How to Add a Captcha to WordPress Contact Forms

We're just like you. We only want humans to fill out our forms. Add a Google reCAPTCHA to your WordPress Contact Forms to stop those bots.

Did you get a boost in your form submissions? Are you getting spam messages in your WordPress contact forms? Create an attractive, user-friendly WordPress form and use reCAPTCHA to block spambots without wrecking the user experience.

What is reCAPTCHA?

ReCAPTCHA is a free spam-killing service from Google, designed to protect your site from spam. A captcha is a test to tell if the page viewer is really human, or an evil spambot. It is easy for humans to solve, but hard for bots to figure out. ReCAPTCHA in WordPress contact forms will block automated software but allow real people contact you with ease.

Build your WordPress contact form

ReCAPTCHA doesn't require any advanced planning or custom code. Build your form as you had originally intended. It doesn't matter if it's a simple contact form or a complex quote calculator. Easily add a captcha to all your forms.

So go ahead, build your form, tweak it until it's perfect. Then add reCAPTCHA protection at the end.

Add a captcha to contact forms in WordPress

Protecting your form couldn't be easier! Formidable includes a reCAPTCHA field that can be added in the same way as a number field or text field. Add it to your form with just one click.

If this is the first time you've added reCAPTCHA to a Formidable form on your website, you'll also need to get Site and Secret Keys from Google.

This is completely free and takes only two minutes to set up. Go to the Formidable Global settings page to enter your keys. Click the link in your settings to sign up for a free ReCAPTCHA key, and signup with your Google account.

Enter your website URL and pick a title. That's it! Google will give you a Site Key and a Secret Key. Copy and paste these into your Formidable settings and click 'Update Options' and you're set!

How reCAPTCHA works

reCAPTCHA is really quite clever. Plus, a new, completely invisible reCAPTCHA has been announced that will soon make verifying your humanity even easier!

We're already a long way past the frustrating, complex strings of random blurred letters that the old captchas relied on. This method is tedious, complex, and often just as hard for us as they are for the spambots! I imagine one day using them in a story to my grandkids when trying to explain how tough we had it in "the good old days"!

Now captcha spam protection is a simple checkbox. Click the box, and most of the time, you'll see a green checkmark. Congratulations! You've passed the robot test (yes, it's that easy). Your website visitor can submit the form with no hassle and no delay.

Sometimes reCAPTCHA isn't convinced, and will need some extra info to make sure you're human and not a robot. You may be asked to solve a simple picture-based challenge. Even this extra challenge is user-friendly, quick, and has minimal impact on user experience.

reCAPTCHA accessibility

Protecting your form should never limit who can complete it. You'll be glad to know that reCAPTCHA works with major screen readers such as ChromeVox, JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver. It will alert screen readers of status changes, such as when the reCAPTCHA verification challenge is complete. The status can also be found by looking for the heading titled "recaptcha status" in the "recaptcha widget". More information on accessibility can be found in the official reCAPTCHA guide.

reCAPTCHA styling

Enhance your reCAPTCHA visibility with either the light or dark color scheme to best suit your site design.

Are you working in a widget with a small amount of space? Use the compact option to limit the reCAPTCHA size and you're good to go.

Other ways to stop spambots

Not a fan of reCAPTCHA? Did you know reCaptcha can be invisible too?

Looking for a captcha-free alternative? Akismet integration is built right in to Formidable Forms. Or take matters into your own hands and fill your comment blacklist.

WordPress reCAPTCHA for the win

Spambot protection is an essential part of modern WordPress contact forms. The best WordPress form builders should not only include it standard, but also make it really easy to use.

We've made Formidable Forms easy to protect, regardless of whether you're building brand new WordPress contact forms or adding spam protection into existing forms. Keep an eye out for more captchaless spam protection options headed your way.

Not using Formidable Forms on your WordPress site? Check out the free version that includes both Akismet and reCAPTCHA .