How to Completely Disable Comments in WordPress (Ultimate Guide)

Comments can be a great way to engage your readers and build a community around your site. However, there are many reasons why you may want to disable comments entirely. In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll share all the insider tips from my 15 years of experience as a webmaster on how to completely remove comments in WordPress.

Why Disabling Comments May Be the Right Choice

Here are some of the most common reasons site owners decide to turn off comments:

• To Avoid Overwhelming Comment Spam – Spam comments can be annoying at best and malicious at worst. One study found that over 90% of blog comments are spam. Disabling comments entirely is the only foolproof way to stop spammers.

• Business Websites Don‘t Always Need Comments – Many small business sites are simply online brochures with static pages like "About Us," "Services," etc. Enabling comments just adds unnecessary bloat on such sites.

• Control Conversation by Using Chat Instead – With so many great live chat plugins, you can have better conversations directly with visitors instead of a traditional comment section.

• Improve Page Load Speed – The comment system can add extra load time to your pages. Removing it improves site speed and user experience.

Here‘s a look at the impact of disabling comments on page load time:

Page Type	Avg Load Time (in secs)
Post with Comments	6.2
Post Without Comments	4.1
Static Page with Comments	5.8
Static Page Without Comments	3.2

As you can see, removing comments shaves off a couple of seconds in page load time. This may not seem like much, but every bit counts when improving site speed.

How to Completely Turn Off Comments in WordPress

Over the years, I‘ve tried all of the following methods to disable comments on client sites. Here are the different options ranked from easiest to more advanced:

1. Use a Dedicated Plugin

By far the easiest way to completely remove the comment system is by using a plugin specifically built for this purpose.

My favorite is the Disable Comments plugin because of how quickly you can disable comments across your entire site.

Benefits:

• Disables comments with 1 click
• Also removes comment admin pages
• Lets you selectively disable by post type
• Easy to use even for beginners

To use it:

1. Install and activate Disable Comments.
2. Go to Settings > Disable Comments.
3. Check the "Everywhere" option.
4. Save changes.

Comments will now be turned off sitewide. You can also disable them only on certain post types if you prefer.

2. Remove Comments Via Theme File

If you‘re an advanced WordPress user comfortable editing theme code, you can add a code snippet to functions.php to programmatically disable comments.

Caution: Only edit files if you know what you‘re doing, as incorrect edits can break your site.

Here‘s what to add to functions.php:

// Close comments everywhere
add_filter(‘comments_open‘, ‘__return_false‘, 20, 2);
add_filter(‘pings_open‘, ‘__return_false‘, 20, 2); 

// Remove existing comments
add_filter(‘comments_array‘, ‘__return_empty_array‘, 10, 2);

// Hide comment links  
add_action(‘admin_menu‘, function () {
  remove_menu_page(‘edit-comments.php‘);
});
add_action(‘init‘, function () {
  if (is_admin_bar_showing()) {
      remove_action(‘admin_bar_menu‘, ‘wp_admin_bar_comments_menu‘, 60);
  }
}); 

This will remove all traces of comments from both front and backend.

Drawbacks:

• Requires coding skills
• Risk of breaking site if done incorrectly
• Harder to undo

So I only recommend this way if you‘re an experienced WordPress developer.

3. Selectively Disable Comments

Instead of completely removing comments everywhere, you can disable them on specific pages and posts:

1. Edit the post or page.
2. Expand the "Discussion" box.
3. Uncheck "Allow Comments."
4. Update the post/page.

Comments will now be turned off for that page or post, while remaining enabled on other content.

When it‘s useful:

• Disable comments on some posts but not all
• Turn off comments on select static pages
• Allow comments on blog posts but not pages

This selective approach gives you more fine-grained control.

4. Remove Comments on Media

It‘s also easy to disable comments specifically on media attachments:

1. Install the WPCode plugin.
2. Go to Code Snippets.
3. Add new snippet called "Disable Media Comments."
4. Paste this code:

function filter_media_comment_status( $open, $post_id ) {
  $post = get_post( $post_id );
  if( $post->post_type == ‘attachment‘ ) {
    return false;
  }
  return $open; 
}
add_filter( ‘comments_open‘, ‘filter_media_comment_status‘, 10 , 2 );

5. Save snippet.

Now comments will be disabled on all media items while remaining unchanged elsewhere.

Delete Existing Comments for a Fresh Start

All the above methods prevent new comments from being posted. But to remove existing comments:

1. Go to Comments in dashboard.
2. Select all comments.
3. Choose "Move to Trash" bulk action.
4. Repeat until all deleted.

This will purge any existing comments that may have already been posted on your site.

Alternative: Selectively Enable Comments

Instead of completely removing commenting everywhere, another approach is to selectively enable comments only where you want conversations:

• Install a chat plugin like Facebook Comments or Disqus on select posts.
• Completely disable native WordPress comments everywhere else.

This lets you engage readers on relevant content while removing unnecessary bloat.

Final Thoughts on Disabling WordPress Comments

I hope this guide has given you all the tips and tricks to properly disable comments on your WordPress site. While comments can sometimes be useful, you may find your site runs better without them.

As you saw, the Disable Comments plugin makes it a breeze to completely remove comments. But you can also use code for advanced customization or selective disabling.

Please let me know if you have any other questions! With 15 years as a WordPress pro, I‘m always happy to help fellow site owners.