Once upon a time and not so long ago, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the difference between the two.
Then WordPress came along and changed everything. Now, it’s becoming more difficult to tell the difference between what software is being used to build the two. Not so much in terms of what the sites are being used for, but in terms of web design and also being able to tell what type of web application is actually powering the site.
(Can You Tell Which Application Websites Are Built With?)
For many website owners, understanding the difference between a CMS tool like WordPress and other website-building tools is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, regarding the things that many website owners care most about, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the website up-to-date, managing web content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of these options would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that turns out to be quite expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking site, but at a cost that is significantly less than the cost of getting site ”A” built.
If you picked website “B”, then you need to learn more about WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with a stunning website that could cost far less to build than websites built using web-building software … and how to tell these apart!
WordPress is the world’s preferred online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a flexible and powerful CMS application suitable for all businesses and non-technical users.
Whether your reason for having a web site is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a newbie with no technical skills to use, and offers an array of helpful features that make your website more effective in terms of getting your content published, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s capabilities, etc.
With almost one in every five websites around the world currently being powered by WordPress, chances are that if you already own a website, yours is also a WordPress site.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are considering getting a website built, then wouldn’t it be great to be able to show your web developer an existing site with the design and layout that you like, know that it was built with WordPress and that you can, therefore, get something similarly built for your business to a smaller budget if required?
Does My Website Run On WordPress?
Do you need to know if your website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve read or heard wonderful things about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using WordPress, or some other CMS.
Also, have you ever looked at a competitor’s website and wondered what they’re doing to try and get better results online?
Knowing if your competitor’s site is built with WordPress can tell you a few things about their strategies and methods, such as what themes or plugins they are using.
Here are a number of methods you can use to quickly tell if a website is powered by WordPress:
Search Your Source Code
If you know how to check the source code of a web page (e.g. Firefox Menu > Web Developer > Page Source if using Firefox, or Google Menu > More Tools > View Source if using Google Chrome), you can look for a telltale footprint …
(Viewing web page source code using Firefox)
Suppose that you are surfing the web and you visit a web site that you like, and you’re wondering if the site was built with WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
In the page’s source code, search for the words “wp-content” either by scanning the code …
Or use your browser’s “Find” function …
(Using the Firefox web browser ‘Find’ function)
This will quickly tell you if the site is powered by WordPress or not.
Note: If you cannot locate the words “wp-content” in the page source code, it doesn’t mean that the website is not a WordPress site.
There are other ways to find out if the site was built using WordPress, as we will soon see.
As the focus of this article is to help non-technical users, however, we have listed below a number of easy methods you can use to check if your web site is built with WordPress other than searching through the source code.
Simply Ask Your Web Developer
While this may seem like the most obvious thing to do, many website development companies, for whatever reason, will build clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you used the services of a website developer or got somebody else to build your website, just ask your web developer or whoever built your site if your site was built with WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t get in touch with your website developer, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while browsing the net and you really need to know if it was built using WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WP theme where the site template has not been edited, you will typically find a “Proudly powered by WordPress” message showing below the footer area …
(Powered by WordPress – site footer)
If the simple methods above haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of telling whether a site was built using WordPress or not …
Tools That Can Tell You If A Website Was Built Using WordPress
Here are a some sites that can tell you if your website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress?
(Is It WordPress?)
Is It WordPress? is a free online tool that can tell you very quickly if a site was built with WordPress or not.
Using this tool is super easy. Just paste the address of the site into the search field and click the button next to it.
The tool will go through the URL pages and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the site is not a WordPress web site or blog, you will see a message similar to the one below …
To use this tool, go here:
Advanced WP Theme Checker by Satori
(WordPress Theme Detector)
WordPress Theme Detector by Satori Studio is a free tool that can help determine whether or not a website uses WordPress as its CMS engine; it will also tell you which theme the site is using and provide a link to the theme’s official page.
To use this tool, paste the URL of a web page (it doesn’t have to be the home page) into the ‘Enter website URL’ field and click on the ‘What WordPress theme is that?’ button …
(Enter website URL and click the button)
The Detector will automatically scan the website and output its theme information …
(WordPress Theme Detector displays theme results)
If a website is built with WordPress but the theme is too customized to contain any traces of its origins, the Detector will still let you know it’s a WP site by outputting a message on the right.
(Modified WordPress theme message)
If the website is not using WordPress at all, the tool will also let you know …
(This website is not WordPress)
You can try the Detector yourself by visiting this link:
Wappalyzer – Browser Add-On (Firefox / Chrome)
(Wappalyzer – Extension For Firefox & Chrome Browser)
If you browse the net using either the Firefox or Chrome browsers and want to be able to tell if the sites that you are visiting use WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a great add-on for your browser.
Wappalyzer tells you what software is installed in the sites while you are browsing.
According to their website …
“Wappalyzer is a browser extension that uncovers the technologies used on websites. It detects content management systems, eCommerce platforms, web servers, JavaScript frameworks, analytics tools and many more.”
It’s also easy to install and very easy to use.
After installing Wappalyzer, icons will show up in your web browser menu allowing you to see which software is being used by all the sites you are visiting …
If the WordPress icon shows up on the browser menu (as shown in the screenshot above), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(A WordPress site!)
To install Wappalyzer go here:
SpyBar
(SpyBar – Browser Addon For WordPress)
SpyBar is a browser addon that lets you ‘reverse engineer’ any WordPress site you visit and see which WordPress plugins and themes are being used, right inside your web browser …
(SpyBar – Discover WordPress Plugins And Themes Used By Your Competitors)
SpyBar can be installed as a browser extension on Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and is compatible with PC and Mac.
To download or learn more about SpyBar, visit the site below:
Plugin Sniper
(Plugin Sniper – Find out what plugins a WordPress site is using)
Plugin Sniper lets you find out what plugins a WordPress site is using. This is a useful tool if you want to know what WordPress plugins are being used by your competitors.
Plugin Sniper is also a useful tool for researching what kinds of plugins businesses in certain niches are using …
(Search WordPress sites by categories and location)
To download or learn more about Plugin Sniper, go here:
We hope that you have found this information useful.
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)