Shoutout to https://github.com/dessant/buster by the way!
`Buster is a browser extension which helps you to solve difficult captchas by completing reCAPTCHA audio challenges using speech recognition. Challenges are solved by clicking on the extension button at the bottom of the reCAPTCHA widget.`
In Verizon/Yahoo Blocking Attempts to Archive Yahoo Groups – Deletion: Dec. 14dessant
buster
JavaScript2018–2026
dessant / buster
buster
Captcha solver extension for humans, available for Chrome, Edge and Firefox
41Distinct people
54Mentions
2Explicit recommenders
9.4KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
Captcha solver extension for humans, available for Chrome, Edge and Firefox
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
The captcha buster extension[^0] along with the service on you computer to move the mouse for you works very very well. It uses google’s TTS (afaik) to transcribe the audio…
ornornor used a recommendation phrase. 3 indexed comments match. This is a phrase match, not a verdict.
No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.
Also in these discussions
No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 8–Nov 15 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/15/2026, 9:01:12 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year54 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2018-12-10 14:39:53 UTC to 2026-09-09 11:15:44 UTC.
* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 19 | 3 | 16 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 15 | 1 | 14 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
From the project README
An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 13, 2026.
Read the project’s introduction
Buster: Captcha Solver for Humans
Sponsors
Lenso.ai - Explore billions of images from all around the web.
Search for places, people, duplicates, and more.
Supporting the Project
The continued development of Buster is made possible
thanks to the support of awesome backers. If you'd like to join them,
please consider contributing with
Patreon,
PayPal or
Bitcoin.
Description
Buster is a browser extension which helps you to solve difficult CAPTCHAs
by completing reCAPTCHA audio challenges using speech recognition.
Challenges are solved by clicking on the extension button at the bottom
of the reCAPTCHA widget.
Obviously, this blue part here is the land.
— Byron "Buster" Bluth, reading a map
Motivation
reCAPTCHA challenges remain a considerable burden on the web,
delaying and often blocking our access to services and information
depending on our physical and cognitive abilities, our social
and cultural background, and the devices or networks we connect from.
The difficulty of CAPTCHA challenges can be so out of balance,
that sometimes they seem friendlier to bots than they are to humans.
The goal of this project is to improve our user experience on the web,
by giving us easy access to solutions utilized by automated systems.
Client App
The client app enables you to simulate user interactions and improves
the success rate of the extension. Follow the instructions
from the extension's options to download and install the client app
on Windows, Linux and macOS, or get the app
from this repository.
Screenshots
License
Copyright (c) 2018-2026 Armin Sebastian
This software is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License v3.0.
See the LICENSE file for further information.
Read the full README on GitHubWhat Hacker News says
19 sourcesI only know about Buster:
> The difficulty of captchas can be so out of balance, that sometimes they seem friendlier to bots than they are to humans. The goal of this project is to improve our experience with captchas, by giving us easy access to solutions already utilized by automated systems.
https://github.com/dessant/buster/blob/master/README.md
In Ask HN: Do we need Google captcha?Have you not used it enough to get the "your computer is performing automated queries" audio block? Because it can be a common problem after using Buster for long enough https://github.com/dessant/buster/issues/56#issuecomment-481....
In A captcha that requires your computer to solve equations in the backgroundI wish they mentioned https://github.com/dessant/buster which I love using
In There is no evil like reCAPTCHAI'm torn on this. reCAPTCHA v2 (mostly useless[0]) and v3 function largely on browser fingerprinting plus a few other heuristics (e.g., whether or not you have a Google cookie). Any meaningful privacy measures to resist fingerprinting end up with a low reCAPTCHA score. I personally run into a wall on most sites using it.
That said, it's one of the most effective means of combatting automated spam and credential stuffing attacks. In a recent implementation I did, having 2FA active for your account bypasses the captcha requirement, but the vast majority of users are still too non-technical to use 2FA and are subject to the frustrations of reCAPTCHA.
[0]: https://github.com/dessant/buster
In Google’s new reCAPTCHA has a dark sideI use https://github.com/dessant/buster to avoid captchas and swear by it. It uses google's speech to text to transcribe the captcha audio element, and posts it back as an answer so you don't have to do the annoying images.
In Google's Captcha in Firefox vs. in ChromeI was going through the same ordeal as a Firefox user, so I've made Buster to solve challenges and reclaim some of that lost time: https://github.com/dessant/buster
If you're a developer, please consider replacing reCAPTCHA on your site with an alternative. reCAPTCHA discriminates against people with disabilities and those who seek privacy, and it gaslights you into thinking you did not solve the challenge correctly, which is plain cruel.
Here are some reCAPTCHA alternatives: https://www.w3.org/TR/turingtest/
In Google's Captcha in Firefox vs. in Chromehttps://github.com/dessant/buster What about this one?
In Ask HN: A Good Alternative for ReCaptcha?Buster: Captcha Solver Extension for Humans
3 points · Open discussionBuster: Captcha Solver for Humans
61 points · Open discussionWhen you do encounter CAPTCHAs, try out Buster [0]. It passes the CAPTCHA by solving the audio challenge using speech recognition APIs.
Google does block people from accessing the audio challenge [1] in some cases, so make sure to check if you can access the audio challenge even before installing the extension by clicking on the headphone icon within the challenge widget.
Enable user input simulation from the extension's options and install the client app to reduce the chance of a temporary block while using the extension.
If you're on Chrome, there is a pending update (0.5.2) that switches to the Wit Speech API (demo) service by default, verify that you're using the correct service by visiting the extension's options to avoid any errors.
Please open an issue if you have experience with image recognition and you'd like to contribute towar
Read the rest
ds a mode that would solve the visual challege, or assist users by suggesting image tiles to select.
[0] https://github.com/dessant/buster
[1] https://github.com/w3c/apa/issues/25
I use https://github.com/dessant/buster if I need to.
In How many hours do you reCAPTCHA per week?If you often get this while using Tor - https://privacypass.github.io/
For firefox - https://github.com/dessant/buster
In Why can’t a bot tick the 'I'm not a robot' box?https://github.com/dessant/buster
A very good addon against the shit from Cloudflare and Google.
In Why can’t a bot tick the 'I'm not a robot' box?Showing the 15 most recent of 19 sources. Enable JavaScript to search and browse every indexed mention.