11 WordPress Captcha Plugins: How to Install them (2019)

“I wanted to Sign in to new website that got my interest, but I could not understand the Captcha, I quit and decided to go to another website”. Have you ever faced this with your WordPress website and wonder which WordPress captcha plugin should be used for simplicity? There’s no need to be confused – we’ve all done it.

While making a website, it is vital to make a website that is safe for both users and website owner. Everybody is aware of spammers flooding the internet. They misuse the website and keep posting spam comments. As a developer or designer it is vital for you to understand what is a Captcha, why are they used and where. Here at TemplateToaster website builder software, I will be shedding some light on What is Captcha, Why they are used, Where are they used and also a list of Top 11 WordPress Captcha Plugins.

CAPTCHA Full form and Meaning

‘Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart’, short CAPTCHA. Computers are smart but not as smart as humans. A robot/computer cannot fill Captcha. Hence, Captcha is used to differentiate between human and computer.

Why is Captcha Used

It is clear Captcha is used to differentiate between humans and bots. The reason captchas are used is to protect websites from fraud users. Apart from differentiating between human and bots, it helps in preventing spam comments and does not allow spammers to misuse the website.

WordPress Captcha in Forms

Captcha is used in Forms all over the web. Forms are used to fill information that verifies who the user is, but spammers are always on the lookout to break into websites. Nowadays all website owners request captchas for their forms. Be it registration, comment, log in, lost password or sign up/in form. Even the search engine like Yahoo also uses Captcha in their login form. Here at Templatetoaster WordPress website builder, check out the free WordPress themes and comparison.

Best WordPress Captcha Plugins Comparison Chart (2019)

List of  Best WordPress Captcha Plugins

Below is a list of Top 11 best captcha plugins for WordPress. Though there are plenty still we have picked out the best so you can add Captcha to WordPress and protect your website.

Really Simple Captcha

Nowadays captchas are used daily by internet users. WordPress plugins make the problem easy like Really Simple Captcha which is the best WordPress Captcha plugin with more than +1 million active Installs. Really Simple Captcha is true to its name. Unlike other captchas that use PHP ‘Sessions’ causing conflicts, Really Simple uses temporary files making it the best captcha plugin for WordPress.

How it works

The process is quite simple. In the first step, an image file is created and then a text file with the correct answer. Both files use the same prefix ie: “a7hk3ux8p.png” and “a7hk3ux8p.txt.” Here the correct answer is ‘K5GF’. The answer is coded in the image answer of “a7hk3ux8p.png”. So the Plugin only had to calculate the hash of ‘K5GF’ and confirm from the text file. On confirmation, the Captcha is accepted. No doubt the best WordPress contact form plugin with Captcha.

How it’s used with other plugins.

Plugin Developers can follow these instructions:

Create an instance of Really Simple class

$captcha_instance = new ReallySimpleCaptcha()

The instance variables can be changed like this:

// Change the background color of CAPTCHA image to black

$captcha_instance->bg = array( 0, 0, 0 );

If you are interested in more variables, you can view the really- simple- captcha.php.

$word = $captcha_instance->generate_random_word();

You can also generate an image in the temporary directory under a corresponding text file.

$prefix = mt_rand();
$captcha_instance->generate_image( $prefix, $word );

On showing the image, you can receive the answer from the respondent.

To check if answer is correct

$correct = $captcha_instance->check( $prefix, $the_answer_from_respondent );

You can continue if the $ Correct is true. If not then you have the option to block the respondent as it is probably a bot.

Last, erase all the temporary files, as they are of no use anymore.

$captcha_instance->remove( $prefix );

You can see a live preview by seeing the Contact Form 7 from this link: https://contactform7.com/

Captcha by BestWebSoft (This plugin is not recommended as per a critical vulnerability found by Wordfence)

It is very important and easy to add Captcha to WordPress. Captcha plugin is ideal to protect your website from spammers. The captchas are math oriented hence, are tricky for humans alike. You get many benefits like:

Free features

• Add Captcha to forms
• Able to improve the captcha protection by using math, image or letters
• Hide Captcha for registered users
• Time limit for submitting Captcha can be set
• Able to refresh Captcha
• Hand-drawn images available
• Captcha title and notification are editable
• Merge any IP address via the Limit Attempts plugin along the Captcha whitelist
• Custom code can be added using the settings page of the plugin
• Compatibility with all the WordPress version
• No need to modify the code for fast setup
• Detailed tutorial available in text and video format
• RTL and Multilingual ready

The pro version is compatible with Contact Form 7, BuddyPress and WooCommerce.

SI CAPTCHA Anti-Spam

SI Captcha plugin is the best captcha plugin for WordPress. It is ideal as an anti-spam plugin and is used as a captcha plugin for WordPress like in registration form, lost password and login forms. Websites use it to protect spam comments from bots and it works perfectly with Akismet.

Google Captcha (reCAPTCHA) by BestWebSoft

Google Captcha is a Recaptcha Captcha plugin in WordPress that prevents spam entries yet allows authentic users to access with ease. The user just has to verify whether is human or not.

