The robots.txt file for Glassdoor sets strict rules that substantially limit the areas of the website that can be accessed by general automated crawlers. Instructions such as Disallow: /Salaries, Disallow: /Jobs, Disallow: /Interview, and numerous others create extensive barriers that impede web scrapers from reaching a large number of critical sections on the site. Although these rules are designed to apply to all standard user agents, some exceptions are made for specific bots such as Googlebot and Bingbot, which have their own set of Allow directives.

There are very few paths in the robots.txt file that are explicitly allowed, which includes rules such as Allow: /sitemap.htm and Allow: /Content/ContentMap.htm. The file also contains references to sitemap locations. From a practical viewpoint, this setup creates a rather restrictive environment that places heavy limitations on the capabilities of general-purpose web scrapers, while still permitting search engines to maintain access for indexing purposes. In summary, the robots.txt file for Glassdoor clearly indicates a restrictive stance when it comes to automated scraping, with a preference for selectively allowing access to certain whitelisted crawlers.

The terms of service for Glassdoor explicitly prohibit automated access and data extraction. The terms state:

"You may not use any robot, spider, scraper, data mining tools, data gathering and extraction tools, or other automated means to access the Services for any purpose without our express written permission."

This covers all scraping, crawling, or bot-driven collection across both public and logged-in parts of the site. While terms can apply differently depending on whether a user has explicitly agreed (for example, by creating an account), Glassdoor frames this restriction as universal.

Glassdoor does not offer a public API, and any attempts to bypass login gates, rate limits, or CAPTCHAs are likely to be treated as violations. The terms mention potential actions such as IP blocking, account suspension, and legal remedies, making unauthorized scraping generally high-risk without prior written permission.