GPTBot vs Google-Extended vs ClaudeBot: AI Crawler Comparison
AI crawlers like GPTBot (OpenAI), Google-Extended (Google), and ClaudeBot (Anthropic) fetch web content for their respective AI systems. Understanding each crawler helps you make informed decisions about AI access to your content.
AI Crawler Comparison
| Feature | GPTBot | Google-Extended | ClaudeBot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | OpenAI | Anthropic | |
| Used for | ChatGPT Search | Gemini, AI Overviews | Claude |
| robots.txt name | GPTBot | Google-Extended | ClaudeBot |
| Default access | Allowed unless blocked | Allowed unless blocked | Allowed unless blocked |
Other AI Crawlers
Beyond the three major crawlers, several other AI bots crawl the web:
- PerplexityBot - Perplexity AI search engine
- Bytespider - ByteDance / TikTok AI systems
- CCBot - Common Crawl open dataset
- anthropic-ai - Additional Anthropic crawler
- cohere-ai - Cohere language models
- meta-externalagent - Meta AI systems
Managing AI Crawler Access
You can selectively allow or block individual AI crawlers through your robots.txt file. Glippy's machine readability checker detects which crawlers are blocked and provides specific recommendations. Use our guide to verify your current configuration.
Should You Block AI Crawlers?
Blocking AI crawlers means your content will not appear in AI-generated answers from those systems. For most websites, allowing AI crawlers increases visibility and traffic. However, some publishers may choose to block specific crawlers for licensing or competitive reasons.
Glippy's AI crawler accessibility checker helps you audit your current setup and understand the implications of blocking or allowing each crawler.
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