Introduction
Astra is one of the most popular WordPress themes, known for its versatility, speed, and ease of customization, and it was launched in 2017 by WordPress development agency Brainstorm Force. It has over 1 million active installations and a 5-star rating from over 5200 users. Astra was developed as a base theme focusing on lightweight design, performance, SEO, and user experience. It has deep integration with popular page builders like Elementor and Beaver Builder. Astra's compatibility with WooCommerce makes it one of the best WordPress themes and a go-to choice for bloggers and e-commerce site owners looking for a WordPress theme that can be easily customized to their needs without requiring coding knowledge.
While Astra offers many features, some users find it restrictive or overly complex, particularly when it comes to customization without additional plugins or page builders. Astra's focus on integration with specific ecosystems like Elementor might not suit users who prefer other page builders.
In this article, we will focus on finding the best alternatives to the Astra WordPress theme. Based on your project needs, whether for a business website, a blog, an e-commerce platform, or a portfolio site. We will review Breakdance, Kadence, Blocksy, GeneratePress, Neve, and OceanWP and find out which is worthy of being an Astra competitor. Here is a detailed review of the best WordPress products that can serve as alternatives to Astra:
Astra Theme Alternatives: Quick Overview
Here is a snapshot of the Astra WordPress theme competitors based on various factors like ease of use, customization, WooCommerce support, header builder, performance, layout, and pricing.
| Factors | Breakdance | Kadence | Blocksy | GeneratePress | Neve | OceanWP |
| Type | Page Builder | Theme | Theme | Theme | Theme | Theme |
| Ease of Use | User-friendly | Moderate | Easy | Easy | Easy | Moderate |
| Customization | Drag-and-drop, Dynamic | Global, Hooks | Customizer, Global options | Hooks, CSS | Customizer, AMP | Demos, Extensions |
| WooCommerce Support | Full, Shop Builder | Full, Custom Layouts | WooCommerce extensions | Basic options via Customizer | WooComemrce Booster | Full, Shop Demos |
| Header Builder | Visual Drag-and-drop | Drag-and-drop | Drag-and-drop | Basic | Drag-and-drop | Multiple Styles |
| Performance | Fast performance, minimal bloat | Fast, optimized for speed, SEO-friendly | Very fast, lightweight, optimized for performance | Extremely lightweight, fast loading, SEO-friendly | Fast, optimized for performance | Fast, but can become bloated with many extensions |
| Community & Support | Growing community, developer support available | Strong community support, active development, responsive support | Active community, good support from developers | Very active community, excellent developer support, frequent updates | Good community support, active development | Large community, good support, but some users report issues with updates |
| Layout Options | Full, Grid/Flexbox | Pre-built, Row/Column | Pre-built, Sidebar | Container, Sidebar | Pre-built, Basic | Pre-built, Sidebar |
| Pricing | Paid, starts at $99/year | Free & Paid | Free & Paid | Free & Paid | Free & Paid | Free & Paid |
Best Astra WordPress Theme Alternatives
1. Breakdance
Breakdance is not a WordPress theme but a powerful builder focusing on visual design and offering advanced design options. It offers an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, allowing users to build websites without coding. Breakdance focuses on a zero-theme approach, which gives more flexibility than transitional WordPress themes. It also allows you to disable the WordPress theme, leading to high performance even for complex websites. Breakdance lets you create custom templates and dynamic data, making it a versatile tool for web developers and designers.
Key Features:
Breakdance is a powerful website builder known for its visual drag-and-drop interface, making it easy for users to design and customize their websites without coding knowledge. It has 145+ built-in elements, providing many options for creating unique and dynamic websites. One of its key features is the global theme style, which lets users apply unified design changes across the site with just a few clicks. Additionally, Breakdance offers advanced design settings with dynamic data capabilities, enabling users to create personalized and data-driven websites effortlessly.
For e-commerce store owners, Breakdance provides deep WooCommerce integration, which includes custom product layouts and a shop page builder, making it easier to set up and manage online stores. Users have complete control over page layouts with support for both grid and flexbox, ensuring the design is responsive and adaptable to various screen sizes. The platform also includes an advanced form element that can be customized to collect user information. These unique features collectively make Breakdance a versatile tool for beginners and advanced users looking to build professional and functional websites.
Pricing:
Breakdance offers several pricing plans based on user needs. If you want to manage a single site, it’s just $99 per year, giving users full access to all of Breakdance's features. This means you can easily replace several plugins with its built-in elements. Unlimited sites are available for those managing multiple sites for $199 annually. This is suitable for agencies or developers working on various projects. With this pricing structure, you can quickly scale your usage without worrying about extra costs for each site, providing flexibility and outstanding value.
