Privacy-First Bot Detection System

DevilsCaptcha

A silent adaptive verification system that detects bots without ever disturbing real users. No annoying checkboxes. No Google tracking. No puzzles for grandma. Just invisible protection that only activates when something actually looks wrong.

Anti-Bot In Development Privacy First Open Source 45 Detection Signals Free Forever No Google GDPR Safe

The problem with existing solutions

Why not reCAPTCHA or hCaptcha?

Every major CAPTCHA system has a hidden cost that most developers never think about — your users pay it.

reCAPTCHA v3
Tracks users across every website using Google cookies. Blocked in Russia and China. Violates GDPR in strict interpretations. Complete black box — no explanation for blocks.
hCaptcha
Sells every puzzle your users solve as paid AI training data. Your visitors do unpaid labor for machine learning companies without knowing it.
FriendlyCaptcha
Burns user CPU with math puzzles. Punishes people with cheap phones or low battery. No behavioral scoring whatsoever.
Cloudflare Turnstile
Only works well inside Cloudflare's ecosystem. Closed source. Zero developer control over scoring thresholds or flagging reasons.
DevilsCaptcha
No tracking. No Google. No AI training on your users. Open source and auditable. Returns a real score so you decide. Free for small sites. GDPR safe out of the box.

How it works

Three stages. Most users see none of them.

The system runs silently in the background building a risk picture before any challenge ever appears. 90% of real users pass without ever knowing DevilsCaptcha exists on the page.

STAGE 01
👁

Silent observation

Widget loads invisibly. Monitors mouse movement, scroll behavior, typing rhythm, form interaction, and hidden honeypot traps. User sees nothing. Score builds in background.

STAGE 02

Risk scoring

45 signals processed server-side. Natural human behavior lowers score. Suspicious patterns raise it. If score stays low — user passes invisibly, signed token issued automatically.

STAGE 03
🔒

Challenge if needed

Only high-risk sessions see a challenge. Medium risk — one simple click. High risk — logic puzzle. Bots that are detected receive a fake success — they think they passed. They didn't.


Detection capability

45 signals. 8 categories. All analyzed server-side.

Every signal is processed on the backend where it cannot be faked from the browser. A signed JWT token is the only proof of passing — and it cannot be forged, reused, or transferred.

45
Total detection signals
8
Signal categories
7
Honeypot trap types
5min
Token expiry window

Detection signals

What DevilsCaptcha actually checks

Mouse behavior

6 signals

  • Path naturalness — wobble vs perfect straight lines
  • Speed variation and deceleration near buttons
  • Micro tremor — involuntary movements bots never have
  • Click position offset — humans never click dead center
  • Click hold duration — scripts release instantly
  • Approach angle to clickable elements
Keyboard behavior

5 signals

  • Keystroke timing rhythm between each key
  • Key hold duration per keystroke
  • Backspace and correction usage — bots never fix mistakes
  • Copy paste detection — zero millisecond fill means script
  • Typing speed variation — humans speed up and slow down
Touch behavior — mobile

4 signals

  • Touch pressure variation across contact surface
  • Finger roll on and off screen vs instant point
  • Touch contact area size — real finger always varies
  • Swipe naturalness and momentum curve
Scroll behavior

4 signals

  • Scroll velocity and natural momentum deceleration
  • Reading pause detection — humans stop mid scroll
  • Back scroll — humans re-read, bots never do
  • Scroll direction changes and rhythm
Session and time

4 signals

  • Time between page load and first interaction
  • Total session duration before form submission
  • Time spent per individual form field
  • Idle periods — humans pause to think, bots don't
Form behavior

4 signals

  • Field fill order — natural reading order vs surgical jump
  • Tab vs click navigation between fields
  • Field edit and correction patterns
  • Autofill detection and consistency check
Device and environment

7 signals

  • WebGL GPU — headless returns generic info
  • Timezone vs IP geolocation mismatch
  • Datacenter IP range detection — AWS, GCP, DO
  • Browser header consistency check
  • Font rendering — headless browsers have missing fonts
  • Touch support vs claimed device type
  • Screen resolution vs real device sizes
Honeypot traps

7 trap types

  • Hidden text fields off screen — humans never see them
  • Hidden checkbox that must stay unchecked
  • Hidden slider that must stay at zero
  • Invisible decoy buttons bots click automatically
  • Fields named to attract bots — email2, confirm-phone
  • JS injected traps with random delay
  • Dynamic rotation every page load — bots cannot hardcode avoidance

What makes it different

Features no other free CAPTCHA has

Unique feature 01

Bot confusion mode — silent failure

When a bot is detected, DevilsCaptcha does not block it loudly. The bot receives a fake success response — it thinks it passed. The attacker sees no error, no block, no signal that their bot failed. They keep running it. The data goes nowhere. This wastes their time and resources while giving them zero information about your defenses. reCAPTCHA blocks loudly and tells attackers to improve their bot. DevilsCaptcha lets them think they won.

Unique feature 02

Form-aware protection

Every other CAPTCHA sits separately from the form. DevilsCaptcha watches HOW the form is filled — tab order, field jump patterns, time between fields, whether the user went back to correct something. A bot that passes the behavioral check can still fail on the form interaction analysis. No standalone CAPTCHA product does this properly.

Unique feature 03

Bot farm replay detection

Across all sessions, the backend compares behavioral pattern hashes. If ten sessions in one hour show the exact same mouse timing curves and keystroke intervals, that is a bot farm running the same script. No human population ever shows microsecond-level similarity. This cross-session detection is only possible from a centralized service — which is why no self-hosted library can do it.

Unique feature 04

API route protection

Most websites have API endpoints that bots hit directly, completely bypassing any form or browser interaction. DevilsCaptcha issues short-lived signed tokens that prove a request originated from a real browser session. Your API endpoints verify the token. No other standalone CAPTCHA product extends protection to direct API routes.


Developer integration

Two lines to add. One endpoint to verify.

Website owners add one script tag. DevilsCaptcha handles everything silently. When needed, call the verify endpoint and get a real score back — not just pass or fail.

<!-- Step 1: Add to your page -->
<script src="https://cdn.devilscaptcha.dev/widget.js"></script>
<div class="devils-captcha" data-site-key="YOUR_KEY"></div>

// Step 2: Verify on your backend
const result = await fetch("https://api.devilscaptcha.dev/verify", {
  method: "POST",
  body: JSON.stringify({ token: userToken })
});

What you get back — a real score, not a black box:

{
  "verified": true,
  "score": 23,
  "risk": "low",
  "signals_triggered": ["natural_mouse", "normal_timing", "no_honeypot"],
  "token_valid": true,
  "expires_in": 287
}

Current build status

What is done. What is being built.

System architecture Concept finalized — how widget, backend, and token flow connects ✓ Concept Ready
Signal research and documentation 45 signals researched and listed across 8 categories ✓ Research Done
Honeypot engine design 7 trap types planned — dynamic rotation logic designed ✓ Concept Ready
Scoring algorithm design Risk scoring concept designed — weighted signals, 3 risk levels ✓ Concept Ready
Widget JavaScript Frontend signal collector — browser-side detection code ⚙ In Progress
Backend token server Cloudflare Workers — scoring engine and JWT issuance ◯ Planned
Public verify API Endpoint for third-party website backend verification ◯ Planned
Developer dashboard Score analytics, signal breakdown, site management ◯ Planned
Community trust network Cross-site anonymous behavioral pattern sharing ◯ Planned