---
title: "Using Spam Filters"
description: "Filter out bots & scrapers to see accurate visitor data. Access via Stats > Filter > Spam filter and choose from 4 levels: Off, Permissive, Balanced (recommended), or Strict."
url: "https://support.helpdocs.io/article/9l2zfua9ha-using-spam-filters"
category: "Stats"
updated_at: "2026-07-28T17:42:30Z"
---

# Using Spam Filters

Tired of automated traffic skewing your Stats? 🤖 The spam filter helps you see accurate visitor data by filtering out bots, scrapers, headless browsers, and other automated clients from your analytics reports.

We always filter traffic that gets to your knowledge base to prevent bad actors. But over time traffic has got more sophisticated. This feature is an extra layer of control for your Stats.

### What the Spam Filter Does

The spam filter analyzes incoming traffic to your Knowledge Base and removes automated visitors from your Stats reports. This means the numbers you see in Overview, Feedback, Health, and Search tabs reflect real human visitors rather than bots and scrapers.

You can choose from four filtering levels to match your needs. Each level determines how aggressively HelpDocs filters out automated traffic.

### Using the Spam Filter

You can access it through the Stats filter menu:

1. Head to **Stats**
2. Click the **Filter** button in the top-right
3. Find the **Spam filter** dropdown in the popover
4. Select your desired filtering level
5. Click **Apply Filters**

Your Stats will immediately update to reflect the filtering level you've chosen. You can change this setting anytime to see how different filtering levels affect your data.

[Embedded iframe](https://demo.arcade.software/Pm1qlgZ56VN39U2ViqQx?embed&embed_mobile=tab&embed_desktop=inline&show_copy_link=true)

### Understanding the Filter Levels

HelpDocs offers four filtering levels, each balancing accuracy and completeness differently. Choose the one that best matches your needs:

| Filter Level               | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
|----------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| **Off**                    | Show every request in your reports. Same behavior as before this feature existed. Use this when you want the raw numbers or when comparing against historic pre-feature reports.                                                                                                                                        |
| **Permissive**             | Hides only traffic we're highly confident is automated. Very few real visitors will be affected. Good for accounts where you'd rather err on the side of including everything.                                                                                                                                          |
| **Balanced (recommended)** | Hides traffic showing multiple signs of being automated. A small number of real visitors on uncommon browser setups may be hidden. This is the default and works great for most accounts.                                                                                                                               |
| **Strict**                 | Hides any traffic showing an automated signal, even a single one. Will hide a meaningful number of real visitors, especially those using privacy-focused browsers or unusual configurations. Only pick this if bot traffic is severe and you'd rather lose a few real visitors than see any automation in your numbers. |

For more information about filtering your Stats data, check out [Filtering Stats](/article/zd8v6jlyle-filtering-stats) and [Understanding Stats](/article/b8rwdjkgax-understand-stats). For another way to manage automated traffic, see [Access Mode for Known Cloud Providers](/article/updo8caafu-access-mode-for-known-cloud-providers).