Disqus and Intense Debate are two of the most well known comment systems based on javascript. Both of them are easy and free to install to any blog or static website. Most of the blogs that do not use the original comment systems of their platforms like WordPress or Blogger, use any one of these. But which one of these stands ahead of the other? Let's see.
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| Let's disqus this debate, anyone? |
Customization:
Intense Debate leads here because with Intense Debate, if you have knowledge about CSS, then you can customize the layout of your comment form to change it's appearance, remove useless buttons and much more. Original comment box by Intense Debate is a bit more clumsy and full of 'buttons and other confusion' such as login buttons for Intense Debate, WordPress, twitter, etc. The more the number of buttons, more confusion for new visitors and so less the number of comments. So customization is indeed recommended if you use Intense Debate. With Disqus, you have no options to customise the look of your comment form. But Disqus already comes with a clean and less clumsy interface so there would not arise much need of customization.
In short, Intense Debate wins ( If you know CSS...:) )
Speed:
I have tried both these comment systems on my blog and I can say that both of them qualify for speed. Earlier Disqus comments loaded a bit slower than required, but with the updated Disqus 2012 features, the speed is highly improved. Disqus now runs a bit more faster than Intense Debate. But if the Intense Debate comment form is customized (Using CSS) to bring its 'buttons and other confusion' to a minimum level, then Intense Debate surpasses Disqus in matter of speed.
In short, Disqus is faster than Intense Debate unless it is customized so.
Rewards with CommentLuv:
One sentence judgement- Intense Debate wins. There is no commentluv feature with Disqus whereas with Intense Debate, you can install commentluv plugin to your comment box.
Other Features
Intense Debate supports Gravatar.
Disqus allows importing comments from Blogger's default comment system. This feature is absent in Intense Debate.
My recommendation
If you own a new blog and are looking forward to choosing one from Disqus and Intense Debate, then choose Disqus. Because it is simple, fast to load and easy to comment on.
For old and well established blogs, try Intense Debate, because you can customise it, allow quality comments through commentluv and also Intense Debate supports Gravatar.
The default comment system for WordPress is itself a very good and clean one. So most probably you won't need to go for an alternative. But with Blogger, the default comment system is a bit unacceptable. Both of these comment systems have pros and cons so I recommend what I did - Try both and look out for better results. And do comment and let me know which one works the best for you and if you have any suggestion about these comment systems.
