This post contains some affiliate links; however, each review is our honest professional opinion of that theme regardless of affiliation.
Choosing the right theme for your website is a key decision – and WordPress has plenty to choose from.
This blog will take you through some of the things to consider when choosing a WordPress theme and offer you a quick summary of some of the best WordPress themes. It’s important to remember all themes have pros and cons, and the right choice for one website might not suit someone else.
It’s also really easy to install new themes and switch between them, so if you aren’t quite sure it’s possible to trial a few before making your decision. Be careful not to do too much work when testing out themes though; not all of them are compatible with each other, so switching might make a lot of your previous work unusable. If you already have a live site, try out new themes on a blank install or a clone version to make sure you like the final result before applying it to your real website.
What Aspects to Look For In A WordPress Theme?
The number one tip is to have a clear idea of your goals before choosing a theme.
Do you want a simple setup and a clean design or are you interested in customisation? Are you showcasing portfolios or creative work or are you building an e-commerce site? Many themes are built for a specific type of niche or online business, so picking a theme that matches your sector can be a good shortcut. Once you have a clear idea in your head, you can begin to compare the different themes and how they might suit your needs.
Always consider the speed and performance of a theme – these elements, along with mobile responsiveness, are essential for a good user experience and will keep visitors coming back to your site.
It is also crucial for SEO, which improves your site’s visibility in search engine results. Appearing higher in the search results will drive more organic traffic and more potential customers. Slow sites that don’t adapt for mobile devices are often ranked lower in search results than sites which run faster and can respond to the user’s device.
Other aspects you need to consider are regular updates, good support, and plugin compatibility. Themes that aren’t regularly updated and maintained are a security risk, and poor support can be frustrating if you encounter problems. WordPress plugins can clash with themes, so if you need to use a specific plugin, it’s worth checking out if there are any known compatibility issues before you settle on a theme.
All the themes considered in this post allow good levels of customisation, access to prebuilt templates or starter sites, and receive regular updates.
What WordPress themes might work for you?
Now that you’ve got some tips on what to look out for, let’s take a look at some of the most popular WordPress themes and what they do best.
GeneratePress
OUR FAVOURITE
Almost all of our sites (including this one!) are built on GeneratePress. It’s a great theme for performance-focused lightweight websites. If you prioritise performance, speed, and clean design – GeneratePress is our top pick every time.
There are template sites and blocks to get you started quickly, and it works brilliantly with the WordPress Gutenberg editor, eliminating the need for bloated page builder plugins. Combined with the GenerateBlocks plugin, you can build pretty much anything from high-speed minimalist sites to content-rich pages with heavy theming, animations and customised scripts. As the main layout and style of the WordPress dashboard is maintained, it’s also pretty intuitive for anyone already familiar with WordPress. GeneratePress can be installed for free, and for a simple site this may well be enough. However, the most powerful features require a premium licence.
The premium version has the Elements feature, which lets you create designs that repeat across the site. Combined with the hook feature, you can customise almost anything – add a newsletter sign-up to every blog post, use a unique footer for your contact page, or set up a different page layout for specific pages. It’s also very SEO-friendly; you can hook custom code directly into the header of every page, allowing you to easily set metadata and insert tags without having to deal with a separate SEO plugin. We love GeneratePress for giving us full control as developers, but also being straightforward enough to let clients edit and update their own sites.
The really exciting feature for us is the new Cloud add-on; this gives you the ability to access patterns, templates and modules you built on one site on another site. This is great for developers looking to speed up client work, but perhaps less useful for someone looking to build one site for themselves. However, one ‘single client’ use for this connectivity would be to create multiple sites that have the same basic branding and layout but with different audiences. For example, a retail and wholesale site, or a franchised business with multiple locations with slightly different offers. Being able to update an element on one franchise location and automatically change all the others would be a massive time saver!
