How to Tell if a Website Is Built on Shopify (4 Quick Checks)

Shopify powers millions of online stores worldwide, and knowing how to tell if a website is built on Shopify helps ecommerce entrepreneurs research competitors, agencies identify prospects, and developers understand the market. Here are four quick, reliable checks.

Why Identify Shopify Stores?

Detecting a Shopify store is useful for:

Competitive research: Understanding what platform your competitors use, and what apps they might be running

Market research: Estimating scale (Shopify plan tiers come with different feature sets)

Business development: Agencies can identify potential clients using outdated or poorly configured Shopify setups

App development: Developers building Shopify apps can identify test sites

The Instant Method: AIWebsiteDetector.com

Before any manual checking, try AIWebsiteDetector.com. Paste the store URL and get an instant detection result. The scanner checks all Shopify signals simultaneously and also identifies which major Shopify apps are installed on the store.

Check 1: Look for the Shopify CDN

Shopify hosts all store assets (images, JavaScript, CSS) on its own CDN with the domain cdn.shopify.com. This is the most reliable Shopify fingerprint.

View the page source (Ctrl+U / Cmd+U) and search for shopify. You'll typically find:

The path structure cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/[store-id]/ is unique to Shopify and unmistakable. Even highly customized Shopify stores cannot remove these CDN references because they're generated by Shopify's Liquid template engine.

Check 2: Visit the /checkout Page

Try navigating to https://example.com/checkout.

Shopify's checkout is served from checkout.shopify.com or redirects through Shopify's checkout system. You'll see Shopify branding in the browser tab title and a distinctive Shopify-generated checkout form. Even if the storefront is heavily customized with a custom theme, Shopify controls the checkout process and its fingerprint is very visible there.

Additionally, on Shopify stores with the default setup, product pages include a form with:

This /cart/add endpoint is a standard Shopify route.

Check 3: Check the Page Source for Shopify-Specific Variables

Shopify's Liquid template engine injects a global JavaScript object called Shopify into every page. Search the page source for:

window.Shopify or just Shopify =

Shopify.shop — contains the myshopify.com domain

Shopify.theme — contains the theme name and ID

Example:

window.Shopify = window.Shopify || {};

The Shopify.shop value will always end in .myshopify.com — this is the underlying Shopify store domain regardless of what custom domain the store uses on the frontend.

Check 4: Try the .myshopify.com Domain

Every Shopify store has a permanent subdomain on myshopify.com. If you can find the store's myshopify subdomain (visible in the Shopify.shop JavaScript variable as described above), visiting [storename].myshopify.com will redirect to the live store — confirming it's hosted on Shopify.

Comparison of Shopify Detection Signals

| Signal | Reliability | Where to Find |

No window.Shopify object is injected

The checkout still runs through Shopify, but the main site looks like a custom build

Headless Shopify is difficult to detect from the frontend alone. AIWebsiteDetector.com uses API endpoint probing to detect some headless Shopify configurations, but full headless setups may not be identifiable.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a Shopify store hide that it's using Shopify?

For standard Shopify stores: very difficult. The CDN domain and JavaScript variables are injected automatically by Shopify's platform. For headless implementations: yes, the storefront can look completely custom. But the majority of Shopify stores use standard themes and are easily detectable.

How can I tell which Shopify theme a store uses?

Check the page source for the theme name in the CDN path: cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/[id]/t/[theme-id]/. You can also look for theme-specific CSS class names. Some stores use paid marketplace themes from ThemeForest or the Shopify Theme Store that have recognizable class patterns.

Can I tell what Shopify apps a store uses?

Partially. Many Shopify apps inject JavaScript or CSS with their name in the file path. For example, apps from popular providers like Klaviyo, ReCharge, or Yotpo leave identifiable script tags. AIWebsiteDetector.com detects many common Shopify apps.

How many stores use Shopify in 2026?

Shopify hosts over 5 million active stores as of 2026 and processes hundreds of billions in GMV annually. It remains the dominant ecommerce platform for direct-to-consumer brands.

What's the difference between Shopify and WooCommerce?

Shopify is a hosted SaaS platform — your store runs on Shopify's servers. WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that you install on your own server. WooCommerce stores have WordPress fingerprints (wp-content paths) rather than Shopify CDN references. See our guide on how to tell if a website uses WordPress.

Ready to Scan?

Use AIWebsiteDetector.com to instantly identify any Shopify store. The scanner also detects WooCommerce, Webflow, Framer, and dozens of other platforms — making it your go-to tool for any tech stack research.