Detection Guide · 2026
How to Detect Joomla Theme on Any Website
Joomla calls its themes 'templates'. Detection looks for characteristic template directory paths and Joomla-specific markers in the HTML.
Fastest way: use our free detector
Paste any URL and get the Joomla theme, plugins, and stack in 2 seconds.
Open the Joomla Detector →What our detector looks for
/templates/[name]/ asset paths
Joomla serves the active template from /templates/[template-name]/. CSS and JS imports leak the template slug.
Where: HTML <link> and <script> tags
Joomla.JText JavaScript
Joomla exposes window.Joomla on the front-end. Joomla.JText and Joomla.Submitbutton confirm the platform.
Where: Inline <script>
Generator meta tag
Default Joomla installs include <meta name='generator' content='Joomla! - Open Source Content Management'>.
Where: HTML <head>
Joomla URL structure
/index.php?option=com_... and /index.php/component/... paths are very Joomla-specific.
Where: Internal links
Joomla file paths in errors
404 responses on /administrator/ or /joomla/ paths usually return Joomla error pages with identifying markup.
Where: HTTP error responses
Manual inspection checklist
If the detector returns inconclusive results, walk through these manual checks in your browser's developer tools (right-click → Inspect):
- 1
View source. Search for '/templates/' — present on most Joomla sites.
- 2
Look for the meta generator tag mentioning 'Joomla'.
- 3
Check the path after /templates/ for the active template name.
- 4
DevTools Console → type Joomla — if defined, this is a Joomla site.
- 5
Visit /administrator on the site — even if blocked, the response patterns identify Joomla.
Why identify a site's stack?
Three legitimate reasons: competitive research (which tools is the leader in your space using?), lead qualification (does this prospect's site qualify for your service?), and migration planning (you need to know the current stack before quoting a redesign).
All of the above are public-record activities — every signal we check is visible in the page's HTML or HTTP response, the same data anyone with View Source can see. We just parse it faster and present it cleanly.
What detection can't tell you
Detection identifies what's running. It can't tell you why a site chose that stack, how much they spend on it, who their developer is, or what their roadmap is. For those, talk to a human.
It also can't see through aggressive caching, headless setups, or themes built from scratch without the framework's default markers. We flag low-confidence detections so you know when to dig deeper.