Pricing

There are no hard monthly limits on the number of verifications. We understand that usage can be difficult to predict, and we don't want your service to be cut off simply because your traffic temporarily increases. Instead, API rate limits are used to ensure fair access to shared capacity: Cloud: up to 1,000 API requests per day, with bursts of up to 100 requests per hour. Cloud Plus: up to 10,000 API requests per day, with bursts of up to 1,000 requests per hour. Cloud Max: up to 20,000 API requests per day, with bursts of up to 2,000 requests per hour. These limits are designed to provide generous capacity for typical usage while ensuring reliable service for all customers. If your requirements exceed these limits, please contact us to discuss your use case.

ALTCHA Cloud plans limit the number of sites (domain names). Each site gives you a unique API key, which can be used across multiple domains, such as sub-domains.

If you exceed your plan's API rate limit, additional requests return an HTTP 429 error and are not verified — legitimate visitors may see failed verifications until traffic drops back within the limit or you upgrade. If you reach your site limit, you won't be able to add a new site to your account until you remove an existing one or move to a plan with more capacity. Contact us if you expect to exceed your plan's limits on a regular basis.

Yes. You can upgrade to a higher Cloud plan at any time from your dashboard, and the price difference is prorated for the rest of your billing cycle. You can also cancel at any time — there's no long-term commitment.

ALTCHA Cloud includes the core Sentinel protection features, such as adaptive CAPTCHA and threat intelligence. The Cloud service does not include the full Sentinel feature set, such as data classification, custom settings, and custom security rules. If you require these advanced capabilities, we recommend self-hosting the full Sentinel installation.

Yes. ALTCHA Cloud and self-hosted Sentinel run the same underlying protection engine, so migrating is mostly a matter of pointing your widget and server-side verification calls at your new Sentinel instance's URL and API keys — no changes to your integration logic are needed.

ALTCHA Cloud is GDPR and WCAG compliant, hosted in the EU without data sharing or data transfers. For more details, visit the compliance documentation.

Yes. Sentinel runs on a free 30-day trial by default — no license key is required to install and start it. A paid Professional or Enterprise license is required before using it in production; see the plans above for what's included at each tier.

Usage limits scale with your plan, not with the number of verifications — there's no per-verification metering, since Sentinel runs entirely on infrastructure you control. Professional supports up to 3 instances, 10 accounts, and 10 users. Enterprise removes those caps — unlimited instances, clusters, accounts, and users — and adds support for Oracle, MS SQL, and ClickHouse alongside the core databases.

For instances, exceeding your licensed limit triggers a grace period (to accommodate normal events like pod rescheduling), after which the oldest instances beyond your limit are shut down automatically. For accounts and users, you simply won't be able to create new ones beyond your plan's cap until you upgrade.

Yes — you're free to run separate development and staging clusters alongside production. The instance limit is enforced per cluster, not across your entire deployment, so each cluster just needs to stay within your plan's instance cap on its own.

The license plan (Professional, Enterprise, Enterprise Lifetime) determines which features, instance/account/user limits, and database support you get. Support is a separate, add-on purchase that only affects your support channel and response-time SLA — it doesn't unlock additional product features. Basic support (email, best-effort) is included free with any license. Paid upgrades are tied to which license you hold: Standard support pairs with a Professional license, while Standard Enterprise and Priority Enterprise support are only available alongside an Enterprise or Enterprise Lifetime license.

By default, Sentinel periodically verifies your license with a minimal, non-telemetry call to eu.altcha.org (application version, node ID, and process ID only — no traffic or visitor data). If your environment can't allow any outbound calls, Sentinel supports fully offline license verification via a license file, so it can run entirely air-gapped.

Yes. ALTCHA Cloud and self-hosted Sentinel run the same underlying protection engine, so migrating in either direction is mostly a matter of pointing your widget and server-side verification calls at the new URL and API keys — no changes to your integration logic are needed.

Yes. Since Sentinel runs entirely on your own infrastructure, there's no third-party data processing or cross-border transfer to account for — data residency follows wherever you deploy it. The widget is also built to WCAG accessibility standards. For more details, visit the compliance documentation.

In addition to WP login, registration and comments, ALTCHA for WordPress includes official protection for the following plugins: CoBlocks, Contact Form 7, Divi, Elementor, Eventprime, Everest Forms, Fluent Forms, Formidable, Forminator, Gravity Forms, HTML Forms, Kali Forms, Mailpoet, Newsletter, Ninja Forms, Noptin, Sure Forms, User Registration, WooCommerce, WP-Members, wpDiscuz, WPForms. Protection for additional plugins or forms can be added using advanced configuration or custom integrations.

No. The ALTCHA WordPress plugin offers self-contained verification with no external services and no usage limits.

The base Professional and Lifetime price covers 1 site (domain name). You can add extra sites to the same license, up to 10, at a discounted per-site rate — see pricing above. If you manage more sites than that, the Agency plan covers up to 100 sites under a single license. Development domains and sub-domains are always included for free.

Yes — the WordPress plugin lets you connect to a Sentinel instance or the Cloud service for added protection, billed separately.

Yes. The ALTCHA WordPress plugin is fully self-hosted, with no external service involved — verification runs entirely on your own server, so there's no third-party data sharing or cross-border data transfer to account for. It's also built to WCAG accessibility standards. For more details, visit the compliance documentation.