Akismet is NOT free
Published on October 27, 2015
Published on Wealthy Affiliate — a platform for building real online businesses with modern training and AI.
I have three websites now. That's two more than I had when I first bought Akismet. Yes, I say bought because I don't recall it ever being called a donation and I certainly don't recall a sliding price scale down to zero. I have always been charged $5 per month for my site. It is set to auto renew which it did this year. A couple of weeks ago I was notified that I had a comment to review so I went to my first website to review it and I was confronted with the following notice;
Akismet
Akismet Error Code: 10007
Howdy! We're glad that you're enjoying Akismet! It looks like your Akismet Plus subscription is currently being used on more sites than it supports. You will simply need to access your Akismet account and update your subscription. Please click on the link below for some further details.For more information:akismet/errors
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This notice BLOCKED my ability to manage my comment. I knew they were serious. So I took their offer and signed up my other two sites. I figured I was up to $15 per month but I sought confirmation. I emailed Akismet and asked if my original $5 monthly charge will stop now. Here is their response:
Email; [#2361161]: [akismet-support] Contact form "Yes, the $5/month charge will be discontinued - replaced by the $15/month charge. All set!"
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Happiness Engineer | at wordpress
I shared this information with WA members in the comments section below the lessons and there has been a tidal wave of protest.
No one seems willing to accept the concept of paying for Akismet. The insistence that it is free is deafening. So, once again I took to emailing Akismet, this time with the question "Why, if Akismet is free to other members of Wealthy Affiliate, is it not free for me?"
The following email reply was received:
Hi again, Stephanie!
If that is the case, then the other members of Wealthy Affiliate are violating the terms which we've set for the usage of free keys - which is that they must be used on non-commercial sites.
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Happiness Engineer | at wordpress
There you have it. Straight from the horse's mouth. Only non-commercial sites can use the free Akismet key. As soon as you monetize your site you become a commercial site and are no longer entitled to free Akismet.
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