Have you come across an admirable website and want to find out what website builder was used? If yes, then you’ve come to the right place.
In the present day, having a website is crucial for any business or individual trying to create an online presence. Yet, not everyone owns the technical skills to craft a website all the way through scratch.
That’s exactly where website builders come into play. It offers a quick and affordable solution to create a website that looks good without coding skills.
In this article, we’ve come up with various quick and easy methods to identify the website builder used on a website you’re looking into. So, you can choose a website builder for creating one.
Let’s dig in!
Would you prefer to watch a tutorial video on YouTube instead? It’s right here!
Meanwhile, continue reading to the bottom if you still adore the comprehensive article with step-by-step instructions. Now, let’s learn how to tell what website builder was used now!
Before we move ahead, let’s get to know the benefits of knowing what website builder was used. Some of the important ones are:
Overall, knowing the used website builder can help you make wise choices for the website UX and features. Spend less time, effort, and money creating a website that’s suitable for your purposes.
With that, let’s move forward to our main portion of the article i.e. how to tell what website builder was used.
You can find several ways to know the used website builder in a website. Thus, in this section, we’ll look into 4 methods to discover the website builder.
These methods range from basic checking of the website builder badge to utilizing various browser extensions. So, you can figure out the website builder used and make an informed choice for your website.
Now, let’s start!
Several website builders include a badge or watermark at the bottom section of their website page. To show the used website builder using their platform. Often, this is a simple and quick approach to figuring out which website builder was used.
Simply, go to the bottom of the website page. And look out for any logos, symbols, or that indicate the website builder. For more reference, you can see the image below.
Some of the popular website builder badges include WordPress, Wix, Shopify, Weebly, and so forth. Once you know the website builder used, then go to its official website to learn more about the platform.
However, remember that not all website builders provide a badge or watermark. So this approach might not always be successful. If that happens, then you can use the other methods outlined in this article.
Having said that, let’s move forward to the next method.
Next up, our next method involves checking the source code to know the website builder used. Are you unfamiliar with the term “source code?” Then, simply you can understand it as HTML or other code used to generate web pages on a browser.
Here’s how to approach it:
First, ‘go to the website’ for which you want to find its website builder. Then, simply ‘right-click’ anywhere on the webpage.
With that, you’ll see the ‘View Page Source’ option. Click on it. Alternatively, you can use the shortcut key ‘Ctrl + U’ on your keyword to directly open the source code.
Now, you need to find keywords related to website builders.
For example, consider looking for “wp-content” or “wp-includes” in the source code to see whether the website was created with WordPress. Or, simply search for ‘WordPress’.
Similarly, you can also search for “wix.com” or “wix-code”. Particularly, if you want to know whether Wix was used to create the website.
Additionally, you can use the “find” option in your browser (Ctrl+F or Cmd+F). To look up specific terms associated with website builders.
Once you know which website builder they used, you can look up additional information about it online. Or compare different website builders to find out more about their strengths and weaknesses.
Yet, it’s crucial to keep in mind that not all website developers will include clear hints in the source code. Plus, some website owners may have heavily altered their websites. Consequently, this makes it hard to tell which website builder was used.
In that case, let’s proceed ahead to the next method.
Similarly, we’ve got the next method that involves using website builder detection tools. To identify the website builder used for creating a particular website. This method is relatively simple and requires no technical knowledge.
There are various website builder detection tools such as BuiltWith, Wappalyzer, and more. All of these can help you find out what website builder was used.
So, let’s detailly check how to use these tools to find out the used website builder of your referred website.
BuiltWith is one of the renowned website analysis tools. You can use these tools to detect which website builder was used to create a specific website.
Besides, it can offer details on the website’s performance, security, and SEO. For instance, it can inform you if a website is mobile-friendly or if a secure connection (HTTPS) is being used.
In addition, it can find integrations (like Facebook) and components (like WordPress plugins). Also, it can detect the web host, CDN service, and more. Overall, the entire tech stack!
Here are the steps you can follow to find out the used website builder with BuiltWith:
Visit the original BuiltWith website at builtwith.com. On the homepage, you’ll see a textbox. There, all you’ve to do is type the website address, technology name, or keyword.
