GPTBot vs OAI-SearchBot
Two OpenAI crawlers with one operator and different purposes. GPTBot collects for model training; OAI-SearchBot fetches for live search retrieval and is what a ChatGPT search citation depends on; a third identity, ChatGPT-User, fetches when a person asks about a URL.
What GPTBot vs OAI-SearchBot means
Each has its own range in OpenAI's published feed and its own robots.txt token.
What GPTBot vs OAI-SearchBot does not show
Blocking one says nothing about the others, which is why allow and block decisions are per agent, not per company, and why a rule addressed to GPTBot alone leaves search retrieval untouched.
Terms this definition uses
retrieval · citation · robots.txt · token
Related terms in Crawlers and access
Who is fetching, whether they are who they claim, and what your rules actually permit.
visitor resolve · published crawler ranges · operator origin · signed agent · agent arrival · agent conduct record · agent traffic index · user-triggered fetch exemption · retrieval crawler · user-triggered fetch · verified crawler · forged crawler identity · unverifiable · robots.txt · user-agent group · AI opt-out · Content-Signal · crawl budget · cloaking · challenge page at 200 · uniform refusal · nonexistent-path control · blocked render resource · off-host redirect · homepage refused · FCrDNS · Crawler trap · Conditional request · ASN blocking · operator feed · residential proxy · Google-Extended · Google-Agent · ClaudeBot vs Claude-User · PerplexityBot vs Perplexity-User · CCBot · Bytespider · agentic traffic · crawler classification · user agent · datacenter IP · vantage point · rate limit · delivery comparison · honeypot
Questions about GPTBot vs OAI-SearchBot
What is GPTBot vs OAI-SearchBot?
Two OpenAI crawlers with one operator and different purposes. GPTBot collects for model training; OAI-SearchBot fetches for live search retrieval and is what a ChatGPT search citation depends on; a third identity, ChatGPT-User, fetches when a person asks about a URL.
What does GPTBot vs OAI-SearchBot not show or guarantee?
Blocking one says nothing about the others, which is why allow and block decisions are per agent, not per company, and why a rule addressed to GPTBot alone leaves search retrieval untouched.
Which area of the glossary does GPTBot vs OAI-SearchBot belong to?
Crawlers and access: Who is fetching, whether they are who they claim, and what your rules actually permit.
← Google-Agent · ClaudeBot vs Claude-User →
See it in the full glossary · 772 terms across 19 areas.
Free browser extension
See this on any site you visit, in one click.
CrawlCheck for Chrome grades every site you visit A–F and shows, from your own browser, what search engines and AI assistants are actually served. Free, no account.