Block AI Crawlers
by lastsplash (a11n) · AI
Also makes 7 other plugins · 2.5K+ installs across the portfolio →
Adds robots.txt rules blocking AI crawlers and AI bots.
Try it live opens a temporary test site in your browser, which can take about 20 seconds to load. Plugins that rely on outside services or a full server may not work completely there.
Health
B 84/100
Few reviews
Active installs
2K+
≈2K estimated
Momentum
-21%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Add “ai crawler”, “crawler” and “ai bots” to your wp.org tags. You rank #4, #7 and #10 for them without listing them, close enough for a declared tag to move you up. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so with 4 listed these are the slots worth spending.
84 health vs 77 average across 3,394 AI plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →7.8%
of downloads still active
At least 2K of 25.7K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median AI plugin keeps 1.4%, across 1,013 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other AI plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
This plugin shipped 8 releases in the last 12 months, and every existing install that updated counted as another download. wp.org publishes no split between first installs and updates, so we show the raw rate rather than guess at one.
Details
Directory ranking optimization
How it's scored →How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.
Excellent listing optimization
Most to gain: Rating quality
Updated 63 days ago
Tested up to WordPress 7.1.4, the current branch or newer
4.4★ over 8 reviews, smoothed to 4.14★ and held back under 25 reviews
4 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Too few reviews to rank on quality — nudge happy users to leave one.
Get the full rank-higher report →Search visibility
How it's tracked →Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.
40
Momentum
Mixed: one swing, the rest drifting
+0.1
Velocity
places per keyword, 28d
20%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 28d
+0.3
Acceleration
recent half vs earlier
wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.
| Keyword | wp.org | On merit | wp.org move, 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| block ai crawlers | #2 | #3 | 0 |
| ai crawlers | #3 | #9 | 0 |
| crawlers your tag | #4 | #11 | 0 |
| ai crawler | #4 | #10 | up 1 |
| crawler | #7 | #16 | 0 |
| ai bots | #10 | #16 | 0 |
| block ai | #15 | #22 | down 3 |
| block ai bots | #6 | #14 | 0 |
| ai bot | #11 | #18 | 0 |
| perplexity | #12 | #16 | up 1 |
| gemini ai | #17 | #19 | up 4 |
| block bots | #13 | #21 | up 4 |
| ai your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| chatgpt your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| robots.txt your tag | Not checked yet | ||
31 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 12 listed. 19 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 2 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Add “ai crawler”, “crawler” and “ai bots” to your wp.org tags. You rank #4, #7 and #10 for them without listing them, close enough for a declared tag to move you up. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so with 4 listed these are the slots worth spending.
Daily downloads
Since 15 Mar 2024 · 962 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 5K · peaks are release surges
Directory rank vs rivals
wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you
Rating trend
Star average over time · dips mark rough releases
Health trend
Composite health score, snapshotted daily
Update activity
How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.
Release cadence
Actively maintainedHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
8
releases in the last 12 months
2mo ago
latest release · v1.6.2 · 30 Aug 2026
29
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “2K+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 9 days ago and the previous band took 15 months to cross, so the real count is still just over 2K.
At the current install trend, crossing 3K+ in roughly 570 days.
Install history since 14 Mar 2024
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ veggiegusto4mo ago
very useful, thank you
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ pizienolamitica4mo ago
Please, add a feature to block the Google Al Overview and the same block for Bing index. Thanks
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ kotoedo1.3y ago
Great plugin, used it with the opposite intention; i.e., to quickly obtain a list of AI crawlers to later allow on a website 😉
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ kiyasu1.5y ago
Seems to do what it does, and let’s hope as many sites and companies would obey the robots.txt file. I did have to remove or rename my hand-typed robots.txt file for this work, but after that, I am very happy with the results. My only “issue” with the newly created robots.txt file is that it includes extra lines like the Sitemap line that I want to change, but this may or may not be related to this plugin and I’ll figure out how to change those other parts of the robots.txt. Anyway, I like using this plugin together with the “Disabled Source, Disabled Right Click and Content Protection” plugin. Very happy with the results these two plugins did for my Woocommerce store!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ scbv2.0y ago
Really appreciate this plugin. Have had it for about 1 month, great to see new updates getting pushed out. The one feature would love to see is how to append or edit to the virtual robots.txt file. Tried using “Block AI Crawlers” plugin in conjunction with the plugin “Virtual Robots.txt” and it’s one or the other, can’t use both. “Virtual Robots.txt” overrides “Block AI Crawlers”.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ gfields1082.2y ago
A simple plugin that asks (via the WordPress robot.txt file) multiple AI crawlers to leave your site alone. Just works and saves much trouble manually updating the robots.txt file.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ sginsbe2.4y ago
Does what it says on the tin. Very much appreciated, thank you!
Read on wp.org ↗
Latest updates
via wp.org changelogRecent releases and news for this plugin
- — Version 1.6.2 Tested up to WordPress 7.1. 1.6.2
- — Version 1.6.1 Add: Sync blocked crawler list from ai.robots.txt (remove IbouBot) Update: Replace screenshot 1.6.1
- — Version 1.6.0 New: Per-crawler toggles to opt individual bots out of robots.txt blocking New: Optional toggle for the experimental noai, noimageai meta tag Enhancement: Sticky header on the blocked crawlers settings table 1.6.0
- — Version 1.5.8 Enhancement: Generate blocked crawler list from ai.robots.txt robots.json at build time Enhancement: Sync admin settings crawler table with the same generated list New: Monitor upstream robots.json and open a GitHub issu 1.5.8
- — Version 1.5.7 New: Indicate WordPress v7.0 compatibility 1.5.7
- — Version 1.5.6 Fix: Update Claude blocking New: Block MistralAI-user New: Block LinerBot New: Block Google-CloudVertexBot New: Block VelenPublicWebCrawler 1.5.6
Languages
via translate.wordpress.orgTranslated into 1 language, 1 at 90% or more
AI assistants
How it's measured →Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.
Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.
Readme readiness
7 of 8 pass · checked 28 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "Adds robots.txt rules blocking AI crawlers and AI bots."
- ✓ Has a FAQ 7 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 7 of 7 read like questions a user would type.
- ! Names who it is for Never says who the plugin is for or what they use it for.
- ✓ Names what it works with Mentions OpenAI, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini.
- ✓ Headings and lists 7 headings and 1 list.
- ✓ Enough to quote 1,636 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text All 4 tags appear in the text.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-10-23 1K+ → 2K+ up after 441 days in tier
- 2025-08-08 900+ → 1K+ up after 21 days in tier
- 2025-07-18 800+ → 900+ up after 39 days in tier
- 2025-06-09 700+ → 800+ up after 53 days in tier
- 2025-04-17 600+ → 700+ up after 37 days in tier
- 2025-03-11 500+ → 600+ up after 44 days in tier
- 2025-01-26 400+ → 500+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2025-01-25 500+ → 400+ down after 2 days in tier
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).
-
AI Content Signals 800+ installs · 4.1★ · 3 shared tags A -
AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ installs · 4.9★ · 2 shared tags A -
Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags A -
AI Puffer – AI Chatbot & MCP Server for Claude and ChatGPT 10K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags A -
WPBot – AI ChatBot for Live Support, Lead Generation, WordPress Automation, AI Services 5K+ installs · 4.7★ · 2 shared tags A -
Jotform – AI Chatbot 5K+ installs · 4.0★ · 2 shared tags B
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Block AI Crawlers into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/block-ai-crawlers" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Block AI Crawlers — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Block AI Crawlers: 2K+ active installs, 4.4★ (8 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-01. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/block-ai-crawlers
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