How detection works

A static scan records the HTTP status and response headers, cookie names, size-limited HTML, meta tags, script URLs, a bounded slice of inline script, and visible text. Nothing behind a login is fetched.

Those signals are tested against PluginView's compiled fingerprint set. Matching rules are not published. A successful match yields a confidence score and a short text explanation of the signal class involved.

Confidence reflects match strength and signal quality, not certainty. Technologies inferred from another detection are labelled as implied rather than observed directly, and version extraction is best-effort.

Each detection includes a plain-language explanation of why it scored — without exposing fingerprint patterns, selectors, or rule identifiers. A detection means public signals matched a known signature — not that the technology is currently active, licensed, correctly configured, or used across the whole site.

Dynamic browser rendering and extended DNS/TLS probes cost more credits and may be disabled in a given build or plan. When a deeper stage does not complete, you are only charged for the stages that did.