# Alternatives to Cap

| CAPTCHA              | Open-source | Free | Private | Fast to solve | Easy for humans | Small error rate | Checkpoints | Widget support | GDPR/CCPA Compliant | Customizable | Hard for bots | Easy to integrate |
|---------------------|-------------|------|---------|---------------|------------------|------------------|-------------|----------------|-----------------------|---------------|----------------|--------------------|
| **Cap**             | ✅          | ✅   | ✅      | ✅            | ✅               | ✅               | ✅          | ✅             | ✅                    | ✅            | ✅             | ✅                 |
| Cloudflare Turnstile| ❌          | ✅   | 🟨     | 🟨           | ✅               | ❌               | 🟨          | ✅             | ✅                    | ❌            | 🟨             | ✅                 |
| reCAPTCHA           | ❌          | 🟨   | ❌      | ✅            | ❌               | 🟨               | ❌          | ✅             | 🟨                    | ❌            | ❌             | ✅                 |
| hCAPTCHA            | ❌          | 🟨   | 🟨     | ❌           | ❌               | 🟨               | ❌          | ✅             | 🟨                    | ❌            | 🟨             | ✅                 |
| Altcha              | ✅          | ✅   | ✅      | ✅            | ✅               | ✅               | ❌          | ✅             | ✅                    | ✅            | 🟨             | 🟨                 |
| FriendlyCaptcha     | ❌          | ❌   | ✅      | 🟨           | ✅               | ✅               | ❌          | ✅             | ✅                    | ✅            | 🟨             | 🟨                 |
| MTCaptcha           | ❌          | 🟨   | 🟨     | ❌           | ❌               | 🟨               | ❌          | ✅             | ✅                    | ❌            | ❌             | 🟨                 |
| GeeTest             | ❌          | ❌   | ❌      | 🟨           | 🟨               | 🟨               | ❌          | ✅             | ✅                    | ❌            | 🟨             | 🟨                 |
| Arkose Labs         | ❌          | ❌   | ❌      | ❌           | ❌               | ❌               | ❌          | ❌             | ✅                    | 🟨            | ❌             | 🟨                 |

Note

"Hard for bots" for Cap refers to the combination of Proof-of-Work and [dynamic instrumentation challenges](https://trycap.dev/guide/standalone/options.html#instrumentation-challenges). It does not consider commercial solvers like BrightData, as I cannot verify their legitimacy myself.

## All alternatives

### Cloudflare Turnstile

Cloudflare Turnstile is a great alternative to Cap, but unfortunately, it is known for having an extremely high error rate and relies a lot on fingerprinting, especially for users using private browsers such as Brave or Librewolf.

Additionally, unlike Turnstile, Cap is open-source and self-hosted. With Turnstile, if Cloudflare's algorithm marks a user as "suspicious," you cannot override it. Cap puts the levers of control in your hands, so you decide the difficulty and strictness, not a third party.

[Full comparison: Cap vs Cloudflare Turnstile →](https://trycap.dev/guide/alternatives/turnstile.html)

### reCAPTCHA

Not only is Cap significantly smaller and faster than reCAPTCHA, it's open-source, fully free, and much more private. Cap doesn't require you to check traffic signs or solve puzzles, and it doesn't track users or collect data.

reCAPTCHA v2 ("I'm not a robot") is getting harder for humans while remaining trivial for AI solvers (especially audio challenges). v3 (Invisible) is great, but if Google thinks you are "suspicious" (e.g., using a VPN or privacy tools), it often blocks you entirely or forces a hard puzzle loop with no way out.

[Full comparison: Cap vs reCAPTCHA →](https://trycap.dev/guide/alternatives/recaptcha.html)

### hCAPTCHA

Pretty much the same as reCAPTCHA, however, while it's significantly more resistant to bots, it imposes a heavy "Puzzle Tax" on your users.

Users hate puzzles. They leave. Drop-off rates on hCaptcha challenges can be **5-15%** depending on difficulty. Additionally, hCaptcha's free tier is aggressive with serving puzzles to save their own costs, which hurts your conversion rates.

[Full comparison: Cap vs hCaptcha →](https://trycap.dev/guide/alternatives/hcaptcha.html)

### Altcha

Cap is slightly smaller than Altcha and includes extra features like progress tracking, instrumentation challenges, and a simpler dashboard. If you don't need these, Altcha is still a solid choice.

[Full comparison: Cap vs Altcha →](https://trycap.dev/guide/alternatives/altcha.html)

### FriendlyCaptcha

Unlike FriendlyCaptcha, Cap is completely free and self-hosted at any volume (FriendlyCaptcha's Starter plan is €9/month for 1,000 requests/month, with higher tiers as you scale).

[Full comparison: Cap vs FriendlyCaptcha →](https://trycap.dev/guide/alternatives/friendlycaptcha.html)

### MTCaptcha

MTCaptcha relies heavily on image challenges, which are usually easily solvable by LLMs and OCRs and have high drop-off rates. Cap is also lightweight, self-hostable and doesn't rely on obfuscation.

### GeeTest

Cap is free, self-hosted, and open-source, while GeeTest is a paid service. Cap is also more private and doesn't rely on tracking users or collecting data. GeeTest is also China-based, which may be a concern for some users regarding data sovereignty.

### Arkose Labs

Arkose's CAPTCHA is known for being hard, slow, and annoying for humans to solve. It is also a paid, closed-source service mostly available to big enterprises.

They also only operate in the US, Canada, Argentina, India, Israel and a small set of other countries, excluding many EU countries.

### Anubis

While Anubis is a great scraper deterrent and uses the same proof-of-work concept as Cap, it uses a low difficulty by default (which is easier for bots to solve) and does not provide a standalone CAPTCHA server.

Cap also implements dynamic instrumentation challenges, which make it harder for bots to finish the process after solving PoW.

[Full comparison: Cap vs Anubis →](https://trycap.dev/guide/alternatives/anubis.html)