Akismet vs CleanTalk vs GravityAgent: Which Spam Filter Is Right for You?
An honest, detailed comparison of Akismet, CleanTalk, and GravityAgent—helping you choose the best spam protection for your Gravity Forms.
You've tried the honeypot. You've enabled reCAPTCHA. But the spam keeps coming through your Gravity Forms, clogging your inbox, triggering workflows, and wasting your team's time.
So you start researching: What's the best anti-spam plugin for Gravity Forms?
Three names keep appearing: Akismet, CleanTalk, and GravityAgent. All three claim to stop spam. All three have users who swear by them. But they're built for different needs—and choosing the wrong one can mean continued spam headaches, false positives that block real leads, or a mismatch with your workflow.
This guide compares all three tools honestly. We'll break down features, pricing, effectiveness, and real-world use cases so you can make an informed decision.
No fluff. No bias. Just facts.
Quick Comparison Table
Let's start with a high-level overview. Here's how the three stack up:
| Feature | Akismet | CleanTalk | GravityAgent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary Focus | Blog comments | All forms site-wide | Gravity Forms specifically |
| Gravity Forms Integration | Via add-on (indirect) | Works across all forms | Native, purpose-built |
| Detection Method | Global spam database | Cloud-based pattern matching | Rules + AI learning |
| Transparency | ❌ Black box decisions | ❌ No visibility into why entries are flagged | ✅ See confidence score + reasoning |
| Customization | ⚠️ Limited | ⚠️ Rigid rules | ✅ Custom rules + adaptive learning |
| False Positive Handling | Manual review only | Manual review only | Mark as "not spam," system learns |
| Agency/Multi-Site | Per-site licenses | Per-site pricing | ✅ Built for agencies (bundled plans) |
| Pricing (Starting) | $5/month (commercial) | $8/year (1 site) | Usage-based tiers (TBD) |
| Best For | Blog comment spam | Broad site-wide protection | Gravity Forms lead gen/agencies |
Now let's dig into each tool.
Akismet: The WordPress Veteran
What It Is
Akismet, developed by Automattic (the creators of WordPress.com), is one of the oldest and most widely-used spam filtering services in the WordPress ecosystem. It comes pre-installed with WordPress and has been protecting sites since 2005.
Originally built to filter blog comment spam, Akismet has expanded to support form submissions through various integrations—including Gravity Forms via an official add-on.
How It Works
When a form is submitted, Akismet sends the data to its cloud servers where it's analyzed against a massive global database of known spam patterns. The system looks at:
- Email addresses and domains
- Message content
- IP addresses
- Submission patterns
If Akismet flags an entry as spam, the submission is marked accordingly and notifications/workflows are suppressed.
Strengths
✅ Proven track record: 20+ years of spam fighting. Akismet has analyzed billions of submissions and has a massive database to draw from.
✅ Easy setup: If you're already using Akismet for blog comments, adding Gravity Forms support takes just a few clicks.
✅ Low cost for single sites: At $5/month for commercial use, it's one of the cheaper options.
✅ Widely trusted: Akismet is a household name in the WordPress ecosystem. It's installed on millions of sites.
Weaknesses
❌ Not built for forms: Akismet was designed for blog comments, not lead generation forms. Its spam detection doesn't account for form-specific patterns like fake quote requests or bogus demo signups.
❌ Generic detection: Akismet can't learn what spam looks like for your specific business. It applies the same global rules to everyone.
❌ Black box: You don't get visibility into why an entry was flagged. This makes it hard to troubleshoot false positives or refine your filtering.
❌ False positives: Users report legitimate submissions getting flagged, especially from international users, VPN users, or non-English speakers.
❌ Limited customization: You can't add custom rules or teach Akismet to recognize patterns unique to your forms.
Pricing
- Personal blogs: Free
- Commercial use: Starting at $5/month (1 site)
- Plus plan: $50/month (10 sites)
- Enterprise: Custom pricing for large deployments
Who It's Best For
Akismet works well if you:
- Run a blog-first site where comment spam is your primary concern
- Have low-volume forms that don't trigger expensive automations
- Want a "set it and forget it" solution and aren't worried about customization
- Already use Akismet for comments and want a unified solution
Not ideal for: Agencies managing high-value client forms, businesses running paid ad campaigns to lead gen forms, or anyone needing transparency into spam decisions.
CleanTalk: The All-in-One Protector
What It Is
CleanTalk is a cloud-based anti-spam service that takes a comprehensive approach to spam protection. Unlike Akismet (which focuses on comments), CleanTalk protects everything: comments, registrations, contact forms, WooCommerce orders, bookings, and more.
