Shopify Theme Detector by PageFly - What Shopify Theme is that?

What Is a Shopify Theme Detector?

A Shopify theme detector is a free tool that identifies which theme any Shopify store is using. Paste a store URL, click "Detect," and get the exact theme name in seconds—whether it's an official Shopify theme or a custom-built design.

Trusted by 200,000+ Shopify merchants worldwide

PageFly's theme detector cross-references a database of 10,000+ themes, including all 150+ official Shopify Theme Store designs and thousands of third-party custom themes. Whether you're researching competitors, gathering design inspiration, or evaluating themes before purchase, get accurate answers instantly.

💡 Read more: Top 40+ Best Shopify Themes (Free + Paid) For New Merchants

How to Find What Theme a Shopify Store Is Using

Using PageFly's Shopify theme detector takes less than 30 seconds. Follow these three steps:

Step 1: Copy the Store URL

Navigate to the Shopify store you want to analyze. Copy the full URL from your browser's address bar.

Accepted formats:

• Root domain: allbirds.com
• Full URL: https://www.gymshark.com/collections/all

Step 2: Paste and Detect

Enter the URL into the detector field at the top of this page. Click "Detect Theme."

The tool scans the store's front-end code and cross-references it against PageFly's database of 10,000+ Shopify themes—including all official Shopify Theme Store options and thousands of third-party designs.

Step 3: View Your Results

Within seconds, the detector reveals:

What Your Shopify Theme Detection Results Mean

After running a URL through the Shopify theme detector, you'll receive one of three result types. Each indicates a different design approach—and requires a different strategy if you want to achieve a similar look for your own store.

Result 1: Official Shopify Theme

What it means: The store uses an unmodified theme from the official Shopify Theme Store.

You'll see:

• Exact theme name (e.g., "Dawn," "Prestige," "Impulse")
• Direct link to the theme in Shopify's marketplace
• Price: Free or $180–$380 for premium themes

What to do next:

Result 2: Customized Official Theme

What it means: The store uses an official Shopify theme as its foundation, but developers have modified the code. The detector identifies the base theme while noting that customizations were applied.

Common customizations include:

• Custom sections not available in the theme editor
• Unique page layouts or navigation structures
• Advanced features (mega menus, custom filters, animations)
• Brand-specific styling beyond standard settings

What to do next:

Most merchants can achieve 80% of a "customized" look using a page builder—without touching code.

👉 [See how PageFly works] to build custom sections on any Shopify theme.

Result 3: Fully Custom-Built Theme

What it means: The store uses a bespoke theme built entirely from scratch. This design doesn't exist in the Shopify Theme Store or any third-party marketplace—it was developed exclusively for that merchant.

Brands that typically use custom themes:

• Enterprise retailers (Allbirds, Gymshark, Fashion Nova)
• Stores requiring unique functionality
• Businesses with dedicated development teams

What to do next:

You don't always need a fully custom theme. Many successful stores achieve unique designs by pairing a strong base theme with strategic customization.

👉 Calculate your Shopify costs to see if custom development fits your budget.

Quick Reference: Results at a Glance

Still not sure what to do with your result?

• Explore [top free Shopify themes] if you're starting on a budget
• Learn [how to customize your Shopify theme] for DIY modifications
• Try [PageFly free] to build custom pages without hiring a developer

Shopify Theme Examples – See the Detector in Action

Wondering what themes successful Shopify stores actually use? We ran three top-performing stores through PageFly's Shopify theme detector to show you real results—and explain why each theme choice works for that brand.

Examples last verified: November 2026

Example 1: Allbirds — Sustainable Footwear

Why this theme works for their niche:

Allbirds built a $1B+ brand around simplicity and sustainability. Their custom theme reflects these values through minimalist design that puts product photography and materials storytelling front and center.

Key design choices:

• Clean, distraction-free layouts keep focus on product details
• Integrated sustainability messaging woven throughout (not bolted on)
• Streamlined navigation suits their focused product catalog
• Fast page load times align with eco-conscious brand values

What you can learn: If you have a focused product line with a strong brand narrative, prioritize clean layouts that let your story shine. You don't necessarily need custom development—a minimal theme like [Dawn (free)] or [Craft ($300)] achieves similar simplicity.

Example 2: Gymshark — Fitness & Athletic Apparel

Why this theme works for their niche:

Gymshark grew from a garage startup to a £1B+ brand through community marketing and aspirational visuals. Their theme is built for high-volume catalogs and social-media-driven shoppers.

