Self-Hosted reCAPTCHA Alternatives

reCAPTCHA is not available as a self-hosted solution but there are plenty of alternatives for power users and business that want to host a solution on-premise. The best Self-Hosted alternative is Cap Captcha, which is both free and Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 25 alternatives to reCAPTCHA and 12 are available as a self-hosted solution so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Self-Hosted alternatives to reCAPTCHA are Anubis, ALTCHA, mCaptcha and Private Captcha.

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reCAPTCHA alternatives page was last updated

Alternatives list

  1. Cap Captcha icon
     25 likes
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    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
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    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.

    47 Anubis alternatives

    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. ALTCHA icon
     8 likes
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    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
  4. mCaptcha icon
     4 likes
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    A no-nonsense CAPTCHA system with seamless UX | Backend component.

    30 mCaptcha alternatives

    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
  5. Private Captcha icon
     16 likes
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    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
  6. mosparo icon
     4 likes
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    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
     
  7. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    conCaptcha is a self-hosted captcha which is faster, more user-friendly and more customizable than other captchas - available for PHP and ASP.NET websites. Users no longer have to read any annoying text images, solve difficult math equations or play any puzzle games.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
     
  8. InputGuard icon
     1 like
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    InputGuard is the privacy friendly alternative to reCAPTCHA or other captcha tools.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium (Subscription)
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Software as a Service (SaaS)
     
  9. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Multilingual captcha developed by and for EU countries.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
     
  10. UniqPin icon
     3 likes
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    UniqPin is a free for non-commercial use service which destiny improve ability of interfaces detect a human or a computer operate with it.

    Cost / License

    • Free Personal
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • JavaScript
    • PHP
     
  11. Captcheck icon
     Like
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    Open source reCAPTCHA alternative.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
     
  12. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Easy to use - Nothing stupid your visitors have to type before the form submits.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • PHP
     
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    2
    Comments about phpformmailer as an Alternative to reCAPTCHA
    Guest
    Negative
    4

    It is not a captcha functionality.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Guest
    Negative
    0

    It is not a captcha functionality

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    reCAPTCHA Icon
    • phpformmailer is Free and ProprietaryreCAPTCHA is Freemium and Proprietary
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