Choosing the type of reCAPTCHA

  • There are four types of reCAPTCHA available: reCAPTCHA v3, reCAPTCHA v2 ("I'm not a robot" Checkbox), reCAPTCHA v2 (Invisible reCAPTCHA badge), and reCAPTCHA v2 (Android).

  • reCAPTCHA v3 verifies interactions without user input, returning a score for site-specific actions like authentication or bot throttling.

  • reCAPTCHA v2 options offer checkbox and invisible badge variations, prompting users with challenges based on suspicion levels and allowing integration through HTML or JavaScript.

  • The reCAPTCHA Android library, part of Google Play services SafetyNet APIs, provides native integration for Android apps, requiring setup and connection to Google Play services.

There are three types of reCAPTCHA to choose from when creating a new site. Additional types are available in the Google Cloud console.

reCAPTCHA v3

reCAPTCHA v3 allows you to verify if an interaction is legitimate without any user interaction. It is a pure JavaScript API returning a score, giving you the ability to take action in the context of your site: for instance requiring additional factors of authentication, sending a post to moderation, or throttling bots that may be scraping content.

reCAPTCHA v2 ("I'm not a robot" Checkbox)

The "I'm not a robot" Checkbox requires the user to click a checkbox indicating the user is not a robot. This will either pass the user immediately (with No CAPTCHA) or challenge them to validate whether or not they are human. This is the simplest option to integrate with and only requires two lines of HTML to render the checkbox.

reCAPTCHA v2 (Invisible reCAPTCHA badge)

The invisible reCAPTCHA badge does not require the user to click on a checkbox, instead it is invoked directly when the user clicks on an existing button on your site or can be invoked via a JavaScript API call. The integration requires a JavaScript callback when reCAPTCHA verification is complete. By default only the most suspicious traffic will be prompted to solve a captcha. To alter this behavior edit your site security preference under advanced settings.

Additional types

Additional types are available in the Google Cloud console.

reCAPTCHA v1 - Shut down

reCAPTCHA v1 has been shut down since March 2018. Please use one of the available options.