What WordPress theme is that? We checked 1,241 sites (2026 study)
Our own study of 1,241 WordPress sites: which themes, page builders and SEO plugins real sites run, how big sites differ from small ones, and how to identify a theme in a minute.
To find out what WordPress theme a site uses, open its source code and search for /wp-content/themes/: the folder name right after it is the theme. In our study this identified the theme on 1,241 of 1,450 WordPress sites, and the most common one was Hello Elementor (5.6%), followed by Astra (3.1%). But the main finding is different: 58% of sites run on a custom or rare theme that you cannot buy or download. We checked 10,979 domains from the Tranco ranking: four popularity ranges worldwide plus Ukrainian and Polish sites. Below: which themes, page builders and plugins real sites run, how big sites differ from small ones, and how to identify any site's theme in a minute.
Key findings
- The theme market is extremely fragmented. 1,241 sites use 821 different themes, and 733 of them appeared exactly once. The ten most common themes together cover only 21% of sites.
- The leaders are free. Hello Elementor, Astra and GeneratePress, all from the WordPress.org directory. Among premium themes, Newspaper, Divi and WoodMart lead.
- Big sites build their own theme. In the top 10,000, 78% of WordPress sites run a custom or rare theme; in the 500K–1M range it is down to 50%. Elementor moves the other way: 12% on big sites, 33% on small ones.
- Updates lag behind. 52% of sites on free directory themes run an outdated theme version. 49% of sites reveal their WordPress version, and 6% of those are still on the 5.x branch or older.
What WordPress theme is that: how to check
There are three ways, from the quickest to the most manual.
- CMS detector. Paste the address into the CMS and WordPress theme detector. It finds the theme folder in the code, reads the style.css header (name, author, version), shows the parent theme if a child theme is active, and lists plugins visible in the page code.
- Page source. Open the site, press Ctrl+U (Cmd+Option+U on a Mac) and search for "wp-content/themes". The word after that path is the theme folder, for example /wp-content/themes/astra/.
- The theme's style.css. Add style.css to the folder address: site.com/wp-content/themes/astra/style.css. WordPress requires a header at the top of this file with Theme Name, Author and Version fields, and a child theme also has Template with the parent theme's name.
How we checked
On 26 October 2026 we took the Tranco ranking (a list of the most visited domains used by researchers) and built a sample:
- Worldwide: 2,000 random domains from each of four ranking ranges: top 10,000, 10K–100K, 100K–500K, 500K–1M.
- Ukraine and Poland: 1,500 random domains each in the .ua and .pl zones.
- What we checked: one homepage request per domain. WordPress was identified by /wp-content/ and /wp-includes/ paths, the generator meta tag and the wp-json address. The theme was found via the /wp-content/themes/ path, then we read the style.css header. Themes were matched against the WordPress.org directory through its public API and against a list of well-known premium themes.
7,428 domains returned a page, 1,450 ran WordPress, and the theme was identified on 1,241. WordPress's share in our sample is lower than in industry trackers: the top of the ranking has many service domains (CDNs, APIs, apps), some sites block bots, and we only looked at the homepage. That is why the shares below are of WordPress sites, not of the whole web.
Result 1: the most popular WordPress themes
The leader, Hello Elementor, is a nearly blank theme from the Elementor team: it adds minimal styling, and pages are built in the page builder. In effect, its popularity is Elementor's popularity. Astra, GeneratePress, Kadence and Blocksy are also free and lightweight, each with between 300,000 and over a million active installs according to WordPress.org.
Paid themes tell a different story: Newspaper lives on news and media sites, WoodMart and Flatsome on online stores, Divi and Avada come with their own builders. Genesis, once the standard for blogs, still shows up on 13 sites.
Result 2: more than half of sites run their own theme
The most surprising finding: 719 of 1,241 sites (58%) run a theme that is neither in the WordPress.org directory nor on our premium list. Most often it is a theme built for that specific site by an agency or an in-house team, less often a renamed copy of a ready-made theme. In that case a detector will show the folder name and header, but you will not be able to "buy the same one".
The link to site size is clear. In the top 10,000, 78% of WordPress sites run their own theme: media, corporations and services with in-house development. Toward the tail of the ranking the share drops to 50%, replaced by free directory themes (30%) and premium ones (20%).
Ukrainian sites have the highest share of premium themes, 27%. The most common theme in .ua is Newspaper (13 of 177 sites), followed by Reboot, Foxiz and WoodMart: lots of news and regional media. Polish sites are led by Hello Elementor and Astra and have the fewest premium themes, 16%.
