Friendly Captcha and CAPTCHA.eu are two of the strongest privacy-focused CAPTCHA options for European website operators. Both avoid image puzzles, both emphasise data protection, and both keep verification friction low. The real question is not which product is credible, both are. The question is which product fits your legal, technical and procurement requirements better.
Estimated reading time: 12 minutes
Short answer: If your priority is broader public developer documentation, migration guides and a genuine free plan for non-commercial use, Friendly Captcha is a serious option. If your priority is EU-hosted processing on every commercial plan, lower published pricing, stronger value at the Growth tier and a simpler Austria-first procurement story, CAPTCHA.eu is the stronger fit for most European teams.
FRIENDLY’s STRONGEST ADVANTAGE
Broader public developer docs, migration help, a non-commercial free plan and WACA Gold for Friendly Captcha v2.
CAPTCHA.EU’s STRONGEST ADVANTAGE
EU-/Austria-hosted processing on every commercial plan, lower public pricing and higher included request volume at the Growth tier.
THE DECIDING QUESTION
Do you want the broadest public migration and developer ecosystem, or the simplest default procurement and hosting story from day one?
What this guide covers
- What is Friendly Captcha?
- Why this comparison matters
- Friendly Captcha vs. CAPTCHA.eu: side-by-side
- EU hosting: default vs. premium option
- Pricing and volume
- Accessibility and certification
- Developer fit and integrations
- Who should choose which?
- Switching from Friendly Captcha to CAPTCHA.eu
- Migration shortcuts for common stacks
- Frequently Asked Questions
What is Friendly Captcha?
Friendly Captcha is a German CAPTCHA service built around a proof-of-work model. Instead of asking users to solve image puzzles or click checkboxes, Friendly Captcha runs a small cryptographic computation in the visitor’s browser in the background. When the computation completes, it generates a verification token. The server then validates that token against Friendly Captcha’s API. In most cases, users see no challenge at all.
Founded in Munich, Friendly Captcha positions itself as a privacy-first, GDPR-compliant alternative to Google reCAPTCHA. It is widely used across European organisations that need to meet strict data protection requirements and reduce user friction at the same time. Friendly Captcha v2, launched in 2024, introduced a redesigned widget, improved detection and expanded plan options including a dedicated EU endpoint feature on higher tiers.
Why this comparison matters
This is not a comparison between a strong product and a weak one. Both Friendly Captcha and CAPTCHA.eu are credible Europe-first providers. The real differences appear in the details: where data is processed by default, how endpoint options map to plan tiers, how pricing scales, what accessibility certification each holds, and how much explanation a procurement team needs before sign-off.
That is exactly why this page exists, to help European website operators, agencies and procurement teams choose between two serious options without overstating the case against either.
Friendly Captcha vs. CAPTCHA.eu: side-by-side
CRITERION | FRIENDLY CAPTCHA | CAPTCHA.EU |
|---|---|---|
Company base | Germany | Austria |
EU-hosted processing on all commercial plans | → Global endpoint by default; dedicated EU endpoint available on Advanced and Enterprise plans | ✓ Austria-hosted processing included on all commercial plans |
Cookies | ✓ Friendly Captcha states it uses no HTTP cookies | ✓ No cookies used in any configuration |
Tracking | ✓ Friendly Captcha states no tracking or user profiling | ✓ No tracking; data used solely for bot protection |
Accessibility evidence | ✓ WCAG 2.2. – AA | ✓ WCAG 2.2. – AA |
User-facing friction | ✓ Very low; proof-of-work runs in the background | ✓ Very low; invisible by default with a simple one-click fallback |
Commercial entry plan | €9/month, 1 domain, 1,000 requests | €8.90/month, 1 website, 1,000 requests |
Growth tier | €39/month, 5 domains, 5,000 requests | €35.90/month, 5 websites, 10,000 requests |
Free non-commercial plan | ✓ Available for non-commercial use | → 100-request free trial only |
Public developer documentation | ✓ Broad docs, SDKs, migration guides, endpoint configuration | ✓ Official plugins and framework docs for major European stacks |
Self-hosted option | ✓ Available on Enterprise | → Not publicly offered |
EU hosting: default vs. premium option
This is the most important structural difference between the two products. Friendly Captcha’s public documentation explains that the widget uses a global service by default. Friendly also offers a dedicated EU endpoint hosted in Germany, which guarantees that visitor IP addresses never leave the EU. However, according to Friendly’s own documentation, this dedicated EU endpoint requires an Advanced or Enterprise plan. Teams on Starter or Growth therefore do not receive dedicated EU-only routing by default.