Key design choices:

• Bold, high-contrast visuals match their energetic brand personality
• Advanced filtering system handles 1,000+ products across categories
• Athlete ambassador sections built into the theme architecture
• Mobile-first experience serves their Gen-Z, Instagram-driven audience

What you can learn: High-SKU apparel brands need strong filtering and visual impact. If custom development isn't in your budget, themes like [Impulse ($350)] or [Symmetry ($340)] offer advanced filtering and bold layouts out of the box.

Example 3: Asceno — Luxury Sleepwear & Resort Wear

Why this theme works for their niche:

Asceno positions themselves as a luxury lifestyle brand, not just a sleepwear company. Founded on principles of comfort, ease, versatility, and responsibility, their silk pyjamas, linen pieces, and swimwear command premium prices. The Prestige theme's editorial design elevates this positioning beautifully.

Key design choices:

• Editorial-style layouts showcase the brand's refined aesthetic and material storytelling
• High-resolution imagery focus lets luxurious silk textures and craftsmanship speak for themselves
• Elegant typography and generous whitespace reinforce the premium price point ($200–$500+ per piece)
• Minimalist navigation suits a curated, focused product catalog
• Lifestyle imagery integration blends resort and loungewear visuals seamlessly

What you can learn: Luxury fashion brands don't always need custom themes. Prestige delivers the sophistication Asceno needs at a fraction of custom development costs—proving that theme selection, not budget, determines brand perception.

What These Examples Reveal

The pattern: Two of three examples use custom themes—but that doesn't mean you need one. Asceno proves that a well-chosen premium theme delivers professional, luxury-tier results. And for the custom-theme looks? A combination of a solid base theme + [PageFly's page builder] gets you 80% of the way there.

Why Shopify Merchants Use Theme Detection

A Shopify theme detector isn't just a curiosity tool—it's a strategic resource used by e-commerce professionals to make faster, smarter decisions. Here are the four most valuable ways merchants apply theme detection to their business.

1. Competitor Research and Market Intelligence

When you identify what theme a competitor uses, you learn more than their visual preferences. You gain insight into their operational decisions and technology investments.

What competitor theme detection reveals:

How to apply this strategically:

Run theme detection across 10-20 competitors in your niche before finalizing your own theme choice. Look for patterns: if top performers cluster around specific themes, those options likely offer features suited to your product category. If no competitors use a theme you're considering, you might gain differentiation—or discover hidden limitations they've already learned about.

This competitive audit takes minutes but informs decisions worth thousands of dollars.

2. Design Inspiration with Actionable Context

Pinterest boards and "best Shopify stores" galleries show beautiful designs, but they rarely tell you how to achieve similar results. Theme detection bridges that gap.

The problem with inspiration without context:

You find a stunning store, fall in love with the design, then spend weeks trying to recreate the look—only to discover it's a $50,000 custom build. Or you purchase a theme expecting certain results, then realize the aspirational store heavily customized their version.

How theme detection solves this:

When you detect a theme, you immediately learn whether that aesthetic comes from:

• An off-the-shelf theme you can purchase today
• A customized official theme requiring some developer work
• A fully bespoke build outside typical budgets

This context transforms vague inspiration into actionable planning.

The pattern-matching approach:

Save 5-10 stores that match your vision. Run each through the detector. Look for commonalities:

👉 See 40+ Best Shopify Store Examples for curated inspiration across industries.

3. Theme Evaluation Before Purchase

Source: Blum Shopify Theme

Shopify Theme Store demos show themes with perfect placeholder content, ideal image ratios, and carefully curated sample products. Real stores reveal how themes actually perform.

Why demos can mislead:

How to validate before you buy:

Before spending $180–$380 on a premium theme, find 3-5 live stores using that theme. The detector shows you which stores run your candidate theme, letting you evaluate:

• Real product photography: How does the theme handle images similar to yours?
• Catalog scale: Does navigation and filtering work with large inventories?
• Content flexibility: How do different stores adapt the same theme?
• Mobile experience: Test the live stores on your phone

The cost of skipping validation:

The wrong theme doesn't just waste the purchase price. It wastes weeks of customization before you discover fundamental limitations—then costs more when you switch themes and start over.

👉 Check out the Best Shopify Themes for 2026 by industry and budget.

4. Clearer Communication When Hiring Developers

When working with Shopify developers or agencies, specificity reduces cost and prevents miscommunication.

The vague brief problem:

How theme detection improves the conversation:

Arriving with theme detection research transforms developer discussions:

The business impact:

Agencies report that clients who arrive with theme detection research complete projects 30-40% faster than those starting from vague inspiration. Clear references mean:

• Accurate quotes (no surprise scope changes)
• Faster timelines (less back-and-forth on direction)
• Better results (shared visual vocabulary)

→ [Learn How to Customize Any Shopify Theme] before your developer conversation.

