HashOver is a free, open-source, self-hosted PHP comment system that allows completely anonymous comments and easy customization, designed for website owners as an alternative to proprietary services like Disqus.

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🚀 Overview

HashOver is a lightweight, privacy-respecting comment system that you can self-host on your own server. It solves the issues with third-party comment services like Disqus, which track users, require internet connectivity for comments, and come with privacy concerns. Instead, HashOver stores comments locally using flat files or a database, enabling fully anonymous posting without logins.

It's built for bloggers, developers, and any website owner who wants a customizable comment section on static or dynamic sites. Originally created by Jacob Barkdull for his personal blog, it continues to be developed to provide a robust, open-source option for the community.

The project emphasizes ease of integration—just add a few lines of JavaScript or PHP—and high customizability through themes, CSS, and plugins.

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✨ Key Features

• Threaded replies, comment editing & deletion (what it does and why it matters: enables natural conversations and moderation without full deletes)
• Likes & dislikes, popular comments section (helps highlight engaging content)
• Multiple themes, customizable HTML/CSS, and layout templates (easy theming for site aesthetics)
• Anonymous posting with avatar icons and remote image display (privacy-focused, no accounts needed)
• Multi-language support, automatic URL linking, limited HTML (user-friendly and secure)
• Spam filtering, IP blocking, admin panel (keeps comments clean)
• Notification emails, RSS feeds, permalinks (stay informed and shareable)
• Optional: SQL database support, file format & authentication plugins (flexible storage)

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🛠 Tech Stack

• Frontend: JavaScript, HTML, CSS
• Backend: PHP (requires modules like mbstring, intl, xml, json)
• Database: Flat-files (JSON, XML), optional SQL (SQLite, MySQL via PDO)
• Auth: Anonymous posting / Admin via secrets.php
• Hosting: Self-hosted on any PHP-enabled server (supports UNIX and Windows)

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👥 Who Is This For?

This project is useful for:

• Developers who want a self-hosted, anonymous comment system without third-party dependencies
• Bloggers and content creators looking for customizable, privacy-focused commenting
• Indie makers building static sites needing easy comment integration

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📸 Screenshots / Demo

• Live demo: Integrated on the developer's site at https://www.barkdull.org/ (check blog posts for comments)
• GitHub: https://github.com/jacobwb/hashover-next

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🔥 Project Status

• 🟡 Maintained

Last updated: 2026-03-24

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❓ FAQ

Is this project free?

Yes / Open Source (GNU AGPL license) (Free to use, modify, and distribute with source-available requirements.)

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Is the source code available?

Yes — https://github.com/jacobwb/hashover-next (HashOver 2.0 development branch; v1.0.2 downloads at https://downloads.barkdull.org/hashover-v1/)

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Can I contribute?

Yes — Review CONTRIBUTING.md on GitHub, report issues, submit pull requests. Donations via PayPal help support development.

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📬 Contact & Links

• Website: https://www.barkdull.org/software/hashover
• GitHub: https://github.com/jacobwb
• Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/jacobbarkdull
• Email: Not publicly listed (contact via GitHub issues)

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