Frequently asked questions

Short answers about UltraGuest guestbooks. 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.

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?

Your guestbook is a page hosted at ultraguest.com that you link to. Open Account › Link Code in the Control Panel and paste the HTML for a "View Guestbook" or "Sign Guestbook" link into your page; you may change the code freely. A plain link works on any website, blog or static site, Neocities and Blogger included; the guestbook is not an iframe or a script inside your page. See the step-by-step guide.

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 open Messages › Pending, click Edit Message and set the status from Pending Approval to Public. Under Settings › Email Notification you can be e-mailed whenever a message is waiting for approval.

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), or the messages alone as CSV for a spreadsheet. The files are generated the moment you click.

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, 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.

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, font size or a background image 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 number at the end of your guestbook address: in ultraguest.com/view/1041779607 the ID is 1041779607. It 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. Settings › Security holds the list of blocked addresses, and every message in Messages shows the address it came from, so you can copy it across. Blocking stops that address from posting to your guestbook while leaving everyone else alone. 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?

Open Messages, tick the messages you want gone and delete them, or click Edit Message to change one. Editing lets you set the status instead of deleting: Hidden takes a message off the public page but keeps it, Pending Approval holds it until you decide, and Trash is a holding area you can empty later. A deleted message is gone for good.

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 I use an image as the background?

Yes. Design › Colors and Style has a Background Image field: put in the full address of an image already on the web (your own site is the safest place to host it) and the guestbook will use it, with a live preview before you save. For anything more particular - a fixed background, a repeating pattern, your own fonts - Design › Edit CSS takes plain CSS.

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.