How to Stop Contact Form Spam in WordPress (Full Guide) (2024)

Do you want to stop contact form spam forever?

WPForms makes it super easy to stop emailspam from reaching your inbox. That’ll help improve security, and you’ll get better leads from your website.

In this article, we’ll show you all of the anti-spam tools in WPForms so you can quickly stop WordPress contact form spam for good.

Block Content Form Spam Now

  1. Enable the WPForms Anti-Spam Token
  2. Use Google reCAPTCHA on Your Contact Form
  3. Add hCaptcha to Your Contact Form
  4. Use the WPForms Custom CAPTCHA Addon
  5. Block or Allow Specific Email Addresses on Your Forms
  6. Block Words or Company Names in Form Submissions
  7. Block Spam Active IP Addresses

First, let’s look at why you’re getting so much spam from your online forms.

Why Do Bots Spam Forms?

Bots spam forms to try and spread malware, phishing links, or sales messages. Since most website owners don’t publish their email addresses, using forms is an easier way for people to add spam comments.

WPForms is the best WordPress Form Builder plugin. Get it for free!

This is why you need a secure contact form plugin that helps you stop form spam, especially if you’re running a small business site. Not only will it cut out the hassle of dealing with spam contact form submissions, but it’ll also reduce the security risk of you (or your customers) receiving phishing emails.

How to Stop WordPress Contact Form Spam

WPForms is the best form spam prevention plugin. As the top-rated contact form building tool, WPForms is equipped with various spam-blocking tools capable of eliminating contact form spam.

You can add captcha to your contact forms. Or even better, you can use one of the more user-friendly reCAPTCHA alternatives available in WPForms.

You don’t need to install any extra anti-spam plugins. This video explains all of the WPForms techniques you can use to block contact form spam in WordPress.

Create Your Spam-Free Contact Form Now

Let’s look at the easiest and fastest anti-spam method to prevent form spam in WordPress.

1. Enable the WPForms Anti-Spam Token

If you want a super easy spam prevention method, the WPForms anti-spam token is the best option. It’s the most effective way to prevent contact form spam without captcha in WordPress.

The anti-spam token is great because the user doesn’t need to do anything to get past the spam check on your online forms.

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Behind the scenes, we add a secret token that’s unique to each submission. Spambots can’t detect the token. And without it, they get stuck and can’t submit the form. Real users don’t even notice it’s there.

This way, WPForms maintains a high level of user experience while eliminating contact form spam from your WordPress site.

How to Add the Anti-Spam Token to Your Forms

The WPForms anti-spam token is automatically enabled on each new form you create.

On old forms, you might still be using the old WPForms honeypot spam field. You’ll want to enable the new token setting manually to update your spam protection.

To enable the anti-spam token, first edit your form to open it up in the form builder.

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When the form builder opens in your browser, go to Settings » General.

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On the right hand side, scroll down to the bottom. Then check the Enable anti-spam protection checkbox.

Do you see the old honeypot method of spam prevention option in the settings as well? You can leave the honeypot field checked, or deselect it if you want to. Either way, the old honeypot won’t affect the way the new form token works.

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Save your form and you’re done! Your WordPress contact form is now protected against spambots, with zero inconvenience for real visitors.

What Does ‘Form Token Is Invalid’ Mean?

The WPForms anti-spam token requires JavaScript to work. If you see the message ‘Form token is invalid’, it can mean that there’s a JavaScript error on your site.

To fix this, you’ll want to exclude WPForms scripts from being cached. This helps to prevent issues with the form token. You can also change the cache time on your form token.

Let’s look at another anti-spam tool in Method #2.

2. Secure Contact Form Using reCAPTCHA

Google’s reCAPTCHA is probably the best-known CAPTCHA service out there. It automatically detects human visitors using puzzles, or by detecting their behavior while they’re on your site.

This can be very effective in blocking spam contact form submissions from bots.

By verifying that a human user is submitting a form, all automated spam attempts are blocked. The added security of a reCAPTCHA can also make users feel that the form is secure and help reduce form abandonment.

