Astra vs GeneratePress Comparison (2023) – Which Is Better?

Astra and GeneratePress are popular WordPress themes. But how to know which one of these themes is right for your needs? How to choose Astra vs GeneratePress? The theme that you use should be something that is both fully functional and visually appealing. Both of these themes have fast loading times and convenient customization options. They also excel at mobile responsiveness and quality coding.

GeneratePress and Astra are amazing WordPress themes. They are both marketed as being quick, lightweight and compatible with page builders such as:

• Beaver Builder (check Beaver Builder vs Divi),
• Divi (see comparison Elementor vs Divi),
• Elementor (Beaver Builder vs Elementor comparison),
• WPBakery (check Elementor vs WPBakery),
• Thrive Architect (Thrive Theme Builder vs Thrive Architect),
• Brizy, Oxygen, Visual Composer (WPBakery vs Visual Composer), etc.

There isn’t much distinction between the GeneratePress and Astra. There’s nothing wrong with either one of them.  Those two are one of the best WordPress themes on the market today. Both themes are solid choices. You really can’t go wrong with either one. However, there are differences between each of them.

NOTE: I have also compared Astra vs OceanWP theme, so be sure to check that comparison also.

 

Astra vs GeneratePress Comparison

The right theme for your WordPress website should have more than just its visual appeal. The theme that you choose impacts how your site is built. It should be compatible with the type of design that you want to implement.

Both Astra and GeneratePress offer great value for money. If you had to pick one of them, which one would it be?

That’s the purpose of this article. I’ll examine both themes closely and compare Astra vs GeneratePress in several key areas that are essential to website owners. Both themes have essential features that can be used in creating successful sites. They also have key differences that can impact your decision.

The purpose of this article is to explain those variations. Hopefully, you should have enough information after reading this to make an educated decision about which theme to select. Let’s begin!

 

Astra Overview

Astra is a simple WordPress theme. You can check my Astra Theme review, where I showed all features and compared free version with pro. Brainstorm Force released the theme in 2017.

They’ve been creating amazing WordPress products over the last nine years. Some of their other products are Convert Pro (Convert Pro review), Schema Pro (see Schema Pro review), Ultimate Addons for Beaver Builder, Ultimate Addons for Elementor, Ultimate Addons for Gutenburg and WP Portfolio (check WP Portfolio review).

 

 

Astra was designed for speed, style, and flexibility. You can use Astra for portfolios, blogs, restaurants, WooCommerce stores, biographies sites, business websites, and many other purposes.

The theme comes with pre-designed pages (demos) that can be used for various sections of your site. Demos can be customized at any time without having to touch any code. There are many wonderful customization choices to choose from.

You can design a website to your specifications. You can change page widths, remove sidebars and page titles if you want. Astra’s speed is what makes it unique.

You can download the Astra theme from the WordPress repository for free. There’s also a premium add-on plugin for the Astra theme called Astra Pro. The add-on has extra features and customization choices.

 

ASTRA FREE VS ASTRA PRO

There is also another plugin called Astra Sites. This plugin enhances the features that Astra Pro has. Astra Sites brings a wide assortment of pre-built templates. Each template has fully functional graphics and pages that are ready to use at any time.

The free Astra theme version provides plenty of customization options for companies of all sizes. Astra Pro plugin can be added separately. It includes the ability to design customized layouts. It also allows you to use transparent headers and other functions.

All of Astra Pro’s additional features can be used to create an appealing, effective site. The best part is that you don’t have to touch any code.

Each feature is separated into its own individual module. You can determine which modules you want to activate and which ones you want to deactivate. This reduces loading time and makes things easier to manage.

Using fewer features can improve your site’s overall performance. There are even other free plugins for Astra that you can use to enhance Astra’s functionality.

What are the benefits of Astra over GeneratePress?

