Free CAPTCHA and Bot Protection Services
Which CAPTCHA and bot protection services a startup can protect its sign-up and contact forms with for free today, how many verifications the free plan allows, whether a card is needed and what the first paid plan costs, read from each provider's own page.
Free allowances read on each provider's own pages, all checked on or after . CAPTCHA services change their free plans from time to time: confirm the terms on the provider's page before you rely on it.
CAPTCHA services a startup can use for free today include Cloudflare Turnstile (Free plan, unlimited challenges), ALTCHA (Open-source widget, free forever), Google reCAPTCHA (Free up to 10,000 assessments a month), Cap (open-source CAPTCHA) (Free and open source, Apache 2.0), and hCaptcha (Basic plan $0, bot mitigation). Each of the 8 free plans below links to the provider's page that states it, with its main limit, its verification caps, whether a card is needed and what the first paid plan costs.
Bots fill sign-up forms with fake accounts and contact forms with spam. CAPTCHA services check that a visitor is human, often invisibly, and several are free up to a monthly limit; open-source CAPTCHAs use proof-of-work and run on your own server.
The headline rarely tells you how far it goes. Free plans cap verifications a month, allow one domain or are for non-commercial sites only, and invisible or passive modes are sometimes paid. Each service below shows what is free, its main limit, its verification caps, whether a card is needed and what the first paid plan costs, quoted from the provider's own page with the date we read it.
Which services we picked and the order they appear in are our editorial choices; the terms are the providers'. Some of these providers pay us a referral commission when someone signs up through our link: those links are labeled, and they play no part in which services are listed or where.
CAPTCHA services with a free plan
Stop bots on your forms with a hosted check, free to start.
- 1
Cloudflare Turnstile
Sites that want checks visitors never solve
Turnstile's Free plan allows unlimited challenges, with up to 20 widgets per account and no credit card to start. Enterprise is priced by sales, and its page shows no price.
- Payment card
- No credit card required (source: cloudflare.com)
Start free at CloudflareTerms read on developers.cloudflare.com on Cloudflare Turnstile: the free allowance and how to start - 2
Google reCAPTCHA
Small sites: up to 10,000 assessments a month
reCAPTCHA Essentials is free up to 10,000 assessments, counted per organization across all accounts and sites. Premium adds a flat $8.00 for 10,001 to 100,000 assessments.
Start free at GoogleTerms read on cloud.google.com on Google reCAPTCHA: the free allowance and how to start - 3
hCaptcha
Basic bot mitigation at no cost
Basic is $0 with leading bot mitigation. Passive mode and custom themes come with Pro, from $99 a month billed yearly.
- First paid plan
- Pro: $99 a month billed yearly (source: hcaptcha.com)
- 4
Friendly Captcha
Non-commercial sites with low traffic
The free plan covers non-commercial websites with one protected domain and up to 1,000 requests a month. Commercial sites need a paid plan.
Start free at Friendly CaptchaTerms read on friendlycaptcha.com on Friendly Captcha: the free allowance and how to start - 5
Prosopo (Procaptcha)
Form protection with no monthly fee
Procaptcha is free for up to 10,000 requests a month on one site, for form protection. Professional costs from $39 a month for 100,000 requests.
- Verifications
- 10,000 requests a month (source: prosopo.io)
- First paid plan
- Professional: from $39 a month (source: prosopo.io)
Start free at ProsopoTerms read on prosopo.io on Prosopo (Procaptcha): the free allowance and how to start - 6
MTCaptcha
Personal sites and testing
Free is 10,000 Captcha evaluations a month on one domain. Core, for small production sites, is $29 a month, or $25 billed yearly.
- Verifications
- 10,000 evaluations a month (source: mtcaptcha.com)
- First paid plan
- Core: $29 a month, $25 billed yearly (source: mtcaptcha.com)
Start free at MTCaptchaTerms read on mtcaptcha.com on MTCaptcha: the free allowance and how to start
Open-source CAPTCHAs you can self-host
Run proof-of-work or puzzle checks on your own servers, free.
- 1
ALTCHA
Small sites that want a self-hosted captcha
The open-source ALTCHA widget is free forever, with no sign-up, API keys or usage limits, and it is MIT licensed.
- Verifications
- No usage limits (source: altcha.org)
- 2
Cap (open-source CAPTCHA)
Teams that want to self-host with no quotas
Cap is free and Apache 2.0 licensed. It runs entirely on your own server, with no quotas or per-request fees.
- Verifications
- No quotas or per-request fees (source: capjs.js.org)
Start free at Cap CAPTCHATerms read on capjs.js.org on Cap (open-source CAPTCHA): the free allowance and how to start
Also useful for founders
Referral links, picked for fit and ordered by fit (70%) and what a signup earns us (30%), at no cost to you. They never change this page's ranking.
ScraperAPIScraping API that handles proxies, browsers and CAPTCHAs for you1,000 API creditsReferral link
Parallel AIAutonomous AI agents for sales, marketing and support50 free credits, no cardReferral link
ColdIQOne API and MCP server for B2B sales data from 40+ providers300 free creditsReferral linkCompare the top options
How this comparison is built
The list covers CAPTCHA and bot protection services a founder can use for free today without applying to a program. The order and the "best for" notes are our editorial reading of each service's terms. Every term comes from the service's own pricing or help page on the date shown, never from a third-party list; follow each link for the full conditions. A cap on verifications a month, invisible or privacy-friendly modes kept for paid plans, commercial use on the free tier can matter more than the headline, so the comparison quotes them wherever the provider states them. Some of these services pay StartupPerks a referral commission, and their links are labeled as referral links; that decides neither whether nor where a service appears, and no service pays for a placement on this page.
Read the full methodologyCommon questions
What is the best free CAPTCHA?
By the terms each provider states, Cloudflare Turnstile's free plan has no cap on challenges, Google reCAPTCHA is free up to 10,000 assessments a month, Prosopo and MTCaptcha each give 10,000 a month free, and hCaptcha's Basic plan is $0.
Is reCAPTCHA free?
Google reCAPTCHA is free up to 10,000 assessments a month, counted per organization across all sites; past that, Premium is an $8.00 flat fee.
Is Friendly Captcha free for business?
No. Friendly Captcha's free plan is for non-commercial websites, on 1 domain with up to 1,000 requests a month.
Is there an open-source CAPTCHA?
Yes. ALTCHA is an MIT-licensed widget with no usage limits, and Cap is free and open source under Apache 2.0.
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