Nested, full HTML comments. Comments can be nested (up to 6 levels deep). Your site’s visitors enter comments using Joomla’s configured WYSIWYG editor; no more typing in raw HTML / bbCode / Markdown or using awkward editors which look out of place. All comments are stored in your site’s database; you own your data.

Fast, scalable and secure. Akeeba Engage is built for speed and hand-tuned to minimise the number and time of database queries. It can easily be scaled to hundreds of thousands of comments. The comments are sanitised on submission either with Joomla’s built in text filters or the widely used, audited HTML Purifier library and post-processed on display to prevent SEO issues with their included links.

Powerful and flexible. Choose which categories or articles should have comments. Close comments per category / article. Optionally auto-close comments after a specific period of time since the article’s publish date. Comment management from the frontend and the backend.

Prevent comment spam. Full support for Joomla’s CAPTCHA system for guest, visitor or all comments. Optional integration with the third party Akismet service, including support for definitive spam and reporting spam back to Akismet.

Semantic and accessible. The HTML output is fully annotated with microdata using the Schema.org schema, fully validated with Google’s Webmaster Tools. Both the frontend and the backend are accessible to screen readers and navigable with a keyboard – Joomla core features and third party extensions notwithstanding.

Integrated with Joomla. Akeeba Engage uses core Joomla permissions. It comes with optional support for Joomla’s Privacy and User Actions Log features. It supports Akeeba DataCompliance.

Customisable. Don’t like how it looks? No problem! Override its output with standard template overrides and its CSS with standard CSS overrides. We even include the SCSS sources to make it easier.

Email notifications. Send email notifications to comment managers and article authors. Email notifications can also be sent to people when their comment receives a reply. Anyone but comment managers can unsubscribe from the notifications, satisfying privacy and email legislation around the world.

Avatars. See who you’re discussing with. Akeeba Engage can display avatars and user profiles using the Gravatar service.

Features

• Joomla 4 native (Akeeba Engage 3.0 and later versions). Uses the core MVC and Bootstrap 5 styling in the front- and backend, without any third party dependencies.
• Joomla 3 and 4 support (Akeeba Engage 2.x) to allow for easy migration. Once upgraded to Joomla 4 install Akeeba Engage 3.0 or later.
• Comments allow for full HTML, edited using the WYSIWYG editor configured in Joomla.
• HTML filtering for comments either by Joomla itself or using the more robust, heavily audited HTML Purifier library.
• Comments can be filed by logged in users or guests (configurable with Joomla's permissions).
• Custom module positions for enriching the comments output without overriding the view templates.
• Guest users can see a module or a module position to help them log in to file a comment (fully compatible with Akeeba SocialLogin).
• Control open/closed comments, comments autoclose and comments display globally, per category and per article.
• Comments are hierarchical, i.e. you can file a comment in reply to another comment.
• Avatars using the Gravatar service.
• You can optionally require a CAPTCHA for guest comments, non-special users' comments or for all comments. You can use any CAPTCHA supported by Joomla, installed and enabled on your site.
• Comments can be checked for spam using Akismet (paid, third party service).
• Notifications about comments can be sent to managers and optionally the participants of a conversation using customizable email templates.
• Fully semantic output with Schema.org tagging using microdata in both HTML and AMP outputs.
• Dark Mode support
• Integration with Joomla's Privacy (com_privacy) and Akeeba DataCompliance components for GDPR compliance i.e. data export and implementation of user content deletion.
• Integration with User Actions, logging administrative actions taken on comments.
• Full support for Joomla caching (Conservative and Progressive).
• You can customize the comments display with standard Joomla template overrides.
• You can customize the CSS used for comments display with standard Joomla media overrides. You get the full SCSS source files.

Please note that the minimum system requirements for Akeeba Engage are higher than those for Joomla itself.

Note: Akeeba Engage 3 is actively supported on Joomla! 4 and 5. Akeeba Engage 2 for Joomla! 3 is on security maintenance (no new features or bug fixes will be released).