Contact forms are an essential part of your website, but the unfortunate reality is that they attract spam like a magnet. So, if your inbox is overrun with spam form submissions, the genuine inquiries will be overshadowed. And that stands to make your life a lot more difficult.
CAPTCHA is a familiar option to stop spam, but it can drive potential customers away due to inconvenience. You know you’re not a robot, but sometimes CAPTCHA disagrees.
Fortunately, there are other ways to stop spam without making your site visitors jump through hoops.
Modern anti‑spam solutions are much more accessible and user‑friendly than CAPTCHA. So let’s explore some of these and get the clutter out of your inbox.
Why CAPTCHA is to be avoided in 2024
CAPTCHA has been around for years now. Anyone who’s been online is familiar with deciphering distorted letters or selecting all the squares that contain a certain object — the typical CAPTCHA fare.
So what’s the problem? CAPTCHA is far from ideal, especially if you want to maximize user engagement, lead generation, or sales on your site. Some of the downsides to CAPTCHA include:
- User experience issues: CAPTCHA is perceived as a nuisance. When people click a button to do something, they don’t want to be forced to do picture puzzles or math problems. It’s frustrating to be interrupted by a CAPTCHA when you just want to fill out a form.
- Accessibility concerns: It also poses significant accessibility challenges, particularly for those with visual impairments. For some people, it’s impossible to interact with them. While audio CAPTCHAs exist, these cause problems, too. Relying on CAPTCHA means you risk alienating a portion of your audience.
- Decreased conversion rates: Ultimately, anything that disrupts the user journey will damage conversion rates. If what’s beyond the CAPTCHA isn’t valuable enough, people will simply abandon the form, and you just lost a conversion. If you want visitors to do something, you should minimize the number of barriers in the way.
At one time, CAPTCHA was the most effective way to stop spam. But with new advances in online technology, things have changed.
How to stop form spam without CAPTCHA
You no longer need to rely on CAPTCHA to protect your forms from spam. There are several effective, more user‑friendly alternatives worth exploring. Let’s take a look at some of the potential strategies to block form spam without sacrificing conversions or accessibility.
1. Akismet: The AI‑powered solution that blocks 99.99% of spam
What if there was something that could stop contact form spam without your visitors even knowing it’s there? Something that requires minimal configuration, has no confusing setup, and just works?
That describes Akismet perfectly. Powered by advanced AI and machine learning, Akismet excels at identifying and blocking spam submissions with an impressive accuracy of 99.99%. And it works entirely behind the scenes.
How does it work? Just as you know the email offering an inheritance from a foreign prince in exchange for your banking details is fake, Akismet can sniff out spam at a glance.
Akismet uses a massive database of known spam and a machine learning algorithm that becomes more intelligent the more spam it blocks. As spammers change their methods, Akismet evolves with them.
Each time a form is submitted, Akismet compares the data against its database, flagging any submissions that match common spam patterns. That way, only legitimate messages make it to your inbox. It’s the most reliable way to keep your contact forms spam‑free.
2. Honeypot: A decent yet limited solution
The honeypot technique is another popular method for dealing with form spam, and while it has its merits, it comes with many limitations.
The idea behind it is simple: you add an extra, hidden field to your form that human users can’t see. Spambots can see it and usually fill out every field they detect in a form. When a form is submitted with this trap field filled out, the submission is flagged and discarded.
While a honeypot is effective against basic spambots, they often fall short. Advanced bots detect these hidden fields and bypass them, or intentionally avoid unusual fields. Some bots even use machine learning to detect honeypots and only fill out necessary fields.
That means, over time, your spam protection becomes less and less effective — unlike AI‑based solutions like Akismet which adapts in real‑time to new threats. Honeypots are static and leave your forms vulnerable to new types of spam.
3. Session cookies: Unreliable and complex
Session cookies are another method used to block spam. This involves setting a cookie when someone visits your site, which keeps track of their session and behavior. This is checked when they submit a form. If spammy behavior is detected, the submission is flagged.
While this approach is also effective against simple bots, it’s far from foolproof. Advanced bots readily spoof legitimate behavior, so this method is unreliable. Also, relying on session cookies causes problems for legitimate users who browse with strong privacy settings or disabled cookies.
