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AntiSpam for Contact Form 7

by Erik · Security

Also makes 6 other plugins · 11.3K+ installs across the portfolio →

A trustworthy antispam plugin for Contact Form 7. Wave goodbye to spam and keep your inbox clean!

Try it live opens a temporary test site in your browser, which can take about 20 seconds to load. Plugins that rely on outside services or a full server may not work completely there.

Health

B 81/100

no flags

Active installs

10K+

≈19K estimated

Momentum

+3%

downloads vs prior 30d

Biggest opportunity: Add “antispam protection”, “goodbye” and “xmlrpc” to your wp.org tags. You rank #4, #9 and #18 for them without listing them, close enough for a declared tag to move you up. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so with 4 listed these are the slots worth spending.

How scoring works →
81 Health · B
Maintenance 86/100
Rating quality 77/100
Support 70/100
Security 96/100

81 health vs 66 average across 1,776 Security plugins

Install conversion

How it's measured →

9.3%

of downloads still active

At least 10K of 108.1K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Security plugin keeps 1.4%, across 1,059 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.

This plugin shipped 7 releases in the last 12 months, and every existing install that updated counted as another download. wp.org publishes no split between first installs and updates, so we show the raw rate rather than guess at one.

Details

Version
0.7.6
Last updated
6mo ago
Added
2021-05-24 · 5 yrs old
Requires WP
6.2
Tested up to
6.9.11
Requires PHP
7.4

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.

76 / 100

Well optimized

Most to gain: Support resolution

Update recency 98/100

Updated 193 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting

WP compatibility 100/100

Tested up to WordPress 6.9.11, the current branch or newer

Rating quality 67/100

4.2★ over 13 reviews, smoothed to 4.12★ and held back under 25 reviews

Listing tuning 92/100

4 of 5 tags set · short description in place

Support resolution 0/100

0 of 1 support threads resolved in the last 2 months

To rank higher: Mark more forum threads resolved — the resolved ratio feeds the ranking.

Get the full rank-higher report →

Daily downloads

Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,488 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive

+3% vs prior 30d
7331 Oct 2026

30-day downloads

Rolling 30-day volume · peak 13.7K · peaks are release surges

2.1K31 Oct 2026

Directory rank vs rivals

wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you

AntiSpam for Contact · #1830youTitan Anti-spam & Se · #725Blackhole for Bad Bo · #1041Spam Protection · #991

Rating trend

Star average over time · dips mark rough releases

4.231 Oct 2026

Health trend

Composite health score, snapshotted daily

8131 Oct 2026

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.

20831 Oct 2026

Release cadence

Actively maintained
from wp.org release tags

How often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.

7

releases in the last 12 months

6mo ago

latest release · v0.7.6 · 21 Apr 2026

26

tagged releases on record

Recent releases

0.7.6 · 21 Apr 20260.7.5 · 24 Mar 20260.7.4 · 30 Jan 20260.7.3 · 30 Jan 20260.7.2 · 25 Nov 20250.7.1 · 13 Nov 20250.7.0 · 4 Nov 20250.6.4 · 11 Jul 20250.6.3 · 2 Jul 20240.6.2 · 31 Jan 20240.6.1 · 26 Jan 20240.6.0 · 8 Jan 20240.4.5 · 6 Apr 20230.4.4 · 1 Feb 2023

What its installed base runs

via wordpress.org

Share of active installs on each version of this plugin · 75% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

v0.7 75%
v0.6 22%
Older / other versions 3.2%

Estimated active installs

The public count shows “10K+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.

tracked estimate
10K–20K ≈19K

Crossed into this band 15 months ago; a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, which places it about 90% of the way through.

Install history since 18 Sep 2021

10K31 Oct 2026

Recent reviews

All reviews on wp.org ↗
  1. ★★★★★ LaFaucon
    9mo ago

    On WP 6.9, had to deactivate from Safe Mode. [ edit to add that the Developer kindly reached out and I’m sending to support forum] This topic was modified 5 months, 4 weeks ago by LaFaucon.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  2. ★★★★★ Benjamin
    10mo ago

    Antispam for Contact Form 7 offers a lot of options to tweak, making it easy to fine-tune the protection based on the type and volume of traffic your website receives. It works reliably and has significantly reduced spam submissions without causing issues for legitimate users. Erik has been great at handling support through the WordPress forums: quick, helpful, and knowledgeable. That level of support makes an already great plugin even better.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  3. ★★★★★ lemurnick
    12mo ago

    Someone got their hands dirty and broke the plugin. After the update, the field data was inaccessible, and it started banning everyone. And rightly so—the bad plugin should be removed. Long live it – $spam = true; $reason[‘no_ip’] = ‘Address field empty’; IP address field of $remote_ip is empty, this means it has been modified, removed or hacked! (i’m getting the real ip from http header). Broken plugin – solution to remove!

    Read on wp.org ↗
  4. ★★★★★ o2xav
    12mo ago

    A great plugin that requires a little thinking and configuration, but once setup properly it’s awesome. The latest version makes it even better. Good job !