One downside of GeneratePress is that creating more advanced layouts and functionality requires some imagination and effort. For example, to create a slideshow gallery, you’ll need to write some custom Javascript or install a plugin. Just like a blank sheet of paper, the minimal default design can be intimidating too – with so many options and possibilities, where do you start? If you are completely new to web design this can be a bit frustrating, but if you are comfortable with the basics then this shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
We like that GeneratePress can be used without a page builder, but if you are used to using Elementor or similar to create more complex layouts, then the GeneratePress sample sites and patterns won’t always integrate well with your other content as they all use Gutenberg alone. To get the most out of GeneratePress, you really need to install the free GenerateBlocks plugin too (there is a pro version which is great for advanced work, but the average user will be ok with the free version). It’s really helpful for extending the Gutenberg editor functionality to be more easily customisable, but the labels can be a little tricky to understand if you don’t already know some CSS basics. For example, the flex alignment and justification controls aren’t obvious unless you know flexbox layout, and there are no tool tips to make it clearer.
Finally, GeneratePress has extensive documentation alongside free and premium support forums. You do not need to be a Pro user to read the premium support forums, and GP staff give extremely useful and detailed responses to the issues posted on both the free and premium forums.
Astra
E-COMMERCE WINNER
Astra is a good option if you are looking for a versatile, lightweight, and fast-loading theme. These features, along with its ease of use, make it one of the most popular WordPress themes. It’s also compatible with page builders like Beaver Builder and Elementor, although they do add extra weight to the theme so can slow sites down.
Astra is highly customisable, allowing you to easily design great websites with minimal load times and without needing to code. Like GeneratePress, it has a number of hooks and filters that can customise your site very precisely. Astra also offers pre-built template sites for different industries and so is great for blogs, business websites, e-commerce, and portfolios, although the sheer number of templates on offer can be overwhelming, and many of the designs are not that great.
Where Astra really stands out is that it is well-integrated with other popular plugins like WooCommerce, meaning it’s perfect for fast-loading and customisable e-commerce sites. Customising shop pages, carts and checkouts to perfectly match your customers’ needs is a great way to help convert more sales and grow your online sales.
The downside of Astra is that many of the more advanced functions are only available on the Pro versions, so if you do want full customisation, you’ll need to pay for it. What’s more, the functionality is split across different plans so you might find yourself needing to upgrade even if you already have a Pro account.
Again, as Astra’s basic install is quite lightweight and clean, it can also feel a little intimidating for beginners. However, there are more tooltips to help unfamiliar users navigate the options so it is perhaps a little easier to pick up than some other themes.
Another common issue is that the layout used to adapt sites to smaller screens can be a bit clunky. It’s annoying to be able to customise the desktop version of your page but not keep the same control over the mobile display easily.
If you plan to use the free version, the technical support is limited; Pro users get more in-depth support. However, the online documentation around the theme is good, with the Astra website having lots of useful code snippets and “How To” guides.
Divi
BEGINNER FRIENDLY
Divi is great for you if you’re a fan of drag-and-drop page builders. The visual builder offers intuitive design without coding, with advanced design capabilities and full theme customisation. It also has built-in A/B split testing for optimisation – one of the only themes we’ve encountered that offers this. We used Divi with clients for several years and liked the user-friendly interface and high level of customisation on offer.
If you want to design visually and don’t mind investing in a premium theme, Divi offers tons of design flexibility – with over 800 pre-made website layouts – and powerful features to build unique websites. The pre-built models and templates mean you can bring together a good-looking website pretty quickly, even if you don’t know code and have limited design experience. Divi also has specialist plugins for blogs, social sharing and email marketing, meaning it’s easy to get your site looking and working how you need it to.
However, while the front-end WYSIWYG style page builder is great for beginners, it does come with a couple of downsides.
