Frequently asked questions

Short answers about UltraGuest, a free guestbook hosting service: it costs nothing and shows no ads, you add it to your site with one line of HTML or a link, and you can export or delete everything at any time.

For a walkthrough see how to add a guestbook to your website; for the details on spam see moderation and spam. Anything missing? Ask support.

What is UltraGuest?

UltraGuest is a free guestbook hosting service that has run since 2003. A guestbook is a page where visitors leave short public messages for the owner of a website. UltraGuest hosts that page: you sign up, then link to it or show it inside your own page, and you decide what stays on it. There is no paid plan and no advertising. See About and the features.

Who runs UltraGuest?

UltraGuest is an independent, privately run project, operated from the United States. It was built in 2003 and is still looked after by one person: a small, unhurried service, not a company chasing growth. Questions go through the support form; the About page and the contact page say more.

Is UltraGuest really free?

Yes. UltraGuest has been a free guestbook service since 2003 and today there is nothing to pay for: no fees, no paid plans, no features held back for money. Custom CSS, moderation, notifications and data export are all included. Signing up takes less than a minute.

Does UltraGuest show ads in my guestbook?

No. Today there is no advertising on our pages or in any guestbook, no tracking cookies and no data sales. If that ever had to change to keep the service running, it would be announced first on our privacy commitments page, and nothing would be switched on without your permission.

How do I add or embed the guestbook on my website?

Open Account › Link Code in the Control Panel. The first tab, On your page, gives you the embed: one iframe that shows your newest public messages inside your own page, with no script to install. The other two give you the HTML for a "View Guestbook" or "Sign Guestbook" link to the guestbook's own page at ultraguest.com; you may change the code freely. Both work on any website, blog or static site, Neocities and Blogger included. See the step-by-step guide, or the guide for a free Neocities site.

Which languages are available?

The guestbook pages your visitors see come in 24 languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Polish, Turkish, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Finnish, all translated by volunteers. Choose yours under Settings › Language; the languages page has the full list and how to contribute one.

Can visitors send me private messages?

Yes. Turn on "Enable private messages" under Settings › Guestbook Options and the sign form gets a "Private" checkbox. A private message is shown only to you in the Control Panel; the public page merely notes that one was added and when. You can be notified by e-mail when one arrives.

Can I approve messages before they appear?

Yes. Tick "Approve new messages" under Settings › Guestbook Options. New posts are held as Pending until you approve them, either straight from the notification e-mail or under Messages › Pending, where you click Edit Message and set the status from Pending Approval to Public. A new guestbook e-mails you whenever a message is waiting for approval; Settings › Email Notification changes that.

Can I have more than one guestbook?

Yes, up to ten on one login, and they are all free. Open Account › My Guestbooks in the Control Panel: it lists the guestbooks you have, adds another (a name, and your website address if you have one), and switches between them. Each one has its own address, its own design, its own settings and its own messages; the login, the e-mail address and the password are shared.

Can I export my data?

Yes, at any time and without asking us. Account › Download My Data gives you everything we hold as JSON (account details and settings, every message including private and pending ones, your banned IP addresses and the notification e-mails we sent you), the messages alone as CSV for a spreadsheet, or your public messages as a web page: one file that reads offline, prints, and can go on your own site. The files are generated the moment you click. The JSON file holds the messages in your trash as well, marked as such; the CSV file and the web page leave them out.

Can I bring messages from another guestbook service?

Yes. Account › Import a guestbook reads pages saved from a SmartGB or Atabook guestbook, the CSV from our own Download My Data, and any CSV file with a header row naming the name, date and message columns. You see what was found before anything is added, up to 2,000 entries at a time, with their original names and dates. Imported entries wait out of view until the content checks have read them, and importing the same file twice is safe. If your old guestbook service has closed, this page lists what happened to the best-known ones and how to keep your messages.

How do I delete my guestbook or account?

Open Account › Delete Guestbook in the Control Panel, enter your e-mail address and password, tick the confirmation box and submit. Deletion is immediate and complete: that guestbook, every message in it, its banned-IP list and its notification log go at once, and backups expire within 30 days. If it is the only guestbook on your account, your login goes with it; if you have others, they and your login stay. There is no way back, so download your data first if you want a copy.

