6 Best CAPTCHA Solving Services for Web Scraping
When automated processes encounter a CAPTCHA, they are typically halted, requiring human intervention to proceed. CAPTCHA solving services are designed to address the challenge of CAPTCHA resolution for automated tasks without direct human involvement in real-time.
This article details how CAPTCHA solving services function by combining human and artificial intelligence, and explores their operational mechanics, the types of CAPTCHAs they can address.
Based on market presence, breadth of support, and popularity within the web scraping community, here are the 6 best CAPTCHA solver services:
Top captcha solving services
Bright Data
Bright Data Web Unlocker is an all-in-one solution designed to overcome sophisticated website blocking techniques, including CAPTCHA. Bright Data’s CAPTCHA solver is often integrated with their proxy network.
Users typically interact with the CAPTCHA solver through an API. Your application sends the CAPTCHA challenge details to Bright Data’s API, and the API returns the solution (e.g., a token for reCAPTCHA).
Types of CAPTCHAs: They claim to handle various CAPTCHA types, including:
- reCAPTCHA v2 and v3
- hCAPTCHA
- Image-based CAPTCHAs
- Text-based CAPTCHAs
Pricing:
- Pay only for successful requests model.
- Pay-as-you-go: $1.5 per 1000 results
- Starting price: $500 /month(2.30 per 1,000 API calls)
2Captcha
Historically, 2Captcha built its foundation on a vast network of human solvers. They solve CAPTCHA, and their solutions are then returned to the client. This method ensures high accuracy, particularly for unusual image-based CAPTCHA that AI might struggle with.
Over time, 2Captcha has invested in AI and machine learning to handle modern challenges, such as reCAPTCHA v2/v3 and hCAPTCHA, by generating tokens through browser environment emulation and behavioral analysis.
The provider also offers proxies that you can use for your general web scraping and for their CAPTCHA-solving service. 2Captcha offers Chrome, Edge, and Firefox captcha bypass extensions.
Supported CAPTCHA types:
- Image CAPTCHAs: Text-based, arithmetic, distorted, rotated, click-on-images, etc. (solved by humans).
- reCAPTCHA: v2 (checkbox, invisible), v3 (action-based), Enterprise (AI-driven token generation).
- hCAPTCHA: AI-driven token generation.
- FunCaptcha (Arkose Labs): Often a hybrid approach, or AI for specific variants.
- Cloudflare Turnstile: Newer support, AI-driven.
- GeeTest: Supported.
Pricing:
- 2Captcha charges per 1000 solved CAPTCHAs.
- Image CAPTCHAs: Starts around $0.50-1.00 per 1000.
- reCAPTCHA v2/hCAPTCHA: Often around $2.99 per 1000.
- reCAPTCHA v3/Enterprise: Can be higher, $5.00+ per 1000
Anti-CAPTCHA
Anti-CAPTCHA is one of the older and well-established CAPTCHA solving services. Their solving method is primarily human-powered. They also leverage machine learning for pre-processing and routing, especially for reCAPTCHA and hCAPTCHA. Anti-CAPTCHA offers browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.
Supported CAPTCHA Types:
- Image CAPTCHAs: Strong for all varieties of text, arithmetic, geometric, and rotated image CAPTCHAs.
- reCAPTCHA: v2 (checkbox, invisible), v3 (score-based token).
- hCAPTCHA: Token generation.
- FunCaptcha: Supported.
- KeyCAPTCHA, DLE Captcha, and many custom image CAPTCHAs.
Pricing:
- Charges per 1000 solved CAPTCHAs.
- Prices vary by CAPTCHA type, with image CAPTCHAs typically being cheaper than reCAPTCHA or hCAPTCHA. They often have volume discounts. For instance, reCAPTCHA v2 might be around $2.99 per 1000, while basic image CAPTCHAs could be lower.
CapSolver
CapSolver is a AI-first CAPTCHA solving service that simulates realistic user behavior within a browser environment to generate valid tokens that pass the challenge such as mouse movements, clicks, and timing.
Supported CAPTCHA types:
- reCAPTCHA: v2, v3, and enterprise (often considered their specialty).
