How to Tell If a Website Was Built with WordPress, Wix, or Shopify

Looking at a well-designed website, it is often genuinely difficult to tell what platform it was built on. WordPress, Wix, Shopify, Webflow, and Squarespace can all produce sites that look polished and professional. But there are reliable ways to find out, whether you are curious about a competitor's site, researching a platform before choosing one, or trying to identify what a designer used to build a site you admire.

Why You Might Want to Know

There are several practical reasons to identify a website's platform. Business owners often want to know what a competitor used so they can evaluate whether a similar platform would work for them. Designers and developers sometimes want to study how a particular effect or layout was achieved. And anyone choosing a platform for their own project benefits from seeing real examples of what each platform can produce.

Use Built-In Browser Tools First

The fastest method requires no extra software. Right-click anywhere on the page and select View Page Source, or use the keyboard shortcut to view source code. This opens the raw HTML of the page. Search within this code (using Ctrl+F or Cmd+F) for telltale words.

WordPress sites very often contain the text "wp-content" or "wp-includes" somewhere in the source code, since these are the standard folder names WordPress uses for themes, plugins, and uploaded files. Shopify sites frequently contain "cdn.shopify.com" in image URLs or script tags. Wix sites often show "wix.com" or "static.wixstatic.com" in resource URLs. Webflow sites typically include "webflow.com" in the code or a data attribute referencing Webflow.

Browser Extensions Built for This

Several free browser extensions are built specifically to detect website technology. These tools analyse a page and report the CMS, eCommerce platform, analytics tools, and other technologies in use, all without needing to view any code manually.

These extensions work by recognising the same kinds of signatures described above, but they automate the process and often detect additional details such as which theme is being used, what page builder plugins are active, and what advertising or analytics scripts are running on the site.

Visual and Structural Clues

Beyond technical inspection, certain visual patterns are common to specific platforms. Shopify stores typically follow a recognisable structure for product pages, collection pages, and cart functionality, since most stores build on top of Shopify's standard templates even when heavily customised.

WordPress sites built with popular page builders often have a particular rhythm to their section layouts, particularly if using widely used themes. Wix and Squarespace sites frequently have a distinctive font pairing and spacing style associated with their default templates, especially on sites that have not been heavily customised.

These visual clues are less reliable than checking the source code, since a skilled developer can make any platform look completely custom, but they can offer a useful first impression before confirming with a technical check.

Check the Footer

Some websites, particularly those built on free or lower-tier plans, display a small credit line in the footer such as "Built with Wix" or "Powered by Shopify". Paid plans on most platforms allow this credit to be removed, so its absence does not rule out a platform, but its presence is a definitive answer when it appears.

What This Information Actually Tells You

Identifying a platform is useful, but it is worth remembering that the platform alone does not determine whether a website looks good or performs well. A WordPress site can look amazing or terrible depending entirely on the theme, design work, and development quality behind it. The same is true for every other platform.

If you are evaluating a platform for your own project based on a website you admire, the more useful question is not "what platform is this" but "what would it take to achieve a similar result on the platform I am considering, and does that platform fit my specific business needs."