What is this Astra theme, what is the hype about? In this Astra theme review, we are going to talk about why you should use the Astra theme in 2023 and why is it considered the best WordPress theme or at least – one of the best WordPress themes.
The Astra theme has been around for a while now, you can judge that by the number of starter templates the theme has – that’s just insane.
Yeah, starter templates
Ever heard of those?
That is part of what makes the Astra theme great.
The Astra theme starter template pack is loaded with over 150 free and premium starter templates.
Don’t want to create a website from scratch – no darn worries, Astra got you.
In this Astra theme review, I’ll talk about what makes Astra one of the best WordPress theme to use in 2023.
Astra Theme Top Features
Below are the features that set Astra apart from other well-known themes.
I might as well say, the bells and whistles that make Astra a very powerful theme.
1. Lightweight Theme
Now, what does that have to do with anything?
The Speed.
That has to do with the speed! Okay!
Being lightweight means the file size of the theme is so small, that even in poor networks the theme loads super fast.
Not just that, the browser makes fewer requests because of the minimum number of files the theme loads.
All this combined makes Astra the fastest WordPress theme in 2023 and probably years to come.
It is a clear winner in speed, at Astra, they even market the theme as the fastest WordPress theme on the planet.
Well, they ain’t kidding alright.
Coral Nodes tested the theme on GTMetrix (A sight to check the performance of your WordPress website) and this is what they found:
You can see how light weight the theme is.
No wonder it is the fastest man alive – I mean the fastest theme alive. (if themes were superheroes, this is The Flash)
2. page Builder Compatibility
Unlike Divi, Astra didn’t roll out their own page builder.
They use already existing page builders to make their Starter Templates – more on that later.
This has made Astra to be compatible with any page builder on the market.
You can check out this list of the 10 best drag-and-drop page builders for WordPress.
For convenience here are the best Page builders to use with the Astra Theme:
- Elementor
- Beaver Builder
- WP Bakery
- Visual Composer
- Divi builder
- Brizy
And … (Drum roll please)
The good old Gutenberg builder.
The most underrated page builder in my opinion. It works well with Astra. You will have added options to your customization menus and many more cool little features.
3. Starter Template Library
The Astra theme probably has the largest starter template library in the WordPress theme market.
Do you want an Agency site? You’ll find a well made beautiful starter theme you can customize with any page builder to make it match the look and feel of your brand.
Or you want an LMS website?
How about a Surgery website for client call bookings?
Wanna go baby Jeff Bezos – there’s an e-commerce starter template. More than one actually.
It literally covers every industry.
Unless you want to make something like Only Fans.
Starter templates make it easy for you to get started and set up your website. You don’t have to worry about design skills anymore.
The Brainstorm Force will do all the designing for you.
All you have to do is just change the text and add your own color palette.
And that’s it!
4. Insane Customization Options
You don’t necessarily need a page builder to make an eye-watering website design.
Even with the default WordPress customizer, you can pull off what WordPress developers may call wizardry.
With the help of a starter theme of course.
But that’s not the customization I want to talk about. I want to talk about customization, customization.
You’re theme hunting.
If you have used WordPress, you know that most themes don’t allow you to customize and change a lot in the blog archive and blog single layout page.
That issue doesn’t exist in the Astra Theme. Only customization exists!
You can change anything you want, literally anything you want.
As I mentioned before – the theme adds some more options to the default Gutenburg menus and this will just make the whole process of writing articles or editing anything using the default customizer a breeze.
Astra pros and cons
Following is a summary of the key benefits and drawbacks of adopting the Astra WordPress theme:
Pros
cons
Astra is an extremely adaptable WordPress theme that can be used for practically any kind of website.
So if you’re trying to quickly and easily put together an appealing and high-performing website, it could be a great option.
You’ll most likely need to switch to Astra Pro if you want more advanced customization choices and eCommerce functionality, though.
Astra Pricing
Astra is available for free download and usage, or you may upgrade to Astra Pro. You might have also observed that the free version has considerable restrictions in several situations.
As a reminder, the following more advanced features are exclusive to the premium theme:
- Integrations with LearnDash and LifterLMS plugins
- Access to site, blog, and footer layouts
- Multiple header designs
- White-labeling options
- Custom layouts/hooks
- Premium customer support
Astra Pro’s annual starting price is $44. Access for a lifetime is also available, beginning at $239. Astra has a 14-day money-back guarantee with every premium plan, allowing you to test it out and determine whether it’s the best fit for your requirements.
I recommend you to get the entire Astra suite of products for $937 a lifetime purchase.
The Astra suite includes the following products:
- Schema Pro – Read Review Here
- Spectra
- Ultimate Addons for Elementor
- Ultimate Addons for Beaver Builder
- Convert Pro
- WP Portfolio
- SkillJet Academy Membership
- Unlimited Website Usage
- Exclusive training
This is what they call the essential bundle and I believe its worth it. You are going to save money on purchasing other plugins that usually require an annual subscription. Why go that route when you can purchase everything for a lifetime and have lifetime updates?
Conclusion
In my opinion, Astra is one of the best WordPress themes on the market for 2023. I totally love it. I’ve used it on some of my client’s websites back in the day when I was doing WordPress freelancing with @vigilance
And, in the numbers’ opinion – it is the fastest WordPress theme available.
Know a saying – “numbers don’t lie”
I couldn’t agree more! it’s darn right numbers don’t lie, Astra is just swift and light weight. Which makes it a perfect option if you want to include an e-commerce shop on your website.
Let me know in the comments what’s your favourite theme.
