Title: The 9 Dollar Comment Spam Mute
Author: The 9 Dollar Plugins
Published: <strong>22. Mai 2026</strong>
Last modified: 6. Oktober 2026

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# The 9 Dollar Comment Spam Mute

 By [The 9 Dollar Plugins](https://profiles.wordpress.org/the9dollarplugins/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/the-9-dollar-comment-spam-mute.1.3.zip)

 * [Details](https://de-ch.wordpress.org/plugins/the-9-dollar-comment-spam-mute/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://de-ch.wordpress.org/plugins/the-9-dollar-comment-spam-mute/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://de-ch.wordpress.org/plugins/the-9-dollar-comment-spam-mute/#installation)
 * [Development](https://de-ch.wordpress.org/plugins/the-9-dollar-comment-spam-mute/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/the-9-dollar-comment-spam-mute/)

## Description

**The 9 Dollar Comment Spam Mute** is your silent, Zero-Touch spam-fighting sidekick.
It catches spam comments before they even think about touching your database. No
moderation queue. No spam folder. No admin drama.
 Set it up once. Let it work. 
Never think about spam again.

**Why you’ll like it**
 Most anti-spam plugins ship your comment data off to who-
knows-where, demand an API key, or just shuffle spam into a folder that slowly turns
into a digital landfill. This one does things differently: everything runs on your
own server, zero external requests, and spam comments are gone before they ever 
arrive. No spam folder to clean. No pending queue. No cloud. No key. No fuss.

**How it kicks spam to the curb**
 The plugin hooks into WordPress at the earliest
possible moment — right before a comment would be saved. If something looks like
spam, it’s silently discarded. You get to choose what happens next: with Silent 
Mode on, bots see a fake success message and never realize they’ve been blocked (
so they won’t change tactics). With Silent Mode off, the comment is rejected with
a normal error message. Either way: zero database clutter.

**Heads-up (important!)**
 Discarded spam comments are gone for good. That’s why
there’s a mandatory opt-in step — so you’re fully aware before spam protection goes
live. You keep full control over all detection settings, and comments only get discarded
once you explicitly arm the plugin.

**Why this plugin exists**
 Most anti-spam plugins: – send your data to external
APIs – require API keys and accounts – store spam in folders nobody cleans This 
plugin does none of that. Everything runs locally on your server. No external calls.
No cloud dependency. No unnecessary complexity. Spam is not stored. It’s gone.

**Features (LITE — free)**
 – **No external API calls** — fully GDPR-compliant by
design – **No API key, no account, zero setup fuss** — just install, configure once,
arm it, and you’re done – **No external API calls** — all spam detection runs locally
on your server – **GDPR-compliant by design** — no data leaves your site; IP addresses
stored for spam detection only, auto-deleted after 90 days – **Universal coverage**—
protects comments on posts, pages, custom post types, WooCommerce product reviews,
and all native WordPress comment types – **Comments get intercepted and discarded
before they ever hit the database** — no spam folder to clean, ever – **Silent Mode**—
bots get a fake success message and never realize they’ve been blocked (keeps them
from adapting) – **Set once, runs automatically** — after you arm it, you’re done–**
Works with all native WordPress comment types** — posts, pages, custom post types,
attachments, WooCommerce reviews – **Mandatory opt-in** — you’re always in control–**
Arm / Disarm control** — activate or pause spam protection instantly without losing
settings – **Rate limiting** — automatically blocks IPs that submit comments too
frequently – **Discarded comments log** — last 50 entries with date, IP, author 
and reason, auto-pruned after 90 days – **Sleek & slim** — one PHP file, one CSS
file, one JS file. No classes, no autoloader, no framework baggage – **Honeypot 
trap** — invisible field silently catches automated spam bots – **Speed check** —
discards submissions faster than any human could type – **Time token validation**—
rejects replayed or forged submission tokens older than one hour – **Link limit**—
discards comments containing too many links, a classic spam signal – **Keyword blacklist**—
case-insensitive spam keyword list, fully customisable, one word per line – **Whitelist:
Email / IP / User-Agent** — never block your trusted commenters – **Daily report
email** — optional morning summary of discarded spam, sent straight to your inbox

