How Does reCAPTCHA Protect Your Forms from Spam?

Every FormRobin form is protected by Google reCAPTCHA, which checks each submission for bots in the background. There is nothing to set up or switch on.

What Is reCAPTCHA?

reCAPTCHA is Google's spam protection service. FormRobin uses it on every form to keep bots from submitting:

• It runs invisibly: respondents do not tick a box or solve a puzzle
• When someone submits, Google rates the submission with a score from 0.0 (likely a bot) to 1.0 (likely a person)
• FormRobin accepts submissions that score 0.3 or higher and rejects the rest

Plan: included on both plans, Free Plan and Individual Plan, at no extra cost.

How It Works

1. A visitor opens your form; reCAPTCHA loads in the background.
2. They fill in the form and click submit.
3. reCAPTCHA creates a verification token, which is sent with the submission.
4. FormRobin checks the token with Google and saves the submission only when the check passes.

Always-On Protection

• Every form is protected, including forms you duplicate or create with AI
• There is no setting to configure and no key to add
• It works the same on the form link and on forms embedded on your website

What Respondents See

• No "I'm not a robot" box and no image challenges
• A short line at the bottom of the form: "This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.", with links to both documents

Google's floating reCAPTCHA badge is hidden on FormRobin forms; the line above replaces it.

Understanding the Score Threshold

Google scores every submission between 0.0 and 1.0. FormRobin's threshold is 0.3:

• 0.3 or higher - accepted and saved
• Below 0.3 - rejected as a likely bot

The threshold is the same for every form and cannot be changed.

What Happens When a Submission Is Blocked

• The submission is not saved and does not appear on the form's Sessions page
• The respondent sees: "reCAPTCHA verification failed. Please try again."
• They can try again straight away

Troubleshooting

Respondents see "reCAPTCHA verification failed. Please try again."

• Ask them to reload the page and submit again
• Browser extensions that block Google scripts (ad or privacy blockers) can stop reCAPTCHA from loading; try a private window or another browser
• For other reasons a submission may not save, see Troubleshooting: Responses Not Saving

Still receiving spam submissions

• reCAPTCHA stops most automated submissions but cannot catch every one
• Make key questions required, and use Email and URL questions, which only accept valid addresses (see Form Field Types Explained)
• Delete unwanted submissions from the form's Sessions page (see Viewing and Managing Form Responses)

Still stuck? Email support@formrobin.com with the form's link and the date and time of the failed submission.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need my own reCAPTCHA keys?

No. FormRobin sets up reCAPTCHA for every form; there is nothing to configure.

Can I turn reCAPTCHA off for a form?

No. reCAPTCHA protects every form, and there is no setting to disable it.

Can I change the score threshold?

No. The threshold is 0.3 for all forms.

What data does reCAPTCHA collect?

reCAPTCHA is run by Google under Google's Privacy Policy, linked at the bottom of every form. FormRobin receives only Google's verdict on each submission, not the data Google analyzes.