Getting in front of the right customer at the right time is the key to sales. The problem is that most outreach is based on guesswork, not data. You send thousands of emails hoping a few will land with someone who actually needs your service.

What if you could know, with a high degree of certainty, that a company is a perfect fit before you even reach out? That's what a Technology Finder does. It's a tool that tells you what software, plugins, and frameworks a company uses on its website.

This guide breaks down everything you need to know about using Technology Finder to get more customers, improve your response rates, and build a more efficient sales process.

📌 A Quick Summary for Those in a Rush

This article covers everything you need to know about a Technology Finder.

Generally, we advise you to read the full content to get the most out of it, but if you are in a rush, here is a summary:

These Are The Topics I Covered

What Is a Technology Finder: The Basics

A technology finder, also known as a Techstack Crawler, is software that identifies the technology stack of a website. Think of it as an x-ray for a company's website. It helps you see under the hood and understand the tools they use to run their business.

How Technology Finders Work

The process is straightforward but powerful. These tools systematically scan the source code of websites and look for unique snippets, scripts, and HTML tags associated with specific technologies.

  • They check the website's source code: Many tools like Shopify, WooCommerce, or HubSpot have to be integrated into the website of a company using them through a certain tag. The technology finder is programmed to crawl millions of websites and recognize these tags.
  • Always on the account-level: A technology finder tells you that company-a.com uses HubSpot. It doesn't tell you which specific employee at that company uses HubSpot. This makes it a tool for identifying target accounts, not individual contacts.
Simple but powerful
Simple but powerful

💡 Not All Technologies Are Visible

A Technology Finder can only detect tools that are visible on the company's website. Some technologies are much easier to track than others:

  • Easier to detect: Marketing tools, tracking pixels, billing systems, and content management systems (CMS)
  • Harder to detect: ATS systems, internal accounting software, and other tools that don't communicate with the website

For example, you could easily find out if a company is using Shopify, but finding out if they use Slack or Microsoft Teams is much harder.

Why It's Important for Finding Customers

Relevance is the single most important factor in outbound marketing. A technology finder allows you to build lead lists based on extreme relevance, ensuring your outreach is always on point. Here's an example: Imagine you run a specialized CRO agency for Shopify stores.

Scenario 1: You could send cold emails to thousands of e-commerce businesses and would get some responses, but your outreach would be generic and unsuccessful.

Scenario 2: You use a technology finder to find Shopify-run stores, and your response rate goes up since the list would be more relevant to your offer.

Quick Tip, here's a guide on how to build high-converting lead lists in the age of AI 👈🏽

Use Cases for a Technology Finder

Yes, knowing a company's tech stack gives you a real edge, but it doesn't just give you relevant accounts; it also gives you some ideas of what to say to them to respond. With a Technology Finder you could for example:

It still works
It still works

Finding Websites That Haven't Been Updated

A key piece of data a technology finder can reveal is the version of a specific technology a website is using. An outdated WordPress version or an old JavaScript framework can be a major security risk or cause performance issues.

For web development agencies, this is a nice opportunity. You can identify companies with outdated websites reach out with a targeted offer to update their site and

  • Boost performance
  • Improve security
  • Or increase conversions

P.S. Datablist's Technology Finder includes technology version numbers

Filtering and Qualifying Lead Lists

Many sales teams already have large lead lists, but they don't know which ones are truly qualified. A technology finder can enrich your existing data, adding a new layer of intelligence.

If your ideal customer profile (ICP) includes companies that use a specific CRM like Salesforce, you can upload your list and filter for only those accounts. This instantly prioritizes your most valuable leads, allowing your sales team to focus their efforts where they'll have the most impact.

Targeting Competitor Clients

This is one of the most direct ways to generate revenue with a technology finder. You can build a list of companies using your competitor's software and target them ruthlessly.

For example, if you're a startup selling a marketing automation tool that competes with Klaviyo, you can generate a list of all e-commerce sites using Klaviyo and launch a targeted campaign highlighting your unique features and offering a special incentive to switch.

