10 Best Free Anti-Spam Plugins for WordPress to Keep Your Site Safe and Secure

Email spam is not only annoying but a severe problem, it can be perilous as well. You’re probably using an email automation software like SendFox to speed up those tasks and optimize your workflow, but not everybody’s intents are pure. Spam is an increasing problem and can be very challenging to tackle.

Although there are anti-spam features in email services such as Gmail and Hotmail, it is never 100 percent secure. It always slips through spam no matter how secure the system may be.

For us who use WordPress, the same criteria apply, the WordPress CMS is not entirely safe and secure when it comes to spam. To add to this, the WordPress core is meant to be a platform that you can build upon, and plug-ins provide solutions to many of the issues that core has – spam being one of them. You have to add anti-spam plugins to block spam in comments, forms, and registrations to harden the security.

I know it is hard to choose a suitable plugin? But no worries, help is on the way! Keep reading.

The First Spam Email

Email spam is nothing new; as early as 1978, the first spam was sent (although the name spam was still not yet formulated, it first appeared in April 1993), to several hundred users on ARPANET.

It was an advertisement for a presentation by Digital Equipment Corporation regarding their DECSYSTEM-20 products sent by Gary Thuerk.

Spam is even more of a problem since the launch of ChatGPT. That is why we recommend using an AI content detector like Originality.AI to be extra sure you are not getting too much SPAM content.

Unsolicited Emails Are One of the Most Most Comprehensive Factors in Being Exposed to Malware

Unsolicited emails are one of the most significant risks of being exposed to malware and malicious code. According to AV-TEST, which is an Independent IT-Security Institute, international spam campaigns can be divided into three categories, and they are:

• Unsolicited advertising.
• Spam with URL (potential phishing or malware).
• Spam with attached files (potential malware).

So to clarify the importance of protecting your email and your website from spam is a necessary and essential task.

Email & Spam Data

According to Talos ThreatSource, which is an update from Cisco Talos and highlights the most significant threats and other security news each week, we have obtained these statistics:

Total Global Email and Spam Volume for September 2019

One-month statistics (September 2019).

Total Global Email and Spam Volume for Past Year

This is how the email and spam statistics look like for the past year!

It is incredible numbers, and volume of spam sent every month and year. No wonder we are bombarded with spam in our email and on our websites. Keeping your website under check and improving it’s overall security is something that WebARX can easily help you out with.

Let’s move on with how we can protect ourselves against spam comments on our WordPress websites.

Anti-Spam Plugins for WordPress to Keep Your Site Safe and Secure

If we go into more detail on how we can guard and prevent all possible spam on our WordPress websites, plugins are the most beneficial and wallet-friendly solution, since most of the plugins are free.

I have put together a list of free anti-spam plugins for WordPress that can help you on your way to fighting spam and neutralizing threats.

At the end of the article, there are also additional plugins that have anti-spam features included. Plus premium anti-spam WordPress plugins for those who want additional features and maybe more support than offered in the free anti-spam WordPress plugins.

Let’s go, shall we?

Akismet Anti-Spam

Akismet is the most popular and most used anti-spam WordPress plugin currently. The plugin has over 5+ million active installations on WordPress. So this is a plugin with a large user base. It is well maintained and supported; after all, it is a plugin from Automattic, the company behind WordPress.

You need an Akismet.com API key to use the plugin. The keys are free for personal blogs. Paid versions are Plus and Enterprise, where prices range between $5 and $50.

Akismet checks comments and contact form submissions on your websites against their global database of spam to filters out, block all conceivable malicious content. It is an easy-to-use plugin to secure your website by secure comment and form submission.

Antispam Bee

Antispam Bee is another popular anti-spam WordPress plugin that can help you prevent spam on your website. With over 400,000+ active installs, it is a trusted and well supported free plugin. It is a plugin that blocks spam comments and trackbacks. Furthermore, it also contains a lot of features and filters which allow you to tick the options you want to use.

Some options available you can enable or disable are – Trust approved commenters. Trust commenters with a Gravatar. Mark BBCode is spam. Also, block or allow comments from specific countries. Mark as spam, don’t delete it. Delete existing spam after x days. Plus, many more options to handle and boost the plugin to stop spam most efficiently.

