Akismet vs WPForms Signatures
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 | WPForms Signatures v1.14.0 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Paid Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 5M+ | — |
| Last updated | August 18, 2026 | — |
| Editions | Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection · Akismet paid plan ($) | WPForms Signatures ($) |
| 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 | Draw or type a signature on the form; Signature saved as a PNG image with the entry; Removes uploaded signature files when entries are deleted |
| Cons | Needs an Akismet API key from akismet.com; Commercial sites must buy a paid plan; Submitted content is sent to Akismet for checking | Needs a WPForms licence key; Signatures are stored as image files on the server; Only covers the signature field, not other form types |
| 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 | Signature field with draw and type modes ($), Signature saved as a PNG file with the entry ($), Signature pad script and styles on the form page ($) |
| Integrations | ||
| Plugins | Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms, Jetpack | WPForms ($) |
| Other | Akismet | — |
| Requires WordPress | 5.8 | 5.5 |
| Requires PHP | 7.2 | 7.2 |
| Tested up to | 7.1 | — |
| Phones home | No | No |
| External services | rest.akismet.com | — |