Quick Reference: When to Use Theme Detection

Most Popular Shopify Themes in 2026 — Original Data

What themes do Shopify stores actually use? We analyzed 47,382 theme detections from PageFly's Shopify theme detector to reveal which themes dominate the ecosystem—and what the data tells us about e-commerce design trends.

Data period: November 2026 | Updated monthly

Top 10 Shopify Themes by Detection Volume

Remaining 25%: distributed across 140+ other themes and custom builds

Key Findings

Free Themes Dominate the Market

52% of all Shopify stores run free themes.

Despite 150+ premium options priced $180–$380, the majority of merchants choose free themes. Dawn alone powers nearly one-quarter of all detected stores—making it the single most popular Shopify theme in 2026.

Why free themes win:

• New merchants prioritize cash flow over upfront design costs
• Dawn's Online Store 2.0 architecture handles most customization needs
• Page builders enable custom layouts without theme upgrades
• Shopify's investment in free theme quality has closed the gap with premium options

The Premium Theme Power Law

Among paid themes, market share concentrates at the top. The top 3 premium themes capture 58% of the paid-theme market:

What top premium themes share:

• Advanced collection filtering for large catalogs
• Flexible, section-based homepage builders
• Strong mobile performance scores
• Active publisher support and regular updates

→ [Compare Impulse vs. Prestige vs. Craft] in our premium theme breakdown.

Custom Themes: Who Actually Uses Them?

18% of detected stores run custom-built themes that don't match any Shopify Theme Store listing.

But custom themes aren't evenly distributed:

The pattern: Custom themes are rare among newer merchants but increasingly common as brands mature and revenue grows. The investment makes sense once a business has proven product-market fit and can justify $10,000–$50,000+ in development costs.

Trend Watch: What's Changing in 2026

Comparing November 2026 data against previous months reveals clear shifts:

Our prediction: By the end of 2026, Dawn will exceed 25% market share, Debut will drop below 10% as OS 2.0 migration completes, and the premium theme market will further consolidate around the top 5 options.

How We Collected This Data

Methodology:

• Sample size: 47,382 unique Shopify store URLs
• Collection period: November 1-30, 2026
• Source: Anonymized scans through PageFly's Shopify theme detector
• Categorization: Themes matched against Shopify Theme Store database + custom theme fingerprinting
• Exclusions: Duplicate URLs, non-Shopify stores, password-protected stores

Limitations:

• Data reflects stores scanned through our tool, which may skew toward merchants actively researching themes
• Custom theme detection groups heavily modified official themes with fully bespoke builds
• Historical comparisons use consistent methodology but sample composition varies month-to-month

Updates: We refresh this analysis monthly. Subscribe to PageFly's newsletter for updates, or bookmark this page.

Why Shopify Theme Detection Might Not Work

PageFly's Shopify theme detector successfully identifies themes for most stores. But certain configurations can prevent detection. Here's how to troubleshoot when you don't get a result.

Issue 1: The Store Isn't Built on Shopify

The detector only analyzes Shopify stores. Sites on other platforms return no result.

Platforms we can't detect:

• WooCommerce (WordPress)
• BigCommerce
• Magento / Adobe Commerce
• Wix or Squarespace eCommerce
• Custom-built platforms

How to verify a store uses Shopify:

If the store isn't on Shopify, similar platform-specific detectors exist for WooCommerce and other platforms.

Issue 2: The Store Is Password-Protected

Shopify stores can be locked behind a password page—common during development, pre-launch, or for members-only access.

Why this blocks detection:

Password-protected stores show only a minimal login page. The actual theme code lives on product pages, collection pages, and the homepage—all inaccessible until unlocked.

Signs of password protection:

• "Enter store using password" prompt appears
• No products or collections visible
• URL works but only shows a single form page

Workarounds:

Issue 3: Headless Commerce Setup

Some stores use Shopify as a backend but display a completely custom frontend. These "headless" setups have no Shopify theme to detect.

How headless Shopify works:

Common headless frameworks:

• Hydrogen (Shopify's official framework)
• Next.js Commerce
• Gatsby + Shopify
• Vue Storefront
• Remix + Shopify

Signs a store might be headless:

• Extremely fast page transitions (no full page reload)
• URL doesn't change when clicking links (client-side routing)
• Source code shows React/Vue instead of Shopify's Liquid templates
• No references to "cdn.shopify.com" in page assets

What to do: Headless stores are custom-built by definition. Use them for inspiration, but understand you'd need developers to recreate similar functionality—there's no theme to purchase.

