Using Akismet with your Contact Forms

Using Akismet with your Contact Forms

Akismet integrates with several popular contact form plugins to help stop spam arriving via the forms on your site. Some of these integrations are automatic, but others require a bit of configuration.

Note: The following instructions assume that you have an active Akismet subscription.

Jetpack Contact Form

If you use Jetpack』s contact form (either the Form block, or the classic editor version), then all of your contact form submissions are automatically checked for spam by Akismet. You can also manually mark comments as spam/not spam via the Feedback section of wp-admin.

Contact Form 7

Contact Form 7』s forms require you to add some specific options to your contact form fields. You can find full instructions here.

Contact Form 7 doesn』t store contact form submissions on your site, so if you want the ability to manually mark them as spam/not spam, then you can install the Flamingo plugin (from the same developer), which provides that ability.

Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms has a dedicated Akismet Add-On which will allow you to integrate Akismet with any of your forms. Check out this user guide on how to set it up. You can also manually mark form submissions as spam/not spam as covered in this article.

Caldera Forms

Caldera Forms has Akismet integration, which requires you to have at least a name and email field in your form. You can configure Akismet integration via the Processors tab of your form, as described here.

Ninja Forms

To use Akismet with Ninja Forms, you need to add an Akismet Anti-spam Action, as described here.

Formidable Forms

To use Akismet with Formidable Forms, you need to enable Akismet on each form where you want to us it.

Other Plugins

If you use another contact form plugin, please contact the plugin author to check if their plugin has an Akismet integration.

If you have more general questions about Akismet, please contact us here.

Why do I need a WordPress.com account?

Why do I need a WordPress.com account?

What is WordPress.com, and what does it have to do with Akismet?

WordPress.com is a hosted web service built on the popular open source blog and site creation tool available for free at WordPress.org. The service or product you』d like to use is one of the suite of products made by Automattic, the company that runs WordPress.com.

To best serve our growing number of customers across the company, we』ve determined that a single user account management system is a necessary step toward getting seamless payment and functional integration across all of our tools.

I use WordPress to run a blog or website, how does this new system affect that?

It depends on whether you』re already a WordPress.com user or if you host your own site.

If you run your blog on WordPress.com or already have an account here, you won』t need a new account at all. Simply sign in with your existing WordPress.com account and we』ll redirect you back to the service of your choice as a logged in user.

NOTE: If you are already a user of Akismet or have installed Jetpack on your blog, you already have a WordPress.com account which you can use to sign in.

However, if you or your company downloaded and installed the free and open-source software available on WordPress.org, and you』ve never signed up for Jetpack or VaultPress or Akismet before, the new WordPress.com account you create won』t affect your self-hosted installation one bit

Why do I have to 「approve」 WordPress.com』s connection to Akismet?

This question has a complicated and technical answer, but for our purposes here, if you』ve ever used Facebook or Twitter to log into a service online, you』re doing the same kind of thing as we』re doing with WordPress.com and Automattic』s other services. As of right now, the only information WordPress.com shares to these services is your username, name, and email address.

Does it cost anything or will I get any spam from creating this new account?

It costs nothing, and you』ll get no spam from us. You can read our fascinating terms of service to learn more.

Should I choose a free or paid subscription?

Should I choose a free or paid subscription?

Free keys are for personal, non-commercial sites only — no exceptions. If your site has advertising or affiliate links, sells products or services, solicits donations or sponsorships, or is in any way related to a for-profit business or educational organization — your site is considered commercial.

Noncompliance with these terms will result in immediate suspension of services without notice.

For-profit educational institutions and organizations are not eligible for a Personal/Free plan at this time.

Do you offer discounts for nonprofits?

Yes! We offer free Akismet licenses for qualified nonprofit organizations. You will need to provide official documentation showing your organization』s nonprofit status. All the information needed to get started can be found in our Akismet for Nonprofits guide.

Note that a nonprofit key is subject to a 60,000 API call limit per month. Organizations that exceed that amount would need to upgrade to an Akismet Enterprise Plus plan, which is priced by actual API volume.

If you are ready to sign up for an Akismet subscription please contact us to get started.