Antispam Bee is a full-fledged Akismet alternative. Additionally, with more options for configuration, which is a big plus for anyone who wants to configure and set how the plugin work. For all of you others who want a no-brainer-and-no-options-to-set plugin. No worries, the plugin works right out of the box as well.

WordPress Zero Spam

WordPress Zero Spam is a free WordPress plugin that stops and blocks registration spam and also automatically stops spam in comments. The plugin works right out of the box. However, there are some general settings for you who want to manage options manually.

You can choose to enable or disable log spammers, Auto IP Block, comment support, registration support, and also add custom messages and more.

Some of the significant features in the WordPress Zero Spam is No captcha for users. The plugin blocks 99.9% of spam registrations & comments. It supports caching plugins such as W3 Total Cache. Block spammy IPs, and much more.

WordPress Zero Spam is a flexible plugin to fight and stop spam, that trying to invade your site. A plus for the settings page. It is always welcome with options to configure settings you want to enable or disable.

WPBruiser {no- Captcha anti-Spam}

WPBruiser is a WordPress plugin that targets both anti-spam and website security. It is a feature-rich plugin with several settings to boost and increase security. The plugin uses algorithms that identify spam bots without using captcha images.

WPBruiser stops and blocks spam comments, spam-bot signups, and even brute force attacks. Unlike other plugins that usually save spam in a spam folder that can be using resources, WPBruiser prevents the bots from leaving any spam at all.

The plugin includes features such as comments form protection. Prevent user enumeration, minimum form submission time. Detect brute force attacks, automatically block IP addresses, and much more.

The WPBruiser plugin offers full protection against spam in all its forms. Furthermore, it also provides more security like detecting and stopping brute force attacks, which can cause considerable damage to your website.

Stop Spammers

Stop Spammers is an anti-spam WordPress plugin with over 50,000+ active installs. So this is a well-proven plugin with a lot of 5 stars ratings. It is a plugin built to stop spammy emails, spam comments, spam registration, and of course, spambots.

Stop Spammers is like a swiss army knife with numerous features to stop spam in all its forms. After installing this plugin, there are 12 tabs available with settings such as – Protection options, allow lists, block lists, allow requests, caching, and more.

However, no worries, if you don’t want to spend too much time customizing the setting, the plugin works right out of the box.

With this plugin, Stop Spammers, you get excellent protection against spam that tries to infiltrate into your website. The plugin includes tons of great features to make use of to secure your WordPress website.

No Spam At All

No Spam At All is another free anti-spam fighting plugin for WordPress to secure your website against spam. If spam robots or bots add comments to your websites. The plugin filters out the spam comments and stores them for you to decide whether to delete all pending comments or not with a single click.

Moreover, the settings available you can choose from are – How often should the comment token change. Include or exclude the comment author URL. Allow links in the comments or not. You can also add a custom message to real commenters and intending evil spammers.

No Spam At All is a plugin that fulfills its task, which is to prevent and block spam comments satisfactorily. More features are coming in future updates, according to the author.

NoSpamNX

NoSpamNX is a free spam fighting WordPress plugin. The plugin has over 10,000+ active installations and is a popular anti-spam choice among WordPress users. It is an easy-to-use plugin. Install, activate the plugin, and you are ready to stop evil spambots. With easy configuration, only two options, Block spam or Mark as spam.

NoSpamNX adds additional form fields to your comment form, invisible to human users. If a spambot fills in these fields blindly, the plugin does not save the comment. The spam is marked as spam or is blocked from the choice you made earlier in the settings.

According to the author, the plugin works best with a WordPress default theme! Moreover, the plugin is not compatible with OpenID, BuddyPress, and Jetpack Comments. However, it is an easy-to-configure plugin that can help you to fight spam.

Anti-spam

Anti-spam is a free WordPress plugin that can help you block spam on your website. It is a plugin that works right out of the box. However, you can choose to tick the box – Save spam comments in the spam section, if you want to check your spam comments later. It is an easy-to-use plugin. Install, activate, and you are ready to fight spam.

No captcha is used. Instead, a blocking algorithm based on two methods – ‘invisible js-captcha’ and ‘invisible input trap’ (aka honeypot technique) is used to block spam.

Something that can cause problems for those who want to use the plugin is that Anti-spam is not compatible with several plugins. Disqus, Jetpack Comments, AJAX Comment Form, and bbPress, which can cause some users to prefer to install other anti-spam plugins.