CAPTCHA.eu includes Austria-hosted processing on every commercial plan. EU-hosted processing is not a higher-tier add-on and does not require endpoint configuration or an upgrade. For procurement-heavy organisations, that makes the answer shorter and easier to document from the start.
Why this matters in procurement: When a DPO, legal team or procurement desk asks where end-user traffic is processed, a default architecture is easier to document than a premium endpoint option. Neither model is inherently invalid. However, the default model typically creates less internal review work at lower plan tiers.
To be clear, Friendly Captcha still presents a strong privacy story. Both products keep data within the EU when configured appropriately. The practical difference is whether EU-only routing comes as the default or as a configuration choice at a higher tier.
Pricing and volume
Both vendors publish pricing publicly, so buyers can compare both products without a sales call. The plan shapes differ in meaningful ways, however.
At entry level, the gap is small. Friendly starts at €9 per month and CAPTCHA.eu starts at €8.90 per month, both covering one domain and 1,000 requests. The Growth tier creates a clearer difference. Friendly’s Growth plan covers 5 domains and 5,000 requests for €39 per month. CAPTCHA.eu’s Growth plan covers 5 websites and 10,000 requests for €35.90 per month. Teams with growing traffic therefore get more than double the included volume at a lower monthly price with CAPTCHA.eu.
Friendly holds a real advantage for non-commercial use. Its free plan covers one domain and up to 1,000 requests per month for non-commercial projects. CAPTCHA.eu currently offers a 100-request free trial rather than a permanent non-commercial free tier. For open-source projects, community sites, and other non-commercial use cases, Friendly is the stronger starting point.
Accessibility and certification
Both products are substantially ahead of traditional image-puzzle CAPTCHA systems in practical usability. Neither relies on image grids or audio riddles. Beyond usability, both provide independent accessibility evidence and that matters more in formal procurement than a self-declared statement alone.
Friendly Captcha v2 holds WACA Gold and CAPTCHA.eu holds WACA Silver from TÜV Austria against WCAG 2.2 AA. Both are independently documented. For most BFSG, European Accessibility Act and regulated-procurement scenarios, the key threshold is whether a vendor can produce an independent certificate at all and both can.
Where the distinction becomes relevant is in procurement processes that explicitly prefer or require the highest WACA grade available. In those cases, Friendly’s WACA Gold carries a formal advantage. For the majority of website projects, however, independent certification at any grade already answers the accessibility evidence question.
Developer fit and integrations
Friendly Captcha’s public developer footprint is currently broader. Its documentation includes SDK references, migration guides from reCAPTCHA and hCaptcha, endpoint configuration guidance, and open-source integration libraries. Teams that evaluate primarily through a developer lens will find Friendly’s documentation easier to explore quickly.
CAPTCHA.eu focuses on direct platform fit. It provides official plugins and installation guides for WordPress, TYPO3, Keycloak, Magento 2, NEOS, Joomla, and Craft CMS, plus framework documentation for React, Vue, Angular, PHP and Node.js. Teams using mainstream European CMS, commerce, and IAM stacks can typically adopt CAPTCHA.eu without custom migration work.
In short, Friendly is stronger on broad public migration and SDK documentation. CAPTCHA.eu is strong on plugin-style implementation for the platforms most common in European enterprise and public-sector deployments.
Who should choose which?
