How to Find What WordPress Theme a Site Uses

To find what WordPress theme a site uses, open the page source (Ctrl+U, or Cmd+Option+U in Chrome on a Mac), search for /wp-content/themes/ and read the folder name that follows. Then open that folder’s style.css: its header comment shows the theme’s name, and a Template: line means it’s a child theme of the parent named there. If that’s too fiddly, an online theme detector or a browser extension can read the same traces for you.

This guide covers the three methods, why detectors sometimes say “custom” or find nothing, and how to see which plugins and page builder a site uses.

The quick answer: 3 ways

1. Page source: free, works on most sites, takes a couple of minutes and some patience.
2. An online WordPress theme detector: paste a URL, get the theme name. Fast, but it only sees what its server receives.
3. A browser extension such as Pickode: reads the page you’re viewing and shows theme, child theme, plugins and builder together.

All three rely on the same thing: traces WordPress leaves in the HTML it sends to the browser. When those traces are missing, no method can invent them.

Check the page source (style.css header)

WordPress loads theme files from a predictable path, so the source of a typical page contains lines like these:

<link rel="stylesheet" id="example-theme-style-css"
  href="https://example.com/wp-content/themes/example-theme/style.css?ver=2.3.1" media="all">
<link rel="stylesheet" id="example-child-style-css"
  href="https://example.com/wp-content/themes/example-child/style.css?ver=1.0.0" media="all">

A typical header looks like this:

/*
Theme Name: Example Child
Template: example-theme
Version: 1.0.0
Author: Studio Example
Description: Child theme for the Example theme.
*/

The ?ver= number on asset URLs is often the theme or WordPress version, but not always: plugins and caching tools can change it, so treat it as a hint.

The drawbacks of the manual method: it’s slow if you check many sites, the folder name can be anything the developer chose, and on optimized sites the theme’s CSS may be merged into a single cached file, so the theme path disappears from the stylesheet links. Searching the source for other theme files (scripts, fonts, images) often still finds it.

Use a WordPress theme detector

Online detectors fetch the URL from their own server and look for the same traces: theme paths, the style.css header, plugin folders. They’re convenient for a quick check and need nothing installed.

Their limits come from where they run. They see the page their server receives, which can differ from what you see: security plugins and firewalls may block them, a cookie banner or geolocation redirect can change the page, and some cache results. They also usually report the theme and a few plugins, not the builder, the WooCommerce setup or the technical context you need to quote a job.

With Pickode: theme, child theme, plugins and builder in one click

Pickode includes a WordPress theme detector that works inside your browser, on the page you’re viewing. Open the site, then in Pickode’s Analyze section open WordPress. It shows:

• WordPress version, theme and child theme.
• Plugins with their versions, found from assets, the REST API and HTML comments.
• The page builder: Bricks, Elementor, Divi, Oxygen, Breakdance or Gutenberg, with the list of Gutenberg blocks used on the page.
• WooCommerce details: version, page type, block or classic checkout, products and currency from the Store API, and cart fragments.
• Server and cache headers, REST namespaces and basic security checks.

Because it runs in your browser, it reads the page as you see it, WooCommerce page type included, rather than a copy fetched by a remote server. The WordPress summary and the tech stack panel, which recognizes about 60 signatures across frameworks, CMS, builders, e-commerce, analytics and more, are free. The full WordPress panel is Pro.

If you’re auditing a site before a redesign or a quote, the client report (Pro) puts the technologies and WordPress details into one HTML file with a screenshot, scores and prioritized fixes for SEO, speed, accessibility and AI search visibility. You set your header and color, choose English or Italian and print it to PDF. The WordPress docs explain each field of the panel.

Why the detector says “custom” or shows nothing

When any method comes back empty or with an unfamiliar name, one of these is usually the reason:

• The theme is custom or renamed. Agencies often build a bespoke theme or rename a commercial one. The folder name is then the agency’s choice, and no database will recognize it. Look for an author or a URL in the style.css header.
• Assets are combined or moved. Optimization and caching plugins can merge stylesheets into files under a cache folder, and CDNs may serve them from another domain. Search the source for any remaining wp-content/themes/ path.
• Block themes. Some block themes don’t load style.css on the front end, and global styles are printed inline. The theme folder still tends to appear in font, script or image URLs.
• Paths are hidden on purpose. Some security setups rewrite or mask WordPress paths.
• It isn’t WordPress, or not on the front end. Headless setups use WordPress only as a back end, and the visible site is built with another framework. A tech stack check tells you what the front end runs on.

In all these cases the answer isn’t in the HTML, so a detector can’t find it either. Be wary of tools that always return a confident name.

How to find which plugins a site uses

Plugins leave traces in the same way, so the manual method is similar:

• Asset paths. Search the source for wp-content/plugins/: the folder after it is usually the plugin’s slug.
• HTML comments. Many SEO, caching and analytics plugins print a comment with their name, sometimes with the version.
• CSS classes and IDs. Page builders are easy to spot: Elementor uses classes starting with elementor-, Bricks uses IDs starting with brxe-, Divi uses classes starting with et_pb_.
• The REST API index. On many sites /wp-json/ lists the namespaces registered by plugins.

The limit is the same for every method, Pickode’s WordPress plugin detector included: only plugins that leave traces in the front end can be detected. Plugins that work only in the admin (backups, security scanners, editors’ tools) stay invisible.

FAQ

How can I tell if a website uses WordPress?

Look in the page source for /wp-content/ or /wp-includes/ paths, or try opening /wp-json/ on the domain. Pickode’s free tech stack panel also tells you whether the site runs WordPress and which builder it uses.

What’s a child theme, and how do I spot one?

A child theme inherits from a parent theme and holds the site’s customizations. You’ll usually see two folders under wp-content/themes/, and the child’s style.css header has a Template: line with the parent’s folder name.

Why does the detector show a theme name I can’t find anywhere?

The theme is probably custom or renamed, so the folder name was chosen by the developer. Check the style.css header for an author name or URL, which often leads to the agency that built it.

Can I see a site’s plugins without admin access?

Only the ones that leave traces in the front end, such as their CSS and JavaScript files, HTML comments or REST namespaces. Admin-only plugins can’t be seen from outside.

If you check WordPress sites often, for quotes, audits or curiosity, install Pickode and open the WordPress panel on the next site you visit: the summary and the tech stack are free.