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You are here: Home / Blogging / Combat WordPress Comment Spam (Akismet Alternative)

Combat WordPress Comment Spam (Akismet Alternative)

March 28, 2014 by Jan Kearney

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…

Contents

  • An Akismet Alternative
  • Enter Antispam Bee
  • Installing Antispam Bee
  • Related Posts

Combat WordPress Comment Spam - An Akismet Alternative
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
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Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: blog spam comments, blogging for business, spam commenting, spam control, video blog challenge, wordpress spam comments

About Jan Kearney

I believe that every business, no matter how small or how local can use the power of the web to gain more customers. I offer no bull coaching and mentoring so small business owners can strategically put the web to work for their business. I've been called a "compass" and a "navigator" and probably a few more names that aren't suitable for a profile!
Connect with me on Google+, Facebook, Pinterest

Comments

  1. Joy Healey says

    March 29, 2014 at 1:22 am

    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

    • Jan Kearney says

      March 29, 2014 at 10:23 pm

      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.

  2. Bonnie Gean says

    March 29, 2014 at 10:17 pm

    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.

    • Jan Kearney says

      March 29, 2014 at 10:26 pm

      I’m with you on that one Bonnie – although I guess as a business they have to make a profit.

  3. Edie Dykeman says

    March 30, 2014 at 5:33 am

    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.

    • Jan Kearney says

      March 31, 2014 at 9:29 am

      You’re welcome Edie 🙂

  4. Cynthia Dixon says

    March 30, 2014 at 2:54 pm

    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.

    • Jan Kearney says

      March 31, 2014 at 9:33 am

      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!

  5. Pauline says

    March 31, 2014 at 4:03 pm

    Hi Jan

    Thanks for this alternative for fighting spam. I will definitely give this a trial.

    Take care
    Pauline

    • Jan Kearney says

      March 31, 2014 at 9:52 pm

      It’s a great plugin Pauline! Thanks for popping in 🙂

  6. Sky Nealon says

    March 31, 2014 at 4:27 pm

    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

    • Jan Kearney says

      March 31, 2014 at 9:57 pm

      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

Meet Jan Kearney

I believe that every business, no matter how small or how local can use the power of the web to gain more customers. I offer no bull coaching and mentoring so small business owners can strategically put the web to work for their business. I've been called a "compass" and a "navigator" and probably a few more names that aren't suitable for a profile!
Connect with me on Google+, Facebook, Pinterest or Discover More About My Local Business Online…

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and My Local Business Online
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