Does shutterstock.com block AI crawlers?
Blocks AI training, allows AI answers
shutterstock.com blocks at least one AI training crawler but still lets AI answer engines read its pages.
Checked from shutterstock.com/robots.txt. Robots rules change; the live file is the source of truth.
- AI crawlers blocked
- 4 of 12
- AI bots named in robots.txt
- 7
- llms.txt
- Not found
- Popularity
- Tranco top 2,000 (#1,706)
Can AI assistants cite shutterstock.com?
- ChatGPT search: its search crawlers may read the site
- Claude: its search crawlers may read the site
- Perplexity: its search crawlers may read the site
shutterstock.com opts out of AI training by OpenAI, Anthropic, Common Crawl, Meta. Training crawlers and answer crawlers are separate: blocking training doesn't by itself remove a site from AI answers.
AI crawler access, bot by bot
| Crawler | Used for | Status on shutterstock.com |
|---|---|---|
| GPTBotOpenAI | AI training | Blocked |
| OAI-SearchBotOpenAI | AI answers | Some paths restricted |
| ChatGPT-UserOpenAI | AI answers | Some paths restricted |
| ClaudeBotAnthropic | AI training | Blocked |
| Claude-SearchBotAnthropic | AI answers | Some paths restricted |
| Claude-UserAnthropic | AI answers | Some paths restricted |
| PerplexityBotPerplexity | AI answers | Some paths restricted |
| Google-ExtendedGoogle | AI training | Some paths restricted |
| Applebot-ExtendedApple | AI training | Some paths restricted |
| CCBotCommon Crawl | AI training | Blocked |
| BytespiderByteDance | AI training | Some paths restricted |
| Meta-ExternalAgentMeta | AI training | Blocked |
How shutterstock.com compares
- 19% of the 1,278 popular sites we checked block GPTBot; shutterstock.com is one of them.
- 18% of the 1,278 popular sites we checked block ClaudeBot; shutterstock.com is one of them.
- 14% of the 1,278 popular sites we checked block PerplexityBot; shutterstock.com does not.
- Among 144 sites of similar popularity, 20% block at least one AI crawler.
The robots.txt rules that apply to AI crawlers
User-agent: * Allow: */search/login Allow: */login$ Allow: /login.mhtml$ Disallow: */login Disallow: */base/logout Allow: */search/account Disallow: */account Disallow: /subscribe_success Allow: /download_history.mhtml$ Disallow: /download Disallow: /checkout Disallow: /account_purchase_history.mhtml Disallow: /contests Allow: */search/portfolio Disallow: */portfolio Disallow: */editor/template Disallow: */editor/design Disallow: */editor/search Disallow: */video/cart Disallow: */video/checkout Disallow: */music/cart Disallow: */music/user Disallow: */music/orders Disallow: /web/checkout Disallow: /sstk/api/footage/wasabi/* Disallow: /studioapi/wasabi/* Disallow: /sstk/api/* Disallow: /studioapi/* Disallow: /napi/* Disallow: /api/* Disallow: /feed.mhtml Disallow: /nuance-chat.html Disallow: /sw/* Disallow: /base/login Allow: */search/collections Allow: */editorial/collections Disallow: */collections Disallow: */generate/* Allow: */generate/$ Disallow: /image-*chatId=* User-agent: CCBot Disallow: / User-agent: GPTBot Disallow: / User-agent: ClaudeBot Disallow: / User-agent: meta-externalagent Disallow: / User-agent: OAI-SearchBot Allow: */search/login Allow: */login$ Allow: /login.mhtml$ Disallow: */login Disallow: */base/logout Allow: */search/account Disallow: */account Disallow: /subscribe_success Allow: /download_history.mhtml$ Disallow: /download Disallow: /checkout Disallow: /account_purchase_history.mhtml Disallow: /contests Allow: */search/portfolio Disallow: */portfolio Disallow: */editor/template