About reCAPTCHA
A Google reCAPTCHA is a test used to determine if the person submitting the form is a real human or an automated program (bot). While this technique is not 100% foolproof, it should significantly reduce the spam you receive. It is also an improvement over traditional CAPTCHA, where users sometimes have difficulty distinguishing letters.
Example:
Your respondents will also need to have JavaScript enabled on their browser to submit a form using reCAPTCHA. If they do not have JavaScript enabled, they will see a pop-up error when they try to submit the form. This can also be beneficial for ensuring that users have completed all required fields, as FormAssembly's validation rules also require JavaScript to be enabled in order to run.
When reCAPTCHA identifies a spam response, the response will appear as an Invalid submission and will also be marked as spam. You will also have the opportunity to mark the submission as safe by clicking "Mark as not spam" in the response.
Example:
ALTCHA is on by default for new forms.
As of October 20th, 2026, if your account is on a Team plan or higher, ALTCHA is turned on when you create a new form. Forms you created before October 20th, 2026 do not change. If you prefer reCAPTCHA, use the instructions in the "Enable reCAPTCHA" section to use reCAPTCHA instead.
Requirements
To use reCAPTCHA, a FormAssembly user must be part of a Team plan or higher.
Enable reCAPTCHA
By default, ALTCHA is enabled on new forms. To switch from ALTCHA to reCAPTCHA, follow the steps below.
Enable reCAPTCHA on a Form
- Go to the form's Processing page
- Scroll to Spam Protection Before Submission
- Select reCAPTCHA
- Click Apply at the bottom of the page
Enable reCAPTCHA on a Form in a Workflow
- Within the Workflow Builder, open the Form Properties of the Form step
- Select the Configure tab
- Select reCAPTCHA under Spam Protection Before Submission
- Save the workflow
Errors with reCAPTCHA
In rare cases, an error might occur with Google's reCAPTCHA. If this is the case, our older CAPTCHA option will be automatically initiated. You and your users will not notice any difference, other than the old CAPTCHA taking the place of the new reCAPTCHA.
