Incorporating WordPress comment spam is an ongoing process and can be done with (a) the help of plugins or (b) with a little adjustment of the discussion settings in WordPress. In this tutorial, we focus on both methods. Two factors you should consider while deciding on your next anti-spam plugin are:

Traffic
Number of comments

If both numbers are lower (for example, when you start blogging), you can use the technique (b), i.e. adjust your WordPress settings to prevent spam manually. It is interesting to see how much WordPress offers.

In part (a), that is, prevent spam with WordPress anti-spam plugins, let's first take a look at the important features that an anti-spam plugin needs. Then we dive into the plugin list.

Essential features of the WordPress Antispam Plugin

There are a lot of things you can look for in an anti-spam plugin, but there are some key features that you really have to consider. Let's see!

No customer action

Customer actions, in addition to writing a review , should be kept as low as possible - ideally not. Your plugin should not ask your genuine commenter to check / uncheck the checkbox or enter incomprehensible captcha. Enter captcha to comment significantly hinders user experience and should be avoided.

Minimal WordPress database impact

A good anti-spam plugin should not allow spam comments to be entered into the WordPress database. Therefore, the number of SQL transactions decreases, which means lower server load, which means improved performance - even during peak traffic hours. However, the risk here is that if the anti-spam algorithm fails, an honest comment could be lost forever (unfortunately).

Block spam for new user registration

The WordPress registration page allows users to register on your site. The registration process is quite simple and can be easily automated by the bot.

Why do we need to stop it? After registration, users can post as many comments as they want, without being filtered. This is the normal Discussion setting in the new WordPress installation. Therefore, you can change the default settings or use a plugin like WP-SpamShield to block new user registration spam.

Validation track

Tracking authentication includes a filter that compares the trackback client's IP address to the server's IP address. If both do not match, then it is spam.

Statistics

Statistics help track and analyze data. The plugin should provide weekly or monthly statistics on detected spam.

Price

As with many plugins, some are free and some are paid. A number of plugins, including Antispam Bee & WP-SpamShield Anti-Spam, are free. Other solutions, like Akismet and CloudTalk, are paid options for commercial and business websites.

List of the best WordPress Antispam plugins

While there are many ways to prevent spam, these free anit-spam plugins are a great place to start.

1. Akismet

WordPress number one spam plugin in the archive, developed by the Automattic team - Akismet brings enterprise-level spam protection to your WordPress site. With Akismet, users install and activate the plugin with an API key (registration required). The plugin works by uploading all comments to the Akismet server. Reviews then undergo hundreds of * anti-spam algorithms (* we really don't know the exact numbers). The correct comment is published, while the rest is pushed into the spam row.

Note:

Akismet is free for nonprofit and personal use (maximum of 50,000 spam checks monthly)
Starting from $ 5 / month
Compatible with leading WordPress plugins like Jetpack and Contact Form 7
View the status history of all comments to see which ones were moderated by the moderator or automatically included in the spam folder

2. Stop WP Comment Spam with Fullworks

Clean up your comments with the Stop WP Comment Spam plugin. It's a quick, easy, and free way to prevent spam from taking over your posts. With the plugin installed, you can automatically block spam and keep flagged comments for review in the Spam Spam tab (where you can review and approve or delete comments manually) . Or you can activate the setting to automatically delete all spam - immediately or after being kept for a set number of days.

Note:

Automatic spam filter
Option to delete or hold for review
Works well with other WordPress security plugins

And you can upgrade to Stop Spam Pro for additional features such as spam identification and machine learning, form protection, preventing fake WordPress & WooC Commerce user registrations, spam statistics and more.

3. Antispam Bee

The next best choice after Akismet would be Anti-Spam Bee. This free plugin is full of great features and doesn't require a subscription like Akismet. Anti-Spam Bee is free for personal and commercial use, so whether your site may be spam-free.

Note:

Block comments from specific IP addresses, countries or in other languages
Log the spammers with Fail2Ban
Delete WordPress database about spam after a specified number of days (spam filtering)
Show monthly statistics on dashboard with spam numbers

Anti-Spam Bee's advanced anti-spam configuration measures

4. WP-SpamShield Anti-Spam

WP-SpamShield Anti-Spam handles comment spam, subscription spam, trackback spam and contact form spam. That is a lot of spam! The plugin does not allow spam to gain access to the WordPress database using a multitude of methods, one of which is an advanced blacklist and logging feature that helps keep spammers constantly. And with WP-SpamShield Anti-Spam, you can also block comments from visitors using a proxy server

2 protection layers:

Anti-spam JavaScript / Cookies blocks all spam bots automatically
The anti-spam algorithm layer contains over 100 algorithm filters to block people 's spam and track

Plugin compatibility:

Comment form plugins like Contact Form 7, Gravity Form, Ninja Form, and JetPack
Social plugins like BuddyPress and bbPress
Ecommerce plugins like WooC Commerce
Member plugins like s2Member and WP-Member

5. WordPress Zero Spam

Based on a concept of Mozilla developer David Walsh, the WordPress Zero Spam Plugin uses client and server-side JavaScript key authentication to prevent bots from spam. Basically, users cannot comment without enabling JavaScript.

