iNaturalist

inaturalist.org

Scanned 15 Oct 2026Fresh928 checks

In its own wordsLooks like: Software or appA Community for Naturalists · iNaturalistiNaturalist is a social network for naturalists! Record your observations of plants and animals, share them with friends and researchers, and learn about the natural world.

iNaturalist (inaturalist.org) looks like a software product or app, is ranked in the top 10,000 sites and was registered in 2004. It is built with Ruby on Rails and jQuery; we found no traces of an AI site builder.

Popularity

Website Traffic Checker

Among the top 10K sites.

A popularity band, not a visit count.

Top 1KTop 10KTop 100KTop 1MOutside top 1M

Tranco: #5,280 · Chrome UX Report: Top 10,000 · Majestic Million: #2,833

Each list, with its date

Source	Says	As of
TrancoA research ranking that combines several traffic and link sources, published daily.	#5,280	list of 7 Oct 2026
Chrome UX ReportRank buckets from Google’s real Chrome traffic, published monthly.	Top 10,000	Aug 2026
Majestic MillionRanks sites by how many separate networks link to them (links, not visits), published daily. CC BY 3.0	#2,833	list of 8 Oct 2026

Technology

Tech Stack Checker

Built with Ruby on Rails, jQuery and jQuery UI.

Ruby on RailsFrameworkShow evidenceHide evidence
Evidence · page source, line 24
```
<meta name="csrf-param" content="authenticity_token">
```
Popular sites using Ruby on Rails Is this wrong? Report it

jQueryJavaScript libraryShow evidenceHide evidence

Evidence · page source, line 1242

<script src="https://www.inaturalist.org/assets/jquery/jquery-1.11.3.min-c9af56c35a7066d6c8e1d05090b627cf7731396514fe96613d5de80d34f98ecd.js">

jQuery UIJavaScript libraryShow evidenceHide evidence

Evidence · page source, line 1243

<script src="https://www.inaturalist.org/assets/jquery/jquery-ui-1.11.4.min-258f0a67e0d147f013fd1b42ca40420b9fbb4c96b30b95a9c8f322324c72fbc2.js">

Everything else it uses (6)

Around it: CDN, Email, Analytics, SEO and more.

CloudflareCDNShow evidenceHide evidence
Evidence · response header
```
cf-ray: a4af4da37c25ab62-SIN
```
Popular sites using Cloudflare Is this wrong? Report it
Google WorkspaceEmailShow evidenceHide evidence
Evidence · DNS record
```
inaturalist.org MX 30 ASPMX3.GOOGLEMAIL.COM.
```
Popular sites using Google Workspace Is this wrong? Report it

ValimailEmailShow evidenceHide evidence

Evidence · DNS record

_dmarc.inaturalist.org TXT v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; pct=100; rua=mailto:dmarc_agg@vali.email; rf=afrf; ruf=mailto:admin+dmarcfailure@inaturalist.org; ri=604800

Google AnalyticsAnalyticsShow evidenceHide evidence
Evidence · page source, line 48
```
<script src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-TV5BYME7B4">
```
Popular sites using Google Analytics Is this wrong? Report it
Google Search ConsoleSEOShow evidenceHide evidence
Evidence · page source, line 31
```
<meta name="google-site-verification" content="zTQkjSSm7eCNxRXMpYtLCHK00zeRWPrSFJIgJPBnjKc">
```
Popular sites using Google Search Console Is this wrong? Report it

Font AwesomeFontsShow evidenceHide evidence

Evidence · page source, line 13

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://www.inaturalist.org/assets/font-awesome-984749df86781cc8bb037169d69b5f93ce36ed5be7fea258da98cbef140f43d2.css">

Trust signals

Website Trust Checker

3 of 7 trust signals found on the home page.

Signals, not a judgement: missing details are common on small, honest sites.

