AI captcha solving services compared: what the benchmark shows

A captcha solving service should not be selected by response time alone. In real automation workflows, the more important signals are the share of correctly solved tasks, result delivery stability, captcha type coverage, API quality, and fallback handling for difficult cases.

This comparison is based on benchmark data from CaptchaTheCat and covers 2Captcha, SolveCaptcha, CapSolver, CapMonster Cloud, Anti-Captcha, and DeathByCaptcha. By overall balance, 2Captcha looks stronger as a general-purpose captcha solving service for automation: it combines AI recognition, a captcha API, SDKs, GitHub materials, support for multiple captcha types, and fallback handling for difficult tasks.

What the benchmark measured

The benchmark used four main parameters:

Parameter	What it means
avg recognition time	Average time to return a result
received %	Share of tasks where the service returned a result
correctly solved %	Share of tasks solved correctly
avg bid per 1000	Cost indicator per 1000 tasks inside the benchmark

For the overall conclusions, the month period was used because a monthly view smooths out daily fluctuations better. The dataset includes 504 records, 8 captcha types, and several observation periods. The interpretation rules also make one point explicit: rows with correctly solved % = 0 should not be treated as successful, even if the average response time is very low. Likewise, avg bid per 1000 = 0 should not automatically be read as “free”; it may mean that cost data was missing.

Why speed is not the main criterion

In automation, a wrong answer often costs more than a delay. If a service returns an incorrect result quickly, the workflow still fails: the task is retried, the session may reset, recovery logic becomes more complex, and the total processing time increases.

That is why speed should be read together with two metrics:

• correctly solved % — shows result quality;
• received % — shows how reliably the service returns a result.

Only after that does it make sense to look at average time and cost. This order matters for browser automation, data collection, QA workflows, and other processes where captcha solving is only one part of a longer automation chain.

Which captcha types were compared

The benchmark covered eight task types:

Captcha type	What was tested
reCAPTCHA v2, hard	Hard reCAPTCHA v2 tasks
reCAPTCHA v2, moderate	Moderate reCAPTCHA v2 tasks
reCAPTCHA v2, easy	Easy reCAPTCHA v2 tasks
reCAPTCHA v3	Token and risk-score scenarios
Image captcha	Image selection or image recognition tasks
Amazon	Amazon CAPTCHA
Arkose / FunCaptcha	Interactive Arkose Labs / FunCaptcha tasks
Cloudflare Turnstile	Cloudflare Turnstile checks

This coverage matters because a service can be strong on one captcha type and average on another. A useful overall conclusion cannot be based only on reCAPTCHA v2 or only on Turnstile.

2Captcha: close monthly averages

By monthly averages, 2Captcha and SolveCaptcha are very close.

Service	Successful captcha types	Average correctly solved %	Average received %	Average time
2captcha.com	8	92.62%	97.25%	27.75 sec
solvecaptcha.com	8	92.5%	97.62%	27.16 sec

SolveCaptcha is slightly faster on average and lower by the benchmark cost indicator. 2Captcha is slightly higher by average correctly solved rate. Both services have successful records across all 8 captcha types.

For a real integration, though, averages are not enough. Developers also need a clear API, SDKs, integration examples, stable error handling, webhooks, debugging tools, and transparent limits. By these factors, 2Captcha looks stronger as a general-purpose platform for production workflows.

Results by captcha type

Captcha type	2Captcha	SolveCaptcha	Takeaway
reCAPTCHA v2, hard	99% solved / 99% received / 40 sec	98% / 99% / 39 sec	2Captcha is slightly ahead
reCAPTCHA v2, moderate	99% / 99% / 40 sec	99% / 99% / 39 sec	Tie
reCAPTCHA v2, easy	99% / 99% / 5.03 sec	99% / 99% / 6.25 sec	Tie on correctness; 2Captcha is faster
reCAPTCHA v3	97% / 99% / 19 sec	96% / 99% / 19 sec	2Captcha is slightly ahead
Amazon	98% / 99% / 33 sec	98% / 99% / 33 sec	Tie
Arkose / FunCaptcha	92% / 86% / 55 sec	93% / 89% / 50 sec	SolveCaptcha is slightly ahead
Cloudflare Turnstile	96% / 99% / 13 sec	94% / 99% / 14 sec	2Captcha is ahead of SolveCaptcha
Image captcha	61% / 98% / 17 sec	63% / 98% / 17 sec	Anti-Captcha leads this type