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There are 3 versions of Google reCAPTCHA, and you can use any of these in WPForms.

Here’s a basic rundown of the differences between contact form spam prevention methods:

  • Checkbox reCAPTCHA v2 lets visitors hover their mouse over a checkbox to submit the form. This is called a ‘challenge’, and it usually displays with the words ‘I am not a robot’ next to it.
  • Invisible reCAPTCHA v2 doesn’t show a checkbox. Instead, the reCAPTCHA service detects user activity to decide if the visitor is human. This is a great way to prevent spam without showing a challenge every time.
  • reCAPTCHA v3 is an advanced CAPTCHA that uses JavaScript to detect human visitors. It’s ideal for AMP pages, but it can occasionally prevent genuine visitors from submitting your forms. That’s why we recommend it for advanced users who are ready to troubleshoot if they run into any issues.

All of these reCAPTCHA types are free for up to 1 million uses per month.

In the next section of the guide, we’re going to look at setting up reCAPTCHA on your forms.

Select a reCAPTCHA Type in WPForms

We’re going to start by selecting the type of Google reCAPTCHA you want to use in the WPForms plugin.

To start, open up your WordPress dashboard and go to WPForms » Settings.

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Then, look to the tabs across the top. Click on the CAPTCHA tab.

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You’ll see the options for CAPTCHAs on this page.

Click on the reCAPTCHA icon in the center of the page.

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Now you’ll want to scroll down a little more until you see the reCAPTCHA settings. These settings are the same for all of the forms you make on your site.

First, you’ll see the 3 different reCAPTCHA types that we talked about already:

  • Checkbox reCAPTCHA v2
  • Invisible reCAPTCHA v2
  • reCAPTCHA v3

Select the reCAPTCHA method you want to use using the radio buttons.

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Let’s switch over to the reCAPTCHA site and get your keys set up.

Set Up Google reCAPTCHA

Next, we’re going to switch over to the reCAPTCHA website to add your site there.

To start, visit Google’s reCAPTCHA site. You’ll want to open this link in a new tab or window so you can easily switch back to WPForms in a few minutes.

Once you’re on the reCAPTCHA homepage, click on the Admin Console button at the top.

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You might need to sign in to your Google account at this point.

After that, you’ll be redirected to a page where you can register your site for reCAPTCHA.

To start, enter the name of your website in the label field. This is for your own use, so you can type in a name or the full domain name – whatever you prefer. The label here will help you identify the keys later.

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Then, choose the type of reCAPTCHA you want to add to your website.

If you want to use reCAPTCHA v3, you’ll just have to click the top radio button here.

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If you decide you want to use reCAPTCHA v2, select that radio button first. Then select either the ‘I am not a robot’ checkbox or the invisible reCAPTCHA.

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In this example, we’ll use the Checkbox method to show you how the form settings work. If you choose a different reCAPTCHA type, some of the screenshots from this point might look slightly different.

After choosing your reCAPTCHA, you’ll need to add your website’s domain. This time, you’ll want to type in the full domain name without the leading https://

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Go ahead and click the Accept checkbox if you’re happy to proceed. You can also receive alerts about your reCAPTCHA by clicking the second checkbox.

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Click Submit to save your progress so far.

Grab Your reCAPTCHA Keys

Before we go ahead and copy your reCAPTCHA keys, there’s 1 super important thing to remember.

Each of these reCAPTCHA methods uses different types of keys. So if you start out using a certain type of Google reCAPTCHA, then you decide to switch to a different type, you’ll need to generate new keys to match.

Let’s pick up from the last step. You should see a notice saying your site has been registered with reCAPTCHA. Underneath, you’ll see a site key and secret key for your website.

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Switch back to the WPForms » Settings page we were looking at in the last step. You can go ahead and paste your site and secret keys under the reCAPTCHA settings.