2. Kadence
Kadence is a WordPress theme known for its intuitive customization features, making it an excellent choice for users who want to design their websites without getting into writing complex code. It has deep WooCommerce integration, which includes tools for advanced store customization. Kadence is optimized for fast loading times, ensuring that your website performs well in terms of speed, which is important for both user experience and SEO. It integrates with the popular Gutenberg plugin, Kadence Blocks. Which extends the functionality of the Gutenberg editor with additional block elements. Additionally, Kadence supports popular page builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, and others, providing flexibility for users who prefer different design approaches.
Key Features:
The Kadence Theme includes a drag-and-drop header and footer builder, which makes customizing your site’s layout a breeze—even if you don't have any coding skills. This feature and various pre-built templates for product and shop pages offer a smooth setup process for WooCommerce integration. Besides that, Kadence has detailed color and typography settings that let you effortlessly align your site's design with your brand’s identity. Plus, with features like lazy loading and global performance settings, your website will load quickly and efficiently, enhancing user experience and boosting your SEO.
What’s great is that all these advanced customization features are built right into the theme’s core, so you can reduce the dependency on additional plugins, which is a big win for site performance. The Kadence Theme even includes dynamic data capabilities, allowing you to create interactive and data-driven web pages —perfect for showcasing product variations or custom content. Kadence Theme excels in speed, flexibility, and various design options, making it an excellent choice for beginners and advanced users who want to create professional, high-performing websites.
Pricing:
Kadence WordPress Theme offers competitive pricing with both free and pro options available. The premium plan is $79 per year, including extensive features and the ability to use the theme on unlimited sites. Additionally, bundle plans are available, including Kadence Blocks and other powerful plugins, offering even more value for users looking to enhance their website design experience.
3. Blocksy
Blocksy WordPress is a Gutenberg-ready and beginner-friendly WordPress theme with rich customization options. This makes it easy for anyone to customize their websites just how they want. It's especially great for WooCommerce, including beautifully designed product pages and cart layouts that enhance the shopping experience. Plus, Blocksy is lightweight and optimized for speed, ensuring that websites created with this theme load quickly—something necessary to keep both search engines and users happy, boosting SEO performance.
Key Features:
Blocksy is a versatile WordPress theme that makes it easy to customize your website. With its global color and typography settings available through the customizer, you can effortlessly change the look and feel of your entire site with just a few clicks. This feature helps maintain a consistent design across all your pages, which is excellent for beginners aiming to achieve a unified and professional appearance. Plus, Blocksy comes with WooCommerce extensions like Quick View, custom tabs, and advanced reviews that enhance online store functionality, giving your customers a delightful shopping experience.
The theme also includes a simple drag-and-drop header and footer builder, making it easier to customize these vital parts of your website. You can design unique layouts for your headers and footers without knowing any coding – which is perfect for those just starting in web development. Blocksy also allows for custom layouts for single and archive pages, giving you the freedom to design how your content is presented the way you want it. This ensures a consistent and visually appealing experience for your users.
Pricing:
Blocksy offers both free and pro versions. The free version is feature-rich, providing a solid foundation for most websites. For those needing more advanced features, the pro version starts at $69 per year for a single license. This pricing structure makes Blocksy an attractive option, especially for WooCommerce-heavy sites, as it includes many features that would otherwise require multiple plugins, potentially saving on costs and reducing site bloat.
4. GeneratePress
GeneratePress is a lightweight WordPress theme that focuses on speed and a clean design, making it a fantastic choice for anyone who values performance and simplicity. With user-friendly customization options and an intuitive interface, even those with limited technical skills can easily customize their websites. The theme comes with excellent documentation and is developer-friendly, offering extensive resources for developers to enhance and customize functionality while maintaining optimal site performance. GeneratePress works beautifully with GenerateBlocks, a powerful block editor plugin, so users can effortlessly create unique and dynamic websites.
Key Features:
GeneratePress is well known among WordPress developers for its top-tier performance, minimal code, low page size, and reduced HTTP requests, ensuring that websites load quickly and efficiently. This focus on speed is crucial for user experience and SEO, making it an excellent choice for site owners prioritizing site performance. The theme also offers flexible global styles, allowing users to apply consistent design changes across their entire site easily. Additionally, GeneratePress includes local fonts, which can further enhance loading times by reducing the need for external font requests.
