FriendlyCrawler
Operated by FriendlyCrawler
Quick Facts
- User-Agent:
- FriendlyCrawler
- Category:
- Scrapers
- Operator:
- FriendlyCrawler
- Safety:
- Safe
- Blocking Impact:
- Low - No SEO ranking impact
- SEO Impact Score:
- 2/10
- Official docs:
- None published by FriendlyCrawler
Reported, not operator documented
FriendlyCrawler has not published a crawler page that names FriendlyCrawler. It is listed here on our own evidence. Verified by AI Crawler Check: 193 of the 5,583 valid robots.txt files in the Tranco top 10,000 carry a rule for FriendlyCrawler, so site owners treat it as a real crawler name (how we measure this). That proves the spelling is in use, not who sends it. Reported crawler; operator page returns 403.
What that means for you: the FriendlyCrawler rule on this page is the best available spelling, but FriendlyCrawler has made no statement of purpose, crawl rate or robots.txt compliance. Treat a FriendlyCrawler request in your logs as a clue, not proof of who sent it, and add a firewall rule if that traffic matters to you. If the operator publishes documentation, this profile moves to Official docs.
What is FriendlyCrawler?
FriendlyCrawler is a developer-facing extraction agent operated by FriendlyCrawler. It fetches and structures web content on behalf of applications and AI agents built on FriendlyCrawler's platform. Traffic volume depends on how third-party developers configure it, so monitor your logs if you see heavy activity.
FriendlyCrawler is a developer-facing extraction agent operated by FriendlyCrawler. It fetches and structures web content on behalf of applications and AI agents built on FriendlyCrawler's platform. Traffic volume depends on how third-party developers configure it, so monitor your logs if you see heavy activity.
FriendlyCrawler uses the user-agent token FriendlyCrawler. You can control it via robots.txt, meta tags (noai), or the emerging llms.txt standard. Robots.txt is voluntary; for hard enforcement, combine it with server-level IP blocking.
What happens if you block FriendlyCrawler?
User-agent / Disallow: / without any SEO penalty.How to block FriendlyCrawler with robots.txt
<code>User-agent: FriendlyCrawler</code> - Matching is case-insensitive. Robots.txt is fetched from the root of each subdomain separately.
Is FriendlyCrawler safe to allow?
What does FriendlyCrawler do?
Understanding FriendlyCrawler's purpose helps you decide whether to allow or block it.
- Extracts and structures web content for developer applications
- Powers AI agents built on the operator platform
- Volume depends on third-party developer configuration
- Monitor logs if you notice heavy activity
- Can be rate-limited via robots.txt or server rules
FriendlyCrawler in context
FriendlyCrawler is a utility crawler operated by FriendlyCrawler. In plain terms, it harvests pages for a dataset or data product. Our database files it under data scrapers and ranks it Tier 6, the lowest priority: scrapers and tools that offer most sites little or nothing. 37 of the 39 data scrapers in our database share this tier.
Its safety rating is safe and its blocking impact is low. So the decision about FriendlyCrawler rests on what you want from FriendlyCrawler, not on its behaviour. How we rate safety and impact.
How site owners treat FriendlyCrawler
In our own scan of the Tranco top 10,000 (5,583 valid robots.txt files), 193 files (3.5%) name FriendlyCrawler in a User-agent line. That shows site owners treat the token as a real crawler worth a rule. It does not, on its own, prove who operates it.
Does it follow robots.txt?
FriendlyCrawler's operator does not clearly document how it treats robots.txt. Write the FriendlyCrawler rule anyway, then confirm in your logs that its requests stop.
FriendlyCrawler crawlers and close alternatives
FriendlyCrawler runs only this one crawler in our database, so a single User-agent: FriendlyCrawler group controls everything FriendlyCrawler fetches through it.
Other data scrapers that do the same job (harvests pages for a dataset or data product) include Amazon Kendra from Amazon, ApifyBot from Apify, Barkrowler from Babbar, BLEXBot from WebMeUp, coccocbot-web from Unknown, Crawl4AI from Unknown. Deciding about FriendlyCrawler is usually a decision about the whole group, so check how your file treats these too.
We first recorded FriendlyCrawler on March 17, 2026. We could not find a page where FriendlyCrawler names it, so treat the token as reported rather than documented.
Which rule FriendlyCrawler actually follows
FriendlyCrawler reads exactly one group in robots.txt, the most specific one that names FriendlyCrawler, and never combines rules across groups. This short file shows the trap:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /private/
User-agent: FriendlyCrawler
Disallow: /drafts/- Find the group. FriendlyCrawler looks for a group naming
FriendlyCrawler. One exists, so it ignoresUser-agent: *completely. - Apply only that group. It is refused
/drafts/and nothing else. - The surprise.
