We scanned 234 online stores with AgentScore. Here's what trips up AI agents
AI shopping agents are starting to research and buy on people's behalf. So we asked a simple question: if an AI agent visited a typical online store today, how far would it get? We ran AgentScore on 234 online stores to find out. The short answer: most stores let agents in, but many trip them up once they're inside.
Median AgentScore, out of 100
of stores have buttons or links with no name an agent can read
of stores don't put prices in the product page's HTML, where most agents look
How we did it
We drew 600 websites at random from the online shops listed in Wikidata, the public knowledge base, so the sample leans toward established retailers notable enough to have an entry, from many countries. On October 9, 2026 we ran the same automated AgentScore scan (scoring version 2026.10-v5) on each, and 544 could be scanned; the rest were unreachable, timed out or returned errors. 234 of those sites were identified as stores, with products or a cart, and those are the ones in this report. Another 12 stores showed a bot challenge even to an ordinary browser request from our cloud servers, so we couldn't see them at all and left them out.
For each store, AgentScore checks three things:
- Access: whether robots.txt rules, bot protection or CAPTCHAs stop AI assistants such as ChatGPT-User, Claude-User and Perplexity-User from reaching the home page, product pages and checkout.
- Readability: whether content, product details and prices are in the page's HTML, or only appear after JavaScript runs.
- Navigability: whether buttons, links and form fields have names agents can read, whether pop-ups block the page, and whether the add-to-cart button is a real, uncovered button.
This version doesn't send an AI agent through a live shopping task, so the scores cover whether agents can get in, read and find their way, not whether they complete a purchase. The scan is read-only: it never submits forms, adds to cart or places orders. All scans ran from a single cloud location, so pop-ups and content that vary by country may differ for visitors elsewhere. We report results only in aggregate and don't name individual stores.
The scores
The median store scored 85 out of 100. 65% scored 80 or more, and 1% scored below 50.
| AgentScore | Share of stores |
|---|---|
| 0–49 | 1% |
| 50–64 | 5% |
| 65–79 | 29% |
| 80–100 | 65% |
By category, the median store earned 92% of the available points for access, 94% for readability and 75% for navigability. Getting in and reading pages is mostly solved. Finding the way around is where agents struggle.
Finding 1: Most stores let AI assistants in
The good news: robots.txt rules blocked AI assistants or AI search on only 3% of stores. Counting every way we test, 14% of stores blocked or challenged AI assistants somewhere:
- 9% blocked or challenged a request that identified itself as an AI assistant, such as ChatGPT-User or Claude-User, on the home page, while the same request as a normal browser got straight through.
- 8% kept AI assistants or AI search out of product, pricing or cart pages, through bot protection or robots.txt.
- 5% had a CAPTCHA on the home page, which agents can't solve.
One caution on the bot protection figures: our requests used the AI assistants' names but came from our own servers, not from the operators' verified addresses. A site that checks where AI agents really come from would rightly turn some of these away, so these are upper bounds on how often real assistants are blocked. The robots.txt figure reads the rules each site publishes, so it isn't affected.
For the stores that do block assistants, the fix is usually a settings change, not a rebuild. See bot protection and CAPTCHAs and robots.txt for AI agents.
Finding 2: Product details are where readability slips
Most AI crawlers and assistant fetchers read the HTML a server sends and never run JavaScript. Here most stores do well: only 6% had less than 70% of their home page text in the HTML.
Product pages are a different story:
- 63% of stores give price, currency and availability as structured data in the product page's HTML, the way agents read most reliably.
- 24% have no usable product structured data at all, so agents have to guess price and stock from the layout.
- 6% have product data that's incomplete or only in older microdata, and 7% only add it with JavaScript.
- 30% don't have prices in the product page's HTML at all.
An agent that can't see a price can't compare you, and an agent that can't tell whether something is in stock will usually recommend a store where it can. See product data AI shopping agents can read.
