It’s human nature that whenever we browse something on the internet and we find a website interesting, we keep on obsessing about it. Whether it can be the design template that the website is using or the plugins which they have integrated with their WordPress CMS. Here are some of the tips that I will be sharing with you for what plugins does this WordPress site use?
As a website owner, there are so many instances where you desire to integrate the features that you observe from other websites. Because the plugins help in many ways. When the core functionality of the website is completely dependent on the nature of the plugin, it helps you in automation, lead generation, marketing, and so many other ways. This is the reason you need to implement the right plugin for your WordPress website.
But when it comes to what kind of WordPress plugin the site is using it can be a tricky part. There are some ways where you can check the plugins, but the data is not as accurate as checking the plugins from the perspective of a website owner. But we get you some of the best ways to check which WordPress plugin does this website use?
Page Contents
What plugins does this WordPress site use?
As I mentioned, there are many ways where you can check which plugin is the WordPress website using. These are some popular methods that help you to get the closest accurate data from which you can gain some insights.
1. Checking it through online applications
There are many online tools where you can check the plugins of a WordPress website. This is one of the most convenient ways where you can check what plugin the WordPress website is using. The applications have been programmed for detecting on the basis of the programming language that the website has been encoded. Based on that data, the online tools will be able to tell you what the plugin is all about.
The process is so easy that you just need to enter the URL of the websites that you have seen and the online tool does the job for you. You can scan any type of WordPress website, the results that will be generated from these tools are instantaneous. The software checks through various parameters based on the plugin tags, version, description, screenshot, and other IDs. It also crawls across the web pages and finds out the source code that is redirecting towards the plugin. In this way, the WordPress plugin detectors can easily notify you all about the plugin name.
Plugin detector tools:
The downside of these online applications would be the lack of reliable data. The dashboard and results that you find through this application can find it pleasing to you, but the accuracy is not guaranteed. As some of the websites will be heavily coded, that is the reason the plugin detector software won’t be able to give out the results. And if the plugin name conflicts with other plugins, then the online plugin detectors can’t give you accurate data.
Overall, the plugin detector tools do the job. You can also cross-check the data through other steps that we are going to discuss further.
2. Checking the WordPress website source code
This is another popular way to check which plugin the WordPress site is using. As the WordPress website source code is dependent on the HTML version, it is very easy to check its source and find out which plugin does the WordPress website use. There are around three ways from which you can find out the WordPress plugin just by glancing through the page source. All three methods have a dependence by checking the page source of the homepage of the website.
Finding the code that has been mentioned as plugins
When you visit the page source of the home section, you can hit the Control + F or Command + F and use the search bar by typing the query as “wp-content/plugins”. When you type this query, it automatically detects whether the plugin is mentioned on the page source.
Alternatively, you can even check the CSS or JS files for in-depth results. Because sometimes the plugin name will be hidden within these web files. This is one of the easiest ways in finding the WordPress plugin name through the codes that they have integrated into the HTML page.
Checking for the description
From the page source, you can observe some plugins will have a description embedded within their source code. It helps the website owner to know what the code is all about. And with this code, the plugin name is integrated. In this way, you’ll easily come to a conclusion for understanding the plugin name of the WordPress website.
You can also use other search query to find out in more detail to determine the functionality of the website. It can be the pop-up, SEO tool, and other terms through which you can check for the description of HTML comments left by the plugin developers.
Checking through the HTML components
To perform this function, you need to click the inspect element rather than visiting the page source of the webpage. When you hit the inspect element, you can find various attributes associated with the webpage. You can explore each and every element based on the use cases that are reflecting on the homepage. To cross verify, you can delete those elements and check whether this is the right element that is performing the webpage function.
The HTML components that you can check through are the “ID” or “Class” names. This will give you an overview of the web elements associated with the WordPress plugins. You can also notice from the image the code lines are termed as “div class” or “div id”, through these terms it is one of the most effective ways in finding out the plugin name of the website.
Learn: Why my WordPress website is Slow?
3. Reverse engineering
When I term reverse engineering, it’s not like you have to dismantle the entire website and check for all the functionality of the platform. You can assume the functions based on how it is executing on the WordPress website.
Let’s take an example of when you observe a popup being displayed on the homepage of the website. So when you know that this is the pop-up displayed on site, you can go to the WordPress plugin store and search the query as a popup plugin. When you type this search query, you will find a list of options that you need to check its descriptions and screenshots to relate it.
From the list of options, one can cross-verify whether this is the plugin that is used on the WordPress website or not. Through this, you can easily perform the real reverse engineering function and it will help you to get the name of the WordPress plugin.
Alternatively, you’ll also find the list of other options which are related to the plugin name. Sometimes you can even find better plugins than the existing plugin in which the WordPress website that you have seen is using.
If you don’t want to search it through the WordPress plugin store, you can also take the help of any search engine. From the search engine, when you hit the search query, it will let you know the list of probable plugins based on what you are seeking for.
4. Taking the help of an internet forum
There are so many forums on the internet that are available for you to reach out with your query at free of cost. Let me tell you that these forums are highly active based on the type of thread that you are going to ask the members. There are some popular forums that are dedicated to WordPress from which you can easily get the solutions.
You can also find other question and answer websites such as Quora and Answers.com. Through these web websites, you can reach out to technical experts who have experience in the WordPress domain. When you request an answer on the basis of your query, there are high chances for them to respond to you by finding out the plugin name.
You need to have patience to get solutions from this method. Because you can’t expect the forum members to reach out to you immediately when you publish the question. They will take some time in researching and finding the plugin name. Sometimes they also help you in suggesting better plugin names that the existing WordPress site is using.
5. Reach out to the website owner
You heard it right, the solution is that simple as it is. The downside is that there is a high chance for you to not receive any response, as they can’t share the details due to policy. But, there is no harm in giving it a try!
The process is very simple. Visit the contact us page of the WordPress website and find the contact email details or the phone number. Based on the contact mode of communication, draft a polite email showing your interest in knowing the plugin name being utilized in the site. You can also compliment them on how the site has been developed and its functionality. These are some of the basic ways that boost the conversion chances for the website owner to respond to you.
You can also reach out through the official social media channels of the website. There is a possibility for you to get solutions through this technique as well.
6. Hire a web developer
If you don’t want to spend more time on this process, hiring a web developer will be the ideal way to proceed with this constraint. You can find web developers from Fiverr, Upwork, and Freelancer and hire them for this purpose.
You can put out your requirements and the budget associated with this. Based on that, web developers will assess the requirement and give their scope of work with estimation. You can shortlist the web developers and initiate the process.
If you are willing to hire a web developer, it will be better if you can take the assistance of them for other functions. Like, It can be checking the theme of the website or the other plugins which are being utilized in the site. This will help you to get a better ROI through this technique.
Related: How to get premium WordPress themes for free?
Concluding thoughts
I hope that you got an answer for how to check which WordPress plugin is the website using. The above steps are easy to perform and do not require any technical expertise. Based on the time and the budget that you have allocated for this purpose, you can perform the function accordingly.
When you are able to find out the WordPress plugin name associated with the site, you can replicate the same strategy to find out the theme name of the WP site. By doing it in a proper manner, you will easily find answers to understand everything about that website.
If you know any other ways in finding out the plugin name, please let us know in the comment section below.