However, the plugin is popular with over 200,000+ active installs. The plugin is also available in a premium version – Anti-spam Pro if you want more features and support.

Spam Destroyer

Spam Destroyer is a free WordPress plugin created by Ryan Hellyer. The plugin’s primary goal is to stop and block automated spam. It is a simple-to-use plugin. Install the plugin, activate it, and you are ready to seek and destroy automated spam. There are no settings or options included. Its purpose is that it should be effortless to use.

How does the plugin work? According to the faq section: There are two anti-spam payloads, a cookie, and a hidden input field, which are created/verified by javascript. Any bots attempting to bypass this plugin need to be able to process both cookies and or javascript.

Spam Destroyer is an excellent choice for anyone who wants to stop and block automated spam without lots of configuration settings. Just activate the plugin, and you are all set.

Cerber Security, Antispam & Malware Scan

Cerber Security, Antispam & Malware Scan is not only an anti-spam plugin but also as its name suggests a security and malware scan plugin. In other words, it is a multipurpose plugin to ensure and boost the security of your WordPress websites against various threats.

It is a complex plugin with a ton of features and options to defend your website against spam, hacker attacks, trojans, and malware. If you want something more than just a regular anti-spam plugin, then the Cerber Security plugin can be an excellent alternative to increase the security on all levels of your WordPress website.

Cerber Security has over 100,000+ active installations, is regularly updated, and is well maintained and is popular security and anti-spam plugin for both beginners and pros.

Additional Free WordPress Plugins Where Anti-spam Features Are Included

• Wordfence Security – Firewall & Malware Scan – Wordfence Security is a security plugin for defending and blocking all conceivable threats to your website. It includes tons of features such as a firewall and malware scanner, but the plugin also checks and terminate spam.
• Jetpack by WordPress.com – Jetpack is a multipurpose plugin with an arsenal of various features such as backups, SEO tools, customization tools, site stats, and more. However, Jetpack also comes with security-related features like brute-force attack protection and spam filtering.
• All In One WP Security & Firewall – It is a plugin that comes with a ton of great features to boost security on all levels. Additional security features are user account security, login security, registration security, and comment spam security. However, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. All In One WP Security includes many more layers of features to increase security on your WP website.
• BulletProof Security – BulletProof Security is another security plugin with website protection such as MScan malware scanner, .htaccess security protection (firewall), DB backup, login security, and monitoring, however also anti-spam control.
• Brute Force Login Security, Spam Protection & Limit Login Attempts – With this plugin, you can add Brute Force login security, login protection with limit login attempts to your website. Furthermore, database backup, IP blocking, password protection with two-factor authentication, plus also spam protection to block and filter comment spam.

Additional Premium Anti-spam WordPress Plugins

• Anti-spam Pro – Anti-spam Pro is a premium plugin with the main task of stopping spam comments. It is a WordPress plugin that works right out of the box but also has a setting page for more optimization.
• WPBruiserPro { no-Captcha anti-Spam } – WPBruiserPro is the premium version of the free WPBruiser that I presented earlier in the list above. So if you want more features and support than the free version offers, go for the premium version of WPBruiser.
• WP-SpamShield – WordPress Anti-Spam Plugin – WP-SpamShield is another premium plugin that prevents and blocks spam in comments, contact forms, and registrations. It has two layers of leading-edge anti-spam protection that blocks both automated (spambots) and human spam.
• WP Guard – WordPress Security, Firewall & Anti-Spam – WP Guard is a security plugin that protects a WordPress website from SQLi attacks, malicious files, XSS vulnerabilities, proxy visitors, spam, and also other types of threats.

Wrapping Up

By now, you are no doubt aware that using an anti-spam WordPress plugin is a significant factor in protecting, block, and tackle spam on your website.

It is a necessity, because not only is it time-consuming to sort out all the possible comments. It is also hazardous as spam comments can contain malicious code and can hijack and take over your website.

These free anti-spam plugins that I present in the list above can help you stop spam comments and also improve the security of your WordPress website.

Furthermore, I have also added other plugins that contain anti-spam features and additional premium plugins to battle spam in the best possible way.

So if you get lots of spam comments, don’t wait too long to install any of the anti-spam plugins. Get it done right away to protect your site.

Finally, which of all anti-spam plugins do you prefer and use on your website? I would love to hear your point of view in a comment below. No spam comments, please.

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