diff --git a/frontend/src/components/TurnstileWidget.vue b/frontend/src/components/TurnstileWidget.vue
index 2f0022bfe6..e04bd0aa3f 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/TurnstileWidget.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/TurnstileWidget.vue
@@ -1,11 +1,19 @@
 <template>
-  <div v-if="siteKey" class="turnstile-wrapper">
+  <div v-if="siteKey" class="turnstile-wrapper relative">
+    <div
+      v-if="loading"
+      role="status"
+      class="absolute inset-0 flex items-center justify-center rounded-lg border border-gray-200 bg-gray-50 text-sm text-gray-500 dark:border-dark-600 dark:bg-dark-700 dark:text-gray-400"
+    >
+      {{ t('auth.captchaLoading') }}
+    </div>
     <div ref="containerRef" class="turnstile-container"></div>
   </div>
 </template>
 
 <script setup lang="ts">
 import { ref, onMounted, onUnmounted, watch } from 'vue'
+import { useI18n } from 'vue-i18n'
 
 interface TurnstileRenderOptions {
   sitekey: string
@@ -47,6 +55,8 @@ const emit = defineEmits<{
   (e: 'error'): void
 }>()
 
+const { t } = useI18n()
+const loading = ref(true)
 const containerRef = ref<HTMLElement | null>(null)
 const widgetId = ref<string | null>(null)
 const scriptLoaded = ref(false)
@@ -141,6 +151,8 @@ onMounted(async () => {
   } catch (error) {
     console.error('Failed to initialize Turnstile:', error)
     emit('error')
+  } finally {
+    loading.value = false
   }
 })
 
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/__tests__/TurnstileWidget.spec.ts b/frontend/src/components/__tests__/TurnstileWidget.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3a6fcf7306
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/components/__tests__/TurnstileWidget.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
+import { flushPromises, mount, type VueWrapper } from '@vue/test-utils'
+import TurnstileWidget from '../TurnstileWidget.vue'
+
+vi.mock('vue-i18n', () => ({
+  useI18n: () => ({ t: (key: string) => key })
+}))
+
+const scriptSelector = 'script[src*="challenges.cloudflare.com/turnstile"]'
+let wrapper: VueWrapper | undefined
+
+function installSDK() {
+  const render = vi.fn<NonNullable<typeof window.turnstile>['render']>(() => 'widget-1')
+  window.turnstile = { render, reset: vi.fn(), remove: vi.fn() }
+  return render
+}
+
+afterEach(() => {
+  wrapper?.unmount()
+  wrapper = undefined
+  delete window.turnstile
+  delete window.onTurnstileLoad
+  document.querySelectorAll(scriptSelector).forEach((script) => script.remove())
+  vi.restoreAllMocks()
+})
+
+describe('TurnstileWidget', () => {
+  it('shows a loading placeholder until the SDK initializes the widget', async () => {
+    wrapper = mount(TurnstileWidget, { props: { siteKey: 'site-key' } })
+
+    expect(wrapper.get('[role="status"]').text()).toBe('auth.captchaLoading')
+    expect(document.querySelector(scriptSelector)).not.toBeNull()
+    const container = wrapper.get('.turnstile-container').element
+
+    const render = installSDK()
+    window.onTurnstileLoad?.()
+    await flushPromises()
+
+    expect(render).toHaveBeenCalledWith(container, expect.objectContaining({ sitekey: 'site-key' }))
+    expect(wrapper.find('[role="status"]').exists()).toBe(false)
+    expect(wrapper.get('.turnstile-container').element).toBe(container)
+  })
+
+  it('initializes an already loaded SDK and still forwards verification', async () => {
+    const render = installSDK()
+    wrapper = mount(TurnstileWidget, { props: { siteKey: 'site-key' } })
+    await flushPromises()
+
+    expect(render).toHaveBeenCalledOnce()
+    expect(document.querySelector(scriptSelector)).toBeNull()
+    expect(wrapper.find('[role="status"]').exists()).toBe(false)
+
+    render.mock.calls[0]![1].callback('verified-token')
+    expect(wrapper.emitted('verify')).toEqual([['verified-token']])
+  })
+
+  it('ends loading and reports a script load failure', async () => {
+    vi.spyOn(console, 'error').mockImplementation(() => {})
+    wrapper = mount(TurnstileWidget, { props: { siteKey: 'site-key' } })
+
+    document.querySelector(scriptSelector)!.dispatchEvent(new Event('error'))
+    await flushPromises()
+
+    expect(wrapper.find('[role="status"]').exists()).toBe(false)
+    expect(wrapper.emitted('error')).toEqual([[]])
+  })
+
+  it('does not show a placeholder or load the SDK without a site key', async () => {
+    wrapper = mount(TurnstileWidget, { props: { siteKey: '' } })
+    await flushPromises()
+
+    expect(wrapper.find('.turnstile-wrapper').exists()).toBe(false)
+    expect(wrapper.find('[role="status"]').exists()).toBe(false)
+    expect(document.querySelector(scriptSelector)).toBeNull()
+  })
+})