7. Tools to Identify the Technology Stack Behind Any Website

17 Tools to Identify the Technology Stack Behind Any Website

Given any live website, you can usually find out exactly which CMS, theme, plugins, server software, and even analytics tools it runs without ever logging in. This is an essential skill for competitor research, security auditing (with permission), and simply understanding how real-world sites are built. Below are the main tools, what each is for, and how to use it.

Tool

What It's Used For

How to Use It

View Page Source (Ctrl+U) / Inspect Element (F12)

Free, built into every browser. Reveals raw HTML/CSS/JS, folder paths, and generator meta tags that often name the CMS directly.

Open any page, press Ctrl+U (or right-click → View Page Source), then Ctrl+F to search for terms like 'wp-content', 'generator', or 'joomla'.

Browser DevTools — Network Tab

Shows the actual HTTP response headers from the server, which can reveal the backend language/server software (e.g., 'X-Powered-By: PHP', 'Server: Apache').

Press F12 → Network tab → reload the page → click the main document request → open the Headers panel.

WhatCMS.org

A dedicated online lookup that detects which CMS a given URL is running, along with its detected version where possible.

Go to whatcms.org, paste the site's URL into the search box, and click 'Detect CMS'.

BuiltWith.com

A deeper technology-profile report: CMS, analytics tools, advertising networks, hosting provider, JavaScript libraries, and more — popular for sales/competitive research.

Go to builtwith.com, enter the domain, and review the categorised technology report it generates.

Wappalyzer (browser extension)

Identifies the CMS, JS frameworks, analytics tools, payment processors, and server software for any site you're currently browsing, shown as small badges.

Install the Wappalyzer extension from your browser's extension store, then click its toolbar icon while visiting any site.

Netcraft Site Report

Reveals hosting provider, server location, IP address history, and server software/technology for a domain.

Go to Netcraft's 'Site Report' tool, enter the domain, and read the generated report.

WPScan

A WordPress-specific security scanner: detects the exact WordPress version, active theme, installed plugins, and any known vulnerabilities in them.

Install via gem/Docker, then run: wpscan --url https://example.com — only ever run this against sites you own or have explicit permission to test.

Manual path fingerprinting

Many CMS platforms expose predictable admin/login URLs that confirm which CMS is running even without any tool.

Try appending common paths to the domain, e.g. /wp-admin/ or /wp-login.php (WordPress), /administrator/ (Joomla), /user/login (Drupal), and see which one resolves.

 

Ethical note: identifying a site's technology stack from public information (page source, HTTP headers, published lookup tools) is normal, everyday research. Actively probing for vulnerabilities (as WPScan can do) must only be done on sites you own or have explicit written permission to test — doing so on a site without permission is illegal in most jurisdictions.