How to Add Cloudflare CAPTCHA to WordPress

Adding Cloudflare Captcha to your WordPress site can be an effective way to block spambots. This is especially important if your site has forms and/or accepts user comments. However, you may be wondering how to set it up.

Luckily, it’s not as difficult as you might think. Cloudflare Captcha (officially called Cloudflare Turnstile) is a free tool that you can easily add to your site.  Once activated, users will need to verify that they are human before submitting forms or comments.

Overview of Cloudflare Turnstile

Turnstile is a CAPTCHA alternative developed by Cloudflare. The tool is designed to verify the authenticity of web visitors without the need for any interaction on the user’s end:

You are probably already familiar with the way CAPTCHA works. Usually, you have to tick a box or solve a puzzle to confirm that you’re not a robot.

However, Turnstile runs these checks in the background, minimizing interference with the user experience. It uses a selection of non-intrusive challenges to be performed in the visitor’s browser. This means that users will not need to do anything on their end.

The turnstile will only ask a user to check a box if it is unable to verify their authenticity through a browser. However, as we’ll see in the tutorial, you have the option of disabling this feature.

Additionally, Cloudflare uses Apple’s private access token to run these browser tests. This can help ensure that no additional data is collected in the process, keeping users safe.

As you can see, Turnstiles can help you keep bots out while preserving the user experience (UX) of your site. Later in the post, we’ll take a closer look at the benefits of using Turnstile over other CAPTCHA solutions.

How to add Cloudflare CAPTCHA in WordPress

Now, let us see how to add a Cloudflare captcha to your site:

Step 1: Create Cloudflare Account and Configure Turnstile

If you are already a Cloudflare customer, you can access Turnstile with your account:

if not, you can set up an account for free. After logging in, navigate to your Cloudflare dashboard and select Turnstile from the menu. Then you’ll need to add your site:

Cloudflare will ask you to provide your site name and domain:

Next up, you need to select a widget mode. This is the captcha that will appear in your forms:

Let’s take a look at the options:

• Managed, Cloudflare will determine whether an interactive challenge should be used based on the user data available. If authentication is required, the user will be prompted to check a box.
• Non-interactive, Users will see a widget with a loading bar while the Cloudflare browser challenge runs. A success message will be displayed after the challenge is completed.
• Invisible, If you select this option, the user will not see the widget or success message. This means that the captcha will be completely hidden from them.

When you’re ready, click Create, Cloudflare will then generate a Site Key and Secret Key. You will need these to activate the turnstile on your site.

Step 2: Add Turnstile Keys to Your Site

Now that you have configured Turnstile, you can add Cloudflare captcha keys to your WordPress site. we recommend using Simple Cloudflare Turnstile plugin to do this. It provides an easy way to activate turnstiles on your website.

Start by installing and activating the plugin on your site:

Then, navigate to your WordPress dashboard Settings → Cloudflare Turnstile, Here, you can paste the Cloudflare keys you copied earlier:

You will also find some customization settings. For example, you can choose a theme for your captcha (light, dark or auto). You can also edit the error message:

Finally, you need to select the forms you want to turn the turnstile into. For example, you may want to use this on your login and registration pages and on your comments section:

If you have a WooCommerce store, you may also want to enable CAPTCHA on the checkout page, customer login page, and other sensitive forms:

Simple Cloudflare Turnstile enables you to run captchas on forms created by other plugins or page builders like Elementor:

In fact, it integrates with a variety of form-building tools, including Contact Form 7, WPForms, and Gravity Forms. When you’re ready, click Save Changes,

Here’s what your Cloudflare captcha might look like on the front end:

If you run a membership site or multi-author blog, we recommend that you add this to your login pages to keep your content secure. It’s also a good idea to enable it in your comments section, as it can help filter spam.

If you have an e-commerce site, you might want to put Cloudflare captcha on login and registration forms to prevent bots from infiltrating your site.

Benefits of using Turnstile as compared to other captcha solutions

With Turnstile, users can prove they are human without having to complete a puzzle or provide more personal data than is necessary. This means that it provides a more secure and more efficient experience than other captcha solutions on the market.

The turnstile looks at session data in the browser to validate users. As mentioned earlier, it uses Apple’s Private Access Token to do this. This enables it to minimize data collection and protect user privacy. In fact, Turnstile does not seek cookies or store information about the user.

If you’re looking to provide a more seamless user experience, turnstiles are definitely worth considering. Unlike the case with standard captcha solutions, users won’t need to trace a few scribbled letters or select a series of pictures in order to submit a form, post a comment, or log into their accounts.

In turn, this can help you generate more leads and increase user engagement on your site. Plus, Turnstile is completely free!

Conclusion

In short, here’s how to add a Cloudflare captcha to your WordPress site:

1. Create a Cloudflare account and configure the turnstile
2. Add turnstile keys to your website with Simple Cloudflare Turnstile Plugin,