The top reasons I recommend this strategy:

  • It's competitive (I like competition)
  • It's straightforward and skips all the fluff
  • + Your messaging becomes incredibly powerful because you know their exact pain points.

Choosing a Technology Finder: How To Pick The Best Tool

With many tools on the market, the "best" one depends on your specific goals, budget, and workflow. However, there are a few key things I would always consider before making a choice.

Choose a tool that doesn't require a PhD to use it
Choose a tool that doesn't require a PhD to use it

Low Entry Price

Technographic data can be expensive. Prices for dedicated platforms can range from $25 per month to over $295 per month. If you are just starting out or want to test the effectiveness of this approach, look for a tool with a low entry price.

This allows you to prove the return on investment (ROI) with a small, low-risk campaign before committing to a larger subscription. Validate first, scale later.

Integrability

Technology data is most powerful when it's connected to the rest of your sales and marketing workflow. You have two main options here:

  • Data Aggregators: Platforms like Datablist offer a technology finder as part of a larger ecosystem. This is ideal if you want an all-in-one solution to find companies, prospects, enrich them with contact data, and automate without needing multiple tools.
  • Standalone Tools: Other platforms specialize only in technology detection. These are great if you already have an established workflow and just need to plug in technographic data via an API or CSV exports. These often require more technical setup, though

Ease of Use

Your time is valuable. The tool you choose should have a clean, intuitive interface that allows you to build lists and find the data you need without a steep learning curve. The goal is to spend your time engaging with potential customers, not fighting with complex software.

What Datablist's user say
What Datablist's user say

Feature Richness

Some tools simply tell you what technology a website uses. Others provide much deeper insights. Look for features that add value to your process, such as:

  • Technology Version: Essential for identifying outdated software.
  • Traffic Rank: Helps you prioritize high-traffic websites.
  • Company Data: Firmographic details like company size, industry, and location.
  • Contact Data: The ability to find decision-maker emails and phone numbers.

Database Size & Quality

While many new technology finder tools are entering the market, only a few offer comprehensive datasets which are essential for lead generation, here's an example to illustrate what I mean:

If you look for websites using Shopify on the Wappalyzer app you'll get 461.000 websites because they have:

  • Larger budgets for website scraping
  • More extensive databases
  • More frequent updates

By contrast, smaller platforms like Stackcrawler have only 11,243, which means they have:

  • Smaller databases
  • Less frequent updates
  • Limited scraping resources

This is especially important when you need good coverage of widely-used technologies.

Wappalyzer > BuiltWith
Wappalyzer > BuiltWith

❗ Companies Change Tools

Technographic data isn't always 100% accurate. Different tools use different techniques and update their databases at different frequencies for large scale projects do a manual test.

P.S. Based on the research I did for my BuiltWith alternatives article, Wappalyzer is considered one of the most accurate data providers on the market.

Technology Finder: Highlighted Tools

The market for technology finders can be broken down into a few main categories:

  • Data aggregator & workflow builder with technology finder integration
  • Platforms specialized in finding technologies
  • Databases with technographic data
  • Browser extensions & simple apps

Here's a quick overview of some of the most well-known tools in each category:

Data Aggregators With Technology Finder Integration

These platforms combine technology data with other lead generation, data enrichment, and automation tools, eliminating the need to pay hundreds of dollars to find relevant accounts

Datablist.com

An all-in-one platform for lead generation, workflow automation, and data cleaning.

Datablist uses Wappalyzer's engine for technology detection and combines it with over 50 other tools, including contact finders, AI agents, and a Sales Navigator scraper, all at an accessible price point starting from $25/month.

Datablist is easy to use
Datablist is easy to use

Platforms Specialized in Finding Technologies

These are tools focused primarily on providing high-quality technographic data at scale.

Wappalyzer

A market leader known for its accurate and extensive database. It's a powerful tool for teams that need pure technographic data and can integrate it into their systems.

