What CMS Is This Website Running? 5 Ways to Check in 2026

Q: What CMS is this website running?

The fastest way to find out what CMS a website is running is to use a free scanner tool like Web Reveal. Enter the URL and you'll see the CMS — WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, Wix, or others — within seconds. Manually, you can check the page source for a generator meta tag, look for CMS-specific URL patterns such as /wp-content/ for WordPress or /cdn.shopify.com/ for Shopify, or inspect HTTP response headers for platform signatures.

Q: How do I find out what CMS a website uses for free?

You can identify the CMS of any website for free using Web Reveal — a no-signup scanner that analyses any URL and reports the full technology stack including the CMS. Alternatively, view the page source (Ctrl+U) and search for platform-specific signatures such as /wp-content/ (WordPress), /cdn.shopify.com/ (Shopify), data-wf-site (Webflow), or static.squarespace.com (Squarespace).

Q: Can you tell what CMS a website uses from the source code?

Yes. Most CMS platforms leave identifiable traces in the HTML source. Look for a generator meta tag (e.g., <meta name="generator" content="WordPress 6.5">), platform-specific asset URLs, JavaScript globals, or cookie names. Press Ctrl+U in your browser to view the page source and search for these patterns.

Q: What is the most common CMS used by websites?

WordPress is by far the most widely used CMS, powering roughly 43% of all websites as of 2026. Shopify leads among hosted e-commerce platforms, while Wix and Squarespace are popular with small-business and portfolio sites. Webflow and Framer are growing rapidly in the professional design and agency market.

Q: How do I check if a site uses WordPress?

There are several reliable signals for WordPress: the /wp-content/ and /wp-includes/ paths in asset URLs, a generator meta tag reading 'WordPress', the X-Powered-By: WP Engine or similar HTTP header, the wp-json/ REST API path, and the presence of the WordPress login page at /wp-login.php or /wp-admin. A free scanner such as Web Reveal will detect all of these automatically.

Why Knowing a Site's CMS Matters

Identifying the CMS behind a website is one of the most useful pieces of intelligence you can gather about any online property. Here are the most common reasons people want to know what CMS is used by a website:

Competitor research: Understanding what platform a competitor uses helps you benchmark your own stack and identify migration opportunities.
Client pitching: Agencies and freelancers use CMS detection to qualify leads — a WordPress site may need a redesign or plugin audit, while a site on a drag-and-drop builder may signal a client ready to upgrade.
Sales and outreach: Technology-based lead lists let B2B teams target companies that use specific platforms (e.g., reaching out to Shopify merchants about an app or integration).
Technical due diligence: Investors and acquirers want to know what platform a website is built on before a deal closes.
Curiosity and learning: Developers often want to understand how a site they admire is built — knowing the CMS is the first step.

Regardless of your reason, the five methods below cover every scenario from a quick one-click answer to deep manual investigation.

Method 1: Use a Free Scanner Tool

The fastest and most comprehensive way to find out what CMS is the site running is to use a dedicated technology scanner. These tools perform live HTTP requests, parse the HTML, JavaScript, cookies, and headers, and then cross-reference thousands of fingerprints to identify the CMS and the full technology stack.

Web Reveal is a free scanner that detects over 1,000 technologies — including every major CMS — without requiring an account. Enter any URL on the Web Reveal homepage and you receive a full report in seconds showing:

The CMS platform (WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, Wix, Squarespace, Ghost, etc.)
Themes, plugins, and apps where detectable
JavaScript frameworks, analytics tools, CDN, and hosting provider

The Web Reveal Chrome extension is even faster — it runs automatically as you browse and shows a CMS badge in the toolbar without leaving the page.

Other free scanner options include Wappalyzer and WhatRuns, though they use cached data and may return stale results. Web Reveal performs a fresh live scan every time, making it the most accurate choice when you need a reliable answer to "what platform is this website built on?"

Method 2: Check Page Source for CMS Signatures

Most CMS platforms embed identifiable markers directly into the HTML they generate. You can inspect these without any tools — just a browser. Press Ctrl+U (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+U (Mac) to open the raw page source, then use Ctrl+F to search for the patterns below.

