What’s an API key?

An API key is a string of characters — like abc123xyz456 — that’s used to register Akismet for your site. After you sign up for Akismet, you’ll receive your API key by email.

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:

  1. Go to Plugins in WP Admin.
  2. Find the Akismet plugin. Click the Activate link if it’s not already active.
  3. Go to Settings → Akismet Anti-spam. If you have the Jetpack plugin installed, go to Jetpack → Anti-spam instead.
  4. Enter your API key in the box.
  5. 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?

It depends.

Personal plans

If you have multiple personal sites that you want to protect with Akismet, you can use the same API key for each site.

Business or Enterprise plans

If you have an active Akismet Business or Enterprise plan, you can add sites to it at any time by activating Akismet on the new site using your API key. These plans are capped per monthly API calls, so you’ll want to make sure the total API calls made by your sites don’t exceed your tier.

If your API calls are exceeding your tier, you can upgrade your plan. Once you log in to your account and locate your Akismet Subscription under Purchases, click on the Upgrade link. This will add the next‑highest tier of API calls per month to your cart.

Pro plans

Pro plans are limited to one site. If you would like to add another site, please purchase an additional Pro plan.

Non-profit organizations

If your organization has been granted a non-profit API key, you’re welcome to use it on multiple sites, as long as all those sites are owned by and directly related to the same non-profit organization.