Akismet

What Akismet does

Akismet is a cloud-based anti-spam service that filters comments, form submissions, forum posts, and other user-generated text in real time using a continuously trained machine learning model. Founded in 2006 as the original anti-spam plugin for WordPress and operated as a product of Automattic Inc. (the company behind WordPress.com, Jetpack, and WooCommerce), Akismet is pre-installed and activated by default on WordPress installations and reports protecting more than 100 million websites with a claimed 99.99% accuracy rate. The system processes user-submitted content against a global spam database that has accumulated over 571 billion blocked pieces of spam, improving with every feedback signal (mark-as-spam or mark-as-ham) from any site on the network. Akismet offers an open REST API, an official PHP SDK, and community libraries across a dozen languages, plus native integrations with Jetpack contact forms, WooCommerce product reviews, Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms, GiveWP, and Drupal, with additional ecosystem extensions for Discourse, Moodle, MediaWiki, Piwigo, phpBB, Flarum, and vBulletin.

Akismet monetizes through a freemium subscription model. The Personal plan is free for non-commercial sites with unlimited API calls. Paid tiers include Pro ($9.95–$39.80/month billed annually for 500–2,000 monthly API calls across 1–4 sites), Business ($49/month billed annually for unlimited sites and 5,000 monthly checks), Enterprise (custom pricing with dedicated support and a pre-configured ladder of $135/month for 15,000 calls and $200/month for 25,000 calls), and a Non-profit program offering 60,000 API calls per month. Distribution is dominated by the WordPress/Automattic ecosystem, supplemented by a self-serve purchase flow on akismet.com and a dedicated enterprise sales motion. Named enterprise users include Microsoft, WordPress.com, Bluehost, and ConvertKit. Akismet maintains legal entities through Automattic Inc. (USA, governing California law) and Aut O'Mattic A8C Ireland Ltd. (for Designated Countries), and has released mobile apps on Google Play and the Apple App Store.

Name

Akismet

Legal name

Automattic Inc.

Website

https://akismet.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Akismet is a cloud-based anti-spam service that filters comments, forms, and user-generated text via machine learning, bundled by default with WordPress and protecting 100M+ websites with reported 99.99% accuracy under a freemium subscription and enterprise pricing model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Anti-Spam Software

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Spam, Fake Engagement & Content Abuse Prevention (HDADALAG)

Keywords

• Spam protection software
• Comment moderation API
• Machine learning spam filter
• Website security service
• Content moderation platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Shanghai

HQ country

China

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Subscription plans (Personal, Pro, Business, Enterprise): Paid subscription tiers for commercial sites with varying API call limits. Personal plan is free for non-commercial use. Paid plans provide API call allowances per month with automatic renewal.
2. Freemium model: Free API keys provided for personal, non-commercial sites. This drives broad adoption and network effects while converting commercial users to paid plans.
3. Enterprise custom pricing: Custom-tailored spam protection solutions for large businesses with dedicated support and custom spam check allowances, priced based on organization needs.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Akismet provides an automated spam detection service for websites, delivered via a cloud API that analyzes user-submitted text (comments, contact forms, forum posts, reviews) in real time using machine learning. The service is distributed primarily through official plugins for WordPress (bundled by default) and Drupal, plus a PHP SDK and REST API for custom integrations. It claims 99.99% spam detection accuracy and has blocked over 571 billion pieces of spam across 100+ million websites.

Product overview

Akismet is an anti-spam service offered primarily as a cloud-based API with official plugins for WordPress and Drupal, plus a PHP SDK for developers. The core Akismet Anti-Spam Service uses machine learning to analyze user-submitted text content and detect spam with 99.99% accuracy. The WordPress plugin is the original and most widely deployed integration, while the Drupal plugin and PHP SDK extend accessibility to other platforms. For large organizations, Akismet Enterprise provides customized solutions with dedicated support and custom API allowances. All offerings share the same underlying machine learning-powered spam detection engine that learns from over 100 million protected websites.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Akismet Anti-Spam Service Cloud-based anti-spam service that checks all user-submitted content (comments, forms, forum posts, reviews) against a constantly-growing global spam database using next-generation machine learning filters. Achieves 99.99% accuracy and has blocked over 571 billion pieces of spam across 100+ million websites.
• Akismet WordPress Plugin The original Akismet plugin for WordPress that protects comments and contact form submissions out of the box. Powers spam filtering on millions of WordPress sites and is the most widely deployed anti-spam integration for the WordPress ecosystem.
• Akismet Drupal Plugin Official Akismet integration for Drupal that filters comments, webforms, and user-submitted content against Akismet's global spam database without requiring custom code. Extends Akismet's protection beyond WordPress to Drupal-based websites.
• Akismet PHP SDK Official PHP client library for the Akismet REST API, ideal for building custom PHP applications or integrating Akismet into frameworks without a native plugin. Provides comment checking, spam submission, false positive reporting, key verification, and usage analytics.
• Akismet Enterprise Customized enterprise solutions for large organizations with more complicated needs. Provides dedicated support, custom spam check allowances (pre-configured tiers: 15,000 calls/month at $135/month, 25,000 calls/month at $200/month), and tailored pricing based on organizational requirements.

