# Cap

Self-hosted CAPTCHA alternative that verifies visitors with proof-of-work and instrumentation challenges instead of puzzles.


Source: https://findsoftware.frbit.cloud/cap/
Last reviewed: 2026-11-03
Listed since: 2026-11-03

## Record

### Links

- home: https://trycap.dev
- repository: https://github.com/tiagozip/cap
- docs: https://trycap.dev/guide/
- x: https://x.com/tiagozip_

### Identity

- status: active
- maintainer: tiago.zip
- maintainerType: individual
- parent: unknown
- firstRelease: 2025
- hqCountry: unknown

### Kind

- category: forms
- hosting: bun
- language: javascript
- runtime: bun
- runtimeMin: unknown
- basedOn: unknown

### Content

- contentStore: not applicable
- databases: not applicable
- adminUi: yes
- headlessApi: rest
- templating: not applicable
- i18n: yes, widget labels can be overridden per language

### Rendering and deploy

- runsAs: unknown
- renderingModes: not applicable
- installMethod: npm

### License

- licenseModel: open-source
- license: Apache-2.0

### Releases

- currentMajor: 3
- latestReleaseDate: 2026-09-23

### Adoption

- githubStargazers: 8244
- packagistDownloads: not applicable
- npmWeeklyDownloads: 24969
- contributors: 31
- pluginCount: unknown
- packagistMonthlyDownloads: unknown
- ecosystemsMonthlyDownloads: unknown
- httpArchiveSites: unknown
- wordpressActiveInstalls: unknown
- dependentRepos: unknown
- dependentPackages: unknown

### Sources

- urls: https://trycap.dev (read 2026-11-03)
- urls: https://github.com/tiagozip/cap (read 2026-11-03)
- urls: https://trycap.dev/guide/ (read 2026-11-03)
- maintainer: https://trycap.dev/guide/standalone/ (read 2026-11-03)
- maintainerType: https://api.github.com/users/tiagozip (read 2026-11-03)
- firstRelease: https://api.github.com/repos/tiagozip/cap/releases (read 2026-11-03)
- language: https://api.github.com/repos/tiagozip/cap (read 2026-11-03)
- category: https://trycap.dev (read 2026-11-03)
- runtime: https://trycap.dev/guide/standalone/ (read 2026-11-03)
- installMethod: https://trycap.dev/guide/widget (read 2026-11-03)
- installMethod: https://trycap.dev/guide/ (read 2026-11-03)
- installMethod: https://trycap.dev/guide/standalone/ (read 2026-11-03)
- adminUi: https://trycap.dev/guide/standalone/ (read 2026-11-03)
- license: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tiagozip/cap/main/README.md (read 2026-11-03)
- licenseModel: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tiagozip/cap/main/README.md (read 2026-11-03)
- currentMajor: https://github.com/tiagozip/cap/releases/tag/standalone@3.1.13 (read 2026-11-03)
- latestReleaseDate: https://github.com/tiagozip/cap/releases/tag/standalone@3.1.13 (read 2026-11-03)
- githubStargazers: https://github.com/tiagozip/cap (read 2026-11-03)
- contributors: https://api.github.com/repos/tiagozip/cap/contributors?per_page=1 (read 2026-11-03)
- npmWeeklyDownloads: https://api.npmjs.org/downloads/range/2026-10-26:2026-11-01/cap-widget (read 2026-11-03)
- headlessApi: https://trycap.dev/guide/ (read 2026-11-03)
- i18n: https://trycap.dev/guide/widget.html (read 2026-11-03)

## Notes

Cap is a self-hosted CAPTCHA that checks visitors with proof-of-work and instrumentation challenges, which the visitor's browser solves in the background. The browser side is the `cap-widget` package from npm, a web component that a site can also load from a CDN. The server side is Cap Standalone, a Bun program that runs from the `tiago2/cap` Docker image, keeps its data in Redis or Valkey, and offers a web dashboard for site keys, a REST API and a verification endpoint compatible with reCAPTCHA. The project is made by tiago.zip.

## Worth knowing

The widget and the standalone server have separate release lines in one repository.

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Data licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Attributes are recorded, never scored; absent means unknown.
Credit, in full: FindSoftware, CC BY 4.0