    Read on wp.org ↗
  5. ★★★★★ Degas
    2.4y ago

    We’ve just found that whilst the plugin was stopping spam sucessfully, it also blocked all submissions from non-logged-in users (‘There was an error trying to end your request. Please try again later’). Recommend checking this first in case of any potential conflicts.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  6. ★★★★★ Wendihihihi
    2.8y ago

    This is becoming one of my favourite plugins. The combination CF7, Flamingo, and AntiSpam for Contact Form 7 has made me aware that many of the legitimate messages sent from the form didn’t reach my inbox. After some fine-tuning it works great. Very helpful!

    Read on wp.org ↗
  7. ★★★★★ oceandigitals
    3.2y ago

    Plugin works great, a lot of customization but also a plug and play approach with all the settings optional. The developer is really handy when it comes to solve bugs I whish him the best

    Read on wp.org ↗
  8. ★★★★★ anze
    3.3y ago

    Just wanted to say thank you for creating such a sophisticated, yet so simple plugin to use! You deserve more recognition! It has a lot of nice options to activate extra protection and works like a charm. We stopped getting spam right after I installed and set this plugin.

    Read on wp.org ↗

Latest updates

via wp.org changelog

Recent releases and news for this plugin

  1. — Version 0.7.6 Fix: Resolved an issue where form submissions failed on modern desktop browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox) by removing the sandbox attribute from canvas fingerprinting iframes to comply with strict security policies against 0.7.6
  2. — Version 0.7.5 Enhancement: Added WordPress Comment Spam Protection: Extended the plugin’s capabilities beyond Contact Form 7 to actively protect native WordPress comments against spam. Enhancement: Added Regex support for spam filteri 0.7.5
  3. — Version 0.7.4 Fix: Improve message sanitization: handle arrays, skip empty/non-string values, and refine length checks (thanks to @sleepygoth for reporting it) 0.7.4
  4. — Version 0.7.3 Fix: Dismissing the “Flamingo Message” notice now works correctly (thanks to @WORX Developer for reporting it) Enhancement: Improved spam filter performance with additional fallbacks for edge cases Security: Email string 0.7.3
  5. — Version 0.7.2 Update fallback (thanks for the idea to @lemurnick) Fix for missing enqueue in some cases (thanks to @ohhcee, @o2xav, @WORX Developer for the feedbacks) Blocklist filters cleanup Registers the spam checks individually Up 0.7.2
  6. — Version 0.7.1 Fix: Fixes a wrong escape placeholder in the prepare SQL query that was preventing to check if an IP was blocklisted. (thanks to @jackrus60 for the report) 0.7.1

Security history

via Wordfence Intelligence

All 2 disclosed vulnerabilities are patched in the current version (0.7.6). Sites still on an older version should update.

  1. 2025-07-16 CVE-2025-54020 Cross-Site Request Forgery Affects <= 0.6.3 Patched in 0.6.4
  2. 2024-03-13 CVE-2024-27961 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 0.6.0 Patched in 0.6.1

Vulnerability records provided by Wordfence Intelligence. Copyright 2012-2026 Defiant Inc. License and terms.

CVE records: Copyright 1999-2026 The MITRE Corporation. CVE terms of use.

Behavioral tests

via WP Hive

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0.1

✓ Low memory footprint
✓ Low page-speed impact
✕ Runs on latest PHP + WP
✕ No PHP errors
✓ No JS errors
✕ Activates cleanly
✓ No resource errors
✓ No external HTTP errors
✓ Optimized database use
✓ Frequently updated

Languages

via translate.wordpress.org

Translated into 5 languages, 0 at 90% or more

Spanish (Spain) 38%
German 33%
German (Formal) 22%
Japanese 21%
Italian 7%

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

7 of 8 pass · checked 26 Oct 2026

Can 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 7 questions in the FAQ.
  • ✓ FAQ asks real questions 7 of 7 read like questions a user would type.
  • ✓ Names who it is for Names its audience or use cases ("if you need", "if you want").
  • ✓ Names what it works with Mentions WooCommerce, Contact Form 7, REST API.
  • ✓ Headings and lists 17 headings and 5 lists.
  • ✓ Enough to quote 11,401 characters of description.
  • ✓ Tags match the text All 4 tags appear in the text.

Growth timeline

Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow

  1. 2025-08-07 9K+ → 10K+ up after 34 days in tier
  2. 2025-07-04 10K+ → 9K+ down after 93 days in tier
  3. 2025-04-02 9K+ → 10K+ up after 88 days in tier
  4. 2025-01-04 8K+ → 9K+ up after 2 days in tier
  5. 2025-01-02 9K+ → 8K+ down after 4 days in tier
  6. 2024-12-29 8K+ → 9K+ up after 101 days in tier
  7. 2024-09-19 7K+ → 8K+ up after 104 days in tier
  8. 2024-06-07 6K+ → 7K+ up after 64 days in tier

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).

Embed this report card

Drop a live Pulse card for AntiSpam for Contact Form 7 into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/cf7-antispam" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="AntiSpam for Contact Form 7 — Plugin Pulse"></iframe>
Preview card ↗

AntiSpam for Contact Form 7: 10K+ active installs, 4.2★ (13 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/cf7-antispam

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