- hCAPTCHA: (A key focus, providing fast token solutions).
- FunCaptcha (Arkose Labs): (Strong support for these complex interactive CAPTCHAs).
- Cloudflare Turnstile: (Excellent support).
- GeeTest: (Supported).
- Image CAPTCHAs: While not their primary focus, they do offer AI-based OCR for simple image CAPTCHAs.
Pricing:
- Charges per 1000 solved CAPTCHAs.
- reCAPTCHA v2/hCAPTCHA: Often around $2.00-3.00 per 1000
- reCAPTCHA v3/Enterprise/FunCaptcha/Turnstile: Can be higher, often $5.00-10.00 per 1000
YesCaptcha
YesCaptcha combines a network of human solvers with advanced AI algorithms. Human solvers handle complex visual tasks, while AI is deployed for faster and more scalable solutions for specific CAPTCHA challenges. CAPTCHAs are intelligently routed to the most appropriate solver type (human or AI) based on their characteristics.
Supported CAPTCHA types:
- Image CAPTCHAs: Standard, distorted, custom variations (human-solved).
- reCAPTCHA: v2 (checkbox, invisible), v3 (token generation).
- hCAPTCHA: (Token generation).
- FunCaptcha (Arkose Labs): (Supported, often a hybrid approach).
- Cloudflare Challenges: (Can provide solutions for various Cloudflare protection mechanisms).
- GeeTest, DataDome: (Supported).
Pricing:
- Charges per 1000 solved CAPTCHAs.
- Image CAPTCHAs: Can be as low as $0.50-0.80 per 1000.
- reCAPTCHA v2/hCAPTCHA: Often around $2.00-2.50 per 1000.
CAP Monster Cloud
CAP Monster Cloud is fundamentally different from the other CAPTCHA solver APIs. It’s not an external service you send CAPTCHAs to for their workers/AI to solve. Instead, it’s a software solution. You need to set up your own local or private cloud CAPTCHA solving engine, providing maximum control, privacy, and potentially lower long-term costs.
The user set up and configure the solving engine. It uses AI and OCR (Optical Character Recognition)modules to recognize and solve CAPTCHAs. The solving method is dependent on how you train and configure it.
Supported CAPTCHA types:
- Image CAPTCHAs: Pattern-based image CAPTCHAs once trained (e.g., text, arithmetic, simple distortions). Can struggle with highly complex, random, or interactive image CAPTCHAs without significant custom training.
- reCAPTCHA v2/v3, hCAPTCHA: It has built-in modules to simulate solving these by generating tokens, but this requires significant local resources (browser instances) and configuration.
- Act as a proxy: It can be configured to act as an API endpoint, and if it can’t solve a CAPTCHA, it can forward it to an external service (like 2Captcha).
Pricing:
You typically buy a software license, not pay per solve. For very high volumes of specific, consistent CAPTCHAs, it can be significantly cheaper than external services in the long run.
What are CAPTCHAs?
CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) is a challenge designed to distinguish between automated programs (like web scrapers) and human users. They’re a security measure to prevent automated programs from performing actions intended for humans.
Why are they a problem for web scrapers?
When you encounter a CAPTCHA, your browser sends a request to the server. Your solution is sent back to the server for verification. If correct, you’re allowed to proceed; if not, you might be given a new challenge or blocked.
A scraper without a CAPTCHA solver can’t “see” an image, “read” distorted text, or “click” a checkbox based on an understanding of intent. Scrapers employ various strategies, but each comes with costs and complexities:
- CAPTCHA solving services: Sending CAPTCHA images to human solvers who manually solve them. This is slow, expensive, and adds a human dependency to an automated process.
- AI models and image recognition services: Training custom AI models to solve specific types of CAPTCHAs. This requires vast datasets and significant computational resources.
- Proxy servers: Using a pool of rotating IP addresses to bypass CAPTCHAs and appearing as too many requests from one source, which can trigger CAPTCHAs.
- Browser emulation (headless browsers): Using tools like Selenium or Puppeteer to control a real web browser to mimic human browsing more closely.
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