Phlox and Neve 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 Neve, 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 Neve vs Phlox comparison with the Neve Theme.
The Neve Theme
In this Neve Theme Review, let’s see if this theme is really as multi- functional as its builders claim. The theme should be lightning fast, suitable for blogs, corporate websites and webshops. Like many other well-selling themes, Neve has built up a name as a popular free theme to start with.
Neve's Rating 4.8/5
The Neve theme has built up an impressive rating on WordPress.org as shown in the image below. In addition to the rating figures, you can see a few comments from users, the opinions about this theme are on average very good.
Neve Review Starter Sites
Neve is full of starter sites, also called demo websites that can be installed with 1 click. As is the case with Astra, Neve offers starter sites specially made for the various top page builders. In this way, everyone is catered for with designs for his favorite page builder from which he can start his project. These are features that we have to give full marks for, beautiful!
Neve Theme's loading Speed
Websites today need to load quickly to attract visitors and to get good results in Google’s search results. Below you can see a test where I tested Neve. The test was performed after installing WP-Rocket, the best cache plugin out there for WordPress, and with optimized images. The test was done at GtMetrix.
Neve Theme Review: Woocommerce
Neve is a multipurpose theme but is less than a little specialized in the field of webshops. There are many features that make an online store look really professional. In addition, there are many settings to adjust product pages, check out et cetera. There are also several layouts provided for these types of pages that you can choose from.
Neve Footer & Header Builder
The Neve theme has a fantastic system for styling your header and footer down to the last detail. Also very nice is the incredibly extensive documentation that Neve provides not only for the Header Builder but for all the features we covered in this Neve Theme Review. You can find the documentation by clicking on “Docs” in the main menu under “Support”.
Neve Extra Information
There is so much more to tell about Neve. For example, the theme has an Elementor Booster, a Blog Booster, Flipcards as shown below and a large number of other features. I want to keep this Neve review short and to the point, but if it piqued your interest, just continue reading on their own website.
Neve Theme Review Conclusion
The Neve Theme has several impressive features including the beautiful demo layouts that are already prepared for the different page builders. The many features for web shops also immediately catch the eye. There is also the complete series of boosters (plugins) that make it a great theme. Neve deserves its top rating and is definitely recommended for building any type of website.
Neve 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.