Simplest comment spam catcher
by Mark Howells-Mead · Forms
Also makes 10 other plugins · 1.6K+ installs across the portfolio →
Add a hidden “honeypot” field to comment forms, to help combat comment spam.
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
Not scored
no reviews to score from
Active installs
10+
≈15 estimated
Momentum
+91%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: “comment form after fields”, “comment spam” and “form” aren't earning a slot. You list them, but you're not in the first 24 results for those searches. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so free the slot for a search you can win.
Not scored yet. Nobody has reviewed this plugin, so a grade would come from directory averages rather than from anything measured here.
Install conversion
How it's measured →0.4%
of downloads still active
At least 10 of 2.2K lifetime downloads are still running, below its category: the median Forms plugin keeps 1.3%, across 1,671 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Forms plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
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: Rating quality
Updated 335 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 6.9.0, the current branch or newer
No reviews yet, so wp.org scores it as a middling unrated listing
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: No reviews yet. wp.org scores an unrated plugin as middling on rating, so the first good reviews lift it.
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.
Not enough tracked days yet to call a direction. Momentum needs at least three keywords measured a week or more apart.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| comment spam your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| comment form after fields your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| form your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| preprocess comment your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| spam your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
0 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days. 5 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- “comment form after fields”, “comment spam” and “form” aren't earning a slot. You list them, but you're not in the first 24 results for those searches. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so free the slot for a search you can win.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,489 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 71 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank
Ranked about #30,400 to #44,800, alongside the other plugins at 10+ 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.
Update activity
Downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites.
Not enough installs to measure. This needs at least 100 active sites; below that, a handful of downloads reads as tens of thousands.
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
5.8y ago
latest release · v1.0.5 · 27 Jan 2021
8
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 100% 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 “10+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 3.9 years ago; a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, which places it about 50% of the way through.
Install history since 4 Oct 2022
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
2 of 8 pass · checked 29 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "Add a hidden “honeypot” field to comment forms, to help combat comment spam."
- ! 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 Names no plugin, service or platform it works with.
- ! Headings and lists 0 headings and 0 lists; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ! Enough to quote 748 characters of description; under 1,000 there is little to quote.
- ✓ Tags match the text All 5 tags appear in the text.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2022-12-01 20+ → 10+ down
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).
-
Anti-spam Reloaded 1K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags A -
Honeypot Plus for Contact Form 7 900+ installs · 3.8★ · 2 shared tags B -
Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection 5M+ installs · 4.7★ · 1 shared tag A -
MC4WP: Mailchimp for WordPress 1M+ installs · 4.8★ · 1 shared tag A -
Sucuri Security – Auditing, Malware Scanner and Security Hardening 600K+ installs · 4.2★ · 1 shared tag A -
WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam 400K+ installs · 5.0★ · 1 shared tag A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Simplest comment spam catcher into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/mhm-catch-comment-spam" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Simplest comment spam catcher — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Simplest comment spam catcher: 10+ active installs, no reviews yet. Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-02. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/mhm-catch-comment-spam
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