Comparison

Maspik vs CleanTalk: local rules or cloud service?

CleanTalk is a paid, cloud-based anti-spam service with no CAPTCHA. Maspik is a plugin with a free tier that runs most checks on your own server. Both avoid puzzles for your visitors; they differ in where the decision is made and how you pay.

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Last reviewed October 12, 2026 using CleanTalk’s own public pages. Maspik is our product.

Which one fits you?

Choose Maspik if

You want a free tier that is fully usable, and Pro only when you need country, language or multi-site features.
You prefer most checks to happen inside WordPress and cloud checks to be optional.
You want to configure rules per form field.

Choose CleanTalk if

You want a managed cloud service that learns from traffic across many sites.
You need unlimited checks with no allowance to think about.
You are happy with a subscription and have no need for a free tier.

Maspik vs CleanTalk, side by side

Feature comparison of Maspik and CleanTalk
Feature	Maspik	CleanTalk
Price	Free plugin. Pro: $19/year (1 site), $59 (10 sites), $129 (100 sites), $299 (1,000 sites).	$12/year (1 site), $24 (3), $36 (5), $69 (10), up to $200 (40); unlimited sites $27/month.
Free option	Yes, the free plugin works on its own.	No free plan on the price page.
Where detection happens	Mostly locally inside WordPress. Cloud features such as IP reputation and InputGate are optional.	A cloud service that uses data gathered across many sites.
CAPTCHA	None.	None; it works in the background.
Check limits	Cloud IP checks: 100/month Free, 10,000/month Pro.	Unlimited anti-spam checks on every package.
Rule control	Keywords, emails, phones, URLs, countries and languages configured per field type.	Managed by the service.
Many sites	Pro includes a dashboard to manage all sites together.	Plans by number of sites; an unlimited plan is aimed at hosting companies.

Competitor details come from the sources listed at the bottom of this page. Where a source does not state something, it is left out.

Where the two approaches differ

CleanTalk sends submission details to its service and gets a verdict back, which means its detection improves as more sites feed it. Maspik evaluates your own rules first, locally, and only calls the cloud for the optional layers you enable. If you value a service that handles the thinking for you, CleanTalk fits. If you value knowing exactly why a submission was blocked, and want to adjust it, Maspik fits better. Read how the cloud layer handles data in InputGate Cloud Protection: Privacy & Data Processing.

Cost

For a single site, CleanTalk’s listed price is lower than a Maspik Pro licence, and the free Maspik plugin costs nothing. Compare the rows above at your own site count: Maspik’s Pro tiers are priced per batch of sites, CleanTalk’s per number of sites up to 40.

Frequently asked questions

Does CleanTalk use a CAPTCHA?

No. CleanTalk’s price page says it works in the background so real users are not interrupted by challenge puzzles. Maspik does not use CAPTCHAs either.

Is there a free version of CleanTalk?

CleanTalk’s price page says the service is not free. Maspik has a free plugin on WordPress.org.

Which one has fewer false positives?

It depends on your forms. Maspik lets you tune the rules per field and review the spam log, which makes false positives easy to trace and correct.

Sources

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