What Are CAPTCHA Proxies and How Do They Work?
Tags: seo, webscraping, proxies, datascraping
Published: 2022-05-10 07:43:15

Everyone has come across a CAPTCHA before; the security feature that many websites have enabled is usually disruptive and, in parts, annoying. They can be harmful when you get them while working on essential and time-consuming matters, like data harvesting. If bots are used, they will likely get stuck in it, which costs you time and efficiency – why do we need these things if there’s no guarantee that our efforts won’t go wasted? 

Over time, people have found ways around these CAPTCHAs and other tasks that they present on the internet. One such solution is a proxy which can be used as an alternative for accessing blocked websites or programs. We will discuss how you would use one in your daily life in detail.

## CAPTCHAs 101
Whilst browsing online to buy clothes or sign in to your social media account, you’ve probably been challenged with a question like adding up 2+3 or being asked, “are you a robot?” This is called a CAPTCHA. “What exactly is it?” You’re probably asking. Well, it’s a common form of challenge-response test used in computing to keep annoying bots at bay. These types of computer-based challenges make it difficult for automated programs to abuse their services on the website. Let’s delve a little deeper into this.

![captcha](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/gfp345pucfk7p07ot1fn.png)

## Why Does a CAPTCHA Occur?
A CAPTCHA occurs when a website needs to determine if the user is human or not. Automated programs often try to access websites and use their services without permission, so a CAPTCHA is used as a way to thwart these programs and protect the website’s users.

Although they are for our benefit, some believe the challenge of telling bots apart from humans should not be the job of the user. Alongside this argument, some CAPTCHAs are known to be challenging to solve, especially for humans. So, this disruption to the browsing experience is unnecessary and, for some people, detrimental in doing some of the simplest tasks. Is there a solution? Well, yes, that’s where CAPTCHA proxies come in!

## What are CAPTCHA Proxies?
It’s easy to get your IP address blocked if you’re doing extensive research from multiple sites, which could be disastrous. That’s where CAPTCHA proxies come in. 

Essentially a CAPTCHA proxy is the best way to get around anti-bot security measures. These particular types of proxies are designed with one purpose in mind – generating easy, Bot (or human) friendly challenges that your program can solve quickly and efficiently!

While there are many different types of rotating proxies, such as data centres and residential ones (the former being slightly less reliable when it comes to CAPTCHAs), they all have one thing in common: each type has its own set of benefits. Data centres provide lower prices than regular IP addresses do. Residential server rotations offer more possibilities while scraping sites; it can convince a website that your bot is made up of humans. 
![captcha2](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/10xpdkg9surd1dt93i5n.png)
## Why Use Captcha Proxies?
The main reason you may need a CAPTCHA proxy is when solving many different and complicated forms. This can be especially true if the form asks for private information like bank account numbers or shipping addresses. Some websites use image recognition technology, but that might not be enough to solve CAPTCHAs! 

So, you will have to get creative and use proxies for safety reasons because solving many problems with one IP address can lead to them being tagged as spammy, which could result in your account getting suspended! Residential proxy servers are best when doing this kind of work since they can quickly switch between different servers without raising suspicion from botnets tracking session lengths.

## How Do CAPTCHA Proxies Work?
To put it simply, the CAPTCHA proxy works by solving captchas on behalf of the user. They create trustworthy Google accounts, which are used to generate these one-click CAPTCHA challenges.


![captcha3](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/jyhcd7vesvonwwon8mmm.png)

The user must sign in with a trusted Google account before accessing the website, as Google will check this before presenting them with their anti-botting system called reCAPTCHA. 

A little context about what exactly reCAPTCHA does: It prevents automated software programs like robots (or spammers) from posting comments in blogs and reviews, and it helps protect against cross-site scripting attacks where sites may not be adequately secured because attackers could use them instead.

Using a CAPTCHA proxy will trick Google into thinking that each of your accounts is managed by a real user. That’s how you’ll get one-click CAPTCHAs that you can handle with ease or when you try to access a website that requires a CAPTCHA; then, you’ll be redirected to the CAPTCHA proxy. The proxy will then solve the CAPTCHA and send the response back to the user. This process allows humans to bypass the CAPTCHA test and access the website without solving it themselves.

## What Are The Requirements For Using a CAPTCHA Proxy?
To use a CAPTCHA proxy, you must first install it on your computer. The software is usually free to download and easy to use. You will also need an internet connection to use the proxy. When using a proxy, the most important factor is ensuring that it can stay online for an extended period of time. You should also use Google accounts with similar IP addresses and make certain they have access to YouTube or any other site where you plan on engaging in activities through these CAPTCHAs.

CAPTCHA proxies are a great way to bypass captchas and access websites without having to solve them yourself. They are easy to install and use, and they can be used on any computer with an internet connection. Simply enter the website’s address into your browser, select “Access Internet” from within settings if necessary (most sites will allow this), and then hit return. You’ll be prompted with two options: solving the puzzle yourself or requesting help from an automated system that can solve it for you in seconds—it really doesn’t matter which one because both are guaranteed to work and do so quickly. If you need to access a website with a CAPTCHA, try using a CAPTCHA proxy! It may just save you some time and hassle. Thanks for reading; we hope you are all clued up on everything CAPTCHA proxy related.

_Originally published on [SOAX proxies blog](https://soax.com/what-are-captcha-proxies-and-how-do-they-work?utm_source=devto&utm_medium=social&utm_term=post)_