Generator meta tag

The most direct indicator is the generator meta tag. Many CMS platforms insert it automatically:

<meta name="generator" content="WordPress 6.5">

<meta name="generator" content="Shopify">

<meta name="generator" content="Ghost 5.0">

Search for generator in the page source. If it is present, you have an instant answer about what CMS is used by the website.

CMS-specific asset paths

Even without a generator tag, the paths used to load CSS, JavaScript, and image files are highly distinctive. Look for:

/wp-content/ or /wp-includes/ — WordPress
cdn.shopify.com — Shopify
uploads.webflow.com or assets.website-files.com — Webflow
static.squarespace.com — Squarespace
static.wixstatic.com — Wix
framerusercontent.com — Framer
ghost.io in script URLs — Ghost

JavaScript globals

Open the browser developer console (F12 → Console) and check for platform-specific JavaScript objects:

window.Shopify — Shopify
window.wp — WordPress (with Gutenberg)
window.Squarespace — Squarespace
window.__framer_importFromPackage — Framer

Method 3: Inspect HTTP Response Headers

HTTP response headers are sent by the server before any HTML arrives and often contain direct platform disclosures. Open browser developer tools (F12), go to the Network tab, reload the page, click on the main document request, and look at the Response Headers section.

Key headers to look for:

X-Powered-By — Can reveal the underlying technology, e.g., X-Powered-By: WP Engine or X-Powered-By: PHP/8.2 (common with self-hosted WordPress).
Server — Values like Shopify or Squarespace are definitive.
X-Generator — Some CMSs add this header directly.
X-Wix-Request-Id — Identifies Wix infrastructure.
X-ShopId — Shopify-specific header.
Set-Cookie — Cookie names can reveal CMS: _shopify_s (Shopify), wordpress_logged_in_ (WordPress), squarespace-refresh (Squarespace).

Tip: You can also retrieve headers from the command line: curl -I https://example.com prints all response headers without downloading the page body.

Method 4: Look at URL Patterns and File Paths

Browsing through a site's internal links and navigation can reveal CMS-specific URL structures without ever touching developer tools. Each major platform generates predictable paths for its content types.

WordPress URL patterns

/wp-login.php and /wp-admin/ — The login and admin paths are unique to WordPress.
/?p=123 — Default permalink structure before custom slugs are configured.
/wp-json/wp/v2/ — The WordPress REST API endpoint.
/xmlrpc.php — Legacy XML-RPC endpoint, still present on many installs.

Shopify URL patterns

/products/[handle] and /collections/[handle] — Shopify's commerce URL structure.
/cart — The Shopify cart page.
checkout.shopify.com — The checkout redirects to Shopify's own domain.

Webflow URL patterns

Clean custom slugs with no CMS-specific path prefix, but assets loaded from uploads.webflow.com are definitive.

Other CMS path signals

/ghost/ — Ghost CMS admin panel path.
/user/login or /node/ — Drupal.
/administrator/ — Joomla admin path.

Trying known admin paths is a quick way to detect a CMS — if yourdomain.com/wp-admin returns a login page, you know it's WordPress.

Method 5: Check DNS and Hosting Signals

DNS records and hosting infrastructure can provide strong indirect signals about what platform a site is using, particularly for hosted SaaS CMSs that run on shared infrastructure.

CNAME records pointing to CMS infrastructure

Look up the domain's DNS records using a tool like DNS Checker or the command line (dig CNAME example.com). CNAME records often reveal the platform:

shops.myshopify.com — Shopify custom domain
proxy-ssl.webflow.com — Webflow custom domain
ext-cust.squarespace.com — Squarespace custom domain
www.wixdns.net — Wix custom domain
ghost.io — Ghost(Pro) managed hosting

IP address and ASN lookup

Resolving the domain's IP address and looking it up in an ASN/WHOIS database can identify the hosting provider. Sites hosted on Shopify's infrastructure, Fastly, or Vercel (common with headless CMSs) have recognisable IP ranges. Web Reveal's scanner performs this lookup automatically as part of its technology detection.

