Blackhole for Bad Bots
✨ Trap bad bots in a virtual black hole Important: Do NOT use this plugin on sites with caching. Learn more » 👾 Bye bye bad bots.. Bad bots are the worst. They do all sorts of nasty stuff and waste server resources. The Blackhole plugin helps to stop bad bots and save precious resources for legit visitors. 👾 How does it work? First the plugin adds a hidden trigger link to the footer of your pages. You then add a line to your robots.txt file that forbids all bots from following the hidden link. Bots that then ignore or disobey your robots rules will crawl the link and fall into the trap. Once trapped, bad bots are denied further access to your WordPress site. I call it the “one-strike” rule: bots have one chance to obey your site’s robots.txt rule. Failure to comply results in immediate banishment. The best part is that the Blackhole only affects bad bots: human users never see the hidden link, and good bots obey the robots rules in the first place. Win-win! 🙂 ✨ Add a blackhole trap to help stop bad bots Important: Do NOT use this plugin on sites with caching. Learn more » 👾 Features Easy to set up Squeaky clean code Focused and modular Lightweight, fast and flexible Built with the WordPress API Works with other security plugins Easy to reset the list of bad bots Easy to delete any bot from the list Regularly updated and “future proof” Blackhole link includes “nofollow” attribute Plugin options configurable via settings screen Works silently behind the scenes to protect your site Whitelists all major search engines to never block Focused on flexibility, performance, and security Email alerts with WHOIS lookup for blocked bots Complete inline documentation via the Help tab Provides setting to whitelist any IP addresses Customize the message displayed to bad bots 😉 One-click restore the plugin default options Does NOT use or require any .htaccess rules Blackhole for Bad Bots protects your site against bad bots, spammers, scrapers, scanners, and other automated threats. ✨ Not using WordPress? Check out the standalone PHP version of Blackhole! 👾 Whitelist By default, this plugin does NOT block any of the major search engines (user agents): AOL.com Baidu Bingbot/MSN DuckDuckGo Googlebot Teoma Yahoo! Yandex These search engines (and all of their myriad variations) are whitelisted via user agent. So are a bunch of other “useful” bots. They always are allowed full access to your site, even if they disobey your robots.txt rules. This list can be customized in the plugin settings. For a complete list of whitelisted bots, visit the Help tab in the plugin settings (under “Whitelist Settings”). ✨ Check out Blackhole Pro and level up with advanced features! 👾 Exclusive Pro Features Option to disable for logged-in users Threshold control (number of allowed hits) Custom email alerts Custom messages for blocked bots Custom redirect for blocked bots Custom blackhole trigger links Complete inline documentation Block bots based on user agent Block bots based on IP address Whitelist/allow bots by user agent Whitelist/allow bots by IP address Redirect whitelisted bots Set custom HTTP Status Code Full-featured Bad Bot Log with paging, sorting, and field search Manually add bad bots to the Bad Bot Log Geo/IP location lookups for each bad bot Logs number of blocked hits for each bot ..plus everything the free version can do and more. ✨ Learn more and get Blackhole Pro » 👾 Privacy User Data: This plugin automatically blocks bad bots. When bad bots fall into the trap, their IP address, user agent, and other request data are stored in the WP database. No other user data is collected by this plugin. At any time, the administrator may delete all saved data via the plugin settings. Services: This plugin does not connect to any third-party locations or services. Cookies: This plugin does not set any cookies. Credit: Header Image Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech. Blackhole for Bad Bots is developed and maintained by Jeff Starr, 15-year WordPress developer and book author. 👾 Support development I develop and maintain this free plugin with love for the WordPress community. To show support, you can make a donation or purchase one of my books: The Tao of WordPress Digging into WordPress .htaccess made easy WordPress Themes In Depth Wizard’s SQL Recipes for WordPress And/or purchase one of my premium WordPress plugins: BBQ Pro – Blazing fast WordPress firewall Blackhole Pro – Automatically block bad bots Banhammer Pro – Monitor traffic and ban the bad guys GA Google Analytics Pro – Connect WordPress to Google Analytics Head Meta Pro – Ultimate Meta Tags for WordPress REST Pro Tools – Awesome tools for managing the WP REST API Simple Ajax Chat Pro – Unlimited chat rooms USP Pro – Unlimited front-end forms Links, tweets and likes also appreciated. Thank you! 🙂
Spam Protection | Maspik
