Isso

A small Python commenting server that site owners embed with one script tag, meant as a self-hosted drop-in for Disqus.

5.3k stars, 464 forks Python On GitHub since October 2012

Visit website View on GitHub How to run it

Isso at a glance

Open sourceYes, MITNo paid parts in the repository
Health52 of 100Actively developed
Self-hostingDockerOne-click in YunoHost
Interface29 languagesIncluding English, German and French
Issue repliesWithin ~5 hoursMedian first reply; 68% of recent issues answered

What is Isso?

Isso is a comment backend for blogs and static websites, written in Python with a JavaScript client. Visitors write comments in Markdown and may edit or delete their own posts for a short window, 15 minutes unless configured otherwise. New comments can wait in a moderation queue and stay hidden until approved. Data lives in a single SQLite file, and existing threads can be imported from Disqus or WordPress. Embedding takes one JavaScript file of about 65 kB, or 20 kB gzipped, and the widget is translated into 29 languages.

Good fit if

  • You run a static or self-built blog and want reader comments without sending visitors to a third-party tracker.
  • You are leaving Disqus or WordPress and need to carry the old discussions over.
  • You prefer a tiny service backed by SQLite over a database server you must maintain.

Look elsewhere if

  • You want another self-hosted comment engine to compare against: remark42.
  • You need a full community with threads, categories and user profiles rather than comments under articles: Discourse or Flarum.

Before you adopt it

Isso uses the MIT license and ships no paid parts in the repository. It is maintained under the isso-comments organization, but one person wrote about seven in ten recent commits, so progress rests largely on a single maintainer. Installation is through PyPI and needs Python 3.8 or newer, SQLite and a C compiler. A Docker image exists; the maintainers advise pinning it to a release tag, since the plain latest tag is rebuilt from every push to master.

Drafted with AI from the project's README and repository data, then checked against that data on 7 November 2026. Report a correction

How to run Isso yourself

One-click install

Not listed in Umbrel, TrueNAS, Unraid, CasaOS, Runtipi, Proxmox VE Helper-Scripts and Coolify. Checked against each panel’s app catalog on 12 November 2026.

Ways to install

Docker files
Dockerfile or compose file in the repository
Docker image
ghcr.io/isso-comments/isso: x86-64, ARM64
Compose file
docker-compose.yml: 2 services
Setup effort
2 of 5, judged from the compose file
Kubernetes
No Helm chart in the repository
Packages
Ubuntu, AUR and Nix versions on Repology
Desktop and mobile
No app builds in GitHub releases
Interface languages
29 languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish
Show all 29

Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Finnish, French, Galician, German, Greek, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Occitan, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese

Install instructions: isso-comments.de or the README on GitHub. Docker images and packages are checked weekly.

Isso health: is it still maintained?

52 of 100, actively developed

Release rhythm1 release in 12 monthsLatest: 0.14.0, 26 March 2026
Issue repliesWithin ~5 hoursMedian first reply; 68% of recent issues answered
Bus factorMedium riskThe most active of 3 authors wrote 71% of recent commits
  • Activity
    17 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 25 October 2026.
    15 / 30
  • Contributors
    3 people wrote the 17 commits of the last 90 days; the most active wrote 71% of them.
    8 / 20
  • Releases
    1 release in the last 12 months; the latest, 0.14.0, on 26 March 2026.
    7 / 20
  • Replies to issues
    Maintainers answered 68% of recent issues, with a median first reply after 5 hours.
    17 / 20
  • Security practices
    No OpenSSF Scorecard for this repository yet, so this part gets a neutral score.
    5 / 10

Read from GitHub on 12 November 2026. How the score works

Isso security

Security advisories are the vulnerabilities the maintainers disclosed on GitHub, with the versions that fix them; many advisories can mean careful disclosure as much as weak code.

Security advisories1 publishedall list a fixed version

Latest advisories

Advisories read from GitHub on 12 November 2026.

Isso license: is it open source?

Isso uses MIT, an open-source license approved by the OSI.

  1. October 2012First published on GitHub.
  2. TodayMIT.

Isso for developers

Written in

  • Python 58%
  • JavaScript 34%
  • CSS 3%
  • HTML 2%
  • Makefile 1%
  • Other 1%

Getting involved

Good first issues2Open, labelled “good-first-issue”
Contributing guideNot foundNo CONTRIBUTING file in the repository
Open issues51On GitHub
Authors, 90 days3Of 17 commits

Language shares are GitHub’s count of the code in the repository.

Alternatives to Isso

  • remark42comment engine 81 health · MIT · 5.6k stars
  • NodeBBNode.js based forum software built for the modern web 80 health · GPL-3.0 · 15.2k stars
  • DiscourseA platform for community discussion. Free, open, simple. 73 health · GPL-2.0 · 48.1k stars
  • MastodonYour self-hosted, globally interconnected microblogging community 88 health · AGPL-3.0 · 50.6k stars
  • MisskeyA completely free and open interplanetary-microblogging platform 81 health · AGPL-3.0 · 11.4k stars

All 18 projects in Social networks & forums

Questions about Isso

Is Isso open source?

Yes. Isso is published under MIT, an OSI-approved open-source license.

Is Isso still maintained?

Its health score is 52 of 100 (actively developed). It had 17 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 25 October 2026, and its latest release came out on 26 March 2026.

How do I run Isso?

You can run it with the Docker image ghcr.io/isso-comments/isso and in one click from YunoHost. The README on GitHub has the exact steps.

What is Isso written in?

Isso is written mainly in Python (58% of the code), with JavaScript (34%), by GitHub’s count of the repository.

What languages is Isso available in?

The repository has interface translations for 29 languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish and Russian.

What are the alternatives to Isso?

Close alternatives in the Social networks & forums category include remark42, NodeBB, Discourse.