**PRO version extras**
 Upgrade to PRO and level up your spam defense: – **Self-
learning IP Blocklist** — automatically flags repeat offenders (PRO only) – **Custom
Regex Patterns** — build your own advanced spam rules (PRO only) – **Smart Learning
Spam Filter** — trains itself on your site’s own comment history (PRO only) – **
Bayes Training Buttons in Comment List** — train the spam filter directly from the
WP comment list, without leaving the page (PRO only) – **Adjustable log size** —
keep as many or as few entries as you like (PRO only) – **CSV log export** — download
your discarded comments log anytime (PRO only) – **WooCommerce Verified Buyer Whitelist**—
verified customers get a free pass (PRO only) – **Statistics Dashboard Widget** —
see your spam stats at a glance (PRO only) – **Priority support** — fast help when
you need it (PRO only)

**How it all works**
 1. Install and activate the plugin. 2. Go to **Spam Mute**
in your WordPress admin sidebar. 3. Read the opt-in notice and confirm you’re cool
with the fact that spam comments will be permanently discarded. 4. Tweak your detection
settings — honeypot, speed check, link limit, keyword blacklist. 5. Set Spam Protection
to **Active** and let the silence begin.

That’s it. The 9 Dollar Comment Spam Mute works in the background, quietly doing
its thing. Zero-Touch.

### Important notice

Spam comments are permanently deleted.
 There is no recovery, no trash, no undo.
A mandatory opt-in ensures you understand this before activation. Nothing happens
unless you explicitly enable it.

## Screenshots

[⌊Opt-in notice — you confirm before anything gets armed.⌉⌊Opt-in notice — you confirm
before anything gets armed.⌉[

Opt-in notice — you confirm before anything gets armed.

[⌊Arm / Disarm control with live status indicator.⌉⌊Arm / Disarm control with live
status indicator.⌉[

Arm / Disarm control with live status indicator.

[⌊Settings — all spam detection options in one clean view.⌉⌊Settings — all spam 
detection options in one clean view.⌉[

Settings — all spam detection options in one clean view.

## Installation

 1. Upload the plugin folder to `/wp-content/plugins/` or install directly from the
    WordPress Plugins screen.
 2. Activate it.
 3. Head to **Spam Mute** in your WordPress admin sidebar.
 4. Confirm the opt-in, tweak your settings, then arm the plugin.

## FAQ

### Will discarded spam comments end up in trash or spam?

Nope. Once The 9 Dollar Comment Spam Mute discards a comment, it’s gone for good—
no trash, no spam folder, no second chances.

### What’s the deal with Silent Mode?

Silent Mode (recommended) = spam comments are discarded and bots see a fake success
message. They never figure out they’ve been blocked, so they won’t switch up their
attack patterns. Silent Mode off = spam comments are rejected with a normal error
message. Either way, your database stays clean.

### Can real comments ever get caught by accident?

It’s possible — no spam filter is 100% perfect. That’s why the opt-in step makes
this crystal clear. The keyword blacklist and link limit are the usual suspects 
if false positives happen. Tune them to fit your audience.

### Does it work with WooCommerce product reviews?

You bet. WooCommerce reviews use the same WordPress comment hook, so all LITE features
cover them automatically. No extra setup.

### Does this thing call home (external APIs)?

Never. Every spam check runs locally on your server. No data leaves your site.

### Is this GDPR/DSGVO friendly?

Absolutely. No data ever leaves your server. The discarded comments log stores only
IP, author name, email, and a short content preview — all inside your own database.
IPs are kept for spam detection and security analysis (legitimate interest under
GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)), never shared, never shown publicly. Log entries auto-delete 
after 90 days, and you can clear them manually anytime.

### How is this different from Akismet?

Akismet sends every comment to an external cloud for analysis and needs an API key.
The 9 Dollar Comment Spam Mute runs entirely on your own server, requires no account
or key, and discards spam before it reaches your database — instead of dumping it
into a spam folder that just fills up.

### What’s the difference between Armed and Disarmed?

Disarmed = the plugin is installed and configured, but no comments are discarded.
Armed = protection is active, and spam comments are silently discarded on submission—
they never reach the database.

