TL;DR: To stop spam in Form Maker by 10Web, combine its built-in protection with a cloud anti-spam filter. CleanTalk Anti-Spam checks every Form Maker by 10Web submission in the background and blocks spam bots invisibly – no CAPTCHA, no puzzles, no checkboxes – while protecting registrations, comments and WooCommerce on the same site. reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha and Turnstile add a visible challenge layer for high-risk forms. For most WordPress sites, an invisible cloud filter blocks more spam with less friction than CAPTCHA alone. Plans start at $12 per site/year with a free 7-day trial.
Form Maker by 10Web – full title “Form Maker by 10Web – Mobile-Friendly Drag & Drop Contact Form Builder” – is one of the most popular drag-and-drop form builders for WordPress. Developed by 10Web, it lets you build contact forms, surveys, registration forms, payment forms and more without writing any code. Its visual builder and mobile-friendly output make it a go-to choice for site owners who want flexible forms fast.
In 2026, popularity also means exposure. Any form that is widely used and easy to find becomes a target for spam bots that crawl the web looking for submission fields to abuse. The more sites run Form Maker by 10Web, the more attractive its forms become to automated spam tools – and that is exactly why these forms collect spam.
A public-facing form is, by design, open to anyone. Bots fill in the fields, post junk content, links and fake leads, and move on to the next site. Without a dedicated filter, every Form Maker by 10Web form on your site is an open door.
As WordPress.org shows, Form Maker by 10Web is currently used on over 30,000 active installations and has 776 reviews with an average rating of 4.5.
Plugin Homepage at wordpress.org | Website 10web.io
Common types of spam in Form Maker by 10Web
Spam that hits Form Maker by 10Web forms – and form builders in general – usually falls into three groups:
- Simple bots. Basic scripts that auto-fill every field they find and submit instantly. They are high-volume and easy to spot, but they flood your inbox fast.
- Advanced bots. Smarter automation that mimics human behavior, solves or skips simple checks, randomizes timing and rotates IP addresses to avoid basic blocks.
- Human spam. Real people, often paid, who submit junk by hand – fake leads, promotional messages, link drops. Because a human fills the form, many automated checks let it through.
The consequences are practical and costly: a flooded inbox that buries real messages, lost or missed leads when genuine inquiries get mixed in with junk, wasted time sorting submissions, and the risk of malicious links landing in your team’s mailboxes.
Official anti-spam options and integrations in Form Maker by 10Web
Form Maker by 10Web does include some protection you can turn on inside the form builder:
- CAPTCHA integrations – you can attach a CAPTCHA field (such as Google reCAPTCHA) to a form to challenge submitters.
- Required fields and field validation – making key fields mandatory and validating formats (email, numbers) filters out some malformed bot submissions.
- Basic spam controls built into the form settings.
These are useful as a first layer, but they are limited. Form Maker by 10Web focuses on building forms, not on filtering spam at the server level. There is little to no dedicated server-side anti-spam that checks the sender’s reputation, IP and email against a global spam database before the message reaches you. CAPTCHA challenges add friction for real visitors and are routinely bypassed by advanced bots and human spammers.
If your main goal is to protect Form Maker by 10Web without adding CAPTCHA challenges, CleanTalk can be used as a Google reCAPTCHA alternative that filters spam submissions in the background.
CAPTCHA options in Form Maker by 10Web
The most common CAPTCHA choices you can use with Form Maker by 10Web forms are:
- Google reCAPTCHA – widely supported, but it adds a visible challenge, can hurt conversions, and bots increasingly bypass it.
- hCaptcha – a privacy-oriented alternative to reCAPTCHA, but it still puts a puzzle in front of real users.
- Cloudflare Turnstile – lighter and more privacy-friendly, but it is a challenge, not a content filter, so it does not analyze the actual message for spam.
The shared downside of every CAPTCHA is the same: it adds friction for legitimate visitors, can lower form completion rates, and still lets through human spam and the smartest bots. A CAPTCHA decides whether someone looks human – it does not decide whether the submission is spam.
Best ways to stop spam in Form Maker by 10Web
The most effective setup for Form Maker by 10Web is layered:
- Use an invisible cloud filter as your baseline. CleanTalk checks every submission in the background against IP, email and behavior data from a global spam network – no challenge, no friction for real users.
- Add one CAPTCHA only on your highest-risk forms. If a specific form is heavily targeted (for example a public registration or giveaway form), add a single CAPTCHA on top of the invisible filter.
This way most visitors never see a puzzle, spam is filtered automatically, and you reserve the visible challenge for the few forms that truly need it.
Comparison table: anti-spam options for Form Maker by 10Web vs CleanTalk
Here is how the main anti-spam options for Form Maker by 10Web compare:
| Solution | Best for | Pricing | Main limitation |
| CleanTalk Anti-Spam | Invisible, site-wide protection across forms, signups and WooCommerce | From $12/site/year; free 7-day trial | Cloud service; paid after trial |
| Akismet | Comment and basic form spam on small sites | Free personal; paid commercial | Comment-focused; weak on custom forms |
| Google reCAPTCHA | High-risk forms where a challenge is acceptable | Free | Adds friction; can hurt conversion; bots bypass it |
| Cloudflare Turnstile | Lighter, privacy-friendly CAPTCHA | Free | A challenge, not a content filter |
In short: use CleanTalk as the invisible baseline filter, and add reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha or Turnstile only on your highest-risk forms.
