WebDecoy Bot Detection

WebDecoy is a free, fully-functional bot detection and protection plugin that works 100% locally. Unlike CAPTCHA solutions that frustrate visitors, WebDecoy uses invisible multi-layer detection — legitimate users never see challenges or interruptions.

Works immediately on activation. No account needed. No API key required. No external connections at all until you optionally connect a WebDecoy Cloud account.

Why WebDecoy?

• Zero friction — Humans never see CAPTCHAs or challenges
• Zero configuration — Install, activate, done
• Zero dependencies — Everything runs locally on your server
• Multi-layer detection — Server-side + client-side + proof-of-work challenges
• Free forever — Full protection at no cost. Premium cloud features are optional.

Free Features (No API Key Needed)

Server-Side Detection
* User-Agent analysis and HTTP header inspection
* Good bot verification (reverse DNS for Googlebot, Bingbot, etc.)
* MITRE ATT&CK path analysis (admin probing, config file access)
* Rate limiting with automatic blocking
* IP blocking (individual + CIDR, IPv4/IPv6, expiration)

Client-Side Detection
* WebDriver detection (Selenium, Puppeteer, Playwright)
* Headless browser detection (Chrome headless, PhantomJS)
* Automation framework detection
* Behavioral analysis (mouse movement, click patterns, scroll behavior)
* Canvas/WebGL fingerprinting
* AI crawler detection (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot)

Invisible Proof-of-Work Challenges
* SHA-256 challenges solved in background (no user interaction)
* Challenge mode for suspicious requests (checkbox widget, auto-solves)
* Difficulty scales based on threat signals
* No external CAPTCHA service needed

Form Protection
* Comment spam protection
* Login brute force protection
* Registration spam prevention
* Invisible honeypot fields on comment, login, and registration forms

WooCommerce Protection
* Checkout carding attack prevention
* Velocity limiting (configurable attempts per time window)
* Card testing pattern detection
* WooCommerce Blocks compatible

Local Dashboard & Analytics
* Detection log with threat scores and MITRE tactic mapping
* Statistics page with 30-day trend charts
* Blocked IPs management
* Dashboard widget with threat overview
* CSV export
* Automatic data cleanup (30 days)

Smart Bot Recognition
* 60+ known good bots automatically allowed
* Search engines, social media, monitoring services, SEO tools
* Optional AI crawler blocking
* Custom allowlist support

Premium Features (Optional WebDecoy Cloud)

Connect an API key to unlock cloud-powered intelligence:

• IP Reputation — AbuseIPDB integration, threat scoring
• VPN/Proxy Detection — Identify visitors hiding behind VPNs, proxies, and Tor
• GeoIP Enrichment — Geographic data from MaxMind
• Cloud Sync — Forward detections to centralized dashboard
• Cross-Site Intelligence — Aggregate threat data from all WebDecoy customers
• Advanced Analytics — Cloud dashboard at app.webdecoy.com with indefinite history
• Webhooks & Alerts — Automated response chains, email notifications

Explore Plans | Start Free Trial

Threat Scoring

WebDecoy uses an intelligent scoring system (0-100):

• 0-19: MINIMAL — Allow (likely human)
• 20-39: LOW — Log only
• 40-59: MEDIUM — Optional challenge
• 60-74: HIGH — Challenge or block
• 75-100: CRITICAL — Automatic block

The threshold is fully configurable to match your site’s needs.

External Services

This plugin can optionally connect to the following external services when you provide an API key:

WebDecoy Cloud — ingest.webdecoy.com and api.webdecoy.com

This plugin only contacts WebDecoy Cloud when you explicitly connect an account by entering an API key on the WebDecoy Cloud settings tab. With no API key configured, no data is ever sent to these services.

What is sent, and when:
* When a detection or rule violation occurs: the visitor’s IP address, user agent, request path, threat score and detection flags are sent to ingest.webdecoy.com so the event appears in your cloud dashboard.
* When you use an IP-reputation filter rule (e.g. ip.abuse_score, ip.tor): the visitor’s IP address is sent to ingest.webdecoy.com to look up reputation/geo data.
* When validating your key or forwarding a WooCommerce checkout detection: your API key, organization ID and the detection data above are sent to api.webdecoy.com / ingest.webdecoy.com.

All requests are made server-side over HTTPS. This is an optional cloud service provided by WebDecoy.
Terms of Service: https://webdecoy.com/terms
Privacy Policy: https://webdecoy.com/privacy

Without an API key, the plugin operates 100% locally — no external connections on the front end or back end. Chart.js (used for the admin Statistics charts) is bundled with the plugin, not loaded from a CDN.

Bundled third-party libraries

Chart.js v4.5.1 (MIT license) is included at admin/js/vendor/chart.umd.min.js for the admin Statistics charts. It is the official distribution build; the human-readable source is available at https://github.com/chartjs/Chart.js/releases/tag/v4.5.1 . No other third-party libraries are bundled.

Reference URLs in the good-bot database

The bundled good-bot list (sdk/src/GoodBotList.php) stores a documentation URL for each known bot (e.g. developer.amazon.com/amazonbot, api.slack.com/robots) purely as reference metadata shown alongside detections. These URLs are never requested by the plugin — no connection of any kind is made to them.

Privacy Policy

WebDecoy collects the following data locally for bot detection purposes:

• IP addresses
• User agent strings
• HTTP headers
• Browser fingerprint signals
• Request patterns

This data is stored in your WordPress database and automatically cleaned up after 30 days. No data is sent externally unless you configure a WebDecoy Cloud API key.

For more information, see our Privacy Policy.