MX and TXT records

While not direct CMS signals, TXT records sometimes include verification tokens for services tightly coupled with specific platforms (e.g., Shopify verification tokens in TXT records), which can confirm your hypothesis.

CMS-Specific Detection Guide

Here is a quick-reference summary of the key detection signals for the most commonly used CMS platforms in 2026.

WordPress

Asset paths: /wp-content/, /wp-includes/
Generator tag: <meta name="generator" content="WordPress x.x">
Admin path: /wp-login.php, /wp-admin/
REST API: /wp-json/wp/v2/
HTTP header: Link: <https://example.com/wp-json/>; rel="https://api.w.org/"

Shopify

CDN URLs: cdn.shopify.com in HTML source
JavaScript global: window.Shopify in browser console
URL patterns: /products/, /collections/, /cart
HTTP header: X-ShopId, Server: Shopify
Cookie: _shopify_s

Webflow

Asset domain: uploads.webflow.com, assets.website-files.com
HTML attribute: data-wf-site on the <html> element
DNS CNAME: proxy-ssl.webflow.com
Script URLs: assets.website-files.com/[site-id]/js/webflow.js

Wix

Asset domain: static.wixstatic.com
DNS CNAME: www.wixdns.net
HTTP header: X-Wix-Request-Id
HTML class: wixui- prefixed classes throughout the DOM

Squarespace

Asset domain: static.squarespace.com
JavaScript global: window.Squarespace
DNS CNAME: ext-cust.squarespace.com
Cookie: squarespace-refresh, ss-cvr

Framer

Asset domain: framerusercontent.com
JavaScript global: window.__framer_importFromPackage
HTML comment: Framer injects identifying comments in the <head>
Script source: Scripts loaded from events.framer.com

Ghost

Generator tag: <meta name="generator" content="Ghost x.x">
API endpoint: /ghost/api/ accessible path
Script source: cdn.jsdelivr.net/ghost/
RSS feed: /rss/ with Ghost feed metadata
DNS CNAME: Points to ghost.io for managed Ghost(Pro) sites

Frequently Asked Questions

What CMS is this website running?

The fastest way to answer "what CMS is this website running" for any URL is to use a free scanner like Web Reveal. Enter the URL and the tool performs a live scan, identifying the CMS and the full technology stack within seconds. Manually, check the page source for a generator meta tag, search for platform-specific asset paths, or inspect HTTP response headers for server identifiers.

How do I find out what CMS a website uses for free?

Web Reveal is a completely free CMS detector — no account, no trial, no limit. Paste any URL into the scanner and receive an instant report. If you prefer a manual approach, open the page source with Ctrl+U and search for wp-content (WordPress), cdn.shopify.com (Shopify), wixstatic (Wix), or squarespace (Squarespace). The first match gives you the answer.

Can you tell what CMS a website uses from the source code?

Yes — for most websites you can identify the CMS directly from the HTML source. The generator meta tag is the most explicit signal, but asset URLs, JavaScript globals, inline script patterns, and HTML attributes all leave platform fingerprints. Press Ctrl+U to view source, then search for the platform-specific strings listed in Method 2 above. A small number of sites — particularly headless or heavily customised setups — minimise these signals, in which case HTTP headers and DNS records (Methods 3 and 5) become more useful.

What is the most common CMS used by websites?

As of 2026, WordPress powers roughly 43% of all websites on the internet, making it the dominant CMS by a wide margin. Shopify leads in dedicated hosted e-commerce. Wix and Squarespace are the most popular drag-and-drop builders for small businesses and portfolios. Webflow and Framer are growing rapidly among designers and agencies. Drupal and Joomla remain in use for larger enterprise and government sites.

How do I check if a site uses WordPress?

Look for any of these WordPress-specific signals: /wp-content/ or /wp-includes/ in the page source, a <meta name="generator" content="WordPress"> tag, a Link header pointing to /wp-json/, or an accessible login page at /wp-login.php. You can also run the URL through Web Reveal for an instant automated check that covers all of these signals simultaneously.