vspam.org vs Stop Forum Spam
Stop Forum Spam (SFS) is a mature crowdsourced spam database with over 200,000 forum integrations, focused on preventing blog and forum spam. vspam.org targets email-borne threats (phishing, spam, BEC) with DNSBL integration and a mail policy agent. Both rely on community reporting, but serve different ecosystems.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | vspam.org | Stop Forum Spam |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Focus | Email phishing & spam | Forum & blog spam |
| IOC Types | URLs, domains, IPs, emails | IPs, emails, usernames |
| DNSBL Integration | Native RPZ zone files | Available but not prominent |
| Feed Formats | STIX 2.1, CSV, JSON, TXT, TAXII | CSV, JSON, serialized PHP |
| Community Voting | Trust-weighted (1x–8x) | Simple report count |
| API Authentication | JWT + API key | No auth (rate-limited) |
| Mail Agent | Yes (Postfix, Exim, OpenSMTPD) | No |
| CMS Plugins | No | Yes (phpBB, Drupal, WordPress, bbPress) |
| Open Source | AGPL-3.0 | No |
| False Positive Handling | Trust-tier voting + appeals | Known IP collateral issues |
| Content Strategy | Research reports, blog, guides | No blog or educational content |
| Threat Scope | Phishing, BEC, credential theft | Registration spam, comment spam |
vspam.org strengths
- Email-threat focused — phishing, BEC, credential harvesting
- Native DNSBL with RPZ zone files for mail servers
- STIX 2.1 / TAXII 2.1 for SIEM/SOAR integration
- Trust-weighted voting reduces false positives (0.003% measured rate)
- URL and domain intelligence (not just IPs/emails)
- Dedicated mail agent with local caching and fail-open
- Open source and auditable
Stop Forum Spam strengths
- Massive forum/CMS integration ecosystem (200K+ sites)
- Native plugins for phpBB, Drupal, WordPress, bbPress
- No authentication required for API lookups
- Geographically distributed API for low latency
- 15+ years of forum spam data
- Username tracking (unique to SFS)
When to Use Each
Choose vspam.org
Choose vspam.org if you're a mail operator needing phishing and email threat protection, want DNSBL integration, need STIX/TAXII feeds, or care about URL-level and domain-level intelligence.
Choose Stop Forum Spam
Choose Stop Forum Spam if you run a forum or CMS and need plug-and-play spam protection, want username-based spam detection, or need a no-auth API for high-volume registration checks.
Verdict
These platforms serve fundamentally different ecosystems. Stop Forum Spam protects forums and blogs from registration and comment spam. vspam.org protects mail infrastructure from phishing and email-borne threats. There is overlap in IP and email reputation data, but the use cases rarely compete. Forum admins should use SFS; mail operators should use vspam.org.