• The Astra Starter Sites plugin allows you to use an impressive amount of pre-built templates.
• The theme is designed for faster speeds and performance at the highest level.
• Astra integrates entirely and easily with many of today’s top WordPress page builder plugins.
• It connects seamlessly with WooCommerce.
• Astra comes with the Schema markup, which can be used to help to improve your site’s search engine optimization tactics.
• There are plenty of convenient customization options included, none of which require any coding experience or knowledge.
• Integration with LifterLMS and LearnDash (Astra is great LearnDash theme)
• Astra has a vast catalog of templates.
• It provides a white-label feature.

 

GeneratePress Overview

GeneratePress is another easy to use WordPress theme. Its impressive performance capabilities and lightning-fast speed can change the way you create sites.

This free WordPress theme was created by Canadian developer Tom Usborne. GeneratePress can be used for a wide variety of different purposes. You can adapt it for just about any type of specialty or niche.

The core theme is completely free of charge. There’s also a pro edition called GeneratePress Premium. The premium version is basically a plugin that you can activate alongside a free theme. The plugin provides additional features and customization options.

 

 

GeneratePress is ideal for people who want to control how their site looks and feels. It can do just about anything that you want. The theme concentrates on performance, so the sites that you create have better chances of loading faster than some of your competitors’ websites.

That’s why so many users use it. You can use GeneratePress in creating all kinds of different websites and combine it with a page builder plugin. The theme also excels at customization. It uses the WordPress Customizer, which shows you changes in real-time as you make them.

 

GENERATEPRESS FREE vs GENERATEPRESS PREMIUM

GeneratePress free version has plenty of helpful features. If you add the premium plugin to it and customize almost every aspect of the website.

Previous GeneratePress versions required users to create sites from scratch every time. This tended to complicate things for people who didn’t use the theme very often.

The developers added a Site Library Feature for GeneratePress Premium in 2018. This feature allows users to use any of the over 25 different demo templates. And GeneratePress modular interface lets you select which features you want to activate or deactivate at any time. For more info you can check GeneratePress free vs pro comparison.

Why should you choose GeneratePress over Astra?

• GeneratePress free edition is a basic theme that promises consistent performance and speed for websites of all sizes.
• The theme uses the most secure coding standards. GeneratePress and Astra both use VanillaScript to get rid of any potential JavaScript render-blocking problems. This allows site pages to load at much faster speeds.
• GeneratePress premium members can access the full template library. They’ll have a vast amount of quality pre-designed templates at their fingertips that they can use at any time.
• It works well with many popular page builders. GeneratePress’ single-page layout choices provide more freedom and flexibility for page builders so that you can create unique, dynamic pages for every section of your website.
• Simple to manage layout options for both mobile and desktop versions.

 

User Interface

GeneratePress and Astra are two of the best themes around in terms of simplicity and user interface. They have both embraced the full functionality of WordPress Customizer. The Theme Customizer page shows you virtually all that these themes have to offer, organized efficiently on one page. This is very handy because you can see the changes that you make as you make them.

Astra and GeneratePress both use modules. Each set of functions that work together are separated into modules. You can activate or deactivate specific modules per your needs.

 

 

Turning certain modules off removes them from the customizer screen. This improves load times and hides settings that you don’t need or don’t intend to use.

The live preview option gives you access to everything you should need on a single page. Astra and GeneratePress are easy to use. Their flexibility and simple settings are what helps them stand out in a crowded industry.

GeneratePress free version has a fair amount of functions. Adding GeneratePress Premium lets you customize almost anything on your website in a matter of minutes.

Astra’s Pro edition allows you to edit many portions of the site using modules (check all Astra features). Both themes let you make changes without having to edit or write code.

WINNER: Each theme has its own impressive, intuitive interface.

 

Layout Customization

GeneratePress allows you to turn mobile header functions on and off and tweak overall header design. You can use it to change the alignment, padding, and width of your website headers.

You can also set page headers. Page headers can be set for each individual page if you’d like. You can add images, content, video backgrounds, or make the header transparent. You can use any of these elements to make your pages more visually appealing.

Astra comes with page header and header section add-ons. You can use the customizer to make the header bar transparent, add layouts above or below headers, and edit the main header.