The theme provides 100+ starter sites, giving users a wide range of templates to start their website design, catering to various industries and purposes. It also features various Action Hook and Filter Hooks, that enable developers to add custom content at multiple locations within the theme, offering advanced customization without altering core files. While GeneratePress's WooCommerce integration is basic but functional, it ensures fast-loading product pages, which is essential for e-commerce sites. This combination of performance, flexibility, and customization options makes GeneratePress a versatile and powerful choice for building professional websites.
Pricing:
GeneratePress offers a free version that includes minimal features for building websites, focusing on speed and minimalistic design. For those looking for more advanced features, premium plans start at $59 per year, offering excellent value for users who want to create highly customizable, performance-optimized sites without breaking the bank.
5. Neve
Overview:
Neve is a WordPress theme known for its simplistic setup and customization process, making it a good Astra alternative for users who want to get their website up and running quickly. It's designed with ultra-fast performance, particularly for small businesses, ensuring the website loads quickly on desktop and mobile devices. Neve is AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) ready, which means it's optimized for mobile viewing, providing a smooth experience for users. For those looking to set up an online store, Neve offers WooCommerce integration, including a WooCommerce Booster, which extends the functionality of your e-commerce site.
Key Features:
Neve is AMP-ready, ensuring the website performs well on mobile devices and integrates well with popular tools like Elementor, Beaver Builder, and the WordPress block editor. Its lightweight and highly responsive design ensures your site looks good on any device. The theme supports a fast checkout process with multiple checkout page layouts, making the shopping experience smooth for customers. With over 100 starter sites, users can quickly set up their websites with pre-designed templates. Neve also includes custom Elementor widgets like the Neve Header Footer Grid, Neve Blog, and Neve WooCommerce Booster, which add functionality without installing additional plugins. Global color palettes let you set unified color settings that match your branding, and the theme's flexibility with the block editor means you can easily customize your site's layout and design.
Pricing:
The Neve WordPress theme offers a free version that includes basic functionality. For those looking for more advanced features, the premium version starts at $69 per year, with different plans offering varying levels of functionality to suit various needs.
6. OceanWP
OceanWP is a highly customizable WordPress theme that stands out for its easy-to-use settings, ensuring that anyone, regardless of their skill level, whether beginner or advanced users, can use it. More than 600,000+ users use the free version of the theme to run their websites. It excels in WooCommerce integration, providing unique features tailored explicitly for creating online stores. You can unlock its full potential by utilizing its extensions, and its extension collection includes Cookie Notice, Popup login, White label, Sticky header, Side Panel, and many more.
Key Features:
OceanWP is a feature-rich WordPress theme known for its pre-built demos and Elementor compatibility, making it an excellent choice for users who prefer visual page builders. It offers extensive templates for store pages, which are particularly useful for e-commerce websites. Its deep integration with WooCommerce lets you quickly set up and customize product pages, cart layouts, and checkout processes. OceanWP theme also provides detailed global style controls, enabling users to easily apply consistent design changes across the site, ensuring a cohesive look and feel.
Additionally, OceanWP stands out with its various header styles and options, allowing users to choose from different layouts and customize headers to match their branding. This feature, combined with its integration with Elementor, creates a seamless design experience where users can drag and drop elements to create unique headers without needing to write any code. The theme's focus on customization and performance optimization makes it popular for beginners and advanced users looking to build professional, high-performing websites.
Pricing:
OceanWP offers a free version that provides basic functionality. For those looking for more advanced features, two premium versions are available: one for general websites and another for eCommerce websites. Pricing for these premium versions starts at $35 per year. Additionally, users can buy extensions individually.
Final Thoughts on Astra Theme Alternatives
In conclusion, the Astra theme has undoubtedly earned its popularity among WordPress users thanks to its speed and advanced customization options. However, it’s understandable that some users are looking for alternatives due to factors like pricing and performance or the heavy reliance on the Elementor page builder. For anyone looking for other options, Breakdance is an excellent choice with its powerful visual builder and a wide array of pre-built templates, giving you exceptional flexibility. If you value customization, both Breakdance and Kadence are good options, as they offer advanced customization features and deep integration with WooCommerce. For those who prioritize speed, you can’t go wrong with GeneratePress or Neve; they are well-known for their minimalistic design and fast loading times. For e-commerce store owners, Blocksy and Breakdance take the spot, providing beautifully predesigned product pages, cart layouts, and WooCommerce-specific features that enhance the online shopping experience. Each of these themes brings unique advantages, fulfilling the needs of various user preferences and project requirements.