Friendly Captcha

What Friendly Captcha does

Friendly Captcha is a Munich-based, privately held German company that provides a privacy-first invisible CAPTCHA service designed to protect websites and online services from spam, abuse, credential stuffing, account takeover, and DDoS attacks. Its core technology combines cryptographic proof-of-work puzzles, which are solved automatically in the background on each visitor's device, with a global risk database that evaluates network, browser, and behavior signals to classify traffic as human, bot, or AI agent. The solution requires no user interaction, no HTTP cookies, and no personal data collection, and is positioned as a GDPR-compliant European alternative to reCAPTCHA and hCaptcha.

The product is delivered through a REST API (v2) compatible with other CAPTCHA providers, supported by open-source libraries for React, Vue, and Angular and prebuilt integrations for WordPress and Magento. A real-time analytics dashboard exposes usage trends, verification outcomes, and risk scores across the three signal dimensions. Friendly Captcha operates data centers in the EU, US, and Asia with regional data residency options and reports 2.6 billion web interactions verified annually at 99.99% historical uptime, with compliance coverage across GDPR, CCPA, WCAG 2.2 AA, PCI DSS, and DORA (with ISO 27001 in progress).

The company operates a hybrid product-led growth and enterprise sales model. Self-serve sign-up through the website with a 30-day free trial targets developers and small businesses via tiered subscriptions priced at EUR 9/month (Starter, single domain), EUR 39/month (Growth, five domains), and EUR 200/month (Advanced, 50 domains). An Enterprise tier offers custom pricing with unlimited domains, dedicated support, SSO, audit logs, and a self-hosted endpoint option. The customer base spans government (European Union), automotive (Porsche), enterprise software (SAP, Auth0, 1&1 IONOS), consumer goods (Birkenstock), nonprofit (Red Cross), and environmental services (Veolia), supported by a globally distributed team of 11-50 employees.

Name

Friendly Captcha

Legal name

Friendly Captcha

Website

https://friendlycaptcha.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Friendly Captcha is a Munich-based German provider of privacy-first invisible CAPTCHA protection using cryptographic proof-of-work and risk signal evaluation, serving European-regulated enterprises, governments, and SMBs seeking a GDPR-compliant alternative to reCAPTCHA.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Bot Protection & Anti-Abuse Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (513210), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Access Management (SSO, MFA, Passwordless) (HDADAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Collaboration Account Takeover & Session Protection (HDADAKAH)

Keywords

• Bot protection
• Invisible CAPTCHA
• Fraud prevention
• Privacy compliance
• Account security

Headquarters

HQ city

Munich

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. SaaS Subscription (Per Tier): Tiered subscription model with Starter (€9/month), Growth (€39/month), and Advanced (€200/month) plans differentiated by number of protected domains and monthly request volumes. Enterprise tier offers custom pricing with unlimited domains and requests plus professional support.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Friendly Captcha provides a privacy-first, invisible CAPTCHA solution that protects websites and online services from bots, spam, abuse, brute force attacks, account takeover, credential stuffing, and DDoS attacks. The service generates a unique cryptographic proof-of-work puzzle per device that is solved automatically in the background while users fill forms, and combines this with a global risk database evaluating network, browser, and behavior signals. It is delivered as a SaaS subscription via REST API, with an analytics dashboard and developer integrations for frameworks and CMS platforms.

Product overview

Friendly Captcha is a single unified product offering privacy-first invisible CAPTCHA protection. The core product combines cryptographic proof-of-work verification with a global risk database to provide bot protection that operates invisibly in the background. The solution includes a real-time analytics dashboard for monitoring traffic, verified interactions, and risk scores. The Friendly Captcha API enables developer integration with support for multiple frameworks (React, Vue, Angular) and prebuilt CMS/commerce integrations (WordPress, Magento). The product is designed as a drop-in replacement for traditional CAPTCHAs like reCAPTCHA and hCaptcha.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Friendly Captcha Privacy-first invisible CAPTCHA solution that uses cryptographic proof-of-work mechanisms and a global risk database (network, browser, behavior signals) to distinguish humans from bots without user interaction. Protects websites and online services from spam, abuse, brute force attacks, account takeover, credential stuffing, and DDoS attacks. Delivered as a SaaS subscription with a REST API for verification, an analytics dashboard, and open-source libraries for React, Vue, and Angular plus prebuilt integrations for WordPress and Magento. Targeted at enterprise organizations, public-sector bodies, SMBs, and developers that require GDPR, WCAG 2.2 AA, PCI DSS, and DORA compliant bot protection.

Quantifiable outcome

• 2.6 billion web interactions verified per year
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature5 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• hCaptcha (Intuition Machines): Direct competitor offering a privacy-focused CAPTCHA alternative to Google reCAPTCHA. Both target enterprises seeking GDPR-compliant bot protection with similar invisible-challenge architectures and serve overlapping customer segments.
• DataDome: Enterprise bot management SaaS offering real-time detection of credential stuffing, account takeover, scraping, and fraud. Competes for the same enterprise security budget as Friendly Captcha but with a heavier ML/data-driven architecture and broader threat coverage.
• Kasada: Bot mitigation vendor using cryptographic challenges and behavioral analysis to stop automated abuse. Directly comparable on proof-of-work-style challenge mechanisms and enterprise-focused GTM targeting financial services and digital commerce.
• Arkose Labs: Bot management and account takeover prevention platform serving large enterprises across financial services, gaming, and e-commerce. Overlaps with Friendly Captcha in account-takeover and credential-stuffing use cases.
• GeeTest: CAPTCHA and bot detection vendor with behavioral analysis and adaptive challenges, serving a global customer base across Asia and beyond. Comparable product offering and developer-focused integration model.

Emerging players

• Cloudflare Turnstile: Cloudflare's free invisible CAPTCHA offering bundled into its CDN/WAF platform. Competes head-to-head on the invisible, privacy-friendly axes that differentiate Friendly Captcha and targets the same developer and SMB segments via self-serve signup.

Broad incumbents

• Google reCAPTCHA: The dominant free CAPTCHA solution with massive built-in distribution across the web. Friendly Captcha explicitly positions itself as a privacy-first alternative to reCAPTCHA and offers API-compatible drop-in migration.
• HUMAN (formerly White Ops / PerimeterX): Application protection and bot defense vendor offering account takeover, fraud, and abuse prevention to enterprise customers. Comparable buyer profiles and adjacent solution suite though broader than CAPTCHA-only use cases.
• Akamai Bot Manager: Enterprise bot detection solution from Akamai integrated with its CDN and edge security platform. Targets the same large enterprise security buyers as Friendly Captcha but as part of a much broader edge-security portfolio.
• F5 Shape Security: Enterprise bot and fraud prevention suite within F5's broader application security portfolio. Competes for the same large enterprise security budget covering account takeover, credential abuse, and automated attacks.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/FriendlyCaptcha

Compliance6 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Friendly Captcha