Akismet for nonprofit organizations guide

Akismet for nonprofit organizations guide

Thank you for your interest in using Akismet! Nonprofit keys are provided via support request. It is not possible to sign up directly. To get started, we』ll need two things from you:

Documentation certifying your organization』s nonprofit status.A WordPress.com account specific to your nonprofit site(s).

Documentation

A document that confirms nonprofit status has been approved (not just applied for). The document should be issued or certified by a governing body (not the organization itself). It should contain the following:

DateOrganization Name / IDGovernment representatives』 signatures and official stamps.

Here is a list of accepted documents:

United States

A certified copy of the applicant』s certificate of incorporation or similar document if it clearly establishes the organization』s nonprofit status. Documentation of tax-exempt status (like an IRS determination letter) is only issued to a nonprofit organization. For example, 501c3 certifying letter.

Note: In the United States, tax-exempt status is typically issued by the Federal government while the nonprofit group is issued by the state of the nonprofit』s incorporation, so you would need to look up what is issued by the state if you』re searching for an organization.

Canada

In Canada, nonprofit entities are called Charities and use the Canadian registered charity form (T3010).

United Kingdom

Any nonprofit (which they』ll refer to as a 「charity」) in the United Kingdom will be listed in the UK Registered Charities List.  You can provide the link related to your charity, provided by the UK government.

Brazil

The Brazilian certificate is called the CNPJ card and should provide an NGO number.

Germany

The paperwork you should provide must contain references to one of these:

Public benefit (Gemeinnützige Zwecke §52)Benevolent (Mildtätige Zwecke §53)Church-related (Kirchliche Zwecke §54)

Norway

Norway nonprofits are registered at http://brreg.no/ (confirmation on Government website). You can provide the link related to your charity, provided by the Norway government.

Other Countries

If you have a nonprofit entity not based in one of the countries mentioned above and you』re unsure how to verify your nonprofit status, use Google to research the proper documentation needed for your country.

A WordPress.com account specific to your nonprofit subscriptions

We need a separate WordPress.com account that will only be used for your organization』s nonprofit site(s). We ask that you keep separate any personal or for-profit sites by setting them up on a separate WordPress.com account. For example, a WordPress.com account using a generic email address like [email protected] could be used for a nonprofit Akismet license.

We』re trying to avoid setting up nonprofit Akismet services on personal accounts. That way, if you were to hand this off to someone else at the company, it wouldn』t be tied to your personal email address and could transfer easily between the staff at your organization.

As far as WordPress access level, this isn』t tied to your WordPress site in any way. It』s not required to set up a new user on your site. The account is specific to the Akismet.com and WordPress.com sites.

You can create that account here:

https://wordpress.com/start/user

When contacting us, please let us know the WordPress.com username or email address we should use when setting up the nonprofit license.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Getting Started

Getting Started

Akismet for nonprofit organizations guide
Can I use an Akismet API key with another service?
Does Akismet only work with WordPress?
How do I activate the Akismet plugin?
How do I confirm Akismet is working?
Should I choose a free or paid subscription?
Using Akismet with your Contact Forms
What』s an API key?
Why do I need a WordPress.com account?
Plugins and Libraries

Plugins and Libraries

Plugins and Libraries

While most people know about the Akismet plugin for WordPress, others have been implementing Akismet for other systems and platforms; here are the ones we know about:

WordPress Plugins

Official WordPress Plugin (Comments)Jetpack (Contact Form)Contact Form 7 with Flamingo (Contact Form)Gravity Forms (Contact Form)

Other Content Management Systems (CMS)

Drupal AntiSpam Module (Drupal)R Antispam (Joomla)Antispam (Perch)AkismetKlik (Mediawiki)MediaWiki-Akismet (Mediawiki)Advanced Spam Cleaner (Moodle)Exkismet (Elixir)

Forums

discourse-akismet (Discourse)Spam-o-mattic (vBulletin)Akismet Spam Protection (SMF)Akismet Anti-Spam Extension (phpBB)

