Playwright CAPTCHA Handling with CaptchaAI

Playwright provides reliable browser automation across Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit. When target pages serve CAPTCHAs, CaptchaAI solves them server-side while Playwright handles the browser interaction.

Requirements

Python: Playwright + CaptchaAI

Setup

from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright
import requests
import time

API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY"

def solve_recaptcha(site_key, page_url):
    resp = requests.get("https://ocr.captchaai.com/in.php", params={
        "key": API_KEY,
        "method": "userrecaptcha",
        "googlekey": site_key,
        "pageurl": page_url
    })
    if not resp.text.startswith("OK|"):
        raise Exception(resp.text)
    task_id = resp.text.split("|")[1]

    for _ in range(60):
        time.sleep(5)
        result = requests.get("https://ocr.captchaai.com/res.php", params={
            "key": API_KEY, "action": "get", "id": task_id
        })
        if result.text == "CAPCHA_NOT_READY": continue
        if result.text.startswith("OK|"): return result.text.split("|")[1]
        raise Exception(result.text)
    raise TimeoutError()

Full Example

def login_with_captcha(url, username, password):
    with sync_playwright() as p:
        browser = p.chromium.launch(headless=True)
        context = browser.new_context(
            user_agent="Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36"
        )
        page = context.new_page()
        page.goto(url)

        # Fill login form
        page.fill("#username", username)
        page.fill("#password", password)

        # Check for reCAPTCHA
        recaptcha = page.query_selector(".g-recaptcha")
        if recaptcha:
            site_key = recaptcha.get_attribute("data-sitekey")
            print(f"Solving reCAPTCHA: {site_key}")

            token = solve_recaptcha(site_key, page.url)

            # Inject token
            page.evaluate(f"""
                document.getElementById('g-recaptcha-response').innerHTML = '{token}';
                document.getElementById('g-recaptcha-response').style.display = '';
            """)

        # Submit
        page.click('button[type="submit"]')
        page.wait_for_load_state("networkidle")

        print(f"Current URL: {page.url}")
        content = page.content()

        browser.close()
        return content

result = login_with_captcha(
    "https://example.com/login",
    "user@example.com",
    "password123"
)

Async Version

from playwright.async_api import async_playwright
import aiohttp
import asyncio

async def solve_recaptcha_async(site_key, page_url):
    async with aiohttp.ClientSession() as session:
        params = {
            "key": API_KEY, "method": "userrecaptcha",
            "googlekey": site_key, "pageurl": page_url
        }
        async with session.get("https://ocr.captchaai.com/in.php", params=params) as resp:
            text = await resp.text()
            task_id = text.split("|")[1]

        for _ in range(60):
            await asyncio.sleep(5)
            params = {"key": API_KEY, "action": "get", "id": task_id}
            async with session.get("https://ocr.captchaai.com/res.php", params=params) as resp:
                text = await resp.text()
                if text == "CAPCHA_NOT_READY": continue
                if text.startswith("OK|"): return text.split("|")[1]
                raise Exception(text)
        raise TimeoutError()

async def main():
    async with async_playwright() as p:
        browser = await p.chromium.launch(headless=True)
        page = await browser.new_page()
        await page.goto("https://example.com/form")

        site_key = await page.get_attribute(".g-recaptcha", "data-sitekey")
        token = await solve_recaptcha_async(site_key, page.url)

        await page.evaluate(f"document.getElementById('g-recaptcha-response').innerHTML = '{token}'")
        await page.click('button[type="submit"]')
        await browser.close()

asyncio.run(main())

Node.js: Playwright + CaptchaAI

const { chromium } = require("playwright");
const axios = require("axios");

const API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY";

async function solveRecaptcha(siteKey, pageUrl) {
  const submit = await axios.get("https://ocr.captchaai.com/in.php", {
    params: {
      key: API_KEY,
      method: "userrecaptcha",
      googlekey: siteKey,
      pageurl: pageUrl,
    },
  });
  const taskId = submit.data.split("|")[1];

  while (true) {
    await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 5000));
    const result = await axios.get("https://ocr.captchaai.com/res.php", {
      params: { key: API_KEY, action: "get", id: taskId },
    });
    if (result.data === "CAPCHA_NOT_READY") continue;
    if (result.data.startsWith("OK|")) return result.data.split("|")[1];
    throw new Error(result.data);
  }
}

(async () => {
  const browser = await chromium.launch({ headless: true });
  const page = await browser.newPage();
  await page.goto("https://example.com/login");

  // Fill form
  await page.fill("#username", "user@example.com");
  await page.fill("#password", "password123");

  // Solve CAPTCHA
  const siteKey = await page.getAttribute(".g-recaptcha", "data-sitekey");
  if (siteKey) {
    const token = await solveRecaptcha(siteKey, page.url());
    await page.evaluate(
      (t) => (document.getElementById("g-recaptcha-response").innerHTML = t),
      token
    );
  }

  // Submit
  await page.click('button[type="submit"]');
  await page.waitForLoadState("networkidle");

  console.log("Logged in:", page.url());
  await browser.close();
})();

Handling Cloudflare Turnstile

# Detect Turnstile
turnstile = page.query_selector(".cf-turnstile")
if turnstile:
    site_key = turnstile.get_attribute("data-sitekey")

    resp = requests.get("https://ocr.captchaai.com/in.php", params={
        "key": API_KEY, "method": "turnstile",
        "sitekey": site_key, "pageurl": page.url
    })
    task_id = resp.text.split("|")[1]

    # Poll and inject...

Playwright vs Selenium vs Puppeteer

CaptchaAI works identically with all three — extract the site key, solve via API, inject the token.

Troubleshooting

FAQ

Does Playwright's auto-wait help with CAPTCHAs?

Playwright's auto-wait ensures elements are visible before interacting, but it won't solve CAPTCHAs. You need CaptchaAI for the actual solving.

Can I use Playwright with all CAPTCHA types?

Yes. CaptchaAI handles the solving via API — Playwright just needs to extract the site key and inject the token. This works for reCAPTCHA, Turnstile, hCaptcha, and all other supported types.

Is Playwright better than Selenium for CAPTCHA automation?

Playwright's built-in auto-wait and better API design make CAPTCHA workflows more reliable. The CaptchaAI integration is identical for both.

Related Guides

• Selenium CAPTCHA Handling with Python
• Puppeteer CAPTCHA Solving with Node.js
• Automated Login CAPTCHA Handling