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Installing and Activating Advanced CAPTCHA

Advanced CAPTCHA is two plugins. The free plugin does the challenging. Advanced CAPTCHA Pro is an add-on that runs on top of it and does nothing on its own.

Before you start

Section titled “Before you start”
  • WordPress 6.5 or newer and PHP 7.4 or newer.
  • WooCommerce 9.0 or newer if you want the store forms protected. Without WooCommerce, the plugin protects the WordPress forms and the menu needs the manage_options capability instead of manage_woocommerce.

Install the free plugin

Section titled “Install the free plugin”

  1. In WordPress admin, go to Plugins → Add New Plugin.

    The WordPress Plugins menu expanded with Add New highlighted

  2. Search for Advanced CAPTCHA.

  3. Click Install Now, then Activate.

Add Pro

Section titled “Add Pro”

  1. Go to Plugins → Add New Plugin and click Upload Plugin.

    The Add Plugins screen with the Upload Plugin button highlighted

  2. Click Choose File and pick the Pro .zip you downloaded. Do not unzip it first.

    The plugin upload box with the Choose File button highlighted

  3. Click Install Now, then Activate Plugin.

    The install-complete screen with the Activate button highlighted

If the free plugin is missing, Pro installs and activates it on the next admin page you open. Until the free plugin is active, Pro does nothing and shows “Advanced CAPTCHA Pro requires the free Advanced CAPTCHA plugin to be installed and activated.”

Run the setup wizard

Section titled “Run the setup wizard”

Open DevDiggers Plugins → Advanced CAPTCHA. On a fresh install the setup wizard opens first. Updating from an older version skips it and keeps your settings.

After the wizard you land on the dashboard, with five tabs across the top: Dashboard, Integrations, Firewall, Logs and Configuration.

The Advanced CAPTCHA dashboard with its five tabs

The Plugins screen also gives the plugin three links: Dashboard, Configuration and Setup Wizard.

Check a protected form

Section titled “Check a protected form”

Open your login page (/wp-login.php) in a private window. The Built-in CAPTCHA sits above the Log In button.

The WordPress login page with the Built-in CAPTCHA above the Log In button

You are still signed in in your normal window, so you are not locked out while you test.

Activate your Pro license

Section titled “Activate your Pro license”

The setup wizard will not move past its License step until the license is active, and Pro updates need it too. Activate it in the wizard, or later under Configuration → License. See License Activation.