Self-hosted threaded comments for any site. One script tag, one SQLite file, $69 once.
Freelancers expense a dozen subscriptions — proposals, contracts, invoices, time tracking — against irregular income. Owning the tools outright removes a whole line of fixed costs.
The tool this job usually means renting is Hyvor Talk, at $8/mo — roughly $96 a year, every year. Chatterbox does the job for a one-time $69 — running on infrastructure you control.
A script tag plus a div. Dependency-free vanilla JS (~15 KB) in a shadow DOM — your site's styles never leak in, the widget's never leak out.
For freelancers, one-line embed pays off between gigs, against irregular income — and it's covered by the same one-time $69, not metered per month.
Replies nested to depth 4 with collapse, relative timestamps, and a 15-minute self-edit/delete window for commenters.
For freelancers, threaded comments pays off between gigs, against irregular income — and it's covered by the same one-time $69, not metered per month.
One vote per browser token per comment, server-enforced. Sort by Best, Newest or Oldest.
For freelancers, voting with Wilson score pays off between gigs, against irregular income — and it's covered by the same one-time $69, not metered per month.
One-time $69 for the packaged desktop installer and lifetime updates — no subscription, no per-pageview tiers.
docker compose up on a $5 VPS makes the embed publicly reachable. The desktop app is great for local moderation of the same database.
Copy the script tag from the Embed tab into any page — blog, static site, anything. Comments, votes and moderation work immediately.
Chatterbox is $69, once. Hyvor Talk at $8/mo — roughly $96 a year, every year. Against Hyvor Talk's $8/mo starter tier, Chatterbox pays for itself in 9 months. Against Disqus Plus, 6 months. Then it's free forever.
Against Hyvor Talk's $8/mo starter tier, Chatterbox pays for itself in 9 months. Against Disqus Plus, 6 months. Then it's free forever. Chatterbox costs $69 once; Hyvor Talk charges $8/mo — about $96 a year. For freelancers, that fixed cost is the whole point: the tool is a one-time line item, not a monthly one.
Yes — the full source is MIT at github.com/bensblueprints/chatterbox-comments-mvp. The $69 buys the packaged installer and updates instead of npm-and-docker setup.
Yes — upload your Disqus XML export, dry-run to see the counts, then commit. The import is idempotent by disqus_id, so re-running the same file never double-imports.