reCAPTCHA AlternativesTop Anti-Spam Tools and other similar apps like reCAPTCHA

reCAPTCHA is described as 'Free service that protects your site from spam and abuse, using risk analysis techniques to tell humans and bots apart' and is a very popular Anti-Spam tool in the security & privacy category. There are more than 25 alternatives to reCAPTCHA, not only websites but also apps for a variety of platforms, including SaaS, Self-Hosted, PHP and JavaScript apps. The best reCAPTCHA alternative is Cap Captcha, which is both free and Open Source. Other great sites and apps similar to reCAPTCHA are Anubis, hCaptcha, Procaptcha and Cloudflare Turnstile.

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reCAPTCHA alternatives page was last updated

Alternatives list

  1. Cap Captcha icon
     25 likes

    Lightweight, modern open-source CAPTCHA alternative designed using SHA-256 proof-of-work.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Docker
     
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    1
    Comments about Cap Captcha as an Alternative to reCAPTCHA
    Laney Medallion
    Negative
    0

    I tried cap captcha on my site and the bots just kept on spamming me.

    reCAPTCHA Icon
    Cap Captcha icon
    • Cap Captcha is the most popular Self-Hosted alternative to reCAPTCHA.

    • Cap Captcha is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to reCAPTCHA.

    • Cap Captcha is Free and Open SourcereCAPTCHA is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Cap Captcha is Customizable, Lightweight and Privacy focusedreCAPTCHA is not according to our users
  2. Anubis icon
     15 likes

    Applies sha256 proof-of-work challenges to incoming HTTP requests, targeting AI crawlers, bots that ignore robots.txt, and automated scrapers, protecting server resources and preventing unwanted search engine indexing for privacy-focused sites.

    Cost / License

    • Free Personal
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Go (Programming Language)
    • Docker
     
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    1
    Comments about Anubis as an Alternative to reCAPTCHA
    Jesus Deboussier
    Negative
    0

    I put this on my company page and now my colleagues think I'm into furries

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    reCAPTCHA Icon
    Anubis icon
    • Anubis is Free Personal and Open SourcereCAPTCHA is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Anubis is Lightweight and Security-focusedreCAPTCHA is not according to our users
  3. hCaptcha icon
     13 likes

    hCaptcha is designed to solve the most labor intensive problem in machine learning: labeling massive amounts of data in a timely, affordable, and reliable way.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium (Subscription)
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
     
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    2
    12
    Comments about hCaptcha as an Alternative to reCAPTCHA
    Peter Jepef
    Negative
    4

    hCaptcha say they have privacy based policies but its basically a "trust me bro" situation. Not GDPR friendly.

    Nicolas
    Positive
    -4

    I like hCaptcha for his privacy respectful policies.

    reCAPTCHA Icon
    hCaptcha icon
    • Most users think hCaptcha is a great reCAPTCHA alternative.

    • hCaptcha is the most popular Web-based alternative to reCAPTCHA.

    • hCaptcha is Freemium and ProprietaryreCAPTCHA is also Freemium and Proprietary
    • hCaptcha is Privacy focusedreCAPTCHA is not according to our users
  4. Procaptcha icon
     14 likes

    Prosopo Procaptcha redefines user verification with a unique approach that emphasizes privacy and security. It's a pioneering solution designed to offer an alternative to conventional CAPTCHA systems that often compromise user privacy.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Software as a Service (SaaS)
    • Wordpress
     
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    1
    8
    Comments about Procaptcha as an Alternative to reCAPTCHA
    Peter Jepef
    Positive
    2

    It works better, it costs less, it doesn't track your users, it has invisible challenges for humans stops bots. Need I say more?

    reCAPTCHA Icon
    Procaptcha icon
    • Almost everyone thinks Procaptcha is a great reCAPTCHA alternative.

    • Procaptcha is the most popular SaaS alternative to reCAPTCHA.

    • Procaptcha is Freemium and Open SourcereCAPTCHA is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Procaptcha is Privacy focusedreCAPTCHA is not according to our users
  5. Turnstile is Cloudflare's smart CAPTCHA alternative. It automatically chooses from a rotating suite of non-intrusive browser challenges based on telemetry and client behavior exhibited during a session.