It's designed to be a one-stop solution for site-wide spam prevention.
How It Works
CleanTalk operates as a cloud service. When a form is submitted, the data is sent to CleanTalk's servers where it's analyzed using:
- Pattern recognition algorithms
- IP/email reputation databases
- Behavioral analysis
- SpamFireWall: A unique feature that blocks known spam bots before they even reach your site
CleanTalk doesn't require CAPTCHAs, which means a smoother user experience.
Strengths
✅ Comprehensive coverage: Protects all forms on your site, not just Gravity Forms. If you have WPForms, Contact Form 7, WooCommerce, or registration forms, CleanTalk covers them all.
✅ No CAPTCHAs needed: Users don't have to solve puzzles or check boxes. This improves conversion rates.
✅ SpamFireWall: The firewall feature is unique—it blocks bots at the server level before they even load your forms. This reduces server load and stops spam earlier in the process.
✅ Detailed logs: You can see all blocked submissions with details like IP, email, country, and rejection reason.
✅ Low annual cost: At $8/year for a single site, it's one of the most affordable options.
Weaknesses
❌ Rigid rules: CleanTalk's detection is powerful, but you can't customize it. If its rules don't align with your business, you're stuck.
❌ Black box decisions: Like Akismet, CleanTalk doesn't explain why an entry was flagged. This makes troubleshooting false positives difficult.
❌ False positives reported: Some users report legitimate submissions being blocked, especially from certain countries or email providers. With no transparency into why, it's hard to adjust.
❌ Generic approach: CleanTalk applies the same rules to every site. It can't learn what spam looks like for your specific forms.
❌ Subscription-based: While affordable, it requires a yearly subscription (no free tier).
Pricing
- 1 site: $8/year
- 2 sites: $10/year
- 5 sites: $18/year
- 10 sites: $25/year
- Unlimited sites: $50/year
Who It's Best For
CleanTalk is a great fit if you:
- Need site-wide spam protection across multiple form types (not just Gravity Forms)
- Want a low-cost, set-it-and-forget-it solution
- Don't need transparency or customization
- Run a multi-site network and want broad coverage
Not ideal for: Users who need control over spam rules, agencies that need to explain spam decisions to clients, or businesses where false positives are costly (e.g., paid ad campaigns).
GravityAgent: The Gravity Forms Specialist
What It Is
GravityAgent is a premium anti-spam plugin built specifically for Gravity Forms. Unlike Akismet (built for comments) or CleanTalk (built for everything), GravityAgent was designed from the ground up to solve spam in lead generation forms—where false positives can cost real money and wasted time is expensive.
Disclosure: We're the team behind GravityAgent, so we're biased. But we'll be honest about where we fit and where we don't.
How It Works
GravityAgent uses a two-layer approach:
Layer 1: Local Rules (WordPress-side)
Fast, deterministic rules run first—no API call required. This includes regex patterns, domain blocklists, and custom business logic. Examples:
- Block all emails ending in
.ru - Require phone numbers to be 10+ digits
- Flag submissions containing specific keywords
If a rule matches, the decision is instant.
Layer 2: AI Evaluation (Server-side)
If local rules are inconclusive, the entry is sent to GravityAgent's server where an AI model analyzes:
- Entry content and patterns
- Admin custom rules (natural language)
- Recent feedback examples from your site
- Context-specific signals
The AI returns a structured response:
{
"decision": "spam",
"confidence": 0.94,
"reason": "Suspicious domain pattern + generic message content"
}
Strengths
✅ Built for Gravity Forms: Every feature is designed specifically for form submissions, not adapted from blog comment filters.
✅ Transparent decisions: You see exactly why an entry was flagged—confidence score, reasoning, and which rule triggered. This makes debugging and client communication easy.
✅ Customizable: Add natural-language rules like "If the message is in Russian, it's spam." GravityAgent compiles these into structured logic where possible.
✅ Adaptive learning: When you mark an entry as "spam" or "not spam," GravityAgent learns immediately. The system adapts to your specific business over time.
✅ No deletion: Entries are marked using Gravity Forms' native spam flag, never deleted. You can always recover false positives.
✅ Agency-friendly: Built with multi-site agencies in mind. Future roadmap includes bundled pricing and agency dashboards.
✅ Rules + AI: The best of both worlds—fast, controllable rules for obvious cases, and intelligent AI for edge cases.
Weaknesses
❌ Gravity Forms only: GravityAgent doesn't protect blog comments, WooCommerce orders, or other forms. It's laser-focused on Gravity Forms.