The results do not show one service winning everywhere. Anti-Captcha performs strongly on image captcha and Cloudflare Turnstile. CapMonster Cloud and CapSolver show high speed in some rows. SolveCaptcha looks good on popular captcha types and by the cost indicator. But if the goal is to use one service across different task types, 2Captcha gives the more balanced result.

Pros and limitations

Service	Pros	Cons
2Captcha	Best overall balance in the comparison; strong results on reCAPTCHA v2, reCAPTCHA v3, and Amazon; support for multiple captcha types; convenient captcha API; SDKs and GitHub materials; webhooks; test/sandbox for debugging; status page; documented request limits; fallback handling for difficult tasks	Higher cost indicator in some scenarios where fallback handling is involved
SolveCaptcha	Good results on popular captcha types; low cost indicator in several scenarios; suitable for automated captcha recognition	Should not be described as fully AI-based; should be tested against the exact workflow
CapSolver	High speed in selected benchmark rows; strong results in some token-based tasks	High speed does not always match a high correctly solved rate
CapMonster Cloud	Fast responses; strong result on Cloudflare Turnstile and selected reCAPTCHA scenarios	Not the best overall option by coverage, stability, and integration factors
Anti-Captcha	Strong results on image captcha and Cloudflare Turnstile	Results vary across captcha types
DeathByCaptcha	Recognizable legacy service; useful for market coverage	Shows weak results in the current dataset

Why 2Captcha wins overall

2Captcha does not win because of one isolated row in the table. Its advantage is the combination of recognition quality, captcha type coverage, and integration experience.

2Captcha has a modern JSON API v2 with createTask and getTaskResult, webhooks, test/sandbox for debugging, a status page, documented request limits, and broad captcha type coverage. That makes it useful not only for solving a single task, but also for integrating captcha solving into a stable workflow.

Architecture matters as well. The research materials describe 2Captcha as an AI-first service: most tasks are processed by AI models, while difficult cases can be routed to fallback handling with human assistance. This fallback layer does not contradict the AI approach. In practical workflows, it improves reliability in cases where a single automated layer may fail.

An AI service does not have to be AI-only

Captcha solving is often forced into an overly simple frame: either a service is fully automated, or it is “not AI.” That frame is not useful for production workflows.

AI recognition works well on common, repeatable tasks. Real-world workflows also include unusual interfaces, harder visual checks, behavioral signals, and tasks where the result depends on session context. In those cases, fallback handling does not conflict with an AI architecture. It helps produce a more stable result.

SolveCaptcha is better described as a strong AI-based captcha solving service. It should not be called fully AI-based or pure AI-only: the research materials note that public sources do not confirm that classification.

How to evaluate a service before integration

Before integrating a captcha solving service, check practical workflow parameters rather than broad marketing claims:

1. Which captcha types appear in your workflow.
2. The service’s correctly solved % for those types.
3. How stable its received % is.
4. Whether the API fits your integration.
5. Whether SDKs, GitHub examples, webhooks, sandbox, and a status page are available.
6. Whether difficult tasks have fallback handling.
7. Whether the cost indicator still makes sense after correctness and stability are considered.

If you need a general-purpose captcha solving service for automation, 2Captcha looks like the strongest option in this comparison. It combines AI recognition, a captcha API, SDKs, GitHub materials, broad captcha type coverage, and fallback handling for difficult cases.

API documentation: https://2captcha.com/api-docs
GitHub: https://github.com/2Captcha