Akismet vs Kadence Blocks
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 | Kadence Blocks v3.8.0.2 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.8/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 5M+ | 600,000+ |
| Last updated | August 18, 2026 | October 22, 2026 |
| Editions | Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection · Akismet paid plan ($) | Kadence Blocks · Kadence Blocks Pro ($) |
| 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 | Over 20 blocks with design controls inside the native editor; Advanced form block with MailerLite and captcha options; Free core plugin, with an optional separate Pro plugin |
| Cons | Needs an Akismet API key from akismet.com; Commercial sites must buy a paid plan; Submitted content is sent to Akismet for checking | Some blocks and features need Kadence Blocks Pro; Form integrations contact third-party services once configured; Prebuilt library and subscribe forms call kadencewp.com |
| Mentioned in our posts | 2 | — |
| 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 | Registers more than 20 custom blocks, such as accordion, tabs and advanced button, Advanced form block with AJAX submission and field sanitising, Captcha verification for Google reCAPTCHA, Cloudflare Turnstile and hCaptcha, Option to load Google Fonts locally and swap display, Google Maps block, Lottie animation and vector custom post types, Prebuilt design library REST endpoints, Built-in icon library used by icon and button blocks, Checks for a Kadence Blocks Pro licence key and product licence |
| Integrations | ||
| — | MailerLite | |
| Plugins | Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms, Jetpack | — |
| Other | Akismet | Google reCAPTCHA, Cloudflare Turnstile, hCaptcha, Google Fonts |
| Requires WordPress | 5.8 | 6.6 |
| 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 | connect.mailerlite.com, api.mailerlite.com, www.kadencewp.com, plugins.svn.wordpress.org, licensing.nexcess.com, software.liquidweb.com, herald.nexcess.com, licensing.stellarwp.com, www.google.com, challenges.cloudflare.com, api.hcaptcha.com, js.hcaptcha.com, fonts.googleapis.com, telemetry.stellarwp.com, content.startertemplatecloud.com |
| Blocks | — | 60 |