hCaptcha Solver with Python and Selenium (2026 Guide)

hCaptcha is one of the most common CAPTCHAs used by high-traffic sites — Cloudflare, Discord, Epic Games, and many others rely on it. If you're automating browser interactions with Python using Selenium or Playwright, hCaptcha will block you. This guide shows you how to solve it programmatically.

Why hCaptcha is hard to bypass with Selenium

Unlike reCAPTCHA v2's checkbox, hCaptcha presents an image classification challenge (select all images with X). It also runs browser fingerprinting checks that flag common Selenium and Playwright signatures. You need two things:

1. A token-based solver that returns a valid h-captcha-response token
2. A way to inject that token into the page before submitting

Solving hCaptcha with Python + Selenium

Install dependencies

pip install selenium ocilar
# Also install ChromeDriver matching your Chrome version

Basic flow

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC
from ocilar import OcilarClient
import time

client = OcilarClient(api_key="sk-your_key")

options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
options.add_argument("--no-sandbox")
options.add_argument("--disable-dev-shm-usage")
driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)

try:
    driver.get("https://example.com/signup")

    # Find the hCaptcha sitekey on the page
    captcha_el = driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, ".h-captcha")
    sitekey = captcha_el.get_attribute("data-sitekey")
    page_url = driver.current_url

    # Solve hCaptcha via Ocilar
    result = client.solve_hcaptcha(
        sitekey=sitekey,
        page_url=page_url
    )

    # Inject the token into the page
    driver.execute_script(
        "document.querySelector('[name=h-captcha-response]').value = arguments[0];"
        "document.querySelector('[name=g-recaptcha-response]').value = arguments[0];",
        result.token
    )

    # Submit the form
    driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "button[type=submit]").click()

    print("Form submitted successfully")

finally:
    driver.quit()

Solving hCaptcha with Python + Playwright

import asyncio
from playwright.async_api import async_playwright
from ocilar import OcilarClient

client = OcilarClient(api_key="sk-your_key")

async def solve_hcaptcha_playwright():
    async with async_playwright() as p:
        browser = await p.chromium.launch(headless=True)
        page = await browser.new_page()

        await page.goto("https://example.com/signup")

        # Get sitekey from the hCaptcha widget
        sitekey = await page.get_attribute(".h-captcha", "data-sitekey")
        page_url = page.url

        # Solve via Ocilar (takes ~5-15s)
        result = client.solve_hcaptcha(
            sitekey=sitekey,
            page_url=page_url
        )

        # Inject token
        token = result.token
        await page.evaluate(
            "(t) => { document.querySelector('[name=\"h-captcha-response\"]').value = t; "
            "document.querySelector('[name=\"g-recaptcha-response\"]').value = t; }",
            token
        )

        # Click submit
        await page.click("button[type=submit]")
        await page.wait_for_load_state("networkidle")

        print("Done:", page.url)
        await browser.close()

asyncio.run(solve_hcaptcha_playwright())

cURL example

curl -X POST https://api.ocilar.com/api/v1/solve/hcaptcha \
  -H "X-API-Key: sk-your_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "sitekey": "a5f74b19-9e45-40e0-b45d-47ff91b7a6c2",
    "page_url": "https://example.com/signup"
  }'

# Response
{
  "token": "P1_eyJ0...(long token)...",
  "latency_ms": 8200,
  "credits_used": 1
}

Node.js example

import { chromium } from 'playwright'
import { OcilarClient } from '@ocilar/sdk'

const client = new OcilarClient({ apiKey: 'sk-your_key' })

const browser = await chromium.launch({ headless: true })
const page = await browser.newPage()

await page.goto('https://example.com/signup')

const sitekey = await page.getAttribute('.h-captcha', 'data-sitekey')
const { token } = await client.solveHcaptcha({
  sitekey,
  pageUrl: page.url()
})

await page.evaluate((t) => {
  document.querySelector('[name="h-captcha-response"]').value = t
  document.querySelector('[name="g-recaptcha-response"]').value = t
}, token)

await page.click('button[type="submit"]')
await browser.close()

Handling retries

hCaptcha tokens expire after ~2 minutes and have a ~5% failure rate on all solvers. Build retry logic:

from ocilar import OcilarClient
from ocilar.exceptions import SolveFailedError
import time

client = OcilarClient(api_key="sk-your_key")

def solve_with_retry(sitekey: str, page_url: str, max_retries: int = 3) -> str:
    for attempt in range(max_retries):
        try:
            result = client.solve_hcaptcha(sitekey=sitekey, page_url=page_url)
            return result.token
        except SolveFailedError:
            if attempt < max_retries - 1:
                time.sleep(2)
                continue
            raise
    raise RuntimeError("Max retries exceeded")

Common issues

Token injected but form still blocked

Some sites check that hCaptcha fires its callback. After injecting the token, trigger the callback manually:

driver.execute_script("""
    if (window.hcaptcha && window.hcaptcha.execute) {
        // Force callback with the token
        document.querySelector('[name="h-captcha-response"]').value = arguments[0];
    }
""", token)

Selenium detected before CAPTCHA loads

Use undetected-chromedriver to avoid Selenium fingerprinting:

pip install undetected-chromedriver

import undetected_chromedriver as uc

driver = uc.Chrome(headless=True)
driver.get("https://example.com")

Pricing

hCaptcha solving costs $1.00 per 1,000 solves. No subscription required — pay as you go.

FAQ

How long does it take to solve hCaptcha?

Average 6–12 seconds depending on challenge difficulty. Ocilar uses AI workers that solve the image classification challenges automatically.

Does Ocilar support hCaptcha Enterprise?

Yes. Pass the additional rqdata parameter if the site uses hCaptcha Enterprise with custom challenge data.

Will this work with async Selenium?

Selenium itself is synchronous. Use Playwright's async API for fully async automation with hCaptcha solving.

Can I solve hCaptcha on sites that also use Cloudflare bot protection?

You'll need to handle Cloudflare separately. Ocilar's Turnstile solver handles Cloudflare's own CAPTCHA. For layered protection, contact us for a custom solution.