GeneratePress vs Astra - Select #1 Theme (Latest 2023 Edition)

GeneratePress vs Astra

GeneratePress and Astra are two of the best WordPress themes for those who want lightweight, high-performance and affordable themes. Which one is #1 theme? To find out which one is no #1 theme, read our broad comparison. You can try them all by clicking the links below.

GeneratePress and Astra are the two good themes for WordPress users and most people use this theme because of its lightweight and fastest performance.

If you’re looking for the best WordPress theme for page builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder and Thrive Archive, you should be using either one of these themes.

You know what?

I was not deciding which theme is best for WordPress.

But, I finally settled for a GP premium plugin. Currently, this is made by using Elementor pro and GeneratePress pro themes. If you want to know more about the reason behind shifting to GP premium theme then read on GeneratePress review post.

This GeneratePress vs Astra tutorial aims to help you understand those differences so you can make the right decision.

At the end of this article, you’ll be able to decide which is a better theme for WordPress.

Let’s get started.

GeneratePress and Astra - Info

When it comes to fastest and lightest WordPress theme between Astra and GeneratePress then GeneratePress comes in the top position. But Astra’s theme still has excellent performance. Both are the most popular themes in the WordPress marketplace right now. The pro versions of both WP themes start at $59.

Let’s see an overview between GeneratePress and Astra theme.

Features	GeneratePress	Astra
Rating	5/5	5/5
Performance	5/5	4.5/5
Pro Price	$59	$49 (Save $10)
Free Version
Page Builder Compatibility	Compatible with Elementor, Beaver Builder, Thrive	Compatible with Elementor, Beaver Builder
WooCommerce Integration
Modules
Support	Excellent	Good
We Like	Easy to Customization Lightweight & Very Fast We can build every aspech of element without touching single code Block elements offer you freedom to create whatever you need 30 day money-back guarantee Stellar support	Fast & Lightweight Good for WooCommerce Integration Lifetime Pricing Whitelebel Features Tons of demo sites available Good Customer Support 30 Day money-back guarantee Seamless Integration With LearnDash
We Don’t Like	Few Demo Site Less features in Free Version No Whitelebel features	Lifetime price is high Very few header layouts
Customization	5/5	4.5/5
Official Website	generatepress.com	wpastra.com

As you can see, both themes have outstanding performance ratings and minor differences between them that are why both are quite popular themes. Also, these are freemium themes which means that the free version of Astra (free) and GeneratePress (free) can be downloaded from WordPress.org with limited features. And if you want more customization options then you can switch to the premium version of these themes.

The pro version of GeneratePress and Astra is a plugin that adds more customization options to the theme framework. You can turn on/off these functionalities (modules) directly from your WordPress dashboard under the Appearance section.

Stay with this GeneratePress vs Astra comparison detailed guide till the end where I will help you to select the right theme for your WordPress website.

We’ll look forward at the two themes from the following standpoint:

Easy of Use (In terms of Layout Customization)
Custom Layout Modules
Page Builder Compatibility
Site Library
Performance & Speed
WooCommerce Integration
Documentation and Support
GeneratePress FREE vs Astra FREE
Pricing

These comparisons will help you to choose the best theme for your personal website.

Stay Tune!

An Introduction

Let’s start with small Introduction:

GeneratePress is developed by one person, Tom Usborne. Right now, It has over 4,134,495+ downloads and 90,000+ happy customers according to GeneratePress and is rated 5 stars by more than 1301 users on WordPress.org.

On the other hand, Astra theme is developed by a company, BrainStorm. It has currently 1+ million active installs according to WordPress.org and is rated 5 stars by more than 4,920 users. It has a pretty high number of ratings and installations as compared to GeneratePress.

But with the number, we can’t judge which one is a better theme for WordPress site.

Both of the themes come with more customization options which allow users to design their sites without touching a single line of code. Using any themes (Astra or GeneratePress) and with the page builder (Elementor or Beaver Builder), you can build responsive and fast load websites.

