Are you infuriated by spammers on your website that send you irrelevant links and unsolicited advertisements? Or…
Are you tired of getting the same type of comment spam on your blog or web board? Is it really frustrating you?
If yes, then you should be looking for a better tool to handle this junk.
However, you need not worry about anything…
This hCaptcha review post is exclusively created for you. Here you will get complete instructions on how to deal with these issues.
No matter what your online profession is, whether you are a blogger, marketer, or entrepreneur, your website contains different forms of collecting information from your audience. Even though this is an essential step for interacting with your audience, the major disadvantage to using these forms is that they attract spammers.
You would be surprised to know that a number of businesses and individuals exploit these forms by using malicious bots to send spam and promotional emails, causing a loss of business and negatively impacting your reputation.
If you want to avoid such problems, you need to find a way out. And one of the best ways to do so is through Captcha.
Fortunately, there are several options available to CAPTCHA service providers on the market. However, not all of them can provide you with the quality service you deserve. So, before choosing an option, ensure that you are making the right decision.
Therefore, we have come up with an in-depth post that will help you choose the perfect solution for your needs.
hCaptcha Review: Google’s reCaptcha Alternative
In this review article, we are going to discuss hCaptcha – a popular alternative to Google’s reCaptcha. Additionally, we’ll explore the reasons why you should choose hCaptcha over reCaptcha.
However, before we dive into the main topic, we need to know what CAPTCHA is all about. Maybe you are a beginner, in which case this will help you understand the topic better.
So let’s get started.
What is CAPTCHA?
CAPTCHA stands for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart”. Generally, it is used to prevent spam bots from filling out forms on a website by verifying whether a user is a human or a computer. Moreover, it prevents websites from being hacked through brute force attacks.
The idea behind CAPTCHAs is simple; When a person tries to send data to your website by filling out a form, they have to solve some puzzles presented by the Captcha system. In this way, you can make sure that those trying to access your website are human users rather than computer bots who may try to spam your site or use it for some other unauthorized purpose.
It is a well-known fact that captcha degrades the user experience of web visitors. Despite this, it plays a crucial role in preventing bots from accessing your website and it is very effective in combating bot attacks. Although you can’t completely eradicate all bots from your website, there is a chance you can drastically reduce the number of those trying to access it as much as possible.
We hope by now you understand what Captcha is about, and why it is crucial to any website. Now let’s take a brief look at Google reCaptcha.
Google reCaptcha – Introduction
Google reCaptcha is a bot protection service that has evolved continuously since its initial release in 2003, serving millions of websites with CAPTCHA services. This software is designed by Google to safeguard your website from potentially harmful bots and automated programs.
As Google continues to advance its technology, the current version of reCaptcha may seem more sophisticated and engaging than the previous version, which required users to solve simple math problems, click pictures or listen to audio captchas.
Current reCaptcha versions v3 use an advanced score system where no captcha is required to be entered by the user, making the website browsing experience smooth and seamless.
By now, we hope you understand what Captcha is and why it is necessary for every website. Additionally, you are also aware of Google reCaptcha. So, let’s get on with the main topic and review the hCaptcha.
hCAPTCHA (human Captcha) – Introduction
As an alternative to reCaptcha, hCaptcha ranks as the top alternative. It was developed by a team of developers (Machine learning-based organization Intuition machines) who were frustrated with the limitations of reCaptcha. They wanted something that could protect the website without being annoying.
The result is human-friendly CAPTCHAs that don’t require any special skills to resolve. Even though hCaptchas are easy to understand, they allow visitors to navigate your site with ease while preventing unwanted artificial traffic.
Its popularity is evident from the fact that many organizations such as Cloudflare have already switched over to it due to its advantages over Google reCaptcha.
To provide you with greater insight into hCaptcha, let’s look at some of its most important features.
hCaptcha Major Features:
- As a publisher, you can request as many challenges calls as they want without having to pay a fee.
- The level of CAPTCHA difficulty can be adjusted as per your preference.
- hCaptcha fully complies with GDPR and CCPA guidelines.
- You can earn rewards when you add hCaptcha challenges to your website.
- hCaptcha is accessible to visually impaired individuals thanks to its advanced technology.
- It is easy to integrate hCaptcha into WordPress websites by installing a plugin.
- hCaptcha challenges can be classified into four levels: Easy, Medium, Hard & Always On.
- hCaptcha does not collect any personal information about your audience, so there is no privacy concern.
Why Choose hCaptcha Over Google ReCaptcha?
We have compared the major features of both tools to help you understand why you should use hCaptcha over reCaptcha. Take a look at these:
| Features | hCaptcha | reCaptcha |
| Price | hCaptcha is a free service | Monthly free captcha request limit of 1,000,000 |
| WordPress Plugin & API | Globally available | No access to countries with a Google ban such as China. |
| Configuration | WordPress plugin and API | WordPress plugin and API |
| Browser Compatibility | Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge | Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge |
| Privacy Pass | hCaptcha enables you to reduce CAPTCHA frequency by using a privacy pass | There is no such feature available |
| Data Privacy | Do not share or use user information for advertising. | Google uses personal information for advertising purposes. |
| Mobile-Friendly | Yes | Yes |
| Captcha Difficulty Level | Adjustable | Adjustable |
| Earning Potential | CAPTCHA challenges can earn you rewards depending upon the number of challenges completed. | Not Available |
| Plugin Integration | Compatible with all major forms and website builders | Compatible with all major forms and website builders |
How to Set up hCaptcha On Your WordPress Website?
