More than 810 million websites have used WordPress in 2024. In other words, a total of 43.6% of all live websites on the internet are powered by WordPress. Therefore, we can say that WordPress is widely used by everyone around the world. Since most of the sites on the internet are powered by WordPress, WordPress sites are prime targets for spam comments, contact form submissions, and user registrations. This unwanted content can damage your site's reputation, slow down performance, and create security vulnerabilities. These best anti spam WordPress plugins offer an effective defense against these issues by filtering out malicious content before it reaches your site.
WordPress receives a significant amount of spam in POST requests per day compared with other platforms: almost 80%.
And that’s a lot! Therefore, as WordPress users, you must choose the best anti spam WordPress plugin for your WordPress site.
Spam detection in WordPress
According to recent statistics by CleanTalk, here is how WordPress’s spam attack dynamics have occurred.
This graph depicts,
a significant drop in April 2024 (lowest point)
a spike beginning in May 2024
two major peaks in September/October 2024
another peak in December 2024
the cyclical nature of spam attacks throughout the year
As you see, managing spam issues and threats is crucial nowadays. With that said, let’s explore the best WordPress antispam plugins.
1. FortGuard - WordPress Spam Protection Plugin
At HYVOR, we have been using ML-based WordPress antispam plugins such as Akismet in our main product, Hyvor Talk. But with time, we realized that spam detection using ML is a tad less accurate and there is a much better way using Large Language Models (LLMs). Therefore, we were hunting for a spam detection API to meet our requirements. Unfortunately, we could not find any. Hence we started building our own spam detection API.
And that is how Fortguard WordPress anti spam plugin comes to you, carefully designed by us, HYVOR.
FortGuard WordPress anti spam protection plugin stands out as a state-of-the-art spam detection API designed for various applications, including commenting systems, forums, and email clients. Unlike many spam detection services that provide a simple binary result -spam or not- FortGuard offers a more nuanced approach with multiple data points about content and IP addresses. This allows users to tailor the spam detection process to their specific needs.
Here are the features that Fortguard offers you.
Key Features of FortGuard:
Advanced Content Spam Detection - Human-like accuracy: FortGuard utilizes Large Language Models (LLMs) such as GPT-4o-mini for content analysis. These models are trained on vast amounts of data, enabling them to understand the context of content and accurately detect spam. This capability is particularly useful for differentiating spam and legitimate content in various contexts. This ensures human-like accuracy, with great context awareness.
We support LLMs like OpenAI GPT-4o, OpenAI GPT-4 Turbo, Anthropic Claude 3 Haiku, Anthropic Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Anthropic Claude 3 Opus, in addition to GPT-4o-mini.
Language Detection & Sentiment Analysis: Fortguard’s API detects the language and possible sentiments of the content, in the same API call. You can configure the API to return additional data such as language detection and sentiment analysis. This enables more sophisticated spam detection strategies and allows for fine-tuned control over what is considered spam. In other words, it filters out content that is not in the language you support, or to filter out negative content.
IP Geolocation: FortGuard’s IP check provides comprehensive data about IP addresses, helping to identify and block spammy IPs. This includes data on whether an IP is associated with spam activity, proxies, VPNs, or known abusers.
Privacy-Focused: FortGuard prioritizes user privacy. It does not log or store any data sent to its API, ensuring that user information remains confidential. There are no tracking scripts, and only essential cookies are used for login purposes.
FortGuard is a privacy-focused service. Briefly, we
do not log any data that you send to our content check API.
do not store any IP addresses that you send to our IP check API.
do not sell your personal data to third parties.
do not track you when using our websites
No analytics or any other tracking scripts
Only essential (login) cookies
Analytics:Â The console makes it easy to track the usage of your API key. You can view API logs with metadata such as response time, status code, and more. You can also set maximum monthly usage limits to prevent unexpected bills.
Diving into Fortguard furthermore, it has 3 API endpoints.
API Endpoints:
1. Content Check (/check/content): Analyzes a piece of content for spam and can return additional data points like language and sentiment.
For example, here is a request.
1{2 "model": "gpt-4o-mini",3 "content": "Click here to make $1,000 a day from home! 🔥💰",4 "context": "How to start a blog",5 "language_detection": true,6 "sentiment_analysis": true7}Here is its response.
1{2 "spam_score": 5,3 "language_code": "en",4 "sentiments": ["neutral"]5}2. IP Check (/check/ip): Provides detailed information about an IP address to detect potential spam sources.
For example, here is a request.
1{2 "ip": "141.98.215.233"3}And its response.