 

 

One difference from GeneratePress is the fact that Astra has its own individual post types to control and design page headers. It’s a separate section that can be used to establish display rules and create page and website headers. It’s much easier to have one central section that can be used to manage headers instead of having to set page headers each time.

GeneratePress allows you to assign padding and custom text. You can also determine how many widget areas you want in your footer bar.

Astra has several different footer layouts that can be used. You can use any of the seven available widget footer layouts and assign custom text for each footer section.

Astra and GeneratePress provide almost identical footer customization options. Each theme offers the same amount of widget sections according to the site layout that you choose. You can use more than one widget at a time in the footer bar.

 

 

The themes are also very similar when it comes to color customization. You have the exact same color customization controls for each theme in the customizer section.

There are plenty of color pickers that you can use to change everything from the colors of your footer links to the colors of your widget titles. All of this can be accomplished without having to go into CSS. Of course, you can always use the custom CSS section of each theme if the changes that you have in mind are a little more complicated.

WINNER: Slightly Astra better.

GeneratePress Advantages: There are more choices for customizing background colors. Better sidebar typography customization. GeneratePress has better choices for footer width and layout customization. Header layouts are superior. The global off-canvas panel that can be used.

Astra Advantages: Astra has better WooCommerce customization choices. Better choices for blog customization over GeneratePress. Greater choices for customizing footer typography. Astra has below header, above header, and other unique header customization choices that GeneratePress doesn’t offer. MegaMenu feature. The Unique WooCommerce off-canvas sidebar is a great function. Breadcrumbs make customization easier. Greater control over containers. You can use the free customizer search feature add-on to enhance your pages.

Modules

Both Astra and GeneratePress have free and premium (also referred to as “pro”) editions. GeneratePress Premium provides access to 15 different modules.

Astra Pro provides 16 additional modules. There isn’t a clear-cut winner in this category based solely on the number of modules that are available with each theme.

 

 

Module-based methods for WordPress themes have grown in popularity recently, and it’s easy to see why. They are scalable according to your business needs and are much easier to keep up with.

 

 

I feel that Astra went a little too far in creating an individual module that can only be used to add a “scroll to top” button to your site pages. Despite that, Astra developers have created several free plugins that can be used to enhance the theme’s features and functionality even more.

The free Astra plugins that I liked the most are Sidebar Manager (conditional sidebar display), Import/Export Customizer Settings, Customizer Search (helps navigate the features), Astra Bulk Edit, etc.

GeneratePress also has several effective free plugins. However, Astra really set the bar high for customization and flexibility.

WINNER: Both GeneratePress and Astra.

 

Page Builder Compatibility

GeneratePress and Astra are both fully compatible with Beaver Builder, Thrive Architect, Elementor, and other popular page builder plugins. If you want my opinion on WPBakery (check WPBakery review), I have to say that I don’t like it primarily because of all the shortcode usage that’s required. According to the reviews I’ve read, I can safely say that both themes should also work well with WPBakery.

Both themes have a custom layouts feature that allows you to put content in certain places on your site pages. Astra is very compatible with page builders because of its page-level customization choices. You can activate or deactivate footers, sidebars, titles, and other elements on different pages. You can also assign sidebars and custom layouts.

Astra’s site library is composed of templates created for usage with Beaver Builder, Elementor, or their own miniature page builder called “sections.” Activating the premium sections module grants access to it.

WINNER: Astra theme.

 

Available Templates

Both themes allow you to use pre-built templates. Templates can be imported for usage with Beaver Builder, Elementor, Gutenburg editor, and many others.

GeneratePress users will need to purchase the premium addon plugin before they can use pre-made templates. They have about a dozen different templates that can be imported.

Astra users can use more than a hundred templates. Each template that’s imported is categorized. Astra has a huge advantage over GeneratePress in this situation.

If you want to use Astra’s premium site templates, you’ll need to purchase their agency bundle. The price for that bundle begins at $169, depending on what package you are purchasing.

