Quick question for freelancers, agencies and SEO/marketing folks. When you need to know what a website runs (CMS, frameworks, analytics) or check its SEO basics — your own site, a competitor’s, or a prospect’s — how do you do it today? Free tool, paid tool, manual check? And if you’ve used Wappalyzer or BuiltWith: what do you pay, and what annoys you about it? Thanks
Lots of tools are available, you already mention some tool
For SEO - use TinySEO. They have an amazing site audit at a fraction of the cost of semrush or ahrefs.
For tech stack - use wappalyzer you mentioned. I do not think there is a better solution than wappalyzer.
for a quick free check i just use chrome devtools. right-click > inspect > network tab tells you more about what’s running than most paid tools. you can see every script, API call, and framework loading in real time. for CMS detection specifically, checking the page source for things like ‘Shopify.theme’ or ‘wp-content’ takes about 3 seconds.
for SEO basics, google’s own PageSpeed Insights and Search Console are free and arguably more useful than paid tools for most freelancers. the expensive stuff like ahrefs and semrush are worth it for backlink analysis and competitor research but overkill if you just need to know if a site’s technically sound.
Hi @QueenIA ,
For a quick technology check, I usually start with Wappalyzer and then verify manually using browser DevTools, page source, network requests, and HTTP headers. For SEO basics, I use Google Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights, and SEO extensions such as Detailed SEO.
My biggest issue with tools like Wappalyzer and BuiltWith is accuracy. They sometimes miss technologies, report outdated tools, or detect something that is no longer actively used. The pricing can also feel high if you only need occasional lookups rather than large-scale lead generation.
What I’d find most useful is a tool that combines reliable tech detection, core SEO checks, and clear explanations in one place without requiring an expensive subscription.
@QueenIA For Shopify stores, I use Wappalyzer for a quick tech-stack overview, but I still rely on manual checks for site speed, SEO, theme structure, and app impact. My biggest issue with tools like Wappalyzer and BuiltWith is that they show what’s installed, but not whether it’s actually helping performance, conversions, or SEO.
Hi @QueenIA
Hi, I’m Vineet from Identixweb, a Shopify development company.
For quick checks, I usually use Wappalyzer, BuiltWith, WhatRuns, Chrome DevTools, and view source to identify CMS, Shopify apps, analytics, pixels, and frameworks.
For SEO basics, I use Screaming Frog, Ahrefs/Semrush, Google Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, Rich Results Test, and SEO Minion.
My experience with Wappalyzer is that it’s fast but not always accurate, and BuiltWith gives more depth but can feel expensive if you only need quick checks.
I usually use Wappalyzer for a quick tech stack check and manually verify the SEO basics.
Try TinySEO site audit. I think you will like it
There is a site called TechPeeker you can put a website url and press analyze and it will show you technologies used on that site
Hi @QueenIA ， for quick audits, I would say you can use combination of few tools for better results
- Wappalyzer offers quick overview of CMS, apps, analytics and frameworks, the extension is enough for casual checks.
- BuiltWith provides more comprehensive historical data and technology tracking, but this need bigger budget, especially if you do lots of research
- Ahrefs or Semrush would be good for backlink profiles traffic estimates, top pages,…
- Or you can always perform manual checks using Chrome DevTools, Page Speed Insights,..
I don’t use Wappalyzer or BuiltWith so I don’t really know their drawbacks.
For SEO specifically, you should care less about technology, and care more about site indexability, Core Web Vitals, Internal linking, structured data, backlinks, content quality these kinda things. If you’re looking for a tool paring tech-stack detection and SEO audit, you can try SEOWILL (here), which helps you identify actual SEO opportunities as well as issues such as missing metadata, content gaps, technical SEO improvements
Hope this helps!!
Hi @QueenIA For tech stack, honestly just check the page source. cdn.shopify.com means Shopify and you get the theme name too. Wappalyzer misses a lot on customized builds.
For SEO, we use SEO Lab. Full site audit right inside the store, broken links, meta, speed and schema all in one scan. It is the top rated SEO app on the app store right now so worth trying before paying for the big suites.