How to find which version of WordPress your website uses

Back Posted on 22 Jul 2016

There are many ways to find out which version of WordPress your website uses. Some require only public access to the website, others require admin or server access.

If you have public access

Check the generator META tag in the source code

By default WordPress adds the current version as a META tag which can be found by viewing the source of public pages on your website.

View the source and search for generator. Some themes and plugins also add generator META tags so look for one that specifies it is for WordPress eg.

<meta name="generator" content="WordPress 4.5.3" />

Try an automated tool

builtwith.com attempts to identify the software and technologies that websites are built with.

Enter a website address to find out if the tool can tell you which version of WordPress is running.

The accuracy of this method cannot be guaranteed as security conscious web developers will remove WordPress version information from public view.

Check the documentation

WordPress includes a readme file containing basic information to get started using the platform. Right at the top of the file is the WordPress version number.

To find out if the readme file is available navigate to: http://www.yourdomain.co.uk/readme.html

If a blank page or 404 not found error is returned the web developer has removed the file for security reasons.

If you have admin access

Login to the WordPress admin dashboard

The WordPress version is displayed at the bottom right of the admin dashboard, simply scroll down to find it eg. Version 4.5.3

If a core update is available the current version is replaced with an update prompt eg. Get Version 4.5.3

Check the About page

If the version number is replaced with an update prompt you can find your WordPress version by viewing the about page.

Either follow the About WordPress link found in the menu under the WordPress logo in the admin bar at the top of the page or manually enter the About page URL into your browser's address bar: http://www.yourdomain.co.uk/wp-admin/about.php

View the source of the admin login page

To use this method you don't need a username or password, just access to the login page. The default location is http://www.domain.co.uk/wp-admin however security concious web developers will change this to help prevent unauthorised attempts to login.

If you can access the admin login page view the source and search for: ver=

The WordPress version is appended to core files including stylesheets eg.

<link rel='stylesheet' id='login-css' href='https://www.example.com/wp-admin/css/login.min.css?ver=4.4.2' type='text/css' media='all' />

Be aware that other files from third parties such as jQuery may include a version number and should be ignored.

If you have access to the web server eg. via FTP

View the source of wp-includes\version.php

Download version.php from: \wwroot\wp-includes\version.php

Open the file in your favourite text editor and look for the $wp_version variable which identifies the WordPress core version: $wp_version = '4.5.3';

Outdated methods

As of November 2020 the following methods no longer reveal your WordPress version number.

View the source of wp-admin\about.php

Download about.php from: \wwroot\wp-admin\about.php

Open the file in your favourite text editor and look for the line relating to Release Notes. The WordPress version number is in the URL.

For more information, see <a href="%s">the release notes</a>.' ), 'https://codex.wordpress.org/Version_4.5.3