We compare 2 very popular WordPress themes here. These themes are often compared because the are amongst the fastest loading themes out there. Astra and Generatepress both have free and pro versions. Astra vs Generatepress, which of these themes provides more value for money?
The Astra Theme
The Astra Theme has been very popular for years. In other words, the free version of Astra is firmly in place on WordPress.org. In addition, Astra also has a very well-selling pro version which is mainly known for its beautiful demo websites that are pre-prepared for various page builders. Over a million websites currently run on Astra. Let’s start this Astra Theme review with its rating as I always do.
Astra's Rating 5/5
Below you can see the fantastic rating and comments that Astra gets from users. Where it says “Astra theme and Element” Elementor is of course meant, indeed a more than great combination to use Astra and Elementor together within 1 website. Obviously anyone giving a 1 star rating to the number one theme on WordPress.org has no clue about theme or works for the competition.
Astra Theme Review Demo Websites
Let’s go straight to one of the strongest points of the Astra Theme, namely the many demo websites. These demo websites, the so-called Starter Templates, are made to further embroider with your favorite page builder. The demos were made with Elementor, Beaverbuilder, Brizy and Gutenberg. Well, I’m not that impressed with the last one, but the others are 3 top page builders. This means that if one of these 3 is your favorite page builder, the Astra theme can be your favorite theme.
As seen above one can just choose for which page builder demo website will be shown. Astra has one of the best full website demo’s that I have ever seen in themes and plenty as for just elementor there should be like 180 different designs already.
Astra's Woocommerce Possibilities
The WP-Astra Theme was built from the start on having super fast loading times and it had to excel in the possibilities and beautiful designs for webshops and that intention has been successful. The options that Astra offers for E-commerce websites are unprecedented and practically surpass any other theme, including specialized Woocommerce themes.
Below I´ll show a few of the many features Astra offers for Woocommerce that make your webshop to a professional looking online store.
Infinite scroll
Off canvas sidebar
Quick view
The Astra Theme has about 15 such features for webshops. It simply has all the gadgets one could wish for.
Astra comes with Schema Mark Up
WP-Astra comes standard with Schema Mark Up which adds rich snippets to your articles. That way your articles will be displayed in Google’s search result in a more effective way as seen in the image below, with or without Schema. I have tried it on an HTML-website, and implementing Schema by hand is just to much work and errors will be made. Astra adds the snippets automatically and if your article changes, so will the Schema Mark Up.
Do you want someting even better than Astra’s basic Mark Up, then go for the more professional version of it:
Astra Speed
WP-Astra’s basic code is only 25kb which makes Astra one of the fastest themes out there, if not the fastest. Have a look at the images below, if necessary give them a click to enlarge them. On the left we see a speedtest done at GtMetrix with stunning results. On the right you see what one of the most famous SEO companies thinks of the speed of the Astra Theme.
Astra Theme Extra Info
If you are planning to set up a website with WP-Astra for teaching courses, it is good to know that the theme is fully compatible with Learndash and LifterLMS. In addition, Astra has an excellent SEO, is 100% responsive on all devices. It’s all too much to explain here in this review so I advise you to take a look at the Astra website itself.
Astra Theme Review Conclusion
The Astra Theme excels on several fronts, including speed, countless options for webshops, beautiful designs that can be installed with 1 click and that for 4 different page builders. In addition, Astra has built-in Schema as standard and is compatible with all commonly used plugins. This makes Astra one of the best-selling themes of the moment and I can recommend it to everyone, especially in combination with Elementor Pro.
Let’s continue this Generatepress vs Astra Review with the Generatepress Theme.
Generatepress Theme
This Generatepress review will quickly show you whether this theme is suitable for building your latest project. According to the builders, Generatepress has been developed for the construction of the perfect shops, corporate websites and blogs. In addition, the theme had to produce lightning-fast loading times.
Generatepress' Rating
Apart from the free version of Generatepress that can be downloaded here, the theme also has a very good pro version.
Generatepress Review Demos
A while ago, Generatepress everywhere indicated that it is so compatible with Elementor and Beaverbuilder. This is still the case but since the introduction of their own block builder many of the demos are before that. Generatepress currently has a total of 60+ demo website that can be installed with 1 click. Watch the video to get a good impression about their demos.
Generatepress' Speed
I personally don’t know of any faster loading themes than Generatepress except maybe Astra. The theme is really insanely fast, comparable fast to minimalist themes that can do nothing. But Generatepress can do a lot and we are dealing with a special theme here. Below is how their own site loads in a second.
Generatepress' Schema Mark-up
Already built into Generatepress is the Google Schema Mark-Up. It automatically generates rich snippets for your pages, making them easier to find and more frequently displayed.
Generatepress & Woocommerce
Finally, I would like to indicate in this Generatepress review that this theme is also great for building online stores. It offers many features that give your shop a professional impression and building the shop is incredibly fast and smooth. Check the video if you have 2 minutes.
Generatepress Review Pricing
This theme has very reasonable prices. For $59 you can install it on 500 websites, so basically unlimited. View the Generatepress pricing page here.
Generatepress Review Conclusion
Generatepress is installed as a free version on 4 million sites and the pro version on 90,000 sites. This is of course not for nothing and indicates what a good theme this is. The theme is indeed lightning fast, very versatile and has beautiful designs that can be adjusted with elite page builders or their own Block Editor. Definitely recommend this theme.
Astra vs Generatepress Conclusion
Thanks for reading this Generatepress vs Astra comparison till the end. These two themes are very similar. I think Generatepress is just a bit faster but I like Astra better on all other features. It just has more to offer, specially when bought the complete Astra package with all plugins also in there.