| I use both Disqus and JsKit on different sites. I find Echo more complicated and more difficult to style. A bunch of what seems to be older legacy code is running around, their help and tutorials are complex and sometimes difficult to follow. They also seems to have slightly slower page loads, and deliver more javascript and objects. However, with the complexity comes more power and more options. They do require some payment, but this also gives you better sign-on options, ability to remove their branding etc. Disqus feels cleaner and the because there are fewer choices it is simpler to use. Overall it feels lighter weight (in a mostly good way). However, the reduction in options means that if it doesn't do exactly what you want out of the gate, it may not be possible to do what you want at all. Single sign-on and white label requires you to contact them -- pricing is not public on their site. I have had difficulties with both with regard to Facebook login (post OAuth 2.0) but I expect both to resolve these shortly. Tech support has been responsive for both (both unpaid Disqus and paid Echo). Integration for both into wordpress was mostly ok, though there were a few bugs with migrating comments inside of Echo it wasn't anything too difficult to address. In short, I would say I would use Disqus where you prefer a free, simpler, easier to manage solution, where you do not need to white label (remove disqus branding), don't require or don't mind multiple logins (logging in to your site and also to disqus). Use Echo if you want more options, greater ability to customize, the ability to white label and to do single sign on. In both cases you will need to do extra work to get SEO credit for blog comments and deal with occasional network slowdowns. You also have to live with their time lines for rolling out updates and features. If commenting is core to your site you may well want to bring it in house, otherwise either of these products work well. |