Epoch – A native Disqus alternative with a focus on speed and privacy
by Josh Pollock · Performance
Also makes 5 other plugins · 240+ installs across the portfolio →
Epoch - 100% realtime chat and commenting in a tiny little package that is fully CDN and cache compatible.
47 health vs 67 average across 1,075 Performance plugins
High removal-risk signals
63/100Maintenance and integrity signals that tend to precede a WordPress.org removal. Not an official status, a heads-up to act.
- Long abandoned. No update in 10+ years — the top precursor to removal once a vulnerability is found.
- Compatibility drift. Tested only up to WordPress 4.4.34, well behind 6.8.
Directory ranking optimization
How it's scored →How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.
Under-optimized
Biggest win: Update recency
To rank higher: Last updated 3910 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.
Get the full rank-higher report →Daily downloads
Since 2022-10-05 · 1,427 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peaks are release surges
199
now · peak 329
Directory rank vs rivals
wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you
Rating trend
Star average over time · dips mark rough releases
Update activity
How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.
Release cadence
No release in a yearHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
0
releases in the last 12 months
10.7y ago
latest release · v1.0.14
30
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 100% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “60+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Refined from the date this plugin crossed into its current band.
Install history · since 2015-09-06 · 1,402 observations
Estimated value
What this plugin might earn a year, and what it might sell for. Modeled from public signals; we don't see anyone's books.
Est. annual revenue
Est. acquisition value
No paid tier is visible, so we don't put a figure on revenue or sale value: that would be guessing. The install base is a real asset to an acquirer, just not one public data lets us price. A small install base leaves thin data to model from.
Details
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ PhilippePierre7.5y ago
Great plugin, thanks! Unfortunately, no updates for too long : “Reply” link doesn’t work with WordPress version 5.1. Thank you for fixing it.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Ronald8.5y ago
Good comment plugin but please update codes for lastest version of jquery. (It’s not compatible with latest versions of Jquery) .post .success are deprecated in jQuery 3.0
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ cyann10.1y ago
I’ve tried the 3 settings, all display comments on password protected pages. Version 1.0.14
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ 0phir10.5y ago
This plugins seem to have a nice upgrade to the built-in WP comment system. However currently it does not work well on my website (in Hebrew). It seem that the Right-to-left languages is currently not supported. I hope it would be supported in the next version.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ George10.7y ago
A great plugin, simple and does what it says it does.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ CaveatLector10.8y ago
Limited use so far, but looks good and seems to work fine.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ boluajibs10.9y ago
This plugin is beautiful. WOW! It totally transforms the commenting experience on my website.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Patrick H11.0y ago
Pushed it to production about 2 weeks ago and perfectly handles more than 300 comments per day. No issues ! No spam ! Thanks a lot for this Excellent Plugin !!
Read on wp.org ↗
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.2.16 · WP 5.3
Languages
via translate.wordpress.orgTranslated into 78 languages, 4 at 90% or more
Plus 54 more locales with partial translations.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-08-07 70+ → 60+ down after 145 days in tier
- 2026-03-15 80+ → 70+ down after 7 days in tier
- 2026-03-08 70+ → 80+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2026-03-07 80+ → 70+ down after 2 days in tier
- 2026-03-05 70+ → 80+ up after 15 days in tier
- 2026-02-18 80+ → 70+ down after 3 days in tier
- 2026-02-15 70+ → 80+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2026-02-14 80+ → 70+ down after 74 days in tier
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).
-
SpeedyCache – Cache, Optimization, Performance 600K+ installs · 4.2★ · 2 shared tags A -
Breeze Cache 300K+ installs · 3.6★ · 2 shared tags B -
Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ installs · 4.8★ · 2 shared tags A -
Comments – wpDiscuz 60K+ installs · 4.7★ · 2 shared tags B -
Pantheon Advanced Page Cache 10K+ installs · 4.0★ · 2 shared tags B -
Swift Performance Lite 6K+ installs · 3.6★ · 2 shared tags B
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Epoch – A native Disqus alternative with a focus on speed and privacy into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/epoch" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Epoch – A native Disqus alternative with a focus on speed and privacy — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Epoch – A native Disqus alternative with a focus on speed and privacy: 60+ active installs, 4.5★ (21 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-08-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/epoch