# Captcha Solving Cost: Price per 1,000 and What You Really Pay

> How captcha solving is priced per 1,000, why the real cost differs from the list price, and how to estimate a month of Cloudflare Turnstile tasks.

- Source: https://zerocaptcha.io/guides/captcha-solving-cost
- Published: 2026-09-30
- Updated: 2026-10-01
- Author: ZeroCaptcha Engineering

CAPTCHA-solving services quote prices per 1,000 solved challenges, and the numbers look easy to
compare. The cost you actually pay depends on more than the list price: which tasks are charged,
how many tokens go unused, and how you pay. This guide explains the pricing model, the factors
that move the real cost, and how to estimate a month before you commit.

## The unit: price per 1,000

Prices are quoted per 1,000 tasks because a single task costs a fraction of a cent. The cost of
one task is the price per 1,000 divided by 1,000. ZeroCaptcha prices a proxyless Turnstile task,
a Turnstile task through your own proxy and a challenge page task separately.

For reference, three services publish these Cloudflare Turnstile prices (checked 1 October 2026):

| Service | Listed Turnstile price | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2Captcha | $1.45 per 1,000 | [2captcha.com/pricing](https://2captcha.com/pricing) |
| CapSolver | $1.2 per 1k | [capsolver.com](https://www.capsolver.com/) |
| Anti-Captcha | $2 per 1,000, pay-as-you-go | [anti-captcha.com](https://anti-captcha.com/) |

ZeroCaptcha is not affiliated with 2Captcha, CapSolver or Anti-Captcha. ZeroCaptcha's own prices,
for proxyless tasks and tasks through your proxy, are on the [pricing page](https://zerocaptcha.io/pricing), which reads
them from the API when the site is built, so it always shows the prices tasks are charged.

## What you are charged for on ZeroCaptcha

- **A task is charged only when its token is ready.** When you create a task, its price is held
  on your balance. If the task is solved, the hold becomes a charge. If it fails or times out, the
  hold goes back at once, and the task costs nothing. A task refused when you create it holds
  nothing at all.
- **The price is the one in force when the task was created.** A price change never touches tasks
  already running.
- **There is no subscription, minimum volume or monthly fee.** You prepay a US dollar balance and
  spend it task by task.

## What makes the real cost higher than the list price

1. **Tokens you never use.** A Turnstile token works once, for 300 seconds. A token that expires
   in a queue was solved, so it was charged, but it bought you nothing. Solving just in time is the
   cheapest optimization there is: see [Cloudflare Turnstile token expiry](https://zerocaptcha.io/guides/cloudflare-turnstile-token-expiry).
2. **Retries that make duplicates.** A retried `createTask` without an `Idempotency-Key` can make a
   second task. If both are solved, you pay twice. See
   [Idempotency keys](https://zerocaptcha.io/guides/idempotency-keys-for-captcha-tasks).
3. **Tokens the site rejects.** A token sent with the wrong action or cData, or to the wrong
   field, is solved and charged, then refused by the site. Check the widget's parameters with
   [Cloudflare Turnstile action and cData](https://zerocaptcha.io/guides/cloudflare-turnstile-action-and-cdata).
4. **Failed tasks, on services that charge for them.** Check each provider's terms. On ZeroCaptcha
   they cost nothing.

## Estimate a month

The arithmetic is simple:

```text
monthly cost = solved tasks per month × price per 1,000 ÷ 1,000
```

Estimate solved tasks from the forms you submit, not from the tasks you create: failed tasks cost
nothing on ZeroCaptcha, so they do not belong in the sum. Add a margin for tokens that expire
unused if your pipeline queues them.

The [pricing page](https://zerocaptcha.io/pricing) has an estimator: enter tasks per month for each task type, and it
shows the monthly cost at the current prices and the top-up that covers it. Money is exact to the
micro-dollar, so a small number of tasks shows its real fractional cost.

## Keep spending predictable

- **Cap each key's daily spend.** A key can have a daily cap in US dollars; a task that would pass
  it is refused before any money moves. See [Secure your captcha API keys](https://zerocaptcha.io/guides/secure-captcha-api-keys).
- **Get a low-balance email.** Set an amount on Billing, and you get one email when your
  available balance falls below it, and no other until a top-up lifts the balance back.
- **Start small.** A top-up can be as small as $10, with no maximum. Top-ups are final, so add what
  you expect to use. See the [refund policy](https://zerocaptcha.io/legal/refunds).

## Paying

ZeroCaptcha takes top-ups in crypto through NOWPayments' hosted checkout, and credits the balance
once the payment is confirmed on its network. Every top-up gets a numbered receipt.
[Pay for a captcha API with crypto](https://zerocaptcha.io/guides/pay-for-captcha-api-with-crypto) walks through it.

To see the whole solving flow, start at the [Cloudflare Turnstile solver](https://zerocaptcha.io/cloudflare-turnstile-solver) page.

## Questions

### Do I pay for tasks that fail?

Not on ZeroCaptcha. The price is held when a task is created and released at once if it fails or times out; a refused task holds nothing. You pay only when a token is ready.

### Is there a monthly fee or subscription?

No. ZeroCaptcha is prepaid: you add funds to a US dollar balance, from $10, and each solved task is paid from it.

### Does a price change affect tasks already running?

No. A task is charged the price in force when it was created.