Firstly, it’s extremely resource-hungry. Creating so many design options means even a basic page is stuffed with code; some of which isn’t being used. Our experience with sites running Divi is that they are noticeably slower than sites running other themes, both in the back-end editor and for front-end visitors. As page speed is a major factor in search engine rankings, a site that loads slowly can really impact your visibility on search engines and prevent users from finding your site. Page speed was one of the main reasons we decided to switch away from Divi as our standard client theme.
Secondly, with so many options to manage, it can be easy to lose track of where your settings are. For example, we recently had a customer with a Divi site struggling to change the headline font. They had changed the font in the main site options, but it wasn’t always showing up on the pages. The headlines on the pages were set to use the default font, so it was confusing why they weren’t using the new font from the main settings. We discovered that some of the sections and row containers had different font settings that were overriding the main settings. These were not easy to find and had caused several hours of frustration for our client.
Lastly, Divi can be tricky to work with on mobile versions of sites. While most of the layouts adapt well, if you do want to fine-tune how a module appears on mobile without altering its desktop appearance, sometimes the only option is to rebuild it separately and set the page to show and hide different modules depending on the device. This links back to the first point about Divi being heavy to load – if users need to load a desktop, tablet and mobile version of your page, but only see one version on their screen, 66% of the loading time was unnecessary as those modules are hidden from view.
Divi has good technical support, through documentation, forums and support tickets for Premium subscribers. We’d still recommend Divi for self-built sites due to its ease of use, but if you are looking to optimise your site and get ahead of the competition, the issues around loading speeds are a big downside.
Sydney
GREAT WITH ELEMENTOR
Sydney is a popular and well-established WordPress theme and is particularly well-suited to small businesses, freelancers, and corporate websites. There’s a free version if you want to try it out, but almost all of the most useful features are only available on the paid version. While there are multiple payment options, the only real difference is the number of licences included; 1, 10 or 100. If you are only planning on building one site, then you only need one licence, and even if you do decide to build a second site later, it’s easy to upgrade to the next level.
Its features include a full-screen slider and header image options, custom widgets like testimonials, services, and team members, and Google Fonts integration for typography control. The pre-built modules for headers, footers, blog archives and posts means you can quickly get something up and running, and then tweak it to your needs. There is also a small but well-designed selection of starter sites, pitched to a variety of use-cases, which again mean you can get something on the page rather than staring at a blank screen wondering where to begin.
The Pro version of Sydney includes additional functionality for Elementor and WooCommerce, which can be really handy for extra customisation of your pages and e-commerce options to improve your user experience. While Sydney doesn’t have any specialist functions around performance and SEO, it does perform well in both these areas, as the base code is lightweight, it responds well to different devices and it’s compatible with major WordPress SEO plugins like Yoast. It also offers a hook system to further customise your site.
The main issue with Sydney is that it doesn’t do anything that special. It’s a good all-rounder theme, and if you are already using it and happy, then there’s no reason to switch away from it. However, if you are prepared to spend some money on a premium theme, there are stronger options out there.
Another minor issue is that the pre-built templates and modules use Elementor. This is a visual page builder plugin, which has a free version, is intuitive to use and generally well-regarded. Using Elementor in itself isn’t a huge problem, but if you prefer to use the default Gutenberg editor or another page builder, it would be annoying to be forced to use Elementor instead. Elementor also has a paid Pro version, so you’d also need to factor in the cost of that to get the most out your Sydney themed site.
Sydney does have a good range of documentation available, alongside general support forums and personalised support for Pro users. However, the documentation does seem less comprehensive than some other themes.
Neve
THE NEW CONTENDER
Neve produces fast and responsive websites with minimal effort, while still having an easy-to-use interface. It’s super lightweight for faster loading speeds, AMP ready for mobile optimisation, and has WooCommerce support for online stores. There’s a free version to get started with, with additional features available if you upgrade to a paid plan.
