An API key is a string of characters — like abc123xyz456 — that’s used to register Akismet for your site. After you sign up for Akismet , you’ll receive your API key by email.
Once you have your API key, you can activate the Akismet plugin in just a few steps:
- Go to the Plugins tab of your WordPress dashboard.
- Find the Akismet plugin. Click the Activate link if it’s not already active.
- Go to Settings -> Akismet Anti‑spam . If you have the Jetpack plugin installed, go to Jetpack -> Akismet Anti‑spam
- Enter your API key in the box.
- Click the Connect with API Key button.
You can find alternative ways to activate Akismet here .
Did you lose your API key?
No problem — we’re happy to resend the API key .
Can I use the same API key for multiple sites?
It depends.
Personal plans
If you have multiple personal sites that you want to protect with Akismet, you can use the same API key for each site.
Business or Enterprise plans
If you have an active Akismet Business or Enterprise plan, you can add sites to it at any time by activating Akismet on the new site using your API key. These plans are capped per monthly API calls , so you’ll want to make sure the total API calls made by your sites don’t exceed your tier.
If your API calls are exceeding your tier, you can upgrade your plan. Once you log in to your account and locate your Akismet Subscription under Purchases , click on the Upgrade link. This will add the next‑highest tier of API calls per month to your cart.
Pro plans
Pro plans are limited to one site. If you would like to add another site and expect low usage, please purchase an additional Pro plan.
