Commenti – Disable & Remove Comments, Stop Spam [Multi-Site Support]

by Yakura

Description

Commenti lets you disable comments across your entire WordPress site with one click, or selectively remove comments on specific post types. Hide comment forms, delete existing comments in bulk, stop spam, and clean up your admin — with full multisite network support and WP-CLI commands.

Why Commenti?

WordPress’s built-in Discussion settings only scratch the surface. They let you close comments on future posts, but existing posts stay open, comment menus clutter the admin, REST API endpoints remain exposed, and pingback headers keep broadcasting. Commenti closes every door — front end, back end, feeds, APIs — while giving you fine-grained control over what stays open.

One click vs. granular — Disable everything at once, or choose exactly which post types to affect
Per-post overrides — Keep comments open on specific posts even when disabled globally
Safe by default — Disabling comments never deletes anything. Deletion is a separate, intentional action
Developer-friendly — 16+ filters, 7+ actions, 8 WP-CLI commands, and a REST API for full programmatic control

Features

Disable All or Per Post Type — One toggle to disable comments everywhere, or select specific post types
Per-Post Override — Enable or disable comments on individual posts via a meta box
Show Existing Comments — Optionally keep displaying previously posted comments while blocking new ones
Admin Cleanup — Remove the Comments menu, admin bar item, dashboard widgets, and block editor comment blocks
REST API Blocking — Remove /wp/v2/comments endpoints and block comment requests
XML-RPC Blocking — Remove all comment-related XML-RPC methods
Feed & Pingback Removal — Remove comment RSS feeds, X-Pingback headers, and pingback XML-RPC methods
Avatar & Gravatar Control — Disable avatar display and block external Gravatar requests for privacy
Comment Type Whitelisting — Allow specific comment types like WooCommerce order notes or WP 6.9 Notes to bypass disabling
User Role Exclusions — Exempt specific user roles from comment restrictions
Scheduled Disable — Automatically close comments on posts older than a set number of days via WP-Cron
Bulk Comment Deletion — Delete comments by post type, comment type, or status with a statistics preview before you commit
Import/Export Settings — Transfer your configuration between sites via JSON files
Activity Log — Full audit trail of every settings change, import, and bulk deletion
Setup Wizard — Three-step first-run wizard to configure your site in under a minute
Multisite Support — Network activation with network-wide settings and per-subsite management
WP-CLI Commands — 8 commands for status, settings, deletion, stats, export, import, log, and reset
Custom REST API — yakura-commenti/v1/ endpoints for reading and updating settings programmatically

For Developers

Commenti exposes 16+ filters and 7+ actions at every decision point — override whether a post type is disabled, modify settings before save, react after bulk deletions, filter REST endpoints, and more. All hooks are prefixed with yakura_commenti_.

REST API: GET/POST /yakura-commenti/v1/settings, GET /yakura-commenti/v1/status (requires manage_options).

Requirements

WordPress 5.9 or later
PHP 7.4 or later

Installation

Upload the yakura-commenti folder to /wp-content/plugins/
Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu
Complete the setup wizard that appears on first activation, or go to Commenti in the admin sidebar to configure manually

Screenshots

Dashboard with comment statistics and quick status overview
Settings page with per-post-type comment controls
Setup wizard — configure your site in three steps
Tools page with bulk comment deletion and statistics preview
Per-post meta box for overriding global comment settings
Activity log showing an audit trail of all changes

Faq

Does this delete existing comments?

No. Disabling comments only prevents new comments from being posted. Your existing comments remain in the database untouched. You can optionally keep displaying them on the front end by enabling the “Show Existing Comments” setting. If you do want to delete comments, use the Tools page for bulk deletion with a preview of exactly what will be removed.

How do I remove the “comments are closed” message?

Commenti replaces the default comment template with a blank one, so the “comments are closed” message should not appear. If your theme uses a custom template that hard-codes this message, you may need to edit your theme template or use a CSS rule to hide it.

Can I disable comments on specific post types only?

Yes. Instead of disabling everywhere, select individual post types (posts, pages, custom post types) from the Post Types tab in settings. Only the selected types will have comments disabled.

Can I keep comments open on a specific post?

Yes. Every post, page, and custom post type has a “Commenti” meta box in the editor. Set it to “Enable” to override the global setting and keep comments open on that particular post.

Does this work with WooCommerce?

Yes. WooCommerce order notes use a special comment type. You can whitelist “Order Note” in the Comment Types setting so order notes continue to work normally even when comments are disabled.

Does this stop spam comments?

