Sudden spike in spam on Netlify Forms (honeypot + reCAPTCHA) – loumarc.netlify.app

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Item Value
Netlify site name loumarc.netlify.app
Custom domain loumarc.com
Framework Astro 4.3
Anti-spam data-netlify-honeypot="bot-field" since 2022; reCAPTCHA v2 added Dec 2024

I’ve had a Netlify form with honeypot enabled for several years on my live site (loumarcsigns.com , Netlify site: loumarc-signs.netlify.app ). Six months ago, I added reCAPTCHA due to increasing spam submissions. However, in the last month, spam submissions have significantly surged, now making up about 50% of all form submissions.

I’ve thoroughly verified my form’s implementation multiple times—here is the relevant component for reference.

I’ve checked the forums and haven’t found any recent reports of similar spam increases. I’ve also been marking spam manually in the Netlify dashboard regularly throughout May.

I investigated hCaptcha as a potential alternative, but it appears it’s not yet supported.

Has there been any recent change in Netlify Forms spam filtering that might explain this sudden spike? Are there recommended adjustments I could make to improve the effectiveness of reCAPTCHA, or any other strategies worth considering?

Thanks for any insights or recommendations!

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When using ReCaptcha, the Akismet spam detection is automatically disabled. So if bots and spammers are surpassing ReCaptcha on your website, unfortunately there’s nothing that can be done. I don’t believe switching the captcha provider would essentially fix that, but if you think so, as I mentioned in that post, you can implement and Edge Function to use hcaptcha or any other spam detection tool that you’d like.

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Is there some technical limitation using ReCaptcha with Akismet spam detection? I would presume both working together would be the best option.

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Mainly cost measures, I believe. You can always implement it yourself using Edge Functions.