Coral

Spec sheet

Purpose

Coral provides open-source commenting software and strategies to improve communities on publisher websites.Read 14 Nov 2026 · coralproject.net

Audience

Coral is designed for commenters, moderators, community managers, journalists, and publishers.Read 14 Nov 2026 · coralproject.net

Privacy

Coral states that its code contains no ads, trackers, hidden pixels, or marketing scripts.Read 14 Nov 2026 · coralproject.net

Support

Users can contact Coral support by email; paid support packages may be available in some cases.Read 14 Nov 2026 · docs.coralproject.net

API and customization

Developers can customize appearance, connect an existing registration system, and extend Coral through its GraphQL API and open-source codebase.Read 14 Nov 2026 · coralproject.net

Automated moderation integrations

Optional toxicity filtering uses Google's Perspective API, and the Akismet Spam filter detects and blocks spam.Read 14 Nov 2026 · docs.coralproject.net

Commenter tools

Commenters can identify journalists, mute users, manage privacy, download histories, share discussions, and receive notifications.Read 14 Nov 2026 · coralproject.net

Hosted data security

Hosted SaaS customer data is stored in a provisioned MongoDB cluster and logically isolated from other customers' data.Read 14 Nov 2026 · docs.coralproject.net

Integration

Coral can be configured to integrate with a publisher's CMS, SSO, and CRM; the basic install can use an embed code.Read 14 Nov 2026 · coralproject.net

Maker history

Coral is a project of Vox Media and moved to Vox Media in 2019 after originating as a collaboration with Mozilla, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.Read 14 Nov 2026 · coralproject.net

Moderation

Moderators can feature or filter comments, use AI-assisted moderation, give feedback or time-outs, and review commenter histories.Read 14 Nov 2026 · coralproject.net

Notable limitation

Comment import tooling is community-supported for version 4, while version 5 import tools were still in development on the FAQ page.Read 14 Nov 2026 · docs.coralproject.net

Publisher controls

Newsrooms can connect subscriber or donor logins, offer badges, and restrict comments to paying customers.Read 14 Nov 2026 · coralproject.net

Self-hosted data

For self-hosted deployments, the customer provides the MongoDB database and Coral's team has no access to that data.Read 14 Nov 2026 · docs.coralproject.net

Plans and prices

Every Coral plan and price →

Where Specifiction places it

• Commenting Systems#8 of 185.8