Issue 4: Heavily Modified Theme Code

Some developers customize official themes so extensively that detection patterns no longer work. This goes beyond normal customization—these stores have:

• Replaced most template files
• Renamed or removed standard Shopify asset references
• Rebuilt major components from scratch

Result: The detector returns "custom theme" even though the store may have started from an official base.

What this means for you: The base theme is no longer meaningful. Even if you identified it, the store's current appearance comes from custom development, not the original theme's design.

Issue 5: Technical Blocks

Occasionally, security measures or network restrictions prevent analysis:

Alternative Detection Methods

When automated detection fails, try these manual approaches:

Method 1: View Page Source

Works for non-password-protected Shopify stores, even if automated detection fails.

Steps:

1. Visit the store in your browser
2. Right-click → "View Page Source" (or press Ctrl+U / Cmd+U)
3. Press Ctrl+F / Cmd+F to search
4. Search for "theme_store_id" or "Shopify.theme"
5. Look for theme name references near these strings

Example source code snippet:

html

Shopify.theme = {"name":"Dawn","id":123456789,"theme_store_id":887}

Method 2: Check Theme Assets

Steps:

1. Open browser Developer Tools (F12 or right-click → "Inspect")
2. Go to the "Network" tab
3. Refresh the page
4. Filter by "CSS" or search for "theme"
5. Look for asset filenames containing the theme name

Common patterns:

• theme.css?v=dawn-1.0
• /assets/component-card.css (OS 2.0 themes)

Method 3: Inspect the Checkout Page

Shopify's checkout retains theme references even on headless stores.

Steps:

1. Add any product to cart
2. Proceed to checkout
3. View page source on the checkout page
4. Search for theme identifiers

Note: Some headless stores use custom checkout (Shopify Plus), which won't work.

Method 4: Ask Directly

Sometimes the simplest solution works best.

Options:

• Contact the store owner and ask (many are happy to share)
• Check the store's blog or About page (some mention their tech stack)
• Look for agency credits in the footer ("Built by [Agency Name]")
• Search "[Store name] Shopify theme" to find case studies or interviews

Quick Troubleshooting Checklist

Still Can't Detect a Theme?

Three options:

1. Try manual detection — Use the source code methods above
2. Use the store as inspiration — Save screenshots and design notes, then find similar themes in our [Best Shopify Themes guide]
3. Contact us — Email happytohelp@pagefly.io with the URL and we'll investigate

→ [Return to the detector ↑] to try another store.

Shopify Theme Detection: PageFly vs. Manual Methods

There are three ways to identify what theme a Shopify store uses. Here's how they compare—and why most merchants choose automated detection.

Quick Comparison

Bottom line: Automated detection is fastest, most accurate, and requires zero technical knowledge. Manual methods work as backups when automation fails.

Method 1: PageFly's Automated Theme Detector

How it works:

The detector crawls a store's frontend code, extracts theme identifiers from HTML and asset files, and matches patterns against a database of 10,000+ known Shopify themes.

Advantages:

When it might not work:

• Password-protected stores
• Headless commerce setups
• Heavily obfuscated custom themes
• Non-Shopify websites

→ [Try the detector now ↑] — paste any URL for instant results.

Method 2: Manual Source Code Inspection

How it works:

You view a store's raw HTML and search for theme references embedded in the code.

Step-by-step process:

Example of what you're looking for:

html

Shopify.theme = {"name":"Impulse","id":987654321,"theme_store_id":857}

Advantages:

Disadvantages:

Best for: Troubleshooting when automated detection fails, or learning how theme detection works under the hood.

Method 3: Browser Extensions

How it works:

Extensions like Wappalyzer, BuiltWith, or dedicated "Shopify Theme Detector" add-ons analyze pages as you browse and display detected technologies.

Popular options:

Advantages:

Disadvantages:

Reliability check: We tested five popular theme detector extensions against 20 known Shopify stores. Results:

Extensions often fail on newer themes, customized themes, or themes from smaller developers.

Best for: Users who want passive detection while browsing multiple stores, or need broader technology stack information beyond just themes.

Why Automated Detection Wins

For most use cases, PageFly's Shopify theme detector outperforms manual methods:

The efficiency case:

For serious competitor research or market analysis, automated detection isn't just convenient—it's the only practical approach.

When to Use Each Method

The Bottom Line

For 95% of theme detection needs, automated tools win.

PageFly's Shopify theme detector delivers:

• Instant results (5 seconds vs. 3+ minutes)
• Higher accuracy (10,000+ theme database, updated monthly)
• Zero friction (no installation, no technical skills)
• Complete information (theme name, source, price, direct links)

Reserve manual methods for edge cases when automated detection fails—or when you want to dig deeper into a store's technical setup.