❌ Newer to market: Unlike Akismet (20 years old) or CleanTalk (established player), GravityAgent is newer. Less battle-tested at scale.
❌ Requires API connection: The AI layer requires sending data to GravityAgent's servers (though PII is redacted where possible).
❌ Usage-based pricing (TBD): Pricing will be based on form submissions, which may cost more for high-volume sites compared to flat-rate alternatives.
Pricing
Pre-Launch: Join the waitlist for early access pricing.
Expected Tiers (Subject to Change):
- Free Tier: ~100 screened entries/month (for adoption)
- Starter: ~$20/month for sites under 100 submissions/month
- Growth: ~$50/month for sites under 1,000 submissions/month
- Agency: Bundled multi-site plans with rolled-up usage
Final pricing will be announced closer to launch.
Who It's Best For
GravityAgent is ideal if you:
- Run mission-critical lead gen forms with Gravity Forms
- Need transparency into spam decisions (for client reporting or troubleshooting)
- Want a system that learns and adapts to your specific business
- Manage multiple client sites as an agency
- Have been burned by false positives with other solutions
Not ideal for: Sites that don't use Gravity Forms, users who need comment or WooCommerce spam protection, or ultra-high-volume sites on tight budgets (flat-rate pricing may be cheaper).
Side-by-Side Feature Comparison
Here's a deeper dive into how specific features stack up:
Detection Accuracy
| Tool | Accuracy | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Akismet | 🟡 Good for generic spam | Misses form-specific patterns; false positives reported |
| CleanTalk | 🟢 Strong across the board | Effective but rigid; false positives can't be tuned |
| GravityAgent | 🟢 Excellent for Gravity Forms | Learns from your feedback; adapts to your context |
Transparency & Control
| Tool | Visibility | Customization | Learning Capability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Akismet | ❌ Black box | ⚠️ Minimal | ❌ No |
| CleanTalk | ⚠️ Logs only | ❌ None | ❌ No |
| GravityAgent | ✅ Full (score + reasoning) | ✅ Custom rules + AI | ✅ Yes (site-specific) |
False Positive Handling
This is critical—especially for agencies and lead gen sites.
| Tool | Can Recover? | Can Prevent Recurrence? |
|---|---|---|
| Akismet | ✅ Yes (manual review) | ❌ No learning |
| CleanTalk | ✅ Yes (manual review) | ❌ No learning |
| GravityAgent | ✅ Yes + system learns | ✅ Adapts to feedback |
Agency Features
| Feature | Akismet | CleanTalk | GravityAgent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multi-site pricing | ✅ Available | ✅ Affordable | ✅ Planned (bundled) |
| Client reporting | ❌ Basic | ⚠️ Logs | ✅ Transparent scores |
| Per-client customization | ❌ No | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Centralized dashboard | ❌ No | ❌ No | 🔜 Coming (Phase 2) |
Real-World Scenarios: Which Tool Should You Choose?
Let's put this into practical terms. Here are common scenarios and our honest recommendation:
Scenario 1: Small Business Blog with a Contact Form
The Need: You run a personal blog or small business site. You get occasional spam in comments and your contact form, but it's not a huge problem. Budget is tight.
Best Choice: Akismet (free for personal, $5/month for commercial)
Why: It's affordable, easy to set up, and handles both comments and basic form spam. For low-volume, non-critical forms, it's good enough.
Scenario 2: E-Commerce Site with Multiple Form Types
The Need: You run a WooCommerce store with registration forms, contact forms, order forms, and user-generated content. You need comprehensive protection across the entire site.
Best Choice: CleanTalk ($8/year)
Why: CleanTalk's broad coverage protects everything—WooCommerce orders, registrations, contact forms, and comments. It's affordable and doesn't require CAPTCHAs. Perfect for site-wide protection.
Scenario 3: Digital Agency Managing 30+ Client Sites
The Need: You manage Gravity Forms for 30 clients across industries (HVAC, legal, healthcare, real estate). Each client runs paid ads to lead gen forms. Spam wastes billable hours and triggers expensive CRM workflows. Clients escalate when junk leads clog their pipeline.
Best Choice: GravityAgent
Why: You need:
- Transparency: Clients want to know why a lead was flagged.
- Customization: Legal forms have different spam patterns than HVAC quote requests.
- Learning capability: False positives are costly—you need a system that adapts.
- Agency-friendly pricing: Bundled multi-site plans coming soon.
Akismet and CleanTalk work, but they lack the control and transparency agencies need.
