Automattic

Matt Mullenweg

Michael Adams (mdawaffe)

Christopher Finke

Ryan Boren

Andy Skelton

Eoin Gallagher

Joseph Scott

Greg

Tellyworth

Lisa Schuyler

Stephane Daury (stephdau)

kbrownkd (a11n)

bluefuton

Derek Springer

Dave Martin (lessbloat)

Andy Perdomo (a11n)

Anti-Spam

Josh Smith

<p>The best anti-spam protection to block spam comments and spam in a contact form. The most trusted antispam solution for WordPress and WooCommerce.</p>
<p>Akismet checks your comments and contact form submissions against our global database of spam to prevent your site from publishing malicious content. You can review the comment spam it catches on your blog’s “Comments” admin screen.</p>
<p>Major features in Akismet include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Automatically checks all comments and filters out the ones that look like spam.</li>
<li>Each comment has a status history, so you can easily see which comments were caught or cleared by Akismet and which were spammed or unspammed by a moderator.</li>
<li>URLs are shown in the comment body to reveal hidden or misleading links.</li>
<li>Moderators can see the number of approved comments for each user.</li>
<li>A discard feature that outright blocks the worst spam, saving you disk space and speeding up your site.</li>
</ul>
<p>PS: You’ll be prompted to get an Akismet.com API key to use it, once activated. Keys are free for personal blogs; paid subscriptions are available for businesses and commercial sites.</p>


Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection

Nice

Great Plugin

Does the job

It's really good


There are many better ways to handle spam than this garbage. Indeed i with the false positive rate this plugin has it is worse than nothing


Worst antispam plugin


Akismet has been with me since I've been on WordPress and really doesn't miss when compared to other solutions. Keep up the great work!


Doesn't miss a shot


Works very well for basic users so they do not have to buy a paid one just to protect a small site.


Works very well for basic users

The best anti-spam protection to block spam comments and spam in a contact form. The most trusted antispam solution for WordPress and WooCommerce.

