Akismet vs hCaptcha for WP
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 | hCaptcha for WP v5.4.1 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.6/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 5M+ | 70,000+ |
| Last updated | August 18, 2026 | October 5, 2026 |
| Editions | Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection · Akismet paid plan ($) | hCaptcha for WP · hCaptcha Pro (hCaptcha account plans) ($) |
| 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 | Protects logins, comments and many form plugins from one settings page; Migration wizard helps move off reCAPTCHA or Turnstile; Free core protection with no paid licence needed |
| Cons | Needs an Akismet API key from akismet.com; Commercial sites must buy a paid plan; Submitted content is sent to Akismet for checking | Event statistics and custom themes need a paid hCaptcha account; Challenges depend on hCaptcha's external service; Optional GeoIP country database needs the user's own MaxMind licence key |
| Mentioned in our posts | 2 | — |
| Features (Form plugins checklist) | ||
| Drag-and-drop builder | — | No |
| Conditional logic | — | No |
| Multi-step forms | — | No |
| Payments | — | No |
| File upload | — | No |
| Calculations | — | No |
| Entries in admin | — | No |
| 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 | Migration wizard from reCAPTCHA or Turnstile, Divi comment form protection, Custom captcha themes ($), Events statistics page ($), Optional plugin statistics sending, Profile Builder register and lost password protection |
| Integrations | ||
| Plugins | Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms, Jetpack | WPForms, Contact Form 7, Divi |
| Other | Akismet | MaxMind GeoIP |
| Requires WordPress | 5.8 | 6.0 |
| Requires PHP | 7.2 | 7.4 |
| Tested up to | 7.1 | 7.1 |
| Phones home | No | Only if you agree |
| External services | rest.akismet.com | download.maxmind.com, a.hcaptcha.com, raw.githubusercontent.com |
| Shortcodes | — | 1 |