# Robots Exclusion Checker review (2026): is it any good? > Free Chrome extension that flags robots rules blocking a page Checked Oct 23, 2026 ยท graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA. Robots Exclusion Checker is a free Chrome extension that shows, for the page you are on, whether anything stops search engines from crawling or indexing it. It reads robots.txt, meta robots tags, the X-Robots-Tag header and canonical tags and turns the result into a red, amber or green icon. Since version 1.3.0 it also checks whether robots.txt blocks AI crawlers from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Perplexity, Meta and Apple. - **Category:** SEO Browser Extensions - **Made by:** checkrobots.com - **Website:** https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/robots-exclusion-checker/lnadekhdikcpjfnlhnbingbkhkfkddkl - **Runs on:** Browser extension - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you're not on Chrome, as no other browser is named. - **Facts last checked:** Oct 23, 2026 ## Pricing As of Oct 23, 2026, Robots Exclusion Checker is free to use. - **Pricing model:** Free - **Free plan:** The whole extension is a free install from the Chrome Web Store, with no account and no paid version listed. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Free | $0 | All six checks, the user-agent switcher and link highlighting, free from the Chrome Web Store. | Read from https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/robots-exclusion-checker/lnadekhdikcpjfnlhnbingbkhkfkddkl on Oct 23, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Robots Exclusion Checker before buying. ## Key features - **Robots.txt rule finder:** When an Allow or Disallow rule affects the current URL, it shows that rule and the full robots.txt with the rule highlighted. - **Meta robots and X-Robots-Tag:** Flags index, noindex, follow and nofollow directives in the HTML and in the HTTP header, and shows the full header with exclusions marked. - **AI bot check:** Checks robots.txt against 14 AI bots from 6 companies, covering training, search indexing and live browsing, and adds an AI label to the icon when any are blocked. - **Canonical mismatch warnings:** Reads canonical tags from the HTML head and the HTTP header and turns the icon amber when the canonical URL differs from the current one. - **Nofollow, UGC and sponsored links:** Optionally highlights links with those rel values on the page, in colors you choose; off by default on new installs. - **Search engine user-agents:** Simulate what Googlebot, Googlebot News, Bing or Yahoo may access, chosen in settings. 404 pages are flagged in red. ## Good for - SEOs checking why a page is not being crawled or indexed - Reviewing robots rules behind faceted navigation on large sites - Seeing at a glance whether a site blocks AI crawlers ## Worth knowing - It is listed for Chrome only; the store listing names no Firefox, Safari or Edge version. - It reports on the URL open in the browser, one page at a time, rather than auditing a whole site. - The developer has not identified itself as a trader, so EU consumer rights do not apply, as the store listing notes. - The interface comes in English, German, Spanish and French only. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 3.0 out of 4**, graded Oct 23, 2026. Robots Exclusion Checker reads robots.txt, meta robots, the X-Robots-Tag header and canonicals for the page you're on, turns the result into a red, amber or green icon, and checks robots.txt against 14 AI bots, for free. It's Chrome only, looks at one URL at a time, and the store says EU consumer rights don't apply because the developer hasn't identified itself as a trader. - **Value for money: A.** Free from the Chrome Web Store, with no account and no paid version listed. - **Free plan and trial: A.** Free outright: all six checks, the user-agent switcher and link highlighting, with nothing to upgrade to. - **Features: C.** Robots.txt rules highlighted, meta robots and X-Robots-Tag, canonical mismatch warnings, 14 AI bots from 6 companies, nofollow, ugc and sponsored links, and Googlebot or Bing user-agents. It does indexing checks fully, a smaller job, with no headings or search data. - **Ease of use: B.** No rating on record, but nothing to set up: the icon turns red, amber or green on the next page you load. - **Platforms and integrations: C.** Chrome only, so computers only, with no Firefox, Safari or Edge version named and no integrations. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from its Chrome Web Store listing on 23 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among SEO browser extensions - Robots Exclusion Checker's GPA of 3.0 is higher than 17 of the 34 other SEO browser extensions we grade, and level with 16. - It stands best on free plan and trial (A, above 5 of 34) and worst on platforms and integrations (C, above 0). - Robots Exclusion Checker has no paid plan. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. Nothing scores higher for less, though at least one tool matches that score at a lower price. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/seo-extensions ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** Robots Exclusion Checker is free, so making your own would save you nothing. And it is not the kind of software a weekend replaces. - You could not: A crawler that checks every page of a site. - You could not: The same prompts asked of ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI answers every day, and the answers kept. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. **Tags:** Site audit, AI search visibility ## Alternatives - [Detailed SEO Extension](https://toolgpa.com/tools/detailed-seo-extension): Free Chrome and Firefox extension for one-click on-page SEO checks. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/detailed-seo-extension-vs-robots-exclusion-checker) - [SEOquake](https://toolgpa.com/tools/seoquake): Free Semrush extension for page audits and metrics in Google results. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/robots-exclusion-checker-vs-seoquake) - [META SEO inspector](https://toolgpa.com/tools/meta-seo-inspector): Free Chrome extension that lays out a page's hidden metadata. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/meta-seo-inspector-vs-robots-exclusion-checker) - [NoFollow](https://toolgpa.com/tools/nofollow): Free extension that outlines nofollow, UGC and sponsored links. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/nofollow-vs-robots-exclusion-checker) - [Redirect Path](https://toolgpa.com/tools/redirect-path): Free Chrome extension that shows every redirect and status code. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/redirect-path-vs-robots-exclusion-checker) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 23, 2026: - https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/robots-exclusion-checker/lnadekhdikcpjfnlhnbingbkhkfkddkl Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/robots-exclusion-checker Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).