Maspik is a complete spam protection platform for WordPress. Instead of relying on a single detection method, Maspik combines multiple independent protection layers that work together to stop spam before it reaches your inbox. Protect contact forms, registration forms, comments, WooCommerce, and custom forms using lightweight local validation together with optional cloud intelligence. Install. Activate. You’re protected. No CAPTCHA. No puzzles. No interruption for real visitors. Why Maspik? Most anti-spam plugins rely on one detection technique. Some only use CAPTCHAs. Some only check external APIs. Some only filter keywords. Maspik combines many protection layers into one unified spam detection engine. Every submission can be analysed using local validation, behavioural analysis, reputation services, and optional cloud intelligence. The result is stronger protection with fewer false positives and a better experience for legitimate visitors. Protection Layers Maspik lets you combine multiple independent protection methods: Forbidden keywords Email patterns URL validation Phone format validation Character limits Link limits Emoji filtering Honeypot protection Verification Key Direct POST protection IP blocklists IP reputation Proxy and VPN detection Country and continent restrictions (Pro) Language rules (Pro) Maspik Matrix cloud protection with AI analysis Enable only the protection layers you need. Everything is configurable. Built for Performance Most protection happens locally inside WordPress without contacting external services. Only optional features such as Matrix or IP reputation require cloud requests. Only enabled protection layers are executed. No unnecessary JavaScript. No front-end slowdown. Optimized for high-traffic websites. Privacy First Most spam detection happens locally. Cloud-based protection is optional, and only the required data is transmitted when it is enabled. No visitor tracking. GDPR friendly. Works Immediately Maspik is designed to work immediately after activation. No complicated configuration, no API keys required, no CAPTCHA setup. Advanced users can fine-tune every protection layer individually. Supported Forms Maspik protects WordPress core forms together with many popular form builders: Elementor Forms Elementor Atomic Forms Contact Form 7 Fluent Forms Formidable Forms Forminator Ninja Forms JetFormBuilder Everest Forms Breakdance Forms Bricks Builder Divi Contact Form Hello Plus MetForm Bit Form SureForms WS Form BuddyPress Registration MemberPress AffiliateWP Easy Digital Downloads FunnelKit WordPress Comments WordPress Registration Custom PHP forms (simple developer API) Pro also supports: WPForms Gravity Forms WooCommerce Registration WooCommerce Checkout Maspik Matrix Maspik Matrix is an optional cloud protection layer built into Maspik. It complements the local protection engine by analysing submissions using additional cloud intelligence. Matrix may include: IP reputation Pattern analysis Heuristic detection Structural analysis AI scoring Threat intelligence Local rules always continue working independently. Every installation includes free Matrix usage (100 checks per month). Pro includes unlimited usage. Submission Log Understand exactly why spam was blocked. The log shows: Block reason Triggered protection layer Submitted values Full detection trace of every layer that ran IP address and country Date and time Page URL Mark entries as “Not Spam” to continuously improve your configuration, or turn a blocked value into a rule with one click. Optionally log passed submissions too, to see exactly why something was not caught. Statistics Monitor your protection over time: Total blocked submissions Detection trends Protection layer activity Matrix usage Spam history API Integrations Optional integrations include: AbuseIPDB ProxyCheck Enable only the services you want. Designed For Business websites WooCommerce stores Agencies Membership websites High-traffic websites Enterprise WordPress Why Site Owners Choose Maspik No CAPTCHA Better user experience Works immediately Lightweight Multiple protection layers Detailed spam logs Powerful statistics Extensive customization Local-first architecture Optional cloud intelligence Import and export your configuration Pro Features Upgrade to Maspik Pro and unlock: Unlimited Matrix protection Country and continent restrictions Language rules Premium integrations (WPForms, Gravity Forms, WooCommerce) Central Dashboard to manage rules across multiple websites Premium support Learn more: https://wpmaspik.com/ Spam Block Guarantee Spam is constantly evolving. If unwanted submissions are still getting through, we’ll help you configure Maspik until they’re blocked. Join the community, share a sample, and we’ll help you improve your protection. Custom Forms Built your own form in PHP? List the fields you want analysed and Maspik tells you whether to accept the submission: $fields = [ [ 'type' => 'text', 'field_name' => 'name', 'value' => $_POST['name'] ?? '' ], [ 'type' => 'email', 'field_name' => 'email', 'value' => $_POST['email'] ?? '' ], [ 'type' => 'textarea', 'field_name' => 'message', 'value' => $_POST['message'] ?? '' ] ]; if ( function_exists( 'maspik_is_spam' ) && maspik_is_spam( $fields, 'Contact form' ) ) { wp_die( 'Spam detected' ); } Listing the fields explicitly means Maspik analyses exactly the values you care about — never nonces, redirects, tokens, checkboxes or other technical inputs — which keeps detection predictable and avoids false positives. The honeypot and verification key are read from the request automatically, so there is nothing else to wire up. Need the reason? maspik_check_spam() returns the message to show the visitor, the offending field, and the layer that blocked it. The original version 2 filter (maspik_validate_custom_form_fields) continues to work unchanged, so existing integrations keep running after the upgrade. Full example: https://wpmaspik.com/documentation/custom-form/ Documentation Getting Started: https://wpmaspik.com/documentation/ Developer Documentation: https://wpmaspik.com/documentation/developers/ Support: https://wpmaspik.com/ Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/maspik Maspik is developed with a strong focus on performance, security, privacy and long-term WordPress compatibility.
