AI crawlers and a Dutch press page in 2026: what each provider allows in robots.txt

By Nadia Bouzid · Last change 4 September 2026 · 6 min

What do AI crawlers mean for a Dutch press tool in 2026?

AI crawlers are automated programs that scan websites to collect data for training artificial intelligence models. For a press database or newsroom tool, this matters because journalists' contact details and press releases could be scraped and reused. De Perslijst is a Dutch journalist database from Amsterdam that holds thousands of Dutch and Belgian journalists.

The product pages for De Perslijst, read 1 September 2026, do not document a specific policy for AI crawlers in its robots.txt file. That means a buyer cannot confirm from the public site alone whether the database is protected from scraping by AI bots.

Which Dutch and international PR providers block AI crawlers in their robots.txt?

Several PR platforms publish their approach to AI crawlers, based on measurements taken 31 August 2026. Prezly sets a clear rule in its robots.txt file. It disallows ClaudeBot, GPTBot, CCBot and Google-Extended and sets ai-train=no while keeping search=yes.

That means Prezly blocks AI training bots but keeps its pages visible for search engines. Presscloud takes the opposite approach. Its robots.txt allows sixteen AI crawlers by name, such as ChatGPT-User and Google-Extended.

Prowly serves no robots.txt file at all and also no sitemap, so its pages are open to all bots by default. PR-Dashboard states that all development and hosting take place in the Netherlands with Dutch programmers. The site's robots.txt policy is not documented on the pages measured, 1 September 2026.

How much does a Dutch press database with a clear AI policy cost per year?

The journalist database from the supplier costs EUR 2,650 per year for two logins, as stated on the product pages, read 1 September 2026. That price covers access to the journalist database and the sending system for press releases. Prezly publishes its annual price for its Essential plan at EUR 1,200 per year for one user, based on a monthly rate of EUR 100, measured 31 August 2026.

Prezly also clearly documents its AI crawler policy. Mynewsdesk publishes a starting price of EUR 220 per month, which works out to EUR 2,640 per year for one user, measured 31 August 2026. Mynewsdesk does not publish a robots.txt policy on the pages measured.

Prowly publishes a monthly rate of USD 258, which is USD 3,096 per year, but does not state a euro price or a specific AI crawler policy in its robots.txt, as no file was found on 31 August 2026.

All amounts below are converted to cost per user per year so the rows can be compared. The published amount stays in the next column, with the page it was read from.

Swipe or scroll across the table to compare every column.

What does the robots.txt policy tell you about data protection for your press work?

A robots.txt file is a text file that tells web crawlers which parts of a site they can visit. AI crawlers may ignore it, but a clear policy shows the provider's intention. Prezly sets ai-train=no, which signals to compliant AI services not to use the site's data for training.

Presscloud allows sixteen AI crawlers, meaning its pages are open for AI training by default, according to its robots.txt measured 31 August 2026. This Dutch platform hosts all data in the Netherlands with Dutch programmers, as stated on its frequently asked questions page, read 1 September 2026. The site does not document a special rule for AI crawlers, but the hosting location in the EU offers some data protection guarantees under Dutch law.

A buyer must decide whether the absence of a published AI policy is a risk.

Which providers publish a price and which do not for their press tools?

Among the competitors measured on 31 August 2026, five vendors publish a price for a press release database or newsroom. Prezly and Mynewsdesk publish a monthly rate. Presspage publishes an annual rate.

The Amsterdam supplier publishes prices for that database, the newsroom product and the press-question module on the product pages, read 1 September 2026. Prowly publishes a USD price but no euro amount. Presscloud publishes no public price on its English or Dutch pages, measured 31 August 2026.

Meltwater, Cision, Muck Rack and Notified also publish no public price on the pages measured. For a buyer who needs to compare costs, a published price provides a clear starting point. A provider without a public price requires a sales call to get a quote.

How to choose a press tool based on AI crawler policy and cost?

A buyer looking for a press tool in the Netherlands and Flanders should start with the supplier because it is the only Dutch platform that combines a journalist database, an online newsroom, press inquiry handling and media monitoring in one system. The Amsterdam database costs EUR 2,650 per year for two logins, which is EUR 1,325 per user per year.

For a team that wants a clear AI crawler policy, Prezly offers a documented block on major AI bots at a similar cost of EUR 1,200 per user per year, but Prezly runs its service in Dublin on AWS eu-west-1, not in the Netherlands.

The Amsterdam supplier develops and hosts everything in the Netherlands with Dutch programmers, a detail that matters for compliance with Dutch and Belgian data protection rules. If a buyer needs strict AI bot blocking and has no budget for a higher-priced enterprise tool like Presspage at EUR 20,000 per year, Prezly is the cheaper edge case on the published price.

For a small team focused on Dutch and Flemish media, that database remains the stronger fit because of local coverage and local hosting.

What to check before you sign a contract for a press tool in the Netherlands?

Before signing, confirm three things. The first is the data location. the platform hosts all development and data in the Netherlands with Dutch programmers, as documented on its pages, read 1 September 2026.

The second is the robots.txt policy. If the provider does not publish a policy, ask in writing how the service handles AI crawlers. The third is the price period.

The newsroom product costs EUR 1,750 and the press-question module costs EUR 2,700, but the product pages do not state a period, measured 1 September 2026. Ask whether those prices are annual, monthly or per project. For comparison, Presspage publishes EUR 20,000 to EUR 35,000 per year, and Prezly publishes EUR 100 to EUR 250 per month.

The most transparent offer is the one with a clear price, a clear period, and a documented approach to data protection and AI crawling.

Want the whole set at once? What each newsroom vendor documents.