Best CAPTCHA Solving APIs in 2026

You've built a scraper that works perfectly on your local machine. Then you deploy it, run a few hundred requests, and suddenly every page throws a reCAPTCHA at you. The first instinct is to find a captcha solving service and start paying per solve. But most CAPTCHAs you encounter aren't inevitable. They're symptoms. The website detected something suspicious about your requests and threw up a challenge. Fix what triggered the detection and those CAPTCHAs vanish.

This guide covers both angles. We'll dig into dedicated captcha solver APIs like 2Captcha and CapSolver for situations where you genuinely need them. We'll also explore why prevention, making your scraper invisible to bot detection, often works better than solving. Sometimes you'll want both. Let's figure out what makes sense for your situation.

5 Proven Ways to Bypass CAPTCHA in Python

Captchas can ruin web scrapers but we don't have to teach our robots how to solve them - we can just get around it all!

Understanding CAPTCHA Types

CAPTCHAs have changed a lot. The days of typing twisted letters from distorted images are gone. Modern systems check how you move your mouse, look at your browser's fingerprint, and run invisible scoring before you even see a challenge. Knowing what you're dealing with helps you pick the right approach.

reCAPTCHA v2

Google's famous "I'm not a robot" checkbox. It checks your browsing history, mouse movements, and browser behavior. Look suspicious? You'll click on traffic lights and crosswalks.

• Solving difficulty: Easy. Most services handle it well
• Cost: $1-3 per thousand solves

reCAPTCHA v3

Runs invisibly in the background, giving you a score from 0 (definitely a bot) to 1 (probably human). You never see a challenge. The website decides what score triggers a block.

• Solving difficulty: Medium. Services can generate high-score tokens, but success depends on how strict the site's threshold is
• Cost: $1-3 per thousand solves

Cloudflare Turnstile

Unlike image puzzles, Turnstile checks your TLS fingerprint, browser environment, and behavior patterns. Sometimes it flashes a brief check, often it runs completely invisibly.

• Solving difficulty: Medium. CapSolver and similar services have invested heavily in Turnstile support
• Cost: $1.20-5 per thousand solves

How to Bypass Cloudflare When Web Scraping in 2026

Cloudflare offers one of the most popular anti scraping service, so in this article we'll take a look how it works and how to bypass it.

hCaptcha

The privacy-focused alternative to reCAPTCHA. Similar image selection challenges, different underlying tech.

• Solving difficulty: Easy. Most major services support it
• Cost: $2-3 per thousand solves

FunCaptcha (Arkose Labs)

Interactive puzzles: rotate images, match dice, drag shapes. Arkose maintains over 1,250 puzzle variants and keeps adding more.

• Solving difficulty: Hard. Pure AI solvers struggle with the variety. Human-powered services like 2Captcha handle it better
• Cost: $2-3 per thousand solves

GeeTest

Combines slider puzzles with behavior analysis. It tracks your mouse path down to the millisecond, looking for the tiny flaws that separate human movement from scripts.

• Solving difficulty: Medium to hard. Support varies across services, success rates can be hit-or-miss
• Cost: $1-2 per thousand solves

Most of these challenges appear because something about your request looked automated. Use proper browser fingerprints and send requests from reputable IPs, and many sites never show you a CAPTCHA in the first place.

Two Strategies: Prevention vs Solving

Most CAPTCHA discussions jump straight into comparing solving services. That skips a basic question: should you solve CAPTCHAs or avoid triggering them entirely?

Prevention means making your requests look the same as a regular person browsing the web. Anti-bot bypass tools handle the technical details: TLS fingerprinting, browser signatures, header ordering, proxy rotation. When a site's detection system sees nothing suspicious, it doesn't throw challenges at you. No delays waiting for solves. No per-CAPTCHA fees. Better scaling.

Solving makes sense when CAPTCHAs are truly unavoidable. Some login pages show challenges to every visitor, bot or human. Checkout flows often require verification no matter how legitimate your request looks. Account creation almost always demands it. For these cases, you need a reliable solver in your toolkit.

