Formidable includes several built-in options for spam protection. Each of the options below will stop spam by preventing the entry from being submitted if it appears to be spam. A Math Captcha add-on is also available if an additional form of spam protection is wanted.
Honeypot
Honeypot is a type of invisible spam protection. Normal users won't be affected by this spam protection. Suspicious submissions will be marked as spam and Formidable will prevent the entry from being submitted.
This feature is enabled by default on all forms and does not require additional configuration.
Akismet
Akismet saves you time by automatically detecting and preventing spam. It runs hundreds of tests on each entry and determines whether or not to allow form submission. As a result, you don't have to waste your time sorting through and deleting spam entries. Follow the directions below to set it up.
- Go to your WordPress plugins. Install and activate Akismet.
- Sign up for an Akismet API key. Akismet may require a paid subscription depending on the type of site you have.
- Go to your Akismet Settings and save your API key.
- For each form you would like protected, go to edit the form and click on the 'Settings' tab. Under the section 'On Submit' you should see 'Use Akismet to check entries for spam for' at the bottom of the page.
You can set Akismet to check entries for no one, everyone, or visitors who are not logged in.
reCaptcha
reCAPTCHA is a program that judges whether a user is a human or a robot. You have probably seen some variation of reCAPTCHA.
CAPTCHAs are used by many websites to prevent abuse from 'bots', or automated programs usually written to generate spam. Bots cannot easily submit forms protected by reCAPTCHA. Follow the instructions here to learn more about setting up reCAPTCHA in your forms.
Math captcha
The Math Captcha add-on adds a simple math equation to the end of your form that requires human input.
Install the Math Captcha add-on to add this to your forms.
Additional options
The following third-party plugins may also be used for spam prevention:
- Anti-Spam by CleanTalk