How do you stop spam?

Every post must pass a human-verification challenge (Cloudflare Turnstile), messages containing links are refused, and there are limits on how fast one address or one guestbook can receive posts. Automatic rules reject and remove the usual junk, AI moderation reads every message in the context of its guestbook before it appears, and recent posts are re-checked several times a day. You can add approval of new posts, the word filter and blocked IP addresses. See moderation and spam.

Can visitors post links in messages?

No. Almost all guestbook spam exists to spread links, so a message containing an http:// or https:// address or a link tag is refused, and a name cannot contain a link either. Visitors can still leave an e-mail address, which only you see, and the guestbook can show a link back to your own website. A guestbook can also ask signers for their own website in a separate field (Settings › Guestbook Options). It never appears inside the message: it becomes a link on the signer's name once you approve it, or at once if you choose.

What can visitors write in a message?

Plain text of up to 1,500 characters, with smilies and simple formatting (bold, italic, underline, lists). Visitors need no account: they type a name and a message and pass a human-verification check. An e-mail address, which only you see, is optional, and so is a website address if you have switched that field on. Links are refused, HTML typed into a message is shown as plain text, and visitors cannot upload images or files.

Who owns the content in my guestbook?

Your visitors' messages stay theirs and your guestbook stays yours: nothing in our Terms of Service transfers ownership of messages or settings to UltraGuest. As the owner you are responsible for what your guestbook shows and can edit or delete any message; UltraGuest removes only content that breaks the terms or the law. Download My Data lets you take everything with you.

Is UltraGuest GDPR-compliant?

We apply the rights of the GDPR to everyone, wherever you live: access, a copy, correction, deletion, restriction and objection, answered within 30 days, and owners can export or delete their data themselves. Our pages set only strictly necessary cookies, we honour the Global Privacy Control signal, and we do not sell data or profile anyone. Servers are in the USA; the processors we use and the safeguards for transfers from Europe are listed in the Privacy Policy.

Can I use custom CSS?

Yes. Design › Edit CSS replaces the guestbook's whole stylesheet with your own, so it can match your site exactly; write plain CSS without HTML tags, define every class the page uses, and delete the CSS to return to the defaults. For colours, fonts or font size alone, Design › Colors and Style has a live preview, and Design › Guestbook Header puts your own text at the top.

I did not get the verification e-mail. What now?

Check the spam folder first, and add support@ultraguest.com to your contacts. If it is not there, log in and open Account › Verify E-mail to send it again (up to three times an hour). If it still does not arrive, the address may have a typo: Account › Change Email corrects it and sends a fresh link. The link is good for seven days, and the mail also carries a short code you can type in at /verify if your mail program mangles the link. Until the address is confirmed the guestbook accepts no messages, which is how we keep the service from being used to send mail nobody asked for.

I have lost my password.

Open the lost-password page and enter your e-mail address. We send a single-use link that lets you choose a new password; we never send a password by e-mail, and nobody here can read yours. The link expires after an hour. Changing your password signs out every other device.

I cannot log in.

Log in with the e-mail address you signed up with, not your guestbook name. Your browser must accept cookies from ultraguest.com, because the login session is a cookie. Ten wrong passwords lock the address for fifteen minutes - waiting is enough, and if you are not sure of the password, use lost password rather than guessing. If the address itself has changed hands or you no longer have it, write to support from the address you can reach and tell us the guestbook ID.

What is my guestbook ID?

It is the last part of your guestbook address: in ultraguest.com/view/1041779607 it is 1041779607. Guestbooks made since September 2026 have a short code there instead, such as ultraguest.com/view/k7m2q9xp, and any guestbook can take a name of its own under Account › Guestbook Address, such as ultraguest.com/view/your-name; the number or code keeps leading to it. The address is also shown in Account › Link Code with the HTML to put on your site. Quoting it when you write to support saves a round trip.

Can I block someone who keeps posting?

