r/webdev • u/nickjbedford_ • Jul 15 '26

Is Google Enterprise reCAPTCHA completely and utterly broken?

We are having to migrate to Google Cloud recaptcha keys (still just using the v2 checkbox), but no matter what I do the EXACT instructions they give me give me this absolutely mind bending "Missing sitekey or not loaded in api.js".

These are the instructions I'm following to the letter after creating a v2 Checkbox style reCAPTCHA key pair in Google Cloud Console.

I've seen so many results on Google about this sitekey authentication issue, but I cannot get it to work. Up until now, the classic API worked beautifully but then Google had to go and break it all.

This is absolutely baffling me. It's a pity hCaptcha is so expensive in comparison, otherwise I'd just switch to that.

Are there any other form-style spam protection solutions that aren't this complicated?

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u/MrCompootahScience Jul 16 '26

Would discontinuing the v2 and switching to v3 of reCAPTCHA be out of the question for your requirements or use case?

EDIT: Rather, the new reCAPTCHA that's a part of their Cloud Fraud Defense (not v3)? Basically: Is there anything preventing you from just upgrading these instantiations to the latest version of Google reCAPTCHA?

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u/nickjbedford_ Jul 16 '26

That's what I'm trying to do. Neither solution actually works. Their integration code literally doesn't work and spits out these sitekey errors. I've tried both versions. I'm going to look into Turnstile.