01 · Operator
Who operates TurnitinBot
- Company
- Turnitin
- Type
- Other bot
- Official docs
- turnitin.com
02 · Behavior
What TurnitinBot does
The crawler downloads web pages and adds them to Turnitin's comparison content. Submitted student work is then checked against it. It identifies as TurnitinBot or Turnitin, and both tokens are treated the same.
03 · Impact
Why TurnitinBot matters for your site
If you allow it
- Helps detect plagiarism of your published content
- Respects robots.txt and uses published IP ranges
If you block it
- No direct traffic or visibility benefit
- Your content is copied into a commercial database
04 · Allow
How to allow TurnitinBot
robots.txt
User-agent: TurnitinBot
Allow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "TurnitinBot")
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: TurnitinBot
Allow: /nginx
# nginx serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure no rule like this blocks it:
# if ($http_user_agent ~* "TurnitinBot") { return 403; }Apache
# Apache serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure .htaccess has no rule like this:
# RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} TurnitinBot [NC]
# RewriteRule .* - [F,L]05 · Block
How to block TurnitinBot
TurnitinBot follows robots.txt, so one rule is enough. Use a server or CDN rule only to stop spoofed copies.
robots.txt
User-agent: TurnitinBot
Disallow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "TurnitinBot")
Action: BlockWordPress
# WordPress serves a virtual robots.txt. Edit it with your SEO plugin:
# Yoast: SEO › Tools › File editor · Rank Math: General Settings › Edit robots.txt
User-agent: TurnitinBot
Disallow: /nginx
# In your server { } block:
if ($http_user_agent ~* "TurnitinBot") {
return 403;
}Apache
# .htaccess
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} TurnitinBot [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
</IfModule>06 · User agents
User agents we see for TurnitinBot
The user agent published by the operator:
Turnitin (https://bit.ly/2UvnfoQ)07 · Verification
Is it really TurnitinBot?
TurnitinBot’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 TurnitinBot
How do I block TurnitinBot?
Add User-agent: TurnitinBot with Disallow: / to robots.txt. Turnitin states the crawler obeys these rules.
Which IP addresses does TurnitinBot use?
Turnitin lists 199.47.80.0 to 199.47.87.255 for its general web crawl. Its crawler info page lists separate ranges for content partners.
Why does Turnitin crawl my website?
Turnitin collects web content to compare against student submissions. It uses the content only to help institutions prevent plagiarism.
Last reviewed Oct 7, 2026