How to Block ChatGPT (GPTBot) From Your Website

OpenAI runs a crawler called GPTBot that visits websites and copies their text and images to train ChatGPT. It uses your bandwidth, can slow your pages, and sends nothing back. Here is how to tell if GPTBot is on your site, and how to actually stop it.

How to tell if GPTBot is crawling you

The signs are in your server access logs: repeated hits from the user-agent GPTBot. If you would rather not read raw logs, paste your URL into the free StopBotAPI scanner and it shows which AI crawlers are reaching your site right now.

The robots.txt line for GPTBot

OpenAI says GPTBot honors robots.txt, so adding User-agent: GPTBot and Disallow: / is a fair first step. But robots.txt is a public request, not a lock. It works only for crawlers that choose to obey, and it openly lists what you are trying to protect.

Why that is not enough on its own

GPTBot is only one of dozens of AI crawlers, and many of the others ignore robots.txt completely. To actually stop them you need to block at the server or edge, by the signature of the request, before it ever reaches your pages.

Block GPTBot without losing ChatGPT shoppers

There is a real difference between a training crawler copying your catalog and a live ChatGPT shopping assistant acting for a real buyer. Block the first, welcome the second. StopBotAPI does this with one line of code and keeps an updated list of scraper signatures so you are not chasing new bots by hand.