Next, we recommend typing or pasting the website’s address to determine what the website is built with.
In the screenshot above, we’ve used the URL of one of the popular websites ‘Kylie Cosmetics‘. After entering the website’s address, click on the ‘Lookup’ button located next to it.
After a short wait, a new page will appear displaying the entire technology and company profile of the website.
On the ‘Technology Profile’ tab, look for the ‘Content Management System’ section. This section will tell you exactly the used website builder for building the website. In this case, it’s Shopify.
When examining the technology profile of The White House, you can see that it uses WordPress as the CMS. No doubt, this tool gave a precise and accurate result.
Wappalyzer is another well-known online tool that can identify the website builder used on websites. In fact, it’s even available as a free extension for popular web browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, etc.
You can use it to determine the technology stack of a website and also its profile. This makes it a helpful tool for lead generation, market analysis, and competitor research. This makes it a user-friendly tool that provides more information about a website than some other online tools.
Here are the steps you can follow to find out the used website builder with Wappalyzer:
To start, open the Wappalyzer website (wappalyzer.com) on your browser. On the homepage, you’ll see a search bar where you can enter a website URL, technology, keyword, or email address.
Before using the tool, you must create an account on Wappalyzer. To do this, click on the ‘Sign up free’ option on the right side of the navigation. Then, create a free account and log in using your account details.
Just to let you know, creating an account is necessary. That’s because the free version of Wappalyzer allows you to search up to 50 websites per month.
To obtain the technical information of a website, it’s best to enter its URL. After logging in, you can ‘paste the website URL’ into the search bar.
For instance, we have used the URL of ‘The White House’ website here.
At the bottom of the search bar, you can find the dropdown option labeled “Technology lookup”. Click on this option.
After the search is complete, you’ll see a new page. Here you can view all the technology and website information of the website you entered.
On the ‘CMS’ tab, you can find the name of the CMS used by the website. If it says WordPress, then you can be certain that the website was built on WordPress. Additionally, you can also see the version of WordPress next to it.
Using this tool, we discovered that SiteNerdy uses the WordPress CMS platform.
You can find other website builders’ names if the website you chose is built with a website builder other than WordPress.
CMS Detector is another renowned online tool that helps to identify the CMS or website builder used by a website. It can detect over 100 CMS platforms including popular ones like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and more.
Basically, this tool analyzes the website’s HTML and JavaScript code to determine the used CMS. Additionally, it offers details on the CMS version, themes, plugins, and other technical information.
Here are the steps you can follow to find out the used website builder with CMS Detector:
Visit the CMS Detector website at cmsdetect.com. On the homepage, you’ll see a textbox where you can enter the website URL address.
As done earlier, you can simply ‘type or paste the website’s address’ to determine what the website is built with.
Here, we’ve used the URL of a random website HausmanGraphics. After entering the website’s address, click on the ‘Detect CMS’ button located next to it.
Shortly, you’ll see the used website builder on the search results. Here, we’ve found out that TenTree used Shopify website builder to build its website.
Other than that, you can find other domain information. That includes SEMrush rank, organic keywords, organic traffic, and more.
Another online tool is Netcraft. Mainly, it’s a detection, threat intelligence, and robust disruption site. You can use it to find out the hosting service of a website through a detailed report. So, it’s focused on providing site domain and hosting specifications.
Moreover, it can also find out the infrastructure and technologies of a website using results from their data mining results. So, you can also use it to discover the website builder of a website.
The following are the steps to follow to figure out the used website builder with Netcraft:
First, open the site report tool by Netcraft. There, you can see an area to insert the site URL.
Now, you can add the website’s address of which you want to find what it’s built with. Here, we’ll go with the website ‘Flickr Blog‘. So, enter its link and click ‘LOOK UP‘.
After a while, you’ll access the site report. There, scroll down to the ‘Site Technology‘ section. As a blog website, the blog software used by the website is mentioned as ‘WordPress‘ as shown below:
Similarly, you can check out the website builder of any website you want.
Note that you can use other online tools to check the website builder used. However, this list only contains the best ones that we highly recommend.
Last but not least, another method to find out what website builder was used is by using browser extensions.
