What CMS Is This Website Using? How to Check

Article Summary: To check what CMS a website uses, look for the platform's fingerprints in its page source and files. WordPress loads /wp-content/, Shopify serves files from /cdn/shop/, Wix uses wixstatic.com, Squarespace uses static1.squarespace.com, and Drupal adds data-drupal attributes. A CMS detector checks all of them at once.

Most platforms leave at least one unique file path, script domain or HTML attribute in every page.
The generator meta tag names the CMS directly on many WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and Ghost sites.
Response headers such as x-shopid or x-wix-request-id reveal the platform even when markup is minimal.
Headless sites mix a CMS with a separate front end, so the visible framework may differ from the CMS.

Before you can find a site's theme, you need to know what it is built on. A content management system, or CMS, leaves its marks all over a page, and once you know them you can identify most sites in under a minute.

The quickest check: the generator tag

Open the page source with Ctrl+U on Windows or Option+Command+U on a Mac, and search for generator. Many platforms add a tag like <meta name="generator" content="WordPress 6.6">. WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Ghost, Wix, Webflow and Framer often include one. Some site owners remove it, so a missing tag proves nothing.

The fingerprints of every major platform

When there is no generator tag, look for these signs:

Platform	Look for
WordPress	`/wp-content/` and `/wp-includes/` paths, a `wp-json` link
WooCommerce	WordPress signs plus `woocommerce` classes
Shopify	`/cdn/shop/` or `cdn.shopify.com` files, `Shopify.theme`
Magento	`/static/frontend/` paths, `x-magento-init` scripts
BigCommerce	Files from `cdn11.bigcommerce.com`, Stencil scripts
PrestaShop	A `prestashop` script variable, `/modules/ps_` paths
Squarespace	Files from `static1.squarespace.com` or `squarespace-cdn.com`, `Static.SQUARESPACE_CONTEXT`
Wix	Files from `wixstatic.com` and `parastorage.com`
Webflow	`data-wf-site` attributes, `website-files.com` assets
Framer	Files from `framerusercontent.com`
Drupal	`data-drupal-selector` attributes, `drupal-settings-json`
Joomla	`/media/system/js/` paths, `joomla-script-options`
Ghost	Ghost generator tag, Ghost Portal scripts
HubSpot CMS	`/hs/hsstatic/` and `/hubfs/` paths

Any Theme Detector checks all of these, plus server headers and more than 280 apps and frameworks, and reports a confidence level based on how many signals agree.

Check the server's response headers

Some platforms identify themselves in the headers sent with every page. Open developer tools with F12, choose the Network tab, reload, and click the first request. Headers such as x-shopid, x-wix-request-id, x-drupal-cache or server: Squarespace are hard for a site to remove, so they are useful when the page itself is sparse.

Headless sites: two answers at once

More and more large sites are headless. The content lives in a CMS such as Shopify, WordPress or Contentful, while the pages are built with a framework like Next.js. In that case you may see Next.js clearly and the CMS only faintly, through image addresses or API calls. A detector that reports both the platform and the framework gives you the full picture.

From CMS to theme

Once you know the platform, finding the theme is the next step. Our guide on what theme a website is using covers where each platform stores its theme name.

Frequently asked questions

What is the easiest way to see what CMS a website uses?

Paste the site into a CMS detector. To check by hand, search the page source for "generator", then for platform paths such as /wp-content/ or /cdn/shop/.

Can a website hide its CMS?

It can remove the generator tag and some paths, but file locations, scripts and server headers usually still give it away. Fully custom and headless sites are the hardest to identify.

What CMS do most websites use?

WordPress powers more websites than any other CMS by a wide margin, and Shopify leads among online stores.

Is Shopify a CMS?

Shopify is an ecommerce platform with built in content management, so it is often grouped with CMS platforms. Its themes work much like WordPress themes.