> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://iris-on-bookrest.info/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Self-Hosting Cusdis to Implement a Lightweight Comment System - URL: https://iris-on-bookrest.info/en/cusdis-the-first-en/ - Published: 2026-08-15T07:23:52.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-15T13:19:16.000Z - Description: Lightened blog comments with Cusdis. Self-hosted this privacy-focused, cookie-free, no-registration OSS tool. This post primarily discusses its implementation benefits and drawbacks. - Author: やまぐろ - Tags: ブログ運用, ノウハウ, en > ❗ **IMPORTANT** > Cusdis has been deprecated by its developers (July 17, 2026) Hello, I'm a professional engineer. This blog runs on Ghost CMS, which includes a standard comment feature. However, using this feature as-is meant that only registered and logged-in users could comment, which was a bit cumbersome. So, this time, I explored ways to allow 'commenting without registration' and ended up with Cusdis. ## What is Cusdis? Cusdis is an "ultra-lightweight & privacy-focused" embeddable comment system developed as open-source software (OSS). It's a tool that allows you to easily add a comment section to blogs or static sites, and it was developed as a lightweight, clean alternative to the equally famous comment tool, Disqus. [https://cusdis.com/](https://cusdis.com/?ref=iris-on-bookrest.info) ### Key Features & Benefits - **Extremely Lightweight (approx. 5KB gzip)** - Cusdis operates with only about 5KB of JS, without slowing down your site's loading speed. - **Privacy-focused (Cookie-Free)** - It does not use visitor cookies, nor does it perform any tracking or display advertisements. Its design is compliant with privacy protection standards like GDPR. - **Easy Self-Hosting** - An official Docker image is provided, allowing it to run in various environments. - **Simple Approval System** - Submitted comments are held in a pending state by default and are only published after approval from the administration panel. - **Notification Integration (Webhook / Email)** - You can receive notifications for new comments via email, Webhooks, and other methods. ### Images For those wondering what the comment section actually looks like, here are some images. Below is the comment section for each article. Also, if my mind hasn't changed, the actual comment section should be placed at the bottom of this article! Simple UI. Feels like the bare minimum. Next, here's the admin panel. From this panel, you can approve or reject comments. Note that automatic approval is not possible; you must always take some action to approve a comment. The admin panel is also simple. No complicated settings. ## Why I Chose Self-Hosting Broadly speaking, there are two patterns for implementing Cusdis: - Managed Service (running on servers provided by Cusdis official) - Self-Hosting (running on your own server) Undoubtedly, the former is easier to implement. Although there are some limitations, for a personal blog, these restrictions are unlikely to become a problem. Based on past experience, hardly anyone leaves comments even if you provide a comment section! There used to be a culture of leaving comments like, "Let me quote this," but times have changed. So, why did I choose self-hosting? Because I had "unused credits available on Google Cloud." I'm subscribed to Google AI Pro, a paid service that lets me use Gemini effectively, and it comes with credits. I've tried to make good use of them many times before but always ended up neglecting them, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to use them. ## Pros and Cons of Self-Hosting Let's discuss the advantages and disadvantages of self-hosting. ### Pros Frankly, for a small personal blog, there are almost no significant advantages. While there's the benefit of not having to worry about comment limits, even the official host allows 100 comments/month, which a personal blog is unlikely to exceed. Unlike in the past, reactions on social media are now the main form of engagement. Personally, I feel that the biggest advantage is being able to manage my own data. If you're considering migrating data to other services, self-hosting offers more flexibility. Still, I don't think the benefits of self-hosting are that great after all. ### Cons Next, let's talk about the disadvantages. The biggest drawback, in my opinion, is the significantly increased effort required for setup. Additionally, self-hosting will generally result in higher operating costs. Of course, there are combinations that allow you to set it up for free, but the effort remains the same. If you have a vibrant site that could truly benefit from self-hosting, it might be a reason to adopt it... but it's tough. ## Combinations for Self-Hosting Since I've tried self-hosting, I'd like to introduce a few combinations. ### What I Tried This Time Google Cloud Run + Google Cloud SQL. With this combination, Cloud Run can be used within the free tier, while Google Cloud SQL generally costs around $10/month or more. The cost-performance ratio isn't great, so I don't recommend it. I'll probably switch to another method or remove the comment section eventually! ### When You Want to Do It for Free Vercel + Supabase. This combination should generally be available for free. Also, since I haven't tried it this time, I can't go into detail, but it seems Cusdis officially provides a one-click deployment feature for easy setup. It would have been better to use that from the start! ### Addendum: What I Ultimately Did Google Cloud Run + Supabase. The database cost was the bottleneck, so by switching to Supabase, I achieved free operation. Performance has visibly dropped, but with lazy loading, it's probably not too noticeable. Submitting comments takes a bit longer, though. I didn't use Vercel because there was no reason to rebuild what I had already set up with Cloud Run. I just needed to change the database connection, so it was a quick fix. While it deviates from one of my original goals of effectively using my credits, they will surely be gradually consumed by playing with the Gemini API... By the way, I heard a rumor that Vercel + Supabase could be set up with a single click, but that was far from true. I tried a provisional setup with Vercel, but I had to do a lot of maintenance due to library versions and so on. Well, these things happen. ## Summary - If you want to implement a lightweight external comment system, Cusdis is a good choice. - Generally, the official hosted version is fine. - If you want to self-host, Vercel + Supabase is recommended. ## Finally While writing this, I already felt a strong urge to rebuild it with Vercel + Supabase. What I did today might disappear tomorrow, so I decided to keep a bookmark as a memento. I might want to use Cloud Run again someday. If you don't bookmark it, it's easy to get lost --- *This article was translated from the [original Japanese version](https://iris-on-bookrest.info/cusdis-the-first/) (Cusdisをセルフホストして、軽量なコメント機能を導入する) using Gemini API.*