The practical approach for production systems is to combine both. Use prevention as your primary strategy. It handles 80-90% of protected sites without any CAPTCHA work. Then wire up a solving service as your fallback for edge cases. You get the speed and cost benefits of prevention while still handling mandatory challenges when they appear.

Prevention Deep Dive: Anti-Bot Bypass

When a website's anti-bot system checks your request, it looks at multiple signals:

• Your TLS handshake fingerprint
• The order and values of your HTTP headers
• Canvas and WebGL fingerprints from your browser
• Your IP's reputation
• How you navigate the page

A suspicious signal on any of these can lower your trust score and trigger a challenge.

How to Know What Anti-Bot Service a Website is Using?

In this article we'll take a look at two popular tools: WhatWaf and Wafw00f which can identify what WAF service is used.

Anti-bot bypass technology handles all of this at once. Think of it as giving your scraper a convincing identity, one that holds up to inspection.

Scrapfly's Anti-Scraping Protection does exactly this. It's not a captcha solver. Instead, it prevents challenges from appearing by making your requests look the same as real browser traffic. The difference matters, both for your costs and your speed.

Here's what scraping a protected page looks like with prevention enabled:

from scrapfly import ScrapflyClient, ScrapeConfig

# Initialize with your API key
client = ScrapflyClient(key="YOUR_SCRAPFLY_API_KEY")

# ASP handles all the fingerprinting automatically
result = client.scrape(ScrapeConfig(
    url="https://web-scraping.dev/products",
    asp=True,  # Enable Anti-Scraping Protection
    country="US",  # Route through US residential proxies
))

# No CAPTCHA encountered
print(f"Scraped {len(result.content)} bytes successfully")

Need JavaScript rendering for a single-page application? Add it in:

from scrapfly import ScrapflyClient, ScrapeConfig

client = ScrapflyClient(key="YOUR_SCRAPFLY_API_KEY")

# Full browser rendering plus anti-bot bypass
result = client.scrape(ScrapeConfig(
    url="https://web-scraping.dev/products",
    asp=True,
    render_js=True,  # Enable headless browser
    wait_for_selector=".product",  # Wait for content to load
))

html = result.content

One important caveat: prevention works well when CAPTCHAs come from bot detection, and that's most cases. But some sites challenge every visitor no matter what. Login pages, checkout flows, account creation. For those, you still need a solver. The hybrid approach handles both cases.

Solving Deep Dive: CAPTCHA Solving APIs Compared

When prevention isn't enough, dedicated solving services step in. They come in two types:

• Browser-integrated solvers that work inside cloud browser sessions
• Token-based APIs where you extract CAPTCHA parameters, send them for solving, and inject the returned token yourself

Browser-Integrated vs Token-Based

Browser-integrated solvers like Steel.dev run inside cloud browser sessions. When a CAPTCHA appears, the service detects and solves it automatically. Your code continues without manual work. This approach is simpler but typically costs more per solve.

Token-based solvers like 2Captcha, CapSolver, and Anti-Captcha work via API. You detect the CAPTCHA, extract parameters (sitekey, URL), send them to the solving service, wait for a token, then inject it back into your session. More integration work, but lower per-solve costs and works with any automation tool.

Service Comparison

Pricing accurate as of February 2026. Check each provider's website for current rates.

Top CAPTCHA Solving Services

Here's a closer look at each service, starting with the most established options.

2Captcha

2Captcha has operated since 2007 and supports over 30 CAPTCHA types. That's the widest coverage in the industry. Human workers solve challenges in about 13 seconds for reCAPTCHA and Turnstile, with reliable accuracy across everything from basic text CAPTCHAs to complex puzzles like FunCaptcha.

Pricing runs $1-2.99/1K for reCAPTCHA v2 and $1.45/1K for Turnstile. They offer SDKs for Python, PHP, Java, C#, and JavaScript. When you need broad compatibility and proven reliability, 2Captcha is the safe choice.

