New in Zoho Forms: Google reCAPTCHA v3 for smarter spam protection

Hello form builders,

Spam submissions are one of the biggest challenges when you share your forms online. They not only clutter your data but can also waste valuable time. To help you combat this without making life harder for genuine respondents, we’re excited to announce that Google reCAPTCHA v3 is now available in Zoho Forms!

Until now, you may have relied on traditional CAPTCHAs like the “I’m not a robot” checkbox to filter out spam. While effective, they sometimes disrupt the respondent experience. With Google reCAPTCHA v3, we are taking a step forward, giving you seamless, behind-the-scenes protection without adding friction to your forms.

What is Google reCAPTCHA v3? 

Unlike traditional CAPTCHAs, reCAPTCHA v3 doesn’t interrupt respondents with challenges. It works silently in the background and by simply assigning a score based on their behavior while filling out your form.

Every form interaction is given a score between 0.0 and 1.0.

Closer to 1.0 → Likely to be a human.

Closer to 0.0 → Likely to be a bot.

This score helps you evaluate the quality of interactions with your form. You (the form owner) decide what minimum score you are comfortable with by setting a threshold. For example, if your threshold is 0.5, any score below that is considered suspicious.

Based on the threshold you set, you can decide whether to block, or further verify, a submission.

reCAPTCHA v3 is invisible to respondents, so they won’t have to click anything. It runs silently in the background, keeping the form-filling experience smooth.

If you expect high-volume traffic, start with a middle-ground score like 0.5 and adjust based on results.

Actions for low reCAPTCHA scores  

When a submission does not meet your threshold score, you have 2 ways to handle it in Zoho Forms:

Block Submission  

The form submission is blocked if the score falls below your chosen threshold. You can display a custom error message so respondents understand why their submission could not go through.

Show Zoho Forms CAPTCHA (Second layer of defense)  

Instead of blocking the submission outright, respondents with low scores are asked to complete a Zoho Forms CAPTCHA. This acts as an extra verification step, if they pass, their submission goes through. You can customize the CAPTCHA label and description to guide respondents clearly.

With Google reCAPTCHA v3 in Zoho Forms, you now have more control over how you protect your forms. Whether you choose to block suspicious submissions outright or give respondents a second chance with Zoho Forms CAPTCHA, the power is in your hands to balance security and user experience.

Check out how to configure Google reCAPTCHAv3 in your form

Start experimenting with different threshold scores and actions to see what works best for your use cases.

Share your thoughts and experiences with us in the comments below.

Until next time,

Samhita

• Topic Participants

• Samhita Munukutla

  

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