ActiveLayer Anti-Spam vs OpenPorte Spam Protection

Anti-Spam Protection Without CAPTCHAs ActiveLayer is an intelligent anti-spam solution that stops contact form spam, comment spam, and registration spam without CAPTCHAs, puzzles, or extra steps for your visitors. Your forms stay fast and frictionless while unwanted messages get caught automatically. Your time and attention are expensive — stop spending them on spam. ActiveLayer protects popular form builders like WPForms, Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms, Elementor Forms, Fluent Forms, WS Form, and FunnelKit Funnel Builder, plus native WordPress comments, WooCommerce (product reviews and customer registration), Easy Digital Downloads (store reviews and customer registration), AffiliateWP, MemberPress, and BuddyPress / BuddyBoss signup forms, all from a single plugin. With 18 integrations, you manage all your spam protection from one settings page. Create a free account and get started Zero Friction Spam Filtering Most anti-spam tools either show visitors a CAPTCHA or make every form wait while the check runs. ActiveLayer takes a different approach. Async integrations complete immediately while background checks run through Action Scheduler; registration and inline-blocking integrations can run a synchronous check when spam must be stopped before an account, entry, or affiliate record is created. This keeps normal form workflows fast while still allowing high-risk signup flows to block spam inline. If a submission is clean, notifications are sent as normal. If it is flagged, notifications are suppressed or the signup is blocked depending on the integration. Intelligent Spam Detection ActiveLayer analyzes submission patterns, content reputation, behavioral signals, and environment data to catch both automated bots and human bad actors with high accuracy. Unlike simple honeypot or keyword-blocklist approaches, ActiveLayer uses multiple signals to make smarter decisions about every submission. Optional behavioral tracking monitors how users interact with your forms — keystrokes, mouse movements, touch events, and scroll patterns. Environment detection identifies headless browsers and automated tools. These client-side signals are sent alongside form data for deeper analysis. Per-Form Control and Sync Mode You decide exactly which forms to protect. ActiveLayer protects all supported forms and WooCommerce surfaces by default after your API key is connected — you can disable protection per form if needed. This gives you granular control over every contact form, registration form, or comment section on your site. Sync Mode lets supported integrations wait for the API verdict before the submission completes, so spam can be blocked inline. By default, ActiveLayer runs checks asynchronously for maximum speed. Turn Sync Mode on when you prefer inline blocking and can tolerate a small added latency on submissions. Fail-Safe by Design If the ActiveLayer API is temporarily unavailable, your forms keep working. ActiveLayer is designed to fail open — it restores provider defaults, preserves every submission, and retries background checks automatically when connectivity returns. No lost submissions, no blocked emails, no broken forms. Automatic retries handle transient failures. A built-in watchdog checks queue health every 15 minutes and shows admin notices when pending items build up or Action Scheduler is unavailable. You always know the status of your protection. Full Visibility Dashboard See exactly what is happening with your form protection at a glance. The ActiveLayer dashboard shows submission totals, spam caught, accuracy rates, queue health, and integration status — all in one place. Filter submissions by status or provider, and use bulk actions to recheck, mark as clean or junk, or trash items you no longer need. Every submission is logged in a custom database table. You can review verdicts, recheck past submissions with a fresh API call, and override any decision. Debug logging (opt-in, PII-redacted) gives you even deeper insight when troubleshooting. Who Is ActiveLayer For? Small Business Websites Protect your contact forms and inquiry forms without adding friction for potential customers. Async form submissions from real visitors go through instantly while junk gets caught behind the scenes. Bloggers and Publishers Stop comment spam on your posts without requiring readers to solve CAPTCHAs or prove they are human. ActiveLayer checks comments in the background and can auto-approve clean ones or auto-mark detected spam. Agencies Managing Multiple Sites One plugin covers WPForms, Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms, Elementor Forms, Fluent Forms, Formidable Forms, WooCommerce, and more — every integration managed from one settings page. No need to configure separate anti-spam tools for each form builder or WooCommerce surface your clients use. E-commerce and Service Businesses Keep inquiry and support forms clean while maintaining a fast, professional user experience. Async checks keep contact forms moving quickly, while registration gates can block spam accounts inline. WooCommerce stores get dedicated protection for product reviews and My Account customer registration — and the checkout itself is never gated, so spam protection can’t get in the way of a sale. Membership Sites and Online Communities Running a community on BuddyPress or BuddyBoss Platform? ActiveLayer hooks the public signup form and blocks spam registrations before they create fake accounts — no extra CAPTCHA in front of your real members, no manual moderation queue to babysit. The integration