What’s an API key?
An API key is a short string of characters, like abc123xyz456. It identifies your account and authenticates the requests your site or app makes to Akismet, so the service knows they’re really coming from you. When you sign up for Akismet, we’ll email you your key.
Because your key authenticates you, treat it like a secret. Keep it private, don’t share it or post it publicly, and if you ever think it’s been exposed, get in touch so we can help you reset it.
You use the same key no matter how your site is built. The setup just looks a little different depending on what you’re running.
Using WordPress?
You’ll add your key through the Akismet plugin. No code needed. Head to Activating Akismet on WordPress below.
Using something else?
Akismet works well beyond WordPress. There are ready-made libraries for many languages and frameworks, including Python, PHP, Laravel, Node.js, Ruby, .NET, and Go. There’s also an official Drupal module that our team builds and maintains. If you’d rather call the API yourself, the developer docs will get you going. You can check the full list of plugins and libraries to see if there’s already one for your setup.
Activating Akismet on WordPress
Once you have your API key, you can activate the Akismet plugin in just a few steps.
If you are using WordPress v7.0 or higher, you can add your API key by going to Settings → Connectors in WP Admin. In that list, locate Akismet Anti-spam and click “Set up“. You can then enter your API key in the field and click Save. Akismet is then activated on your site.
Otherwise, if you are using an older version of WordPress, you can follow these steps:
- Go to Plugins in WP Admin.
- Find the Akismet plugin. Click the Activate link if it’s not already active.
- Go to Settings → Akismet Anti-spam. If you have the Jetpack plugin installed, go to Jetpack → Anti-spam instead.
- Enter your API key in the box.
- Click the Connect with API Key button.
You can find alternative ways to activate Akismet here.
Did you lose your API key?
No problem — we’re happy to resend the API key.
Can I use the same API key for multiple sites?
Most Akismet plans support multiple sites. Here’s how it breaks down:
| Plan type | Multiple sites? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Personal (including Free) | Yes | Non-commercial sites only. If any of your sites are commercial, upgrade to Pro, Business, or Enterprise. |
| Pro | No | One site per plan. To use Akismet on multiple sites, purchase additional Pro plans or upgrade to Business/Enterprise. |
| Business | Yes | Your sites share a monthly API call limit. |
| Enterprise | Yes | Your sites share a monthly API call limit. |
| Non-profit | Yes | All sites using a non-profit API key must be owned by and directly related to the same non-profit organization. Your sites share a monthly API call limit. |
Need more API calls?
If your usage is approaching your plan’s API call limit, you can add more API calls to your account by purchasing additional plans. Learn how to upgrade your plan.
Akismet 