Have you ever stumbled upon a jaw-dropping website and are dying to know if it’s built on WordPress?
This guide is for you.
WordPress is the world’s most used Content Management System, powering over 65.2% of all CMS-built websites on the internet.
To check if a website is built on WordPress is simple in its early days.
Just scroll to the footer, and the signature, “Powered by WordPress,” says it all.
Today, with the height of customization attainable on WordPress, you need more than a glance to know a WordPress Website.
- Frequently Asked Questions
- What You’ll Need to Check if a Website is Built on WordPress
- How to Check if A Website Is Built on WordPress: 5 Easy Methods
- Method 1: Add /wp-admin/ to the website domain
- Method 2: Search the Website’s Source Code
- Method 3: Add license.txt to the Website URL
- Method 4: Use Builtwith Online Checker
- Method 5: Using a Browser Extension
- More Helpful WordPress Tutorials
- Wrapping up
Frequently Asked Questions
Before we dive into the tutorial, let’s take a quick look at some frequently asked questions.
How Can You Check if a Website is Made with WordPress?
There are many ways to check if a website is built on WordPress.
You can check the website source code, use a chrome extension, search for the WordPress generator tag or run a WordPress license query.
We’ll go through each of these methods in this guide.
Do All Websites use WordPress?
Although WordPress is a Popular CMS, not all websites use WordPress.
Only 43.2% of all the websites on the internet use WordPress.
WordPress usage increases at an average rate of 12% per year since 2011, thanks to its zero barrier entry.
Anyone can start a WordPress website for free.
What You’ll Need to Check if a Website is Built on WordPress
- A Web Browser: You can use any web browser to implement the steps in this tutorial. We recommend Chrome for a better browsing experience.
- Browser Sniffer Extension: Whichever browser you use, most web sniffer extensions work the same way. We use Library Sniffer Chrome extension in this guide. You can use others.
- Internet Connection: You’ll need a stable internet connection.
How to Check if A Website Is Built on WordPress: 5 Easy Methods
- Method 1: Add /wp-admin/ to the Website Domain
- Method 2: Seach the Site’s Source Code
- Method 3: Add license.txt to the Website URL
- Method 4: Use Builtwith Online Checker
- Method 5: Use a Browser Extension
Method 1: Add /wp-admin/ to the website domain
Every WordPress website has a login page where users can access their dashboard.
You can check if a website is built on WordPress by accessing this login page.
Here’s how:
Open the website you want to check and add /wp-admin/ at the end of the root URL.
For example, if the website is https://www.mysite.com, add /wp-admin/ to the end as in https://www.mysite.com/wp-admin/, then click Enter.
If the link opens to the default WordPress login page as below, the website is built on WordPress.
Some WordPress website owners do hide their login page.
So if you perform this operation on their URL, you will be redirected to the error 404 page or the website homepage.
In this case, use any of the other methods below.
Method 2: Search the Website’s Source Code
Another easy method to check if a website is built on WordPress is to look for wp-content in the website source code.
The wp-content folder stores WordPress website data like images, themes, and other content.
If you can find it in a website source code, the website is built on WordPress.
Use these steps:
Visit the website on your chrome web browser.
Right-click on the blank section of the page and select View page source from the menu.
The page source code will open in a new tab.
Press Ctrl + F on your keyboard and enter wp-content into the search box.
Hit the enter key to search.
If your search returns a wp-content result, the website you are looking at is a WordPres website.
At times, website owners may block access to their website source code.
You can work around this by using the next step.
Alternatively, you can search for WordPress in the source code.
Searching WordPress will return the WordPress generator tag if the website is built on WordPress.
The result will also show the version of WordPress, as in the screenshot below.
Method 3: Add license.txt to the Website URL
If a website is built on WordPress, you can access its WordPress License File by adding license.txt to the URL.
The steps are simple:
Visit the website you want to check and add license.txt to the root domain as in https://www.mysite.com/license.txt
The WordPress license.txt file of that website will open in a new tab.
If you don’t see this page, the website is not built on WordPress.
Method 4: Use Builtwith Online Checker
As the name suggests, Builtwith is an online tool that allows anyone to quickly identify what CMS a website is built on.
You can use it to know if a website is built on WordPress by just inputting the website URL.
Visit the Builtwith website on your browser, enter the domain of the website you want to check, and click the Lookup button.
The result will reveal if the website is built on WordPress or not.
It will also reveal the WordPress version.
A similar online tool you can use to check if a website is built on WordPress is isitwp.
Method 5: Using a Browser Extension
All the above methods can be time-consuming when you have a bunch of websites to check out.
Using a browser extension is by far the easiest means of checking if a website is built on WordPress.
Once you install the extension on your browser, you can easily identify what a website is built on by clicking on the extension.
There are many browser extensions that are pretty useful in this regard.
Library sniffer is reputable and used by thousands of people. Let’s see it in action.
You first need to install the chrome extension.
Once you install and activate the chrome extension in your browser, visit the site you want to check.
The extension icon will change to the WordPress icon if the website uses it.
You can get more information about the website and the version of WordPress by clicking the icon.
More Helpful WordPress Tutorials
- How to Use WordPress: Want to get up and running with your new WordPress Website in no time? Read this guide to learn all the basics of WordPress in one sitting.
- How to Set Up a Blog on WordPress: Setting up a WordPress blog is no rocket science. If you can follow the instructions in this guide, you’ll have your blog up in less than 30 minutes.
- How to Launch a WordPress Site: Here’s the ultimate guide to launching your first WordPress website. Check out everything you need to put in place for a successful launch.
Wrapping up
There you have it.
5 simple ways to instantly check if a website is built on WordPress.
So when next you come across a stunning website, and you are doubting its WordPressness.
You know what to do.
Better still, install the Library Sniffer Chrome extension, and you’ll only need one click plus a glance to identify a WordPress website.
Are there other ways to identify a WordPress website?
Let us know in the comment section below.
