Over the past few weeks, many companies have received an email from Google informing them of a reCAPTCHA price increase effective April 1, 2024. The email briefly communicated a significant price increase for Google’s reCAPTCHA service. The new pricing includes the following terms:
The free Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise will be called Google reCAPTCHA Lite. Only 10,000 requests per month will be available for free instead of the previous 1,000,000 requests.
reCAPTCHA Standard is a new Google reCAPTCHA product tier available for up to 100,000 requests per month. The cost is $8 per 1,000 requests per month.
The new reCAPTCHA Enterprise product tier will be available starting at 10,000 requests. It is a pay-per-use plan priced at $1 per 1,000 requests per month.
Many managers are now wondering what the reCAPTCHA Enterprise pricing increase means for their company. In this article, we provide the numbers and costs that will be in effect as of April 2024. We also show what reCAPTCHA alternatives companies can use to provide web security at a lower cost.
reCAPTCHA Pricing History – From Free reCAPTCHA to Metered Enterprise Plans
Google’s reCAPTCHA web security service was the most popular CAPTCHA for a long time and was used on countless websites worldwide. One of the main reasons for the widespread use of reCAPTCHA was that it was free to use for up to 1,000,000 requests per month. This has allowed companies to secure their forms such as logins, registrations or checkout pages with transaction protection for a long time without incurring additional costs.
Starting in 2022, this argument was no longer entirely true, as Google has released the reCAPTCHA Enterprise product. The Enterprise service was designed for businesses with high daily traffic and more than 1,000,000 requests per month.
The Enterprise plan used reCAPTCHA v3. Google reCAPTCHA v3 Enterprise was designed to work as an invisible CAPTCHA without any user interaction. Instead of a CAPTCHA challenge or a picture puzzle with traffic lights or crosswalks, reCAPTCHA v3 calculated a risk score. Google then returned this score to site administrators so they could choose an appropriate action. This often meant that the older version reCAPTCHA v2, with its time-consuming visual CAPTCHA challenge, was used as a fallback to challenge users.
With the 2024 new Google reCAPTCHA product tiers, the large free requests have now been reduced from 1,000,000 to 10,000. Digital businesses and website owners of a certain size will quickly reach this low number of request per month. Those who are between 10,000 and 100,000 who do not reach the 100,000 requests per month limit will now have to use the standard reCAPTCHA plan for $8 per 1,000 calls per month. For larger enterprise customers, the Enterprise plan is available starting at 100,000 requests. Support and any special services will still be charged separately.
The popular Google service used by many businesses is no longer free. Find out how the Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise pricing structure works and how reCAPTCHA Enterprise compares to other CAPTCHA providers like Friendly Captcha.
Details of reCAPTCHA Price Changes
Let’s take a look at the exact differences in the new reCAPTCHA prices compared to the previous years. The new prices will be effective from April 1, 2024. Email notifications have been sent to existing reCAPTCHA Enterprise customers who have too many site requests and are over their plans.
For a typical volume of 50,000 requests, the previously free Google service will now cost $400/month based on the reCAPTCHA Standard tier.
For 100,000 requests at the reCAPTCHA Standard tier, $800 per month is due.
For the reCAPTCHA Enterprise product, we assume 2,000,000 requests per month. For this, reCAPTCHA Enterprise customers pay $2,000 per month without support, $2,560 with online support ($500 plus 3% of monthly costs) and up to $14,580 with in-person support ($12,500 plus 4% of monthly costs).
The new Google reCAPTCHA product tiers clearly show that Google is making a significant change in its reCAPTCHA pricing strategy. The reCAPTCHA pricing indicates a more aggressive approach to monetizing high volume traffic.
reCAPTCHA Enterprise Customers – Impact on Your Business
There is no doubt that Google has significantly increased the costs of reCAPTCHA. As such, the impact of these new prices on your business should not be underestimated. Existing reCAPTCHA Enterprise customers and anyone who joins after April 2024 will see higher ongoing costs when they are up for a contract renewal. This will be a significant financial burden, especially for those companies that formerly benefited from the free plan.
