BenchRank
#41 in Application SecurityUpdated 2026-08

Cap

by Cap · Self-hosted, open-source CAPTCHA with no visual puzzles

28.8 — BenchRank score out of 100

Screenshots of Cap

  • Homepage

Homepage · Cap

Homepage of Cap

Overview

Cap is a self-hosted CAPTCHA that replaces reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha or Turnstile. Each verification runs two layers at once: proof-of-work using SHA-256 and time-lock challenges in WASM, and a freshly generated JavaScript program that checks the browser environment through DOM and canvas operations. The widget is about 20 kB, shows no visual puzzles and sends no data to third parties.

Best for
Teams replacing reCAPTCHA who want bot protection running on their own servers
Pricing
No prices are published: Cap is Apache 2.0 licensed and self-hosted with no quotas or per-request fees, and the site says Cap Standalone fits on a $5 VPS for most sites.
Runs on
Self-hosted

Strengths and trade-offs

Strengths

  • Apache 2.0 licensed and runs entirely on your own server
  • ~20 kB widget, zero dependencies, no third-party scripts
  • Invisible checks: proof-of-work plus JS instrumentation
  • siteverify API is compatible with reCAPTCHA and hCaptcha

Trade-offs

  • No hosted option — you run, update and monitor the server yourself
  • Migration needs client-side code swapped, not just the API endpoint
  • Challenges rely on WASM and JavaScript running in the visitor's browser
  • Compliance list is the vendor's own; the site states it is not legal advice

How this score is made up

Each dimension is scored out of 100 and combined into the headline score using fixed weights.

MCP support
0 out of 100
API quality
0 out of 100
Documentation
0 out of 100
Agent friendliness
100 out of 100
Changelog
100 out of 100
Marketing site structure
35 out of 100
Operational trust
15 out of 100

Measured, but not part of the score

Useful to know, but not a mark for or against the product — so these do not affect the ranking.

Openness
30 out of 100
Maintenance
100 out of 100

This doesn’t look right — report a problem with Cap’s score

Alternatives in Application Security

  • Ranked 1

    81.6 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Sentry

    Sentry · Error tracking and application performance monitoring for developers

    Best for: Development teams wanting error monitoring, tracing and session replay tied to one trace

  • Ranked 2

    81.2 — BenchRank score out of 100

    GrowthBook

    GrowthBook · Warehouse-native feature flags, experimentation and product analytics

    Best for: Product and engineering teams running feature flags and experiments on their own data warehouse.

  • Ranked 3

    77.5 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Temps

    Temps · Self-hosted deploy platform with built-in analytics, errors and monitoring

    Best for: Teams self-hosting deployments who also want analytics, error tracking and uptime on their own server

See all 53 alternatives to Cap

Report a problem with this page

Report an issue with Cap