BuiltWith

The first technology finder and still one of the largest. It offers detailed technology profiles and trends but often comes with a higher price tag (and often outdated data)

Databases With Technographic Data

These platforms offer robust databases of technographic information on millions of companies, usual suspects include:

ZoomInfo

A comprehensive B2B database platform that includes technographic data as part of its intelligence offering. ZoomInfo provides technology usage insights alongside contact information, making it ideal for enterprise sales teams looking for an all-in-one solution.

SimilarTech

Part of the Similarweb platform, SimilarTech provides comprehensive technographic data within a broader market intelligence ecosystem. Its enterprise focus delivers deep insights beyond just technology identification.

Browser Extensions & Simple Apps

These tools are perfect for quick, on-the-fly analysis of individual websites you are visiting, they often have a singular, focused purpose and can be useful for very specific tasks.

WhatRuns

A free and simple browser extension that shows you the technology stack of the website you're currently on. It's great for quick research but doesn't have list-building capabilities.

MyIPms

A free website lookup tool that provides IP and hosting information. It can sometimes be used to infer technology use, especially for platforms with dedicated IP ranges like Shopify, but it's a manual and time-consuming method.

Wrapping It Up: More Customers Through Relevance

While there are many tools available to find out and build lead list based on technologies, BuiltWith and Wappalyzer still have the most comprehensive data; however, the right choice depends on your workflow and use case.

For most sales and marketing teams, a platform like Datablist offers the most value since it combines Wappalyzer's tech data with a full suite of lead generation, data enrichment, workflow automation tools, and AI agents

But the bottom line is: Integrating technographic data in your lead list building workflow or ICP definition will definitely pay off if you can find any technologies relevant to your offer.

Here are 3 evidence-baked reasons to support my claim:

  • More data is always better than less data
  • When you can mention a specific technology, your message becomes more relevant
  • Signal-based campaigns get 6.3x higher response rates as volume-first cold emails[1]
That's all folks
That's all folks

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Technology Finders

What Is a Technology Finder?

A technology finder is a tool that identifies the software, frameworks, and plugins a website uses. It works by scanning a website's source code for unique digital footprints left by different technologies, giving you insight into a company's tech stack.

Yes, it is legal. Technology finders collect publicly available information from website source codes. They are not hacking or accessing private data. They are simply automating the process of "viewing page source" at a massive scale.

How Can I Find Businesses That Use Shopify?

The most efficient way is to use a technology finder tool like Datablist. You can simply filter for "Shopify" and add other criteria like country, language, or industry to generate a highly targeted list of Shopify stores in minutes[2]

How Can I Find Out Which CMS a Website Is Using?

You can use a browser extension like WhatRuns to check an individual website you are on. For building a list of websites using a specific Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress or Webflow, a platform like Datablist or Wappalyzer is the best approach.

Are Technology Finders Free to Use?

Some tools have free versions with limited features. The WhatRuns browser extension is free for individual site checks, but for creating comprehensive lead lists, you'll generally need a paid plan, with pricing starting around $25/month for tool like Datablist.

What Is the Difference Between Technographic and Firmographic Data?

Firmographic data describes a company's attributes, like its industry, revenue, number of employees, and location. Technographic data describes the technologies a company uses. Combining both data types gives you a complete picture of your ideal customer[3]

How Accurate Is a Technology Finder?

Accuracy varies between tools, but leading platforms like Wappalyzer and BuiltWith are generally very accurate for popular technologies. Custom-built or heavily modified software can sometimes be missed or misidentified, so it's always good practice to spot-check crucial data points.

Citations

[1] According to Valley, an outbound marketing tool, signal-based campaigns like the ones done with technographic data get 6.3x higher response rates than volume-first campaigns

[2] An in-depth article guide showing that finding companies using Shopify takes only 5 mins with Datablist

[3] A detailed explanation of the difference between technographic and firmographic data