Access handling

Articles from the Zyte blog about Access handling.

A speed limit sign's speed guidance is replaced with a 403 code.
Access handling

Rate limiting is a roadblock, not a speed limit

Rate limiting sounds like a speed limit, but 93.7% of rate-limited sites block on the very first request. It is an identity check, not a throttle.

Robert Andrews
A classic toy robot waves a protest banner showing "I'm not a robot"
Access handling

CAPTCHA is more than just a puzzle piece

The famously awkward security mechanism has quietly become an invisible behavioral scoring system. Two vendors enable 89% of CAPTCHAs, and the smallest sites use it most.

Robert Andrews
A spyglass reveals a robot secretly using a web browser with its hand on the mouse.
Access handling

Inside antibot, the arms race you can't see

Only 18.5% of top sites run dedicated antibot, but every one of them chose to. Why it's the most intentional barrier in the stack, and the strongest signal of a hardened site.

Robert Andrews
A firewall surrounds a server computer
Access handling

Firewalls run the web, just not on purpose

Web Application Firewalls run on 92.4% of the top websites, but most arrived bundled with a CDN and were never tuned to resist automated access.

Robert Andrews
A toy robot walking toward a blocking robots.txt file
Data gathering for AI

Four in 10 sites block AI bots with robots.txt

Nearly four in 10 of the world's top sites are now closed to well-behaved AI crawlers. Here's what operators actually do with robots.txt, and which AI agents they block or welcome.

Robert Andrews
Toy robot walking toward a wall
Future of the web

75% of the web uses robots.txt - here's how

Three in four of the world's top sites publish a robots.txt, yet few name individual crawlers. A look inside the web's advisory layer: coverage, sophistication and limits.

Robert Andrews
SoWA retail industry analysis
Access handling

Revealed: How retailers use tech to block the bots

The web’s big general marketplaces exist to be browsed by everyone. But they are also the second most defended sector online, shutting the door on AI crawlers.

Robert Andrews
SoWA fsahion icon
Access handling

Fashion websites are the hardest to size up

While publishers fight over AI crawlers, fashion has built some of the most heavily defended shop windows on the web. So, which controls are in fashion, in fashion?

Robert Andrews
State of Web Access - industries
Access handling

The State of Web Access: How different industries behave to bots

Zyte's large-scale audit of web access controls shows how different kinds of businesses exhibit different policies.

Robert Andrews
SoWA: Websites locked
Access handling

The State of Web Access: How today's web raises its barriers

The largest ever audit of web access control mechanisms lifts the lid on how sites are regulating programmatic visits.

Robert Andrews
Master modern unblocking tactics against the latest anti-bot defenses
Announcement

Master modern unblocking tactics against the latest anti-bot defenses

Learn how to prepare for modern anti-bot systems with advanced unblocking tactics.

Cleber Alexandre2 min read
IP Essentials you can't afford to ignore
Access handling

IP Essentials you can't afford to ignore

Ednei Bach1 min read