1{ 2 "ip": "141.98.215.233", 3 "is_bogon": false, 4 "is_mobile": false, 5 "is_datacenter": true, 6 "is_tor": false, 7 "is_proxy": false, 8 "is_vpn": false, 9 "is_abuser": true,10 "location": {11 "continent": "AS",12 "country": "Philippines",13 "country_code": "PH",14 "state": "",15 "city": "Manila",16 "latitude": 14.6042,17 "longitude": 120.9822,18 "zip": "",19 "timezone": "Asia/Manila",20 "local_time": "2023-11-06T15:30:22+08:00",21 "local_time_unix": 1699255822,22 "is_dst": false23 },24 "company": {25 "name": "ESTNOC-GLOBAL",26 "domain": "estnoc.ee",27 "type": "business",28 "network": "141.98.215.0 - 141.98.215.255",29 },30 "datacenter": {31 "datacenter": "Shock Hosting LLC",32 "domain": "shockhosting.net",33 "network": "141.98.212.0 - 141.98.215.255"34 },35 "asn": {36 "asn": 206804,37 "route": "141.98.215.0/24",38 "descr": "ESTNOC-GLOBAL, EE",39 "country": "ee",40 "active": true,41 "org": "EstNOC OY",42 "domain": "www.estnoc.ee",43 "type": "hosting",44 "created": "2016-11-03",45 "updated": "2023-10-13",46 "rir": "ripe",47 }48}493. All Check (/check): Combines both content and IP checks in a single request for comprehensive spam detection.
For example, here is a request and its response.
1// request 2{ 3 "content": {}, // content endpoint input 4 "ip": {} // ip endpoint input 5} 6FortGuard’s approach of providing detailed insights rather than simple binary results makes it a powerful tool for users seeking a flexible and privacy-conscious spam detection solution.
Pricing
Fortguard’s WordPress plugin is free but you need a subscription where pricing starts from $30/month including 150,000 API credits. For more information, refer to the pricing page.
Pros
Advanced Spam Detection with LLMs
Multi-Layered Protection
Privacy-Focused & Data Security
Customizable Spam Detection
Real-Time IP Analysis & Geolocation
Analytics & Usage Control
Flexible Pricing for Scalability
All-in-One API for Comprehensive Checks
Cons
Not Free
2. Stop Spammers
This is a WordPress anti-spam plugin made to defend WordPress websites from spam attacks, phony registrations, and spam comments. It efficiently filters bots and dubious people before they even get to your website thanks to its more than 50 distinct spam detection mechanisms. Stop Spammers is a dependable way to combat spam since it combines CAPTCHA, IP-based filtering, and sophisticated content analysis.
Features
Multi-layered protection approach
IP address checking against known spammers
Email validation
Comment and registration form protection
Customizable block messages
Detailed logging of spam attempts
Pricing
Plugin is basically free.
Pros
Comprehensive protection across multiple entry points
Highly configurable settings
Minimal performance impact
Active development and updates
Cons
You need to pay the company to get help and support
Interface can be overwhelming for beginners
Some users report occasional false positives
3. Maspik
Maspik is a WordPress spam detection plugin which is used to get rid of spam from contact forms and comments. This tool automatically detects and blocks spam.
Features
Specialized in comment spam prevention
Contact form protection
Registration spam blocking
Content analysis technology
API-based verification
Low server resource usage
Pricing
Starting from 29$/year up to 499$/year.
Pros
Extremely lightweight plugin
No visible CAPTCHA for users
Compatible with major form plugins
Regular security updates
Cons
Limited custom configuration options
Newer to market than some competitors
Support can be slower on the free version
4. ALTCHA
ALTCHA is an anti-spam WordPress plugin that uses a unique challenge-based verification system instead of traditional CAPTCHA. By introducing interactive and non-intrusive security measures, ALTCHA effectively blocks spam bots without frustrating human users. This approach ensures a balance between strong spam protection and user-friendly accessibility, making it a great alternative to conventional anti-spam methods.
Features
"Invisible" CAPTCHA alternative
Behavioral analysis to identify bots
Form protection for all WordPress forms
Accessibility focused design
Pricing
ALTCHA is free and open-source.
Pros
Excellent user experience with no puzzles to solve
Strong accessibility compliance
Minimal site performance impact
Privacy-focused approach
Cons
Verification limits on free plan
Requires JavaScript to function optimally
Some configuration needed for complex forms
5. FV Antispam
FV Antispam is a spam prevention WordPress plugin that focuses on blocking automated bots while allowing legitimate comments to pass through. It works silently in the background without requiring additional user input, making it a great option for those who want an effective spam filter without disrupting the commenting experience.
Features
Zero configuration required
Adaptive learning algorithm
Comment and form protection
Registration spam blocking
Spam statistics dashboard
Blacklist/whitelist management
Pricing
Basically free, but you will need the Pro plan to get help and support and other advanced features.
Pros
True "set and forget" functionality
Low false positive rate
Regular database updates
Minimal impact on page load times
Cons
Less customizable than some alternatives
Limited advanced features in the free version
Some users report needing additional solutions for heavy traffic sites
Conclusion
For WordPress site owners, spam is still a constant problem that affects everything from contact forms and user registrations to comment areas. Since WordPress is the target of around 80% of all POST request spam, it is imperative to put in place a dependable anti-spam solution. With their own features and strengths, the plugins FortGuard, Stop Spammers, Maspik, ALTCHA, and FV Antispam—all discussed in this article—offer several strategies for thwarting spam.
Whether you value privacy-focused techniques, AI-powered detection, or lightweight performance, selecting the best anti-spam plugin can help maintain your WordPress website safe, easy to use, and spam-free. Spend some time weighing these choices and choosing the one that best suits the requirements of your website.
Related Readings
Comments