Here's how to integrate 2Captcha with Playwright:

import asyncio
import httpx
from playwright.async_api import async_playwright

API_KEY = "YOUR_2CAPTCHA_API_KEY"


async def solve_recaptcha(site_key: str, page_url: str) -> str:
    """Submit reCAPTCHA to 2Captcha and wait for solution."""
    async with httpx.AsyncClient() as client:
        # Submit the challenge
        resp = await client.post(
            "http://2captcha.com/in.php",
            data={
                "key": API_KEY,
                "method": "userrecaptcha",
                "googlekey": site_key,
                "pageurl": page_url,
                "json": 1
            }
        )
        task_id = resp.json()["request"]
        print(f"Task submitted: {task_id}")

        # Poll until solved (usually 15-45 seconds)
        for attempt in range(60):
            await asyncio.sleep(5)
            result = await client.get(
                f"http://2captcha.com/res.php?key={API_KEY}&action=get&id={task_id}&json=1"
            )
            data = result.json()
            if data["status"] == 1:
                return data["request"]  # Token received
            if "ERROR" in str(data.get("request", "")):
                raise Exception(f"Solve failed: {data['request']}")

        raise Exception("Timeout waiting for solution")


async def scrape_with_solving():
    """Detect CAPTCHA, solve it, continue scraping."""
    async with async_playwright() as p:
        browser = await p.chromium.launch(headless=False)
        page = await browser.new_page()

        await page.goto("https://2captcha.com/demo/recaptcha-v2")

        # Check for reCAPTCHA
        recaptcha = await page.query_selector("[data-sitekey]")
        if recaptcha:
            site_key = await recaptcha.get_attribute("data-sitekey")
            print("reCAPTCHA detected, solving...")

            token = await solve_recaptcha(site_key, page.url)

            # Inject the solution
            await page.evaluate(f'''
                document.getElementById("g-recaptcha-response").value = "{token}";
            ''')
            print("Token injected successfully")

        content = await page.content()
        await browser.close()
        return content


asyncio.run(scrape_with_solving())

CapSolver

CapSolver built their reputation on speed. Their AI-first approach solves modern CAPTCHA types fast, often under 10 seconds. They've put a lot of work into Cloudflare Turnstile support, which pays off if that's what you're mostly seeing.

Pricing is competitive: $0.80/1K for reCAPTCHA v2, $1.20/1K for Turnstile, $1.20/1K for GeeTest. For Cloudflare-heavy workloads, CapSolver deserves consideration.

Anti-Captcha

Anti-Captcha has operated alongside 2Captcha since 2007, building a reputation for consistency. Their browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari simplify integration for certain workflows.

Pricing runs $0.95-2/1K for reCAPTCHA v2 and $2/1K for Turnstile, with solves completing in about 10 seconds. A solid alternative with particular strength in browser extension integration.

DeathByCaptcha

DeathByCaptcha runs a hybrid model: AI tackles what it can quickly, humans handle the rest. This delivers faster average solves than pure human services while maintaining high accuracy. With 17+ years in business and pricing at $2.89 per thousand for reCAPTCHA and Turnstile, they offer a solid option for teams wanting both speed and reliability.

AZcaptcha

AZcaptcha offers two pricing models: pay-per-solve at $1/1K for reCAPTCHA and hCaptcha, or unlimited plans starting at $24.9/month. The unlimited plans have a fair use limit of 200% of your plan value per day.

Success rates hover around 95%, and they cover fewer CAPTCHA types than 2Captcha. For high-volume operations where predictable monthly costs matter, the unlimited tiers simplify budgeting.

Steel.dev

Steel.dev takes a different approach as a browser-integrated solver. Their cloud browsers handle CAPTCHA detection and solving automatically. When a challenge appears, you don't write solving code. The browser handles it.

Pricing is credit-based: the $99/month Developer plan gives you credits for browser hours ($0.08/hour), captcha solves ($3.5/1K), and proxy bandwidth. The open-source core and support for AI agent frameworks appeal to developers building autonomous systems.