There are several browser add-ons that you can use to find the website builder. Basically, these extensions function by looking into a website’s HTML and JavaScript code. And reporting on the CMS or website builder used.
However, you must set up the browser extension on your browser before using this method. Once installed, go to the website you want to explore and click the icon for the browser extension.
You’ll then receive information from the extension about the website’s CMS or website builder. So, let’s check out how you can do so using some of the popular extensions below.
Library Sniffer tool detects the JavaScript libraries or frameworks that a website uses. In essence, it’s an extension for your browser that allows you to learn more about specific websites.
There are several reasons why this tool can be helpful. For example, developers can figure out how a specific website or application was created. Or, locate any potential security flaws in the libraries being utilized.
Like any other extension you may have used, Library Sniffer is simple to use. However, we’ll give you a brief rundown of how to use it below.
First, go to ‘Extensions’, and then open the ‘Chrome Web Store’ in Google Chrome.
On the left side, you’ll find a search bar. Type ‘Library Sniffer’ in the search bar and press enter on the keyboard.
Eventually, you’ll see the search results. You can notice the ‘Library Sniffer’ extension at the top. Simply double-click it.
On the new page, click on the ‘Add to Chrome’ option to successfully add the extension.
Shortly, you’ll again see the popup notification that says ‘Add extension’. Click on it.
Once you have added the extension, you can pin the extension to the browser. This will allow you to easily access it from the right side of the browser.
You can now visit the website you want to gather information about.
If the website uses WordPress, the extension’s icon will change to that of WordPress. You can learn more about the version of WordPress and other features by clicking the extension.
Similarly, if the website uses any other website builder, the extension will display its icon.
For instance, let’s check out one of the popular websites TEDBlog. Here, you can see that the icon changes to that of WordPress. This indicates that the ‘website is built on WordPress’.
With this tool, you can easily determine which website builder a specific website uses. Quite cool, right?
WhatRuns is another renowned web technology detection tool that offers details on the technologies used on a website. You can install this browser extension to your browser. To learn more about the tools and technology used to run a website.
To be precise, it can detect a wide range of technologies. This inclides programming languages, frameworks, website builders, analytics tools, etc. With that, you can learn how a website is created, what tools and technologies are utilized, and so forth.
Here’s a brief rundown of how to use it.
Just like before, go to the ‘Extensions’ and then open the ‘Chrome Web Store’ in Google Chrome. On the left side, you’ll find a search bar. Type ‘WhatRuns’ in the search bar and press enter on the keyboard.
Eventually, you’ll see the search results. You can notice the ‘WhatRuns’ extension at the top. Simply double-click it.
On the new page, just like before, click on the ‘Add to Chrome’ option to successfully add the extension.
Shortly, you’ll again see the popup notification that says ‘Add extension’. Click on it. After you have added the extension, you can pin it to the browser. This will allow you to easily access it from the right side of the browser.
Now, simply visit the website you want to gather information about the website builder.
Then, click on the ‘WhatRuns’ extension that you’ve previously pinned. With that, you can see what website builder your chosen website uses.
For instance, when opening TenTree.com, you can clearly see the Shopify written in the ‘CMS’ section.
Other than that, you’ll also see CDN (Content Delivery Network) used, widgets, analytics, font script, and so much more.
That’s all for here!
You may look for new site features or ways to improve the User Experience (UX). With evolving websites on the Internet, you may want to access their information. All of that isn’t possible, but what’s possible is the software used to build it.
You can find out the used website builder in various ways. That includes the site’s source code, using online tools, website builder badge, and browser extensions.
Yes, you can use online tools like builtWith, Wappalyzer, CMS Detect, and NetCraft. Similarly, some browser extensions are Library Sniffer, What Runs, etc. All of these let you identify the website builder.
Wrapping up, we’ve come to the end of our tutorial on how to tell what website builder was used.
While it may be challenging to determine which website builder was used, it is not impossible. By utilizing the methods, you can gain valuable knowledge about the website technology behind some remarkable sites.
If you’ve tried any of the methods, then please share your experience in the comments section below. Also, don’t hesitate to put forward your queries. We’re happy to help you out.
You might also like our tutorials on how to sell WordPress themes and plugins and how to choose a domain name for your business. Also, find the best website builders for churches.
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