Other Implementations

PiwigoAkismet Plugin for PHPList3

Other Libraries

Dart: Dart Connector for AkismetJavaScript: Node.js bindings to the Akismet APIJavaScript: Akismet for JS (Node.js): Prevent comment spam using JavaScriptKotlin/Java: Akismet for Kotlin/Java by Erik C. ThauvinPHP: Laraval 4 frameworkPHP: Tiki Wiki CMS GroupwarePHP: PHP 4 class by Bret KuhnsPHP: Fuspam PHP functionPython: python-akismetPython: Voidspace Python modulePython: pykismet3: Python 3 Akismet client (used by Django forms)Ruby: RubyGem: RakismetRuby: RubyGem: Akismet (unofficial)Go: go-akismet.NET: Akismet: unofficial 「dot-net」 Akismet API library.Perl: Net::Akismet: Perl interface to Akismet – comment and trackback spam fighter.

If you』ve created your own Akismet integration using our API and want to be included on this list, please contact us here.

How do I activate the Akismet plugin?

How do I activate the Akismet plugin?

If you already have the Akismet plugin installed and activated on your WordPress site, you can skip to step #5.

You can activate Akismet in your blog』s WordPress dashboard by following these steps.

1. First, get the Akismet plugin by going to Plugins -> Add New:

2. Type in Akismet in the search box and hit enter/return:

3. Typically, the first search result is correct. Make sure the plugin』s author is Automattic and click on Install Now:

4. Wait for the install to finish, then click on the blue Activate button:

5. After the plugin has been activated, go to Settings -> Akismet Anti-Spam

If you have Jetpack installed, you』ll find the Akismet menu under Jetpack -> Akismet Anti-Spam instead:

6. If you already have an API key, click the Manually enter an API key section link and enter your API key.

If you don』t already have an API key, then click on the Set up your Akismet Account button, and you』ll be guided through the process of getting one in a new window.

7. If you have Jetpack installed and have a paid plan that includes an Akismet key, click on the Connect with Jetpack button:

8. If you』re connected with Jetpack, but would like to use a different API key, feel free to click the Manually enter an API key link and enter your API key.

And that』s it. If you』d like to test Akismet and confirm it is working, see this guide for steps.

If you run into any troubles activating the service, feel free to get in touch.

What』s an API key?

What』s an API key?

An API key is a string of characters — like abc123xyz456 — that』s used to register Akismet for your site. After you sign up for Akismet, you』ll receive your API key by email.

Once you have your API key, you can activate the Akismet plugin in just a few steps:

Go to the Plugins tab of your WordPress dashboard.Find the Akismet plugin. Click the Activate link if it』s not already active.Go to Settings -> Akismet Anti-spam. If you have the Jetpack plugin installed, go to Jetpack -> Akismet Anti-spamEnter your API key in the box.Click the Connect with API Key button.

You can find alternative ways to activate Akismet here.

Did you lose your API key?

No problem — we』re happy to resend the API key.

Can I use the same API key for multiple sites?

Yep! If you have multiple personal sites that you want to protect with Akismet, you can use the same API key for each site.

If you have a paid plan, you can use the API key with multiple sites; however, our plans are capped by API calls per month depending on the tier you』ve subscribed to. The total of those API calls sent by all those sites is calculated.

Please note that if your site is not-personal, you will need to have a paid subscription. If you』re not sure if your site would qualify for a free key, you can refer to this page for help.

How about a Multisite install?

Unless every site is purely personal, each subsite in your Multisite install will need to have its own paid subscription, even if it』s using the same top level domain name.

Can I use an Akismet API key with another service?

Can I use an Akismet API key with another service?

An Akismet API key can only be used with the Akismet anti-spam service. An API (Application Program Interface) key can only be used with the service that it was designed to activate or continue service with.

If you purchased a theme or another plugin that requires an API key, you』ll need to obtain that from that vendor.

If you have more general questions about Akismet, please contact us here.

How do I confirm Akismet is working?

How do I confirm Akismet is working?

Once a site has been configured correctly, you can test by submitting a comment with one of the following triggers:

Name: viagra-test-123Email: [email protected] Body: akismet-guaranteed-spam

The comment submission will be accepted normally but you can confirm Akismet is working by checking that it was automatically filtered into the Spam tab at 「WP Admin > Comments > Spam」.