Who hasn’t battled with WordPress comment spam? It’s an ongoing war for anyone with a WordPress website! I wrote some time ago about how to kill comment spam and recommended Akismet.
I’ve been asked about an alternative to Akismet…
An Akismet Alternative
The Akismet anti-spam plugin come pre-installed on WordPress. Some years ago, it was free. Now it is free for personal use only. Commercial blogs should use one of the paid options.
I’ve found Akismet teamed with GASP makes a powerful spam winning combination. Until fairly recently, I hadn’t come across anything that quite matches the performance for limited budgets.
Enter Antispam Bee
Antispam Bee is a free plugin available from the WordPress directory and it also works fabulously with GASP. I first used it some weeks back on a site that was being hammered by spam.
Since installing it and tweaking the options, spam is shifted to the spam folder and emptied every week. No more logging in to 1000’s of comments needing sorting out!
The video shows you how to install the Antispam Bee plugin and the settings available to you. The transcript is below the video for those who prefer to read.
Installing Antispam Bee
Video transcript
Hi, it’s Jan Kearney at My Local Business Online. I quickly want to show you an alternative spam plugin to Akismet. This is a WordPress dashboard. We’re just going to install a plugin. The one that you want is a plugin called Antispam Bee.
You’ll see when it comes up that this is all in German. Don’t worry about that because on the plugin itself, the instructions are in English. I’m going to install that now. Then activate the plugin.
Now if we click on the settings, you’ll see that there’s quite a lot of settings you can do. It works perfectly well out of the box with all these settings ticked. However there are a few things you might want to note. The first, untick the notification by email. The reason I say that is I put this plugin on a blog that was getting absolutely hammered by spam a few weeks ago. We’re talking 100+ spam comments per day, it had been caught by a bot. Obviously them the email just filled up with spam comments. So I would untick the notification by mail.
Now it’s up to you whether you want to automatically trust approved commenter. If they have already commented, they don’t get checked for spam. I would untick that one for now. It depends on how you use your blog. I personally have my blog set up so that if a commenter has already got one approved comment then their comment goes straight through. However, it is possible that an approved commenter may be missed then come back and spam the site. So I would take that off myself.
Just pop through the settings and untick the ones you don’t like. The ones I personally remove are trust approved commenters and notification by email. Then click save.
I like to use this plugin as an alternative to Akismet simply because it is very, very stable and works well with other plugins I have installed. So I now install this one as standard.
I hope it helps in your battle with WordPress Comments spam. I’ll speak to you soon.
Over to you…
What plugins do you use to combat WordPress comment spam?
Combat WordPress Comment Spam (Akismet Alternative) by Jan Kearney
Grab your guide to local search and learn:
- What elements are important on your website
- How to set up your Google My Business Local Page
- How Google Plus can help you zoom past your competitors
- Two things you should not neglect if you want to rank in the local search pack
- How to power past your competitors and dominate your area
Simply add your name and best email address in the box below and I'll whizz your report and worksheet straight over to you.
Don't worry, I hate spam too (probably more than you!) I'll never trade, share, sell, exchange your email address or any other jiggery pokery.
Hi Jan
Thanks for telling us about that. I know Akismet is for commercial use, so I’ve often wondered about an alternative and never get round to finding one – so I’m pleased to give Antispam Bee a try.
Joy
It’s a great plugin Joy, I’ve had it on a few sites now for a month or so and it plays nice with everything going on.
This looks like a great alternative t Akismet.
I wonder why Akismet started charging for commercial use. I dislike companies who offer things for FREE so many years and then all of a sudden cause this knee jerk reaction and want money for something they gave away for free for more than five years.
I’m with you on that one Bonnie – although I guess as a business they have to make a profit.
It’s always good business to take a look at a new or different product. Thanks for letting us know about this spam fighter plugin.
You’re welcome Edie 🙂
Jan,
Blacklisting is also great for reducing and eliminating spam. Great plugin – not too fond of having to manage all those settings, but as long as it works I guess.
Hi Cynthia – the settings aren’t too bad. A set and forget thing 🙂 The plugin works fine with the default settings, but I would turn off the email notifications – learnt that one the hard way!
Hi Jan
Thanks for this alternative for fighting spam. I will definitely give this a trial.
Take care
Pauline
It’s a great plugin Pauline! Thanks for popping in 🙂
Hi Jan
Thank you so much for recommending a new plugin alternative to Akismet, I will definitely give this try later this week, and just wondering where or how long did it take you to create that impressive video outro with all the various animations about adding comment and asking people to subscribe?
Sky
Hi Sky – it took me ages doing that outro… blood, sweat and tears! Ok, I downloaded it free from Splasheo 🙂 http://www.splasheo.com/video-boosters