Finding 3: Navigation is the weakest link
Navigability was the lowest-scoring category, and the most common problems in the whole study are here:
- 48% of stores have buttons or links with no name an agent can read, most often icon-only cart, search and menu buttons.
- 47% have elements that look clickable but aren't real buttons or links.
- 39% show a pop-up or banner that covers much of the page on arrival. On 28% of stores, it had no clearly labelled button to close it.
- Of 118 stores where we found the add-to-cart button, 24% had one that isn't a real button, or is covered by something else, so an agent's click may not land.
These are the same problems that trip up people using screen readers, and fixing them helps both. See buttons, links and forms agents can use.
Finding 4: Checkouts mostly let agents through
AgentScore also loads each store's cart and checkout pages, without adding anything to the cart. Of 200 stores whose cart or checkout we could load, 8% blocked or challenged requests identifying as AI assistants there while browsers got through, and another 14% showed a CAPTCHA to every visitor. The same caution about verified addresses applies.
Most checkouts only show their first step once something is in the cart, so we could inspect too few of them to report on guest checkout or checkout forms. See how to make checkout work for AI shopping agents for what to look for in your own.
Finding 5: More stores speak to agents than we expected
Some stores now offer agents a direct way in. 53% publish an llms.txt file, 32% offer an MCP server or WebMCP tools, and 29% publish an agentic checkout profile. These standards are young, so we expected far lower numbers. They suggest agent-ready commerce is arriving faster than most store owners realize.
The most common problems
Across every check that covered at least 50 stores, these fell short most often (a fail or a warning):
| AgentScore check | Stores falling short |
|---|---|
| Buttons and links have names | 48% |
| Clickable things are real buttons and links | 47% |
| llms.txt guide for AI | 47% |
| Pop-ups and banners can be dismissed by agents | 39% |
| Product pages give price and stock in a form agents can read | 37% |
| Form fields are labelled | 34% |
| Prices are in the page HTML | 30% |
| Page has main and navigation landmarks | 28% |
| Clear page title, description, and headings | 24% |
| AI agents aren't blocked or shown a CAPTCHA at the cart and checkout | 22% |
What the best stores do differently
We compared the top quarter of stores by AgentScore with the bottom quarter. These checks showed the biggest gap in pass rates:
| Check | Top quarter pass | Bottom quarter pass |
|---|---|---|
| Product pages give price and stock in a form agents can read | 100% | 27% |
| Agents can check out through an agentic commerce protocol | 72% | 0% |
| llms.txt guide for AI | 86% | 16% |
| Agents can use your site through MCP or WebMCP | 71% | 2% |
| AI agents aren't blocked or shown a CAPTCHA at the cart and checkout | 98% | 41% |
| Prices are in the page HTML | 94% | 40% |
The leaders describe their products in a form agents can read, put prices in the HTML, publish an llms.txt file and offer agents a direct way in. Several of these are a one-time template or settings change, which makes them the cheapest points available to most stores.
What to fix first
- Name your buttons, and make them real. Especially icon-only cart, search and menu buttons, and the add-to-cart button.
- Put product data and prices in the HTML. Name, price, currency and availability as structured data, rendered on the server.
- Get pop-ups out of the way on arrival, and give them a clearly labelled close button.
- Check your door. If you're among the stores that block AI assistants, let verified assistants reach your home, product and checkout pages.
See where your store stands
Run AgentScore on your own site. It's free, takes about two minutes, and shows exactly which of these problems apply to you, with a fix for each. To understand the bigger picture, start with What is agent readiness?
Method notes: scores use AgentScore scoring version 2026.10-v5. Percentages use the stores where each check could run; checks that didn't apply to a store, or couldn't be tested, are left out of that check's total. Scans ran on October 9, 2026, and sites change, so a store's score today may differ. Checks that read what buttons and links say, such as "Add to cart" or "Close", understand 19 languages, so stores in every language count toward every figure.