The Viafoura alternative for mid-sized publishers

We migrate your Viafoura comment history, for free and with you. Your discussions can earn, with your ad sales team or ours. Your readers keep their accounts.

Let’s talk about your migrationSee the demo

Publishers commenting with GraphComment

  • franceinfo
  • 20 Minutes
  • Les Echos
  • Il Post
  • Psychologies

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 Viafoura comment history for free, after reviewing a sample of your export. You review it before anything goes live.

Your discussions can earn: 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 Viafoura

The migration is free: we take your Viafoura export and import it into GraphComment with you. It is an assisted migration, not a one-click import: we first review a sample of your export, and you sign off on the result before it goes live. Count on one to two weeks once we have the export.

  1. 1

    We review a sample of your export

    Viafoura exports your comments, users and likes every day, to S3, SFTP or Snowflake. On a sample, we check how threads, authors and dates carry over, and show you the result.[13]

  2. 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. 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 Viafoura’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, once we have reviewed your export

  • 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, even though the Viafoura export includes likes.
  • 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.

Let’s talk about your migrationSee the demo

GraphComment vs Viafoura, head to head

Each statement about Viafoura links to its source; the dates are in the list at the bottom of the page.

CriterionGraphCommentViafoura
Migrating your historyFree and assisted, after reviewing a sample of your export; one to two weeks once we have the export.Daily export of comments, users and likes, via S3, SFTP or Snowflake.[13]
Business model and discussion revenueCustom 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.On quote: viafoura.com/pricing leads to a contact form; Viafoura highlights “Flexible Commercial Models”.[1] [2]
AI moderationThe 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.[19] [18]“Moderation Intelligence”, combining AI and human expertise, 24/7; human moderation available as a service.[11]
Reader sign-in (SSO)Your readers comment with the account they already have on your site. Set up in half a day of development, with the WordPress plugin or a code snippet for any other CMS.[19]Any OpenID Connect provider, Janrain OAuth, cookie-based login, or Viafoura’s own login; readers must log in to interact.[15]
DeploymentA code snippet copied from your back office, on any site; or the WordPress plugin, installed from WordPress.org.[19]Script loaded from Viafoura’s CDN, with your domains allow-listed on its platform; “white glove onboarding”; a Power Up for Arc XP. No Viafoura comment plugin on WordPress.org (checked on October 12, 2026); its WordPress login plugin is marked as deprecated.[7] [1] [8] [9] [10]
What it coversComments and structured debate, real-time live discussions, pinned and editorialized discussions, AI-assisted moderation.[19]Comments, polls, live Q&A, ratings & reviews, community chat; personalized feeds and notifications; a live blog tool, and live blogging with Tickaroo through a partnership announced on January 28, 2026.[3] [4] [5] [6]
Your dataYour comments belong to you: export and backup at any time. Hosted in the European Union (Amsterdam, Netherlands), as stated in our data processing agreement.[19] [20]First-party data; daily export via S3, SFTP or Snowflake; activation in CDPs, Google Ad Manager and BI tools. Data processed and stored in Canada and the United States.[13] [14] [12]
LanguagesWidget in 21 languages with automatic detection, including right-to-left layouts; back office and WordPress plugin in 10 languages.[19]Display language set per page; the list of supported languages is not published.[16]

What Viafoura does that GraphComment does not

Viafoura’s strength is breadth: a whole community suite. A mid-sized publisher often needs less than the full suite: a comment section its readers enjoy, moderation that doesn’t eat the newsroom’s time, and a partner that adapts to its business model, advertising included. That is the case GraphComment is built for. If your newsroom needs what follows, Viafoura is a consistent choice.

  • Live blogging: Viafoura has its own live blog tool and partners with Tickaroo for live coverage. GraphComment has no live blog.[5] [6]
  • Polls, live Q&A, ratings and reviews: part of Viafoura’s engagement engine, not part of GraphComment.[3]
  • Community chat for big moments (sports, breaking news, elections). Our live discussions happen inside the comment thread of an article.[3]
  • Native mobile SDKs for iOS, Android, React Native and Flutter.[17]
  • Human moderation as a service, around the clock. With the Enterprise plan, AI settles the clear-cut cases and hands the doubtful ones to an external human moderation team.[11]

Frequently asked questions

Will we keep our comment history?

Yes, once we have reviewed your export: 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.

Will comments go down during the migration?

No. You install GraphComment, your readers comment right away, and the history is loaded into the same space in the meantime.

How long does a migration take?

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.

Can GraphComment fully replace Viafoura?

For comments and moderation, yes. If you also use Viafoura’s live blog, community chat, polls or mobile SDKs, GraphComment does not cover them: see “What Viafoura does that GraphComment does not”.

Can we monetize our discussions?

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.

Can our readers keep their current accounts?

Yes. With single sign-on, your readers comment with the account they already have on your site. Their past comments are linked to them: to the accounts that already exist, and, depending on what you prefer, we import the accounts before the comments or link past comments to each reader at their first sign-in.

How much does it cost?

The migration is free. The Enterprise plan is built to measure, based on your volumes and your moderation needs.

How does moderation work?

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.

Where is the data hosted?

In the European Union, in Amsterdam (Netherlands). Our data processing agreement is public.

Does it work with WordPress and other CMSs?

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. [1] Viafoura — The Community Operating System for Publishers and Media Brands, accessed
  2. [2] Viafoura — Book a Demo (where viafoura.com/pricing leads), accessed
  3. [3] Viafoura — Engagement Engine, accessed
  4. [4] Viafoura — Personalization Suite, accessed
  5. [5] Viafoura documentation — Live Blog, published , accessed
  6. [6] Viafoura — Viafoura and Tickaroo Announce Strategic Partnership to Deliver Live Blogging and Interactive Community Experiences for Publishers, published , accessed
  7. [7] Viafoura documentation — Getting Started: Setup, published , accessed
  8. [8] Viafoura documentation — Arc XP Integration, published , accessed
  9. [9] WordPress.org — Plugin Directory — search for “viafoura”, accessed
  10. [10] Viafoura documentation — WordPress Integration, published , accessed
  11. [11] Viafoura — Moderation Intelligence, accessed
  12. [12] Viafoura — Privacy Policy (effective as of May 26, 2025), accessed
  13. [13] Viafoura documentation — Data Export, published , accessed
  14. [14] Viafoura — Community Data Layer, accessed
  15. [15] Viafoura documentation — Authentication, published , accessed
  16. [16] Viafoura documentation — Container IDs (vf:lang tag), accessed
  17. [17] Viafoura documentation — Viafoura Mobile Integration, published , accessed
  18. [18] GraphComment — Pricing, accessed
  19. [19] GraphComment — Features, accessed
  20. [20] 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.