Google reCAPTCHA Integration

Create Google reCAPTCHA keys, add them to the app, and turn the challenge on for a form.

What You Need Before You Start

To enable Google reCAPTCHA, you need:

• A Google account

• A Site Key

• A Secret Key

You can create these for free in Google reCAPTCHA Admin Console.

How to set it up

Create Your reCAPTCHA Keys in Google

1. Visit the Google reCAPTCHA admin page: https://www.google.com/recaptcha/admin

2. Click + Create

3. Enter your website name

1. When registering a new website, the form will open and you need to fill in all the details correctly then submit the form.

For example: I want to register recaptcha v2

• Label: Enter a name to identify your site (e.g., "My Shopify Store") as you want

• reCAPTCHA Type: Select reCAPTCHA v2 and choose "I'm not a robot" Checkbox.

• Domains: Input your domain name. For example:

Store URL: abcstore.myshopify.com Custom domain: mycoolbrand.com

On reCAPTCHA setup, enter: mycoolbrand.com

1. Click Submit button and the site key and secret key shows up

Step 2 - Add Google reCaptcha to app Settings

1 Open the app > click Settings >Third party integrations > hover Google reCaptcha > click Config

2. On reCaptcha type dropdown > select reCaptcha type: v2 or v3

3. Enter Site key and Secret key you get in step 1 above

4. Select language of the reCaptcha on front store

5. Click Save and save the app Settings

Enable Google reCaptcha on the form

1. Open the app > click Forms > open the form you want to edit

2. Click Integration icon on the left side > enable Google reCaptcha

3. Click Save to update the changes

How it works

Google reCAPTCHA helps protect your form from bots and spam submissions. Powerful Contact Form Builder supports reCAPTCHA v2 and reCAPTCHA v3, and each works differently.

reCAPTCHA v2 — “I’m not a robot” Checkbox

How it works:

• Your form displays a small “I’m not a robot” checkbox.

• When a user clicks it, Google analyzes their behavior:

  • mouse movement

  • click pattern

  • browsing history (anonymized)

• If Google is confident the user is human → the checkbox is enough.

• If Google is unsure → it may show a small image challenge (e.g., “Select all traffic lights”).

What the user sees:

✔ A simple checkbox ✔ Sometimes an image test ✔ Clear confirmation when verified

Best for: Forms with high traffic or potential spam, stores wanting visible verification.

reCAPTCHA v3 — Invisible Background Scoring

(Google has begun limiting support for new v3 keys. Some users may only be able to create v2 keys.)

How it works (simple explanation):

• There is no checkbox and no challenge.

• Google silently monitors user behavior in the background.

• It assigns a score from 0.0 to 1.0:

  • 1.0 = very likely human

  • 0.0 = very likely a bot

• The app uses this score to decide whether to allow or block the submission.

What the user sees:

✔ Nothing (fully invisible) ✔ No clicking ✔ No challenge screens

Best for: Stores wanting zero friction for customers and fewer visible checks.

Quick Comparison

Feature	reCAPTCHA v2	reCAPTCHA v3
Visible to users	✔ Yes	✖ No
User interaction required	Checkbox / Image test	None
Bot detection method	Click behavior + challenge	Behavior scoring
Best for	General forms, high spam risk	Customer-facing forms where UX matters

Troubleshooting

1- reCAPTCHA is not appearing on the form

To make sure the data is updated on the form, please try

• go to the app > open the form > save the form again

• refresh the page on the online store

See if the recaptcha show on up on the page/form now.

2. “Invalid key type” or “Key mismatch” error

This happens when:

• You generated reCAPTCHA v3 keys but selected v2

• Your keys are for the wrong domain

• Keys were copied with extra spaces

Fix: Recreate the keys in Google and paste them again.

3- ERROR for site owner: Invalid key type in the app preview

As you can see in the screenshot, you may see a red notification in captcha box: ERROR for site owner: Invalid domain for site key.

There is no need to worry about this because it is the preview which will be displayed properly in the front-end store as it works with your store domain.

You might want to display captcha box properly in the preview area, please add one more domain: app.powerfulform.com or dnhcnb9q6pxc3.cloudfront.net to the Recaptcha configuration.

3- recaptcha box does not show correctly on the form on the online store

Please check your recaptcha config and make sure the store domain is added.

• For example:

Store URL: abcstore.myshopify.com Custom domain: mycoolbrand.com

On reCAPTCHA setup, enter: mycoolbrand.com

Next steps

• hCaptcha — the alternative challenge.

• Prevent spam submissions — every anti-spam option in one place.

• Contact support — if the connection still does not work.