reCaptcha by BestWebSoft icon

reCaptcha by BestWebSoft

by bestwebsoft

View on WordPress.org
82 Quality Score
Active Installs
23/30

100,000 active installs and broad name recognition place it well above average, though it is a fraction of Akismet's 6 million.

Update Freshness
25/25

Last updated in April 2026 against WordPress 7.0 shows the developer is actively shipping releases, earning a perfect maintenance score.

User Rating
12/15

A 78 out of 100 from 391 reviews is solid but not outstanding, and reflects a long tail of complaints that is typical of BestWebSoft plugins (upsells, dashboard notices, support prompts).

Support Health
8/15

Only one public support thread exists and it is resolved, which is either a sign of very few issues or very low community engagement, so the 50 score is misleadingly low.

WP Compatibility
15/15

Requires WordPress 6.5 or higher and has been tested with the current 7.0 release, indicating modern, forward-compatible code.

Scores higher than 86% of indexed plugins

About

Protect WordPress website forms from spam entries with Google reCAPTCHA.

Active Installs 100k+
Rating ★★★½ 3.9/5
Last Updated 2026-04-24 5:28pm GMT
Requires WordPress 6.5+
Tested Up To 7.0.4

Security History

3 known vulnerabilities, all patched
3 Medium

Most recent: January 3, 2025

View details ▸

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What It Does

reCaptcha by BestWebSoft adds Google reCAPTCHA challenges (checkbox and invisible variants) to WordPress forms to block automated spam submissions. It ships with built-in support for popular form plugins including Contact Form 7, WPForms, and WooCommerce checkout and registration pages, plus a shortcode and PHP function for custom integrations. Site admins configure API keys, choose where the captcha appears, and whitelist trusted user roles or IP addresses.

Who It's For

This plugin suits small to mid-sized WordPress sites that rely on a handful of common form plugins (Contact Form 7, WPForms, WooCommerce) and want a familiar Google-branded captcha layer without building custom code. It is a reasonable fit for the listed use cases such as contact forms, donation pages, appointment bookings, and event registration where bot spam is the main concern. Non-technical site owners will appreciate the straightforward settings screen and one-click default form integrations.

Who Should Skip It

Sites already using Cloudflare Turnstile, hCaptcha, or a full anti-spam firewall like Akismet or CleanTalk should skip this, since reCAPTCHA only protects form submissions and does not stop comment spam, trackbacks, or brute-force login attempts on its own. Enterprises or privacy-sensitive sites handling EU traffic should also look elsewhere, because routing every visitor through Google's servers creates GDPR concerns that this plugin does not help resolve.

The Bottom Line

reCaptcha by BestWebSoft is a competent, actively maintained form spam plugin that does exactly what it says with minimal fuss, scoring 81.59/100 on PluginCheck. It is a safe default pick for typical small business sites running Contact Form 7, WPForms, or WooCommerce, but power users, privacy-conscious site owners, or anyone fighting comment spam will get more value from Akismet, CleanTalk, or hCaptcha. The biggest caveat is the BestWebSoft upsell pattern: expect prompts to upgrade to the Pro version in the admin area.

Tags

anti-spam security antispam captcha captha recaptcha