How to Bypass CAPTCHA Using Playwright

In this guide, we’ll explore how to bypass CAPTCHA using Playwright, a powerful browser automation tool. We’ll cover various CAPTCHA types, bypass techniques, and code examples to help you implement solutions effectively. Additionally, we’ll discuss how Web Unblocker can streamline CAPTCHA bypassing for large-scale automation.

Method 1: Using Playwright Stealth Mode

The stealth mode plugin modifies browser signatures to make Playwright appear as a regular user.

Code Example: Playwright Stealth Mode

from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright
from playwright_stealth import stealth

with sync_playwright() as p:
    browser = p.chromium.launch(headless=False)
    context = browser.new_context()
    page = context.new_page()

    stealth(page)  # Enables stealth mode

    page.goto("https://example.com")
    print(page.title())

    browser.close()

✅ Benefits: Avoids automation detection on many sites.
❌ Limitations: Doesn’t work against advanced reCAPTCHAs.

Method 2: Automating reCAPTCHA v2 Checkbox

reCAPTCHA v2 often requires users to click a checkbox. Playwright can simulate this interaction.

Code Example: Clicking reCAPTCHA Checkbox

from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright

with sync_playwright() as p:
    browser = p.chromium.launch(headless=False)
    context = browser.new_context()
    page = context.new_page()

    page.goto("https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api2/demo")
    
    # Click the reCAPTCHA checkbox
    page.frame_locator("//iframe[contains(@src, 'recaptcha')]").locator("#recaptcha-anchor").click()

    print("reCAPTCHA checkbox clicked!")
    browser.close()

✅ Benefits: Works for simple checkboxes.
❌ Limitations: Fails if image challenges appear.

Method 3: Bypassing Cloudflare CAPTCHAs

Some websites use Cloudflare’s Turnstile CAPTCHA, making it harder for bots.

Solution: Spoof Browser Fingerprinting

Modify headers, user-agents, and viewport settings to appear as a real user.

browser = p.chromium.launch(headless=False)
context = browser.new_context(
    user_agent="Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/100.0.0.0 Safari/537.36",
    viewport={"width": 1280, "height": 800}
)

✅ Benefits: Reduces bot detection.
❌ Limitations: Not 100% effective.

Method 4: Solving Image CAPTCHAs with OCR

For text-based CAPTCHAs, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) can extract text and automate input.

Installing OCR Library

pip install pytesseract opencv-python

Code Example: Solving CAPTCHA with OCR

import pytesseract
import cv2

image = cv2.imread("captcha.png")
text = pytesseract.image_to_string(image)
print(f"Extracted CAPTCHA Text: {text}")

✅ Benefits: Works for simple text CAPTCHAs.
❌ Limitations: Low accuracy for complex CAPTCHAs.

The Best Solution: Web Unblocker

For large-scale web scraping, bypassing CAPTCHA manually is time-consuming and unreliable. Instead, a fully automated proxy-based CAPTCHA bypassing solution is needed.

How to Integrate Oxylabs Web Unblocker with Playwright

Oxylabs Web Unblocker can be used directly with Playwright to automatically bypass CAPTCHA challenges.

Step 1: Configure Playwright to Use Oxylabs Web Unblocker

from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright

proxy_server = "http://USERNAME:[email protected]:7777"

with sync_playwright() as p:
    browser = p.chromium.launch(proxy={"server": proxy_server})
    context = browser.new_context()
    page = context.new_page()

    page.goto("https://example.com")
    print(page.title())

    browser.close()

How It Works:

🔹 Intelligent CAPTCHA handling — Detects and bypasses CAPTCHAs automatically.
🔹 Anonymous browsing — Rotates IPs to avoid detection.
🔹 Works for Amazon CAPTCHA bypass and reCAPTCHA v3.

💡 Use Case: Scraping e-commerce sites like Amazon without triggering CAPTCHA.

Best Practices to Avoid CAPTCHA Detection

• Use Random Delays — Human-like browsing behavior prevents bot detection.

import time
import random
time.sleep(random.uniform(2, 5))  # Random delay

• Rotate User-Agents — Switch between different browser fingerprints.
• Avoid Headless Mode — Some sites block headless browsers.

browser = p.chromium.launch(headless=False)

• Use a Reliable Proxy Solution — Oxylabs Web Unblocker ensures undetectable scraping.

Bypassing CAPTCHA in Playwright requires stealth techniques, automation tricks, and OCR solutions. However, manual CAPTCHA-solving methods are not scalable for large projects. Oxylabs Web Unblocker provides a robust, automated solution to handle CAPTCHAs efficiently.

Key Takeaways:
– Playwright’s stealth mode helps avoid bot detection.
– Manual CAPTCHA bypassing works but isn’t always reliable.
– Web Unblocker automates CAPTCHA handling for large-scale projects.