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To finish up, there are a couple of other settings in WPForms. Let’s quickly look at what those mean:

  • Fail Message – This field lets you customize the message that appears if reCAPTCHA stops the form from being submitted.
  • No-Conflict Mode – Sometimes other plugins can also try to load reCAPTCHA code. If this happens, you might see a message like ‘This field is required’, even though all required fields are filled in. To avoid this problem, you should deactivate reCAPTCHA in all of your other plugins. But if the problem persists, you can check the No-Conflict Mode checkbox to force disable other reCAPTCHAs.

All set? Click on the Save Settings button to store your changes.

Now you’re ready to add the reCAPTCHA to your contact form to stop spam.

Add the reCAPTCHA to Your Online Form

Now we need to switch back to the form builder so we can enable reCAPTCHA on your form.

First, open up your form in the form builder.

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Look to the Standard Fields on the left and click on the reCAPTCHA field.

In case you’re wondering how this works, you don’t need to drag the reCAPTCHA onto your form. You can just click on the field once to activate the reCAPTCHA.

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A message will pop up to confirm that reCAPTCHA is enabled on your form. ClickOK.

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Great! You’ll see the reCAPTCHA badge in the form builder to show that reCAPTCHA is active on this form.

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This badge won’t show on your finished form when you publish it. Don’t forget to save your form now.

And that’s it! Now you know how to add a v2 or v3 Google reCAPTCHA to stop contact form spam. If you ever want to disable reCAPTCHA on your form, just edit the form and click the reCAPTCHA field again to turn it off.

Next up, we’ll show you how to use hCaptcha. This is an awesome alternative to reCAPTCHA if you’re looking for a different way to show a challenge.

3. Add hCaptcha to Your Contact Form

With WPForms, you can easily use hCaptcha to stop contact form spam.

The hCaptcha service is a great way to stop spam bots in their tracks by showing your visitors a challenge. If the challenge isn’t completed, the form won’t submit and the spambot will get stuck.

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Wondering about the difference between Google reCAPTCHA and hCaptcha? There are 3 main reasons why hCaptcha might be a good fit for your site:

  1. Improve privacy on your website – Some site owners use hCaptcha because of privacy concerns about reCAPTCHA. If you’re worried that Google might retarget ads to your visitors, hCaptcha will be a better choice for you because it collects less data about them.
  2. Get paid for CAPTCHAs – When your visitors solve challenges on your forms, hCaptcha will pay you a small reward each time. This might be helpful if you have a busy site with lots of form submissions.
  3. Support charities – If you want, you can donate the earnings from your hCaptcha account to charity automatically.

Just like reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha is free for basic use. The main downside of the free version is that there’s no invisible CAPTCHA option. But there’s an Easy mode that you can use if you want to minimize the number of CAPTCHAs your visitors see.

It’s super easy to use hCaptcha in WPForms. The steps are very similar to the Google reCAPTCHA settings we already showed you.

Let’s dive in and set it up.

Set Up hCaptcha in WPForms

Have you installed the WPForms plugin and created a simple contact form?

Great! You’re ready to add hCaptcha.

We’ll start in your WordPress dashboard. On the left, go to WPForms » Settings.

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From the tabs across the top, click CAPTCHA.

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Now click on the hCaptcha icon.

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You’ll see the settings for hCaptcha displayed underneath. Let’s go ahead and set up your keys in the next step.

Generate hCaptcha Keys

In this step, we’re going to sign up for hCaptcha and grab your site keys. Keep WPForms open in another tab so we can easily switch back to it in a minute.

Start by opening up the hCaptcha site in a new tab. Then click the Sign Up button at the top.

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To select the free plan, click the button under Add hCaptcha to your service (free).

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Set up your login and sign in now. Then, at the top right, click the New Site button.

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Start by typing in your site name at the top. After typing the name, you’ll need to press the enter key to save the name before you can move on. You can click the pencil icon to make changes.

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In the next field, type in your site domain and clickAdd new domain.

