Fix a CAPTCHA that will not load or connect

If you are opening someone else's link

A CAPTCHA is a security check that appears before some links continue. If it reports Unable to connect to website or never finishes loading, first check that your internet connection works on another page. Refresh the link and try an up-to-date browser.

Privacy extensions, blocked scripts, a restricted network, or a VPN can affect the outside provider's challenge. Try another browser or network when practical. If the page offers Try another CAPTCHA or another verification method, use it and complete the alternate check. Changing methods does not skip verification.

1. Check your connection and refresh the page once.
2. Use another browser or network to narrow down the cause.
3. Complete the alternate CAPTCHA if the page offers one.
4. If it still fails, tell the link owner the short address, error text, browser, and approximate time.

If you created the link

Open the link's settings and check its Main CAPTCHA selection. For an outside provider, the public site key and private secret must belong to the same provider and configuration. A Turnstile key cannot be paired with a reCAPTCHA secret, and a key from a different widget may not have the hostname permissions you expect.

Keep private secrets in the account's CAPTCHA settings. Do not paste them into a ticket, web address, browser screenshot, or public message. If a credential was exposed, replace it through the provider and update the stored setting.

Check the hostname allowed by the provider

A working custom domain and a working CAPTCHA are separate things. Connecting short.example.com prepares the domain to serve links. It does not automatically add that name to the CAPTCHA provider's allowed hostnames. Authorize the hostname where the challenge appears, rather than the final destination website.

For Cloudflare Turnstile, open the widget matching the selected site key in the Cloudflare dashboard and review Hostname Management. Add the appropriate hostname using the provider's controls. Turnstile error 110200 indicates that the hostname is not authorized. For Google reCAPTCHA, review the domains for the matching key in the reCAPTCHA admin console. Allow time for provider changes to apply, then test the exact custom-domain link again.

Give visitors another usable check

In the link's CAPTCHA settings, choose a fallback that uses a different provider type or a built-in challenge. This can help visitors complete verification when the main provider cannot load. Check that the alternate challenge also works on the public link, not only while you are signed in.

If both checks fail, open a support ticket with the provider name, hostname, visible error code, and steps you already tried. The public site key can identify a widget, but the private secret is never needed in the ticket. Changing DNS repeatedly will not repair a widget's hostname permissions when the domain already serves the page correctly.