Spam protection, Honeypot, Anti-Spam by CleanTalk icon

Spam protection, Honeypot, Anti-Spam by CleanTalk

by CleanTalk Inc

View on WordPress.org
92 Quality Score
Active Installs
24/30

At 200,000 active installs and a popularity score well above the cap, CleanTalk has a sizable user base, though it still trails Antispam Bee (700,000) and Akismet (6,000,000) significantly.

Update Freshness
25/25

The plugin was updated within the past week and tested against WordPress 7.0.1, which is exceptional currency and signals an actively maintained codebase.

User Rating
14/15

With a 96 out of 100 average across 3,197 reviews, the rating is one of the strongest in the anti-spam category and indicates broad user satisfaction.

Support Health
14/15

76 of 76 recent support threads (96.1%) are marked resolved, which is well above the WordPress plugin average and points to responsive developers.

WP Compatibility
15/15

Tested on WordPress 7.0.1 with PHP 7.2 as the floor, CleanTalk supports a wide range of modern WordPress environments with no compatibility flags.

Scores higher than 99% of indexed plugins

About

Top-rated antispam for contact forms, comments, WooCommerce, eCommerce, and login. No CAPTCHAs, no friction, just background anti spam protection.

Active Installs 200k+
Rating ★★★★½ 4.8/5
Last Updated 2026-09-17 5:45am GMT
Requires WordPress 4.7+
Tested Up To 7.1.1
Requires PHP 7.2+

Security History

17 known vulnerabilities, all patched
2 Critical 7 High 8 Medium

Most recent: September 7, 2026

View details ▸

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What It Does

CleanTalk is a cloud-based anti-spam service that screens comments, registrations, contact form submissions, and WooCommerce orders against a shared spam database before they ever reach your dashboard. It works invisibly in the background, so visitors never see a CAPTCHA or any challenge prompt. It also bundles a spam firewall that filters bad bot traffic at the HTTP level.

Who It's For

This plugin is a strong fit for small to mid-sized WordPress sites that run Contact Form 7, WPForms, or WooCommerce and want hands-off spam protection without disrupting the user experience. It is especially useful for site owners who dislike CAPTCHAs and prefer a set-and-forget solution backed by a large network. Bloggers and store operators receiving 50+ spam entries per day will see the most obvious payoff.

Who Should Skip It

If you already rely on Akismet and are happy with it, or you operate a private membership site with comments disabled, CleanTalk's monthly subscription adds cost without meaningful benefit. Privacy-focused operators in the EU should also evaluate whether routing submissions through a third-party cloud service meets their GDPR posture, as CleanTalk does log visitor data for spam analysis.

The Bottom Line

CleanTalk delivers a polished, invisible anti-spam experience across comments, forms, and WooCommerce, and the 92.55 quality score reflects strong ratings, fresh updates, and excellent support. The main trade-offs are the ongoing subscription cost and the fact that it sends submission data to a third-party cloud service. If those are acceptable, it is one of the best all-in-one spam solutions available for WordPress today.

Tags

antispam bot captcha honeypot spam