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reCaptcha by BestWebSoft

By bestwebsoft

Security & Privacy / Security Scanning & Malware Protection

Reviewed by Omar Dabbas

Trusted WordPress expert with 20+ years of experience evaluating plugins for the WP ecosystem.

reCaptcha by BestWebSoft Review - In-Depth Analysis

Protect your WordPress forms from spam using Google reCAPTCHA. Easy to set up and integrates with various forms.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

6.97/10

User Rating

3.9/5 (based on 391+ reviews)

Active Installations

100,000+

Update Frequency

Average It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

5 / 10 (Medium Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

The reCaptcha plugin is an effective security solution that protects your WordPress website forms from spam entries while allowing real users to pass through easily. It can be utilized for login, registration, password recovery, comments, and popular contact forms.

This plugin includes reCAPTCHA Version 3, Version 2, and Invisible reCAPTCHA options. Users must confirm they are not robots before form submission, making it user-friendly while deterring spam bots.

The plugin features easy installation and configuration, with multilingual support and detailed documentation available for users. It also includes options to customize the appearance and functionality of reCAPTCHA on your forms.

Comparing to Alternatives

reCaptcha by BestWebSoft is a popular CAPTCHA plugin with several direct alternatives available that offer similar spam protection features for WordPress sites.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Widely used with a large user base and many positive reviews.
Includes a pro version with additional features for enhanced protection.
Supports placement on any page or post via shortcode for flexibility.
Good support reported by some users once the plugin is working.
Effectively solves bot issues when configured properly.

Weaknesses

Some users report it does not work effectively on login and registration forms.
Has had multiple security vulnerabilities in the past, though fixed in updates.
Free version lacks support for popular form plugins like Contact Form 7.
Reported issues with plugin stability and crashes in certain versions.

User Sentiment Analysis

With a 3.9 out of 5 rating from 391 users, the plugin has a majority of positive reviews but also a significant minority of negative feedback, especially regarding functionality and support.

Positive highlights

"Good support and smooth plugin" - nofearmydear
"Once I got it working it proved to be excellent... Anastasia in particular was helpful and prompt" - IceDiamond
"Great piece of software. Solves the bot issue." - ocassoc
"Fantastic plugin that can be placed on any page or post via shortcode. Highly useful." - danielepais

Common complaints

Plugin does not effectively stop spam registrations on login and registration pages.
Lack of support and responsiveness from the company.
Continued billing after cancellation requests were ignored.
Plugin crashes and causes problems in certain versions.

Weaknesses

Inconsistent functionality reported by users, especially on login and registration forms.
Customer service and billing practices have been criticized.
Past security vulnerabilities may concern some users.
Free version is limited and may not support popular form plugins.

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users looking for a widely used CAPTCHA plugin with a pro version offering enhanced features and who are comfortable troubleshooting or seeking support if needed.

Not ideal for

Users who require guaranteed out-of-the-box functionality on login and registration forms, or those concerned about past security issues and billing practices.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version offers basic CAPTCHA protection but lacks support for popular form plugins like Contact Form 7 and may have limited functionality on some forms.

Pro version (24.20 - 242 USD / year)

The pro version includes additional features for advanced spam protection and broader compatibility with various forms, providing enhanced security and customization options.

Final Verdict

reCaptcha by BestWebSoft is a popular and flexible CAPTCHA plugin that effectively addresses spam issues when properly configured. It benefits from a large user base and positive feedback regarding support and functionality once set up. However, users should be aware of past security vulnerabilities and mixed reports on its effectiveness, especially on login and registration forms.

While the free version offers basic protection, the pro version adds valuable features for those needing more comprehensive spam defense. Potential users should weigh the plugin's strengths against reported issues with support, billing, and stability, and consider alternative plugins if these concerns are critical.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free reCaptcha by BestWebSoft plugin.

Anti-spam Security

Captcha

Recaptcha

Screenshots

FAQ

Follow the next steps in order to get and enable reCaptcha protection using the official Google Captcha keys:
1. Open your WordPress admin dashboard.
2. Navigate to the plugin Settings page.
3. Click the “Get the API Keys” link.
4. Enter your domain name and click “Create Key” button.
5. You will see your public and private keys. Copy them and paste to the appropriate fields on plugin Settings page.
6. Save changes.

It depends on the comments form. If the hook call by means of which captcha works (‘after_comment_field’ or something like this) is present in the file comments.php, you can change captcha positioning by moving this hook call. Please find the file ‘comments.php’ in the theme and change position of the line

do_action( 'comment_form_after_fields' );

or any similar line – place it under the Submit button.
In case there is no such hook in the comments file of your theme, then, unfortunately, this option is not available.

Follow the instructions below in order to add reCaptcha plugin to your custom PHP or HTML form:
1. Install the reCaptcha plugin and activate it.
2. (Optional) If you would like to have an ability to enable and disable the reCAPTCHA for your custom form on the plugin settings page, please add the following code to the ‘functions.php’ file of your theme:

function add_custom_recaptcha_forms( $forms ) {     $forms['my_custom_form'] = array( "form_name" => "Custom Form Name" );     return $forms; } add_filter( 'gglcptch_add_custom_form', 'add_custom_recaptcha_forms' );

In this example, ‘my_custom_form’ is a slug of your custom form.

Please don’t use the following form slugs since they are predefined by plugin settings: login_form, registration_form, reset_pwd_form, comments_form, contact_form, cf7, si_contact_form, jetpack_contact_form, sbscrbr, bbpress_new_topic_form, bbpress_reply_form, buddypress_register, buddypress_comments, buddypress_group, woocommerce_login, woocommerce_register, woocommerce_lost_password, woocommerce_checkout, wpforo_login_form, wpforo_register_form, wpforo_new_topic_form, wpforo_reply_form.
– Save file changes;
– Go to the “Settings” tab on the plugin settings page (Admin Dashboard -> reCaptcha); If everything is OK, you will see your form in ‘Enable reCAPTCHA for’ => ‘Custom Forms’ (with labels which you specified in the “gglcptch_add_custom_form” hook call function).
– Enable it and configure form options as you need;
– Click “Save Changes” button;

If you don’t add this code, no option for your custom form will be displayed on the plugin settings page and the reCAPTCHA will be always displayed in your custom form.

Open the file with the form (where you would like to add reCAPTCHA);
Find a place to insert the code for the reCAPTCHA output;
If you completed the instructions in p. 2, then you should add:

In this example, the second parameter is a slug of your custom form.

Otherwise, insert the following line:

<?php echo apply_filters( 'gglcptch_display_recaptcha', '' ); ?>

After that, you should add the following lines to the function of the entered data checking.
If you completed the instructions in p. 2, then you should add:

In this example, the third parameter is a slug of your custom form.

Otherwise, insert the following lines:

<?php $check_result = apply_filters( 'gglcptch_verify_recaptcha', true, 'string' ); if ( true === $check_result ) { /* the reCAPTCHA answer is right */     /* do necessary action */ } else { /* the reCAPTCHA answer is wrong or there are some other errors */     echo $check_result; /* display the error message or do other necessary actions in case when the reCAPTCHA test was failed */ } ?>

If there is a variable in the check function responsible for the errors output, you can concatenate variable $check_result to this variable. If the ‘gglcptch_verify_recaptcha’ filter hook returns ‘true’, it means that you have entered the reCAPTCHA answer properly. In all other cases, the function will return the string with the error message.

If you have followed all steps, but the problem remains, we can help you to configure your reCaptcha custom form. This will be a paid service since there are a lot of different custom forms and the code should be inserted individually into each of them, so we need some time to study each unique case.