Figthing SPAM with Akismet for FREE

Akismet or Automattic Kismet is a spam filtering service. It attempts to filter spam from blog comments and spam TrackBack pings. The filter works by combining information about spam captured on all participating blogs, and then using those spam rules to block future spam.

It is an Incredible tool to use if you have a WordPress Blog or Site. I receive about 10 to 15 spam comments daily, if those add up at the end of the month I will end up with 450 or so spam comments, Akismet will handle this for you in a very efficient way.

But there has been some controversy on how AKISMET started charging for its service, when they use to be free. Most people will go and try to create an account, but will get the surprise of a paid service. Well let me show you how you can get it for free.

First you need to create an account at http://akismet.com/

Then you need to select a package, which now is a little confusing since every package has a paid amount, but don’t you worry , you can still get it for free, so go ahead an select the Personal Account

Here is the tricky part, when you get to the signup form you will see a $36.00/yr amount you have to pay, also shows a payment method; So your first impression is , “ I will get out of here and keep looking for a free solution”. But don’t panic since this is just an alternate way of the famous DONATE button, what the guys at AKISMET are asking you is for a donation, so if you don’t feel like giving away a couple of bucks, then just click on the price node and bring it to the left until it shows 0.

Fill in your contact info and go check your email, there you will find your api key, which you’ll need to activate AKISMET at your WordPress site

Now go to your WordPress Admin, and enter this API key into your AKISMET options menu. Click Update, and your are done. You have won the first battle against SPAM. For FREE!!