Should I choose a free or paid subscription?

Free keys that come with Akismet Personal plans do not support commercial activities.

We can support personal blogs for free by asking sites with commercial activities to upgrade to a paid plan. This allows us to work together to protect the web from spam.

Examples of commercial activities not supported with a free Akismet key include:

• Loading code on your site for ad services like Google AdSense, Taboola, Infolinks, or ExoClick.
• Affiliate links.
• Using live chat plugins or services.
• Promoting a business or service.
• Using a domain recognized as commercial.
• Accepting donations or using donation plugins.
• Running on e‑commerce plugins or platforms.

Noncompliance with these terms will result in immediate suspension of services without notice.

Do you offer discounts for nonprofits?

Yes! We offer free Akismet licenses for qualified nonprofit organizations. You will need to provide official documentation showing your organization’s nonprofit status. All the information needed to get started can be found in our Akismet for Nonprofits guide.

Educational institutions (schools and universities) do not qualify for non‑profit status for the purposes of Akismet.

Note that a nonprofit key is subject to a 60,000 API call limit per month. Organizations that exceed that amount would need to upgrade to an Akismet Enterprise plan, which is priced by actual API volume. Contact our team to get started.

If you are ready to sign up for an Akismet subscription, visit our pricing page to get started.