# Honeypot Trap for Contact Form 7

> Adds a hidden field to every Contact Form 7 form that people never see but spam bots fill in. Submissions with the field filled are marked as spam and never emailed.

- Type: PHP
- Runs: Run everywhere
- Category: [Forms](https://wpide.com/library/category/forms/)
- Tags: contact-form-7, spam, honeypot
- Author: WPIDE Team
- Installs: 0
- Updated: 2026-10-28
- Page: https://wpide.com/library/cf7-honeypot-field/

## Code

```php
$wpide_cf7_trap_name = 'wpide_company_url'; // Name of the hidden trap field.

add_filter( 'wpcf7_form_elements', function ( $html ) use ( $wpide_cf7_trap_name ) {
    $field = sprintf(
        '<span class="wpide-cf7-trap" aria-hidden="true" style="position:absolute!important;left:-9999px!important;width:1px;height:1px;overflow:hidden;"><label>Leave this field empty <input type="text" name="%1$s" value="" tabindex="-1" autocomplete="off"></label></span>',
        esc_attr( $wpide_cf7_trap_name )
    );

    return $field . $html;
} );

add_filter( 'wpcf7_spam', function ( $spam, $submission = null ) use ( $wpide_cf7_trap_name ) {
    if ( $spam || empty( $_POST[ $wpide_cf7_trap_name ] ) ) {
        return $spam;
    }

    if ( $submission && method_exists( $submission, 'add_spam_log' ) ) {
        $submission->add_spam_log( array( 'agent' => 'wpide-honeypot', 'reason' => 'The hidden trap field was filled in.' ) );
    }

    return true;
}, 10, 2 );
```

## Notes

Change the field name if a bot learns it; keep it something a bot would want to fill, such as a website or company field.

## How to use it

Install the free WPIDE plugin (https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpide/), find "Honeypot Trap for Contact Form 7" in its snippet library and add it in one click; or create a new PHP snippet in WPIDE (or any code snippets plugin) and paste the code above. More snippets: https://wpide.com/library/