Domain registered16 Nov 2004, 21 years agoNoted
HTTPSLoads over HTTPS with a valid certificateFound
Contact detailsNo email or phone on the home pageNot found
Privacy policyLinked from the home page; it turned our scanner away (403), so we couldn’t open itFound
TermsLinked from the home page; it turned our scanner away (403), so we couldn’t open itFound
Security filterNot blocked by Cloudflare’s security filter and Quad9’s security filterNoted

Every signal we looked at

On the site

Contact pageNo link found on the home pageNot found
About pageLinked from the home page; it turned our scanner away (403), so we couldn’t open itFound
Privacy policyLinked from the home page; it turned our scanner away (403), so we couldn’t open itFound
TermsLinked from the home page; it turned our scanner away (403), so we couldn’t open itFound
Refund or returns policyNo link found on the home pageNot found
Contact detailsNo email or phone on the home pageNot found
Company detailsNo company name or address foundNot found
Payment providersNone on the home pageNoted
Trackers1 analytics and advertising tool: Google AnalyticsNoted

Behind the site

Security filterNot blocked by Cloudflare’s security filter and Quad9’s security filterNotedCloudflare’s security filter and Quad9’s security filter
Domain registered16 Nov 2004, 21 years agoNoteddomain registry
HTTPSLoads over HTTPS with a valid certificateFound
Protective settings4 of 6 in placeFound
Email protectionProtected against forged emailFoundDNS records

A second opinion on its security setup: Mozilla’s HTTP Observatory grades the site when you open it. Ten checks before you buy · A signal looks wrong? Report it

What it is

Website Summary

Looks like: Software or app.

In its own wordsA Community for Naturalists · iNaturalistiNaturalist is a social network for naturalists! Record your observations of plants and animals, share them with friends and researchers, and learn about the natural world.

Our reading of the page, medium confidence.

Also has signs of: Forum or community.

Show evidence (3)Hide evidence

Exhibit 1 · Wikidata

Q16958215: iNaturalist, mobile app

Exhibit 2 · page source, line 162

<a href="/login?utm_source=inaturalist_homepage&utm_campaign=homepage_redesign_2026&utm_medium=owned_web&utm_content=header_login_cta">Log In</a>

Exhibit 3 · page source, line 164

<a href="/signup?utm_source=inaturalist_homepage&utm_campaign=homepage_redesign_2026&utm_medium=owned_web&utm_content=header_signup_cta">Sign Up</a>

Is this wrong? Report it

Who is behind it

WikidataiNaturalist

Wikidata: Owned by California Academy of Sciences; based in United States.

Its Facebook, Instagram and GitHub accounts are the ones Wikidata lists.

Show evidenceHide evidence

Exhibit 1 · Wikidata

Q16958215: iNaturalist

Is this wrong? Report it

Each name is quoted from its source. A brand and the company that owns it often go by different names.

More about it: Wikidata, profiles, AI use, page facts

In Wikidata

iNaturalist: citizen science project and website · social network, online community, online database · since 2008

Wikidata, the free knowledge base behind Wikipedia, lists this domain as the official website of this item. Volunteers write it; each item shows its sources.

Find them on

The profiles its home page links. We haven’t checked who runs them.

AI use

AI training: asks Amazonbot, Applebot-Extended, Bytespider, CCBot and 11 more to stay away.
AI assistants: asks Google-CloudVertexBot to stay away.
Content signals: search=yes,ai-train=no,use=reference.

Show evidence (17)Hide evidence

Exhibit 1 · robots.txt, line 35

User-agent: Amazonbot · Disallow: /

Exhibit 2 · robots.txt, line 38

User-agent: Applebot-Extended · Disallow: /

Exhibit 3 · robots.txt, line 41

User-agent: Bytespider · Disallow: /

Exhibit 4 · robots.txt, line 44

User-agent: CCBot · Disallow: /

Exhibit 5 · robots.txt, line 47

User-agent: ClaudeBot · Disallow: /

Exhibit 6 · robots.txt, line 50

User-agent: Diffbot · Disallow: /

Exhibit 7 · robots.txt, line 53

User-agent: Google-Extended · Disallow: /

Exhibit 8 · robots.txt, line 56

User-agent: GPTBot · Disallow: /

Exhibit 9 · robots.txt, line 59

User-agent: omgili · Disallow: /

Exhibit 10 · robots.txt, line 62

User-agent: anthropic-ai · Disallow: /

Exhibit 11 · robots.txt, line 65

User-agent: Claude-Web · Disallow: /

Exhibit 12 · robots.txt, line 68

User-agent: cohere-ai · Disallow: /

Exhibit 13 · robots.txt, line 74

User-agent: meta-externalagent · Disallow: /

Exhibit 14 · robots.txt, line 96

User-agent: Cotoyogi · Disallow: /

Exhibit 15 · robots.txt, line 99

User-agent: ICC-Crawler · Disallow: /

Exhibit 16 · robots.txt, line 90

User-agent: Google-CloudVertexBot · Disallow: /

Exhibit 17 · robots.txt, line 31

Content-Signal: search=yes,ai-train=no,use=reference

Is this wrong? Report it

What its robots.txt and robots tags ask of AI crawlers. Each crawler chooses whether to follow it.

