Best CMS Detectors To Identify the Platform, Theme & Plugins

It will always be the first question that comes in your mind that what CMS is this website using? while playing a role as a digital marketer, developers or an SEO specialist. When starting a new project or developing a website every person research for a platform that works best for their long term projects and this is the time when CMS detectors play an important role.

It doesn’t matter what’s the reason behind finding which website builder or CMS a website is developed on, there are several ways to perform this task, using the best CMS detector tools, that help to look into the source code from the browser. Let’s explore what a CMS is and what are the best CMS detector tools to find out which CMS a website is using.

What Is a CMS

A CMS, or Content Management System, is a software that is used to build, manage and modify a website and its content. It’s the best option for a less technical approach to website building, which doesn’t require you to write the code for the website.

A CMS is a content management system that consists of two parts:

1. Content management application (CMA)
2. Content delivery application (CDA)

Here I will further give you a brief about content management application and content delivery application.

Content Management Application

The content management application (CMA) is the part that manages and adds content on the website. It is the frontend interface where other users can manage the content easily.

Content Delivery Application

The content delivery application is the backend interface where the content is stored and uploaded to the website.

Some of the most popular CMS are:

1. WordPress
2. Joomla
3. Magento
4. Drupal
5. Shopify
6. Squarespace
7. Wix

Detecting a CMS is the most important part of any website process; once you will find what CMS a website is using, you can easily perform vulnerability scanning.

What CMS is This Website Using

Detecting a CMS can be performed in many ways, which are slightly easier and also faster than others. It’s simple nowadays to detect some of the best CMS including WordPress, Joomla, and Shopify but there are several other platforms that can be difficult to detect while using the basic checking in the source code.

Before we go into in-depth research about some specific CMS detector tools, let’s take a look at some tricks to find out which CMS a website is using.

Quick Hacks to Find a CMS

There are some signs on a website that a website owner can’t remove, which will definitely tell you about the CMS that their website is using.

Some of the websites have a “Powered by” logo that is next to the name of the CMS in the footer.
There could be a favicon of the CMS in the browser tab. Mostly Joomla sites are having this favicon.

Since there are website owners that customize their websites and remove the above signs that I have discussed, you can also check their source code from the browser:

1. You can use the option “Find on page” and type the name of the CMS.
2. You can also see in the Head tag by searching <meta name=”generator” …> tag
3. If the generator tag is removed then there is another option by typing some directories or tags that is specific for each CMS. However, you can check for a WordPress website using “wp-content” or just by typing WordPress, for drupal use “/sites/” or “/core/” and for Joomla searching “com_content” in the internal links.

Sometimes it is a time-consuming task and isn’t reliable because the developers remove those tags or customize the CMS that they use to build their websites. Also, there are some scenarios where the developers not using any CMS that takes a lot of time to search. This is where these best online CMS detector tools play an important role.

Let’s move forward to the best CMS detectors to find out what CMS a website is using.

1. What CMS

What CMS is one of the most reliable CMS detector tools that gives you details about what CMS a website using and also additional information including programming language, application, database, and server. What CMS can easily recognize 492 CMS and also they are still updating their database to include more tools. Also, if there is any CMS that not recognized by What CMS then they quickly do an update in their database.

2. IsItWP

This is a tool that works closely with the WordPress platform. It also offers additional information about WordPress based websites including plugins, themes, hosting and other necessary information. IsItWP is the best online resource that also offers tools, WordPress tutorials, product reviews, and other resources to help you build a better WordPress website.

3. BuiltWith

BuiltWith is a tool that also shows what technologies a website is using. You just need to put URL of the website and it will show you several results including the technical details, CMS, CND, widgets, frameworks, hosting, SSL certificates and many more. However, it includes a feature that also tells you about the comparison of technology with the latest industry trends.

4. Allora.io

Allora is the next generation well-known tool with a database of over 2200+ CMS/frameworks. It also offers suggestions and recommendations that are based on popular themes and plugins. Allora also enables you to check out the latest plugins and themes to be used in your chosen niche.

Allora.io has been now integrated into Rescan, but its features are the same. It’s the best online CMS detector that provides you information about the CMS, framework, OS, servers, hosting provider, geo location, programming language and much more. It also lists a free email analysis.

5. Wappalyzer

Wappalyzer isn’t considered as an online tool as it’s an extension for Chrome and Firefox browsers. It is one of the fastest but not as reliable as others mentioned in this list. Once you have installed the Wappalyzer extension then it will show in the bookmark tab. You can use it going to a website that you want to inspect and click the Wappalyzer button then it will show you all the information regarding CMS, OS, web analytics, databases and much more.

6. W3Techs

W3Techs is a reliable online CMS detector that provides you a comprehensive list of information about the targeted website. You just have to enter the website URL and you will be shown a list of information including CMS, SSL, hosting, TLD and much more. It also gives you a choice to install as a bookmarklet so you don’t have to visit their website every time you need information about website you are inspecting.

7. CMS Detector

CMS Detector is a well-known online detector that provides you information about the CMS. It’s the best way to analyze any website if you don’t want any additional information. Once you open up a site, simply add the website URL and press Enter and you get results. It is not a reliable tool as others because it not provides additional information about technology. It’s a speedy tool that helps you search for the CMS.

8. OnlineWebTool

This OnlineWebTool doesn’t consist of a large database as other tools consist. It can only detect around 100 popular CMS. It is a standard CMS detector tool that includes free website analysis, website ranking check and some basic DNS record. If we summarize then the scope of information is limited.

9. Netcraft Site Report

Netcraft Site Report provides you a wide range of information including the CMS, hosting providers, network, SPF, etc. The information in the list is reliable but it’s a tool that not used mostly.

10. WP Theme Detector

WP Theme Detector provides you complete details about the WordPress plugins and themes that are installed on the website. It also offers you a list of the best WordPress themes and plugins as recommendations with the details of developers.

11. Scan WP

Scan WP gives you detailed information about your targeted website. The list of information includes the details about plugins with their percentage scores of particular plugins a website running. Scan WP also shows you a keyword and latest traffic results.

12. What WP Theme Is That

This website detects the WordPress theme as well as gives you detailed information about the plugins that were installed on the website.

13. Web Tech Detector

This is the best tool that gives you information about the installed WordPress version, plugins and themes. It also provides you a detailed stats about the detected plugins and themes

14. Whattheme.com

Whattheme is the most advanced WordPress theme detector tool. It gives you detailed information about theme URL, author of the theme, author URL, version of the theme, license URL, theme description and much more. It is also compatible with other platforms including Shopify, WordPress, Drupal and more.

15. WPSniffer

WPSniffer helps you to see the active theme installed on the website. It is a simple and best tool for developers as well as designers that constantly work on WordPress.