Yes. Every recent message in Messages shows the country it was written from, with a Block IP link next to it. Blocking keeps that writer from posting in your guestbook and leaves everyone else alone; you never see the address itself. Settings › Security lists your blocks, and you can lift one there. If the messages are spam rather than one persistent person, they are probably already being refused before you see them; tell us on the support page if they are not.

How do I delete or hide a message?

The Control Panel opens on your latest messages, each with Hide and Delete; under Messages you can also tick several and delete them together, or click Edit Message to change one, and a notification e-mail lets you hide the message it brings with one press. A deleted message leaves your guestbook at once and waits in Messages › Trash for 30 days: Restore puts it back, Delete now removes it for good straight away, and after 30 days it is deleted for good by itself. Hidden takes a message off the public page but keeps it until you show it again with Edit Message.

Can I reply to a message?

Yes. You can write one reply under any message: open Messages › Edit Message and use the "Your reply" box, or follow the link in the notification e-mail. The reply is shown under the message on the guestbook page, inside the embed and in the RSS feed. Replies go through the same content checks as messages, and visitors are not e-mailed when you reply. Only you can reply; visitors cannot reply to each other.

How do I report a message or a guestbook?

To report one message, use the small Report link under it: an automatic review reads it at once and, if you leave an e-mail address, tells you the outcome. To report a whole guestbook, use the Report abuse link at the bottom of its page, which opens the support form. For authorities and for notices of illegal content, see the contact page.

Why was a message held or removed, and can I contest it?

Every message is read by automatic checks before it appears, and again later. When one is held back, hidden or removed, Moderation Decisions in the Control Panel shows what was done, why and under which rule. If you think a decision is wrong, contest it there with a short explanation: a second automatic review reads the message again, together with your explanation, and what was held back, hidden or suspended is restored if it disagrees. Each decision can be contested once, and a message that was removed is deleted at once and cannot be restored. See Contesting a decision.

How do I read private messages?

A private message is shown only to you. Open Messages › Private in the Control Panel to read them; the public page shows only that a private message was left, and when. Turn the option on or off under Settings › Guestbook Options, and Settings › Email Notification can tell you when one arrives.

Can visitors see each other's e-mail addresses?

No. An e-mail address left by a visitor never appears on the public page or in the RSS feed - only you see it, in the Control Panel. It is also in the file you get from Account › Download My Data, since that is everything we hold for you, so treat that file as private. That has been the rule since the service started, and it is why the sign form can ask for an address at all.

Can a visitor remove their own message?

Yes. Right after signing, the visitor is shown a private link that takes the message down again. It is shown once and never sent by e-mail, so it is worth keeping. A visitor can also ask you, the guestbook owner, to remove the message, or send us a privacy request.

Does UltraGuest show or keep visitors' IP addresses?

You never see them: your message list shows the country a message was written from, not the visitor's IP address. UltraGuest itself keeps the address of a message only to prevent abuse and to meet legal duties, and deletes it 12 months after the message was posted; the country stays with the message. An address is kept longer only while it is evidence in an abuse or legal matter. The Privacy Policy has the details.

Is message text sent to an AI service?

Yes, for the safety check only. Every message and guestbook text is checked for illegal and abusive content before it is published, and again when someone reports it, by our own rules and by AI moderation services. They receive the text only, never e-mail or IP addresses, and do not use it to train their models. The Privacy Policy names the provider and the safeguards.

Can I get an e-mail when someone signs my guestbook?

Yes, and it is switched on for a new guestbook. Settings › Email Notification has one switch for new public messages and one for new private messages and messages waiting for your approval. Each e-mail carries a link to approve or hide that message. Up to five e-mails a day are sent at once for a guestbook; anything beyond that arrives in one daily summary.

What happens to inactive guestbooks?

Under our Terms of Service we do not delete guestbooks merely because they are quiet: a guestbook that holds messages stays at its address for as long as the service runs, subject to the safety, privacy and removal rules in the Acceptable Use Policy. Accounts that never confirm their e-mail address are removed after 90 days. Logging in now and then keeps your guestbook, and you can download a copy at any time.