--- title: CMS Monitoring & Platform Detection description: CMS monitoring by WatchFor. Detect which of 60 platforms a site runs, from WordPress to Shopify, and get alerted when it stops matching the CMS you expect or no platform is detected at all. canonical: https://watchfor.io/cms-monitoring --- # CMS Monitoring — Know What Your Site Is Really Running Your site's platform should change only when you migrate. Tell WatchFor which CMS to expect and it alerts you when the site stops matching it, an early sign of a bad deploy or a replaced page. [Get started for free](/auth/sign-up)[View pricing](/pricing) ## Fingerprint checks with a purpose Detection first, alerts when it stops matching. ### CMS detection Identifies which of 60 platforms a site presents, including WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Shopify, Wix, Ghost and Next.js, from the page's markup, headers and cookies. ### Expected-platform assertion Set the CMS the site should run and turn on Provider Must Be: when detection stops matching it, an incident opens. A site that suddenly 'becomes' something else usually has a story to tell. ### Detection-lost alert Turn on CMS Not Detected to hear when the platform markers vanish, for example when an error page or a placeholder replaces your site. ### Migration verification Replatforming? Set the new platform as expected, and the monitor confirms production serves it from every region you check, not just the box you tested. ### Multi-region checks Checks run from the regions you choose (your plan sets how many), which can show a cache layer or split deployment serving a different version of your site. ### What matched, on every check Each check stores the detected platform and the fingerprint that matched, such as the generator tag, so you can see when detection changed. ## A closer look Alert if detection breaks or the site moves off the platform you expect. Each check shows the detected platform and the fingerprint that matched. ## Why watch a CMS fingerprint? Your site's platform should be boring: it changes when you migrate, and never otherwise. When it changes on its own (the platform markers vanish, or a different CMS shows up) something happened that you didn't plan. Tell the monitor what the site should run and it alerts you when detection stops matching; failures are confirmed from several locations first. Both rules are off until you turn them on, so a new CMS monitor starts out as a detector. [Start monitoring now](/auth/sign-up) Catch an error or placeholder page that no longer looks like your CMS Verify migrations actually reached production Spot cache or CDN layers serving a different platform Watch competitor or portfolio sites' platforms Agencies: know what every client site runs 60 platforms detected, from WordPress to Shopify Alerts on any of 16 channels, including Slack, PagerDuty and email Detected platform and matched fingerprint stored with every check ## How CMS monitoring works Detect, compare, alert. 1 ### Add the site Point WatchFor at any public site: yours, a client's, or one in your portfolio. 2 ### We detect the platform Each check loads the page and matches its markup, headers and cookies against 60 platform fingerprints. 3 ### Set what you expect Choose the expected CMS and turn on Provider Must Be, CMS Not Detected or both. Failures are confirmed from several locations. 4 ### You get an alert with context The incident names the rule that fired, and each check shows the expected CMS, the detected platform and the fingerprint that matched. ## Who needs CMS monitoring From security signal to portfolio oversight. ### Security-conscious site owners A platform that changes without a deploy is a red flag worth investigating. For defacement or injected scripts that leave the CMS intact, add a page integrity monitor. ### Agencies with many client sites One monitor per site keeps a live record of what each client runs. Set the expected CMS and you hear the day a site stops matching it. ### Teams mid-migration Confirm the replatform reached production, and that no region you check still serves the old stack. ### Ops teams inheriting estates Acquired a portfolio of sites? Continuous detection documents what's really running, without logging into anything. ## CMS monitoring FAQ Common questions about fingerprint monitoring. [All questions→](/faq)[Ask us directly](/contact) What is CMS monitoring? CMS monitoring detects which platform a site runs, such as WordPress, Shopify or Drupal, from its public fingerprint on every check. Tell it which platform to expect and it alerts you when the site stops matching, or when no platform can be detected at all. Why would the fingerprint change without a deploy? Which platforms can be detected? What do the alerts fire on? Can I monitor sites I don't own? How often are checks performed? Will it catch a defaced or hacked page? ## Know when your stack changes CMS monitors are included from the Starter plan. Sign up for free and add your first CMS monitor when you upgrade; it takes under a minute. [Get started for free](/auth/sign-up)[View documentation](/docs/monitors/performance#cms) --- Canonical page: https://watchfor.io/cms-monitoring · Site guide: https://watchfor.io/llms.txt