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The slider underneath lets you choose the difficulty of the CAPTCHA. Here’s some information to help you decide what to pick here:

  • Easy mode tries to validate the user without showing a challenge. And if a challenge is shown, it’ll be the easiest type and will take a few seconds to solve. This is as close to an ‘invisible’ CAPTCHA as you can get with hCaptcha.
  • Moderate is similar to Easy but a little less lenient when detecting activity. Your visitors will likely see more challenges with this setting, but it’s a little more secure.
  • Difficult will almost always show a challenge. The challenge will also take a little longer to solve than the Easy or Moderate setting.
  • Always On will force every visitor to solve a ‘difficult’ CAPTCHA before submitting your form to stop contact form spam. This might affect the user experience, but it’s the most secure method.

If you’re not sure what to pick, we’d recommend starting with the Easy or Moderate setting. This helps to make your CAPTCHA easy to solve while still offering bot protection.

If you find you’re still getting spam, you can go back and increase the difficulty.

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The next section lets you choose the kind of CAPTCHAs that your visitors will see. You can choose themes that are similar to the topics on your site.

This is a neat way to make the puzzles a little easier. You don’t have to use this section if you don’t want to, so just skip over it nothing fits.

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And that’s it! Now you’ll want to scroll back up to the top and click Save.

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Now it’s time to copy your keys into WordPress.

Grab Your hCaptcha Keys

Remember the WPForms tab we kept open? In this step, we’re going to grab the keys from hCaptcha and paste them into WPForms.

In hCaptcha, you’ll see the site you just added under Active Sites. On the right, clickSettings.

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Now copy the site key and paste it into theSite Key field in WPForms.

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The Secret Key is located in the settings tab, so we’ll need to leave this screen.

Back in hCaptcha, click cancel to go back to the previous page.

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And now click the Settings tab.

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You’ll see your Secret Key at the top. Go ahead and copy it, then paste it into WPForms.

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In WPForms, you should now have your hCaptcha Site Key and Secret Key ready to go.

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There are 2 more settings underneath that you might want to use:

  • Fail Message – Customize the message that appears if hCaptcha stops the form being submitted.
  • No-Conflict Mode – Sometimes other plugins can also try to load CAPTCHA code. If this happens, you might see an error. To avoid this problem, you should deactivate hCaptcha in all of your other plugins. But if the problem persists, you can check the No-Conflict Mode checkbox to force disable any conflicting hCaptcha code.

Click Save to save your hCaptcha keys.

Now we’re done with the settings, let’s enable hCaptcha on your form.

Add hCaptcha to Your WordPress Form

Now you can turn on hCaptcha for your form. Start by opening WPForms in the WordPress dashboard and clicking Edit under the form name.

The form will open up in a fullscreen window.

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Look to the Standard Fields on the left and click on the hCaptcha field.

In case you’re wondering how this works, you don’t need to drag the field onto your form. You’ll just need to click on the field once to turn on hCaptcha.

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A message will pop up to confirm that you’ve turned on hCaptcha for this form. Click OK.

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Great! Now you’ll see the hCaptcha logo to confirm that everything’s working.

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The hCaptcha logo won’t show up on your published form. It only shows in the form builder as a reminder that hCaptcha is active.

And that’s it! Now you know how to add hCaptcha easily to stop contact form spam. If you ever want to disable it on your form, just edit the form and click the hCaptcha field.

Next up, we’ll show you how to make your own CAPTCHA with WPForms.

4. Add the WPForms Custom CAPTCHA Addon

Are you still getting spam with reCAPTCHA or hCaptcha?

You can use the WPForms Custom CAPTCHA addon to create your own challenge.

With this addon, you can set up custom questions or use random math puzzles as a CAPTCHA to fight spam form submissions.

This method is easy and quick to set up and doesn’t need any site keys.

Add a Custom CAPTCHA Field in WPForms

First, open up your form in the form builder.

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Now, scroll down to the Fancy Fields section. If you haven’t used Custom CAPTCHA before, you’ll notice that the field is grayed out.

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Click on the Custom CAPTCHA button once.

You’ll see a popup asking you to install the addon. Click Yes, Install and Activate.

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After the installation is complete, click Yes, Save and Refresh.

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Your Custom CAPTCHA addon is now active and ready to be added to your form.

Set Up Your Custom CAPTCHA Questions

Once you’ve created a contact form, stay in the form builder to add your custom CAPTCHA questions.

