Want To Model After Another Website? Here’s How To Tell What Platform A Website Is Using

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how to tell what platform a website is using
  1. Want to know how to tell what platform a website is using?

Did you know that WordPress is the uncontested leader of website platforms? It has a market share of 60 percent of content management systems available today. It’s closest, publicly-available competition only holds a market share of 5.4 percent.

That means that the website you’re looking at right now is probably WordPress. You’re more than 10 times as likely to run across a WordPress site than you are of any other platform. So, if you have to guess, WordPress is your best guess.

But sometimes guessing isn’t good enough. If you need to be absolutely certain, you can. The sections below outline the little-known ways to sneak a peek at your competitor’s website platform. Read on to discover more.

How to Tell What Platform a Website is Using

By far, the easiest way to find out which CMS a given site uses is to use a CMS checker. These online tools have been around for over a decade. When you’re asking yourself, “What CMS is this site using?” you can find out in under 10 seconds.

If they’re so great, then where do I find these checkers?

They’re available for free on dozens of sites. We recommend the following:

  • https://whatcms.org/
  • https://builtwith.com/
  • https://w3techs.com/sites

They are the fastest and most reliable free CMS tools we’ve found.

The site whatcms.org is straightforward. When you open the page, you’ll find a large box at the top of the screen that says “Website URL: WhatCMS.org…” sitting next to a large green button. All you have to do is type in the web address of the site you’d like to check and left click on the button.

When you type in the address, you only need to include the domain name. You don’t have to worry about the protocol, subdomain, path, or any other extraneous information. Look at this example:

  • https://www.video.google.com:80/videoplay?docid=-7098445355789234&hl=en#00h02m30s

In the above example, we used bold font to highlight the domain name. They typically include an easy to remember word or phrase followed by .com, .co, .net, and so forth.

Here are some other examples:

  • https://www.audible.com/adblbestsellers?ref=a_hp_t1_navTop_pl3cg1c0r0&pf_rd_p=0effab79-425a-412b-86a2-f42d3230b38c&pf_rd_r=W1P55QSJ0XF7HBX26AZZ&
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epz3eybDbYo
  • https://www.wsj.com/articles/democrats-press-for-defiant-virginia-governor-to-step-down-11549225271?mod=hp_lead_pos1

The BuiltWith and W3Techs tools function the same way. Just type the website in question and click the button to discover on which platform it was built. But these tools also offer additional information which we’ll cover in the next section.

Other Services that CMS Checkers Perform

If you plan to another website as a sort of template when you build your own, the platform is just the tip of the iceberg. The BuiltWith and W3Techs tools can give you additional information about any given website.

It can tell you things like which language the developers used to code the client-side and server-side. Or which language libraries were used. Or even the advertising networks the website relies on.

Moreover, BuiltWith can also tell you things like which tracking and analytics a site uses. It will also list all the plugins, frameworks, and web host providers. It can even tell you the types of servers on which the website runs.

That information is hugely helpful to web programmers. And it may be critical if you wish to imitate a given website.

What if the CMS Checkers Can’t Find It?

Did you know that back in the 80s it was a popular trend to code without a CMS? Programmers would build websites and host them on their own servers, in their own homes. As you can imagine, that led to all sorts of problems.

Few people do that nowadays, though there are exceptions. If you run a search with a checker and can’t find a result, the website in question may be one of these.

It could also be built on a platform that’s brand new or little known. These checkers aren’t built to discover these types of platforms. They can’t be. There are simply too many to parse.

If you can’t find it with a checker, inspect the page for other clues. Often, the CMS will appear as a credit in the sidebar or footer. The page icon in the browser tab may also give you clues.

If your savvy, you may also find clues in the source code. The head element in HTML and meta generator will also give you clues.

Choose Your CMS Wisely

Did you know that the three most commonly infected CMS platforms are Magento, Joomla!, and WordPress. If you’re worried about your site getting infected, you may want to avoid those platforms. There are dozens of other factors involved in choosing what CMS is best for you.

For instance, each platform uses specific coding languages. If you know a little PHP, you can use it on the WordPress and Joomla! Platforms.

Python, on the other hand, wouldn’t be of any use on those sites. You could, however, get plenty of use out of your Python skills if you were to choose the Django platform.

Sit down and write a list of the functions you’ll need your website to perform. Then write a list of your coding skills, graphic design skills, and anything else you think might be relevant. Afterward, take that list and make sure the CMS you choose matches those functions and skills.

If you’re a talented PHP coder, you could jump into Drupal. It has a notoriously steep learning curve, so it’s not meant for beginners.

If this is your first time building a website, however, you may want to choose something like Squarespace or Wix. Each comes with multiple templates, and the layouts are simple enough for first-timers.

What’s Next?

Now that you know how to tell what platform a website is using, what should you do with that information? Well, it depends.

If you want to model your site after theirs, your best bet is to track down the template they used. Templates are tools web designers use to quickly set up web pages. Most websites are built with one template or another.

If you want something else, speak with your web developer right away. They can tell you what additional information they’ll need.

Jump over to our site for related content management system articles.