Disallow: */editor/design Disallow: */editor/search Disallow: */video/cart Disallow: */video/checkout Disallow: */music/cart Disallow: */music/user Disallow: */music/orders Disallow: /web/checkout Disallow: /sstk/api/footage/wasabi/* Disallow: /studioapi/wasabi/* Disallow: /sstk/api/* Disallow: /studioapi/* Disallow: /napi/* Disallow: /api/* Disallow: /feed.mhtml Disallow: /nuance-chat.html Disallow: /sw/* Disallow: /base/login Allow: */search/collections Allow: */editorial/collections Disallow: */collections Disallow: */generate/* Allow: */generate/$ Disallow: /image-*chatId=* User-agent: PerplexityBot Allow: */search/login Allow: */login$ Allow: /login.mhtml$ Disallow: */login Disallow: */base/logout Allow: */search/account Disallow: */account Disallow: /subscribe_success Allow: /download_history.mhtml$ Disallow: /download Disallow: /checkout Disallow: /account_purchase_history.mhtml Disallow: /contests Allow: */search/portfolio Disallow: */portfolio Disallow: */editor/template Disallow: */editor/design Disallow: */editor/search Disallow: */video/cart Disallow: */video/checkout Disallow: */music/cart Disallow: */music/user Disallow: */music/orders Disallow: /web/checkout Disallow: /sstk/api/footage/wasabi/* Disallow: /studioapi/wasabi/* Disallow: /sstk/api/* Disallow: /studioapi/* Disallow: /napi/* Disallow: /api/* Disallow: /feed.mhtml Disallow: /nuance-chat.html Disallow: /sw/* Disallow: /base/login Allow: */search/collections Allow: */editorial/collections Disallow: */collections Disallow: */generate/* Allow: */generate/$ Disallow: /image-*chatId=* User-agent: Claude-SearchBot Allow: */search/login Allow: */login$ Allow: /login.mhtml$ Disallow: */login Disallow: */base/logout Allow: */search/account Disallow: */account Disallow: /subscribe_success Allow: /download_history.mhtml$ Disallow: /download Disallow: /checkout Disallow: /account_purchase_history.mhtml Disallow: /contests Allow: */search/portfolio Disallow: */portfolio Disallow: */editor/template Disallow: */editor/design Disallow: */editor/search Disallow: */video/cart Disallow: */video/checkout Disallow: */music/cart Disallow: */music/user Disallow: */music/orders Disallow: /web/checkout Disallow: /sstk/api/footage/wasabi/* Disallow: /studioapi/wasabi/* Disallow: /sstk/api/* Disallow: /studioapi/* Disallow: /napi/* Disallow: /api/* Disallow: /feed.mhtml Disallow: /nuance-chat.html Disallow: /sw/* Disallow: /base/login Allow: */search/collections Allow: */editorial/collections Disallow: */collections Disallow: */generate/* Allow: */generate/$ Disallow: /image-*chatId=*
Excerpt: only groups for all user-agents (*) or named AI crawlers, up to 40 rules per group.
Sites with a similar AI policy
- mobcup.fm · 2 blocked
- hostinger.com · 2 blocked
- vinted.fr · 4 blocked
- imgsrc.ru · 1 blocked
- mamastar.jp · 1 blocked
- ixl.com · 3 blocked
- 1c.ru · 1 blocked
- merkur.de · 7 blocked
All sites that are “blocks ai training, allows ai answers” →
Does shutterstock.com block GPTBot?
Yes. As of Oct 2, 2026, shutterstock.com's robots.txt disallows GPTBot, OpenAI's training crawler.
Can ChatGPT search show results from shutterstock.com?
Its robots.txt doesn't block OAI-SearchBot or ChatGPT-User, so ChatGPT's search crawlers may read it. Whether pages are actually shown depends on ChatGPT.
Does shutterstock.com have an llms.txt file?
We didn't find a valid llms.txt at shutterstock.com/llms.txt when we checked.
Data: shutterstock.com's public robots.txt and llms.txt, fetched by AskableHQ. Popularity rank from the Tranco list (ID Y83YG). Methodology.