The Akismet alternative for sites that aren't only WordPress.
Contact form: real submissions and how Doorman judged them
-
Specimen · Contact formNº 199668 7189
From zara@quill.example
“I run Quill Legal. We use Xero today. Half our clients are in the UK. Can we get a demo this week?”
91% chance it’s real · 87 ms
Genuine -
Specimen · Contact formNº 201346 4808
From growth@rankwise.io
“Your restaurant isn't showing on page one of Google. We can fix your local SEO in 30 days, guaranteed. Can I send a proposal?”
Sales pitch
1% chance it’s real · 82 ms
Void -
Specimen · Contact formNº 196313 1951
From kofi@proton.me
“I run Brightline Dental. Clients keep asking to pay by card and we can't take it. Does it import from what we use now?”
81% chance it’s real · 78 ms
Genuine -
Specimen · Contact formNº 197990 9570
From hello@pixelcraft.agency
“We build stunning websites for architects. Your current site feels dated. 15 minute call to show you some concepts?”
Sales pitch
2% chance it’s real · 84 ms
Void -
Specimen · Contact formNº 192957 6713
From claire.m@gmail.com
“Hi, my son chipped a front tooth at football. Do you have anything this week for children? He's 11.”
95% chance it’s real · 90 ms
Genuine -
Specimen · Contact formNº 194635 4332
From ce0a@yopmail.com
“Hello harbourdental.co.uk, Get 1000 free visitors to your website today! Click here: http://bit.ly/tr4ff1c”
Spam
1% chance it’s real · 99 ms
Void
Sound familiar?
Akismet has filtered WordPress comment spam for a very long time. If your forms live on Webflow, Framer, Next.js or your own backend, or you want to know why something was blocked, Doorman is built for that.
14 days of Pro free, no card. Then free for 100 submissions a month, or Pro from $29.
- WordPress-firstAkismet is best as a WordPress plugin. Elsewhere you integrate its API yourself.
- True or false, no reasonThe API answers spam or not spam. When a real lead is caught, you don't find out why.
- Few checks per dollarCommercial plans start at 500 checks a month for $9.95.
Doorman and Akismet, side by side.
| Question | Doorman | Akismet |
|---|---|---|
| What it checks | What the submission says, against what you sell | The content and metadata, against Akismet's network |
| Why something was blocked | The exact sentence | No reason: spam or not spam |
| Unsure submissions | Held and forwarded to you, not dropped | No middle ground |
| Where it works | Any stack: a form URL or one API call; agents set it up | Best as the WordPress plugin; an API elsewhere |
| Price | Free for 100 submissions a month, commercial use included; Pro $29 for 5,000 | Personal is pay what you can, non-commercial; Pro $9.95 a month (yearly) for 500 checks, Business $49.95 for 5,000 |
Their plans and behaviour as published on their own sites, checked 29 September 2026. Sources: akismet.com/pricing, akismet.com/developers/detailed-docs/comment-check.
Which one is right for you?
Choose Doorman if
- Your site isn't WordPress, or not only WordPress
- You want the reason for every decision
- You get enough traffic that 500 checks a month won't do
- You want contact, demo and quote forms covered, not just comments
Choose Akismet if
- You run a WordPress site and want a one-click plugin
- It's a personal, non-commercial blog and pay-what-you-can suits you
- Comment spam is your only problem
Switch in two minutes
- From your server replace the Akismet call with one doorman.check call; act on deliver, hold or drop.
- Or no code point the form's action at your Doorman URL and it forwards the real ones to you.
- Or ask your agent copy one prompt into Claude Code, Codex or Cursor and it does the swap.
- Start safely watch mode delivers what it would have dropped, tagged, until you switch it to enforce.
const r = await doorman.check({ form: "f_yourForm", email, name, message });
// r.action: "deliver" | "hold" | "drop"
// r.evidence: "We can fix your local SEO in 30 days, guaranteed."Checked, not guessed.
Every decision comes from Doorman's models reading the submission, in milliseconds, with the reason attached.
- 13/13
- agency and SEO pitches dropped in our labelled contact-form set
- 0
- genuine enquiries dropped; the unsure ones were held and forwarded to you
- ~100 ms
- to judge a submission, before the thank-you page loads
Labelled test set: 104 invented but labelled contact-form and checkout submissions, judged live; latency is the median of those checks. Questions were not tuned to the set.
Questions
Does Doorman have a WordPress plugin?
Not yet. On WordPress you can point a form plugin's webhook or a plain HTML form at your Doorman URL.
Can it moderate comments?
Yes: kind comment keeps promotion, link spam, harassment and threats out, and keeps honest criticism up.
What happens over my plan?
Nothing is dropped: submissions are held and forwarded unjudged, flagged, until the month resets.
How much does it cost?
Free for 100 submissions a month. Pro is $29 a month for 5,000 and Business is $79 a month for 50,000, and every account starts with 14 days of Pro. Until November 30, the first 100 paying customers get Pro at $19 and Business at $59, kept for as long as they stay. See pricing.
Try it on your own forms.
Start with 14 days of Pro, free. Turn on watch mode to see every call before you trust it.