Anti-Spam plugin by CleanTalk for WordPress
The next tool we’re going to use is the Anti-Spam plugin by CleanTalk.
CleanTalk is a cloud-based anti-spam service for WordPress and other platforms. Instead of showing visitors a puzzle, it analyzes each submission server-side against a constantly updated database of known spammers, spam patterns, and behavioral signals, then silently blocks the bad ones.
Here’s a short overview:
- CleanTalk is a cloud-based spam protection service for websites, founded in 2012.
- It automatically blocks spam without CAPTCHAs and doesn’t interrupt the user experience.
- Protects many types of forms: contact forms, payment forms, registrations, comments, surveys and more.
- Stops both automated bots and human spam submissions.
- Uses advanced filtering algorithms and a global spam detection network.
- Detects spam based on IP address, email address and user behavior.
- Lets you create custom filtering rules for specific cases.
- Allows blocking or filtering by IP, email and country.
- Works quietly in the background and is very easy to install and configure.
According to WordPress.org, Anti-Spam by CleanTalk for WordPress has over 200,000 active installations, with 3,168 reviews and an average rating of 4.7.
Plugin Homepage at cleantalk.org | Latest release at GitHub.com
Install the CleanTalk Anti-Spam plugin
To install the Anti-Spam plugin, go to your WordPress admin panel→ Plugins→ Add New.
Then enter «СleanTalk» in the search box and click the Install button for «Spam protection, Anti-Spam, FireWall by CleanTalk».
After installing the plugin, click the «Activate» button.
After it is done go to the plugin settings and click the «Get Access Key Automatically» button. Then just click the «Save Settings» button.
That’s all – Contact Form 7 are now protected From this moment,CleanTalk automatically protects the Contact Form 7 registration form (REST route /wp-json/Contact Form 7press/v1/users/), and the Add Listing form used to submit new listings.
You don’t need to paste any shortcodes – just use Contact Form 7 as usual, and CleanTalk will filter spam in the background.
That’s it! From now you know how to completely protect your Form Maker by 10Web from spam. You don’t need to paste any shortcodes – just use Form Maker by 10Web as usual, and CleanTalk will filter spam in the background.
Check if spam protection works with Form Maker by 10Web
The best way to test the spam protection is by using a test email,
stop_email@example.com
- Open a page with your Form Maker by 10Web form in an Incognito / private browser tab.
- Fill out the form using stop_email@example.com as the sender’s email.
- Send the form.
- You should see a message from the Anti-Spam plugin confirming that a spam submission was blocked.
*** Forbidden. Sender blacklisted. Anti-Spam by CleanTalk. ***
If you see this message, it means CleanTalk successfully protects your Form Maker by 10Web forms from spam.
Cloud Dashboard
In addition, in the Cloud Dashboard you can find extra details regarding all submissions processed by CleanTalk, including Form Maker by 10Web forms:
- IP and email of the sender, as well as the sender’s activity history across other websites connected to the CleanTalk cloud.
- Geolocation of the sender.
- Date and time of the submission.
- Page (URL) where the form was submitted.
- Cloud decision – Approved or Denied.
- Cloud explanation for the decision (e.g. blacklisted email, bad IP reputation, spam text, etc.).
- Tools to move the sender to Block or Allow lists so you can fine-tune Form Maker by 10Web spam protection.
FAQ
Does CleanTalk work with Form Maker by 10Web out of the box?
Yes. Once CleanTalk is installed and activated, it automatically protects every Form Maker by 10Web form on your site. You don’t need to edit forms or paste shortcodes.
Will my visitors see a CAPTCHA or any extra step?
No. CleanTalk filters spam invisibly in the background. Real visitors fill in and submit your Form Maker by 10Web forms as usual, with no puzzles or checkboxes.
Do I still need reCAPTCHA if I use CleanTalk?
For most sites, no. The invisible cloud filter handles bots and human spam without friction. You only need to add a CAPTCHA on a few unusually high-risk forms, on top of CleanTalk.
Does CleanTalk only protect Form Maker by 10Web forms?
No. It protects your whole site – other contact and registration forms, comments, WooCommerce orders and more – from a single plugin.
Will CleanTalk block real customers by mistake?
CleanTalk is built to minimize false positives. If a legitimate submission is ever blocked, you can review it in the Cloud Dashboard and move the sender to your Allow list.
Final recommendation
To stop spam in Form Maker by 10Web with the least friction, use CleanTalk as your invisible baseline filter and keep a CAPTCHA in reserve only for your highest-risk forms. This blocks both automated bots and human spam, keeps your inbox clean, and protects your real leads – without making genuine visitors solve puzzles.
For broader website protection, CleanTalk also provides anti-spam protection for websites, helping block spam in forms, comments, registrations, and orders without CAPTCHA.
