Resolve Captcha

July 29, 2022 06:04
Updated

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CAPTCHA is a very common anti-scraping technique applied by many websites in different forms.

To help improve the efficiency of scraping, Octoprase can currently handle the three kinds of Captcha automatically: hCaptcha, ReCaptcha V2, and ImageCaptcha.

hCaptcha and ReCaptcha V2 can be resolved similarly, while it is more complicated to set up a resolution to deal with ImageCaptcha.

Follow through this tutorial, and you will be able to have a basic understanding of each Captcha and handle them with Octoparse.

What are hCaptcha & ReCaptcha V2?
How to resolve hCaptcha & ReCaptcha V2
What is ImageCaptcha?
How to resolve ImageCaptcha

1. What are hCaptcha & ReCaptcha V2?

hCaptcha usually combines:

- an "I am human" button with the logo of hCaptcha

- and simple questions (in pictures) that are easy for humans and difficult for machines:

ReCaptcha V2

Most ReCaptcha V2 usually has an "I'm not a robot" button; however, sometimes, it may contain simple questions similar to hCaptcha.

2. How to solve hCaptcha and Recaptcha V2

Click the add step button in the workflow
Select Solve CAPTCHA

Click on Solve CAPTCHA box
Select hCaptcha/ReCaptcha V2 as the CAPTCHA type

Click Apply to save the setting

NOTE: hCaptcha and ReCaptcha won't be resolved automatically until an actual data run. Thus, you need to turn on the Browse Mode and solve it manually to proceed when creating the task.

3. What is Image Captcha?

ImageCaptcha is the original way in which humans were verified. It can use known words or phrases or random combinations of digits and letters. Some ImageCaptcha also includes variations in capitalization.

4. How to solve Image Captcha

To follow through with the tutorial and resolve ImageCaptcha, you may use the URL below:
https://democaptcha.com/demo-form-eng/image.html

A. Select the Input Box and Image Box for the Captcha
B. Set up a Captcha Solving Failure
C. Set up a Captcha Solving Success

A. Select the Input Box and Image Box for the Captcha

Click on the Input Box for the Captcha
Select Solve Captcha in the Tips panel

Click the Image Box
Click the Login/Submit/Confirm button to continue (sometimes it can be other buttons such as 'Send' in this specific case)
Click Confirm in the Tips Panel

B. Set up a Captcha Solving Failure

Now, we need to train Octoparse to resolve the Captcha by setting up a solving failure.

Click on the error message (in this case - Some errors were detected in your form: Invalid verification code)
Click Confirm Error in the Tips panel

C. Set up a Captcha Solving Success

Click Set Up CAPTCHA Solving Success to go through the final step

Input the text shown in the Image Box
Click Submit CAPTCHA answer and complete setup

The Image Captcha has now been resolved. The Solve CAPTCHA step will be added to the workflow, and you can also modify the settings under the workflow.

NOTE:

hCaptcha and ReCaptcha V2 can be detected automatically, so there is no need to set XPath to locate them. Image CAPTCHA cannot be detected without XPath. You need to pay attention to the XPath in the settings.
The cost is $1/1K CAPTCHA. One attempt to resolve a CAPTCHA is counted as one CAPTCHA credit. So resolving one CAPTCHA successfully might cost several CAPTCHA credits. You can click on Add Credits to top up. CAPTCHA credits cannot be refunded. We have sent some credits for Standard/Professional plan users for testing. You can test it before paying for the credits.