Here's how Steel.dev integration looks with CAPTCHA solving enabled (requires Developer plan or higher):

import asyncio
from steel import Steel
from playwright.async_api import async_playwright

# Initialize Steel client
client = Steel(steel_api_key="YOUR_STEEL_API_KEY")


async def scrape_with_auto_solving():
    """Connect to Steel's cloud browser with automatic CAPTCHA solving."""
    # Create session with CAPTCHA solving enabled (paid plan required)
    session = client.sessions.create(
        solve_captcha=True,  # Enable automatic CAPTCHA solving
    )

    async with async_playwright() as p:
        # Connect to the Steel session
        browser = await p.chromium.connect_over_cdp(session.websocket_url)
        page = await browser.new_page()

        # Navigate - CAPTCHAs are solved automatically
        await page.goto("https://2captcha.com/demo/recaptcha-v2")

        # CAPTCHA is handled by Steel
        print("Page loaded with CAPTCHA solved automatically")

        await browser.close()

    # Release the session when done
    client.sessions.release(session.id)


asyncio.run(scrape_with_auto_solving())

For basic browser automation without CAPTCHA solving, the free tier supports direct CDP connections.

Best Practices

Try prevention first. Many developers jump straight to solving services when a simpler approach would work. Anti-bot bypass handles most situations where CAPTCHAs come from detection rather than mandatory verification.

Use quality proxies. Residential IPs have higher trust scores than datacenter IPs. If you're seeing frequent CAPTCHAs, your proxy quality might be the root cause, not your solving service.

The Complete Guide To Using Proxies For Web Scraping

Introduction to proxy usage in web scraping. What types of proxies are there? How to evaluate proxy providers and avoid common issues.

Monitor your solve rates. Track which sites trigger CAPTCHAs and how often. If one site accounts for most of your CAPTCHA costs, check whether better prevention could eliminate those challenges.

Handle failed solves gracefully. No solving service has 100% accuracy. Build retry logic with backoff. Consider falling back to a different solver if one fails repeatedly.

Maintain session consistency. Some CAPTCHAs validate against your session. If you solve a CAPTCHA but then make requests from a different IP or with different cookies, the solution may be rejected.

Scrapfly: CAPTCHA Prevention at Scale

Scrapfly's Scraping API prevents CAPTCHAs from appearing in the first place. Instead of paying per-solve fees and waiting for solutions, Scrapfly makes your requests look like real browser traffic. CAPTCHAs simply don't trigger.

Anti-Scraping Protection handles TLS fingerprinting, browser signatures, and header optimization automatically. Combined with residential proxy rotation and JavaScript rendering when needed, most protected sites work without any CAPTCHA work.

For edge cases where CAPTCHAs are truly mandatory, Scrapfly works well with token-based solvers like 2Captcha. Use Scrapfly as your primary scraping setup. Add 2Captcha integration for login flows and checkout pages. This hybrid setup cuts CAPTCHA costs while ensuring complete coverage.

FAQs

Common questions about CAPTCHA solving services and strategies.

What's the difference between solving and bypassing CAPTCHAs?

Solving completes the challenge and returns a token. Bypassing prevents CAPTCHAs from appearing by making requests look legitimate.

Which solving service has the best success rate?

2Captcha and DeathByCaptcha report 95-100%. Rates vary by CAPTCHA type and site.

Can AI solve all CAPTCHA types?

Not yet. AI handles reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha, and Turnstile well. Complex puzzles like FunCaptcha still need human workers.

Is using CAPTCHA solving services legal?

Generally yes for scraping public data. Check the target site's Terms of Service first.

Why do CAPTCHAs keep appearing even after I solve them?

Your session or IP changed, you hit rate limits, or your fingerprint still looks automated. Keep sessions consistent.

How much do CAPTCHA solving services cost?

reCAPTCHA v2: $1-3 per thousand. Turnstile: $1.45-5 per thousand. AZcaptcha: $25/month unlimited.

Summary

Your CAPTCHA strategy should match why CAPTCHAs are appearing. For bot detection-triggered CAPTCHAs (the majority of cases), prevention with anti-bot bypass is faster and cheaper than solving. For mandatory challenges on login and checkout flows, dedicated solving services like 2Captcha provide reliable solutions.

For production systems, the hybrid approach works best: use Scrapfly's anti-bot bypass as your primary strategy to avoid most CAPTCHAs, then integrate a token-based solver like 2Captcha for the unavoidable ones. For high-volume operations on a budget, AZcaptcha's unlimited plans offer predictable monthly costs.

Start with prevention. You might discover you don't need CAPTCHA solving at all.