Another drawback is the complexity involved in setting up session cookies to block spam. This requires a lot of technical knowledge, and it doesn’t even work as well as other solutions.
4. Email filtering: Weak and time‑consuming
Email filtering is another method for managing contact form spam. This approach involves setting up filters in your email client that automatically hide messages that appear to be spam. It identifies these based on blocklisted email addresses or suspicious keywords.
The primary issue here is that they’re often ineffective. There’s a good chance that something will slip through the cracks and clutter up your inbox. Email filters are also too aggressive sometimes, filtering out legitimate messages. That means you’ll probably end up having to sift through all that spam anyway.
Setting up your own email filters is also time‑consuming. And you’ll likely end up constantly adjusting them and still having spam slip through.
5. Rate limiting: Only works for repeat offenders
Rate limiting is used to control the number of form submissions from a single IP address within a specified timeframe. This means that a single bot can’t be used to spam your form.
This is useful for curbing form abuse, but the limitations are clear. It primarily targets spambots that attack your site from the same IP multiple times. But many spammers distribute their attacks across a network of bots or rotate their IP addresses frequently. Rate limiting is ineffective against spam attacks like this.
6. Time‑based form submissions: For very basic bots
Time‑based form submission checks target bots that fill out and submit forms too quickly. Unlike normal users who need to spend at least a minute filling out a form, bots do it almost instantly. Just set a minimum time limit, and if a form is completed too quickly, mark it as spam.
Most spammers have long wised up to this method, however. Advanced bots mimic human behavior. So, this ends up being a basic way of blocking spam that allows a lot of bots to slip through anyway.
Why Akismet is the perfect alternative to CAPTCHA
As you can see, other ways to stop spam are often lacking. They either damage the user experience, filter out mail too aggressively, or leave several vulnerabilities open for spam to slip through.
But Akismet is different. It’s a seamless, intelligent solution that works quietly in the background. As it’s always learning and growing, false positives are rare while most spam is successfully filtered out. As if you need more convincing, here’s why Akismet is the perfect choice to replace CAPTCHA in 2024:
Smart and adaptive spam protection
As you’ve likely noticed, machine learning and AI have recently become much more powerful. Akismet has long used machine learning to power its anti‑spam functionality, and these systems are now powerful enough to boast a 99.99% accuracy with over 500 billion pieces of spam blocked.
Spammers are always evolving, and stagnant methods of stopping them like rate limiting and honeypots will only work for so long. Akismet is different because it’s also adapting in real‑time with every piece of spam successfully blocked. As new spam tactics emerge, Akismet will learn and grow with them.
Akismet’s usage of AI also means that it doesn’t just recognize known spam patterns — it also identifies subtle signs of spam in real‑time. It blocks new spam tactics before they even get out of the gate.
Seamless user experience
One of Akismet’s standout features is its ability to provide a seamless user experience, something that CAPTCHA fails to deliver. There are no tedious puzzles to solve with Akismet — your visitors won’t even know it’s installed!
Akismet operates entirely behind the scenes and requires no extra work from users. This makes it more accessible than CAPTCHA as well as simply less intrusive.
People are more likely to complete your forms since they don’t have to deal with unnecessary hurdles. And that means higher conversion rates overall.
Easy integration with any website
Another reason Akismet is the perfect alternative to CAPTCHA is how easily it integrates with virtually any website. Akismet may be famous as a WordPress plugin, but it can be used anywhere. Just connect your site to the API and you have spam protection.
For WordPress users, Akismet integration is particularly simple, as the plugin comes pre‑installed and is free for personal, non‑commercial blogs.
Otherwise, there are plenty of Akismet plugins so you can just as easily get it running on platforms like Drupal or use Ruby, Python, JavaScript, or another framework to install it. You can also build your own application.
Set-it-and-forget-it technology
What makes Akismet really stand out is its hands‑off nature. Once Akismet is integrated into your website, there’s no need to constantly monitor and tweak your spam settings. The machine learning technology behind it does all that for you.
Everything is taken care of automatically and behind the scenes. Spam gets filtered and blocked with no manual intervention necessary. Thanks to the 99.99% accuracy rate, you don’t need to constantly monitor your spam folder.