Choose Friendly Captcha if…
- you want a non-commercial free plan for an open-source or community project;
- your team values broader public migration docs, SDK depth, and endpoint flexibility;
- you need a self-hosted option or dedicated EU endpoint at higher commercial tiers;
- your procurement process explicitly requires the highest WACA certificate level currently available.
Friendly Captcha is often a great fit for developer-led evaluations, commercial and non-commercial projects and buyers who weight documentation breadth and endpoint options most highly.
Choose CAPTCHA.eu if…
- EU-hosted processing on every commercial plan, without upgrades or endpoint configuration, is a requirement;
- you want lower public pricing and higher included request volume at the Growth tier;
- you need a straightforward Austria-first procurement story for legal, DPO or public-sector review;
- you run WordPress, TYPO3, Keycloak, Magento 2, NEOS, Joomla or Craft CMS and want official plugin support;
- you want to test on a real flow with a no-card free trial.
CAPTCHA.eu is usually a strong fit for commercial European websites that prioritise predictable EU hosting, lower pricings and higher volumes in upper tiers and a simple procurement process from the start.
Switching from Friendly Captcha to CAPTCHA.eu
The technical migration is straightforward in most cases. Both products follow a similar integration pattern: a frontend widget snippet, server-side token verification, and a privacy notice update. The main operational change is simplification, particularly for teams currently using Friendly’s EU endpoint, since Austria-hosted processing is CAPTCHA.eu’s default on every commercial plan.
Start by inventorying every flow where Friendly Captcha currently runs: login, registration, contact forms, checkout, password reset, booking, and any API-backed form endpoints. Note whether your current setup uses Friendly’s global or EU endpoint, since that tells you what your team already cares about and what to confirm in the new setup.
Migration shortcuts for common stacks
WordPress
Install directly from the WordPress plugin directory, no manual download needed. Protects login, registration, comments, Ninja Forms, Gravity Forms, Contact Form 7, WPForms, and Elementor Pro.
WordPress plugin overview
WordPress install guide
TYPO3
Supports both TYPO3 Forms and PowerMail via Composer. The most widely used CMS in Austrian, German, and Swiss public sector and enterprise environments.
TYPO3 plugin overview
TYPO3 install guide
Keycloak
Protects browser login, registration and reset credentials flows, the three authentication entry points most targeted by automated attacks.
Keycloak plugin overview
Keycloak install guide
If your platform is not listed above, the full plugins and platforms overview covers Magento 2, NEOS, and additional frameworks. The documentation hub has implementation guides for React, Vue, Angular, Node.js and PHP.
Related reading
Is hCaptcha GDPR-Compliant? What Website Owners Need to Know
hCaptcha can be part of a GDPR-compliant setup, but it does not arrive compliant out of the box, and it…
reCAPTCHA Pricing: Essentials, Premium and Enterprise
If you are evaluating bot protection in 2026, reCAPTCHA pricing is no longer a simple free-versus-paid decision. Google now manages…
Is Cloudflare Turnstile GDPR-Compliant?
Cloudflare Turnstile can reduce bot abuse without forcing users through old image puzzles. That makes it attractive for logins, sign-ups,…
Is Google reCAPTCHA GDPR-Compliant in 2026?
Google reCAPTCHA changes its legal model on 2 April 2026. However, that does not make every setup automatically GDPR-compliant. Website…
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main difference between Friendly Captcha and CAPTCHA.eu?
Both are privacy-first European CAPTCHA providers that avoid image puzzles and comply with GDPR. The key structural difference is EU hosting: CAPTCHA.eu includes Austria-hosted processing in every commercial plan from €8.90 per month, while Friendly Captcha’s dedicated EU endpoint requires an Advanced plan at €200 per month. CAPTCHA.eu also offers lower pricing and twice the request volume at the Growth tier. Friendly Captcha’s advantages include a non-commercial free plan, broader public developer documentation and WACA Gold accessibility certification.
Does Friendly Captcha include EU-only hosting on all plans?
