Coral is an open-source commenting and community platform for newsrooms, self-hostable for free or offered as managed hosting by Vox Media.
Category
Community Platforms
Pricing
Freemium, from Free
Verified
Not yet
Last updated
July 18, 2026
Founded
2014
Headquarters
New York, New York, USA (Vox Media)
Web AppAPIOpen SourceAIFreemiumSelf-Hosted
Overview
Coral (formerly The Coral Project) is an open-source commenting and community platform built specifically for newsrooms. It was launched in 2014 as a collaboration between Mozilla, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, funded by the Knight Foundation, and was acquired by Vox Media in 2019, which now develops and operates it as 'Coral by Vox Media.'
The flagship product, originally called 'Talk,' is designed to make comment sections more constructive and manageable for journalists, in contrast to unmoderated or ad-driven generic commenting widgets.
Key Features
Coral provides AI-assisted moderation tooling to help human moderators triage comments, highlights high-quality comments to reward constructive engagement, and offers configurable comment stream settings such as pre-moderation and comment-frequency limits.
It integrates with newsroom CMS platforms and supports single sign-on, and is used by publishers including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Globe and Mail across roughly 30 countries and 20+ languages.
Pricing
Coral's core commenting software is open source and free to self-host for any publisher willing to run and maintain it themselves.
Publishers who want managed hosting, CMS/SSO integration, implementation support, or strategic consulting pay Vox Media custom, quote-based pricing scoped to their traffic and support needs — there is no fixed published price list.
Key Features
AI-assisted comment moderation — Helps human moderators triage and prioritize potentially problematic comments rather than manually reviewing every submission.
Best-comment highlighting — Surfaces high-quality, constructive comments to reward good-faith engagement and set community tone.
Configurable comment stream settings — Publishers can require pre-moderation, limit posting frequency, or close comments after a set period.
CMS and SSO integration — Integrates with newsroom content management systems and supports single sign-on for reader accounts.
Open-source self-hosting — Core commenting software can be downloaded and self-hosted at no licensing cost.
Managed hosting option — Vox Media offers fully hosted, supported Coral deployments for publishers who don't want to self-host.
Global, multi-language deployment — Used by publishers in roughly 30 countries and 20+ languages.
Moderator training and strategy consulting — Vox Media offers strategic partnership services including engagement strategy and moderation team training.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Core software is free and open source, allowing any publisher to self-host at no licensing cost
Purpose-built moderation tooling designed specifically for newsroom comment sections
Proven adoption at major outlets including The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post
Mission-driven origin focused on healthy discourse rather than ad-impression maximization
Cons
No public, fixed pricing for the managed/hosted tier — requires a sales conversation for a quote
Self-hosting requires technical resources to deploy, maintain, and moderate infrastructure
Smaller ecosystem and market presence than large generic commenting platforms like Disqus
Primarily optimized for newsroom/publisher use cases rather than general-purpose community forums
Pricing
Open Source (Self-Hosted) Free N/A
Managed / Hosted Custom Custom
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Coral free to use?
Yes, Coral's core commenting software is open source and free to self-host. Managed hosting, support, and integration services from Vox Media are priced on a custom, quote basis.
Who created Coral (The Coral Project)?
Coral was launched in 2014 as a collaboration between the Mozilla Foundation, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, funded by the Knight Foundation, and was acquired by Vox Media in 2019.
Which publishers use Coral?
Coral is used by publishers including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Globe and Mail, among others across roughly 30 countries.
Is this the same as Coral Protocol or other 'Coral' products?
No, this Coral is the open-source newsroom commenting platform originally called The Coral Project, unrelated to other unrelated software products that also use the name Coral.
Does Coral use AI for moderation?
Yes, Coral uses AI-assisted tooling to help human moderators triage and prioritize comments that may need review.
Can I self-host Coral?
Yes, Coral's open-source code is available on GitHub and can be self-installed and run on a publisher's own infrastructure at no software cost.