As Akismet’s AI‑powered engine continues to learn and adapt, every spam submission that gets blocked only makes it more effective.
Accessibility and inclusivity
CAPTCHA causes difficulties for people with disabilities, who make up a significant portion of online users. Being excluded is frustrating and alienating, and they’ll likely never come back to your site.
When you eliminate the need for CAPTCHA by using Akismet, you make your website much more welcoming and accessible. Since it works invisibly in the background, no one needs to worry about being locked out of parts of your site.
Still on the fence? Learn how ConvertKit leverages Akismet to protect their users from spam while maximizing conversions.
How to integrate Akismet on your website
Getting Akismet on your website is a straightforward process, especially if you use WordPress. Even if not, there are still plenty of libraries and third‑party plugins you can use depending on your framework and platform.
The best part of Akismet is that it’s free for personal, non‑commercial sites. For commercial sites, plans are straightforward and affordable.
A few steps is all it takes to protect your site from spam forever. Let’s go over the WordPress‑specific steps first.
Step 1: Install and activate Akismet
If your website is built on WordPress, installing Akismet just takes a few steps. In fact, it may already be there, since most WordPress sites come with Akismet pre‑installed. You just need to activate it.
To check if Akismet is installed, log in to your WordPress dashboard and check the Plugins → Installed Plugins page from the menu on the left. If Akismet is there, just click Activate.
If Akismet isn’t installed yet, you can get it through Plugins → Add New Plugin. Search for Akismet and click Install, then Activate.
Step 2: Obtain an API key
To use Akismet, even the free version, you’ll need to obtain an API key. You can get one from the pricing page, where you’ll select the appropriate plan. Just sign up for an account, and you’ll receive an API key.
Back at the WordPress dashboard, head over to Settings → Akismet Anti‑spam and click Manually enter an API key. Paste it in and you’re good to go.
Once Akismet is installed, you’ll find the Settings screen on the same page. Here, you can configure how the plugin will handle spam. That’s it. It will start working right away.
How to integrate Akismet on non‑WordPress sites
For non‑WordPress sites, the process may be a little trickier. Check our Getting Started guide for the full details.
Depending on the platform you use and the framework your website is built on, there may be a plugin or library available that you can install. For example, there are a bunch of Akismet libraries for PHP, Python, .NET, and more.
If that doesn’t work, Akismet provides full documentation on how to connect to the API yourself.
Whatever you use, Akismet aims to make the process as easy as possible. Get an API key today and see for yourself what a difference it makes.
Frequently asked questions
Now that we’ve covered the different ways to prevent contact form spam without relying on CAPTCHA, you might still have some unanswered questions. Let’s explore a few common questions people have on the subject.
What is CAPTCHA?
CAPTCHA is a security tool used to identify humans from automated bots. Usually, CAPTCHA requires you to complete tasks like identifying distorted text, selecting what parts of an image contain a certain object, or even more complicated puzzles. While this is usually effective, CAPTCHA often frustrates users and drives them away.
Is it possible to prevent spam without CAPTCHA?
It’s entirely possible to prevent spam without CAPTCHA. While methods like honeypots, email filtering, and rate limiting may not be as reliable, advances in machine learning have changed everything. AI‑powered anti‑spam is now almost 100% effective, and tools like Akismet prove themselves as superior CAPTCHA alternatives.
What is Akismet?
Akismet is a powerful anti-spam service that uses advanced AI and machine learning to detect and filter out spam. Your contact forms, comments, and other submissions are fully protected. It uses machine learning to analyze vast sets of data — currently over 500 billion pieces of spam — and effectively stop 99.99% of spam from reaching your inbox.
Why is Akismet the best alternative to CAPTCHA?
Akismet is the best alternative to CAPTCHA because it offers strong spam protection without compromising user experience or accessibility. Unlike CAPTCHA, which is slow and frustrating, Akismet works entirely behind the scenes. Its AI‑backed, adaptive technology ensures that your site is protected against evolving spam tactics, too.
Where can I learn more about Akismet?
To learn more about Akismet, visit the official Akismet website. There, you can explore its features, sign up for an API key, and access detailed documentation on how to integrate Akismet into your website.
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