The7 and X-Store are both sold through the same marketplace and are therefore direct competitors. That is certainly the case since both themes can be used for the construction of very nicely looking webshops. The7 vs X-Store, which is the better theme? We start with The7 which does not mean it would be better.
The7 Theme
The7 Theme Ratings
This The-7 Theme Review will discuss all the positive and negative aspects of The 7. The7 was published in September 2013 by DreamTheme. This theme has been sold 269,297+ times up to today and has a rating 4.76 out 5 (8500 ratings on Themeforest). There are only very few themes that have a higher average rating.
The7 Theme Load Speed
The craze for fast themes started a few years ago when it was understood that fast-loading websites are more successful because visitors have very little patience. The fastest themes such as Astra are still the fastest, but in the meantime each theme has been provided with an update to make it load quickly, and so is The7.
The7 Theme Review: PageBuilder
The7 works perfectly with, in my opinion the best page builder for WordPress, Elementor. Without having to purchase the pro version, The7 provides you with a large number of pro functions such as the ThemeBuilder and a large number of additional elements.
Of course, the theme is 100% compatible with the Gutenberg editor and all its blocks. In addition, there are many demo websites built with Gutenberg.
But there is even a 3rd page builder in The7, the WP-Bakery page builder. As a bonus, this includes an extra plugin for WP-Bakery to significantly expand the number of widgets. And there are also many demo websites built with WP-Bakery. On the image above you can see all the extra plugins you get for free in The7 theme.
Build shops with The7
Even more amazing is that you have access to a real Woocommerce Builder. This allows you to style the pages of your webshop exactly as you had it in mind. In the past one had to be very good with HTML and that was a lot of work, but not anymore. The image above roughly shows how it works.
The7 Theme Demos
The number of 40+ demos is not spectacular, but these are well-built full site demos. We can say that other themes offer more demos, but in most cases much worse demos. The7 thus more than meets the requirements that we set in this review for demos or starter sites that can be installed with 1 click.
The7 Theme Review: Settings
One of the most impressive features of the The7 theme is the large number of settings that exceed your wildest wishes. Everything has been thought of and can be adjusted without technical knowledge. In the image below you can see the numbers that they specify themselves.
The7 Theme Review Conclusion
The7 is of course a fantastic theme and it is not for nothing that the second best-selling theme on Themeforest. I can recommend it 100% for both websites and shops. It does not have a free version, you will have to buy the pro version. As long as you are looking for a theme for only 1 websites, everything is okay, but if you have to provide multiple websites with a theme, so I prefer to buy Astra or Divi, these themes may be slightly better and can be used on unlimited websites.
Let’s continue this X-Store vs The7 comparison with the X-Store Theme.
The X-Store 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.
The7 vs X-Store Conclusion
X-Store and The7 are all great themes. The7 has better sales, but X-Store has a better rating. Both are specialized in building web shops and corporate sites. I like The7’s demo designs a bit better. So my choice falls on The7, but only if we are building just one site or shop, otherwise I prefer to work with Astra or Divi as these are not only better themes but at once for unlimites websites.