WordPress Plugin Review: Defensio Anti-Spam and TypePad Anti-Spam

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2 Alternatives To Akismet For Spam Prevention:
Defensio Anti-Spam & TypePad Anti-Spam

While Akismet may be considered the defacto standard in spam prevention, it’s certainly not the only business in town. Recently a combination of factors including some problems with its algorithms (which we hope they will fix soon) and that Akismet (WordPress.com) keys are no longer free for small businesses has sent me looking for alternatives.

Below I present for your consideration Defensio Anti-Spam which I’ve found to have some really nice settings available to it, and TypePad Anti-Spam which like Akismet has minimalistic settings. It’s worth noting that both of these plugins are considered to be “beta” and while free for professional use during beta are unlikely to remain so in the future.

If you’ve set Akismet up before, both of these will be a piece of cake, but I’ve provided walk-throughs just in case!

Setting Up Defensio Anti-Spam for WordPress

Setting Up TypePad Anti-Spam for WordPress

Thoughts

I like both of these and they “feel” similar (and similar to Akismet as well). I think its fair to assume that both will remain free for hobby and personal journals style blogs while becoming paid resources when they exit beta status, just as Akismet has done.

However, for now they remain a pleasant alternative to paying $60/year. I’m certain that Akismet’s new business model will be good for their beta testing! (While they say both are technically beta, many have these in use and I would say they are probably good enough for the average site at this time. They might not be ready for extreme traffic, but they may very well be too.) Both appear stable on WordPress 3.0.

Existing Akismet keys are still working (currently) so if you have one you’re probably fine for now. Anyone just getting started though is going to have to make a decision however. Please remember you can not share keys with others or with your clients as each key is licensed explicitly to you and allows access to some sensitive data if used with WordPress.com stats.

Typepad has a strong reputation in the blogging industry and while the WordPress plugin may be beta they are certainly no small contender. Either of these plugins will likely be a good pick at the moment and I am currently installing Defensio on new client blogs. I suspect very shortly however I will start coming across unscrupulous business owners that have claimed their blog is a hobby not a business (and are probably wondering why that’s all they’re manifesting too!)

If you’ve been using Akismet for a while, what are your thoughts on this and your recommendation to beginners? Do you feel the $60/yr is justifiable for micro-businesses? If you were in their shoes would you consider looking at these currently free alternatives even if they could potentially be just not quite as good and possibly have to either switch again or pay later?

If you’re just getting started with blogging I’d love to hear your thoughts on whether these alternatives are helpful to you!

I look forward to replying to your comments below and please share, syndicate, tweet, bookmark, and stumble this post if you found it helpful!

Kimberly

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Tagged as: akismet alternative, Blogging, defensio, plugin, review, spam prevention, typepad, Wordpress

Article by Kim Castleberry

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