Akismet vs Formidable Forms
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 | Formidable Forms v7.0 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.8/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 5M+ | 300,000+ |
| Last updated | August 18, 2026 | October 16, 2026 |
| Editions | Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection · Akismet paid plan ($) | Formidable Forms · Formidable Pro ($) |
| 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 | Free drag-and-drop builder with unlimited forms; Stripe and PayPal payment forms in the free version; Spam protection options such as honeypot and reCAPTCHA |
| Cons | Needs an Akismet API key from akismet.com; Commercial sites must buy a paid plan; Submitted content is sent to Akismet for checking | Multi-page forms, file uploads and conditional logic need Pro; Admin shows Pro upgrade screens and prompts; Calculated fields are unclear in the free version docs |
| Mentioned in our posts | 2 | 2 |
| Features (Form plugins checklist) | ||
| Drag-and-drop builder | — | Yes |
| Conditional logic | — | No |
| Multi-step forms | — | No |
| Payments | — | Yes |
| File upload | — | No |
| Entries in admin | — | Yes |
| Spam protection | — | Yes |
| Free version | — | Yes |
| 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 | Built-in MCP server for AI clients, Visual form styler, Form actions such as notifications after submit |
| Integrations | ||
| Payment | — | Stripe, PayPal, Square |
| Plugins | Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms, Jetpack | — |
| Other | Akismet | Google reCAPTCHA, StopForumSpam |
| Requires WordPress | 5.8 | 6.3 |
| Requires PHP | 7.2 | 7.0 |
| Tested up to | 7.1 | 7.1 |
| Phones home | No | Only if you agree |
| External services | rest.akismet.com | app.squareup.com, sandbox.formidableforms.com, api.stopforumspam.org, feedback.strategy11.com |
| Blocks | — | 1 |
| Shortcodes | — | 3 |
| Custom tables | — | 2 |