Yes. Commenti blocks comment submissions at multiple levels: it closes the comment form, blocks the REST API comment endpoints, removes XML-RPC comment methods, and returns an error on direct form submissions. Spam bots cannot post comments through any channel.

Does this disable pingbacks and trackbacks?

Yes. When feed and pingback removal is enabled, the plugin removes the X-Pingback header, closes pings on all posts, and removes the pingback.ping and pingback.extensions.getPingbacks XML-RPC methods.

Will this break my theme or other plugins?

No. Commenti uses standard WordPress filters and actions. It does not modify your database schema, alter theme files, or override other plugins. If you deactivate it, everything returns to its previous state.

Can I re-enable comments after disabling them?

Yes. All changes are reversible. Toggle the settings back, deactivate the plugin, or use the per-post override to re-enable comments on individual posts. Nothing is permanently altered.

Does this slow down my site?

No. The plugin is lightweight and only runs the hooks it needs. There are no external API calls, no additional database tables, and no front-end JavaScript. Blocking Gravatar requests can actually improve page load times by preventing external HTTP requests.

Are my settings preserved when I update the plugin?

Yes. Settings are stored in the WordPress options table and are not affected by plugin updates. You can also export your settings as a JSON backup at any time.

Is this compatible with multisite?

Yes. Network activate the plugin and use the Network Settings page to apply configuration across all sites. You can also manage settings per subsite.

Does this work with the block editor (Gutenberg)?

Yes. The plugin removes comment-related blocks (Post Comments, Comments Query Loop) from the block editor inserter so they cannot be added to new posts.

Can I manage this from the command line?

Yes. Commenti includes 8 WP-CLI commands: wp yakura-commenti status, settings, delete, stats, export, import, log, and reset. Run wp help yakura-commenti for full documentation.

Reviews

Changelog

1.0.2

Fixed whitelisted comment types (e.g. WP 6.9 Notes, WooCommerce order notes) being blocked by the REST API even when added to the allowed list
Fixed REST API comment disabler ignoring per-post overrides and user role exclusions when “Disable Everywhere” is enabled
Fixed settings page AJAX save reporting success on database write failures instead of showing an error
Fixed network settings, setup wizard, and import handlers firing the settings_saved action even when nothing actually changed
Added 75 integration tests covering cross-component consistency, REST API settings endpoints, template replacement edge cases, and plugin lifecycle hooks

1.0.1

Fixed settings page unable to uncheck boolean options that default to enabled (e.g. Remove Admin Menu, REST API blocking)
Fixed setup wizard resetting non-wizard settings to defaults when completing the wizard
Fixed subsite admins able to overwrite network-wide settings when plugin is network-activated
Fixed REST API settings endpoint missing capability check for network-activated installs
Fixed REST API comment disabler blocking all post types even when only specific types are disabled
Fixed REST API comment disabler ignoring per-post overrides and user role exclusions
Fixed scheduled disable using local time instead of UTC for date comparison, causing timezone-dependent errors
Fixed REST settings endpoint masking database write failures as “no changes detected”
Fixed REST settings endpoint not applying the before_save_settings filter
Fixed WP-CLI boolean coercion preventing integer settings from being set to 0 or 1
Fixed WP-CLI settings command not firing settings_saved action for activity log tracking
Fixed WP-CLI import command showing wrong syntax in class-level help docs
Fixed WP-CLI settings command silently showing table when –set provided without –value
Fixed comment feed links leaking in HTML head on WordPress 5.9 and 6.0 (pre-6.1 compatibility)
Fixed comment feeds accessible via RSS 0.92 and RDF formats bypassing feed disabling
Fixed feed disabler pings_open filter bypassing user role exclusions and per-post disable overrides
Fixed comment type whitelist overriding spam filter decisions by returning approved instead of pending
Fixed network activation writing default options to wrong storage (site-level instead of network-level)

1.0.0

Added core comment disabling with site-wide and per-post-type control
Added per-post override meta box for individual comment control
Added option to show existing comments while blocking new ones
Added admin cleanup: menu, admin bar, dashboard widgets, block editor blocks
Added REST API comment endpoint blocking
Added XML-RPC comment method blocking
Added comment feed and pingback removal
Added avatar disabling and Gravatar request blocking
Added comment type whitelisting for WooCommerce order notes and WP 6.9 Notes
Added user role exclusions from comment disabling
Added scheduled comment disable via WP-Cron
Added bulk comment deletion tools with statistics preview
Added settings import and export as JSON
Added activity log for settings changes and bulk actions
Added three-step setup wizard
Added multisite support with network settings
Added 8 WP-CLI commands for full command-line management
Added custom REST API endpoints for programmatic settings access
Added 16+ developer filters and 7+ actions for extensibility