WordPress Captcha Plugins That Are Highly Effective Against Bots in 2021

• Manish Sharma

• 16 Aug 2020

Have you ever been visiting a website or completing a transaction and are asked to tick the “I am not a robot box” or type a series of distorted letters? Captchas are something we’ve all become familiar with, but what is their actual purpose? Let’s take a look at some of the best WP captcha plugins that can keep your website safe and readily accessible to visitors.

Captcha is a program designed to ensure that the website or application is being used by a human and not a robot or spammer with malicious intentions. The program is a machine-generated challenge-response test that website designers include to protect their website from fake users, machinated robots, or spammers.

Captchas offer a dependable security check that brings a comfort level in the users’ minds while accessing their accounts on a website or application. It also protects the site from hackers or cyber miscreants.

Different types of Captcha

Captchas are used to give the user account ample protection from information stealers or fake users. These encourage some action from the user to qualify for access to the website. It brings an element of exclusivity to the use of the website. There are a variety of different captchas, many of which you’ve likely encountered in the past.

Simple math problem:

The users solve this captcha by doing a simple math calculation. The calculation is as simple as ‘1+3′ or 3+4’ and so on. While it does not annoy the customers or eats up their time while trying to access their own account, the math captcha does not guarantee that the site is secure enough to visit. Sites that you use but do not share any financial details are safe to access after solving such captchas.

Social media sign-in:

A social media sign-in can be a smart approach for tricking the bots away from the websites. Instead of signing in through passwords, the user may opt-in to enter the site using Facebook or Google account. Since the bots do not have any social media accounts, this captcha ensures that only valid humans are accessing the website. The only put-off for users is furnishing social media account details, which may compel some to be skeptical about using their information.

Picture identification:

Bots cannot locate objects in a picture as humans do. The picture identification captcha can differentiate between human users and bot users. Picking the odd image out and picking the pictures with a particular element in them are some of the pictures identifying captcha options. The downside of this captcha is that the user has to go through a number of tests if the answer chosen is not the correct choice. Solving picture-identification captchas one after another may be quite frustrating, forcing people to quit the idea of accessing the website.

No captcha ReCaptcha:

Google first launched ReCaptcha as another tricky way to evade bots from using the website. ReCaptcha simply asks the user to check the box that says, ‘I am not a robot.’ The users tend to check the square anywhere within the boundary, unlike the bots that will always click at the exact midpoint of the square or may not do it at all.

It is quite an effective captcha rendering unmatched security to the website. Users may get discouraged by the set of tests thrown on them when they do not tick the box as required. Sometimes it is not their fault, and the tests become too testing for their patience.

Confident ReCaptcha:

Confident ReCaptcha is a type of image-based captcha. It consists of more than one page. The users do tasks like ‘click all squares having a dog.’ It can be a lengthy validation process but offers sufficient security about the visitor’s identity. This kind of captcha allows the website owners to monetize for their purposes, and make money from every correct answer submitted. Bots cannot perform image identification, which makes a point of differentiation from humans.

Invisible ReCaptcha:

With Invisible ReCaptcha, there is no form to be filled or activity to be completed. The websites just gauge the way the user is navigating through the site. Bots navigate differently and may not scroll or hover over some points on the websites that humans do. This captcha allows the website to monitor the bot’s invasion attempt, eventually denying access.

Honeypot:

Honeypot is one of the most intelligent captchas that are hard to beat. This captcha includes some hidden fields on the form page or web page. The human user cannot see these fields and fills the visible ones only, but the bot fills the hidden ones, following which the website owners deny access. Hidden fields are a useful way to trick the bot into being denied access.

Time-based captcha:

Often times bots will fill a form faster than a human. The time taken to fill the form acts as a differentiator, and the user is saved from the ordeal of doing multiple exercises to get access to the website. Time-based captchas offer a win-win situation for the website owner and the visitor.

Biometric:

Biometric captcha, as the name suggests, involves the recording of fingerprints for accessing the website. This captcha is yet to come on all devices, but in the future biometric captchas, will means users won’t be required to fill any forms or identify pictures. Biometric captchas will help users access websites faster.

Free WordPress Captcha plugins suggestions

Here are some of the free WordPress captcha plugin options that you can use when creating a website with added security features.

Captcha Code:

Captcha code is an impressive plugin with clean results. Developers can add it to any page they want. Users will be required to fill in the code given to complete this captcha. This captcha plugin is ideal for the website sections such as:

• Login forms
• Lost password forms
• Comments forms
• Registration forms

The plugin collects the bots’ spamming from various sections and puts them in the website’s spam folder.

WPBruiser:

WPBruiser allows site developers to create invisible captcha forms. The plugin prevents the bots from creating spam at the very start of website use. It makes the website faster and safer, delivering a better customer experience. Apart from logins, registrations, comments, and password reset pages, this plugin prevents brute force attacks from the spam-bots. Its main advantages are:

• Invisibility
• Advanced security
• Easy configuration
• Compatibility with specific other plugins

 

Captcha Bank:

Captcha Bank is a powerful captcha validator. This captcha plugin works more effectively and does a lot more than simply prevention of spam-bots. As a result of this plugin, the bots fail to write or post any unnecessary data on the website, making it quite relevant. The main advantages are:

• Fights brute-force attack by limiting the number of attempts in the login
• Supports both simple math captcha and text captcha
• Facility to add distortion or noise to make captcha more complex

 

Math Captcha:

This plugin allows you to insert captcha forms in pages like login, reset passwords, bbPress forms and forgot password. Important features include:

• Hiding captcha for users already logged in
• Allows selecting mathematical operations to display
• Allows choosing captcha as number or words
• Allows setting captcha field title and inputting time

Since the math captcha is faster to fill, it enables more rapid access to websites. The interface is also easier to set up compared to other captcha types.

 

Google Captcha:

Google Captcha supports the easy saving of websites from spam-bots. The main requirement for this captcha includes registering the site with Google. You get a site key and secret key upon registration. It offers just one checkbox to click that says, ‘I am not a robot’ to its human users.

The main advantages of the captcha plugin are:

• Leverages Google reCAPTCHA innovation to offer added security to the website from abusive activities of bots
• Wide range of themes available 
• Easy-to-use interfaces and versions compatible with various other plugins

 

Invisible ReCaptcha:

This plugin allows you to bring the new Invisible ReCaptcha to your site that is quite advanced and impregnable. The captcha enables you to integrate the invisible validation tool on pages such as comment, log in, registration pages. This captcha also works with Gravity Forms, Contact Forms, BuddyPress, and Ultra Community.

We believe that Invisible ReCaptcha is the best captcha plugin for WordPress, as it does not interrupt the user’s experience. It quickens access to the website and provides safety to the site at the same time. However, the plugin may not work with JavaScript-empowered browsers, so you’ll want to make arrangements accordingly before implementing it.

Conclusion
Having a WordPress site captcha plugin is a great decision to keep your website safe. Captchas bring you a step closer to enhancing your website’s security and user’s data when they use your website. If you are running an e-commerce business, captchas are a must-have. When choosing a WordPress captcha plugin for your site, you must ensure that the plugin does not interfere with the codes of other add-ons you may have.