If you’re looking for the fastest and lightweight themes to start a WordPress blog then you must try the GeneratePress WordPress theme. Also, Astra theme has almost similar features so it can be really hard to decide which one to pick for developing a website.

There are few differences that make this theme unique. We’ll see in this post:

Recommendation: If you’re in a hurry and don’t have time to read a complete article then I strongly recommend using GeneratePress pro theme.

GeneratePress vs Astra: Broad Comparison

#1. Easy to Use in terms of Interface

Easy to use means, how the interface to navigate.

The ease of using a WordPress theme plays an important role, especially if you are a newbie with no coding skills.

How do they compare in terms of ease-of-use? Let’s compare their interfaces.

This is how the GeneratePress customization interface appears.

You can see that, all the customization options are in one tab, and it’s includes:

The site identity tab allows you to add taglines for the site, also you can set a logo and site icon.

You can customise container, header, primary navigation, secondary navigation, footer and more from the layout customizing tab.

It becomes very easy to use because you can see live changes instantly whenever you add or remove anything on your site.

Before publishing, you can preview your website. Similarly, you can explore all customization options.

You can read our GeneratePress Review article to know more about Interface.

Here’s the Astra customization panel.

Astra customization interface is almost same as GeneratePress. It comes with customizing options:

Which one is #1 theme, when it comes to the easy to use.

It is difficult to decide which one is better in terms of interface because both have almost similar customization features. So, both are #1 WordPress theme.

#2. Custom Layout Modules

This is a premium feature available with GP premium and Astra Pro plugin. To use these pro features, you need to have the GeneratePress and Astra theme along with the premium plugin installed on your website.

Custom layout is a very powerful module offered by GeneratePress and Astro pro. To use these modules, first you need to have activated these modules.

For generatePress, go to WordPress dashboard > Appearance > GeneratePress.

Moreover, for Astra, go to WP dashboard > Appearance > Astra options.

Take a note, you can activate these modules only when you will use a premium plugin.

With this module, you can create a custom header, disable default theme elements on specific pages or inside a layout element, hook locations and more.

Let’s first explore GeneratePress module:

GeneratePress premium plugin gives you various modules options such as:

You can read more about GeneratePress modules in the GeneratePress review article.

Here’s the Astra Pro custom layout modules:

It also comes with numerous module options. To use these modules, you must have Astra theme along with Astra pro addon.

Available Astra pro modules are:

Astra pro has some additional modules options such as custom layouts, and site layouts.

Which one is #1 theme, when it comes to custom layout modules.

No doubt, Astra is the number one theme when you will compare modules options. GeneratePress also has better modules options but little bit less as compared to Astra pro.

#3. Page Builder Compatibility

Astra and GeneratePress work well with most page builders such as Elementor, Beaver Builder or Divi.

This site uses the GeneratePress premium theme and Elementor Pro.

A page builder is not necessary.

GeneratePress can be used in conjunction with the GenerateBlocks plugin to create a complete website. GenerateBlocks plugin offers block elements and eliminates the requirement for page builders plugins.

Astra’s Ultimate Addon for Gutenberg is similar to GenerateBlocks. UAG blocks can be used to design entire websites. You can customise each block with powerful options.

Which one is #1 theme when it comes to page builder compatibility.

GeneratePress elements are not possible to be created with page builders. Instead, you can create Astra’s custom layouts by using your own pagebuilder. However, in terms of page builder compatibility, Astra is #1 theme.

#4. Site Library (Pre-built Templates)

Both GeneratePress and Astra come with tons of pre-made premium templates.

You can edit each element of templates using a page builder or block editor, and can build a beautiful landing page for your site.

GeneratePress Premium gives you access to the Template Library.

Astra offers a free plugin called Starter Templates. This plugin allows you to create demo sites even if your theme is Astra free theme. GeneratePress templates can only be accessed by GP premium plugin.