First, drag the Custom CAPTCHA field from the left-hand panel to the right-hand panel to add it to your form. When you click on the field, you’ll see the settings open up on the left.

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The form field will automatically display a random math question for site visitors to answer before they can submit their form on your site. A new math problem (addition, subtraction, or multiplication) will appear every time the page loads or refreshes.

If you’d like to know how to customize the questions, check out our documentation on how to change the math CAPTCHA.

If you prefer to use a custom question and answer instead of the math CAPTCHA, change the type to Question and Answer in the Field Options section.

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There, you can also change the question and answer that site visitors have to type out a response to in order to submit their form on your site.

If you want to display random questions and answers every time your page loads or refreshes, click on the (+) button to add another question and answer.

Click Save when you’ve customized your custom CAPTCHA to your liking.

CAPTCHAs are great at stopping automated scripts and spam bots. But what if you have a persistent human spammer using your forms?

Let’s look at a way to block those users.

5. Block or Allow Specific Email Addresses on Your Forms

Sometimes we all get spam submissions from human visitors. Sales teams and scammers can visit your forms over and over again, manually sending you tons of spam emails.

CAPTCHAs don’t stop these spam messages because the spammers are real visitors.

In WPForms, you can easily block or allow a list of email addresses so that these visitors can’t submit new entries anymore.

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Each form has its own allowlist and denylist, and you can have custom settings for each one.

Let’s take a look at stopping contact form spam with a blocklist in WPForms.

Edit Your Form

Start in the WordPress dashboard.

In WPForms, find the form you want to add a denylist to. Then click Edit under the name of the form.

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Next, you’ll want to click on the Email field on your form to open up the settings for the field.

Go ahead and click Advanced Optionsto expand this section.

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Now that Advanced Options is open, you’ll see lots of extra settings for the email field. Let’s choose the email blocking method you want to use.

Set Up Your Allowlist or Denylist

WPForms lets you set up email restrictions in 2 ways:

  • TheAllowlist will only allow specified email addresses to submit your form. This is a great option if you want to allow entries from a small group of people, like users from your own domain.
  • TheDenylist will block email addresses or domains you specify. This helps to block persistent spammers, domains, or parts of domains.

To see how this works, scroll down and click the Allowlist / Denylist dropdown. Choose which method you want to use on this form.

We’ll select Denylist in this example.

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In the box underneath, type in the email addresses you want to block to stop contact form spam.

You can type a complete email, or use an asterisk * to create a partial match.

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This setting is super powerful. You can create partial matches in any format you like. Here are a few examples you can try:

  • [emailprotected] – the exact specified email address will be blocked
  • spammer* – this blocks all email addresses starting with ‘spammer’
  • *@example.com – blocks all email addresses at the example.com domain
  • s*@example.com – this blocks all email addresses starting with the letter ‘s’ at the example.com domain
  • [emailprotected],[emailprotected],[emailprotected]*.co.uk – blocks the first 2 email addresses, and creates a partial match with the 3rd.

You can add as many comma-separated emails or partial matches as you need, and place the asterisk anywhere you want.

When you have your denylist set up, save your form.

Test Your New Allowlist or Denylist

After saving your form, it’s a good idea to test out the denylist or allowlist on the frontend.

When you type in an email you’ve blocked, you’ll see an error message and the form won’t submit.

If you want to change the message that shows up for blocked email addresses, you can customize it easily. Just open up WPForms » Settings in the WordPress dashboard and click the Validation tab.

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If you still get spammy submissions, there’s 1 more option to try.

6. Block Words or Company Names in Form Submissions

If you’re getting spam submissions from human visitors, it can be tricky to block them. Human-submitted contact form messages are a slightly different type of spam that CAPTCHAs typically don’t block.

To deal with it, you can use a code snippet to block specific words or phrases in the paragraph or single line text fields in WPForms. This is a great way to block abusive messages, but you can also use it to block other words of your choice.

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Use this option with care. It’ll block all submissions containing the words you add to the snippet, so you’ll want to be very specific to avoid blocking legitimate messages.

