What is Perplexity-User?
Perplexity-User is the agent Perplexity uses to fetch a page when a user's question needs it. Perplexity says it is not used for automatic web crawling or for AI training.
Last verified 2026-09-30 against the operator's documentation. All bots
Perplexity-User at a glance
- Operator
- Perplexity
- Type
- AI user-triggered fetchers
- Purpose
- Fetches a page when a Perplexity user's request needs it.
- robots.txt token
Perplexity-User- Example user agent
Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; Perplexity-User/1.0; +https://perplexity.ai/perplexity-user)- How to verify
- Check that the source IP is in the ranges Perplexity publishes for Perplexity-User.
- Operator documentation
- https://docs.perplexity.ai/guides/bots
How often is Perplexity-User impersonated?
Our verification data for Perplexity-User was incomplete during the measurement window, so a share would overstate impersonation. We show none until it is complete.
This directory measures requests between 3 July 2026 and 28 September 2026. The fake crawler report covers its own, earlier window (late June to 21 September 2026), so its figures differ from the ones here. Read it for the method.
Have a request that claims to be Perplexity-User? Check its IP address.
Should you block Perplexity-User?
- Allow it if
- you want the assistant to be able to read and cite your pages when someone asks about them.
- Block it if
- your content is not meant to be fetched on demand by an assistant, and you enforce that at the edge.
- What blocking changes
- Perplexity says Perplexity-User generally ignores robots.txt, so a Disallow line is unlikely to stop it. Enforce the rule at your edge by verified IP.
To block it, add this group to your robots.txt. Perplexity says that because a user requested the fetch, Perplexity-User generally ignores robots.txt.
User-agent: Perplexity-User
Disallow: /robots.txt only asks. It does nothing against a client that ignores it or only pretends to be Perplexity-User. Stopping those takes verification at your edge.
Perplexity-User: common questions
See which bots reach your site, and which of them are who they claim to be.
What is Perplexity-User?
Perplexity-User is the agent Perplexity uses to fetch a page when a user's question needs it. Perplexity says it is not used for automatic web crawling or for AI training.
How do I verify that a request is really Perplexity-User?
Check that the source IP is in the ranges Perplexity publishes for Perplexity-User. The user agent alone proves nothing: any client can send it.
How do I block Perplexity-User in robots.txt?
Add a group for User-agent: Perplexity-User with Disallow: /. Perplexity says that because a user requested the fetch, Perplexity-User generally ignores robots.txt. robots.txt only asks. A client that ignores it, or pretends to be Perplexity-User, has to be stopped at your edge.
What happens if I block Perplexity-User?
Perplexity says Perplexity-User generally ignores robots.txt, so a Disallow line is unlikely to stop it. Enforce the rule at your edge by verified IP.
Related bots
- PerplexityBot (Perplexity): Surfaces and links websites in Perplexity's search results.
- ChatGPT-User (OpenAI): Visits a page when a ChatGPT or Custom GPT user's request needs it.
- Claude-User (Anthropic): Fetches a page when a Claude user's question needs it.
- Meta-ExternalFetcher (Meta): Fetches individual links on behalf of Meta product users.
- MistralAI-User (Mistral AI): Fetches a page when a Mistral user's action needs it.