Census › Plugin profiles › Akismet Anti-spam
Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection
Figures from the Plugin Directory Census · as of 28 Aug 2026
5M
Active installs, lower bound
Group: 1,000,000+ installs
9
Days since the last release
Group median: 8
4.7
out of 5, from 1,186 ratings
Group median: 4.7 (10+ ratings)
100.0%
Support threads marked resolved, two months
Group: 71.9%
Full profile on wordpress.orgShow on the mapCompare with your own plugins
What is Akismet Anti-spam and who is behind it?
Akismet Anti-spam is a WordPress plugin in the “Security” field, made by Automattic. It has been listed in the directory since 20 Oct 2005, so for 20 years. Automattic has 24 plugins with at least 10,000 installs in the census. With 5,000,000 to 5,999,999 active installs it belongs to the 1,000,000+ installs group; its last release came 9 days before the reference date, and it is tested up to WordPress 7.1.
This is how the author describes the plugin on wordpress.org:
“The best anti-spam protection to block spam comments and spam in a contact form. The most trusted antispam solution for WordPress and WooCommerce.”
Self-description on wordpress.org, retrieved on 10 Sept 2026
When was Akismet Anti-spam last released?
The last release of Akismet Anti-spam came 9 days before the reference date; the group median is 8 days.
How many installs does Akismet Anti-spam have?
Akismet Anti-spam had 5,000,000 to 5,999,999 active installs on the reference date. Within its group, 6 plugins had a higher band and 4 plugins the same band.
The API reports installs only as a lower bound with one significant figure: 5,000,000 means at least 5,000,000 and at most 5,999,999.
Which WordPress version is Akismet Anti-spam tested with?
No directory notice: tested up to WordPress 7.1, while core stood at 7.1 on the reference date. The notice appears once the field falls below 6.9; that applied to 3.0% of the group.
How does Akismet Anti-spam compare with its group?
The group holds 67 listed plugins. 50.7% of them had a more recent last release than Akismet Anti-spam; 1.5% had no release for more than 365 days.
| Figure | Akismet Anti-spam | Group, 67 plugins |
|---|---|---|
| Days since the last release | 9 | median 8 |
| Rating | 4.7 (1,186) | median 4.7 (10+ ratings) |
| Support threads marked resolved | 100.0% | 71.9% |
| Tested up to | 7.1 | 65.7% on 7.1 |
| Requires PHP | 7.2 | most often 7.4 (49.3%) |
All values on the reference date
| Slug | akismet |
|---|---|
| Author | Automattic |
| Active installs | 5,000,000 to 5,999,999 |
| Last release | 9 days before the reference date |
| Tested up to | WordPress 7.1 · core on the reference date: 7.1 |
| Requires WordPress | 5.8 |
| Requires PHP | 7.2 |
| Rating | 4.7 out of 5 from 1,186 ratings |
| Support threads, two months | 2 of 2 marked resolved |
| Listed since | 20 Oct 2005 |
| Total downloads | 405,106,455, updates included |
| Tags | anti-spam, antispam, comments, contact-form, spam |
Tags
| Tag | Plugins with 10,000+ installs and this tag | Rank by installs | Median days since release |
|---|---|---|---|
| anti-spam | 11 | 1 | 14 |
| antispam | 11 | 1 | 9 |
| comments | 12 | 1 | 195 |
| contact-form | 39 | 2 | 10 |
| spam | 20 | 1 | 38 |
Rank 1 has the highest installation band among plugins with 10,000+ installs and this tag; equal bands share a rank.
Class of 2005
Akismet Anti-spam has been listed since 20 Oct 2005. Of the 7 plugins with 10,000+ installs added in 2005, 85.7% released within the 365 days before the reference date.
Same group, shared tags
Not a recommendation; the same figures for comparison. Alphabetical.
| Plugin | Active installs | Last release | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antispam Bee | 700,000 to 799,999 | 5 days before the reference date | 4.8 (226) |
| Contact Form 7 | 10,000,000 to 19,999,999 | 11 days before the reference date | 4.0 (2,178) |
| Fluent Forms | 700,000 to 799,999 | 6 days before the reference date | 4.8 (790) |
| Forminator Forms | 600,000 to 699,999 | 1 day before the reference date | 4.8 (2,117) |
| WPForms | 5,000,000 to 5,999,999 | 1 day before the reference date | 4.8 (14,369) |
Do you maintain Akismet Anti-spam?
If you maintain Akismet Anti-spam, you can link to this profile, for example from your readme or your website. Both snippets show this badge:
HTML
<a href="https://hafenstudios.com/en/census/plugins/akismet/"><img src="https://hafenstudios.com/census/plugins/badge-en.svg" alt="Akismet Anti-spam in the Plugin Directory Census 01/2026" width="220" height="40"></a>
Markdown
[](https://hafenstudios.com/en/census/plugins/akismet/)
The image is loaded from hafenstudios.com; as with every request, our server records the usual access data, which is deleted after 14 days. If you prefer not to, use a plain text link.
A value is wrong? Write to moin@hafenstudios.com; a documented correction leads to a new version.
How to cite
hafenstudios (2026): Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection, profile in the Plugin Directory Census 01/2026, reference date 28 Aug 2026. https://hafenstudios.com/en/census/plugins/akismet/
Source and status
All values come from the full pull of the public wordpress.org API on 28 Aug 2026 (reference time 21:56:30 UTC). The analysis and text on this page are available under CC BY 4.0; the raw values come from the public wordpress.org API and are in the raw data. How the count was made is set out in the method, what the fields do not say under limits. hafenstudios builds WordPress plugins itself, see the conflict of interest. Corrections to moin@hafenstudios.com; a documented correction leads to a new version. From issue 02 this page will also show the change since the previous reference date. Collected and prepared by Horst Wenzel.
Plugin names and trademarks belong to their owners. hafenstudios is not affiliated with the authors named here.
