Here we compare Hello vs Sydney. As we know, Hello is the free theme that is connected to the Elementor page builder. Sydneyis another theme that is also very popular on WordPress.org but also has a very good pro version.
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.
Let’s continue this Sydney vs Hello Review with the Hello Theme.
The Hello Theme
I’m starting this Hello Elementor Theme review to indicate that Hello is a great theme and really delivers a fast-loading website. On the other hand, that is not so strange because there is practically nothing in it. The good thing is that Elementor itself can do a lot and certainly with the pro version. Let’s discuss point by point why you should or should not use the Hello Theme for your new website.
Hello's Rating 4.7/5
The Hello Theme now has more than a million active installations. Understandable because everything works perfectly if you use Hello as a basis to work with Elementor. Somehow, there are often people who give highly valued items only 1 star. I consider this group to be one that didn’t understand anything and probably does this with other themes as well.
Hello Theme Review Speed
Hello is as seen below even very fast without a cache plugin. We ran 2 speed tests on Hello on the GtMetrix website, the first without using the best cache plugin out there called WP-Rocket and the second with the plugin installed.
Hello Child Theme
Voor het geval u van plan bent om aanpassingen aan de code van het theme te gaan maken in de toekomst is het verstandig met een child theme te werken. Een fatsoenlijk webdesigner maakt zijn child theme in een paar minuten, maar als u geen ervaren designer bent en geen zin heeft om te puzzelen hoe dit moet dan kunt u hier op Github het standaard child theme voor Hello Elementor downloaden.
Elementor Page Builder
It makes little sense to use Hello Elementor without the Elementor page builder. Hello serves as the basis for the all-round page builder. Elementor is used on more than 2 million WordPress websites and is steadily gaining popularity. Both the free and pro versions are just really good. The differences are in the number of widgets available, the use of templates and a wider range of demo websites and some other things. Buying the pro version is definitely recommended if you can spare $50.
This website was created with Elementor Pro and I really enjoy working with it. I also work with other page builders like the DiviBuilder but Elementor is one of my favorites.
Hello is the perfect Starter Theme
As mentioned before, after installing Hello you will see that there is really nothing left in your site. For example, there is no sidebar or header, there are no settings via the “Customizer”. That’s all there after you’ve installed Elementor, so don’t worry.
Hello Templates & Demo Library
Elementor provides you with a demo library with which you can install a complete demo website with one click. Depending on the version of Elementor you are using (free-pro-expert) you will have more and better designs available in the Kit Library. You also have access to templates.
So much more can be said about Elementor but I advise you to read on on the Elementor website or read my review for Elementor itself.
Hello Theme Review Conclusion
You have probably noticed in this Hello Elementor Theme Review that I am certainly enthusiastic about the theme, although there is practically nothing in it. For experienced people it is a great theme to have a super fast loading website. For laymen it is advisable to start with a good design that can be installed via the Template Kits in Elementor. If you prefer to work with a theme that is not entirely dependent on Elementor, but still works perfectly with it, just like Hello, then the Astra Theme is an absolute must.
Sydney vs Hello Conclusion
You have come to the end of this Hello vs Sydney comparison. Both themes are very good in the free version, but Sydney of course has much more to offer than Hello, which is 100% minimalist. This makes it much more pleasant to work with Sydney. As for the pro version of Sydney, it cannot of course be compared with Hello and is head and shoulders above Hello.