We compare two of the most popular WordPress themes for the construction of websites of the moment here. OceanWP and Sydney have free- as well as a pro versions. Sydney vs OceanWP, which is the better theme? We start with OceanWP which does not mean it would be better.
The OceanWP Theme
OceanWP is one of the highest rated themes that also has more then 700,000 active installations. This is one of the best themes out there for WordPress, which applies to both the free and pro versions. Originally OceanWP was developed to load very quickly and also to create beautiful professional webshops. Let’s start this OceanWP Review.
OceanWP's rating
OceanWP Theme Demo Websites
When we talk about OceanWP, we are not talking about a small collection of demo websites. How about 220+ complete website layouts, 70 of which can be edited with Elementor and the rest with Gutenberg. Incidentally, the theme is compatible with all Elite page builders that are available for WordPress.
OceanWP & Woocommerce
OceanWP was developed for building shops and the theme is indeed very good at that. The theme has every possible feature that is available for shops to present themselves professionally and to offer maximum comfort for shoppers. Think of things like Quick View, Off Canvas filters, Multi-Step check-out, Add To Cart pop-up, and so much more. The shop can also be shown in multiple styles, and don’t forget all the extras that the Elementor Widget entails.
OceanWP loading Speed
The OceanWP theme is one of the fastest themes that also stand out in quality at the same time. The loading times are not as fast as those of Astra and Generatepress, but that is also the cream of the crop in that area. OceanWP is just below that.
OceanWP Pricing
OceanWP is particularly cheap compared to other much less good themes, since it can be used on multiple sites and the price is also very low. This theme is therefore more than worth its price.
OceanWP Theme Review Conclusion
You have come to the end of this OceanWP Theme review. OceanWP is suitable for beginners, experienced web designers and developers. It is a complete theme, so it has everything one can think of. It has beautiful demo designs for both shops and normal websites, many of which were built with the popular page builder Elementor. It also loads very fast, it has the best features for shops. In short, this is an elite theme which is also competitively priced. Recommended!
Let’s continue this Sydney versus OceanWP Review with the Sydney Theme.
The Sydney Theme
In this Sydney theme review I will quickly show you the best features of this popular theme. The Sydney theme is made by aThemes, a company that only develops good themes. It is therefore certainly not surprising that the theme has a very good rating. Let’s start with that right away…
Sydney's Rating 4.9/5
In the image below you can see that the numbers Sydney gets are more than good. The average rating is 4.9 out of 5, with which the theme scores in the top compared to other themes. Sydney has a free and a pro version, both versions are discussed here.
Sydney Theme Speed
Having a fast loading website is a must these days. Visitors stay longer on your site and you are found better in Google. That is why themes are becoming faster and faster in recent years, otherwise they will not sell well. With Sydney you can take a deep breath because the theme is one of the fastest sites out there.
Sydney Theme's Demo Websites
Six months ago I wrote an article about Sydney for another website of mine. I see that in that short time, 8 extra demos have been added. The Sydney demo websites are well constructed and very well maintained.
Sydney Theme & Webshops
The number of demos for webshops is still 2, they should work on that as soon as possible in my opinion, that is below average. The standard Sydney shopping theme is beautifully minimalistic and can be used for just about anything. A good shop can certainly be built with Sydney, because all possible shopping features are available so that shops look professional and have all the gadgets such as quick view, ajax cart and wishlist.
If my theme were recommended by Elementor, I would also put it on the site everywhere. This gives a lot of confidence to the theme because that means something. It also means that the theme will work perfectly with the Elementor page builder.
Sydney Theme comes with Schema
More and more sites have Schema built in as it offers great benefits for your site when it comes to being found in Google. The Sydney theme also has this. Rich snippets help Google understand your pages better and often display them in search results in special ways. If you are a Schema enthusiast, check out Schema Pro which I also use on this website.
Sydney Theme Integrations
A theme is usually automatically compatible with most plugins, but there are some commonly used more complicated plugins that definitely require theme customization. The Sydney theme is completely prepared for these plugins. Think, for example, of the Google AMP plugin, which is free and necessary to offer Accelerated Mobile Pages. Other Plugins are Polylang, WPML and LMS. Sydney has so much more to offer then I can explain in this review.
Sydney Theme Review Conclusion
Sydney Theme review, my opinion: The Sydney theme is recommended by Elementor for a reason, it is a very nice theme to work with. That applies to the free and pro versions. The pro versions have a standard price for good themes, $69. You can use the theme on an unlimited number of sites for this. However, an even better offer is $99 for all themes from aThemes. You immediately have the popular Botiga and Airi theme + about 20 less well-known themes.
Sydney vs OceanWP Conclusion
To start with, OceanWP and Sydney are both very good themes. Both are suitable for building web shops, blogs, portfolios or corporate sites. OceanWP and Sydney work with Elementor and even more page builders, the choice is yours. Overall, of course, OceanWP is a more mature theme and has a lot more to offer than Sydney, making it the better choice. Thanks for reading this Sydney vs OceanWP comparison to the end.