Site name: iNaturalist
Language: English (en)
What it tells search engines: None

Read from what the page says about itself; we haven’t checked whether it’s true.

Built with AI?

AI Website Detector

No AI builder traces found.

Coding tools such as Cursor leave no traces, so this doesn’t mean a person made it.

AI traces: None found

How we know

AI site builders leave traces in the sites they make. We look for the traces of 53 of them and show every match with the line it came from, so you can check it yourself.

We test this on 2,312 sites whose makers we know, and publish what we get wrong.

How we test it · Every builder we know · How to tell if a site was built with AI

Score breakdown

Site Score

83 of 100: strong trust signals.

How established and checkable it is; AI traces carry no weight.

TransparencyContact, policies and about page18 / 30

Track recordHow long the domain has existed25 / 25

PopularityIts place in public rankings20 / 20

Security and setupHTTPS and standard protections13 / 15

ConsistencyName, description and what it tells search engines7 / 10

Why each part scored what it did

TransparencyContact, policies and about page18 / 30no contact page link · email and phone not both given · privacy policy linked · terms linked · no payments seen, so no refund policy needed · about page linked

Track recordHow long the domain has existed25 / 25domain registered 21 years ago

PopularityIts place in public rankings20 / 20Top 10K in a popularity list

Security and setupHTTPS and standard protections13 / 15loads over HTTPS · sends visitors to HTTPS · doesn’t insist on HTTPS · protective settings

ConsistencyName, description and what it tells search engines7 / 10site name matches the domain · describes itself · doesn’t tell search engines what it is

A high score isn’t a promise that a business is honest. How the score works.

Domain history

Domain History

Registered in 2004; first archived in 2007.

16 Nov 2004Domain registeredRDAP
21 Dec 2007First captured by the web archiveInternet Archive
19 Mar 2013First certificate issuedCertificate Transparency
15 Oct 2026This scanCheckAnySite

In the web archive: captured in 20 of 20 years · see the first capture

2007: captured
2008: captured
2009: captured
2010: captured
2011: captured
2012: captured
2013: captured
2014: captured
2015: captured
2016: captured
2017: captured
2018: captured
2019: captured
2020: captured
2021: captured
2022: captured
2023: captured
2024: captured
2025: captured
2026: captured

Changes, earlier scans and alerts

Since our previous scan: This is our first scan of the site.

How we scanned it

Only from what anyone can see: the site’s public pages and public records.

Politely. Our scanner, CheckAnySiteBot, says who it is and follows the site’s robots.txt.
With sources. Every fact above says where it came from and when.
Without guessing. When we couldn’t check something, we say so.

This scan, in numbers

928 checks on 15 Oct 2026, with version 0.5.0 of our checks and version 1.1 of the score.

How we work · What each version changed · About our scanner

Questions about inaturalist.org

What is inaturalist.org?

iNaturalist describes itself: “iNaturalist is a social network for naturalists! Record your observations of plants and animals, share them with friends and researchers, and learn about the natural world.” It looks like a software product or app. See the evidence

How old is inaturalist.org?

Its domain was registered on 16 Nov 2004, 21 years ago. See the evidence

What is inaturalist.org built with?

It is built with Ruby on Rails and jQuery; we found 9 technologies in all. See the evidence

How popular is inaturalist.org?

It is among the top 10,000 sites, by Tranco, Chrome UX Report and Majestic Million. See the evidence

Was inaturalist.org made with AI?

We found no traces of an AI site builder. That doesn’t prove a person built it: AI coding assistants leave no traces. See the evidence

Who is behind inaturalist.org?

Wikidata names iNaturalist. See the evidence

More sites like this: software or app

Automated findings from the site’s public home page and public records, as of 15 Oct 2026. They describe what we found, not the people or business behind the site, and they may be incomplete or out of date. This is information, not advice. Terms · Report an error

What this scan can’t tell you

Whether the business is real, honest or delivers what it sells.
Whether a site was made with AI when no traces were left: coding assistants and hand edits leave none.
How many people visit: we show popularity bands from public lists, not visits.
Anything beyond the home page as it was at the time of the scan.

Is this your site? Ask for a correction.