Overview
JavaScript is Bhutan's most common secondary barrier
| Value | |
|---|---|
| WAF | 93.7% |
| Antibot | 18.9% |
| CAPTCHA | 26.1% |
| JavaScript | 39% |
| Rate Limiting | 11.1% |
| TLS | 16.7% |
WAF covers 93.7% of Bhutan sites. CAPTCHA (26.1%) is the dominant secondary barrier, ahead of JavaScript (39.0% — WAF aside). Rate Limiting is the lightest layer at 11.1%.
Barrier Landscape
CAPTCHA leads among secondary barriers after JavaScript
| Value | |
|---|---|
| WAF | 93.7% |
| Antibot | 18.9% |
| CAPTCHA | 26.1% |
| JavaScript | 39% |
| Rate Limiting | 11.1% |
| TLS | 16.7% |
| Has robots.txt | 81.1% |
| Blocks AI crawlers | 14.8% |
Among Bhutan's non-WAF barriers, JavaScript reaches 39.0% but CAPTCHA (26.1%) stands out as the most prominent challenge-type barrier — notably above Antibot at 18.9%.
Single-barrier sites narrowly lead the stacking distribution
| % of sites | |
|---|---|
| 0 barriers | 3.6% |
| 1 barrier | 33.9% |
| 2 barriers | 32.8% |
| 3 barriers | 17.7% |
| 4 barriers | 7.7% |
| 5 barriers | 3.8% |
| 6 barriers | 0.5% |
One-barrier sites (33.9%) edge out two-barrier sites (32.8%) — the only country in this set where the modal is a single barrier. 3.6% carry no barriers; 0.5% run all six.
Most Bhutan sites are Easy to access
| Mean recommended tier | |
|---|---|
| All sites | 1.6 |
Over half of Bhutan sites (56.9%) resolve at Tier 1. The mean of 1.58 reflects that concentration, with Tiers 4 and 5 needed for only 2.8% of domains combined.
More than half of sites are Simple to access
| % of sites | |
|---|---|
| 1 - Simple | 56.9% |
| 2 - Easy | 31.5% |
| 3 - Moderate | 8.9% |
| 4 - Complex | 2.1% |
| 5 - Advanced | 0.7% |
More than half of Bhutan sites require only Basic browser access. Tier 2 covers another 31.5%, making the first two tiers sufficient for 88.4% of domains.
robots.txt
SEO audit tools rank second among named bot categories
| % of sites | |
|---|---|
| AI crawlers | 16.8% |
| SEO / search indexing | 12.7% |
| SEO audit tools | 15% |
| Commercial scrapers | 8.2% |
| Social / content scrapers | 6.6% |
| Archive / research crawlers | 5.3% |
| Monitoring / uptime bots | 0.3% |
AI crawlers lead at 16.8%, but SEO audit tools follow closely at 15.0% — the highest audit-tool share in this group of five countries. Monitoring bots are named on fewer than 0.5% of sites.
Path-level mixed rules are unusually prominent
| % of sites | |
|---|---|
| Uniform per-agent rules (no path mixing) | 39.6% |
| Path-level mixed rules for same agent | 35.7% |
| Allow-only (no disallow rules) | 2.8% |
| Mixed AI posture (block some, allow others) | 2.3% |
| Blanket Disallow: / | 2.8% |
39.6% of sites use uniform per-agent rules, but path-level mixing (35.7%) is closer to that figure than in most country profiles — narrowing the gap between the two dominant postures.
ClaudeBot and CCBot are blocked at near-equal rates
| Disallowed | Allowed (whitelisted) | |
|---|---|---|
| GPTBot | 12.7% | 2.3% |
| CCBot | 9.9% | 1.2% |
| ClaudeBot | 10% | 1.2% |
| Google-Extended | 9.3% | 1.7% |
| Bytespider | 8.5% | 0.8% |
| meta-externalagent | 3.4% | 0.1% |
| ChatGPT-User | 5.6% | 2% |
| PerplexityBot | 6.8% | 2.5% |
| Applebot-Extended | 6.4% | 0.7% |
| OAI-SearchBot | 3.6% | 1.8% |
| anthropic-ai | 6% | 0.9% |
GPTBot leads Bhutan Disallow entries at 12.7%, with ClaudeBot (10.0%) and CCBot (9.9%) nearly tied behind it. PerplexityBot receives the broadest Allow at 2.5%.
Eight sectors name bots on every site
| % of sites | |
|---|---|
| Architecture | 100% |
| Computer & Video Games | 100% |
| Crafts | 100% |
| Design | 100% |
| Entertainment | 100% |
| Investment | 100% |
| Jewellery & Luxury | 100% |
| Telecom | 100% |
| Adult | 90% |
| Beauty & Cosmetics | 90% |
| Events | 90% |
| Food & Beverages | 90% |
| General | 90% |
| Healthcare | 90% |
| Market Research | 90% |
Architecture, Computer & Video Games, Crafts, Design, Entertainment, Investment, Jewellery & Luxury and Telecom all show 100% Disallow rates. Seven further sectors reach 90%.
