Detection Guide · 2026
How to Detect WordPress Theme on Any Website
WordPress powers 43% of the web — chances are the site you're inspecting runs on it. Here's how our detector identifies the active theme, installed plugins, and even the hosting provider.
Fastest way: use our free detector
Paste any URL and get the WordPress theme, plugins, and stack in 2 seconds.
Open the WordPress Detector →What our detector looks for
Meta generator tag
Many WordPress sites include <meta name='generator' content='WordPress X.X.X'> in the HTML head. This is the most direct signal.
Where: HTML <head>
wp-content URL paths
WordPress serves themes from /wp-content/themes/[theme-slug]/ and plugins from /wp-content/plugins/[plugin]/. These paths appear in CSS/JS imports.
Where: HTML <link> and <script> tags
Theme style.css header
Every WordPress theme has a style.css with a header comment listing Theme Name, Author, Version, URI. Our detector fetches this directly when the path is found.
Where: Theme directory
WordPress REST API
/wp-json/ is exposed by default on WordPress 4.7+. A 200 response confirms WordPress.
Where: HTTP request to /wp-json/
Login page
Most WordPress sites have /wp-login.php or /wp-admin/ pages — even when accessing them returns 403, the existence is a strong signal.
Where: HTTP HEAD to /wp-login.php
X-Powered-By and Server headers
Some hosts (WP Engine, Kinsta, Pressable) add identifying headers. We use these to determine the hosting provider.
Where: HTTP response headers
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 page source (Ctrl+U / Cmd+Option+U). Search for 'wp-content' — if it appears, the site runs WordPress.
- 2
In the source, search for 'Theme Name' or look for /wp-content/themes/[name]/. The [name] is the theme slug.
- 3
Visit /wp-json/ on the domain. A JSON response confirms WordPress and exposes the REST API.
- 4
Open DevTools → Network tab → reload the page. Look for requests to /wp-content/ or /wp-includes/.
- 5
Check the page's <head> for the meta generator tag.
- 6
If you find the theme slug, search for it on the WordPress.org theme directory or ThemeForest to find the full theme details.
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.