redditbot User Agent: What It Is & How to Block It

01 · Operator

Who operates redditbot

Company: Reddit
Type: Social preview bot

02 · Behavior

What redditbot does

When users share a link on Reddit, Reddit fetches the page. Bot databases list redditbot as Reddit's social media agent for this. We could not open a Reddit page that documents it.

03 · Impact

Why redditbot matters for your site

If you allow it

Shared links can show proper titles and images
Reddit can send referral traffic

If you block it

No official documentation found
Fake bots may copy the name

04 · Allow

How to allow redditbot

robots.txt

User-agent: redditbot
Allow: /

Cloudflare

# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "redditbot")
Action:     Skip › All Super Bot Fight Mode rules

# Also check Security › Bots: "Block AI bots" can block it regardless of robots.txt.

WordPress

# WordPress serves a virtual robots.txt. Edit it with your SEO plugin:
# Yoast: SEO › Tools › File editor · Rank Math: General Settings › Edit robots.txt
User-agent: redditbot
Allow: /

nginx

# nginx serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure no rule like this blocks it:
# if ($http_user_agent ~* "redditbot") { return 403; }

Apache

# Apache serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure .htaccess has no rule like this:
# RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} redditbot [NC]
# RewriteRule .* - [F,L]

05 · Block

How to block redditbot

Start with robots.txt. If redditbot keeps showing up in your logs, block it at your CDN or web server.

robots.txt

User-agent: redditbot
Disallow: /

Cloudflare

# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "redditbot")
Action:     Block

WordPress

# WordPress serves a virtual robots.txt. Edit it with your SEO plugin:
# Yoast: SEO › Tools › File editor · Rank Math: General Settings › Edit robots.txt
User-agent: redditbot
Disallow: /

nginx

# In your server { } block:
if ($http_user_agent ~* "redditbot") {
    return 403;
}

Apache

# .htaccess
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} redditbot [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
</IfModule>

06 · User agents

User agents we see for redditbot

The user agent published by the operator:

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; redditbot/1.0; +http://www.reddit.com/feedback)

07 · Verification

Is it really redditbot?

redditbot’s operator publishes no IP ranges or hostnames, so requests cannot be verified. Treat the user agent as a claim, and watch your logs for unusual request rates.

FAQ

Questions about redditbot

What is redditbot?

It is a user agent used by Reddit, listed in bot databases as a social media agent.

Should I block redditbot?

Blocking it may break how links to your site appear on Reddit. Most sites allow it.

redditbot is Reddit’s social preview bot