# GPTBot

> Crawls content that may be used to train OpenAI's generative AI foundation models. Disallowing it tells OpenAI not to use your content for training.

Canonical page: https://getrankroot.com/ai-bots/gptbot · Facts checked against OpenAI docs on 2026-10-20

| Operator | Used for | Type | Obeys robots.txt |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| OpenAI | OpenAI model training | AI training crawler | Yes |

## Should you allow it?

Your choice. Allow it if you want future models to know your brand; block it if you do not want your content used for training.

**If you block it:** Signals OpenAI not to use your content to train its foundation models. No effect on ChatGPT search.

Blocking GPTBot does not remove you from ChatGPT search. That is OAI-SearchBot.

When fetching robots.txt, OpenAI says it may add a "robots.txt" marker to GPTBot's user agent, so match on the GPTBot token, not the full string.

## robots.txt rules

Allow GPTBot:

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

Block GPTBot:

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

Disallow GPTBot from one folder only:

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

A bot follows the most specific User-agent group that names it and ignores the generic `User-agent: *` group, so repeat any shared Disallow lines inside it.

## Same company, different bots: OpenAI

| Bot | Type | Purpose | Obeys robots.txt | If you block it |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [OAI-SearchBot](https://getrankroot.com/ai-bots/oai-searchbot.md) | AI search index | ChatGPT search | Yes | Your pages stop appearing in ChatGPT search answers (they can still show up as navigational links). |
| [ChatGPT-User](https://getrankroot.com/ai-bots/chatgpt-user.md) | User-triggered fetcher | ChatGPT (user actions and GPT Actions) | Not reliably | A robots.txt rule may not apply, OpenAI says. It has no effect on ChatGPT search eligibility. |
| [GPTBot](https://getrankroot.com/ai-bots/gptbot.md) | AI training crawler | OpenAI model training | Yes | Signals OpenAI not to use your content to train its foundation models. No effect on ChatGPT search. |
| [OAI-AdsBot](https://getrankroot.com/ai-bots/oai-adsbot.md) | User-triggered fetcher | ChatGPT ads | Not documented | OpenAI's docs don't describe a robots.txt opt-out. It only visits pages submitted as ChatGPT ads, to review them. |

## User agent string

```
Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko); compatible; GPTBot/1.4; +https://openai.com/gptbot
```

## How to verify it's really GPTBot

Find its requests in your server logs:

```
grep -i "GPTBot" access.log
```

OpenAI publishes a separate IP list for each of its bots and recommends allowing requests from those ranges. It does not document a reverse DNS check.

Published IP list: https://openai.com/gptbot.json

## Common mistakes

- Blocking OAI-SearchBot along with GPTBot when you only meant to opt out of training. That also removes you from ChatGPT search answers.
- Writing a User-agent: GPTBot group and expecting your User-agent: * rules to still apply. A crawler follows only the most specific group that matches it and ignores the others, so repeat any shared Disallow lines inside the GPTBot group.
- Leaving a CDN or host "block AI bots" setting on and only checking robots.txt. Those settings block requests at the network edge. Cloudflare, for example, changed its defaults on September 15, 2026 for customers who did not opt out: bots it classifies as Training or Agent are blocked on pages that display ads, and multi-purpose crawlers that combine Search and Training are affected by the Training block.
- Trusting the user agent header alone. Anyone can send "GPTBot" in a request; verify the source IP as shown above before allowlisting or blocking.

## FAQ

### What is GPTBot?

Crawls content that may be used to train OpenAI's generative AI foundation models. Disallowing it tells OpenAI not to use your content for training.

### Does GPTBot respect robots.txt?

Yes, according to OpenAI.

### What happens if I block GPTBot?

Signals OpenAI not to use your content to train its foundation models. No effect on ChatGPT search.

### Should I block GPTBot?

Your choice. Allow it if you want future models to know your brand; block it if you do not want your content used for training.

### Does blocking GPTBot remove my site from ChatGPT?

No. GPTBot only collects content that may be used for training. ChatGPT search uses OAI-SearchBot, and pages users ask about are fetched by ChatGPT-User. You can block GPTBot and still be cited in ChatGPT search.

### How do I block GPTBot but stay in ChatGPT search?

Add a User-agent: GPTBot group with Disallow: / and a User-agent: OAI-SearchBot group with Allow: /. OpenAI controls the two separately.

## Sources

- [Official documentation from OpenAI](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots)
- [Published IP addresses for GPTBot](https://openai.com/gptbot.json)

Check whether GPTBot can reach a site: https://getrankroot.com/tools/ai-crawler-checker or `GET https://getrankroot.com/api/bots?url=example.com`. Full list: https://getrankroot.com/ai-bots.md