Akismet vs Booking Calendar
Compare WordPress plugins and tools side by side. Pick products with “Compare” in the software directory.
| Feature | Akismet v5.7.2 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.7/5 Visit Details | Booking Calendar v11.9.1 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.8/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 5M+ | 40,000+ |
| Last updated | August 18, 2026 | October 11, 2026 |
| Editions | Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection · Akismet paid plan ($) | Booking Calendar · Booking Calendar Pro ($) |
| Pros | Checks comments and contact form submissions against a shared spam database; Works with Contact Form 7 and Gravity Forms; Stats through a dashboard widget and REST endpoints | Full-day, time-slot and appointment bookings in one plugin; Booking and inquiry forms with email notices; Elementor widget and WooCommerce compatibility |
| Cons | Needs an Akismet API key from akismet.com; Commercial sites must buy a paid plan; Submitted content is sent to Akismet for checking | Large plugin with many admin screens to learn; Newer resource and service catalog needs the Pro edition; Payment gateways are not in the free code |
| Mentioned in our posts | 2 | 1 |
| More features | ||
| Other features | Checks comments before they are saved, Spam checks for Gravity Forms and Contact Form 7 submissions, Scheduled deletion of old spam and orphaned comment meta, Block statistics dashboard widget, REST endpoints for key, settings and stats, Webhook endpoint for Akismet account updates, Stats ability for the WordPress Abilities API | Calendar and booking form shortcodes, Import of Google Calendar feeds into availability, Elementor booking form widget controls, Services and providers catalog (Pro-compatible resources) ($), Dashboard What's New page after activation |
| Integrations | ||
| E-commerce | — | WooCommerce |
| Plugins | Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms, Jetpack | Elementor, Polylang, WPML |
| Other | Akismet | Google Calendar (iCal feed import) |
| Requires WordPress | 5.8 | 5.3 |
| Requires PHP | 7.2 | 5.6 |
| Tested up to | 7.1 | 7.1 |
| Phones home | No | Only if you agree |
| External services | rest.akismet.com | wpbookingcalendar.com |
| Blocks | — | 1 |
| Shortcodes | — | 10 |
| Custom tables | — | 3 |