How does Mollom compare with other services like Akismet or Defensio?

Due to its convenience, accuracy, performance, accessibility, and openness, we think Mollom is the best solution available for preventing comment spam on your site.

To help compare and contrast Mollom with other similar services, we've developed a table that focuses on a few key areas.

  Mollom Akismet Defensio
Company Mollom Automattic Websense Inc.
When in doubt, use CAPTCHA? Yes No No
Protect user registrations Yes, on some platforms No No
Supported platforms Drupal, Joomla!, WordPress, and others WordPress and others WordPress and others
Multiple language support Yes Yes Yes
Commercial partners Yes No Yes
Developer API Yes Yes Yes
CAPTCHA support Yes No No
Reputation tracking Yes Unknown Yes
Highly-available back-end network Yes Unknown Yes
Ability to retain spam for manual moderation Yes2 Yes Unknown
Protection for new user registrations, lost password requests, etc. Yes2 Unknown Unknown
Protection for custom and site-wide forms Yes2 Unknown Unknown
Hidden honeypots to trap spam bots Yes2 Unknown Unknown
Support and feedback Yes Yes Yes
Security protocol HMAC None None
Free for personal use Yes1 Yes Yes
Free for commercial use Yes1 No Yes

Have additions or corrections you'd like to suggest for this table? If so, please contact us.

1Some limitations on post volume apply. See Mollom's pricing page for more information.
2May only be supported on some of Mollom's many CMS platforms, due to differences in the underlying CMS.