Optin Comment Notifications
This plugin adds a checkbox to the profile page for users which allows them to opt into receiving a notification email whenever a comment is made to the site.
Consider an alternative
Optin Comment Notifications shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 50+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 8 years ago, and scores 32/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (50+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
- No update in 7 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 5.1 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Optin Comment Notifications stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| comment | >100 |
| commenting | >100 |
| comments | >100 |
| >100 | |
| Notifications | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 3 reviews
About Optin Comment Notifications
From the official readme · v1.4Description
This plugin adds a checkbox to the profile page for users which allows them to opt into receiving a notification email whenever a comment is made to the site.
If a comment goes into moderation, only users who have the ability to manage comments on the site will receive the moderation notification email.
By default, all users of the site have the ability to subscribe to notifications about comments. A filter is provided to facilitate use of code to customize the feature’s availability to users.
Note: a “user” is a person with an actual login account for the site. The plugin does not facilitate permitting visitors who do not have an account on the site to be able to subscribe to all comments.
Links: Plugin Homepage | Plugin Directory Page | GitHub | Author Homepage
Installation
- Install via the built-in WordPress plugin installer. Or download and unzip
optin-comment-notifications.zipinside the plugins directory for your site (typicallywp-content/plugins/) - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ admin menu in WordPress
- Users wishing to opt into receiving notifications for new comments should visit their profile page and check the checkbox labeled “Email me whenever a comment is submitted to the site.”
Changelog
Minor update: tweaked plugin initialization, dropped compatibility with WP older than 4.6, noted compatibility through WP 5.1+, created CHANGELOG.md to store historical changelog outside of readme.txt, and updated copyright date (2019)
1.4 (2019-03-26)
- New: Add CHANGELOG.md file and move all but most recent changelog entries into it
- Change: Initialize plugin on ‘plugins_loaded’ action instead of on load
- Change: Merge
do_init()intoinit() - Change: Note compatibility through WP 5.1+
- Change: Update copyright date (2019)
- Change: Update License URI to be HTTPS
- Change: Split paragraph in README.md’s “Support” section into two
1.3 (2018-05-07)
- Bugfix: Ensure comment notifications are sent even if core’s ‘comments_notify’ or ‘notify_moderator’ settings is false
- Change: Don’t notify users of spam comments
- New: Add README.md
- New: Add GitHub link to readme
- Unit tests:
- Change: Test notifications by invoking
wp_new_comment_notify_postauthor()rather than plugin class method - Change: Add and improve tests relating to ‘notify_moderator’
- Change: Remove unnecessary mocking of posts
- Change: Minor whitespace tweaks to bootstrap
- Change: Use correct header @package name in bootstrap
- Change: Test notifications by invoking
- Change: Note compatibility through WP 4.9+
- Change: Update copyright date (2018)
1.2 (2017-01-04)
- New: Permit admins (or more specifically, those who can ‘edit_users’) to control the setting for other users.
- Add new capability ‘c2c_subscribe_to_all_comments_edit_others’
- Add ‘c2c_optin_comment_notifications_has_cap_edit_others’ filter to allow customizing capability for editing setting for other users
- Show checkbox via ‘personal_options’ action instead of ‘profile_personal_options’
- Hook ‘edit_user_profile_update’ to potentially save the setting when another user is being edited
- Change: Enable more error output for unit tests.
- Change: Default
WP_TESTS_DIRto/tmp/wordpress-tests-librather than erroring out if not defined via environment variable. - Change: Minor tweaks to code documentation.
- Change: Note compatibility through WP 4.7+.
- Change: Remove support for WordPress older than 4.6 (should still work for earlier versions)
- Change: Update copyright date (2017).
- Change: Update installation instruction to prefer built-in installer over .zip file
Full changelog is available in CHANGELOG.md.
Screenshots
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Best Optin Comment Notifications alternatives
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FAQ
Optin Comment Notifications: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 5, 2026
Is Optin Comment Notifications free?
Yes. Optin Comment Notifications is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Optin Comment Notifications safe to use in 2026?
Optin Comment Notifications shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 50+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 8 years ago, and scores 32/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Optin Comment Notifications?
Optin Comment Notifications is active on 50+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 4,569 times since it launched in January 2015. It was downloaded 70 times in the last 30 days.
Does Optin Comment Notifications work with WordPress 7.1?
Optin Comment Notifications is officially tested up to WordPress 5.1.26, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was Optin Comment Notifications last updated?
The latest version, 1.4, was released on March 27, 2019 (8 years ago).
Who makes Optin Comment Notifications?
Optin Comment Notifications is developed and maintained by Scott Reilly.
What are the best alternatives to Optin Comment Notifications?
The most popular alternatives to Optin Comment Notifications are AnyComment (5K+ installs), DCO Comment Attachment (5K+ installs) and Bulk Delete Comments (5K+ installs).
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