Antispam Bee

What is Antispam Bee?

Antispam Bee is a free, privacy-focused plugin that blocks comment spam and trackbacks on WordPress sites. Developed by the pluginkollektiv team and originally created by Sergej Müller, this plugin has been actively maintained for 17 years. It currently boasts over 700,000 active installs with a 4.8 out of 5 star rating from 226 reviews. A full 94% of those ratings are five-star, reflecting consistent user satisfaction. The plugin operates without captchas and does not send personal data to third-party services, making it 100% GDPR compliant by design. Its current version is 2.11.12, last updated on May 29, 2026.

Unlike many anti-spam solutions, Antispam Bee processes everything on your own server. It does not rely on external APIs or tracking networks. This approach keeps your comment data private and eliminates any dependency on third-party uptime. For site owners who prioritize data sovereignty, this is a significant advantage over cloud-based alternatives.

Key Features of Antispam Bee

• Trust Approved Commenters – Automatically skips spam checks for users who have previously had comments approved, reducing friction for regular visitors.
• Gravatar Trust – Considers commenters with a Gravatar as more likely to be legitimate, based on the link between their email and a verified avatar.
• Comment Time Analysis – Flags comments submitted too quickly after a page loads, a common behavior of automated spam bots.
• Country Blocking or Allowing – Lets you block or allow comments from specific countries using a local IP database, with no external lookups.
• Regular Expression Filtering – Enables custom spam patterns using regex, giving advanced users fine-grained control over what gets blocked.
• Local Spam Database – Searches a local database for commenters previously marked as spammers, building a site-specific blocklist over time.
• Automatic Spam Deletion – Automatically deletes existing spam comments after a configurable number of days, keeping your database clean.
• Dashboard Statistics – Displays daily spam detection rates and a total count of blocked spam comments directly on the WordPress dashboard.

Who Should Use Antispam Bee?

Antispam Bee is ideal for site owners who run a blog, news site, or any WordPress installation with standard comment forms. It works best with default WordPress comments and does not protect form plugins or prevent spam registrations. Beginners will find it approachable because it blocks spam out of the box with no configuration required. The plugin requires PHP 5.2.4 or greater and WordPress 4.5 or higher, making it compatible with nearly every existing site.

This plugin is especially suited for privacy-conscious users in Europe or those subject to GDPR regulations. Since it stores no personal data and sends nothing to third parties, it removes a major compliance headache. With 700,000+ active installs and a support resolution rate of 100% over the last two months, it has proven reliable for both small personal blogs and larger content sites. However, if you rely on Jetpack Comments, wpDiscuz, or Disqus, Antispam Bee will not work because those plugins load comment forms inside iframes.

Installation & Setup

Installation follows the standard WordPress plugin process: upload, activate, and it works. After activation, Antispam Bee blocks spam immediately without any required settings. For those who want more control, visit Settings → Antispam Bee to configure options like country blocking, comment time thresholds, and automatic spam deletion intervals. The default configuration is sufficient for most sites, making it beginner-friendly from the first click.

Support & Community

Support is provided through the official WordPress.org support forums. In the last two months, the pluginkollektiv team resolved 3 of 3 open threads, achieving a 100% resolution rate. This responsiveness aligns with the plugin's 94% five-star rating, indicating that most users find the plugin stable and well-supported. The developers do not offer support via email, Twitter, or GitHub issues, so all help requests should go through the forums.

Contributions are welcome on GitHub, where active development happens. Users who find bugs are asked to post in the support forums first rather than opening direct GitHub issues. Translators can contribute via WordPress Translate. With 17 years of continuous updates and a clear support channel, Antispam Bee demonstrates a mature, community-driven development cycle that prioritizes user privacy and effective spam blocking without unnecessary complexity.