Investment leads explicit bot Allow rules
| % of sites | |
|---|---|
| Investment | 90% |
| Crafts | 87.5% |
| Architecture | 80% |
| Graphic Design | 80% |
| Recruitment & Staffing | 80% |
| Airlines | 70% |
| Construction | 70% |
| Museums | 70% |
| Photography | 70% |
| Publishing | 70% |
| Renewable Energy | 70% |
| Retail | 70% |
| Science | 70% |
| Social & Charitable | 70% |
| Telecom | 70% |
Investment is the only Bhutan sector to reach 90% explicit Allow. Crafts follow at 87.5%, with Architecture, Graphic Design and Recruitment & Staffing at 80% each.
Industry Patterns
Computer Hardware is the hardest sector to access programmatically
| WAF | Antibot | CAPTCHA | JavaScript | Rate Limit | TLS | robots.txt | Blocks AI | Tier | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Computer Hardware | 90% | 10% | 0% | 20% | 20% | 40% | 90% | 0% | Tier 3 |
| Retail | 100% | 10% | 0% | 70% | 20% | 10% | 90% | 40% | Tier 3 |
| Hospitality | 100% | 20% | 20% | 70% | 10% | 30% | 70% | 10% | Tier 3 |
| Apparel & Fashion | 100% | 10% | 20% | 60% | 30% | 20% | 80% | 10% | Tier 2 |
| Real Estate | 100% | 10% | 10% | 50% | 40% | 20% | 80% | 10% | Tier 2 |
| Sporting Goods | 100% | 20% | 20% | 0% | 20% | 30% | 80% | 10% | Tier 2 |
| Consumer Electronics | 80% | 10% | 10% | 50% | 10% | 50% | 80% | 10% | Tier 2 |
| Human Resources | 100% | 60% | 50% | 50% | 50% | 50% | 70% | 10% | Tier 2 |
| Jewellery & Luxury | 90% | 20% | 30% | 40% | 10% | 30% | 100% | 0% | Tier 2 |
| Banking | 100% | 30% | 10% | 20% | 10% | 10% | 80% | 10% | Tier 2 |
| Design | 100% | 20% | 30% | 40% | 20% | 30% | 100% | 30% | Tier 2 |
| Biotech | 90% | 40% | 40% | 50% | 10% | 30% | 80% | 30% | Tier 2 |
| Import & Export | 90% | 20% | 10% | 60% | 20% | 20% | 50% | 0% | Tier 2 |
| Adult | 100% | 20% | 30% | 60% | 10% | 10% | 90% | 20% | Tier 2 |
| Airlines | 90% | 10% | 10% | 60% | 20% | 20% | 90% | 30% | Tier 2 |
Computer Hardware tops the industry ranking with a Tier 3 median and a mean of 2.75. Retail also carries a Tier 3 median. Hospitality and Apparel & Fashion share a mean of 2.50, rounding out the hard-access tier.
Non-Profit is the most accessible sector
| WAF | Antibot | CAPTCHA | JavaScript | Rate Limit | TLS | robots.txt | Blocks AI | Tier | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beauty & Cosmetics | 90% | 30% | 50% | 30% | 10% | 30% | 90% | 20% | Tier 2 |
| Education | 100% | 20% | 10% | 30% | 10% | 10% | 70% | 10% | Tier 2 |
| Equipment & Supplies | 100% | 10% | 20% | 20% | 0% | 20% | 80% | 10% | Tier 2 |
| Mail & Delivery | 70% | 0% | 0% | 10% | 10% | 20% | 60% | 0% | Tier 2 |
| Museums | 100% | 30% | 40% | 50% | 20% | 0% | 70% | 20% | Tier 2 |
| Science | 100% | 20% | 10% | 40% | 30% | 10% | 80% | 10% | Tier 2 |
| Telecom | 90% | 20% | 10% | 60% | 0% | 30% | 100% | 10% | Tier 2 |
| Crafts | 100% | 12.5% | 25% | 25% | 12.5% | 12.5% | 100% | 25% | Tier 2 |
| Automotive | 90% | 20% | 0% | 30% | 30% | 20% | 70% | 30% | Tier 2 |
| Computer & Video Games | 100% | 20% | 20% | 50% | 10% | 10% | 100% | 30% | Tier 2 |
| Distance Learning | 100% | 40% | 40% | 40% | 30% | 10% | 70% | 30% | Tier 2 |
| Healthcare | 100% | 20% | 20% | 40% | 10% | 10% | 100% | 50% | Tier 2 |
| Libraries | 100% | 20% | 20% | 70% | 10% | 20% | 80% | 0% | Tier 2 |
| Music | 100% | 30% | 30% | 70% | 20% | 10% | 100% | 10% | Tier 2 |
| Non-Profit | 90% | 10% | 20% | 50% | 10% | 10% | 80% | 10% | Tier 2 |
Non-Profit records Bhutan's lowest industry tier mean of 1.70. Low Antibot (10%) and Rate Limiting (10%) coverage keeps access costs minimal, despite 90% WAF presence.