Joseph Scott who is working on the Akismet plugin for WordPress notified everyone via the WordPress core development blog that there would be some changes coming to Akismet, starting with version 2.5. In version 2.5 of the plugin, there will be some new files added such as admin.php, akismet,css, akismet.js, and widget.php. There will also be a test mode included with 2.5 which can be activated when WP-DEBUG is set to TRUE or when AKISMET_TEST_MODE is set to TRUE. When test mode is enabled, comments marked as spam will not be sent back to the Akismet servers for learning. There will now be a spam check history section where each comment and interaction that occurs with Akismet will be displayed. Each comment will also have an indication as to what Akismet did with the comment.
There are a number of other improvements as well mentioned in the blog post. Anything you see that perks your interest?
Hi Jeff,
Couple of quick clarifications: Akismet 2.5 has launched, so the features listed in that post are available now. See our announcement post: http://wp.me/pupO-7E
Also it’s Joseph Scott, not James 🙂
Fixed.
I saw some of the new features this morning when going through my comments from yesterday, I really like the labelling as to what Akismet actually did with the comment.
Who cares? It went from free to paid. Hope you’re happy.
Akismet is still free for personal use, as it has always been.
If your site is for a business, or if it promotes a product or service, they do request that you purchase a license, which has also always been the case.
Yep, I double-checked, its still free.
After the update it doesn’t show flash pies in stats. All is blank and it says “movie not loaded”. Now I don’t see anything. Any ideas?
That’s definitely a problem. You should contact http://akismet.com/contact/ directly.
I used to like this plugin but 2.5 SUCKS really bad! “Cleared by Akismet” censors and deletes parts from comments left by people. This sucks big time!
You should have at least left an option to disable Akismet auto-censoring retarded option.
I totally hate Akismet now… until you fix it, it’s OFF my blog and replaced with something else.
The pricing seems to have changed dramatically. If you’re doing any sort of low-end revenue earning activity then it is now $50/month when it used to be $5!
IMHO that’s too much of a step up. Automattic seems to have recently changed gear when it comes to pricing, and a running even a small commercial blog with Akismet and Vaultpress (and let’s face it, you’d be silly not to use both those products) now costs the thick end of $100 a month, even before hosting.
There are a lot of very small but still commercial enterprises out there running on WordPress — I know people who are only bringing in $20-30 monthly through Adsense and that’s the extent of their commercial activity — and they’ve now got the stark choice of paying more than they feel comfortable with or ignoring the licensing terms.
TL;DR: The Akismet price ramp is now uncomfortably steep.
The $5/mo plan is still there.
So you’re saying that the pricing structure has not changed recently?
Correct. I have no doubt that we’ll make adjustments to pricing in the future, none have been made so far.
Hmm. I signed up a couple of months ago on the “Akismet Pro Blogger Monthly” plan, for $5/mo. I’m pretty sure I didn’t make any mistakes as to my usage of the product when I chose my plan.
However, today I visited the site and filled out the form and couldn’t get anything for less than $50/month because my site runs ads.
Are you SURE nothing has changed?
Yep, I just check again, the $5/mo account option is still there.
The current sign up form is designed like a mini-wizard, to walk you through selecting the right account for your use/situation.
Oh dear — no reply option on your latest comment. Hope people can follow this anyway:
Is it maybe the case then that the pricing has not changed but the factors that determine which plan a new customer is offered have instead?
It’s $5 for a single website API Key. It starts at $50 for multiple (5) website API keys.
OK, have played more with the wizard. It’s the pageviews that do it – I put in 25k-100k (not a lot IMHO, ‘specially if you’re nearer 25k than 100k) per month and it always comes out as needing an enterprise plan at $50/mo.
Does anyone know if that was always a criteria, and maybe I missed it first time round?
And I still say it’s a BIIIIG step from $5 to $50 when you hit page view #25,000 🙂
Your right, it is the page views. I previously was under the impression that it was based solely upon API keys. Mea Culpa 🙂
well, im really glad they keep updatin it. do you wanna feel 1k spam/day?
Thank to akismet for handle it.
Before i always used captcha tools, Akismet is much better for your visitors!