AI crawlers / Perplexity-User
Perplexity-User: what it is and how to block or charge it
Perplexity-User is run by Perplexity. Fetches a page when a Perplexity user's question needs it.
| Operator | Perplexity |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Fetches pages live when a user asks |
| User-agent contains | Perplexity-User |
| Official IP list | www.perplexity.ai/perplexity-user.json (10 ranges). Verify an address |
| Same operator | PerplexityBot |
Block Perplexity-User in robots.txt
User-agent: Perplexity-User
Disallow: /robots.txt is a request, not a lock: well-behaved crawlers follow it. To block by user agent at the server, match Perplexity-User in the User-Agent header.
Or charge Perplexity-User per page
Instead of blocking it, answer Perplexity-User with HTTP 402 Payment Required and a price. Crawlers and agents that support x402 pay a fraction of a cent in USDC straight to your wallet and get the page; people and search engines browse free. Set it up free on pay-per-crawl in about five minutes.
Is Perplexity-User reading your site?
See the full list of AI crawlers. Facts here follow each operator's own documentation; tell us if one changes.