by Samir Shah 4.5 (34 reviews)

Conditional CAPTCHA

Name: Conditional CAPTCHA
Rating: 4.5 (34 reviews)
Author: Samir Shah

Asks commenters to complete a simple CAPTCHA if they don't have a previously approved comment, or if Akismet thinks their comment is spam.

Conditional CAPTCHA ranks #5,384 among WordPress.org plugins with 2,000+ active installations, is #168 of 2,878 in the Discussion & Community category, a 4.5/5 rating from 34 reviews, and was last updated Oct 20, 2018. Data from WordPress.org, refreshed twice daily — see methodology.

Tested up to WP 5 (Current: 7.1)

vtrunk Current Version vtrunk

Updated 7 years ago Last Update on 20 Oct, 2018

Refreshed 12 hours ago Last Refreshed on

#168 of 2,878 in Discussion & Community Top 10% by installs No update in over a year

View on WordPress.org

Rank

#5,384

— No change

Active Installs

2K+

-26.3%

KW Avg Position

N/A

— No change

Downloads

179.7K

+2 today

Support Resolved

— No change

Rating

90%

Review 4.5 out of 5

4.5 (34 reviews)

Next Milestone 3K

Total Progress 71.2%

2K+ 3K+

1,144

Ranks to Climb

Growth Needed

8,000,000

Active Installs

Pro

Unlock Exact Install Count

See the precise estimated active installs for this plugin, calculated from real-time ranking data.

Exact install estimates within tiers
Track install growth over time
Milestone progress predictions

Upgrade to Pro

Need 288 more installs to reach 3K+

Rank Changes

Current #5,384

Change

Best #

Upgrade to Pro

Unlock 30-day and 90-day rank history charts with a Pro subscription.

Upgrade Now

Active Installs Growth

Upgrade to Pro

Active Installs 0,000,000+

Growth +0.0%

Peak 0,000,000

Downloads Growth

Downloads

Growth

Peak

Upgrade to Pro

Unlock 30-day, 90-day, and yearly download history charts with a Pro subscription.

Upgrade Now

Reviews & Ratings

4.5

34 reviews

Overall 90%

30 (88%)

0 (0%)

4 (12%)

Security History

Source: WPVulnerability

3 known vulnerabilities on record · 1 in the last 24 months · checked 1 month ago

Jan 31, 2026 UNPATCHED

Conditional CAPTCHA [wp-conditional-captcha] <= 4.0.0 (unfixed + closed)

CVE-2026-1369 · No fix released
Aug 1, 2014

Conditional CAPTCHA [wp-conditional-captcha] < 3.6.1 (closed)

Fixed in v3.6.1
Conditional CAPTCHA [wp-conditional-captcha] < 3.6.1 (closed)

Fixed in v3.6.1

Track This Plugin

Get detailed analytics, keyword tracking, and position alerts delivered to your inbox.

Start Tracking Free

Plugin Details

Version: trunk
Last Updated: Oct 20, 2018
Requires WP: 4.0+
Tested Up To: 5
PHP Version: N/A
Author: Samir Shah

Support & Rating

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.5
Reviews: 34
Support Threads: 0
Resolved: 0%

Keywords

anti-spam bot captcha comments spam

Upgrade to Pro

Unlock keyword rankings, search positions, and detailed analytics with a Pro subscription.

Upgrade Now

Similar Plugins

Adminify – White Label, Admin Menu Editor, Login Customizer

6K+ installs

#2,752

Master Addons for Elementor – Elementor Addons, Widgets, Mega Menu Builder, Popup Builder, Widget Builder & Template Kits

30K+ installs

#1,007

Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection

5M+ installs

WPForms - AI Form Builder for WordPress - Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More

5M+ installs

Jetpack - WP Security, Backup, Speed, & Growth

3M+ installs

#18

Disable Comments - Remove Comments & Stop Spam [Multi-Site Support]

1M+ installs

#37

WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance

View all Discussion-and-community plugins

TL;DR

AI summary of the plugin's readme

This plugin is for WordPress site owners who want to reduce comment spam without inconveniencing regular commenters. It solves this by only showing a CAPTCHA to first-time or suspected-spam commenters, so genuine repeat visitors can comment without friction.

Basic CAPTCHA mode
Akismet-enhanced mode
Discards or trashes failed CAPTCHA comments
Allows passed CAPTCHA into spam queue
Text-based CAPTCHA default
reCAPTCHA support
Customizable CAPTCHA page styling
Multiple language translations

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about Conditional CAPTCHA

You can try posting a spammy comment on your blog (make sure you're logged out) to check that it works, and to see what it looks like. Posting a comment with viagra-test-123 in the author/name field will always get it flagged by Akismet. If you are using basic mode, make sure you use a name and email that have not got a previously approved comment.

Conditional CAPTCHA relies on WordPress' native form handling procedures. This means it will not work with plugins or themes that generate and process their own comment forms. Such plugins include WP AJAX Edit Comments, tdo-miniforms, Backtype and Contact Form 7. If comment submissions on your site are processed using AJAX, then the plugin will not work.

There is a time limit of 10 minutes for the CAPTCHA to be submitted, otherwise it will be ignored even if it is correct.

Akismet stores a history for all comments on your site. It records whether or not it flagged the comment as spam, and any changes that you or other administrators make to the comment's status afterwards. This history is never deleted, and (in my view) just bloats your WordPress database without being at all useful. Selecting this option will prevent Akismet from storing comment histories. Note that this is feature is somewhat experimental, and not endorsed by the folks who wrote Akismet.

Yes, but not any more. The TypePad Antispam plugin hasn't been updated in over 4 years, and is not compatible with the latest version of WordPress.