Result 3: page builders, stores and SEO plugins
Elementor is visible on 26% of all WordPress sites in the sample. Other builders trail far behind: WPBakery 8%, Divi 7%, Beaver Builder 1%, Oxygen and Bricks under 1%. Block editor styles (wp-block-library) load on roughly half of the sites.
WooCommerce runs on 11% of WordPress sites, and on 21% in the .pl zone: Polish small businesses sell through WordPress a lot. Among plugins visible in homepage code, the most common are Contact Form 7 (19%), Elementor, WooCommerce, Google Site Kit and WPML.
| Plugin | All WordPress sites | .ua sites | .pl sites |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact Form 7 | 19% | 31% | 31% |
| Yoast SEO | 40% | 32% | 37% |
| Rank Math | 11% | 22% | 11% |
| All in One SEO | 5% | 8% | 6% |
| WPML (multilingual) | 6% | 14% | 6% |
| LiteSpeed Cache | 13% | 14% | 17% |
| WP Rocket | 10% | 6% | 7% |
A plugin counts if its trace is visible in the homepage code: a file path or a service comment. Plugins that output nothing on the page are invisible to this method, so real shares are higher.
For SEO, the most interesting point is Rank Math in Ukraine: 22% versus 11% on average, almost level with Yoast. And WPML: 14% of Ukrainian WordPress sites are multilingual, usually Ukrainian plus English.
Result 4: WordPress and theme versions
- 49% of sites reveal their WordPress version. 707 of 1,450 kept the generator meta tag. Of those, 59% run the current 7.1.3, another 6% other 7.1 builds, and 44 sites (6%) the long-outdated 5.x branch or older.
- Themes lag more than core. For 244 sites on free directory themes we compared the style.css version with the latest on WordPress.org: 126 (52%) run an outdated version.
- Child themes are rare. Only 95 of the 1,037 sites where we could read the header have an active child theme (9%). The rest edit the parent theme directly or not at all, and then a theme update can wipe the changes.
What this means if you are choosing a theme
See what your reference sites are built on
Run 5–10 competitor sites or examples you like through the CMS detector. If they use Hello Elementor, Astra or Kadence, you can build something similar for free. If it is a custom theme, take the structure as a reference, not "the same theme".
Pick a lightweight base
The leaders of the sample are lightweight base themes. Heavy multipurpose premium themes with their own builder give you many ready-made blocks but are slower and harder to migrate away from. For SEO, load speed and a stable mobile layout matter more than the number of demos.
Create a child theme right away
Keep all code changes in a child theme so parent theme updates do not wipe them. According to our data, only 9% of sites do this.
Keep the theme and core updated
Half of the sites on free themes run an old theme version. Turn on auto-updates for directory themes and plugins or check for updates once a week.
Questions and answers
How do I find out what WordPress theme a site is using?
Open the page source (Ctrl+U) and search for /wp-content/themes/: the folder name after it is the theme. The style.css file in that folder shows the name, author and version. It is quicker with a free CMS detector, which finds the theme, the parent theme and visible plugins automatically.
What is the most popular WordPress theme?
In our sample of 1,241 sites, the most common is Hello Elementor (5.6%), then Astra (3.1%), GeneratePress and Newspaper (2.3% each), and Divi (1.8%). At the same time, 58% of sites run a custom or rare theme.
Why can't a detector find a site's theme?
It happens on roughly one in seven WordPress sites: theme files are served from a CDN under a different address, the folder is renamed, or styles are bundled into one file. In our sample, the theme path was not visible on 209 of 1,450 sites.
Can I download a theme I found on another site?
If it is a free theme from the WordPress.org directory, yes, you can install it from the dashboard. A premium theme has to be bought from its author. A custom theme was built for that specific site, and you cannot copy it without the owner's permission.
Does a WordPress theme affect SEO?
Search engines do not rate themes directly, but the theme determines load speed, mobile layout and page markup. A lightweight, maintained theme makes SEO easier; a heavy, abandoned one gets in the way. In our data, 52% of sites on free themes run an outdated version.
Sources: PromoPilot's own study of 26.10.2026 (10,979 domains from the Tranco ranking, homepages, 1,450 WordPress sites, 1,241 with an identified theme); the WordPress.org theme directory and its API; the WordPress version API. Prepared by the PromoPilot team.
