How to Limit Form Submissions in Bricksforge Forms?

By Daniella Attinella

Co-founder & Brand Designer

Reviewed by Onar Alili

Co-founder & Engineer

Published Nov 3, 2026 9 min read

Bricksforge Pro Forms has two built-in submission limits in the Submissions group of the Create Submission action. Maximum Submissions caps how many entries are stored, and Prevent Duplicates rejects a repeat value in a field such as email. Neither limits how often one visitor can submit. To cap submissions per IP or email per hour, add rate limiting with the oopspam Anti-Spam plugin.

Bricksforge is an add-on for the Bricks site builder. Its Pro Forms element can create posts, register users, call webhooks and take payments, so a flood of submissions does more damage than a full inbox. This guide covers three methods, step by step.

Method 1: Close a Form After a Fixed Number of Entries

Use this for a giveaway, event registration or beta signup with a fixed number of places. It takes two settings: Maximum Submissions to set the cap, and a Submit Button Condition to close the form when the cap is reached.

Important: Maximum Submissions on its own doesn’t close the form. Once the limit is reached, visitors can still submit and see a success message, but Bricksforge stops saving their entries under Submissions. Always pair it with the submit button condition below.

Step 1: Turn On the Form Submissions Extension

The Submissions settings need the Form Submissions extension (docs). In WordPress, go to Bricks > Bricksforge > Extensions and activate Form Submissions. Saved entries then appear under Bricks > Form Submissions, where you can review, export or delete them.

Step 2: Set Maximum Submissions

1. Open your page in the Bricks editor and select the Pro Forms element.
2. Under Actions, add Create Submission.
3. Open the Submissions group.
4. Enter a Form Title. It identifies the form in the submissions table.
5. Set Maximum Submissions to the number of entries you want to store, for example 100. If you leave it empty, all submissions are stored.

Step 3: Hide the Submit Button When the Limit Is Reached

1. In the Pro Forms element, open the Submit Button group.
2. Turn on Submit Button Conditions.
3. Under If, add Submission Limit Reached.
4. Under Then, choose Hide Submit Button or Disable Submit Button.
5. Optional: if you disable the button, enter Alternative Button Text, such as “Registration closed”. It replaces the button label while the condition applies.
6. Save the page.

Note: Maximum Submissions counts every stored entry, including spam. A bot can use up your places and lock out real visitors. Pair this method with spam filtering (Method 3).

Method 2: Block Repeat Entries with Prevent Duplicates

Use this to stop the same person from submitting twice, for example one entry per email address in a contest. It lives in the same Submissions group, so the Form Submissions extension must be active.

1. In the Submissions group of the Pro Forms element, turn on Prevent Duplicates.
2. Under For Field, add an item.
3. In Form Field ID, enter the ID of the field to compare, such as your email field’s ID.
4. In Notice, write the message visitors see when a duplicate is detected, for example “This email address is already in use.”
5. Save the page.

If a stored submission already has the same value in that field, Pro Forms rejects the new one and shows your notice. You can add more than one field.

Limits of the built-in options: both are count-based and only work on stored submissions. Maximum Submissions caps the total, and Prevent Duplicates only catches exact repeats. Neither limits submissions per hour, and bots that rotate email addresses get past duplicate checks.

Method 3: Rate Limit Submissions per IP and Email with oopspam

The oopspam Anti-Spam plugin supports Bricksforge Pro Forms natively from version 1.2.87. It checks each submission on the server before Bricksforge runs any action. If a visitor goes over your limit, the submission is blocked. Real visitors aren’t affected as long as they stay under the cap.

How to Set It Up

In WordPress, go to Plugins > Add New, search for oopspam Anti-Spam, then install and activate it.

Create a free oopspam account and copy your API key from the dashboard.

Go to Settings > oopspam Anti-Spam. In the General tab, select oopspam Dashboard as the source and paste your key into My API Key.

