Switching From reCAPTCHA to Prosopo: What's Involved

Looking for live pricing? The reCAPTCHA pricing calculator plugs your volume into Google's current tiers and returns a monthly bill. This article covers the switching mechanics — integration, verdict shape, and what your team sees post-migration.

Millions of websites worldwide use CAPTCHA services to protect their websites from spam and abuse. The most popular CAPTCHA service is Google reCAPTCHA, but it's not the only one.

We've mentioned before that Google reCAPTCHA's price hike has caused quite a stir in the digital community. In this article, we'll compare the actual costs of using Google reCAPTCHA and Prosopo Procaptcha, a private, community-powered CAPTCHA service, to help you make an informed decision about which service is right for your website. If you want a live estimate of your monthly Google bill, use our reCAPTCHA pricing calculator; if you're comparing all three of the big incumbents, the hCaptcha pricing calculator and Cloudflare Turnstile pricing page cover the others. For a feature comparison between Google reCAPTCHA and Prosopo Procaptcha, see our reCAPTCHA feature comparison.

Google reCAPTCHA cost

Google reCAPTCHA, a widely used solution for preventing spam and abuse on websites, moved to its current tiered pricing model in April 2024. Under that pricing structure, still in force today:

• Google reCAPTCHA Lite, formerly known as reCAPTCHA Enterprise, offers only 10,000 free verification requests per month, down from the previous 1,000,000.
• The reCAPTCHA Standard tier provides up to 100,000 verification requests per month at a flat cost of $8/month.
• For higher volumes, reCAPTCHA Enterprise is priced at $1 per 1,000 requests per month above the 100,000 threshold.

Prosopo Procaptcha cost

Procaptcha, the private, GDPR compliant CAPTCHA service, offers competitive pricing options tailored to varying usage levels, with clear pricing tiers unlike Google reCAPTCHA:

• 0 - 10,000 verification requests: Free of charge
• 10,000 - 100,000 verification requests: $39 per month
• 100,000 - 200,000 verification requests: $59 per month
• 200,000 - 500,000 verification requests: $99 per month
• 500,000 - 1,000,000 verification requests: $139 per month
• Above 1,000,000 requests, or to protect your API and whole site as well as your forms, Enterprise (Prosopo Protect) starts at $1,990 a month, and Custom at $3,300 a month. See the pricing page.

The reCAPTCHA pricing calculator will convert your monthly assessment volume to a live estimate against both providers, useful for anyone modelling the Google reCAPTCHA cost against Procaptcha before switching.

How much can I save with Prosopo Procaptcha?

Comparing the pricing structures of Google reCAPTCHA and Prosopo Procaptcha reveals potential cost savings for websites with moderate to high verification request volumes. For instance, a website with 200K verification requests per month would incur charges of $59 with Procaptcha, while Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise would cost $108 for the same volume ($8 base plus $100 for the 100k requests above the flat-fee tier). At 500K verification requests the numbers diverge sharply. Procaptcha stays at $99/month while reCAPTCHA Enterprise climbs to $408/month ($8 base plus $400 for the 400k above the flat-fee tier), a saving of $3708 annually on that single site.

For websites with higher verification request volumes, the cost savings can be even more substantial. For example, a website with 2M verification requests could be saving tens of thousands of dollars annually by using Prosopo.

How to Switch from Google reCAPTCHA to Prosopo Procaptcha

Step-By-Step Guide for Switching

Prosopo Procaptcha is a drop-in replacement for reCAPTCHA and traditional CAPTCHAs. With its simple API, it will only take a few minutes to make the transition for most websites and applications.

Create an Account at Prosopo

To use Prosopo Procaptcha you first need to create an account. If you are looking for a GDPR-compliant CAPTCHA that guarantees that your user's data will never be transferred outside the EU.

Create an Application and API Key

After creating your Prosopo Procaptcha account, you will receive a sitekey via email. Click on the link in the email to verify your account. Copy the sitekey and keep it in a safe place, we will need it later.

Swap Out the Client Code

To use Prosopo Procaptcha in your website, you first need to replace the JavaScript library provided by reCAPTCHA with the Procaptcha one.

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<script src="https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api.js"></script>

+
<script type="module" src="https://js.prosopo.io/js/procaptcha.bundle.js" async defer></script>

You are now ready to add the new Procaptcha widget. Make sure to replacewith the sitekey you received when you signed up. If you have used reCAPTCHA on multiple pages, make sure to update all of them.

+
<div data-sitekey="<your sitekey>"></div>

Change the Backend Verification

To verify the CAPTCHA solutions, you need some code in your backend that calls the Prosopo API. It is very similar to the way reCAPTCHA works, but it also needs to be updated. This depends a lot on what programming language and framework you are using on the backend, please take a look at our documentation to see what you need to change.

For a more detailed guide on how to integrate Prosopo Procaptcha, check out our documentation.

The Benefits of Making the Switch – Protect Your Contact Forms, Registration Forms or Login Pages

By following these steps and taking a few minutes to replace reCAPTCHA with Prosopo Procaptcha, you can enjoy the benefits of choosing the only private, community powered CAPTCHA solution and one of the best reCAPTCHA alternatives. Your users will see an improvement in usability and accessibility by not having to interact with the CAPTCHA, and you will have an easier time complying with privacy standards such as GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA.

Conclusion

While Google reCAPTCHA remains a popular choice for many websites, its 2024 price restructure, and the fact that the pricing has stayed at those levels since, continues to prompt organisations to explore alternative solutions such as Prosopo Procaptcha. By offering competitive pricing and comparable features, Prosopo Procaptcha presents an attractive option for businesses seeking to maintain web security while minimising costs. The decision between Google reCAPTCHA and Prosopo Procaptcha will depend on the specific needs and budgetary considerations of each website owner.

You can model your own monthly reCAPTCHA cost against Procaptcha using our reCAPTCHA pricing calculator. Procaptcha starts at the same $0 as reCAPTCHA's free tier but keeps the numbers below Google's every month after the tenth thousand verification, and includes the spam filter and per-endpoint policies reCAPTCHA does not. If you are also evaluating hCaptcha or Cloudflare Turnstile, the hCaptcha pricing calculator and Cloudflare Turnstile pricing page cover those two, though at every volume above the free tier Procaptcha comes in cheaper than hCaptcha Pro and includes the per-endpoint policies Turnstile reserves for Enterprise.