Free features

• Add Google Captcha Recaptcha to any form
• Able to hide
• Option to hide Google Captcha (reCAPTCHA) for users having whitelisted IP addresses [NEW]
• You can check the validity of keys from the admin panel
• Google Captcha (reCAPTCHA) themes available for version 1 include red (default), white, black glass, white and clean
• Version 2 has light theme as default and dark ad optional.
• For some user usage the Google Calendar (reCAPTCHA)can be hidden
• Google Captcha (reCAPTCHA) supports both version 1and 2
• Custom code can be added via the settings page of the plugin
• Compatibility with all latest WordPress versions
• Easy settings
• Easy to read documents and videos for tutorial
• RTL and Multilingual ready

Pro Features include:

• Ability to select language yourself for Google Captcha (reCAPTCHA)
• All subsites of the network are configurable
• For version 2 size is configurable

Compatibility with:

• Subscriber
• Contact Form 7 ( since v3.4)
• Multilingual

Compatibility with WooCommerce:

• Lost password form
• Checkout billing form
• Registration form
• Login form

Compatibility with BuddyPress:

• Comments from
• Register firm
• Create group form

Math Captcha

Math Captcha is probably the best WordPress contact form plugin with Captcha available in WordPress plugins. Simple math captcha has to be resolved to access the website.

Features

• Able to choose which form requires math Captcha
• Select from -, +, / or x options
• Ability to display in characters or numeric
• Able to show more than one Captcha
• Block spam bots from accessing wp.coment.post.php
• .pot file available for transfer

No CAPTCHA reCAPTCHA

This is probably the simplest captcha plugin for WordPress available with which you can add the new NO CAPTCHA reCAPTCHA available by Google for your WordPress registration, comments or log in for sites including BuddyPress registration form.

Features

• Able to choose activation if Captcha in registration, comments, log in and BuddyPress registration form
• Theme options for captcha
• User language auto- detected

Preferable Plugins

WooCommerce: protection from spam in registration, password reset and log in from

ProfilePress: A WordPress form builder that assists in making customised logins based on short-code.

OmniPay: It is the main access to many payment providers such as PayPal, WePay, Authorize.net and acts as an extension for WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.

Better WePay payment access for WooCommerce: WooCommerce powered stores are able to access not only credit cards but bank account payments for users using WePay.

Conditional Captcha

This Conditional captcha plugin for WordPress offers two modes: Basic and specially enhanced for Akismet.

Basic: Only new commentators see Captcha.

Akismet Enhanced Mode (recommended): If Akismet feels a comment is a spam, it displays a Captcha to verify if human or not.

This plugin is based on a simple text format. To get a more robust (requires free API key)you can use reCAPTCHA as well.

Captcha Code

Add Captcha to WordPress via Captcha Code Plugin and block spam or bots from accessing your website. The user has to type the code shown in the image to get access. Ideal for registration, lost password and comments form.

Features

• Admin can decide Captcha should be viewable or not
• Admin selects type of letters (small, capital or both) to be displayed
• Admin selects setup of Captcha (alphabet, numeric or both)
• Translation available

Advanced noCaptcha reCaptcha

If you want to have No Captcha in your forms then this is the plugin for you. Be it WooCommerce, Contact Form 7 or BuddyPress this is the plugin for you. This advanced noCaptcha recaptcha implements with other plugins easily.

Show noCaptcha on (apart from WooCommerce and contact form 7):

• FEP Contact Form
• Multi-site user sign up
• bbPress reply to topic

Options

• Language and theme are changeable
• Size is adjustable

Captcha Bank – Best Captcha Plugin

Just like its name, you can bank your money on Captcha Bank Plugins security. You will forget what is spam once you install this plugin. Not only spam but bots will also not be able to access your website.

Features

• Simple math operations
• Customized text Captcha
• Make Captcha by adding lines, blur images etc
• Make Captcha case sensitive
• Decide where to show Captcha
• Captcha supports Contact Form 7, BuddyPress and WooCommerce
• Email notification available

Uber reCaptcha

To say this is the best WordPress Captcha plugin is an understatement. Uber reCaptcha is probably the most useful Plugin of all. Uber takes care of spam right to its roots.

Features

• Plugin supports audio and images
• Generate Recaptcha image and predefined audio type available
• Recaptcha protection available for WordPress
• Recaptcha protection available for WordPress Comments form and WordPress recover password form

How to Install a CAPTCHA Plugin

For Demonstration purposes, We are going to show how you can install a Simple Captcha plugin for your WordPress website and keep spam away. Here are the Steps to Installation:

1. Automatically install via Plugins. From WordPress menu select AddNew. You can also upload the Captcha folder directly to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
2. From the WordPress Plugins menu activate the plugin.
3. Updates automatically. If prompted click on “Upgrade Automatically”, via the Admin menu. If you ever require to manually update just deactivate, then uninstall and reinstall the new version.

Bonus WordPress Captcha Plugin: Wp-Bruiser {no- Captcha anti-Spam}

Since we are on eradicating spam and bots, here is a Plugin that does not have Captcha but will be helpful if you want protection without captcha.

The plugin is based on algorithm data and protects your website against bots and spam. Once installed it tirelessly tackles all the spambots and any brute force filtration giving you a secure website. Wp- Bruiser is packed with features and brute force protection. Check out WordPress brute force protection plugins, WordPress security plugins.

Which WordPress Captcha Plugins you are using ?

Blocking spam and bots from your website is very important, not only for your site but the users as well. At times information is taken from users like their email ids. Spammers are bad for you and your website users. With these plugins, you can eradicate spam and secure your website giving a secure experience to your users. Now after analysing all WordPress Captcha Plugins, if you are looking to secure your website from spammers to prevent inevitable loss of your Brand Reputation, Download TemplateToaster, a WordPress theme Builder used for designing WordPress themes without the hassle of coding while providing full compatibility with all the plugins mentioned in this article.