Frequently Asked Questions

Should I use reCAPTCHA Enterprise?

reCAPTCHA Enterprise offers up to 10,000 assessments per month at no cost and also provides additional features. Other features such as real time analytics provide the best place to start for most developers. Get started here.

Can I use reCAPTCHA with third party solutions?

Yes, you can use both reCAPTCHA (non-Enterprise version) and reCAPTCHA Enterprise. Typically the third party solution asks for your public key and either your secret key or your API key. Make sure to only provide your secret key and API key to trusted third parties.

How to migrate to reCAPTCHA Enterprise from v2 or v3?

The migration process takes 5-10 minutes to complete and requires no code changes.

Should I use reCAPTCHA v2 or v3?

reCAPTCHA v3 is for site owners who want more data about their traffic. For more information, see the reCAPTCHA v3 developer guide.

We support security and usability for v2.

For more information about reCAPTCHA v2 and v3 differences, see versions comparison.

Does reCAPTCHA use cookies?

reCAPTCHA sets a necessary cookie (_GRECAPTCHA) when executed for the purpose of providing its risk analysis. If you prefer to not use the www.google.com domain which may have other cookies set, you can use www.recaptcha.net instead.

Are there any QPS or daily limits on my use of reCAPTCHA?

If you wish to make more than 1000 calls per second or 1000000 calls per month, you must use reCAPTCHA Enterprise or fill out this form and wait for an exception approval. If a site key exceeds 1000 QPS, then some requests may not be processed. If a v3 site key exceeds its monthly quota, then site_verify may fail open by returning a static score 0.9 and an error message `"Over free quota."` for the remainder of the month. There are no user-visible indications when v3 sites are over quota. If a v2 site key exceeds its monthly quota, then the following or a similar message may be displayed to users in the reCAPTCHA widget for the remainder of the month: `This site is exceeding reCAPTCHA quota.` Before quota is enforced, site owners will be notified by email three times and given at least 90 days to migrate to reCAPTCHA Enterprise. Site keys are considered over quota if more than 1000000 calls per month are used for any domain. This includes if this volume is spread across multiple keys on the same domain.

I'd like to hide the reCAPTCHA badge. What is allowed?

You are allowed to hide the badge as long as you include the reCAPTCHA branding visibly in the user flow. Please include the following text:

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google
    <a href="https://policies.google.com/privacy">Privacy Policy</a> and
    <a href="https://policies.google.com/terms">Terms of Service</a> apply.

For example:

Note: if you choose to hide the badge, please use 

.grecaptcha-badge { visibility: hidden; }

I'd like to run automated tests with reCAPTCHA. What should I do?

For reCAPTCHA v3, create a separate key for testing environments. Scores may not be accurate as reCAPTCHA v3 relies on seeing real traffic.

For reCAPTCHA v2, use the following test keys. You will always get No CAPTCHA and all verification requests will pass.

  • Site key: 6LeIxAcTAAAAAJcZVRqyHh71UMIEGNQ_MXjiZKhI
  • Secret key: 6LeIxAcTAAAAAGG-vFI1TnRWxMZNFuojJ4WifJWe

The reCAPTCHA widget will show a warning message to ensure it's not used for production traffic.

How can I avoid stepping into reCAPTCHA code when debugging my site?

To avoid stepping into the reCAPTCHA code while debugging other JavaScript on your site, add the reCAPTCHA script /recaptcha__.+\.js$ to your browser's ignore list. For instructions for Chrome, refer to Ignore a custom list of scripts. Similar features are available in other browsers.

How can I see more about my website's traffic?

reCAPTCHA reports daily stats in the admin console.

Can I use reCAPTCHA globally?

Yes, please use "www.recaptcha.net" in your code in circumstances when "www.google.com" is not accessible.

  • First, replace <script src="https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api.js"></script> with <script src="https://www.recaptcha.net/recaptcha/api.js"></script>
  • After that, apply the same to everywhere else that uses "www.google.com/recaptcha/" on your site.

Can I customize the reCAPTCHA widget or badge?

Yes. reCAPTCHA offers two themes, light and dark, as shown below. To choose a theme, simply set the data-theme attribute in the grecaptcha.render parameter.

Light theme:

Dark theme:

How can I customize reCAPTCHA v3?

The JavaScript API available for Invisible reCAPTCHA also works for v3. Simply use the JavaScript API to explicitly render reCAPTCHA with a v3 site key to access options such as repositioning the badge or changing the theme.

When rendering reCAPTCHA v3 with this method, remember to set the size parameter to 'invisible' and use the client ID returned by grecaptcha.render when calling grecaptcha.execute instead of the site key.

Recently my reCAPTCHA widget started displaying "Invalid site key". What's happening?

If you are seeing this error, your reCAPTCHA site key is no longer valid. To activate, please register a new key and follow the instructions on that page.

I'm getting an uncaught SecurityError: blocked a frame with origin "https://www.google.com" from accessing a frame with origin "&ltyour domain&gt". What should I do?

This typically occurs if the reCAPTCHA widget HTML element is programmatically removed sometime after the end user clicks on the checkbox. We recommend using the grecaptcha.reset() javascript function to reset the reCAPTCHA widget.

I'm using Content-Security-Policy (CSP) on my website. How can I configure it to work with reCAPTCHA?

We recommend using the nonce-based approach documented with CSP3. Make sure to include your nonce in the reCAPTCHA api.js script tag, and we'll handle the rest.

Note: reCAPTCHA also works with 'strict-dynamic' on browsers that support it.

Alternatively, please add the following values to the directives:

  • script-src https://www.google.com/recaptcha/, https://www.gstatic.com/recaptcha/
  • frame-src https://www.google.com/recaptcha/, https://recaptcha.google.com/recaptcha/

I'm getting an error "Localhost is not in the list of supported domains". What should I do?

localhost domains are not supported by default. If you wish to continue supporting them for development you can add them to the list of supported domains for your site key. Go to the reCAPTCHA Enterprise console or to the reCAPTCHA console, as appropriate, to update your list of supported domains. We advise to use separate keys for development and production, and to only allow localhost on your development site key.

Only on iOS 10, the page scrolls to the bottom when the user completes the challenge?

This is a focusing bug on Apple's side that we've reported to them. It affects users only on iOS 10 and only on some sites. If you are affected, a workaround is to move the reCAPTCHA widget higher or lower on the page, or use reCAPTCHA v3.

My computer or network may be sending automated queries?

If you were directed to this page from the reCAPTCHA widget, you would have seen a message that said "We're sorry, but your computer or network may be sending automated queries. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now."

This can unfortunately happen to good users for a few reasons:

  • You may be on a shared network that is being used abusively
  • Your internet service provider may have recently assigned you a suspicious IP address
  • The site you are trying to access may be currently under heavy attack

To troubleshoot these issues, please look at the unusual traffic help page, or try again later.

What action names are valid?

Actions might contain only alphanumeric characters, slashes, and underscores. Actions must not be user-specific.