The OpenWeb alternative for publishers
We migrate your OpenWeb comment history, for free and with you. Your discussions keep earning, with your ad sales team or ours. Your readers keep their accounts.
Publishers commenting with GraphComment
2.5M+ unique readers a month in our discussions
1M+ comments handled every month
110M+ comments since 2014
8 in 10 readers stop at the discussion when it appears
1 min 30 spent in the discussion by a reader who stays
2 in 3 nearly 2 commenters in 3 come back to comment the following month
Volumes: all sites running GraphComment. Behaviour: measured across our major media clients, May–September 2026. Readers: monthly unique visitors.
By Mathias Blandin, founder of GraphComment · Last updated
The short answer
GraphComment is the comment system of franceinfo, 20 Minutes, Les Echos, Il Post and Psychologies. Over a million comments handled every month, over 110 million since 2014. We migrate your OpenWeb comment history for free: the comments, their dates, their replies and the link to each article. You review it before anything goes live.
Your discussions keep earning: ad placements in the comment area, sold by your own ad sales team or by ours. We have been placing ads in news publishers’ comment sections since 2018.
You stay in control of moderation: our AI reads the article, the comment being replied to and your community guidelines, suggests a decision and explains it. Your moderators decide, or you automate it entirely. Your readers sign in with the account they already have on your site, and comments appear in real time.
Moving from OpenWeb
The migration is free: we convert your OpenWeb export and import it into GraphComment. It is an assisted migration, not a one-click import: we check every export before loading it, and you sign off on the result before it goes live. Count on one to two weeks once we have the export.
- 1
You pull your OpenWeb export
Your comments and their authors, as CSV files, through the export API documented by OpenWeb. If you prefer, we run the export with you.[3]
- 2
We convert and import it
Your history is loaded into your GraphComment space, with nested replies and the link to each article. You review it before anything goes live.
- 3
You switch, with no downtime
You install GraphComment on your pages, with the WordPress plugin or a code snippet for any other CMS, and remove OpenWeb’s. Your readers start commenting as soon as it is installed; the history lands in the same space, and comments never go down.
What the import keeps
- The text of each comment.
- Its original publication date.
- Its moderation status (published, pending, deleted) and the spam flag.
- Replies, at any depth, attached to the comment they answer.
- The link to each article: page URL and title.
- The author, linked to your reader’s account: an existing account, accounts imported before the comments, or linking at their first sign-in.
What it does not keep
- Likes, votes and reactions.
- The name of authors with no matching account: their comments appear under a pseudonym, the same one for every comment by the same author.
What it asks of your team
On the technical side: install the WordPress plugin, or add a code snippet to your article templates, and connect your readers’ sign-in (SSO). Count on half a day of development, with our documentation and our help.
On the editorial side: your moderators find their comments and their statuses in a single back office. Nothing changes in your CMS.
GraphComment and OpenWeb, side by side
Each statement about OpenWeb links to its source; the dates are in the list at the bottom of the page.
| Criterion | GraphComment | OpenWeb |
|---|---|---|
| Migrating your history | Free and assisted: we convert and import your CSV export; text, dates, statuses, replies and article links are kept. One to two weeks once we have the export. | Export of comments and their authors as CSV files, through an API, by conversation or by date range.[3] |
| Discussion revenue | Custom contract (Enterprise plan), based on your volumes. As an option: ad placements in the discussion area, sold by your own ad sales team or by ours, since 2018. | Ads sold by OpenWeb, placed in the discussion in the format of comments with a “Sponsored” label; revenue shared with the publisher. Also offered as SaaS, or a combination of both.[1] [6] |
| AI moderation | The AI reads the article, the comment being replied to and your community guidelines, suggests a decision and explains it. Your choice: your moderators decide, or moderation is fully automated.[8] [7] | A context-aware “Low Quality” model covering 100 languages.[1] |
| Reader sign-in (SSO) | Your readers comment with the account they already have on your site, with no new registration. WordPress plugin or a code snippet for any other CMS; comments displayed in real time; SSO setup in half a day of development.[8] | Yes: your registered users join conversations without an extra registration.[4] |
| Your data | Your comments belong to you: export and backup at any time. Hosted in Amsterdam (the Netherlands), as stated in our data processing agreement.[8] [9] | CSV export through an API. Its privacy policy does not name a hosting country.[3] [5] |
What OpenWeb does that GraphComment does not
Choosing well means knowing what you give up. Here is what OpenWeb offers and we do not.
- OpenWeb also sells advertising in publishers’ email newsletters. Our advertising option only covers the discussion area.[6]
- OpenWeb has included forums in its community offering since September 30, 2026. At GraphComment, forums are not part of the comment system: they are a separate product, GraphDebate, deployed in addition.[2]
Frequently asked questions
Yes: the text, the publication date, the moderation status, the replies and the link to each article. Each author is linked to your reader’s account, whether it already exists, is imported before the comments or is linked at their first sign-in; likes and votes are not imported.
No. You install GraphComment, your readers comment right away, and the history is loaded into the same space in the meantime.
Yes, if you want to: ad placements in the discussion area, sold by your own ad sales team or by ours. We have been doing this for news publishers since 2018. The terms are set in your contract.
One to two weeks once we have the export, depending on the size of your history. We give you a precise schedule as soon as we have reviewed it.
No. With single sign-on, your readers comment with the account they already have on your site, and their past comments are linked to them.
The migration is free. The Enterprise plan is built to measure, based on your volumes and your moderation needs.
The AI reads the article, the comment being replied to and your community guidelines, flags risky comments and suggests a decision with its reasoning. Your moderators decide; you can also automate moderation entirely.
Yes, as an option you switch on in your settings. Your moderators decide what to do with each report. We sign a data processing agreement with every customer who asks for it, and its text is public.
Yes: a plugin for WordPress, a code snippet for any other CMS, and sign-in with your readers’ accounts (SSO). Count on half a day of development for the SSO setup.
Sources
Every statement about another company on this page links to one of these sources. Dates are those of publication and of our last reading.
- [1] OpenWeb — Release Notes — August 2026, published , accessed
- [2] OpenWeb — OpenWeb Launches Forums, Completing Community Core, published , accessed
- [3] OpenWeb developer documentation — Export Comments v4, published , accessed
- [4] OpenWeb developer documentation — Single Sign On, published , accessed
- [5] OpenWeb — Privacy Policy (last revised September 2025), accessed
- [6] AdExchanger — Turning The Comment Section Into A Gold Mine, published , accessed
- [7] GraphComment — Pricing, accessed
- [8] GraphComment — Features, accessed
- [9] GraphComment — Data Processing Agreement, accessed
Mathias Blandin, founder of GraphComment · Published · Last updated
Let’s talk about your migration
Tell us about your site, your current setup and the size of your comment history. You get a reply within one business day, by email, from Mathias Blandin, founder of GraphComment, who will run the migration with you.