Public website
Combell
European provider- Observed
- A 185.175.196.96 · AS34762
Friendly Captcha
Captcha service from Germany
GermanyEU Ownership reviewed, controller unresolvedScope verdict
Ownership reviewed, controller unresolved
Friendly Captcha is a German business founded by Benedict Padberg and Guido Zuidhof and describes itself as fully bootstrapped. A secondary registry summary reports Interlink GmbH (Germany) at 75% and Zuidhof Digital B.V. (Netherlands) at 25%. Primary ownership records for the holding-company chain were not obtained, so ultimate control remains unverified. This is an evidence gap, not a finding of non-European ownership.
Friendly Captcha is a captcha service from Germany that helps protect websites from bots. Apart from clicking a checkbox, the visitor does not have to interact with the captcha at all: no picking out images, no deciphering bent letters.
It is developed in Germany and is a European alternative to the American captcha services, although the EU only API endpoint is reserved for the more expensive professional plans, which is why it does not carry an EU hosted label here. It suits site owners who want bot protection that does not punish real visitors.
Pricing
The free plan is limited to 1,000 requests per month and cannot be used for commercial projects. Starter costs 9 EUR per month and matches the free plan while allowing commercial use, while Growth at 39 EUR and Advanced at 200 EUR per month include more requests and more features.
Data and operations
Infrastructure and email path
Verified operational dependencies, shown separately from ownership and from the service's core data hosting.
Incoming business email
Microsoft 365
Non-European provider- Observed
- MX 0 friendlycaptcha-com.mail.protection.outlook.com
- Evidence
- Current daily MX lookup ↗
Why this matters
Published MX records route incoming business email through Microsoft 365. Correspondent details and message content can therefore enter this non-European provider's systems; MX does not reveal the configured storage region.
Authorised outbound email
Microsoft 365
Non-European provider- Observed
- SPF spf.protection.outlook.com
- Evidence
- Live SPF record ↗
Why this matters
This domain authorises Microsoft 365 to send email. If active, recipient details and message content can be processed by this non-European provider. SPF does not reveal its configured storage region.
Authorised outbound email
Mailgun
Non-European provider- Observed
- SPF eu.mailgun.org
- Evidence
- Live SPF record ↗
Why this matters
This domain authorises Mailgun to send email. If active, recipient details and message content can be processed by this non-European provider. SPF does not reveal its configured storage region.
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