What do the SpamAssasin Spam Filter scores in Plesk mean?

Daniel Yordanov

Updated December 17, 2024 20:24

kb: how-to Plesk for Linux

Applicable to:

The general rules for deciding which score to use state that you should start with the usage of Score 5 (Default) and proceed as follows:

Lower the score if you find Spam emails are still making it through the filter
Raise your score if you find that emails from legitimate sources are filtered by mistake

The table below outlines all of the available options:

Score	Explanation
1	Aggressive - will mark many legitimate emails as spam (many false positives)
2	Mostly Aggressive - may mark a good portion of the legitimate emails as spam. (a medium amount of false positives)
3	A bit Aggressive - may mark a small amount of legitimate emails as spam. (a small amount of false positives)
4	More strict Middle ground - recommended for well-tested servers that still let some spam pass through after using score 5
5	Middle ground (default setting, recommended as a starting point)
6	Less strict Middle ground - recommended for well-tested servers that still block some legitimate emails after using score 5
7	A bit Passive - may let some spam emails through without marking them as spam (some false negatives)
8	Mostly Passive - may let more spam emails through without marking them as spam (a bigger amount of false negatives)
9	Almost entirely Passive - All legitimate emails will arrive, but so will many spam emails (lots of false negatives)
10	Severely Passive - All emails will arrive, but only the most obvious spam will be marked (the most false negatives)