covers both free BuddyPress and BuddyBoss Platform with a dedicated admin toggle for each. Full ActiveLayer Feature List Async processing – Background queue via Action Scheduler for supported async integrations No CAPTCHA required – Invisible protection with zero friction for visitors WPForms integration – Per-form enable, async checks with email replay, optional sync-save strategy Contact Form 7 integration – Synchronous checks, field mapping via activelayer:* tags, per-form control Gravity Forms integration – Entry-based spam detection with per-form control and notification management Elementor Forms integration – Protect Elementor Pro form widgets with per-form spam filtering Fluent Forms integration – Per-form spam detection with email notification handling Formidable Forms integration – Notification interception and replay, sync fallback option Forminator integration – Form submission interception with per-form toggles and notification management Ninja Forms integration – Email action capture, clean verdict replay, spam suppression SureForms integration – Spam protection for SureForms with per-form control WS Form integration – Synchronous spam blocking before WS Form saves entries or runs actions, with per-form control WordPress Comments protection – Auto-approve clean comments, auto-spam detected ones, fail-open restore WooCommerce Reviews protection – Score every product review on submission, with optional verified-owner bypass, logged-in-user bypass, and high-confidence auto-delete WooCommerce Registration protection – Block bot signups on the My Account registration form before the account is created (the checkout flow is never gated, so it can’t block a purchase) BuddyPress signup protection – Block spam registrations on the public /register/ page; sync check fires after BuddyPress’s own validation and writes the block message next to the username field BuddyBoss Platform signup protection – Same sync gate against the BuddyBoss Platform signup form, with automatic xprofile-name fallback because BuddyBoss auto-generates the username from the email AffiliateWP registration protection – Block bot affiliate signups before the affiliate and WordPress user are created; sync check fires after AffiliateWP’s own validation MemberPress registration protection – Block bot membership signups before the account is created; free, free-trial, and fully-discounted signups are gated by default, while paid checkouts are never blocked (opt in to gate those too) FunnelKit Funnel Builder integration – Synchronous spam blocking for opt-in forms before FunnelKit runs email, CRM contact, and webhook actions, with per-form control Easy Digital Downloads integration – Spam protection for product reviews and the standalone customer registration form; the EDD checkout is never gated, so it can’t block a purchase Silent discard for high-confidence spam – Optional hard-delete of comments and WooCommerce reviews that exceed a configurable spam score threshold (default 95), skipping spam-folder storage entirely Per-form toggles – Protection enabled by default per form; disable on individual forms as needed Sync Mode – Optional synchronous spam checks for inline blocking on supported integrations Dashboard analytics – Submission totals, spam caught, accuracy rates, queue health at a glance Submissions management – Filter by status and provider, bulk recheck, mark clean or spam, trash Fail-open architecture – Forms keep working if the API is temporarily unavailable Automatic retries – Failed submissions are re-queued and retried automatically Queue watchdog – 15-minute health checks with admin notices for stalled queues Behavioral signal collection – Keystroke, mouse, touch, and scroll tracking for deeper analysis Environment detection – Identifies headless browsers and automated submission tools Debug logging – Opt-in ring buffer (last 200 entries), PII-redacted, view and clear in admin Bulk recheck – Re-queue past submissions for fresh API verdicts anytime Default protection – Forms protected by default after API connection; disable per form if needed. Sanitized logging, masked secrets, hashed emails Integrations WPForms (Lite and Pro) Contact Form 7 Gravity Forms Elementor Forms (Pro) Fluent Forms Formidable Forms Forminator Ninja Forms SureForms WS Form WordPress Comments (built-in) WooCommerce (product reviews and customer registration) BuddyPress (public signup form) BuddyBoss Platform (public signup form) AffiliateWP (affiliate registration form) MemberPress (membership registration form) FunnelKit Funnel Builder (opt-in forms) Easy Digital Downloads (product reviews and customer registration) External services This plugin connects to the ActiveLayer API to analyze form submissions and comments for spam. It is the core service that powers all spam detection — without it, the plugin cannot classify submissions. ActiveLayer API What it does: Provides spam detection verdicts (clean or spam) for form submissions and comments. When data is sent: Each time a protected form submission, comment, review, or registration is checked, the submission data is sent to the API for analysis. Depending on the integration, this can happen through the background queue or during a synchronous inline-blocking check. What data is sent: * Submission content (name, email, message, URL if provided) * IP address and user agent of the submitter * Form metadata (form ID, form name, provider name) * Site URL and WordPress locale * Behavioral and environment signals (if enabled in settings) Service provider: ActiveLayer (activelayer.com) * Terms of Service * Privacy Policy