    19 Cloudflare Turnstile alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Online
    • JavaScript
    • Software as a Service (SaaS)
     
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    1
    Comments about Cloudflare Turnstile as an Alternative to reCAPTCHA
    Jesus Deboussier
    Negative
    0

    Too easily bypassed these days unless you fork out $3000 per month for their enterprise product. Every man and his dog has written a Turnstile solver

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    reCAPTCHA Icon
    Cloudflare Turnstile icon
    • Cloudflare Turnstile is Free and ProprietaryreCAPTCHA is Freemium and Proprietary
  6. ALTCHA icon
     8 likes

    ALTCHA is a privacy-first solution built to help developers and website owners stop bots, spam, and automated abuse — without making things harder for real users. It replaces traditional CAPTCHA systems with a smarter, quieter approach to verification and threat detection.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Software as a Service (SaaS)
     
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    1
    Comments about ALTCHA as an Alternative to reCAPTCHA
    Jesus Deboussier
    Negative
    0

    Its proof of work only - this is a delay mechanism only so I don't know why its in the "stop bots" category?

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    reCAPTCHA Icon
    ALTCHA icon
    • ALTCHA is Free and Open SourcereCAPTCHA is Freemium and Proprietary
    • ALTCHA is Privacy focused, Security-focused and LightweightreCAPTCHA is not according to our users
  7. Friendly Captcha is a tool for preventing spam on your website.

    24 Friendly Captcha alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium (Subscription)
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Software as a Service (SaaS)
     
    |
    5
    Comments about Friendly Captcha as an Alternative to reCAPTCHA
    Top Positive Comment
    Guest
    3

    The most secure and privacy-aware solution on the market

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Top Negative Comment
    Peter Jepef
    2

    It doesn't actually stop bots

    Jesus Deboussier
    Positive
    0

    Complete garbage - 200 EUR per month and puppeteer users botted it immediately

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Show more comments
    3 of 5 comments
    reCAPTCHA Icon
    Friendly Captcha icon
    • Some users think Friendly Captcha is a great reCAPTCHA alternative, some don't.

    • Friendly Captcha is Freemium and ProprietaryreCAPTCHA is also Freemium and Proprietary
    • Friendly Captcha is Privacy focusedreCAPTCHA is not according to our users
  8. mCaptcha icon
     4 likes

    A no-nonsense CAPTCHA system with seamless UX | Backend component.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Software as a Service (SaaS)
     
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    1
    Comments about mCaptcha as an Alternative to reCAPTCHA
    Biep
    Positive
    0

    It is Free and Open Source. Inspectable.

    reCAPTCHA Icon
    mCaptcha icon
    • mCaptcha is Free and Open SourcereCAPTCHA is Freemium and Proprietary
    • mCaptcha is Privacy focusedreCAPTCHA is not according to our users
  9. mosparo icon
     4 likes

    mosparo is the modern solution for protecting your online forms from spam. The protection method is quite simple: mosparo blocks spam using rules matching the form’s data. The detection method is comparable to an e-mail spam filter.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Python
    • JavaScript
    • Drupal
    • Django
    • PHP
    • Mautic
    • Wordpress
     
  10. Private Captcha icon
     16 likes

    Private Captcha is an independent, privacy-first, self-hostable Proof-of-Work CAPTCHA service made in EU. Instead of asking users to solve complex puzzles or track their behavior, Private Captcha solves an invisible cryptographic task in the background.

    Cost / License

    • Free Personal
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Docker
     
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    3
    Comments about Private Captcha as an Alternative to reCAPTCHA
    Guest
    Positive
    -1

    It's the only one that has solid backend code (frontend parts all have the same)

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Guest
    Positive
    -1

    It has many pre-built integrations

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    bogatyrjov
    Positive
    -1

    GDPR-complisnt and self-hosted.

    reCAPTCHA Icon
    Private Captcha icon
    • Private Captcha is Free Personal and ProprietaryreCAPTCHA is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Private Captcha is Privacy focused and LightweightreCAPTCHA is not according to our users
  11. GeeTest protects your websites, mobile apps and APIs from bad bot attacks with zero user friction. Its self-learning defense model based on Graph Convolutional Networks and massive volumes of biometric data collected in the past 7 years allows GeeTest to identify and mitigate...

    Cost / License

    • Subscription
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Software as a Service (SaaS)
     
    • GeeTest CAPTCHA is the most popular commercial alternative to reCAPTCHA.

    • GeeTest CAPTCHA is Paid and ProprietaryreCAPTCHA is Freemium and Proprietary
  12. The Arkose Labs platform undermines the economic drivers behind fraud until perpetrators are compelled to abandon attacks. Real-time risk classification of traffic with interactive enforcement challenges, the solution defeats automated attacks...

    Cost / License

    • Subscription
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Software as a Service (SaaS)
     
12 of 29 reCAPTCHA alternatives