/private/is open to FriendlyCrawler, because that rule lives in the*group it no longer reads. To keep it out of both, repeatDisallow: /private/inside its own group.
Test yourself: does a rule under User-agent: * apply to FriendlyCrawler if the file also has a User-agent: FriendlyCrawler group?
No. Once a group names it, FriendlyCrawler reads only that group. Put every rule you want it to follow inside its own group.
Test yourself: will blocking FriendlyCrawler remove your pages from AI answers?
Often, yes. FriendlyCrawler is a utility crawler, so pages it cannot fetch can drop out of the answers or results it supports.
Related: how AI engines choose their sources
Test yourself: is User-agent: friendlycrawler the same as User-agent: FriendlyCrawler?
Yes. RFC 9309 makes user-agent matching case-insensitive. Paths are a different story: Disallow: /Blog/ does not block /blog/.
Should you allow FriendlyCrawler? Decide by situation
| If you are... | Recommended setting |
|---|---|
| You publish content and want AI answers to cite it | Low stakes either way. It does not decide whether AI answers cite you. |
| You license content and want to stop AI training | Blocking it does not stop training, because FriendlyCrawler is a utility crawler. Block the operator's training crawler instead. |
| You run an online shop | Consider blocking it, especially on price and stock pages that competitors scrape. |
| Your server is under load from bots | Rate-limit before blocking. It is rated safe in our database. |
Check FriendlyCrawler on your own site
- Open
/robots.txton your domain and search forFriendlyCrawler. If it is not named, it followsUser-agent: *. - List the
Disallowlines in the group FriendlyCrawler follows and test your key URLs against them; the longest match wins, andAllowwins a tie. - Look beyond the file. A firewall or bot manager can refuse FriendlyCrawler even when robots.txt allows it, and that never shows in the file.
- Run our free AI crawler check to see how FriendlyCrawler and every other crawler we track are treated in one pass, including firewall refusals.
Common mistakes with FriendlyCrawler
The errors we see most often with FriendlyCrawler in the files and firewalls we test:
- Treating FriendlyCrawler as an AI or search crawler. Blocking it has little effect on visibility; decide based on load and what it does with your data.
- Relying on robots.txt alone when FriendlyCrawler is rated caution or aggressive. Back the rule with a server-side block.
- Blocking FriendlyCrawler by IP alone. Ranges change; match the token and verify with logs.
All three hide inside a file that looks correct, so check FriendlyCrawler from outside after every change.
Spotting FriendlyCrawler in your logs
robots.txt says what FriendlyCrawler may do; your access logs show what it actually did.
Count requests
On a server with standard Nginx or Apache logs, this counts matching requests per day (adjust the log path for your host):
grep -iE "FriendlyCrawler" /var/log/nginx/access.log \
| awk '{print $4}' | cut -d: -f1 | sort | uniq -cAnd this shows which paths it requested most, which is the quickest way to see whether your Disallow lines are being respected:
grep -iE "FriendlyCrawler" /var/log/nginx/access.log \
| awk '{print $7}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -20Check the requests are genuine
Anyone can send the FriendlyCrawler user-agent, so confirm the source before acting on a match:
FriendlyCrawler: we hold no published IP list, so use reverse DNS where the operator documents a hostname and treat an unverifiable FriendlyCrawler request with caution.
Frequently Asked Questions
What user-agent string does FriendlyCrawler use?
FriendlyCrawler. Evidence that the spelling is in real use comes from our own robots.txt study: 193 of the 5,583 valid robots.txt files in the Tranco top 10,000 name it (fetched October 20, 2026), not from FriendlyCrawler, which has not published crawler documentation naming it. Use it in robots.txt as the best available match, and treat a request carrying it as a clue rather than proof of who sent it.Is FriendlyCrawler safe?
Will blocking FriendlyCrawler hurt my SEO?
User-agent / Disallow: / without any SEO penalty.How do I block FriendlyCrawler in robots.txt?
/robots.txt file:User-agent: FriendlyCrawler Disallow: /
This instructs FriendlyCrawler not to crawl any path on your site. To block only specific sections, replace / with the path (e.g.,
Disallow: /blog/).Does FriendlyCrawler respect robots.txt?
FriendlyCrawler will stop a client that chooses to honour it; for enforcement, add a firewall or CDN rule as well.How do I verify if FriendlyCrawler is crawling my site?
FriendlyCrawler (for example grep -i "FriendlyCrawler" /var/log/nginx/access.log). Because the operator publishes no IP ranges or reverse-DNS pattern, a match shows that something used the name, not that FriendlyCrawler sent it.