You've reached 100,000 reCAPTCHA assessments. Here's what it means.
From now on Google charges $1 for every 1,000 reCAPTCHA checks - for the rest of the month, with no upper limit. Your bill now grows with your traffic. See exactly what changed, how to set up billing, and a flat-price alternative that never charges per request.
What "100,000 assessments" actually means
Every time reCAPTCHA runs on your site - a form submit, a login, or a page load with the badge - Google counts one assessment. You have just crossed Google's free ceiling, so billing has already started. This is not a warning you can ignore: the email confirms you are being charged for the rest of the month.
The more visitors you get, the more you pay, with no upper limit. A busy WooCommerce store, membership site, or popular blog can quietly run into hundreds of thousands of assessments a month - and the bill scales with every one of them.
reCAPTCHA pricing tiers (2026)
| Assessments / month | You pay |
|---|---|
| 0 - 10,000 | Free |
| 10,001 - 100,000 | $8 flat |
| Over 100,000 | $1 per 1,000 - metered, uncapped |
Source: Google Cloud reCAPTCHA / Fraud Defense billing tiers. Enterprise volume discounts are negotiated separately with Google Sales.
How to enable Google Cloud billing
If you have the budget and want to keep reCAPTCHA, here is how to turn on billing so your keys keep working.
Open Google Cloud Console
Go to the project linked to your reCAPTCHA key.
Attach a billing account
Open Billing and link an account with a valid payment card.
Enable the reCAPTCHA Enterprise API
Turn the API on for that project so assessments are counted and billed.
Check your usage
Under Security → reCAPTCHA → Metrics you can see your monthly assessment volume.
You will then be charged automatically each month based on volume. Fine if the budget is there - but if a metered bill that grows with your traffic does not sit right, here is the alternative.
A flat price that never scales with traffic
CleanTalk is a cloud anti-spam service that replaces reCAPTCHA - no puzzles, no badge, no per-request billing.
Flat price, from $10/year
Not per 1,000 requests, not per month. Your bill does not move when your traffic does.
No visitor data harvesting
reCAPTCHA profiles your visitors for Google. CleanTalk filters spam by behavior and a global blacklist - an easier GDPR story.
Invisible to real visitors
No "select all traffic lights". Real users just submit the form; bots are blocked in the background. Fewer abandoned forms.
Covers more than one form
Comments, registrations, contact forms, and WooCommerce orders - all protected, not just the box you put reCAPTCHA on.
reCAPTCHA billing vs CleanTalk
| reCAPTCHA (Standard) | CleanTalk | |
|---|---|---|
| Price model | Metered, per 1,000 assessments | Flat, per site |
| Cost at high traffic | Grows with every visit | Stays the same |
| Starting price | $8/mo, then $1 per 1,000 | ~$10/year |
| Upper limit on bill | None | Fixed |
| User experience | Puzzles / badge / friction | Invisible |
| Visitor data | Sent to Google | Not collected |
| Coverage | The form you protect | Forms, comments, signups, WooCommerce |
| Setup | Cloud billing + API config | Plugin + API key, ~5 min |
Switch in about 5 minutes
Create a free CleanTalk account
Sign up and copy your Access Key.
Install the CleanTalk plugin
WordPress, or the module for your CMS.
Paste the key and remove reCAPTCHA
Spam filtering runs immediately.
7-day free trial, no card. If it does not fit, keep reCAPTCHA - you have lost nothing.
I have questions…
Will Google still charge me after I stop using reCAPTCHA?
Once you remove the reCAPTCHA keys from your site, assessments stop counting and billing stops at the end of the cycle. Detach the billing account if you no longer need it.
Is CleanTalk really enough without a CAPTCHA?
Yes. It blocks spam by behavior and a shared blacklist of known spam sources, so there is no puzzle for real users - and typically fewer false blocks than a CAPTCHA.
Does the $10/year really have no per-request fees?
Correct. One flat price per site per year, regardless of how many form submits or visitors you get.
Is it GDPR-friendly?
CleanTalk does not profile visitors or hand their data to a third party for advertising, which makes the compliance story simpler than reCAPTCHA's.
Stop paying per request
Move from a metered reCAPTCHA bill that grows with your traffic to a flat annual price that never does - and keep your visitors' data out of it.
