Comments suit some sites and not others. If you’re running a business site, a portfolio or a shop, an open comment section is often just a magnet for spam. Here’s how to disable comments — whether on everything, on new posts, or on specific pages.
Turn off comments on all future posts
To stop comments on anything you publish from now on:
- Go to Settings → Discussion.
- Untick Allow people to submit comments on new posts.
- Save.
This affects new content only — existing posts keep whatever setting they already had.
Disable comments on existing posts in bulk
To close comments on content you’ve already published:
- Go to Posts → All Posts.
- Tick the checkbox at the top to select every post on the page (and use Screen Options to show more per page).
- From the Bulk Actions dropdown choose Edit and click Apply.
- In the panel that appears, set Comments to Do not allow, and click Update.
Repeat for pages under Pages → All Pages.
Disable comments on a single post or page
Editing one item? Open it in the editor, find the Discussion panel (you may need to enable it under the editor’s options menu), and untick Allow comments.
The thorough option: a plugin
To wipe comments out completely — remove the comment forms, hide existing comments, strip the comments menu and clean up leftover references — a dedicated “disable comments” plugin does it all in one click. This is the cleanest route if you never want comments anywhere.
Deal with existing spam
If you’re disabling comments because of a spam flood, clear the backlog too. Go to Comments, filter by Spam, and bulk-delete. An anti-spam plugin catches the rest if you decide to keep comments open somewhere.
Keep the layout tidy
After disabling comments, some themes still show an empty “Comments are closed” line or leftover spacing. If that bothers you, a plugin or a small theme tweak removes it entirely for a clean look.
That covers every scenario. If your theme leaves stubborn comment remnants behind, drop us a line and we’ll help tidy it up.
