Python Selenium Script Stuck on Captcha While Automating Form Filling

[saurav866]

Body

Hello Developers,

I am working on a Python automation script using Selenium. The script collects input data from an Excel sheet and fills it into a government website form.

Everything works fine except for the Captcha step. The script gets stuck when it reaches the Captcha field — so the final output is never generated.

I have already prepared the whole code in Python, and the Excel integration works perfectly. The only blocking point is how to handle / bypass / solve the Captcha so that the automation can continue.

My question:** What is the best way to handle captchas in such automation workflows?

Is there a recommended library or API that can integrate with Selenium for this?

Should I explore AI/ML OCR models for Captcha recognition?

Or is manual intervention the only reliable solution here?

Any suggestions, references, or example code would be greatly appreciated 🙏

Thanks in advance!

Tags: python, selenium, automation, captcha, excel

Guidelines

• I have read and understood this category's guidelines before making this post.

[grademach]

Hey there,

Captchas are intentionally designed to block automation, so there’s no “built-in” Selenium solution for solving them. In practice, you’ve got a few options depending on your use case:

• Manual input: The simplest (and most reliable) approach is to pause the script when a captcha appears and let a human solve it. Selenium can wait for the field, then resume once it’s filled.
• Third-party services: If you need full automation, services like 2Captcha, Anti-Captcha, or DeathByCaptcha can integrate with Python. They send the captcha to human solvers or ML backends and return the text/token to you.
• Custom OCR/AI models: Possible, but usually not worth the effort unless you’re doing research or the captcha is very simple (e.g., plain text distorted images). Modern captchas like reCAPTCHA v2/v3 are intentionally difficult to bypass with pure OCR.

If this is for production or frequent use, I’d recommend looking into one of the paid APIs—they integrate smoothly with Selenium and will save you a lot of time. If it’s a one-off or personal project, manual solving might be good enough.

Just keep in mind the legal side. Some sites explicitly prohibit automated captcha solving in their terms of service—which could get you in real trouble if you're working on something bigger than just a side project.

Hope that helps!

[saurav866]

Thanks a lot for the detailed explanation. That clears things up.

I understand now why captchas are intentionally hard to automate, and it makes sense that there’s no direct Selenium-only solution. For my case, it’s more of a repeated workflow than a one-off, so I’ll definitely look into one of the third-party services like 2Captcha or Anti-Captcha for integration.

I’ll also keep the legal side in mind since I’m using this for learning and process automation, not for anything that violates terms of service.

Really appreciate your guidance — this gives me a clear path forward. 👍

[mohammad3a1eh]

Run the browser in visible (headful) mode and watch the page to detect the CAPTCHA’s position. Moving the mouse along a natural-looking path (for example using Perlin noise) and clicking the CAPTCHA might help in some cases, but given advances in reCAPTCHA it’s likely no longer reliably effective. Just out of curiosity, watch this Persian tutorial video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn8ooT5KbHw from @peymanmajidi

[zinzoch]

Program not done Sent from [Proton Mail](https://proton.me/mail/home) for Android.

…

-------- Original Message --------

On Saturday, 11/01/25 at 19:34 Mohammad Saleh ***@***.***> wrote: Run the browser in visible (headful) mode and watch the page to detect the CAPTCHA’s position. Moving the mouse along a natural-looking path (for example using Perlin noise) and clicking the CAPTCHA might help in some cases, but given advances in reCAPTCHA it’s likely no longer reliably effective. Just out of curiosity, watch this Persian tutorial video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn8ooT5KbHw from ***@***.***(https://github.com/peymanmajidi) — Reply to this email directly, [view it on GitHub](#172313 (comment)), or [unsubscribe](https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BZQTMBHMTXT4CRLV4TGQBWD32T4K5AVCNFSM6AAAAACFTXQEV2VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTIOBUG4ZTSMY). You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>