As you already understand what hCaptcha is and why you should consider using hCaptcha over Google’s reCaptcha. Now let’s see how you can set it up with your WordPress website.
There is a WordPress plugin called “hCaptcha for WordPress“ which can be used to configure hCaptcha on your website. Simply install and activate this plugin on your website and you will be able to use the Captcha security service.
In addition to that, this plugin is compatible with a wide range of form and website builder plugins, including WooCommerce, Ninja Forms, Contact Form 7, BuddyPress, bbPress, WPForms lite, and many more.
If you need native support for hCaptcha, here’s a plugin called WPForms. By using this plugin, you will be able to configure hCaptcha on your website in a few simple steps.
Here is a step-by-step process you can follow.
How to configure WPForms with hCaptcha?
WPForms is one of the popular form builder plugins for WordPress websites. This plugin allows users to create forms easily and quickly. You can also customize them according to your needs. It has an intuitive interface and supports multiple languages.
If you’re looking for a powerful yet user-friendly solution, then WPForms is definitely worth checking out.
With WPForms, you can choose between free and premium plans. You can choose any plan that suits your requirements for your website. Both free and premium plans have the option to configure hCaptcha. In general, if you need an advanced form builder with advanced integration, you need to choose from various premium WPForms plans depending on your website needs.
Check out this exclusive link to get a 50% flat rate discount on WPForms for today!
Here are some major steps you need to follow to Set up hCaptcha In WPForms –
Step 1: Install & Activate WPForms Plugin
If you’ve purchased the WPForms premium plan, you’ll find the plugin zip file in your WPForms dashboard. Then you simply need to install and activate the plugin on your WordPress site. Alternatively, you can download and install the free version from here.
Step 2: Access to the WPForms settings
You must first log in to your WordPress site and then navigate to WPForms » Settings. Then, click on the “CAPTCHA” tab.
Then there are three options there that you can choose from – hCaptcha, reCaptcha, and none. Simply select the hCaptcha option.
Step 3: Generate hCaptcha Site Key
The next step is to generate a site key in your hCaptcha account so you can connect to WPForms. If you don’t have an account, you can register for free here.
Once you’ve logged into your hCaptcha account, then you will see the “New Site” button in the upper right corner. Simply click on the button.
Once you click on the “New Site” button, the new dashboard will appear. Your first step is to give your site a name or label by tapping the pencil icon.
Then, in the Hostnames column, enter the URL of your website. After that, move the slider to set the CAPTCHA difficulty level.
There is one last column where you can select your interests. The CAPTCHAs will then display information based on the interests that you’ve selected.
Upon completion of the configuration, click the Save button.
Once you save the configuration settings, it will redirect you to your site key settings. To access your site key, simply click on the “Settings” button.
On the next screen, you will find your full site key under the Sitekey section.
Simply copy the key, go back to your WordPress dashboard, and paste it into your WPForms settings under the site key settings.
Step 4: Generate hCaptcha Secret Key
Now you will be asked to enter the Secret Key. For this again go back to your hCaptcha account.
From there, select the “Settings tab”. You will find your secret key here.
Copy the key then paste it back into the WPForms settings.
Once your hCaptcha keys have been added, you can also manage the other settings. Here is a summary of each setting:
- Fail Message: Any user who fails the hCaptcha verification test will receive this error message.
- No-Conflict Mode: If you plan to use more than one CAPTCHA service on your website, enable the no-conflict mode.
- Preview: In this setting, you will be able to view a preview of your hCaptcha. If your settings are incorrect, you will see an error message, so check your settings to ensure you have entered your keys correctly.
Step 5: Add hCaptcha to your forms
Congratulations! You have successfully configured your WPForms with hCaptcha keys. Now you can add hCaptcha to any of your WPForms.
First of all, go to the form builder option. Here on the left side menu, you will find a variety of form field options including name, email, number, checkboxes, hCaptcha, and many more. Simply click on the hCaptcha field to proceed.
By clicking the hCaptcha field, you will see a popup notification and at the top right of the form, you will see the “hCaptcha Enabled” badge.
Further, you can select whether or not hCaptcha should be enabled in a form. You can do this by going to Settings >> General and toggling the Enable hCaptcha option.
Step 6: Validate the hCaptcha
With WPForms, a Captcha can be validated before adding to a website page or post. You can do this by going to WPForms >> All Forms, then hovering your mouse over the form title to display an additional menu of options. Once the options are displayed, select the “preview” option.
On the preview page, you will see a Captcha button. By clicking the button, you will see a challenge, meaning the hCaptcha was embedded and properly working on your form.
It’s all about using WPForms for hCaptcha on your website. For more information, please visit this page on the official website.
Final Thoughts – hCaptcha Review
hCaptcha is definitely a popular alternative to Google’s reCaptcha if you’re looking for something different. It has its own set of pros and cons but it does offer a good solution for those who want to keep their data safe while still having a captcha system on their websites.
In this article, we have explained what is hCapcha and why it is such a popular alternative to Google’s reCaptcha.
Have you ever applied hCaptcha to your website? Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below!
Also, we urge you to share this post with your friends and family so that it can reach a wider audience. Also, you are welcome to contact us should you have any concerns or further questions.
