If you want to disable comments WordPress — whether to stop spam, clean up your site’s design, or simply because your business website does not need a comment section — WordPress gives you several ways to do it. The right method depends on whether you want to turn off comments on all pages, existing posts only, future posts only, or a specific page.
This guide covers every way to disable comments in WordPress — from a 30-second settings change to a complete site-wide removal including existing comments. No coding required for any method.
Why Disable Comments in WordPress?
There are several completely valid reasons to disable comments in WordPress — and none of them mean your site is doing anything wrong:
- Spam reduction: Comment spam is one of the most time-consuming maintenance tasks on any WordPress site. Even with Akismet active, moderating spam manually consumes hours every week. When you disable comments WordPress completely, the spam problem disappears entirely.
- Business websites do not need them: Service pages, landing pages, portfolio sites, and company websites rarely benefit from public comments. A comment section on a professional services page can actually reduce credibility rather than build it.
- Performance improvement: Comments load additional CSS, JavaScript, and database queries on every page. Sites that disable comments in WordPress typically see small but measurable improvements in page load speed and Core Web Vitals scores.
- Security hardening: Comment forms are a common attack surface for bots. When you disable comments WordPress site-wide, you eliminate an entire category of potential security vulnerabilities.
- PageSpeed improvement: Comment loading contributes to TTFB and LCP delays. Read Why TTFB Is Critical in 2026 — disabling comments directly reduces server response time.
- Cleaner design: An empty comment section — or a “Comments are closed” message — at the bottom of every post looks unfinished. Removing it entirely creates a cleaner, more intentional design.
Which Method Should You Use?
| Your Situation | Best Method | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Turn off comments on all future posts | Method 1 — Settings → Discussion | 30 seconds |
| Turn off on ALL existing + future content | Method 1 + set 0 days | 60 seconds |
| Turn off on many existing posts at once | Method 2 — Bulk Edit | 2 minutes |
| Turn off on one specific post or page | Method 3 — Post Editor | 1 minute |
| Complete removal including comment UI | Method 4 — Disable Comments Plugin | 5 minutes |
| Delete all existing comments too | Method 4 + Method 5 | 10 minutes |
Method 1: Disable Comments WordPress Site-Wide via Settings (Fastest)
This is the quickest way to disable comments WordPress across your entire site. It takes 60 seconds and requires no plugins or code. However, it only affects future posts by default — you need one additional step to also close comments on existing content.
- Go to WordPress Dashboard → Settings → Discussion
- Under Default post settings — uncheck “Allow people to post comments on new posts”
- Also uncheck “Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks)”
- To also close comments on ALL existing posts — scroll down to Other comment settings → check “Automatically close comments on posts older than ___ days” → set the value to 0
- Click Save Changes
Method 2: Bulk Disable Comments on Existing Posts
If you want to disable comments in WordPress on your existing posts without affecting your Discussion Settings, Bulk Edit lets you select multiple posts at once and turn comments off for all of them simultaneously.
- Go to WordPress Dashboard → Posts → All Posts
- Click the checkbox at the top to select all posts on the current page
- From the Bulk Actions dropdown → select Edit → click Apply
- In the bulk edit panel that appears — find the Comments dropdown
- Change it from No Change to Do Not Allow
- Click Update
- Repeat for each page of posts — WordPress shows a limited number per page
Method 3: Disable Comments on a Single Post or Page
When you only need to disable comments in WordPress on one specific post or page — without changing your site-wide settings — use the Discussion panel inside the post editor.
- Open the post or page you want to edit in WordPress → Gutenberg editor
- Click the Settings icon (gear icon) in the top right corner
- Click the Post tab in the right sidebar
- Scroll down and click Discussion to expand it
- Uncheck Allow comments
- Click Update to save
Method 4: Disable Comments WordPress Completely Using a Plugin
Methods 1-3 turn off the comment functionality — but they leave the comment section HTML in your theme’s code. Some themes still display a “Comments are closed” message or empty comment area even when comments are disabled. The Disable Comments plugin removes the entire comment system from your site — no traces, no empty sections, no pingback headers.
