How to Add a Captcha to WordPress Forms

Knowledge Base → Forms → Form Building → Field Types → Captcha

What is Captcha?

If you are struggling with spam on your forms, Formidable Forms offers a straightforward solution to adding anti-spam protection. This guide will explore the various CAPTCHA options to help you choose the most suitable spam protection for your forms.

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CAPTCHA is an acronym for the Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. It is a test to know whether a user is a human or a bot. By implementing a CAPTCHA on your forms, you can reduce the spam submissions.

There are different types of CAPTCHA integrations: Google reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha, and Cloudflare Turnstile. These are all available with any version of Formidable Forms, including Formidable Forms Lite.

Field options

A Captcha field has the following options:

— Premium Feature —

Field-specific options

Captcha Theme

When you create a form with a Captcha field, you can choose between a light (default) or dark theme for the Captcha window. You can adjust this setting in the Captcha field options.

Captcha Size

When adding a Captcha field to your form, you can choose the size between default or compact in the field options.

How to add Captcha to your form

This guide will show you how to add a CAPTCHA field to your WordPress form in a few easy steps.

Go to Formidable → Global Settings → Captcha and select your preferred Captcha type.

reCAPTCHA. It is a well-known option that often displays challenges, like identifying objects in images. It's free for basic use, but collects user data to improve Google's services.
hCaptcha. It is similar to reCAPTCHA with challenges, but offers a free tier with a privacy focus. It claims a strong defense against sophisticated bots.
Turnstile. A free tool from Cloudflare that works behind the scenes without any challenges for most users. It relies on advanced detection to identify bots.

If you haven't yet, sign up for an account using your preferred Captcha type. Generate the API keys which will be used to connect the service to your site. Learn more on how to generate the API keys for Google reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha, or Cloudflare Turnstile.
After generating the API keys, enter the site and secret key in the Captcha settings.
Go back to your form. Look for the Captcha field option in the form builder and drag and drop it into your form.
That's it! Once you have published your form, you can protect your form from spam submissions.