The significant price increase will ultimately lead to a re-evaluation of the current budget for website security and the strategy to be followed in the future. It is important to understand how effective your current security measures are and whether they are worth the investment. Since reCAPTCHA is no longer free for reCAPTCHA Enterprise customers, a new balance must be struck between security and cost effectiveness.
Website security is part of a rapidly changing environment. This makes it all the more important to be proactive and adapt to new circumstances. Adapting to change is essential to maintaining a secure and financially solid online presence.
However, it must not compromise the quality and effectiveness of your security measures. By regularly reviewing and adjusting your security strategies and service providers, you can better respond to new circumstances. One way to save costs is to consider a reCAPTCHA alternative.
The Price-Stable Bot Protection Solution: Friendly Captcha
The German bot protection solution Friendly Captcha is an attractive and user-friendly alternative to Google’s reCAPTCHA. Companies looking for a price-stable and cost-effective bot protection solution will find in Friendly Captcha a reliable partner for their website security.
Friendly Captcha is suitable for a wide range of applications, from small personal blogs to large corporate websites, and offers easy integration into existing systems.
The advantages of Friendly Captcha as a reCAPTCHA alternative are not only the transparency and predictability of the pricing structure. Compliance with all important data protection laws, usability, accessibility and security are also key features.
Friendly Captcha works without HTTP cookies and persistent browser storage, collects only the necessary data, and easily ensures GDPR compliance, unlike reCAPTCHA. By playing cryptographic puzzles that the end user device solves in the background, Friendly Captcha improves the user experience.
Without manual interaction and image recognition tasks, which are often perceived as annoying, bot attacks are effectively prevented. The German CAPTCHA Friendly Captcha is completely barrier-free, with no visual puzzles or check marks; there are no false positives with Friendly Captcha.
Transparent costs and direct communication with Friendly Captcha support make it easier for companies to plan their security budgets and avoid financial surprises. This is especially important in times of tight budgets. Read our reCAPTCHA pricing article to find out why switching from reCAPTCHA to Friendly Captcha is worth it.
Conclusion
Google reCAPTCHA Price Increase – What You Can Do
What has been free for many years will become chargeable for many businesses starting April 1, 2024: the Google reCAPTCHA product tiers. With the new reCAPTCHA Lite, reCAPTCHA Standard and reCAPTCHA Enterprise tiers, and the reduced number of free requests to 10,000, the new reCAPTCHA pricing model will impact most businesses of all sizes.
For small and medium sized businesses, non-profit accounts or NGOs, the change is a financial challenge, as the planned budget for web security may no longer be sufficient. For large enterprises with millions of requests and the need for personal support, the financial burden will be significant. This is an opportunity to rethink and redesign current web security strategies.
Those who analyze their cost structures now will act proactively. The reCAPTCHA price increase is a good motivation to search the market for alternative CAPTCHAs that are more cost effective and user friendly without compromising security. Friendly Captcha offers all this out-of-the-box and wins the CAPTCHA provider comparison.
Moving towards cost-conscious and user-centric security measures not only reduces the financial burden, but also improves the user experience on your websites. As privacy and usability become increasingly important, switching to Friendly Captcha will have a positive impact on your company’s image.
Ultimately, the new reCAPTCHA pricing requires strategic considerations that go beyond immediate costs to include long-term security and user satisfaction.
If you want to see how Friendly Captcha works live, check out our demo or create a test account with a 30-day trial period.
FAQ
For a long time, Google reCAPTCHA has been a free tool for many websites to protect website security. However, on April 1, 2024, this will change for many website owners. With its new pricing model, Google has reduced the number of free requests to 10,000 and introduced paid plans. Up to 100,000 requests per month, it will now cost $8 per 1,000 requests on the reCAPTCHA Standard plan. The reCAPTCHA Enterprise plan costs $1 per 1,000 requests per month.
With the new costs for using reCAPTCHA in the future, it’s time to look for alternative CAPTCHA solutions. The GDPR compliant Friendly Captcha is a German company that protects your website effectively, communicates its prices reliably and transparently, and at the same time places great importance on accessibility, usability, privacy and security. Sign up here for a free 30 day trial.
