head to head · open source
Cap vs Procaptcha
Cap has 7,798 GitHub stars, 579 forks, 10 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Procaptcha has 300 stars, 10 forks, 39 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Cap leads on adoption by 2,499% (7,798 vs 300 stars). Cap is written in JavaScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Procaptcha is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Cap has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Procaptcha 3%. Procaptcha was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (antispam, captcha), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Cap | Procaptcha | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.8K | ★ 300 |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 579 | ⑂ 10 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Cap if
- You weight community size — 7.8K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Procaptcha if
- You want the Procaptcha feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Procaptcha fits your workflow better
About Cap
Cap is a free, open source, self hosted CAPTCHA replacement that swaps visual puzzles for proof of work and instrumentation challenges, built for developers and site operators who want anti bot protection without shipping their visitors' data to a third party service.
About Procaptcha
Procaptcha is an open source, frictionless CAPTCHA and bot defense library for web developers who need human verification without the data collection and vendor lock in of reCAPTCHA or hCaptcha.
read the full Procaptcha overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Cap or Procaptcha more popular?
Cap has 7,798 GitHub stars and Procaptcha has 300. Cap has the larger community by that measure.
Are Cap and Procaptcha free?
Both are open source. Cap has no licence declared in this registry, and Procaptcha is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Cap and Procaptcha?
Cap is written in JavaScript and Procaptcha in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Cap or Procaptcha?
Choose Cap if you want the larger community (7,798 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Procaptcha if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.