XStore and Flatsome are both sold through the same marketplace and are therefore direct competitors. That is certainly the case since both themes were built for the construction of webshops. XStore vs Flatsome, which is the better theme? We start with Flatsome which does not mean it would be better.
The Flatsome Theme
Flatsome is a WordPress theme that is totally specialized in E-commerce or building webshops. The theme works perfectly together with the Woocommerce plugin that is used by everyone today to create shops. This Flatsome Theme Review gives you a bird’s eye view of all its best features.
Flatsome Theme Review Studio
Apart from a single professional designer, there is really no one left who starts a website from scratch. Practically all themes (also free) offer a wide range of complete demo websites and many more prepared sections. The Flatsome theme is not left behind and now has 300+ pieces in its range. With no more than 1 click you can install such a design in your website and from there you start working on your own corporate identity. All you have to do is delete what you don’t want to use and replace the rest of the images and texts with your own.
Flatsome's Loading Speed
Flatsome has heavily improved the loading time of the theme with one of the latest upgrades. The alleged data shown in the image below seems a bit exaggerated to me and I have not checked. It is clear that the theme is fast. As you probably know, Google and visitors place great value on fast-loading websites.
Flatsome's UX Page Builder
The UX page builder was invented by the builders of Flatsome. And although it may not be the DiviBuilder or Elementor, this page builder works great and you will definitely like it. Watch the video below to understand a bit more about the UX Builder.
Woocommerce Features
Flatsome is a real Woocommerce theme and is full of professional gadgets that make every webshop a success. I can’t show everything in this Flatsome Theme review, those features below are just a part. If you like to see them all, check out Flatsome’s own website.
Woocommerce Product Pages
Flatsome comes with beautifull pre-designed product pages. With Flatsome it is also possible to use different styles with different products, as many as you want. There are few themes that offer such a wide range of Woocommerce pages, this feature is very nice.
Flatsome Shape Dividers
Divi was the first with Shape Dividers, then Elementor I think, now they all come with it and so is Flatsome. The best are still Divi’s. Of course I have nothing against the Shape Dividers, they are wonderful toys with which you can create beautiful borders between sections.
Flatsome's Headers
An impressive feature in Flatsome is the number of different headers that the theme makes available. Aside from the standard headers, there is also a header builder that allows you to customize every little detail in your chosen header. Below you can see a number of these headers.
Flatsome Review Elements
The Flatsome theme comes with a nice number of widgets in its UX-Builder. I say a nice number because of course we cannot compare this with the huge range that an Elementor page builder has to offer. Below are the main widgets in the image.
Flatsome Theme Review Conclusion
During this Flatsome Theme review I showed you the most striking features for me. We can safely say that Flatsome is a great theme for creating webshops. This is what it was made for from the start. The fact that it is also a corporate theme was only added later and for such websites I would certainly prefer to use a theme like Divi or possibly another good theme with the Elementor page builder.
Let’s continue this XStore vs Flatsome comparison with the XStore Theme.
The XStore Theme
In this XStore review we investigate why this theme has risen so quickly in the rankings. In their own words, the XStore theme is the perfect theme for building webshops. Unfortunately, it’s sold through the infamous Themeforest marketplace, but I’m not going to count any negatives for that. That wouldn’t be fair.
XStore Theme's Rating
An average rating of 4.85 out of 5 is of course brilliant. There are therefore only a handful of themes that score a better rating than the XStore theme. Users of the theme are therefore very satisfied with it, good to know.
XStore Theme: Loading Speed
I grabbed a random page from their demo for the test. The loading times are more than good. I assume that a very good cache plugin is installed on this demo, it almost has to be.
XStore Theme Review Demos
The XStore theme gives you more than 110 demo websites. They are practically all editable with one of the two very good page builders that you get, namely Elementor and WP Bakery. That is a number that exceeds that of most themes. Also keep in mind that most of them are layouts for shops which makes it all the more beautiful.
XStore Page Builders
I mentioned it before in the chapter “Demos”, you can choose from 2 page builders. The Elementor Pagebuilder which is definitely the better one but you don’t have the full version available unless you order it with it which isn’t a bad idea. Elementor is my favorite page builder. In addition, you have the full version of WP-Bakery with the XStore theme with even a plugin that provides many more widgets in the plugin. I must say, a very neat package that is offered here.
XStore Theme Free Plugins
What immediately struck me while writing this XStore theme review was the huge number of extra plugins that you get completely free. Together they are worth over $500 if you were to buy them. What I have to say in all honesty is that themes such as Divi do not need all those plugins because all that functions are already present in the theme itself.
XStore Theme Elements
The number of design elements or widgets that you have available in the page builder is very large. You can count them yourself, and that’s not all.
The theme’s website does not indicate whether it is for Elementor or WP-Bakery.
But I assume the latter because in the previous chapter I saw the extra plugin “Massive addons for Visual Composer” which is the old name for WP-Bakery is.
XStore Theme HeaderBuilder
The Header Builder is a great thing and looks good. Many themes now come with all these gadgets that have in principle been invented piece by piece by “the king of themes”: Divi.
XStore Single Product Builder
Plugins used to have this feature, nowadays every self-respecting theme is equipped with a decent WooBuilder. Everyone has special requirements for their shopping layout, so nowadays I wouldn’t work with a theme that lacks this.
XStore Theme Review Conclusion
This is already the end of this XStore Theme review. There is much more to say about it, but I want to keep the review short and sweet. More info is of course available via the button above on their own website. I have to say, all the points discussed are beautiful and there is actually very little missing from this theme. The only flaw I see is the way it is sold. The Themeforest marketplace requires themes to require a separate license for each of your websites. This gets expensive quickly. Someone with multiple websites would do well to work with Divi or Astra where they conduct the “Unlimited Website Usage” policy.
XStore vs Flatsome Conclusion
Flatsome and XStore are all great themes. Flatsome has slightly better sales, and XStore has a slightly better rating. Both are specialized in building web shops. I like XStore’s demo designs better. I also prefer to work with Elementor than with Flatsome’s UX-Builder. So my choice falls on XStore, but only if we are building a shop, otherwise I prefer to work with Astra or Divi.