Scroll to the Bricksforge Forms section and check Activate Spam Protection.

Open the Rate Limiting tab and turn on Enable Rate Limiting. Then set your limits:

• Max submissions per IP per hour: how many times one IP address can submit in an hour.
• Max submissions per email per hour: how many times one email address can submit in an hour.
• Block duration (in hours): how long an IP or email stays blocked after hitting the limit.
• Data clean-up frequency (in hours): how often oopspam clears the table it uses to track submissions.

Click Save Changes.

A good starting point is 3 submissions per hour per IP and per email, a 24-hour block and a 48-hour clean-up. Raise the numbers if your form has legitimate repeat users, such as a support form.

Turn On Trust Proxy Headers (If You Use Cloudflare)

Per-IP limits only work if oopspam sees each visitor’s real IP address. If your site runs behind Cloudflare or another proxy, open the Misc tab and turn on Trust proxy headers. Without it, all visitors share the proxy’s IP and could hit the limit together.

Test It

Submit your form a few more times than your limit allows. The blocked attempt shows the spam message on the form, and you can set a custom message in oopspam to tell real visitors how to reach you.

Check Form Spam Entries in WordPress to see the blocked attempts and the reason. Learn more in the form entries guide.

Add More Filters

Rate limiting works best with oopspam’s other filters. Attackers who spread requests across many IPs can stay under per-IP limits, so combine it with:

• VPN and data center blocking: see How to block VPN and data center IP submissions in Bricksforge Forms.
• Country filtering: see How to block countries in Bricksforge Forms.
• Disposable email blocking: see How to block disposable email addresses in WordPress forms.

For very high-volume attacks, you can also add Cloudflare rate limiting rules on the Pro Forms endpoint, /wp-json/bricksforge/v1/form_submit, to stop bursts before they reach WordPress.

Which Method Should You Use?

Goal	Best method
Close a form after a fixed total	Maximum Submissions + Submission Limit Reached
One entry per email or other field	Prevent Duplicates
Stop bots from flooding a public form	oopspam rate limiting
Limit repeat submissions per IP or email per hour	oopspam rate limiting
Stop bursts before they reach WordPress	Cloudflare rate limiting rules

Most sites need two layers: a built-in limit for the business rule (one entry per email, 100 seats) and oopspam rate limiting to stop abuse.

FAQ

Can Bricksforge limit submissions per user or IP?

Not by time. Prevent Duplicates blocks an exact repeat value in one field, such as email. Bricksforge has no per-hour limit per IP or email. Use oopspam rate limiting for that.

What happens when Maximum Submissions is reached?

The form keeps working. Visitors can still submit and see a success message, but Bricksforge stops saving their entries under Submissions. To actually close the form, add a Submission Limit Reached condition that hides or disables the submit button.

Do I need the Form Submissions extension?

Yes, for the built-in limits. Maximum Submissions and Prevent Duplicates live in the Create Submission action, which only works with the Form Submissions extension active. oopspam rate limiting works without it.

Will rate limiting block real visitors?

Rarely, if your limits are sensible. Three submissions per hour is plenty for a contact form. Raise the limit for forms people use often, and review Form Spam Entries for false positives.

Does rate limiting work behind Cloudflare?

Yes, as long as you turn on Trust proxy headers in oopspam’s Misc tab. Otherwise every visitor appears to share Cloudflare’s IP address.

Final Thoughts

Use Bricksforge’s built-in limits to control how many entries you accept: a total cap with Maximum Submissions and one entry per person with Prevent Duplicates. Use oopspam rate limiting to control how fast anyone can submit. Together they keep your Pro Forms open to real people and closed to floods.

Using the native Bricks Form element? See How to limit form submissions in Bricks Forms.

Related guides

• 7 Ways to Protect Your Bricksforge Forms from Spam
• How to Block Countries in Bricksforge Forms?
• How to Block VPN and Data Center IP Submissions in Bricksforge Forms