Syed Balkhi

Dimitris Mitsis

<h4>Anti-Spam Protection Without CAPTCHAs</h4>
<p>ActiveLayer is an intelligent anti-spam solution that stops <strong>contact form spam</strong> and <strong>comment spam</strong> without CAPTCHAs, puzzles, or extra steps for your visitors. Your forms stay fast and frictionless while unwanted messages get caught in the background.</p>
<p>Your time and attention are expensive — stop spending them on spam. ActiveLayer protects popular form builders like <strong>WPForms</strong>, <strong>Contact Form 7</strong>, <strong>Gravity Forms</strong>, <strong>Elementor Forms</strong>, and <strong>Fluent Forms</strong>, plus <strong>native WordPress comments</strong>, all from a single plugin. With 10 form integrations built in, you manage all your spam protection from one settings page.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://activelayer.com/?utm_source=wprepo&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=liteplugin" rel="nofollow ugc">Create a free account and get started</a></strong></p>
<h4>Zero Friction Spam Filtering</h4>
<p>Most anti-spam tools either show visitors a CAPTCHA or make them wait while the check runs. ActiveLayer takes a different approach. Submissions complete instantly while background checks happen asynchronously using a queue powered by Action Scheduler.</p>
<p>This means your forms are always fast. There is no API latency added to the submission flow, no spinners, and no delays. Visitors get the same instant experience whether protection is enabled or not. If a submission is clean, notifications are sent as normal. If it is flagged, notifications are suppressed automatically.</p>
<h4>Intelligent Spam Detection</h4>
<p>ActiveLayer analyzes submission patterns, content reputation, behavioral signals, and environment data to catch both automated bots and human bad actors with high accuracy. Unlike simple honeypot or keyword-blocklist approaches, ActiveLayer uses multiple signals to make smarter decisions about every submission.</p>
<p>Optional behavioral tracking monitors how users interact with your forms — keystrokes, mouse movements, touch events, and scroll patterns. Environment detection identifies headless browsers and automated tools. These client-side signals are sent alongside form data for deeper analysis.</p>
<h4>Per-Form Control and Sync Mode</h4>
<p>You decide exactly which forms to protect. ActiveLayer uses a privacy-first, opt-in approach — protection is enabled per form, not globally. This gives you granular control over every contact form, registration form, or comment section on your site.</p>
<p>Sync Mode lets supported integrations wait for the API verdict before the submission completes, so spam can be blocked inline. By default, ActiveLayer runs checks asynchronously for maximum speed. Turn Sync Mode on when you prefer inline blocking and can tolerate a small added latency on submissions.</p>
<h4>Fail-Safe by Design</h4>
<p>If the ActiveLayer API is temporarily unavailable, your forms keep working. ActiveLayer is designed to <strong>fail open</strong> — it restores provider defaults, preserves every submission, and retries background checks automatically when connectivity returns. No lost submissions, no blocked emails, no broken forms.</p>
<p>Automatic retries handle transient failures. A built-in watchdog checks queue health every 15 minutes and shows admin notices when pending items build up or Action Scheduler is unavailable. You always know the status of your protection.</p>
<h4>Full Visibility Dashboard</h4>
<p>See exactly what is happening with your form protection at a glance. The ActiveLayer dashboard shows submission totals, spam caught, accuracy rates, queue health, and integration status — all in one place. Filter submissions by status or provider, and use bulk actions to recheck, mark as clean or junk, or trash items you no longer need.</p>
<p>Every submission is logged in a custom database table. You can review verdicts, recheck past submissions with a fresh API call, and override any decision. Debug logging (opt-in, PII-redacted) gives you even deeper insight when troubleshooting.</p>
<h4>Who Is ActiveLayer For?</h4>
<h3>Small Business Websites</h3>
<p>Protect your contact forms and inquiry forms without adding friction for potential customers. Every form submission from a real visitor goes through instantly while junk gets caught behind the scenes.</p>
<h3>Bloggers and Publishers</h3>
<p>Stop comment spam on your posts without requiring readers to solve CAPTCHAs or prove they are human. ActiveLayer checks comments in the background and can auto-approve clean ones or auto-mark detected spam.</p>
<h3>Agencies Managing Multiple Sites</h3>
<p>One plugin covers WPForms, Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms, Elementor Forms, Fluent Forms, Formidable Forms, and more — 10 integrations managed from one settings page. No need to configure separate anti-spam tools for each form builder your clients use.</p>
<h3>E-commerce and Service Businesses</h3>
<p>Keep inquiry and support forms clean while maintaining a fast, professional user experience. The async architecture means your forms never slow down, even during high-traffic periods.</p>
<h4>Full ActiveLayer Feature List</h4>
<ul>
<li><strong>Async processing</strong> – Background queue via Action Scheduler so forms complete instantly</li>
<li><strong>No CAPTCHA required</strong> – Invisible protection with zero friction for visitors</li>
<li><strong>WPForms integration</strong> – Per-form enable, async checks with email replay, optional sync-save strategy</li>
<li><strong>Contact Form 7 integration</strong> – Synchronous checks, field mapping via activelayer:* tags, per-form control</li>
<li><strong>Gravity Forms integration</strong> – Entry-based spam detection with per-form control and notification management</li>
<li><strong>Elementor Forms integration</strong> – Protect Elementor Pro form widgets with per-form spam filtering</li>
<li><strong>Fluent Forms integration</strong> – Per-form spam detection with email notification handling</li>
<li><strong>Formidable Forms integration</strong> – Notification interception and replay, sync fallback option</li>
<li><strong>Forminator integration</strong> – Form submission interception with per-form toggles and notification management</li>
<li><strong>Ninja Forms integration</strong> – Email action capture, clean verdict replay, spam suppression</li>
<li><strong>SureForms integration</strong> – Spam protection for SureForms with per-form control</li>
<li><strong>WordPress Comments protection</strong> – Auto-approve clean comments, auto-spam detected ones, fail-open restore</li>
<li><strong>Per-form toggles</strong> – Enable or disable protection on individual forms (privacy by design)</li>
<li><strong>Sync Mode</strong> – Optional synchronous spam checks for inline blocking on supported integrations</li>
<li><strong>Dashboard analytics</strong> – Submission totals, spam caught, accuracy rates, queue health at a glance</li>
<li><strong>Submissions management</strong> – Filter by status and provider, bulk recheck, mark clean or spam, trash</li>
<li><strong>Fail-open architecture</strong> – Forms keep working if the API is temporarily unavailable</li>
<li><strong>Automatic retries</strong> – Failed submissions are re-queued and retried automatically</li>
<li><strong>Queue watchdog</strong> – 15-minute health checks with admin notices for stalled queues</li>
<li><strong>Behavioral signal collection</strong> – Keystroke, mouse, touch, and scroll tracking for deeper analysis</li>
<li><strong>Environment detection</strong> – Identifies headless browsers and automated submission tools</li>
<li><strong>Debug logging</strong> – Opt-in ring buffer (last 200 entries), PII-redacted, view and clear in admin</li>
<li><strong>Bulk recheck</strong> – Re-queue past submissions for fresh API verdicts anytime</li>
<li><strong>Privacy-first design</strong> – Per-form opt-in, sanitized logging, masked secrets, hashed emails</li>
</ul>
<h4>Integrations</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://wpforms.com/?utm_source=activelayer-wprepo&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=liteplugin" rel="nofollow ugc">WPForms</a> (Lite and Pro)</li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7/" rel="ugc">Contact Form 7</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gravityforms.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Gravity Forms</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/elementor/" rel="ugc">Elementor Forms</a> (Pro)</li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/fluentform/" rel="ugc">Fluent Forms</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/formidable/" rel="ugc">Formidable Forms</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/forminator/" rel="ugc">Forminator</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/ninja-forms/" rel="ugc">Ninja Forms</a></li>
<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/sureforms/" rel="ugc">SureForms</a></li>
<li>WordPress Comments (built-in)</li>
</ul>
<h3>External services</h3>
<p>This plugin connects to the ActiveLayer API to analyze form submissions and comments for spam. It is the core service that powers all spam detection — without it, the plugin cannot classify submissions.</p>
<h4>ActiveLayer API</h4>
<p><strong>What it does:</strong> Provides spam detection verdicts (clean or spam) for form submissions and comments.</p>
<p><strong>When data is sent:</strong> Each time a form submission or comment is processed through the plugin’s background queue (via Action Scheduler), the submission data is sent to the API for analysis.</p>
<p><strong>What data is sent:</strong><br />
* Submission content (name, email, message, URL if provided)<br />
* IP address and user agent of the submitter<br />
* Form metadata (form ID, form name, provider name)<br />
* Site URL and WordPress locale<br />
* Behavioral and environment signals (if enabled in settings)</p>
<p><strong>Service provider:</strong> ActiveLayer (<a href="https://activelayer.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">activelayer.com</a>)<br />
* <a href="https://activelayer.com/terms" rel="nofollow ugc">Terms of Service</a><br />
* <a href="https://activelayer.com/privacy" rel="nofollow ugc">Privacy Policy</a></p>


ActiveLayer Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for Forms & Comments

Intelligent spam protection for WordPress forms and comments. No CAPTCHA needed. Works with WPForms, Contact Form 7, Elementor Forms, and more.

Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection vs ActiveLayer Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for Forms & Comments