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Can I reaccess my security recaptcha keys once made?

  • February 18, 2025
  • 6 replies
  • 160 views

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Hi,

I am new at using the Google recaptcha thing.

First, I have to say that Google knows how to make things complicated!!! I cannot find my way around the recaptcha dashboard? It looks like a big mess to me.

Anyhow, I have made some recaptcha keys for websites of mine. I am now trying to strengthen my website security after having been hacked over and over.

The plugin in I am using asks for both the recaptcha main key and the security key. I seem to be able to find the main keys but I don't seem to have any access to the security keys?

Do I need to start over or is there a way to find the security keys once having been made?

If so, how?

Thanks,

John

6 replies

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  • Staff
  • February 18, 2025

This might not be right group for reCAPTCHA. But I will still attempt.

reCAPTCHA keys for web Keys to integrate reCAPTCHA on web pages are 2 types
1.Score-based keys SCORE
2.Checkbox keys CHECKBOX

Which one are you using?

This key is installed on Website Frontend .https://cloud.google.com/recaptcha/docs/instrument-web-pages

This key will be later based to backend. But you will need another key to decrypt the token. Here is an example
https://cloud.google.com/recaptcha/docs/create-assessment-website#create-assessment-REST%20API
You will need the 2nd key API Key (or Project ID )


benstoksey33
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  • New Member
  • January 21, 2026

Hi,

I am new at using the Google recaptcha thing.

First, I have to say that Google knows how to make things complicated!!! I cannot find my way around the recaptcha dashboard? It looks like a big mess to me.

Anyhow, I have made some recaptcha keys for websites of mine. I am now trying to strengthen my website security after having been hacked over and over.

The plugin in I am using asks for both the recaptcha main key and the security key. I seem to be able to find the main keys but I don't seem to have any access to the security keys?

Do I need to start over or is there a way to find the security keys once having been made?

If so, how?

Thanks,

John

I have the same question and I’m struggling with this too. The Google reCAPTCHA dashboard is really confusing, especially when trying to find the right keys. I was able to get the site key (main key) for my websites, but I can’t figure out where to find the secret key that plugins often require. It’s not obvious in the dashboard, and I’m not sure if I need to create new keys from scratch or if there’s a way to view the existing secret key. Any guidance from someone who has successfully set this up would be really helpful!


faube
Staff
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  • Staff
  • January 22, 2026

Here is information about the legacy secret key (useful for some older third-party plugins):

https://docs.cloud.google.com/recaptcha/docs/create-key-website#find-key


benstoksey33
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  • New Member
  • January 24, 2026

Hi,

I am new at using the Google recaptcha thing.

First, I have to say that Google knows how to make things complicated!!! I cannot find my way around the recaptcha dashboard? It looks like a big mess to me.

Anyhow, I have made some recaptcha keys for my website. I am now trying to strengthen my website security after having been hacked over and over. 

The plugin in I am using asks for both the recaptcha main key and the security key. I seem to be able to find the main keys but I don't seem to have any access to the security keys?

Do I need to start over or is there a way to find the security keys once having been made?

If so, how?

Thanks,

John

I have the same question and I’m struggling with this too. The Google reCAPTCHA dashboard is really confusing, especially when trying to find the right keys. I was able to get the site key (main key) for my websites, but I can’t figure out where to find the secret key that plugins often require. It’s not obvious in the dashboard, and I’m not sure if I need to create new keys from scratch or if there’s a way to view the existing secret key. Any guidance from someone who has successfully set this up would be really helpful!

Thanks for the link, that helps a lot 👍 I wasn’t sure whether the “secret key” was something I’d completely missed in the dashboard or if it depended on the reCAPTCHA version being used. The legacy key explanation makes things much clearer, especially for older plugins that still expect a site key + secret key setup.

Just to confirm one thing: if a plugin explicitly requires a secret key, does that mean it won’t work properly with reCAPTCHA v3 or Enterprise unless it’s updated, and the safest option is to create a legacy reCAPTCHA key instead? Or is there a recommended way to map newer reCAPTCHA setups to plugins that still expect the legacy secret key model?


faube
Staff
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  • Staff
  • January 26, 2026

Hello, different third-party plugins work with different types of reCAPTCHA keys. The reCAPTCHA development team does not have visibility and control over these third-party plugins.

 

Refer to the plugin’s documentation to know what type of reCAPTCHA key to create and how.


amandasamop
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  • New Member
  • September 9, 2026

Hi,

I am new at using the Google recaptcha thing.

First, I have to say that Google knows how to make things complicated!!! I cannot find my way around the recaptcha dashboard? It looks like a big mess to me.

Anyhow, I have made some recaptcha keys for websites of mine. I am now trying to strengthen my website security after having been hacked over and over.

The plugin in I am using asks for both the recaptcha main key and the security key. I seem to be able to find the main keys but I don't seem to have any access to the security keys?

Do I need to start over or is there a way to find the security keys once having been made?

If so, how?

Thanks,

John

I have the same question and I’m struggling with this too. The Google reCAPTCHA dashboard is really confusing, especially when trying to find the right keys. I was able to get the site key (main key) for my websites, but I can’t figure out where to find the secret key that plugins often require. It’s not obvious in the dashboard, and I’m not sure if I need to create new keys from scratch or if there’s a way to view the existing secret key. Any guidance from someone who has successfully set this up would be really helpful!

I also have the same question, because I’m finding the reCAPTCHA dashboard rather confusing when trying to work out which credentials belong to which website and plugin. The terminology can be especially difficult when a plugin asks for a “main key” and a “security key,” while the Google dashboard appears to present several different values depending on the type of reCAPTCHA configuration. I can understand why this becomes frustrating when the goal is simply to add another layer of protection to a website and the dashboard makes it difficult to tell exactly what information needs to be copied. I would also be cautious about creating completely new keys before confirming what the plugin is actually asking for, because it would be easy to end up with several sets of credentials and then not know which ones are associated with the correct site. It would be really helpful if someone could explain the difference between the public/site key and the private/secret credential in simple terms and point out where the relevant value can normally be viewed in the current reCAPTCHA interface.