--- title: "reCAPTCHA: search popularity worldwide" description: "reCAPTCHA is Google’s service for telling people from bots on websites. Branded searches tell you how often people look for a brand by name or related terms. Comparing these searches across competitors helps you see how popular each brand is over time." canonical: "https://gobrandwave.com/demand/global-en/brands/recaptcha" publisher: "Brandwave" --- # reCAPTCHA: search popularity worldwide reCAPTCHA is Google’s service for telling people from bots on websites. Branded searches tell you how often people look for a brand by name or related terms. Comparing these searches across competitors helps you see how popular each brand is over time. ## Key facts - **Brand**: reCAPTCHA - **Owned by**: Google - **Market**: Global - **Measured month**: Sep 2026 - **Share of Search among CAPTCHA and bot protection services**: 93% ## Where the brand sits | Competitive set | Rank | Share of Search | Estimated monthly branded searches | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | CAPTCHA and bot protection services | 1 | 93% | 1M | - [CAPTCHA and bot protection services](/demand/global-en/categories/captcha-and-bot-protection-services) ## Top CAPTCHA and bot protection services in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews In three ChatGPT questions and two Google AI Overviews, reCAPTCHA was mentioned in three out of five: in two of the three ChatGPT answers and in one of the two Google AI Overviews. reCAPTCHA is the second most recommended of the six. Brands get a higher AI rank if they are mentioned earlier in the answers that list options. | Brand | AI rank | ChatGPT answers that named it | Google AI Overviews that named it | All answers that named it | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Cloudflare Turnstile | 1st | 3 of 3 | 1 of 2 | 4 of 5 | | reCAPTCHA | 2nd | 2 of 3 | 1 of 2 | 3 of 5 | | DataDome | 3rd | 1 of 3 | 0 of 2 | 1 of 5 | | hCaptcha | 4th | 1 of 3 | 0 of 2 | 1 of 5 | | Friendly Captcha | Not ranked | 0 of 3 | 0 of 2 | 0 of 5 | | Arkose Labs | Not ranked | 0 of 3 | 0 of 2 | 0 of 5 | ## Every AI answer about CAPTCHA and bot protection services - Asked ChatGPT "What's the best CAPTCHA service for my website?": 1. Cloudflare Turnstile, 2. reCAPTCHA, 3. hCaptcha - Asked ChatGPT "How do I stop bots signing up on my site?": 1. Cloudflare Turnstile, 2. reCAPTCHA - Asked ChatGPT "Which bot protection service should an online store use?": 1. Cloudflare Turnstile, 2. DataDome - Searched Google, AI Overview "captcha for website": 1. reCAPTCHA - Searched Google, AI Overview "bot detection": 1. Cloudflare Turnstile Not named in any answer: Friendly Captcha and Arkose Labs. Brands are listed in the order each answer named them. The answers were collected in the United States on October 27, 2026. ## How has branded search demand for reCAPTCHA changed worldwide over the last 12 months? - Across the 12 months ending September 2026, estimated monthly branded searches for reCAPTCHA worldwide rose from 511K to 1M. - Across the 12 months ending September 2026, reCAPTCHA’s share of searches among CAPTCHA and bot protection services worldwide increased from 88.8% to 93%. - Across the 12 months ending September 2026, reCAPTCHA’s share of searches among CAPTCHA and bot protection services worldwide peaked at 93% in August 2026 and was lowest at 84.2% in March 2026. ## How did search popularity change for CAPTCHA and bot protection services worldwide in September 2026? - In September 2026, Friendly Captcha rose from 6th to 5th among CAPTCHA and bot protection services worldwide. - In September 2026, Arkose Labs fell from 5th to 6th among CAPTCHA and bot protection services worldwide. - Estimated monthly branded searches for reCAPTCHA worldwide rose 103.8% over 12 measured months, from 511K to 1M in September 2026. - Estimated monthly branded searches for Cloudflare Turnstile worldwide rose 82.4% over 12 measured months, from 22.2K to 40.5K in September 2026. - Estimated monthly branded searches for hCaptcha worldwide fell 18.1% over 12 measured months, from 27.1K to 22.2K in September 2026. ## Historical estimated branded-search demand | Month | Competitive set | Estimated monthly branded searches | Share of Search | Rank | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Oct 2025 | CAPTCHA and bot protection services | 511K | 88.8% | 1 | | Nov 2025 | CAPTCHA and bot protection services | 418K | 85.9% | 1 | | Dec 2025 | CAPTCHA and bot protection services | 418K | 86.1% | 1 | | Jan 2026 | CAPTCHA and bot protection services | 418K | 86% | 1 | | Feb 2026 | CAPTCHA