- Go to Plugins → Add New Plugin
- Search for “Disable Comments” → look for the plugin by WPDeveloper (red logo, 1M+ active installations)
- Click Install Now → Activate
- Go to Settings → Disable Comments
- Select “Everywhere” to disable comments site-wide on all post types
- Click Save Changes
Method 5: Delete All Existing Comments
Disabling comments prevents new ones from being submitted — but all your existing comments remain in the database and may still display on your pages. To completely clean your site, delete existing comments after you disable comments in WordPress.
- Go to WordPress Dashboard → Comments
- Click the checkbox at the top to select all comments on the current page
- From the Bulk Actions dropdown → select Move to Trash → click Apply
- Go to Comments → Trash → click Empty Trash to permanently delete them
- Repeat for each page of comments until all are removed
Method 6: Disable Comments via Code (Advanced)
If you prefer not to use a plugin to disable comments WordPress-wide, you can add a small code snippet to your theme’s functions.php file. This achieves the same result as the Disable Comments plugin without an additional plugin installation.
Comparing All Methods — Which Is Best for You?
✅ Method 1 — Settings
Best for beginners. 60 seconds. No plugin. Does not remove comment HTML from theme. Set “0 days” trick to cover existing posts.
✅ Method 2 — Bulk Edit
Best for disabling comments on many existing posts selectively. No plugin. Requires doing Posts and Pages separately.
✅ Method 3 — Post Editor
Best for one specific post or page. No plugin. Takes 1 minute per post — not practical for many posts at once.
🏆 Method 4 — Plugin
Best complete solution. Removes entire comment system — no traces. Free, 1M+ installs, beginner-friendly.
Already on Hostinger? Enable LiteSpeed Object Cache
After you disable comments in WordPress, LiteSpeed Object Cache further speeds up your database queries. Available free in hPanel → WordPress → Manage → LiteSpeed Cache settings.
Does Disabling Comments Hurt Your SEO?
This is the question most site owners ask before they disable comments in WordPress — and the answer is more nuanced than most guides suggest.
- User-generated content is gone: Comments can add long-tail keyword variations and fresh content to your pages — both positive signals for SEO. Removing them removes this benefit. However, for most sites, the quality of comment content is low enough that this benefit is minimal.
- Spam comments are actively harmful: Keyword-stuffed, low-quality spam comments hurt your pages’ relevance signals. When you disable comments WordPress site-wide, you eliminate spam content from your pages — which is an SEO improvement for most sites.
- Page speed improves: Comments load CSS, JavaScript, and database queries. Removing them reduces page weight and improves Core Web Vitals — particularly LCP and INP on post pages. Faster pages rank better.
- The honest answer: For business websites, landing pages, and sites without an active commenting community — disabling comments is neutral to positive for SEO. For blogs with genuine community discussions, losing those comments removes real SEO value.
Check Your SEO After Disabling Comments — ToolXray
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The Bottom Line
To disable comments in WordPress quickly: go to Settings → Discussion, uncheck the comments checkbox, set the automatic close to 0 days, and save. Done in 60 seconds — works on all existing and future content.
For a cleaner, more complete solution that removes the comment UI entirely from your theme — install the free Disable Comments plugin and select “Everywhere.” This is the recommended approach for business websites, portfolios, and any site where you want to disable comments wordpress-wide cleanly.
After you disable comments WordPress-wide, After you choose to disable comments wordpress-wide, consider running a technical audit to confirm the performance improvements in your Core Web Vitals scores — particularly on your highest-traffic pages where comment loading had the most impact.
🔍 Free WordPress Technical Audit
Check Core Web Vitals, PageSpeed improvements and 80+ signals after disabling comments
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