replacing a hosted comment widget

Built with: JavaScript; MongoDB; PostgreSQL; SQLite; MySQL
Tags: comments; comment-system; blog; self-hosted; markdown; vercel; disqus; moderation

Waline: questions and answers

What is Waline used for?: Waline is a lightweight comment system with a backend, designed for blogs and static sites and deployable on many platforms and databases. It is a good fit for adding comments to a static blog and replacing a hosted comment widget.
Is Waline open source?: Yes. Waline is open source under the GPL-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at walinejs/waline and is written mainly in JavaScript.
Is Waline free?: Yes. Waline is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Waline?: Yes. Waline can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Waline an alternative to?: Waline is an open-source alternative to Disqus. Other open-source alternatives to Disqus include Isso, Remark42 and Discourse.
Is Waline actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Waline was on 2 October 2026. The project has 3.1k stars on GitHub.