What is Pingdom?

Pingdom is a bot in the monitoring and analytics bots category, operated by Pingdom.

Bot name
Pingdom
Operator
Pingdom
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
Not confirmed
robots.txt user agent
Pingdom
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
No

About Pingdom

The Pingdom bot is the HTTP monitoring probe for Pingdom's website monitoring service.

Monitoring bots check uptime, performance and page changes on behalf of a site owner or a third party. Allow the services you run yourself and exclude them from analytics so they do not inflate page views.

Pingdom user agent

Pingdom identifies itself with this user agent string:

  • Pingdom.com_bot_version_1.4_(http://www.pingdom.com/)

Anyone can copy a user agent string. Transfon Security also checks where each request comes from, so a request that claims to be a known crawler but comes from the wrong network is treated as a fake, not as the real crawler.

How to block Pingdom in robots.txt

We have not confirmed whether Pingdom follows robots.txt. Add a rule, then check your logs to see that it stopped. robots.txt is a plain text file at the root of your domain, such as https://example.com/robots.txt.

Block Pingdom from the whole site

User-agent: Pingdom
Disallow: /

Block Pingdom from some folders

User-agent: Pingdom
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /search

Allow Pingdom only on some folders

User-agent: Pingdom
Allow: /blog/
Disallow: /

Allow Pingdom and block other crawlers

User-agent: Pingdom
Allow: /

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

Things to know

  • Each host needs its own file. Rules on www.example.com do not apply to shop.example.com.
  • A crawler obeys only the most specific group that names it. Once you add a User-agent: Pingdom group, Pingdom ignores your User-agent: * rules, so repeat any that should still apply.
  • The user agent name is not case sensitive. We take Pingdom from Pingdom's user agent; check Pingdom's own documentation if it publishes a different robots.txt name.
  • Crawlers cache robots.txt, so changes can take up to a day to apply. Disallow stops crawling but does not remove pages already collected or indexed.

Limits of robots.txt

  1. Pingdom may not follow the rule. robots.txt is a request that nothing enforces, and we have not confirmed that Pingdom follows it. Check your logs after adding a rule.
  2. The user agent could be fake. robots.txt matches the name a request claims. Anyone can send Pingdom's user agent, and a scraper using it is not bound by Pingdom's robots.txt policy. Only checking the source network tells a real Pingdom from a fake one.

Treat robots.txt as a statement of your policy, and enforce it where requests arrive.

Who should care about Pingdom

Publishers

Allow Pingdom if it is a service you use, and keep its visits out of page views and ad requests either way.

Transfon Security for publishers

Media buyers and advertisers

Pingdom is not a person. Exclude it from campaign and conversion data so reports reflect real visitors.

Transfon Security for advertisers

E-commerce

Allow Pingdom only if it works for your store, and keep it away from cart and checkout.

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

If Pingdom is a service you use, allow it on the endpoints it needs and block it elsewhere.

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block Pingdom with Transfon Security

robots.txt is a request, not an enforcement. Transfon Security shows Pingdom by name in the Top Bots report, so you can see how often it visits and which pages it reads. Block or allow it with a User Agent rule, or slow it down with a rate limit decision rule.

Transfon Security

Control Pingdom on your site

  • See every Pingdom visit and the pages it reads
  • Spot bots that fake trusted crawler names
  • Block, allow or rate limit Pingdom with one rule
  • Works with or without robots.txt support

Frequently asked questions

What is Pingdom?

Pingdom is a bot in the monitoring and analytics bots category, operated by Pingdom. The Pingdom bot is the HTTP monitoring probe for Pingdom's website monitoring service.

Does Pingdom respect robots.txt?

We have not confirmed whether Pingdom follows robots.txt. Add a robots.txt rule, then check your logs to see that it stopped, and block it by user agent if it did not.

How do I block Pingdom?

Add "User-agent: Pingdom" followed by "Disallow: /" to the robots.txt file at the root of your site. To enforce it, block requests whose user agent contains "Pingdom" at your WAF. In Transfon Security that is one User Agent block rule.

Is robots.txt enough to block Pingdom?

No. robots.txt is voluntary, so Pingdom may not follow it, and anyone can send Pingdom's user agent, so a fake Pingdom ignores your rule. Enforce the rule where requests arrive, at your WAF, and check the source network.

Should I block Pingdom?

Monitoring bots check uptime, performance and page changes on behalf of a site owner or a third party. Allow the services you run yourself and exclude them from analytics so they do not inflate page views.

Related bots

All monitoring and analytics bots · Full bot directory

See Which Bots Visit Your Site

Transfon Security identifies every bot in this directory in your traffic reports, flags fake search crawlers, and lets you allow, block or rate limit each bot.

Stay ahead of the publishing curve

Privacy, security, monetization, and performance insights. A few emails a month, no spam.

By subscribing you agree to our privacy policy.