Note:

No external server / service needed to check spam
No protection against spammers
Free for both personal and commercial use

6. Anti-Spam by CleanTalk

CleanTalk is a premium cloud-based anti-spam plugin for WordPress, blocking spam comments, bot subscriptions and tracking. With CleanTalk, the comments are uploaded to the cloud servers of CleanTalks in which it undergoes various authentication checks. These checks include - comments are sent too quickly, JavaScript is disabled, HTTP links are blacklisted and many others. Valid comments are then allowed, while the rest is sent to the spam queue.

Anti-spam settings for CleanTalk

Note:

CleanTalk offers a 14-day free trial, then a $ 8 / year commercial license for one website
Advanced statistics show block / censorship spam
The spam comment log shows the reason for blocking the comment

Statistics blocking spam

Plugin compatibility:

Comment form plugins such as Formidable Forms, Contact Form 7, Quick Secure Contact and JetPack
Social plugins like BuddyPress and bbPress
Ecommerce plugins like WooC Commerce
Member plugins like s2Member and WP-Member
Buffer plugins like W3 Total Cache and WP Super cache

7. Plugin Growmap Anti Spambot

Growmap Anit Spambot (GASP) is another free plugin option, adding a client-created checkbox to the comment box asking users to confirm that they are not spammers. You can set the maximum number of comments that users may need to help to limit spammers from trying to post to your site. So GASP basically blocks spam bots by adding dynamically named fields to the comment form.

8. Captcha GoodBye

GoodBy Captcha removes spam-bot registration, spam comments and brute force attacks by preventing spam comments from entering the WordPress database. The plugin applies anti-spam measures in the registration pages as well as login and password reset pages to prevent spam before it starts.

Plugin compatibility:

Comment form plugins like PlanSo Forms, JetPack, Postmatic, Epoch and MailChimp for WordPress
Membership plugins are like Final Members
Login plugins such as WP User Control and Ajax Login

9. WangGuard

WangGuard is an anitspam plugin compatible with WordPress MU, BuddyPress and bbPress. It follows Akismet and CleanTalk processes by checking comments on spam on external servers. API connections are even encrypted using SSL for added security.

10. Spam Destroyer

Spam Terminator is designed to be as irritating to your readers as possible. This lightweight plugin automatically prevents spam without turning off your commentator and is something you might consider for a small blog or low-traffic website.

11. Stop Spam Comment

Stop Spam Comments is a simple JavaScript-based spam comment blocker for WordPress. Just activate this nearly invisible plugin to start stopping dead spam in its songs. The interesting part about this plugin is that it doesn't add captcha, questions or other interactions to users stumbling.

12. Stop Spammer Spam Prevention

Prevent spam Spammers help prevent comment spam, as well as restrict login attempts. The plugin uses over 20 different checks for spam and malicious events to detect spam. When the plugin flagged the comment or login, the user was allowed to try it a second time through the denied request page. Here, users are presented screen captcha to prevent them from being blocked. Captcha can range from OpenCaptcha, Google reCaptcha or SolveMedia Captcha.

How to take advantage of WordPress discussion settings to prevent spam

The settings for controlling comments in WordPress are available under Settings> Discussions. Please note that this is a manual spam prevention and is usually most effective when you have a few comments each day. However, if you have more than 1000 comments daily, using an anti-spam plugin is more feasible.

Let's discuss certain ways to use these default WordPress settings to prevent spam. We will discuss one part at a time.

1. Set the default post

guide to install default article-anitspam-01

Screenshot of Recommended default article settings

Just disable trackback and pingback to save yourself from half the spam traffic. Only allow people to post comments on new posts.

2. Install other comments

Screenshots of Other Comment Settings are proposed

It is almost always necessary for comment authors to enter their name / email before commenting. WordPress allows this by default. If you require users to log in before leaving a comment, this will cut down on a significant amount of spam. This step may be off for some legitimate readers who want to leave comments but don't want to log in. . Analyze carefully before activating this feature.

You should disable comments on posts older than 90 days in a fairly active blog. However, if you continue to update the article, make sure to change the publication date so that the 90-day boundaries do not overlap. Keep the comment threaded to default or increase if needed.

3. E-mail me anytime

A screenshot of E-mail recommended to me whenever Settings

You can use this feature if you do not receive thousands of comments on your posts. You will receive an email notification for every comment that pops up and you can mark spam immediately to cut off a portion of spam comments.

4. Before a comment appears

instructions for use-anitspam-04-before comment appears

Screenshot of Proposal Before Comments Appears

Allowing readers who previously left comments, leaving them without any approval, will help you cut down legal comments in the moderation queue. You will only have to focus on the rest of the user, mostly spam.

5. Moderation of comments

Screen capture of Recommended Comment Moderation Settings

I suggest using a value of 2. This is ideal for allowing guest bloggers to leave at most one outbound link (bait link) in their comments. Building an effective comment moderation blacklist is a very time-consuming process, with equally profitable refunds. However, you can take advantage of this setting as an effective profanity filter. Just add obscene words to the list and all such comments will be added to the moderation queue.

7. Comment blacklist

user manual anitspam-06-comment blacklist

Screenshot of the Blacklist settings recommendation

The Comment Blacklist is a more strict version of the Comment Moderation Blacklist, where if a comment contains a word in the blacklist, it will be sent to the spam queue, instead of the moderation queue. Benefits - save your time.

Conclusion

We mentioned a lot in this post and hope you will find some useful in your spam blocking efforts. Your favorite way to fight spam? Do you know about a great anti-spam plugin we haven't listed yet?