and bot protection services | 418K | 85.8% | 1 | | Mar 2026 | CAPTCHA and bot protection services | 418K | 84.2% | 1 | | Apr 2026 | CAPTCHA and bot protection services | 873K | 91.3% | 1 | | May 2026 | CAPTCHA and bot protection services | 1M | 92.7% | 1 | | Jun 2026 | CAPTCHA and bot protection services | 1M | 92.7% | 1 | | Jul 2026 | CAPTCHA and bot protection services | 1M | 93% | 1 | | Aug 2026 | CAPTCHA and bot protection services | 1M | 93% | 1 | | Sep 2026 | CAPTCHA and bot protection services | 1M | 93% | 1 | ## How are reCAPTCHA’s branded searches counted? Brandwave collects information about searches that people make online using reCAPTCHA’s name. When viewed over time, estimated search volumes for these branded terms can be used to understand whether interest in the brand is growing, holding steady, or fading. - “google recaptcha” - “recaptcha” ## Which CAPTCHA and bot protection services compete with reCAPTCHA? - [Cloudflare Turnstile](/demand/global-en/brands/cloudflare-turnstile): Head-to-head: /demand/global-en/compare/cloudflare-turnstile-vs-recaptcha - [hCaptcha](/demand/global-en/brands/hcaptcha): Head-to-head: /demand/global-en/compare/hcaptcha-vs-recaptcha - [DataDome](/demand/global-en/brands/datadome): Head-to-head: /demand/global-en/compare/datadome-vs-recaptcha - [Friendly Captcha](/demand/global-en/brands/friendly-captcha): Head-to-head: /demand/global-en/compare/friendly-captcha-vs-recaptcha - [Arkose Labs](/demand/global-en/brands/arkose-labs): Head-to-head: /demand/global-en/compare/arkose-labs-vs-recaptcha ## Who owns reCAPTCHA? reCAPTCHA is owned by Google. Brandwave also tracks AppSheet, Chrome Remote Desktop, Display & Video 360, Firebase, Fitbit, Gemini, Gmail, Google, Google Ads, Google Alerts, Google Analytics, Google Artifact Registry, Google Authenticator, Google Chat, Google Chrome, Google Chromecast, Google Classroom, Google Cloud, Google Cloud Dataflow, Google Cloud Identity, Google Cloud Run, Google Cloud Secret Manager, Google Cloud Speech-to-Text, Google Cloud Storage, Google Cloud Vertex AI, Google Colab, Google DeepMind, Google Display & Video 360, Google Document AI, Google Drive, Google Earth Engine, Google Family Link, Google Forms, Google Keep, Google Keyword Planner, Google Maps, Google Maps Platform, Google Meet, Google Meridian, Google Nest, Google Nest Wifi, Google Pixel, Google Project Management Certificate, Google Pub/Sub, Google Rich Results Test, Google Search Console, Google Security Operations, Google Slides, Google Tasks, Google Threat Intelligence, Google Translate, Google Vault, Google Veo, Google Workspace, Looker, Looker Studio, Material Symbols, NotebookLM, OSV-Scanner, Snapseed, TensorFlow Serving, YouTube, YouTube Music, YouTube Studio and YouTube TV, owned by the same company, worldwide. - [Google](/demand/global-en/companies/google): Owns 71 tracked brands. ## Methodology - [How is the Brand Demand Index measured?](/demand/methodology): Where the figures come from, what they compare, and how they may be reused. ## Frequently asked questions ### Who owns reCAPTCHA? reCAPTCHA is owned by Google. Brandwave also tracks AppSheet, Chrome Remote Desktop, Display & Video 360, Firebase, Fitbit, Gemini, Gmail, Google, Google Ads, Google Alerts, Google Analytics, Google Artifact Registry, Google Authenticator, Google Chat, Google Chrome, Google Chromecast, Google Classroom, Google Cloud, Google Cloud Dataflow, Google Cloud Identity, Google Cloud Run, Google Cloud Secret Manager, Google Cloud Speech-to-Text, Google Cloud Storage, Google Cloud Vertex AI, Google Colab, Google DeepMind, Google Display & Video 360, Google Document AI, Google Drive, Google Earth Engine, Google Family Link, Google Forms, Google Keep, Google Keyword Planner, Google Maps, Google Maps Platform, Google Meet, Google Meridian, Google Nest, Google Nest Wifi, Google Pixel, Google Project Management Certificate, Google Pub/Sub, Google Rich Results Test, Google Search Console, Google Security Operations, Google Slides, Google Tasks, Google Threat Intelligence, Google Translate, Google Vault, Google Veo, Google Workspace, Looker, Looker Studio, Material Symbols, NotebookLM, OSV-Scanner, Snapseed, TensorFlow Serving, YouTube, YouTube Music, YouTube Studio and YouTube TV, owned by the same company, worldwide. ## Cite this page Brandwave. "reCAPTCHA: search popularity worldwide". https://gobrandwave.com/demand/global-en/brands/recaptcha This page is also available as HTML at https://gobrandwave.com/demand/global-en/brands/recaptcha. Brandwave publishes an index of its Markdown pages at https://gobrandwave.com/llms.txt.