Astra’s starter template also includes wireframes and patterns. GeneratePress does not have this feature.

Benefit of Templates:

You can add patterns to any section of a website.
Wireframes can be described as WordPress blocks that allow you to visualise and organise site design before adding content.
Wireframe blocks can be accessed even within the Ultimate Addons plugin for Gutenberg.

These templates can be imported with just one click using both themes You can filter the templates by page builder while you’re selecting them.

Which one is #1 theme, when it comes to site library:

GeneratePress gives you around 100 pre-made templates while Astra gives you around 180 pre-built templates. Also, Astra starters can access the free Astra theme while this feature is lacking in GeneratePress.

However, Astra is #1 WordPress theme, in terms of site library.

#5. GeneratePress vs Astra Speed & Performance

Your website’s speed matters a lot, when it comes to better ranking in search engines.

Nobody wants to wait for a page load. People will leave your website if it is slow and visit other websites.

Google says, Website speed is an important ranking factor for search engines.

It’s therefore crucial to choose a lightweight WordPress theme.

But, the all time theme doesn’t matter in slow loading websites. It also depends on the web-hosting.

Hosting is also a crucial factor for site performance.

A fastest and lightweight WordPress theme that usually has a smaller page size and uses clean code.

How fast are GeneratePress and Astra themes? Let’s see.

Here’s a list of page sizes for both themes.

Astra theme — less than 50 KB
GeneratePress — 7.5KB

Now, let’s check speed and performance of both GeneratePress and Astra themes.

GeneratePress Theme Speed & Performance Test

We’re currently using the GeneratePress premium theme on this site urpn.org. To check performance and speed tests, we’re going to use the GTmetrix tool.

As you can see above test result, our blog which is using GeneratePress theme along with GP premium is loading just within 7 milliseconds, and performance score is 98%, which is amazing!

Quick Note: Note: You can’t achieve this speed and performance score by using only lightweight themes. If you really want this result then choose the best web-hosting provider.

Astra Theme Speed & Performance Test

To check Astra theme speed and performance result, we’ve built a new site using Astra theme along with Astra pro addon.

Here’s the speed test result:

The site built with Astra pro takes 1.9 seconds to load and performance score is 80%, which is not minimalist.

Take note, actually, this site is new and we did not install any caching plugin so speed loading time can be improved.

But, according to my experience, GeneratePress is more reliable than Astra theme in terms of speed and performance.

Which one is #1 theme, when it comes to performance.

Of Course, GeneratePress is #1 theme, when you’ll consider speed loading time.

#6. WooCommerce Integration

If you’re going to develop a WooCommerce website using WordPress CMS, then Astra pro is a better theme for bringing your store online.

Astra gives you unique WooCommerce integration that helps you to make a quick-loading eCommerce site. This feature is not found in GeneratePress.

Here’s the Astra Pro WooCommerce specific features:

Both Astra pro and GeneratePress premium comes with a pre-made WooCommerce template. You can edit and customise the templates as per your requirement.

As Astra provides you more flexibility features with WooCommerce integration, therefore it could be better options for you.

Which one is #1 theme, when it comes to WooCommerce Integration.

Astra pro has better e-Commerce integration than GeneratePress. However, Astra is #1 WordPress theme, when considering WooCommerce Integration.

#7. Documentation and Support

When it comes to choosing a WordPress theme, support and documentation are equally important.

Let’s compare these two important segments of Astra and GeneratePress theme.

Support & Documentation for GP

GeneratePress’ support service is something we really love. They are very fast.

You can visit the support forum to ask any questions and get a quick solution.

GeneratePress also provides you knowledge base support, where you can read articles based on your problem.

Apart from this, you can also get help through contact form.

Astra Support & Documentation

Astra knowledge base support is excellent. You can find almost all documentation here related to your problem.

In case, if you haven’t found one, you can submit your problem (fastest way to get support), and the technical team will help you out.