### Can I pause spam protection without losing my settings?

Yep. Just set Spam Protection to «Inactive» anytime. All your settings stick, and
you can re-arm in one click.

### Does the plugin protect against repeated spam attempts from the same IP?

Yes. The LITE version includes automatic rate limiting — any IP that submits more
than 5 comments within an hour is automatically blocked for the remainder of that
hour. This stops the most common bot patterns without affecting legitimate users.

### What happens when I uninstall the plugin?

By default, all plugin data stays in your database. If you check «Delete data on
uninstall» in settings, everything (settings + log) gets permanently removed when
you uninstall.

### Do I need an API key or an account?

Nope. The LITE version is completely free — no registration, no key, no account.
Just install and go.

## Reviews

There are no reviews for this plugin.

## Contributors & Developers

“The 9 Dollar Comment Spam Mute” is open source software. The following people have
contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

 *   [ The 9 Dollar Plugins ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/the9dollarplugins/)

“The 9 Dollar Comment Spam Mute” has been translated into 2 locales. Thank you to
[the translators](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/the-9-dollar-comment-spam-mute/contributors)
for their contributions.

[Translate “The 9 Dollar Comment Spam Mute” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/the-9-dollar-comment-spam-mute)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/the-9-dollar-comment-spam-mute/),
check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/the-9-dollar-comment-spam-mute/),
or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/the-9-dollar-comment-spam-mute/)
by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/the-9-dollar-comment-spam-mute/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Changelog

#### 1.3 – 2026-10-06

 * New (PRO): Bayes training buttons directly in the WordPress comment list — train
   the Smart Learning Spam Filter as Spam or Ham right from edit-comments.php, without
   opening the plugin backend.

#### 1.2 – 2026-09-08

 * Fixed a PHP warning for undefined variable `$woo_active` on sites without WooCommerce
   active
 * Fixed a CSS issue
 * Freemius SDK Updated to 2.13.4
 * Tested up to WordPress 7.1

#### 1.1 – 2026-06-25

 * New: Keyword blacklist scope setting — choose whether keywords are checked in
   the comment field only, or also against the author name and website URL (author
   email is always excluded).
 * Fixed: Review notice.
 * Improved: Reworked translation files.
 * Tested up to: 7.0

#### 1.0 – 2026-03-24

 * Initial release.
 * Honeypot trap, speed check, link limit, and keyword blacklist spam detection.
 * Silent Mode — bots get a fake success response and never realize they’re blocked.
 * Discarded comments log — last 50 entries, auto-pruned.
 * Mandatory opt-in with explicit Arm/Disarm control.

## Meta

 *  Version **1.3**
 *  Last updated **1 Woche ago**
 *  Active installations **Fewer than 10**
 *  WordPress version ** 6.0 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **7.1.3**
 *  PHP version ** 7.4 or higher **
 *  Languages
 * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/the-9-dollar-comment-spam-mute/),
   [Spanish (Chile)](https://cl.wordpress.org/plugins/the-9-dollar-comment-spam-mute/)
   und [Spanish (Spain)](https://es.wordpress.org/plugins/the-9-dollar-comment-spam-mute/).
 *  [Translate into your language](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/the-9-dollar-comment-spam-mute)
 * Tags
 * [anti-spam](https://de-ch.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/anti-spam/)[comment spam](https://de-ch.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/comment-spam/)
   [spam comments](https://de-ch.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/spam-comments/)[spam filter](https://de-ch.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/spam-filter/)
   [spam protection](https://de-ch.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/spam-protection/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://de-ch.wordpress.org/plugins/the-9-dollar-comment-spam-mute/advanced/)

## Ratings

Es wurden noch keine Rezensionen eingereicht.

[Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/the-9-dollar-comment-spam-mute/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/the-9-dollar-comment-spam-mute/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ The 9 Dollar Plugins ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/the9dollarplugins/)

## Support

Got something to say? Need help?

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/the-9-dollar-comment-spam-mute/)

## Donate

Would you like to support the advancement of this plugin?

 [ Donate to this plugin ](https://buymeacoffee.com/t.9.p)