OpenPorte is a free and open-source plugin that protects WordPress forms from spam using a lightweight Proof-of-Work challenge instead of CAPTCHAs. The goal is to make spam expensive for bots while keeping the experience almost invisible for legitimate visitors and respecting their privacy. For site owners, OpenPorte offers an easy to configure and deploy modern spam protection under their control. For the site users, it offers an accessible, transparent and privacy-friendly alternative to CAPTCHAs. OpenPorte is built around the open-source ALTCHA widget. Some highlights: CAPTCHA-free spam protection Fully open source (GPL) Self-hosted – no mandatory external service Designed to be accessible and privacy-friendly Compatible with existing ALTCHA integrations Easy migration for users of ALTCHA Spam Protection v1 (≤ 1.26.3) For the list of contributors, refer to our GitHub project: Contributors. AI-assisted development AI-assisted project. Architecture, security decisions, and final review are mine; AI tools (Claude, Mistral, and others) help with drafting code, tests, translations, and documentation — without them, one person couldn’t keep this fork alive. Background The original ALTCHA Spam Protection WordPress plugin (v1) was open source (GPLv2). Its authors have since released a version 2/3 which is no longer open source. They no longer maintain the open source project and recommend that users migrate to v2/v3. See the official project at https://altcha.org for their offering. OpenPorte started as a fork and continues the v1 line as free software (GPLv2 or later) for users who want to stay on a fully open-source, self-hosted solution. It is a faithful fork: existing v1 installations can switch to OpenPorte and keep their settings (see Upgrading). Compatibility OpenPorte is backward-compatible with ALTCHA Spam Protection v1 plugin: Your existing settings are migrated automatically on activation. The [altcha] shortcode keeps working (alongside the new [openporte]). The altcha_* filters and actions keep firing as deprecated aliases. Custom API Mode has been verified against GateCHA, an open source server implementing the creation and verification of ALTCHA challenges. See the Deprecations section for the full list of compatibility aliases and what they map to. Upgrading From the original ALTCHA v1 plugin Deactivate the old ALTCHA plugin, then install and activate OpenPorte. Your existing configuration is detected and copied into the OpenPorte settings on first activation; the original ALTCHA settings are left untouched, so you can roll back to ALTCHA v1 without losing anything. Do not run both plugins at the same time. From ALTCHA v2/v3 If your site was already moved to ALTCHA v2/v3 (for example by the automatic 3.0.0 update), your original v1 settings are normally still in the database: the v2/v3 upgrade neither migrates nor removes them. Deactivate ALTCHA, then install and activate OpenPorte — it finds and imports the v1 settings, even when the v1 plugin itself has long been deleted. Settings made in v2/v3 are not read. Deprecations The following ALTCHA-era identifiers are kept as aliases for backward compatibility and are scheduled for removal in a future release: The [altcha] shortcode — use [openporte]. The altcha/v1 REST namespace — use openporte/v1. The altcha_* filters and actions — now firing through WordPress’ deprecated hook mechanism; use the openporte_* equivalents. The AltchaPlugin class and the ALTCHA_VERSION / ALTCHA_WIDGET_VERSION constants — use OpenPortePlugin and the OPENPORTE_* constants. Integrations targeting paid-only third-party plugins; affected users should migrate to the official ALTCHA v2/v3 plugin. The “Custom HTML” integration (auto-configuration of hand-written tags) — place the [openporte] shortcode instead. You can re-enable it for now under Settings → OpenPorte → Integrations. Privacy No cookies, no tracking OpenPorte prioritizes user privacy by avoiding the use of cookies and fingerprinting techniques. No external service This plugin remains fully contained within your WordPress installation, eliminating any reliance on external services. Modes of Operation OpenPorte verifies submissions in one of two modes, selected in the settings (API Mode): Self-hosted (default) — a proof-of-work challenge is issued and verified by your own WordPress site through the REST API. Fully self-contained, with no external service and no additional setup beyond enabling the integrations you need. Custom — point the Challenge URL at your own ALTCHA-compatible backend (for example a self-hosted ALTCHA Sentinel, or GateCHA). Submissions are verified with your site’s shared secret. The paid altcha.org regional SaaS classifier offered by earlier versions has been removed; both remaining modes are free and self-hostable. REST API This plugin requires the WordPress REST API. If you are using any “Disable REST API” plugins, ensure that the endpoint /altcha/v1/challenge (marked for deprecation) and /openporte/v1/challenge are allowed. Supported Integrations CoBlocks Contact Form 7 Elementor Pro Forms (deprecated — paid plugin, see Deprecations) Formidable Forms Forminator GravityForms HTML Forms wpDiscuz WPForms WordPress Login, Register, Password reset WordPress Comments WooCommerce Many other plugins and your own content (via the [openporte] shortcode, or the deprecated [altcha] alias) Source Code All source code for the plugin, and the ALTCHA widget is available on GitHub. In the repository, you’ll also find versions of non-minified JavaScript and CSS assets: Plugin: https://github.com/openporte/openporte ALTCHA Widget: https://github.com/altcha-org/altcha