Quantifiable outcome

• 99.99% spam detection accuracy
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration17 records

AI capability3 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• WordPresscoreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerAkismet is the original WordPress anti-spam plugin, bundled and pre-installed with WordPress by default. It is the default spam protection solution for WordPress sites and is available in the WordPress plugin directory.
• JetpackcoreTechnology or IntegrationJetpack integrates with Akismet to provide contact form spam protection. Jetpack contact forms leverage Akismet for spam filtering via the Feedback section of WP Admin.
• DrupalminorOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerAkismet offers an official Drupal plugin on Drupal.org that provides anti-spam protection for Drupal sites, mirroring the WordPress integration for the Drupal CMS ecosystem.
• AutomatticcoreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerAkismet is a product of Automattic. Automattic provides the infrastructure, distribution (WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Jetpack ecosystems), and parent company governance for Akismet. Automattic is a distributed company with 2,000 employees across 90 countries.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Others

• SpamAssassin: SpamAssassin is the de facto open-source anti-spam framework historically used for email spam filtering. While focused on email rather than web comments/forms, it shares the underlying concept of rule-based and ML-driven content classification and is referenced in adjacent developer communities considering Akismet alternatives.

Broad incumbents

• Akamai Bot Manager: Akamai Bot Manager is an enterprise bot detection and mitigation solution from a major CDN/security vendor. It overlaps with Akismet on form and comment spam protection but is sold as part of a broader application security portfolio to large enterprises.
• Google reCAPTCHA: Google reCAPTCHA is the dominant CAPTCHA and bot-detection service on the web, available for free and integrated across the Google ecosystem. While it uses friction-based challenges rather than Akismet's invisible approach, it remains a primary alternative for spam protection on web forms and competes for the same security budget.
• Cloudflare Turnstile: Cloudflare Turnstile is a free, invisible CAPTCHA-replacement bot management widget integrated into the Cloudflare network. It overlaps with Akismet's CAPTCHA-elimination value proposition and, as a free offering from a major infrastructure provider, represents both a direct substitute and a distribution threat for Akismet's commercial customers.

Direct peers

• Antispam Bee: Antispam Bee is a widely used free WordPress anti-spam plugin that filters comment spam without third-party services. While it does not offer a paid tier or cloud API, it competes with Akismet for the same default-protection slot on WordPress sites and represents a free alternative that pressures Akismet's freemium conversion funnel.
• OOPSpam: OOPSpam is an anti-spam API service that filters comment, contact form, and registration spam using machine learning. It offers a direct API-first alternative to Akismet, targeting developers and platforms that want spam protection without bundling into WordPress.
• CleanTalk: CleanTalk is a cloud-based anti-spam service that integrates with WordPress, Joomla, and other CMS platforms via plugin, offering comment, registration, and form spam protection. It is the most direct standalone competitor to Akismet in the WordPress anti-spam plugin category, with a similar API/SaaS model and tiered pricing.
• hCaptcha: hCaptcha is a privacy-focused CAPTCHA and bot detection service used by websites to filter automated submissions. It competes with Akismet for the comment/form spam protection use case and offers a developer-friendly API model comparable to Akismet's REST API approach.

Emerging players

• HUMAN Security (formerly PerimeterX): HUMAN Security provides bot management and account protection for websites and applications, including comment and form abuse protection. Its Bot Defender product is a more enterprise-grade, fraud-focused alternative that overlaps with Akismet's use cases at the higher end of the market.
• DataDome: DataDome is a bot management and online fraud protection platform that protects websites, mobile apps, and APIs from automated threats including comment and form spam. It is a more enterprise-focused, broader fraud-prevention alternative to Akismet's comment-form-specific scope.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/akismet
• GitHubgithub.com/automattic/akismet-sdk-php
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/akismet

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Akismet