Phlox and Airi are both available through WordPress.org and are therefore direct competitors. That is certainly the case since both themes can be used for the construction of very nicely looking webshops. Phlox vs Airi, which is the better theme? We start with Phlox which does not mean it would be better.
The Phlox Theme
As a matter of fact this website you are looking at right now, I built it with Phlox Premium and Elementor. I can tell you right away that this is a great theme, but we’re going through all the points of the theme so slowly. Phlox was launched back in 2013, a golden age for WP themes.
Phlox Themes' Rating
The Phlox Theme has a free version with a rating of 4.8 out of 5 as seen above. The premium theme has an average rating of 4.66 out of 5. With these figures, the Phlox theme is among the best rated themes on Themeforest.
Loading Speed
The Phlox theme has impressive loading times as can be seen below in the 4 completed tests. However, there are faster themes, such as Astra. Such fast loading times are always achieved with an elite cache plugin.
Phlox's Page Builder
Phlox is a so-called Elementor Theme, which means built to support Elementor. Building the website practically only happens with Elementor. What I needed Phlox for was a beautiful demo website from which I could start my site. The demos of Elementor Pro itself I found a bit disappointing.
160+ extra Widgets in Elementor
Purchasing Elementor Pro is made completely unnecessary by the many extra widgets offered by Phlox within the page builder, 160+ to be precise. An unprecedented number of extra widgets which offers practically unlimited possibilities.
A Second Page Builder
You also get the Bakery page builder as a tuned version with about 60 extra widgets in it by Phlox.
Building a Blog
We call the structure of this website a blog. If you click on “Blog” in the menu or on “Compare Themes” you will see the blog layout. There are dozens of settings what people do and don’t want to show in the items. My experience with the Phlox theme for blogs is very good, this site is like my baby everything works so well. So if you want to build a blog, Phlox is definitely a good choice.
Phlox offers a variety of layouts and options to help you become a professional blogger, or just to get started in the blogging world. You can do everything with blogging. Phlox uses best practices in typography design to ensure that content is easily readable on all devices. Phlox supports all types of blogging, including grid, masonry and timeline. It also covers layouts such as tile, land and classic.
Phlox Theme Review: Starter Sites
I just mentioned that I had selected Phlox on its beautiful demo websites, in total there are 190+. These come in different specializations such as blogs, shops, corporate and much more. The layouts are of extremely high quality. As far as I’m concerned, Phlox is even undervalued with its rating.
Reuse Sections
Being able to save and reuse sections at lightning speed is a great feature. It says “Exclusive” in the corner but there are many more themes that have this.
Phlox: Global Colors
The theme uses 3 basic colors that are used throughout the site. If you adjust it, it will automatically adjust across the entire site. Doesn’t seem like a real exclusive feature to me, but it’s certainly practical.
Headers and Footers
The Phlo theme offers a complete collection of options for both footers and headers. There will certainly be something to your liking for your website. You can make further adjustments to your chosen design with the Header & Footer Builder.
Phlox Theme Review Conclusion
I assume that you have received a very positive impression of Phlo by now, this is a great theme. I can’t copy all the information here, not 1 on 1. If your interest has been piqued, read on on their own website. As far as I’m concerned, Phlox is one of the better themes on Themeforest and highly recommended.
Let’s continue this Airi vs Phlox comparison with the Airi Theme.
The Airi Theme
This Airi theme review will focus on the key features. This theme was created by aThemes and featured on more than 20,000 websites. I have had positive experiences with another theme that was created by aThemes, named Sydney. I suppose Airi has more or less the same to offer. Airi is in the first place a theme that should create great webshops and is easy to understand for beginners and pros.
Airi Theme Review: Ratings
Below you can see on the 2 images the rating of Airi Pro and that of Airi Free. The Airi Free rating can be found on WordPress .org and the other rating comes from the Notorious Themeforest marketplace where the theme has recently been sold as well. However, it is recommended that you just buy on your own site if you intend to.
Airi Free Rating
Airi Pro Rating
Airi Theme: Demo Websites
The vast majority of Airi’s demo websites are intended for E-commerce purposes, in other words to build webshops with them. I give below with the images a few examples of the demo websites for different niches. The images can be clicked to view them larger and square. All shops were built with the Woocommerce plugin.
Airi Fashion Demos
Airi Furniture Demos
Airi Review: Loading Speed
The Airi Theme is a very fast loading theme, which is not surprising because we call it minimalistic, which has fast loading times as a feature. Below in the image you can see a test done via GtMetrix, a renowned speed test. If you are looking for a super fast loading theme, check Astra, the fastest theme for WordPress that has a lot to offer at the same time.
Airi Review: Page Builders
Airi Review: Header Lay-outs
Below I show you 3 different headers but the Airi theme offers a total of 20+ Header Layouts that you can install in your website with 1 click. Further adjustments to the header can then be made. I’m not going to show it all in this Airi Review, but Airi also has 12+ portfolio layouts and 8+ team layouts.
Airi Review: Blog Lay-outs
We already know that Airi primarily focuses on building shops, but Airi can do much more. For those of you who blog often and want to build a good site for it, it’s good to know that Airi offers different layouts for blogs. I wouldn’t be so quick to use Airi for it myself, but it’s certainly possible. A good theme for blogs is of course Divi.
Airi Theme Review: Settings
Practically all settings for the Airi theme are controlled via the standard WordPress Customizer. Most themes now make use of this, which makes the settings well-arranged. Think of settings for the header, your blog, the footer, sidebar, the shop, copyright, font settings and so on.
Airi Theme Review Conclusion
Thank you so much for reading my Airi Theme Review for the year. Airi is capable of a lot. Even in the free version, the demo layouts look great. Airi can be used to build any kind of website. You can access all themes from AThemes for a bit more than one theme. As Divi shows, memberships often offer more value than just one theme. Airi operates great in combination with the Elementor page builder.
Airi vs Phlox Conclusion
I like Phlox better, it is just a bit better overall. The problem is Phlox wants to see a separate expensive license for every website you want to build with it. This will quickly cost you a lot of money. You are better off with Astra or Divi that can be used on an unlimited sites and are also even better and more stable themes.