Cap

Cap vs FriendlyCaptcha ​

FriendlyCaptcha was an early proof-of-work CAPTCHA, focused on EU privacy compliance. It's a hosted commercial service with a free tier for non-commercial use and paid tiers for everything else.

Quick verdict ​

If you specifically need a paid, EU-hosted, vendor-supported product with an SLA and a sales contact, FriendlyCaptcha is a reasonable choice. If you want the same proof-of-work model without the bill or the request quota, Cap is a free, self-hosted, open-source alternative that you control end-to-end.

Where FriendlyCaptcha makes sense ​

  • You need a vendor with a contract, an SLA, and EU-based hosting handled by someone else.
  • Your traffic is predictable and small enough to fit comfortably in a paid tier.
  • You don't want to operate any infrastructure.

Where Cap is the better choice ​

  • No quotas at any volume. FriendlyCaptcha's Starter plan is €9/month for 1,000 requests/month, with higher tiers as you scale. Cap is free at any volume — no per-request fee, no domain limit.
  • Server is open-source. FriendlyCaptcha's framework integrations are open-source but the server is proprietary. Cap is fully Apache-2.0, end to end.
  • Self-hosted. Cap runs on your own infrastructure, on a $5 VPS, with no third-party round-trip.
  • Two verification layers. Cap adds instrumentation challenges on top of proof-of-work. FriendlyCaptcha is PoW only.
  • No "vendor risk." Open-source, self-hosted, Apache 2.0. No surprise pricing changes, no surprise shutdowns.

Where they're similar ​

  • Both use proof-of-work as the primary mechanism.
  • Both are GDPR/CCPA-friendly by design.
  • Both have clean, accessible widget UX with no image puzzles.

See also ​