 

 

Astra has an impressive selection of available templates that can be used with popular page builder plugins. These templates are separated into niche categories. This can help you get started quickly, regardless of what your specialty is.

The free version of Astra provides access to more than 40 templates. You can use an additional 50 templates after you buy their Agency Bundle plan.

GeneratePress has been working on improving and adding templates to their site library. They’re still nowhere near what Astra has to offer. As this is being written, GeneratePress currently has over 30 templates that can be used. Some of them depend on Beaver Builder and Elementor, while others were designed without using a page builder.

 

 

GeneratePress has more general purpose templates. For the most part, they don’t categorize their templates, although they do have a few niche templates to choose from. The templates aren’t available in the free version of GeneratePress. The premium version is required before you can access them.

WINNER: Astra theme.

 

WooCommerce Integration

Both GeneratePress and Astra have add-ons or modules that are specifically designed for integration with WooCommerce. Module choices will appear in the customizer page, but only after you’ve installed the WooCommerce plugin on your WordPress website.

Each theme allows you to choose alignment, layout, and how many products you want to appear on one page. Astra Pro can be used to determine the order in which product information appears. All of their WooCommerce customization options are in a central location. This makes it much easier to customize the store.

Astra also allows you to alter the metadata structure for each product that you sell. For instance, you can change the order of certain elements by clicking and dragging them to other places on the page. You can also decide which elements you want to display and what elements should be hidden.

 

 

Another nice feature that Astra has is the WooCommerce off-canvas sidebar. GeneratePress has a global sidebar that’s almost identical. You can also use the Quick View feature. This option will show a lightbox that has all of the necessary product details.

GeneratePress’ WooCommerce selections aren’t as easy to find initially. Options are located under the typography and color categories. GeneratePress separates its choices by type instead of dividing them by area.

 

Some of GeneratePress WooCommerce features.

 

The miniature navigation menu can help you go from one area to another easily. Just keep in mind that WooCommerce’s default customizer is not included in this option.

GeneratePress has a few minor areas of WooCommerce integration that are different from Astra’s methods. Most of these variations are toggles, such as showing sorting, product inventory, flash sales, secondary images on product hovers, etc. Astra can accomplish all of these functions, but the controls for them in GeneratePress are a little more refined.

WINNER: Astra theme.

Astra’s built-in WooCommerce helpful features: A convenient dropdown cart. An off-canvas sidebar for your filter and product search options. The ability to activate a product quick view without having to install a plugin. Distraction-free or two-step checkout. You can emphasize sale items with a “bubble” indicator. Several customizer choices that allow you to manage your complete product catalog.

The premium Astra version has a module specifically designed for WooCommerce. You can use this module to access the WooCommerce Customizer so that you can effectively manage these functions: You can add shopping cart icons to your menus. This option allows you to add a dropdown effect so that your customers can see the items in their cart before they check out. You can alter the look of your product archive pages. Ability to add a sticky panel on the top portion of the page and an AJAX “add to cart” button. You have complete control over all the styles for WooCommerce content. A distraction and interruption-free checkout mode can be activated. You get to decide if you want to display related products or upsells to your clients.

Speed & Performance

Speed and performance are what make both GeneratePress and Astra stand out in the theme industry. Both themes are incredibly fast!

Both themes were intended to be light and quick. They’re some of the best themes in the business in those aspects. Fresh installs of WordPress using GeneratePress or Astra take less than half a second. They’re both fast and perform so well that there really isn’t much of a difference between the two.

WINNER: Both themes have similar performance.

 

Pricing Differences

Astra and GeneratePress are free themes. The pro version of GeneratePress in the form of plugin addon costs $49.95/year, and the pro version of Astra as addon plugin costs $59/year. Both pro plans can be used on an unlimited number of websites.

WP Astra has an agency plan that can be purchased for $276 per year if you go with the Mini Agency bundle. For Agency Bundle, which has all additional plugins, you will need to pay $523/year (there is also lifetime option).

