Is that really Googlebot knocking?
Any script can set its name to “Googlebot” or “ChatGPT” in one line of code. The only real proof is the IP address it came from. Paste the IP from your logs and we’ll check it against the official published ranges of Google, Bing, OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, Apple and Common Crawl — plus a reverse-DNS trace — to tell you if it’s the real crawler or an imposter wearing its name.
We check the IP, not the name it gave
The name in a visitor’s User-Agent is self-declared and free to fake. The IP address behind it is not — it has to come from a range the vendor actually owns. That’s what we test.
You paste an IP from your logs
Grab the address of the visitor you’re suspicious about — the one calling itself Googlebot, ChatGPT or Claude — and paste it in. Tell us which crawler it claims to be, or pick “not sure”.
We check it against the official range lists
Google, Bing, OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, Apple and Common Crawl each publish the exact IP ranges their real crawlers use. We fetch those first-party lists and test whether your IP is actually inside them.
We trace its reverse-DNS — both ways
For crawlers that support it, we look up the IP’s reverse-DNS name and confirm it points back to the same IP under the vendor’s own domain — the gold-standard proof a spoofer can’t fake.
Anyone can wear a crawler’s name
A User-Agent is just a claim
Any script, scraper or bot can put “Googlebot” or “ChatGPT-User” in its User-Agent header in one line of code. It costs nothing to fake and proves nothing.
Fake bots cost you money
Imposters crawling under an “AI” name inflate your bandwidth, pollute your analytics, and sometimes scrape content or probe for weaknesses — all while hiding behind a trusted brand.
The IP can’t lie
Real crawlers come from IP ranges the vendor publishes and controls. Checking the IP against those official lists is how you tell the real crawler from a pretender.
Fair questions
Do you connect to the IP I enter?
No. We never contact that address. We only read the vendors’ published range lists and do a reverse-DNS lookup — so running this check is completely safe and invisible to whoever owns the IP.
Where do I find the IP to check?
In your server access logs, your CDN or firewall logs (Cloudflare and similar), or your analytics if it records visitor IPs. It’s the address sitting next to the suspicious “Googlebot” or “ChatGPT” request.
Why does it sometimes say “inconclusive”?
Two reasons: a vendor’s official range list was briefly unreachable, or the IP simply doesn’t match any crawler we check and there’s no reverse-DNS trace to confirm it. Either way we won’t guess — we’d rather tell you we couldn’t prove it than call it wrong.
Do I need to enter my email?
No. This tool is deliberately open — check as many IPs as you like. Nothing is stored, and there’s no signup.