Akismet for nonprofit organizations

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Thank you for your interest in using Akismet! We offer free Akismet licenses for qualified nonprofit organizations.

Non-qualifying organizations: Educational institutions (schools and universities), student organizations affiliated with or operating under an educational institution, and government entities do not qualify, regardless of organizational structure. Those require a paid commercial plan.

A nonprofit account is subject to a 60,000 API call limit per month. Organizations that exceed that amount would need to upgrade to an Akismet Enterprise plan, which is priced by actual API volume.

First, drop us a message to express your interest via this contact form to get started. Nonprofit keys are provided by our support team. It is not possible to sign up automatically.

Then, prepare the following info:

  1. Documentation certifying your organization’s nonprofit status.
  2. A WordPress.com account that will only be used for your nonprofit site(s).

For the WordPress.com account, please create a separate organization account that isn’t tied to a specific person. This account must only be used by your nonprofit organization, and should never be shared with any other sites.

We will answer your request, and you will be able to send your documents.

If you already have a paid Akismet plan

If your nonprofit already pays for an Akismet plan (such as Akismet Pro), you can still apply for a free nonprofit license. Contact us through the same form and include your documentation.

Your API key does not change. When your nonprofit license is approved, we apply it to your existing Akismet account and API key. The key your sites already use moves to the nonprofit plan automatically, so you don’t need to update any settings on your sites.

Our support team cancels your previous paid plan for you once the nonprofit license is active. You do not need to cancel it yourself.

The nonprofit account must still be used only for your nonprofit organization’s sites. If your current Akismet account also covers personal or for-profit sites, tell us when you contact us so we can help you separate them.

Documentation

A document that confirms nonprofit status has been approved (not just applied for). The document should be issued or certified by a governing body (not the organization itself). It should contain the following:

  • Date
  • Organization Name / ID
  • Government representatives’ signatures and official stamps.

Here is a list of accepted documents:

United States

  • A certified copy of the applicant’s certificate of incorporation or similar document if it clearly establishes the organization’s nonprofit status. 
  • Documentation of tax-exempt status, like an IRS determination letter. For example, a 501c3 certifying letter.

Note: In the United States, tax-exempt status is typically issued by the Federal government, while the nonprofit group is issued by the state of the nonprofit’s incorporation, so you would need to look up what is issued by the state if you’re searching for an organization.

Canada

In Canada, nonprofit entities are called Charities and use the Canadian registered charity form (T3010).

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, registered charities qualify for a nonprofit license. This includes Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs). Send us the link to your organization’s entry on the charity register for your part of the UK: the Charity Commission for England and Wales, the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), or the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland.

Community Interest Companies (CICs) are not registered charities, so they do not automatically qualify. If your organization is a CIC, contact us with the link to its Companies House entry, and our team will review your request.

Brazil

The Brazilian certificate is the CNPJ card and should provide an NGO number.

Germany

The paperwork you should provide must contain references to one of these:

  • Public benefit (Gemeinnützige Zwecke §52)
  • Benevolent (Mildtätige Zwecke §53)
  • Church-related (Kirchliche Zwecke §54)

Norway

Norway nonprofits are registered at http://brreg.no/ (confirmation on the Government website). You can provide the link to your charity provided by the Norway government.

Other Countries

If you have a nonprofit entity not based in one of the countries mentioned above and are unsure how to verify your nonprofit status, use Google to research the proper documentation needed for your country.

A WordPress.com account specific to your nonprofit subscriptions

We need a separate WordPress.com account that will only be used for your organization’s nonprofit site(s). We ask that you keep any personal or for-profit sites separate by setting them up on a separate WordPress.com account. You will want to configure a WordPress.com account using a generic email address. If your website is Example.com, you could use info@example.com  for your organization’s nonprofit Akismet license.

We’re trying to avoid setting up nonprofit Akismet services on personal accounts. That way, if you were to hand this off to someone else at the company, it wouldn’t be tied to your personal email address and could transfer easily between the staff at your organization.

Regarding the WordPress access level, this isn’t tied to your WordPress site. It’s not required to set up a new user on your site. The account is specific to the Akismet.com and WordPress.com sites.

You can create that account here:

When contacting us, please let us know the WordPress.com username or email address we should use when setting up the nonprofit license. We only need the username or email address of the account. We will never ask for your WordPress.com password. Do not send your password to us.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.