Stop spam with Jetpack Akismet

Keep your website free of spam, improving the experience for everyone. (Except the spammers!)

Akismet uses state-of-the-art algorithms and methods to block spam submissions on blog comment and contact forms. To date, Akismet has blocked more than 500 billion pieces of spam, averaging about 7.5 million per hour.

Please note that Akismet is configured to work with contact forms and blog comments, or anything that is implemented like a blog comment (e.g. a WooCommerce product review). Akismet does not prevent spam account creation or registrations.

Activate Jetpack Akismet Anti-spam

Akismet is free to use for personal non-commercial sites. For commercial sites, it is included in the following Jetpack plans:

• Jetpack Complete
• Jetpack Security
• Jetpack Akismet
• Legacy plans: Jetpack Personal, Jetpack Premium, Jetpack Professional

Find out more about how we define a commercial or personal site.

Set up Jetpack Akismet Anti-spam

To activate Jetpack Akismet Anti-Spam:

1. Purchase a plan that includes Akismet.
2. Connect your site to Jetpack.
3. In your WP Admin, look for the menu option Jetpack → Akismet Anti-spam. If the menu option isn’t there, follow these instructions to install the Akismet plugin.
4. Go to Jetpack → Akismet Anti-spam.
5. When you open the page, you will be given the option to activate your Jetpack Akismet Anti-spam plan by connecting your Jetpack account. You can do this by clicking on the Connect with Jetpack button. This will automatically activate your Jetpack Akismet Anti-spam license.
6. Once done, you will see a message confirming that Akismet is connected.

Confirming Jetpack Akismet Anti-spam is working

Confirming your Jetpack Akismet Anti-spam plan

Via Akismet Anti-spam Section

1. Go to Jetpack → Akismet Anti-spam in WP Admin.
2. Scroll down to the “Account” section.
3. You will see your subscription type, status, and next billing date.

Via My Jetpack Section

1. Go to Jetpack → My Jetpack in WP Admin.
2. The Akismet Anti-spam card will have the text “Active” at the bottom.

Testing Aksimet

If you have an active Jetpack Akismet Anti-spam plan and concerned that it isn’t catching spam, you can test Akismet with these instructions.

Set up Jetpack Akismet Anti-spam for contact forms

If you use Jetpack’s contact form (either the Form block, or the classic editor version), 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 Jetpack → Forms section of WP Admin.

For more information on using Jetpack Akismet Anti-spam with other form plugins, please see this support article from Akismet about how to use Akismet with your contact forms.

Configure Jetpack Akismet Anti-spam

To adjust Akismet settings, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Jetpack → Akismet Anti-spam in WP Admin.
2. API Key: The API key should be pre-filled when you purchase your Jetpack Akismet Anti-spam plan. If your API ever changes, you could adjust it here.
3. Comments: Check this box to allow the number of approved comments to appear next to each comment author when viewing Comments in WP Admin.
4. Strictness: Choose how you want to manage your spam. You can ask Jetpack Akismet Anti-spam to automatically discard spam or put in the spam folder for you to review.
5. Privacy: To help comply with privacy laws like the GDPR, choose to display a privacy notice under your comment forms.

Turn off captchas

Jetpack Akismet Anti-spam filters comment and contact form submissions automatically, so you can remove any captchas that you are using.

Check usage

To see how Akismet is working, follow these steps:

1. Start at WP Admin.
2. Navigate to Jetpack → Akismet Anti-spam.
3. Review the stats showing the number of spam comments and submissions blocked on your site by Akismet.

Jetpack Akismet Anti-spam comes with 10,000 checks for spam per month (API calls), which should be more than enough for a small business. If you need more API calls, you can upgrade to one of Akismet’s Enterprise Plans.

Train Akismet

Anything that Jetpack Akismet Anti-spam thinks is spam is automatically moved to your site’s spam section. On the off chance that some spam does get through, please mark it as spam to teach Jetpack Akismet Anti-Spam to recognize similar submissions as spam in the future.