It is also fully compatible with Gutenberg and other page builders like Elementor or Beaver Builder. There are a range of templates and starter sites to get your build off to a flying start, and they use the Gutenberg editor as well as Elementor, so you aren’t tied to using a page builder if you don’t want to. The quality of the designs available is also a little weak, especially compared to some of the strong offerings from other themes.
Like Sydney, Neve has similar features to most of the other major themes on the market. Customisable headers, footers, colours and typography are nicely done and intuitive to use, but nothing particularly groundbreaking. However, Neve is the only other theme in this post to offer connectivity between completely separate sites. Neve Cloud allows you to create modules and templates on one website, then reuse them on others. This is very useful for developers and digital agencies, but could also work well for businesses with multiple locations, or for entrepreneurs with several different but interconnected projects.
Another possible reason not to choose Neve is similar to GeneratePress and Astra – with so many options and so little default design, it can be an intimidating blank page for absolute beginners. However, this could be mitigated by using starter sites or a page builder to make the interface feel a little more friendly.
One off-putting element of Neve is that tiered pricing means that some useful features (like Neve Cloud) are only available on the highest-priced plan, and the WooCommerce features only come in at the second tier. Pricing by feature does keep costs down for those wanting to make several simple sites, but for most DIY users, paying hundreds for a developer-level plan when they will only ever make 1 or 2 sites doesn’t make sense.
Neve’s support system is only open to premium users, but there is good documentation and user forums for free users.
Avada
ONE TO AVOID
Avada is one of the best-selling paid themes due to its all-in-one capabilities, but one we struggle to recommend. It offers a wide variety of customisation options, numerous demo content options, and advanced theme options. There isn’t a free version or a trial period, but the price is lower than many other premium themes. However, keep in mind that the price is per site – if you want to build more than one website with Avada you’ll need to pay for every new site you create.
The pre-built website templates focus on corporate, e-commerce and creative portfolio uses, meaning it can be a good choice for getting a DIY website off the ground quickly. The built-in visual page builder (Fusion Builder) is particularly suited to users who want to get creative with their designs, as you can see how your page will look for users straight away.
However, like Divi, Avada’s visual editor creates a lot of bloated code and slows pages down. This is annoying for visitors and can be frustrating for you as the owner too, if making basic edits and updates means waiting for pages to load. It performs ok on SEO features, but you can get much better themes if high performance and constant optimisation are your aims.
Another common problem with Avada is that it’s set out quite differently from many other WordPress themes, meaning experienced users can find it tricky to get used to. In fact, having zero experience might be an advantage, as you won’t have to ‘unlearn’ the previous way you did things.
Finally, the way the Avada theme populates your pages means switching away from it can be very tricky. If you install another theme, all of your layouts and customisation will be lost completely. While it is common to lose more advanced customisation when switching themes, Avada doesn’t store anything in the basic WordPress format, so even plain blocks of texts will need to be reworked before they are usable. Advanced users complain that this extends to the database, with lots of junk code left behind after the switch. This means it’s often easier to delete an Avada site and start from scratch with the new theme.
Despite being a premium paid theme, Avada only offers 6 months support for users, although you can pay extra to extend this period. There is extensive documentation, video tutorials and user forums that can also offer guidance, so although personalised support is limited, you won’t be totally alone.
While Avada is popular with some users, and is fine for small DIY sites, we wouldn’t recommend if you are looking to use your website in a professional capacity.
Which to Pick?
These are just a taster of some of the themes that WordPress offers. There are thousands more with different features, pros, and cons – so don’t forget to do some research of your own before you take your pick.
Overall, there is no one-size-fits-all theme in WordPress. As we’ve outlined, it depends on the type of website you’re building, the features you need, and your preference for customisation. Here’s a recap of when we’d pick certain themes.
- Best All-Rounder – GeneratePress
- Best For E-Commerce – Astra
- Best for Ease of Use – Divi
We would love to help you further, so if you need some guidance about the right theme for you, please book in a free consultation call to discuss your site in detail, or send us a message.
