[AI crawlers](https://www.crawlreadiness.com/crawlers) · OpenAI · Training only · Not scored

# GPTBot

GPTBot is OpenAI's training only crawler token. Blocking it costs nothing in the AI readiness score. 18.5% of the top 1,000 websites with a robots.txt block it.

Crawls content that may be used to train OpenAI's generative AI foundation models. Disallowing it says a site's content should not be used in training; it has no effect on ChatGPT search or on ChatGPT fetching a page a user asks about.

## Where this comes from

- **Documented by the vendor.** Source: [developers.openai.com](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots)
- **Honours robots.txt.** Published addresses: [openai.com/gptbot.json](https://openai.com/gptbot.json).
- **Listed, not scored.** It cannot keep a site out of today's answers, so the check shows a block without deducting for it.

## In the top 1,000 websites

- **18.5% block it in robots.txt** (105 of the 569 sites with a robots.txt), as of 2026-10-12.
- **14.4% refuse it at the server**, answering its user agent with a 401, 403, 429 or 503 while a browser gets the page.
- **11.1% allow it in robots.txt and refuse it anyway** (61 sites): a firewall or CDN rule the site owner may not know about. The reverse also happens: 53 sites block it in robots.txt and still serve it.
- Method, limits and the full data: [the October 2026 study of the top 1,000 websites](https://www.crawlreadiness.com/research/ai-crawler-access-october-2026).

## What blocking it costs

Nothing in today's answers, and nothing in the readiness score: GPTBot only gathers training data, so blocking it is a policy choice about future models, not about being found. The check lists the block without deducting for it.

## The robots.txt lines

To let it in (a group that names the crawler replaces any wildcard rules for it, so this also lifts a `User-agent: *` block):

```
User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /
```

To keep it out:

```
User-agent: GPTBot
Disallow: /
```

A rule in robots.txt is a request. OpenAI says this crawler honours it. The [robots.txt generator](https://www.crawlreadiness.com/tools/robots-txt) writes a whole file with the same split: block the training crawlers, keep the search and answer crawlers.

## Go deeper

[Are you accidentally blocking GPTBot? How to check and fix it](https://www.crawlreadiness.com/blog/are-you-blocking-gptbot)

## Also from [OpenAI](https://www.crawlreadiness.com/crawlers/vendor/openai)

- [`OAI-SearchBot`](https://www.crawlreadiness.com/crawlers/oai-searchbot) · AI search index
- [`ChatGPT-User`](https://www.crawlreadiness.com/crawlers/chatgpt-user) · Fetches when a user asks

## Does GPTBot get through on your site?

[Run the free check](https://www.crawlreadiness.com/): it reads your robots.txt against all 51 crawlers and tells you which ones can read you, and what to change.

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Source: https://www.crawlreadiness.com/crawlers/gptbot