To block a specific word, read this developer doc on how to block form submissions containing profanity. You can adapt the code snippet in the doc to block any word that the spammer frequently uses, like a company name.

7. Block Spam Active IP Addresses

Another way you can block spammers that have bypassed your CAPTCHA is by blacklisting their IP addresses.

In WordPress, every user comment automatically leaves an IP address. If you’re repeatedly seeing similar IP addresses attacking your site with spam, you can simply blacklist these IPs on your site.

To do so, open your WordPress dashboard and click on Settings » Discussion on your left. Now, enter the IP addresses you want to block in the Disallowed Comment Keys text field (only one IP address per line).

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This is an effective way of blocking repeat human spammers that are slipping through your CAPTCHAs.

And that’s it! Now you know all of the ways WPForms helps to stop contact form spam.

PS. Did you know that WPForms Lite has a lot more anti-spam tools than Contact Form 7? Check out this head-to-head review of WPForms Lite vs Contact Form 7 to see the huge differences between these 2 plugins.

Next, Stop Your Emails From Going to Spam

You’re all set! Now you know all of the ways to stop contact form spam in WordPress.

But here’s another issue: how do you stop legitimate emails from WordPress from going to the junk mail folder? This is a common complaint with contact forms, and it can be frustrating for you and your visitors.

Email deliverability is a really common issue with WordPress, but it’s very easy to fix. Check out this guide on why your WordPress emails are going to spam (and how to fix it).

Prevent Form Spam With WPForms Now

Ready to build your spam-free contact form? Get started today with the easiest WordPress form builder plugin. WPForms Pro includes lots of free templates and offers a 14-day money-back guarantee.

If this article helped you out, please follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more free WordPress tutorials and guides.

How to Stop Contact Form Spam in WordPress (Full Guide) (2024)

FAQs

How to Stop Contact Form Spam in WordPress (Full Guide)? ›

How to Stop Contact Form Spam in WordPress (Full Guide)
  1. Enable the WPForms Anti-Spam Token.
  2. Use Google reCAPTCHA on Your Contact Form.
  3. Add hCaptcha to Your Contact Form.
  4. Use the WPForms Custom CAPTCHA Addon.
  5. Block or Allow Specific Email Addresses on Your Forms.
  6. Block Words or Company Names in Form Submissions.
Feb 11, 2022

How do I stop spam in contact form? ›

Ways To Stop Spam From Your Contact Forms
  1. Disable contact form autoresponders. Turn off all autoresponders that send people a confirmation email about what they submitted. ...
  2. Rename your fields. ...
  3. Add a unique quiz/comment field. ...
  4. Add reCAPTCHA 3. ...
  5. Add a Honeypot. ...
  6. Add a paid Spam Screening plugin.
Jan 30, 2020

How do I stop spam emails from my WordPress Contact form 7? ›

How to stop spam emails being sent through Contact Form 7
  1. Install Akismet. Akismet checks your comments and contact form submissions against a global database of spam to prevent your site from publishing malicious content. ...
  2. Install the Contact Form 7 Honeypot Plugin. ...
  3. Add reCAPTCHA.

How do you stop contact group spam Elementor? ›

How To Stop Contact Form Spam [Elementor Pro Tutorial] - YouTube

How do I block spam bots on WordPress? ›

How Do I Block Bad Bots In WordPress?
  1. Get the iThemes Security plugin. ...
  2. Turn on Google reCAPTCHA for User Registration, Reset password, Login, and Comments. ...
  3. Identify the Bad Bots in Your WordPress Security Logs. ...
  4. Ban Bots with iThemes Security. ...
  5. Limit the Number Of Login Attempts.
Apr 13, 2021

How do I stop spam emails on WordPress? ›

Here's the easiest method of installing Stop Spammers:
  1. Log in to your WordPress site as the. administrator.
  2. From the Dashboard, click Plugins.
  3. Click the Add New button.
  4. Enter Stop Spammers in the search field.
  5. Locate the Stop Spammers plugin.
  6. Click Install Now.
  7. Click OK.
  8. When the installation completes, click Activate.
Dec 28, 2013

