Tesco's own stock checker is in its app. The Tesco Grocery & Clubcard app has a tool called Stock Check, which shows whether a product is in stock at your local store. It needs no proxy and no outside tool. When our server in the United States asked tesco.com for pages, every answer was "Access Denied". Tesco's terms forbid bots and scrapers on its site without its written consent.
How to check stock at a Tesco store
Tesco's help page on the availability of products answers this in one line. It says: "Our Tesco Grocery & Clubcard app now allows you to check the stock in any of your local stores, so you can check before you come in." The page was published on 28 February 2024 and updated on 11 November 2025.
The app's own listings on the App Store and Google Play describe the same tool. They say: "Check your local store has what you need before you visit with Stock Check." They add that shopping lists in the app can include live stock information from your local store.
That help page names no other route. We did not look for a stock check on the website.
What tesco.com did when our server asked
We asked tesco.com for three pages from our server in St. Louis on 3 October 2026. They were the home page, the help page above and the robots.txt file. Each answer was HTTP 403, with the title "Access Denied" and an error reference on errors.edgesuite.net.
| page we asked for | answer |
|---|---|
| the home page | 403, Access Denied. |
| Help: Availability of products | 403, Access Denied. |
| robots.txt | 403, Access Denied. |
Our server sits in a data center in the United States. We did not test from an address in the UK or from a home connection. The test therefore cannot say whether Tesco refused the country, the data center, or something else in the request. Tesco's terms add that it "makes no promise that materials on the Site are appropriate or available for use in locations outside the United Kingdom".
The Internet Archive keeps copies of Tesco's public pages. We read Tesco's help page, terms and robots.txt there. The robots.txt copy of 1 May 2026 lists product sitemaps for crawlers. It closes login and account pages to them, and pages with filter, paging and tracking parameters.
What Tesco's terms say
Tesco's terms "govern your use of the Tesco.com website and the Tesco Groceries and Clubcard apps". Four of their rules matter here.
| rule | what the terms say |
|---|---|
| use of the site | The site is free of charge and for your personal use. |
| automated access | You must not use bots, crawlers, scrapers or AI tools to collect data from the site without Tesco's prior written consent. |
| your password | You must keep it confidential and must not share it with anyone. |
| misuse | If Tesco suspects misuse of the site, it may make you change your password. It may also suspend or cancel your registration if you breach the terms. |
The password rule matters for tools that log in to a Clubcard account to read member prices. Handing your login to such a tool shares the password.
Some stock searches are not for a shopper's own trip. Google's suggestions for "tesco stock checker" include "tesco stock checker robot" and "tesco stock checker pokemon". The rule on automated access answers those searches, and this page gives no bot setup. Tesco's Stock Check already covers a shopper who wants one item from one store.
Where a proxy fits
For checking stock, a proxy does not fit: the app shows the stock of your local store. Tesco refused our server in the United States, and we did not test whether an address in the UK changes that. We therefore make no claim that a proxy opens tesco.com.
For other work where a proxy is allowed, our UK page lists the UK cities you can target, and what a residential proxy is explains the type. Our free proxy list and proxy checker cost nothing. Residential traffic without city targeting starts at $0.44/GB, and every plan is on our pricing page.
The limits of this page
We did not open the Tesco app, so the description of Stock Check comes from Tesco's help page and its app listings. We sent three plain requests to tesco.com, from one server, without a browser. We read Tesco's help page in an archive copy of 30 January 2026, its terms in a copy of 23 September 2026 and its robots.txt in a copy of 1 May 2026. The first read of the terms stopped in section 6, and a second read later that day covered all of them. Tesco can change the app, its pages and its terms at any time. This page is due for a check by 3 January 2027.
Sources
- Tesco Help, Availability of products, published 28 February 2024, updated 11 November 2025, read in an Internet Archive copy of 30 January 2026.
- Tesco, Terms and Conditions, read in an Internet Archive copy of 23 September 2026.
- Tesco, robots.txt of tesco.com, read in an Internet Archive copy of 1 May 2026.
- Apple App Store, Tesco Grocery & Clubcard, read on 3 October 2026.
- Google Play, Tesco Grocery & Clubcard, read on 3 October 2026.
- Our three requests to tesco.com from our server in St. Louis, 3 October 2026.
- Google autocomplete, UK suggestions for "tesco stock checker", read on 3 October 2026.
