How to Know If A Website Is WordPress (2024 Hacks)

How to know if a website is WordPress? That’s easy. Why know it? Well, WordPress usage has risen by 4.5% in 2020 and now encompasses 39.5% of all websites. That’s almost half of all the websites online!

The famed blogging platform has already become a “home” to the world’s Fortune 500 company websites. Awesome, huh? Well, here’s another awesome thing. I’m going to share with you some quick hacks to decipher which website’s WordPress or not.

But before I do, let’s go through some more amazing facts about WordPress this 2024.

How to Know If A Website Is WordPress

I built a tool so you can find out if a website was built with WordPress:

https://mycodelesswebsite.com/

Back in the early stages of WordPress, users can only do basics such as uploading photos, videos, and content. WordPress account holders (whether free or paid) get to choose themes that determine their blog’s or website’s templates.

Those who know coding can modify the themes with DHTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The same technology is available today except that it has become more powerful. WordPress websites are now equipped with plugins—58,644 and counting—that allow users to implement a host of functionality and features in their blogs and websites. These range from newsletter automation to content management systems.

WordPress has become so powerful in what it offers to users that it has become a preferred provider for website Content Management Systems (CMS). Statistics show that 64.1% of websites using CMS are powered by WordPress. This is the result of the provider’s CMS popularity, which has grown in 11 years.

WordPress also prides itself on empowering 30.3% of the top 1,000 sites. The famed WSYWIG provider now has an available theme of 3,972 offered to both free account and paid plan holders.

With its market dominance, WordPress websites are visited by 409 million internet users monthly. This is expected to increase in the coming months as users continue to publish posts—currently at 70 million monthly—and gain an online following.

But, wait! There’s more! Would you believe that the websites of Walt Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Ross Stores, and Merck are all made in WordPress? Talk about coolness!

By now, you’d probably want to find out for yourself if a website you frequent is made in WordPress. So let’s now talk about those hacks.

(If you’re inspired by all these and would like to build your website in WordPress but need help with it, I’m all hands in helping you put it up. I have 35 Mind-Blowing Examples of WordPress Websites of 2024.

I also have epic website design reviews categorized into 16 business niches you can choose from. Feel free to check them out after reading this post. Or you could always message me directly for assistance.)

Quick Hacks to Know If A Website Is WordPress

There are four hacks you can use to know on your own if a website is made in WordPress. This entails checking the website’s footer, domain name, downloaded files, and source codes. Let me elaborate on how it is done for each one.

1. Check the website footer

The most obvious way to figure out if a website is built with WordPress is through its footer. The bottom of the page, which includes the copyright, often indicates “Powered by WordPress” or a text of similar context.

However, not all businesses with WordPress websites indicate this matter, especially for those who have paid plans with them. If such is the case, you could check the website’s domain name instead.

2. Check the domain name

There are several options available for checking a website’s platform through its domain name. You can either add a command or code string to it or use the domain name in an online tool to figure it out.

a. Use a code string with the domain name

Say you want to know if My Codeless Website is built in WordPress. Simply type MCW’s domain name and add “/wp-admin” at its end. This will look like this: “https://mycodelesswebsite.com/wp-admin”. What you’ll normally see is not the My Codeless Website homepage but the WordPress login page. This then means the website, MCW in particular, was built in WordPress, which it really is.

But due to the availability of plugins in WordPress, users like me can opt to hide this information from the public for security purposes. So, yes, if you try “https://mycodelesswebsite.com/wp-admin” it won’t work and you’ll instead be redirected to my pricing page.

Thus, using the code string with the domain name does not work all the time. Instead, you may opt to use an online tool to find out if a website is made in WordPress.

b. Use “/readme.html” with the domain name

By adding “/readme.html” to the domain name, you could also know if the website is built in WordPress. This would look like this if we’ll use my website as an example: “https://mycodelesswebsite.com/readme.html.” The webpage that will open when you use this link will show a WordPress logo and information about the website. If you are not able to download it, you could use an online tool instead.

c. Use an online tool with the domain name

There are many online tools available to suit your purpose. These tools will ask you to provide the domain name on their page so that the website could be analyzed if it is made in WordPress or not. There are two types of online tools you can use, website service providers—often for free—and browser plugins.

Samples of service providers are BuiltWith, IsItWP, Scan WP, Wappalyzer, WP Theme Detector, and What WP Theme Is That. While BuiltWith Addon and Library Sniffer are common browser plugins for this particular use.

3. Download a website file

Besides checking the domain name, you can also download the file “license.txt” from the website. This file is often hidden from the public when browsing a website. So how could you possibly download it?

Simply add “license.txt” to the domain name to prompt the website to open it in your browser. This will look like this: “https://mycodelesswebsite.com/license.txt” as an example. The page will immediately show you that the website is made from WordPress.

4. Scan the source code

The final hack you could use to decipher if a website is built in WordPress is through its source code through the right-click function or the browser’s menu.

a. Right-click to “View Source Code”

To do this, simply right-click anywhere on a website and choose “View Source Code”. Look for “WP-content”, “WP-Includes”, or “WordPress” in the website source code or meta tag.

This is done by clicking CTRL+F and typing any one of the said keywords in the space provided. Zero search results mean the website is built on another platform and not WordPress.

b. Click on “Developer Tools” from the menu

You could also click the three dots on the upper right-hand corner of Chrome to access “More Tools > Developer Tools”. Clicking on “Developer Tools” will transform the screen into windows to show the back-end structure of the website.

Once you see the “WP admin”, “WP-content”, and “WP-includes” folders under the domain name, then you will know it is a WordPress website.

If none of these hacks work, you could always email the webmaster or the owner of the website to ask if it was made in WordPress or not.

Conclusion: How to Know If A Website Is WordPress

You can use several hacks to know if a website is WordPress. These are through the Website’s footer, domain name, readme.html file, and source code. Deciphering a website’s platform is fun and informative but also a means to study your business competitor. These hacks may not work all the time because website owners can use security measures to hide the platform they used.

FAQs

With what platform are websites mostly built?

As mentioned in the article above, 39.4% or almost half of the websites on the World Wide Web are built with WordPress. While more than half or 64.1% of websites using Content Management Systems are made and hosted in WordPress.

Is there a downside to using WordPress?

Yes, there is! According to statistics, WordPress plugins account for a third of websites that experienced malware attacks. The malware attacks cause websites to crash frequently and load slower than usual. The need to use many plugins for functionality also translates to added costs in maintaining your website.