Scenario 4: SaaS Company Running Demo Request Forms
The Need: You run a B2B SaaS. Your "Request a Demo" form gets 200+ submissions per month. Half are spam. Each submission triggers Zapier → HubSpot → sales team notification. Spam wastes sales time and pollutes CRM data.
Best Choice: GravityAgent
Why: You need high accuracy, transparency into decisions, and the ability to fine-tune rules. A false positive (blocking a real demo request) could cost thousands in lost revenue. GravityAgent's adaptive learning and transparency make it ideal for high-stakes forms.
Scenario 5: High-Traffic News Site with Comment Spam
The Need: You publish articles daily and get hundreds of comments. Spam is relentless. You don't use Gravity Forms—just native WordPress comments and a simple contact form.
Best Choice: Akismet
Why: Akismet was built for this exact use case. It's the gold standard for comment spam. Since you're not relying on Gravity Forms, GravityAgent isn't relevant.
What About OOPSpam and Other Alternatives?
You might also see OOPSpam, Zero Spam for Gravity Forms, or WPBruiser (GoodBye Captcha) mentioned.
Here's a quick take:
OOPSpam: Privacy-focused, API-based spam detection. Good accuracy, but expensive ($29/month for 500 checks). Better for low-volume, high-value forms.
Zero Spam for Gravity Forms: Free plugin that uses JavaScript-based detection. Lightweight and effective against basic bots, but struggles with sophisticated spam.
WPBruiser: Unique algorithm-based anti-spam. No CAPTCHAs, no external API. Works well but can conflict with caching plugins.
All are valid options depending on your needs. But for Gravity Forms specifically, the three we've covered (Akismet, CleanTalk, GravityAgent) are the most commonly compared.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use multiple anti-spam plugins at once?
Yes, but be careful. You can stack tools (e.g., Akismet + honeypot + GravityAgent), but:
- Overhead adds up (multiple API calls slow your forms)
- Conflicts can occur (one plugin may interfere with another)
- Diminishing returns (two plugins catching the same spam isn't useful)
Best practice: Start with one robust solution. Only add layers if spam persists.
Do these tools delete spam entries?
- Akismet: No—flags entries as spam using Gravity Forms' native spam flag.
- CleanTalk: No—blocks submission but logs details.
- GravityAgent: No—flags entries, never deletes. You can always recover.
What about GDPR compliance?
All three tools send data to external servers for analysis, which has GDPR implications.
- Akismet: Processes data on Automattic's servers. Has GDPR documentation.
- CleanTalk: Cloud-based, processes data externally. Claims GDPR compliance.
- GravityAgent: Redacts PII where possible before sending to servers. Documentation coming.
Recommendation: Review each tool's privacy policy and ensure it aligns with your compliance requirements.
Can I try these tools before committing?
- Akismet: Free for personal use; 30-day money-back guarantee for commercial.
- CleanTalk: Free trial available (7 days).
- GravityAgent: Free tier planned post-launch (~100 entries/month). Join the waitlist for early access.
The Bottom Line: Which Should You Choose?
Here's the honest recommendation:
Choose Akismet if:
- You primarily need comment spam protection
- You have low-volume forms that aren't mission-critical
- Budget is a primary concern
- You want a "set it and forget it" solution
Choose CleanTalk if:
- You need site-wide protection across multiple form types
- You don't use Gravity Forms exclusively
- You want an affordable, no-CAPTCHA solution
- Transparency and customization aren't priorities
Choose GravityAgent if:
- You run mission-critical lead gen forms with Gravity Forms
- You need transparency into spam decisions
- False positives are costly (paid ads, sales workflows, CRM costs)
- You want a system that learns and adapts to your business
- You're an agency managing multiple client sites
No Single Tool Is Perfect
Here's the truth: spam is an evolving problem. Bots get smarter. New tactics emerge. What works today may need adjustment tomorrow.
The best spam prevention strategy combines:
- A solid baseline tool (one of the three we've covered)
- Regular monitoring (review spam submissions weekly)
- Feedback loops (use tools that learn from your input)
- Layered defenses (honeypots, validation rules, smart filtering)
Whichever tool you choose, the key is to stay proactive. Don't "set it and forget it"—spam doesn't stay static, and neither should your defenses.
Ready to Stop Spam in Your Gravity Forms?
If you're ready for a spam solution built specifically for Gravity Forms—one that's transparent, adaptive, and agency-friendly—join the GravityAgent waitlist.
We're launching soon, and early adopters will get priority access, discounted pricing, and a chance to shape the product roadmap.
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