If you have a WordPress-based website, it’s important to always update your WordPress to the newest version. In addition to allowing you to use the latest features, security is another reason why you have to do so. You will see a notification on the dashboard area when a new version of WordPress is available and you can simply click the link to update your WordPress. But first, you might be wondering what WordPress version currently installed on your website. There are at least 4 ways to check the WordPress version on your website, which we will cover in this article.
If you plan to update your WordPress right after checking the currently installed version, make sure to make a backup first just in case everything doesn’t go as expected. You can either use a backup plugin or make the backup manually.
4 ways to check the WordPress version
1. From the dashboard
The easiest way to check the WordPress version installed on your website is via the dashboard. To do so, login to your WordPress dashboard. Once logged in, hover your mouse over the WordPress icon on the top-left corner and click About WordPress. This will take you to About page where you can check the WordPress version on your site.
As you can see, the About page provides some information about WordPress. From the currently installed version, newest features, and so on.
2. By viewing the source code
If you have no access to the WordPress dashboard, you can still be able to check the WordPress version. One of which is by viewing the source code of the website you want to check its WordPress version. If you use Google Chrome, you can right-click and select View page source or simply press the Ctrl+U keys on your keyboard (more Google Chrome shortcuts). You can find the WordPress version on the meta section as shown on the image below.
It takes a little effort to find the line above. You can use the Find feature (Ctrl+F in most cases) on your browser to ease your job.
3. From the RSS feed
Every WordPress site has a default RSS feed. Unless the site you want to check its WordPress version uses a custom RSS, you can check its default RSS to check the WordPress version. Simply type rss right after the domain name to view the default RSS. Example: bettertechtips.com/rss. You can find the WordPress version on the channel section on the RSS body.
4. Using a third-party tool
Another option to check the WordPress version of a website is by using a third-party tool. One of the tools that you can use is Builtwith. Simply visit the Builtwith website and type the URL of the website you want to check its WordPress version and click the Lookup button.
You can check the WordPress version on the Content Management System section under the Technology Profile tab.
If you use Google Chrome, you can also install the WhatRuns extension to check the WordPress version of a website. However, the information generated by WhatRuns is not accurate enough especially when it comes to checking the WordPress version.