No. Friendly Captcha’s developer documentation confirms that the dedicated EU endpoint, which routes all end-user traffic through servers in Germany, requires an Advanced or Enterprise plan. The Advanced plan starts at €200 per month. Customers on Starter and Growth plans use the global endpoint by default. CAPTCHA.eu includes Austria-hosted EU processing on all commercial plans without additional configuration.
Which product is cheaper?
CAPTCHA.eu is cheaper at both entry and Growth tiers on current public pricing. The CAPTCHA.eu Growth plan costs €35.90 per month for 10,000 requests across 5 websites. Friendly Captcha’s Growth plan costs €39 per month for 5,000 requests across 5 domains. CAPTCHA.eu also publishes annual plan pricing with lower effective monthly rates. For non-commercial use, Friendly Captcha has the advantage with a genuine free plan; CAPTCHA.eu does not currently offer a permanent free tier for non-commercial projects.
Which product has stronger accessibility certification?
Friendly Captcha v2 holds WACA Gold. CAPTCHA.eu holds WACA Silver, independently issued by TÜV Austria against WCAG 2.2 AA. Both certificates are independently verified and publicly documented, giving both products third-party accessibility evidence rather than self-declared conformance. For most EAA, BFSG, and procurement requirements, both are sufficient. For processes that specifically require the highest available WACA grade, Friendly Captcha’s Gold certificate has a formal advantage.
Is Friendly Captcha GDPR-compliant?
Friendly Captcha presents itself as GDPR-compliant and privacy-first. Its public materials state that it uses no cookies, no tracking, and no personal data storage. As with any third-party service, operators should review the current DPA and their own deployment context. If your compliance requirement is specifically for EU-only data processing, note that Friendly Captcha’s dedicated EU endpoint requires the Advanced plan at €200 per month or above.
Is CAPTCHA.eu a Friendly Captcha alternative?
Yes. CAPTCHA.eu offers invisible, privacy-first bot protection for European websites with EU-hosted processing included by default on all commercial plans, lower pricing and higher volume at the Growth tier and official plugins for WordPress, TYPO3, Keycloak, Magento, NEOS, Joomla, and Craft CMS.
Which product is better for non-commercial or open-source projects?
Friendly Captcha is the stronger option here. It offers a genuine free plan for non-commercial websites covering one domain and up to 1,000 requests per month. CAPTCHA.eu offers a 100-request free trial but does not currently have a permanent free tier for non-commercial projects.
Which CAPTCHA is better for WordPress in Europe?
Both products support WordPress. CAPTCHA.eu’s official plugin covers login, registration, and popular form plugins including Contact Form 7, Ninja Forms, Gravity Forms, WPForms, and Elementor Pro, with Austria-hosted processing included at all plan levels. See the CAPTCHA.eu WordPress plugin guide for full setup details.
Primary sources reviewed
Friendly Captcha pricing page — Starter, Growth, Advanced, Enterprise, and non-commercial free plan details
Friendly Captcha EU endpoint documentation — confirms dedicated EU endpoint requires Advanced or Enterprise plan
Friendly Captcha homepage — core product positioning, privacy claims, feature overview
Friendly Captcha v2 developer documentation — proof-of-work model, endpoint behavior, integration guidance
Friendly Captcha free plan page — non-commercial use terms
WACA certificate registry — public records for Friendly Captcha v2 Gold and CAPTCHA.eu Silver certifications
CAPTCHA.eu pricing page — current Starter, Growth, and Advanced plan details
CAPTCHA.eu accessibility page — WACA Silver certification documentation
Legal note: This article is written for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. Whether a specific CAPTCHA deployment is appropriate depends on your actual implementation, your jurisdiction and your internal privacy and procurement requirements.
Try the Austria-hosted alternative built for European websites
CAPTCHA.eu gives you invisible bot protection with EU-hosted processing on every commercial plan, no cookies, no tracking, and WACA Silver accessibility certification from TÜV Austria. Start with 100 free verification requests. No credit card required.
English 
German 
French 
Spanish 
Dutch 
Italian