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Is Akismet worth it?
When setting up your WordPress website, one of the first things you need to consider is your spam policy, how to control spam and all the risks that spam poses for your WordPress website. Akismet is one of the most popular WordPress spam control plugins available. But is Akismet worth it?
If you have a lot of people commenting on your website, monitoring, controlling, answering and deleting comments as a result of spam can be quite time consuming.
I mean you want a lot of people to engage in your website and comments can be a very valuable source of not only engagement, but of content itself.
Akismet without doubt is probably the best anti-spam WordPress plugins available. If you have a lot of comment spam and you find you’re taking too much time on your blog monitoring the good comments from the bad etc., then Akismet is definitely worth the price.
However, if you have a website that doesn’t get a lot of traffic, nor gets a lot of comments, then I would say that Akismet is definitely not worth it. I would opt for the free comment spam plugins available on WordPress instead.
But, if you are thinking about going for Akisment’s paid plan, then consider these FAQs before you do.
What is Akismet anti spam?
Akismet is an advanced hosted anti-spam service. Akismet is designed to efficiently process and analyze huge masses of data from millions of sites and communities on the web, in real time.
Akismet uses this data to fight the latest tactics embraced by the internet’s most competent spammers.
Akismet also uses this data to learn and evolve it’s anti-spam strategies also in real time to consistently improve its defences and the defence of your website against the ever evolving tactics of the internet’s most advanced spammers.
This saves you, the Akismet client huge amounts of time by not having to go through every comment in order to keep a maintain a safe environment for your users.
This will help you free up time so you can actively participate with real dialogue with your true audience.
Is Akismet free?
Akismet is free for personal use.
However, if you have a website, whether it’s just a blog or not, and you have any sort of advertising, affiliate products or even promoting your own business and services, then Akismet is not free.
In fact, they have a very interesting offer on their website in their pricing section. When you click for personal use, it asks, “how much is it worth to you?” The minimum price for personal use is $12 a year, if you have anything commercial on it and the protection is quite limited.
Anything lower than you cannot have any type of commercial activity being promoted on your website.
Do I need akismet if comments are disabled?
No, you don’t need Akismet if your comments are disabled.
How do I get my Akismet API key for free?
Whichever plan you sign up for, whether it’s the free plan or one of the paid plans, you will get an Akismet API key for free.
In fact, you can’t activate any plan without an API key. To get the Akismet API key for free, simply download the Akismet plugin from WordPress, then sign up for the Akismet plan that best suits your website’s needs.
After you sign up and download the plugin, Akismet sends you the API key. Simply enter the API key into your Akismet plugin on your WordPress website and you’re good to go.
How do I move Akismet to a new server or hosting company?
If you move your site to a new server or hosting company, all you need to do is enter your Akismet key and the Akismet stats will be autopulled from their server(s). Much like the cloud.
Your API key is your unique identifier. By simply using your API key so that your site can communicate with Akismet’s server, you’ll have no problems with continuity of service.
How do I cancel my Akismet account?
You can cancel your paid subscriptions directly from the account page: https://akismet.com/account/. Or you can just go over to https://akismet.com/cancel. However, you will still need to log in to your account.
Am I able to receive a refund on a paid Akismet subscription?
Akismet has a 30 day refund policy on all plans.
For monthly subscriptions you can cancel anytime and get a refund for the most recent monthly purchase.
For annual subscriptions you are eligible for a full refund only if your account is cancelled within 30 days of purchase. Akismet does not offer pro-rated refunds on annual subscriptions.
To request a refund, contact Akismet Support.
How much does Akismet cost?
Here is Akismet’s pricing and plans.
Does akismet work with gravity forms?
You don’t need to add anything to your Gravity Forms. Akismet monitors every submission and comment automatically. So it’s totally compatible with Gravity Forms. Another great thing about Akismet is that it’s open source.
Gravity Forms includes built-in support for the Akismet Anti-Spam plugin to validate submissions against the WordPress comment blacklist.
You will also find filters controlling the use of the Akismet spam filter add-on with Gravity Forms as well.
So you can see that not only does Akismet work well with Gravity Forms, Gravity Forms has certain Akismet functions already built in, including support when integrating Alsimet with your Gravity Forms set up.
Akismet alternatives.
If you are a user of the popular Divi theme, be aware that Akismet doesn’t integrate with the Divi theme.
Here are some free Akismet alternatives. They also of course have paid versions as well, if Akismet is right for you.
Some of these work really well together and by using a combination of some together can easily reduce your spam from bots.
The only thing is, these plugins won’t work against manual spammers. So if you have continuous problems with manual spammers, you can use something like Spammer Blocker.
A better solution as an alternative to not only Akismet, but other anti-spam plugins is, if you’re on a VPS and you don’t have foreign customers, block all foreign IP addresses and proxies. It’s an apf firewall.
You’ll be amazed at how much spam is foreign based, coming out of places like China and Russia.
However, you will need ssh and su access to change the firewall usually. Best to ask your service providers for support. Though, if you’re on shared hosting, they’ll probably not do it.
Is Akismet worth it? Summary.
If you have a WordPress blog and comments are a big part of that blog’s content, then Akismet is definitely worth it. Especially, if your blog receives a lot of traffic, comments and spam.
If you find a good portion of your day is spent more and more dealing with spam and moderating comments etc. Akismet is the best tool for WordPress websites in controlling that spam.
However, if you have a small blog or your blog doesn’t get a lot of comments and subsequent comment spam, then I don’t think Akismet is worth it.
Most free versions of security software that include filtering spam are more than enough for your WordPress blog or website. Especially one that doesn’t have to deal with a lot of comments. So the choice is up to you. Is Akismet worth it to you and your blog?