Agency Bundle has additional features such as add-ons for page builder plugins, schema plugin, lead generation plugin, etc. The agency plan also allows you to use the white label option, which GeneratePress doesn’t offer. Any Astra agency or pro licenses can be used on as many client websites as you wish.

Buying Astra Pro lets you use more features. Each function in the Astra Pro can be activated or deactivated as necessary. The additional features that Astra Pro addon brings are:

Nav Menu, White Label, Blog Pro, Site Layouts, Spacing, WooCommerce, Mobile Header, Sticky Header, Page Headers,

Colors & Background, Typography, Site Layouts, Scroll to Top, Easy Digital Downloads, Footer Widgets, Header Sections, LearnDash integration, LifterLMS Integrations.

Buying the Agency mini bundle lets you use all of Astra’s professional templates. The different agency plans grant access to either all or part of Brainstorm’s other products. If you plan on using those other resources frequently, this can be well worth the extra investment. To use all of the additional plugins, you’ll need to purchase the agency bundle.

Check Astra pro vs Astra agency comparison for more info regarding differences between Astra premium pricing plans.

GeneratePress Premium allows you to use their entire catalog of pre-built templates. The plugin allows you to enable or disable the following additional functions: Colors, Typography, Elements, WooCommerce, Menu Plus, Spacing, Blog, Secondary Nav, Backgrounds, Sections, Disable Elements, Copyright.

WINNER: If we solely look at themes pro versions, then GeneratePress is a winner cause it offers a lower price.

 

GeneratePress vs Astra FAQ

Here are most asked questions regarding Astra and GeneratePress theme:

1. Which theme is more popular? With more than 1M installations Astra theme is far more popular than GeneratePress.

2. Which theme is faster? Both Astra and GeneratePress are lightweight themes, so there is no significant difference in speed.

3. Are premium versions of Astra and GeneratePress worthy? Astra Pro addon and GeneratePress Premium bring additional options and features. They are well worth investing in.

4. Is Astra the best WordPress theme? If we take a number of installations and ratings from WordPress.org repository solely, then you could say that Astra is definitely one of the best free themes available.

5. How compatible are these two themes with page builder plugins? Both themes work well with most of the popular page builders like Elementor, Thrive Architect, and Beaver Builder.

6. Can I disable the modules that I don’t need? Both Astra and GeneratePress provide a modular approach. With this, you can disable the modules that you don’t need.

7. Is Astra a free theme? Astra is a free WordPress theme that is focused on speed. Optionally you can purchase the Pro version for $59, which adds some additional settings and options.

 

Astra vs GeneratePress Conclusion

Astra and GeneratePress are great themes. They have all the tools you’ll need to create unique websites.

If you want to build a website for personal use, either theme should be just fine. Both themes are great for designing personal blog sites, portfolio sites, and other new or specialty sites.

Freelancers and web developers can also benefit from using either of the mentioned themes. It would be better for them to purchase both themes and use one of them, depending on the project.

In my opinion, Astra is a better theme for individual users and small business site owners. Its connections with third-party plugins, support, and impressive list of features make it the ideal choice. It also has plenty of templates that are ready to use right away.

Astra is the theme that I strongly recommend for anyone. Astra works well with EDD, LearnDash, LifterLMS, WooCommerce, and other WordPress plugins. Its WooCommerce features and functionality are amazing.

It offers far more than most WooCommerce-based theme. The nice thing about this theme is that all of the WooCommerce features are in one central location. You even have a nice selection of starter sites that you can use. You can craft your own website in minutes, even if you’ve never built a website before.

Choosing Astra or GeneratePress is usually a personal preference. I own both of them (premium versions) and use them on various projects. This article has examined the similarities and differences of both themes. Hopefully, you now have enough information to select the theme that best meets your needs.

If neither Astra nor GeneratePress theme is not what you are looking for, then I highly recommend checking the free OceanWP theme (see OceanWP theme review) or paid Deep theme (check Deep theme review).