What is the best anti spam plugin for WordPress? ›

11 Best WordPress Anti-spam Plugins
  1. Akismet Spam Protection. Akismet is one of the most popular anti-spam WordPress plugins. ...
  2. Antispam Bee. ...
  3. WP Cerber. ...
  4. CleanTalk. ...
  5. All In One WP Security & Firewall. ...
  6. Titan Anti-spam & Security. ...
  7. Stop Spammers. ...
  8. WordPress Zero Spam.
Dec 8, 2021

Does reCAPTCHA stop spam? ›

reCAPTCHA is a free service that protects your site from spam and abuse. It uses advanced risk analysis techniques to tell humans and bots apart.

How do you protect a form from a bot? ›

12 Best Ways to Stop Bots From Filling Out Forms
  1. 1. “ ...
  2. “Secure contact forms using a double opt-in form.” ...
  3. “Add a test question to your contact form.” ...
  4. “Add Honeypots.” ...
  5. “Implement time-analysis.” ...
  6. "Hide target request." ...
  7. "Form validation after geolocation of the IP address." ...
  8. Use a web application firewall.

How do I stop spam emails on my website? ›

5 Ways to Stop Website Spam
  1. Keep your domain private. You may not realize this but when you registered your website's domain name (the www.YourName.com), if you didn't make it private then your email address is public record. ...
  2. Use a honeypot. ...
  3. Block bad countries. ...
  4. Use CAPTCHA on your forms. ...
  5. Prevent email harvesting.
Aug 28, 2020

How do I add a spam filter in WordPress? ›

From your WordPress dashboard
  1. Visit Plugins > Add New.
  2. Search for Spam Protection . Find and install the plugin.
  3. Activate the plugin from your Plugins page.

What is honeypot Elementor? ›

A honeypot is a hidden field designed as a decoy for spambots that are filling out forms. Humans won't see the field, so they won't fill it out. Because a bot cannot tell that the field is hidden, it will fill it out.

How do I use reCAPTCHA Elementor form? ›

In order to add reCAPTCHA to your form:
  1. In Elementor, drag and drop a Form widget into your layout. ...
  2. Go to Content tab and add a reCAPTCHA type field to your form.
  3. If you added reCAPTCHA site and secret keys to your website before, you can easily customize and modify the reCPATCHA options.
  4. Update the page.
Sep 28, 2021

What is wordpress honeypot? ›

Honeypot is a spam prevention technology. It tricks and traps spam bots into revealing themselves by giving them a challenge that human users can not see.

What is bot fight mode? ›

Bot Fight Mode is a simple, free product that helps detect and mitigate bot traffic on your domain. When enabled, the product: Identifies traffic matching patterns of known bots. Issues computationally expensive challenges in response to these bots.

How do I stop spam in Google forms? ›

Click Response validation.
  1. Add a password short text question with response validation.
  2. Text Validation for password short answer.
  3. Wrong password will stop you from submitting spam answers.
  4. Limit to 1 response option in Google forms settings.
  5. Google Account sign in required to fill the form.
Jul 19, 2022

Why do bots spam contact forms? ›

Why Do Bots Spam Forms? Bots spam forms to try and spread malware, phishing links, or sales messages. Since most website owners don't publish their email addresses, using forms is an easier way for people to add spam comments.

How do I stop spam without CAPTCHA? ›

Ways to Prevent Spam Without CAPTCHA
  1. reCAPTCHA. reCAPTCHA is an excellent tool from Google after the death of CAPTCHA. ...
  2. Implement Session Cookies. ...
  3. Try Honeypot. ...
  4. Ask Customized Questions. ...
  5. Go for a Double-Opt-In Form. ...
  6. Install a Spam Prevention Plugin. ...
  7. Block IP Address.

Does reCAPTCHA stop spam? ›

reCAPTCHA is a free service that protects your site from spam and abuse. It uses advanced risk analysis techniques to tell humans and bots apart.

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