Astounding Spam Prevention
by willjenkins · Security
Very effective anti-spam plugin that eliminates comment spam, and registration spam. Combines many effective methods for identifying spammers and keep …
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Health
D 54/100
Stale · Likely abandoned · Few reviews
Active installs
100+
≈170 estimated
Momentum
+1%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Swap “anti spam” for “spam prevention”. “anti spam” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “spam prevention” sits at #20 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
54 health vs 66 average across 1,776 Security plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →1.2%
of downloads still active
At least 100 of 8.1K lifetime downloads are still running, in line with its category: the median Security plugin keeps 1.4%, across 1,060 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Security plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
Removal-risk signals
28/100Maintenance and integrity signals that tend to precede a WordPress.org removal. Not an official status, a heads-up to act.
- Not actively maintained. No update in about 2 years.
Details
Directory ranking optimization
How it's scored →How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.
Well optimized
Most to gain: Update recency
Updated 840 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 6.5.14; the current branch is 6.8
4.6★ over 9 reviews, smoothed to 4.18★ and held back under 25 reviews
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
1 of 1 support threads resolved in the last 2 months
To rank higher: Last updated 840 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.
Get the full rank-higher report →Search visibility
How it's tracked →Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.
41
Momentum
Mixed: one swing, the rest drifting
+0.5
Velocity
places per keyword, 26d
17%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 26d
+0.5
Acceleration
recent half vs earlier
wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.
| Keyword | wp.org | On merit | wp.org move, 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| spam prevention | #20 | #16 | up 3 |
| anti spam your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| antispam your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| block spam your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| spam your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| spam blocker your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
6 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 1 listed. 5 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 5 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Swap “anti spam” for “spam prevention”. “anti spam” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “spam prevention” sits at #20 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,489 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 261 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank
Ranked about #13,300 to #16,400, alongside the other plugins at 100+ installs. Plugins with the same install count swap places between wp.org requests, so this is where most of them sit. Checked monthly, last on 1 Nov 2026.
Rating trend
Star average over time · dips mark rough releases
Health trend
Composite health score, snapshotted daily
Update activity
How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.
Release cadence
No release in a yearHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
0
releases in the last 12 months
2.3y ago
latest release · v1.20 · 14 Jul 2024
21
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 91% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “100+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 7 months ago; the previous band took 20 months to cross, which places it about 66% of the way through.
Install history since 4 Sep 2019
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ ceramicsculptor1.2y ago
Used Stop Spammer for years and now this plugin. Working so easy and WORKS!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ strangelyperfect3.0y ago
I’ve used this for quite a few years now. Every now and again I get a msg from WP about it not working correctly, but then I don’t hear any more for ages. There seems to be one particular set of circumstances that trip it up, intermittently. I’ll contact the author, but despite that, it’s 5 stars. The reason is the simple interface, all options there and its small code footprint, plus, it catches all spam…. An almost perfect little plugin.I hope the author keeps it maintained as I see they do work on several other plugins.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Eli3.5y ago
This plugin is really a spammer’s worse nightmare. Since installing it, my spam has been virtually eliminated. I use this along with another plugin called “User Verification” and both together help me accomplish my goal of ZERO spam on my blog. Thank you to the author for your great contribution. Please keep up the good work. Donating soon.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ zverlis4.4y ago
Браво! Стоило поставить его и все, все проблемы со спамом, регой ботов и хреновыми спам комментариями пропали. Пока что лучший на моей памяти плагин. Даже лучше платного Cleantalk, во всяком случае различает реального спамера от нормального пользователя. Благодарю, разрабам респект! Thank you!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Wintercorn6.6y ago
Got dozens of registrations after installing and activating all options. It made no difference what options were set. Uninstalled.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ shayne7.4y ago
Seriously. It killed the spam. A+
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ WebDev19987.5y ago
Actually works out of the box unlike other plugins. Stopped at least 90% of the spam registrations seen on 10 different sites without any adjustments to settings.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Keith P. Graham8.8y ago
Based on Stop Spammers, this lightweight spam stopper is still aggressive enough to stop 99% of the spammers and robots hitting your site. It is careful to never lock a webmaster out of WordPress. The options interface is slick and the logging is very very useful. I use it on 11 of my sites and I have my clients all using it. Thanks to Will and all the effort he put in to make this plugin extremely useful while still being very very safe.
Read on wp.org ↗
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 6.5.5
AI assistants
How it's measured →Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.
Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.
Readme readiness
1 of 8 pass · checked 28 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ! Says what it does Short description names no action; say what the plugin does for the site.
- ! Has a FAQ No FAQ section.
- ! FAQ asks real questions No FAQ to judge.
- ! Names who it is for Never says who the plugin is for or what they use it for.
- ✓ Names what it works with Mentions WooCommerce, Jetpack.
- ! Headings and lists 1 heading and 0 lists; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ! Enough to quote 843 characters of description; under 1,000 there is little to quote.
- ! Tags match the text Only 2 of 5 tags appear in the text ("antispam", "block spam", "spam blocker" missing).
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-04-09 200+ → 100+ down after 600 days in tier
- 2024-08-17 300+ → 200+ down after 6 days in tier
- 2024-08-11 200+ → 300+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2024-08-10 300+ → 200+ down after 2 days in tier
- 2024-08-08 200+ → 300+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2024-08-07 300+ → 200+ down after 812 days in tier
- 2022-05-18 400+ → 300+ down after 573 days in tier
- 2020-10-22 300+ → 400+ up
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).
-
oopspam Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for WordPress Forms & Comments (No CAPTCHA) 6K+ installs · 4.7★ · 4 shared tags A -
Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection 5M+ installs · 4.7★ · 3 shared tags A -
Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ installs · 4.8★ · 3 shared tags A -
Spam Protection | Maspik 30K+ installs · 4.6★ · 3 shared tags A -
Spam Destroyer 5K+ installs · 4.5★ · 3 shared tags B -
En Spam 500+ installs · 4.0★ · 3 shared tags B
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Astounding Spam Prevention into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/astounding-spam-prevention" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Astounding Spam Prevention — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Astounding Spam Prevention: 100+ active installs, 4.6★ (9 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-01. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/astounding-spam-prevention
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