How to block Uptime LLC
Operated by Uptime. Uptime.com HTTP probe for website availability and performance monitoring.
How it identifies itself
Uptimebot.org - Free website monitoring
robots.txt
What the agent asks to be told. It obeys this or it does not — nothing enforces it.
User-agent: Uptime Disallow: /
nginx
In the server block, then reload.
# In the server block. 403 rather than 444: a closed connection tells the
# operator nothing, and an agent that gets a status code can log it.
if ($http_user_agent ~* "(Uptime/|Uptime|group.one uptime-monitor bot|DigitalOcean Uptime Probe 0.28.0 (https:|Uptime LLC)") {
return 403;
}
Apache
In .htaccess or the vhost.
BrowserMatchNoCase "Uptime/" bad_bot
BrowserMatchNoCase "Uptime" bad_bot
BrowserMatchNoCase "group.one uptime-monitor bot" bad_bot
BrowserMatchNoCase "DigitalOcean Uptime Probe 0.28.0" bad_bot
BrowserMatchNoCase "Uptime LLC" bad_bot
<RequireAll>
Require all granted
Require not env bad_bot
</RequireAll>
Cloudflare
Security → WAF → Custom rules.
# Security → WAF → Custom rules, action: Block (http.user_agent contains "Uptime/") or (http.user_agent contains "Uptime") or (http.user_agent contains "group.one uptime-monitor bot") or (http.user_agent contains "DigitalOcean Uptime Probe 0.28.0") or (http.user_agent contains "Uptime LLC")
WordPress
A child theme's functions.php, or a small plugin.
// functions.php of a child theme, or a small plugin. Runs before WordPress
// builds the page, so a blocked agent costs one PHP process and no queries.
add_action('init', function () {
$agent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] ?? '';
foreach (['Uptime/', 'Uptime', 'group.one uptime-monitor bot', 'DigitalOcean Uptime Probe 0.28.0', 'Uptime LLC'] as $needle) {
if (stripos($agent, $needle) !== false) {
status_header(403);
exit('Blocked: Uptime LLC');
}
}
});
robots.txt is a request. The rules below it are the wall.
Uptime LLC publishes a token, so the directive above will work for as long as it keeps honouring it — and nothing except its own good manners makes it. The server rules match on a header the requester sets, which stops the agent that says who it is and not the one that copies somebody else's name. Botscope verifies identity against DNS and published address ranges, records which check decided each request, and shows you the ones that lied.