Instead of this, you can join Astra Facebook community.

Which one is #1 theme, when choosing support and documentation.

We haven’t contacted Astra support, but as per research, I found that Astra support is a little bit slow as compared to GeneratePress support. So, GeneratePress is #1 theme, when it comes to support and documentation.

#8. GeneratePress vs Astra FREE Version

As we know, both are freemium WordPress themes, this means you can also build a site with a free version of Astra and GeneratePress.

But, let’s compare which one is a good theme when it comes to the free version.

GeneratePress free theme offers you limited features as compared to Astra free theme.

Astra provides you starter templates to use for free, while GeneratePress doesn’t. If you want to use a demo site then you must have a premium GP plugin.

Also, GeneratePress doesn’t give you more customization options. But, in case of Astra free, you can get more customization options.

Moreover, Astra has some free addons like customizer search, Customizer reset, Astra widgets, Astra bulk edit, etc. These add-ons add some extra functionality to the theme.

However, if we compare which free theme is a better choice, then Astra is top of the list.

Which one is #1 theme, when it comes to use of the free version.

In this case, Astra is #1 WordPress theme, when considering the free version.

#9. Pricing Details

As a beginner, price always matters when it comes to choosing an affordable WordPress theme.

Both Astra Pro and GeneratePress premium comes with yearly and one-time payment options.

If you go with a yearly plan then you will get premium support and update for one year. But, if you select the one-time payment, then you will get life-time premium support and update.

Also, both are available in a free version. You can try the first free version of the theme, after that you can upgrade it.

Let’s see the pricing details of Astra pro vs GeneratePress premium.

Pricing Details of GeneratePress

$ 59 Yearly

All premium features
Full access to the Site Library
1 year of updates
1 year of premium support
Use on up to 500 websites
30 day money-back guarantee

$ 249 One Time Payment

All premium features
Full access to the Site Library
Lifetime updates
Lifetime premium support
Use on up to 500 websites
30 day money-back guarantee

Astra Theme Pricing Details

Astra Pro Annual Plan:

$ 49 Yearly

Advance Header Builder
Advance Blog Layouts
Sticky Header
Global Color Palettes
Advance Footer Builder
Custom Layouts & Hooks
Advance Typography
Unlimited Website Usage
Risk-Free Guarantee

$ 169 Yearly

Astro Pro features, and
180+ Premium Starter Templates
WP Portfolio Plugin
Ultimate Addons for Elementor & Beaver Builder
Product Updates
Premium Support
Unlimited Website Usage
Extensive Training
Risk-Free Guarantee

$ 249 Yearly

Essential Bundle features, and
Convert Pro Plugin
Schema Pro Plugin
Ultimate Addons for Elementor & Beaver Builder
Product Updates
Premium Support
Unlimited Website Usage
Extensive Training
Risk-Free Guarantee

Final Conclusion

GeneratePress Premium and Astra Pro are both great WordPress themes. Your use case will determine which theme you select.

Select Astra	Select GeneratePress
You need no coding skills to create a simple-to-use theme. If you don’t have the technical skills to design your website, you can rely on the theme features. Agency clients who need a white-labelled solution with unlimited site usage and no restrictions You can create your own LMS website by integrating LMS plugins such as LifterLMS or LearnDash. You have a WooCommerce shop and want to make it unique with Astra WooCommerce features. Buy Now	You don’t need to overload the site with external integrations. You should be tech-savvy and have some programming knowledge. GeneratePress elements or GenerateBlocks can be enough to design your website. you need a fast loading speed site. you want better customer support. Buy Now

I hope this article on GeneratePress vs Astra was helpful.

** This post includes affiliate links. If you click on one the product links and purchase the product, we will receive some commission. You won’t be charged any additional, but you will still have to pay the standard amount. **

GeneratePress vs Astra - Select #1 Theme (Latest 2023 Edition)