Security News > 2020 > April > Cloudflare Axes Google reCAPTCHA Due to Privacy, Price

Cloudflare is nixing Google's reCAPTCHA tool and replacing it with what the network services company's CEO calls "a better CAPTCHA" service, hCaptcha.

Cloudflare said the main driver for the swap was that Google is now charging for use of its reCAPTCHA tool - but customer privacy and availability were other factors.

Cloudflare is one of those customers, utilizing Google's reCAPTCHA service since "Its earliest days."

Google's services are blocked in some regions, including China - meaning that Google's reCAPTCHA service was not available to Cloudflare customers.

While Cloudflare will be paying hCaptcha, the costs will still be "a fraction" of the price of Google's reCAPTCHA. On the privacy front, Prince contends hCaptcha doesn't sell personal data, and only collects "Minimum necessary personal data." He also cited hCaptcha's performance and expanded availability as other reasons why it was a good alternative to reCAPTCHA. CAPTCHAs have long been used by websites and services to root out bots - but security researchers have expressed security concerns over the years about their abilities to bypass CAPTCHA systems.

News URL

https://threatpost.com/cloudflare-axes-google-recaptcha-due-to-privacy-price/154635/