GeneratePress vs. Astra – Honest Comparison

Astra and GeneratePress are the most popular and lightweight themes for the WordPress website. If you are familiar with WordPress’s theme library, then you have seen both of them on the library’s popular list.

Most bloggers and digital marketers will recommend you to use one of the themes either Astra or GeneratePress.

You know what?

I had the same question in my mind, and I finally settled with GeneratePress.

This article will compare GeneratePress vs. Astra theme using the most popular page builder plugins, Elementor, Beaver Builder, Divi, etc.

Basic Overview of Astra and GeneratePress Theme:

Features	Astra Pro	GeneratePress Pro
Pricing	$59 $47 (Limited Offer)	$59
Renewal Offer	20% Off	40% Off
Modules	26 (8 Free Modules)	13
Template	100+	67+
Website Uses	Unlimited	500
White Label	Yes	No
	Astra Pro Offer Link	GP Premium Offer Link

Pros and Cons

Astra Theme

Pros of Astra

• 100+ Premade free templates
• Woocommerce integration
• Learn dash integration
• Page Builder support
• White label feature
• Native Gutenberg editor support
• Native AMP plugin support
• 14 Days money-back guarantee

Cons of Astra

• Mix-up with various pricing
• Customizer got slower over time.

GeneratePress

Pros of GeneratePress

• Pricing is low, even renewal price.
• Highly Customizable without coding knowledge
• WooCommerce integration
• Premade templates
• Gutenberg editor support
• Developer friendly
• Page Builder support
• 30 Days money-back guarantee

Cons of GeneratePress

• Limited Website Usage (Up to 500 Websites)
• No white-label feature
• Native AMP Plugin not supported (Need to install a plugin separately)

Performance Test

Performance is the one most bloggers and marketers consider, even according to the SEO experts, if your website has a load time of more than 4 seconds, then it will affect Search Engine ranking.

WordPress CMS already has its own resources, and if you install a heavy plugin or themes, it will definitely affect the website’s performance.

Astra and GeneratePress are some of the lightest themes in the market, and both of them have modular functionality, and we talk about that later.

Google PageSpeed Insight Test: GP vs Astra

I had run Google page speed insight, and as the results, you can see above in the image, I had also tested on GTMetrix, as you can see the result below.

GTMetrix speed tests for GeneratePress theme:

GTMetrix speed tests for Astra theme:

So, guys, as you can see, the results of both themes are Astra and the GeneratePress, but the final results may differ and depend on the theme integration with page builder or customizations.

In my case, I have used basic customization like the readymade template and WP Rocket cache plugin for optimization, and the GeneratePress theme always got better results.

By-the-way full load time will always be different for different Web Hosting. All websites I had tested are hosted on the Hostinger premium shared hosting plan.

Before going further you can check out our other comparison articles:

• Genesis Theme Vs. GeneratePress

Features of Astra and GeneratePress

Features and functions, which we always see in everything. In this article, I will be comparing all features and functions of the Astra theme and the GeneratePress theme.

Modular Functionality

Astra has about twenty-six modules, and GeneratePress has thirteen modules that are very useful in theme customizations. Both of the themes have modular functionality that enhances the ease of access. The most important thing is that you can deactivate it if you don’t need the module’s function about the modules.

So, where is the difference? I had already mentioned that Astra has thirteen more modules than GeneratePress. If you don’t have a premium license of Astra theme, you can even access the eight free modules, but GeneratePress doesn’t give any free modules

Astra Pro Modules:

GeneratePress Pro Modules:

Pre-made Templates

The templates are handy for those who want to learn about the theme and have a limited coding base or haven’t any coding knowledge. By the way, these themes also focused on them.

You need one click, and ta-da, you will see the demo content and perfectly pre-customized theme layout.

Astra has more than 100+ templates than GeneratePress. The best thing is that Astra provides 50+ templates free for every user. In comparison, GeneratePress needs a license key.

GeneratePress Template Library:

Astra Template Library:

Gutenberg Integration

After announcing WordPress version 5.0, the Gutenberg Block editor comes with inbuilt. This editor has more capabilities than the classic editor, and you can edit beautiful pages without using a page builder.

So, both of the themes come with their block editor addon plugin. GeneratePress has its GenerateBlock, and the Astra has its Ultimate Addons for Gutenberg. The best part is that you can use both plugins in any theme, and these two plugins are entirely free to use.

GenerateBlock from GeneratePress:

Ultimate Addons from Astra:

Both of the plugins are great in terms of capabilities and performance, but using GenerateBlock you can do many amazing things.

AMP Integration

AMP also is known as Accelerated Mobile Page. This feature boost speeds up to 20x times more than a regular mobile page. GeneratePress and Astra support standard AMP integration. If you are a Web developer, you can optimize it far better than regular.

AMP on GeneratePress

AMP for Astra

Astra Pro supports the official AMP plugin natively, so there is no need to modify the theme. If you want to set up the official AMP plugin for the GeneratePress theme, you have to download a plugin from Github, and then you can customize it as you want.

Whitelabel

Whitelabel feature is good when you don’t want to share credits with the theme developer, and If anyone checks your website’s page source, they can’t find any particular theme details.

Only Astra pro has this feature, and if you are using a free version, you can’t edit the theme credits from the source.

Customizations of Astra and GeneratePress

Customizations are the main feature that defers every website from each other different colors, different fonts, and web layouts.

So, in terms of customizations, Astra and GeneratePress are incredibly great. You can customize beyond the limit if you know about Web development.

Check out the article about grid layout customization on both of the themes.

Layout Customization

Astra and GeneratePress are very similar in layout customization. You can set your own value for container dimension, content typography, background colors, Google fonts, and font sizes, and much more in both of the themes.

Header Customization of Astra

In Astra’s Header customization, you will get a transparent header function, this function you won’t find in the GeneratePress theme. But both are very similar in customization.

Header Customization in GeneratePress

I have mentioned that GeneratePress and Astra have similar functionality in header control. But there is a big difference between them.

Astra has more header control functions in the free version, and that is the point lack on the GeneratePress theme. GeneratePress hasn’t much to customize in the free version of the theme.

Color Customization

In color customization, both of the themes give great controls but in some places you can not customize in Astra but you can do it in the GeneratePress theme.

If you want to do extreme color customization in the Astra theme, you need to modify the theme’s core CSS files. For that, you need coding knowledge.

Color Customization in Astra:

Color Customization in GeneratePress:

Footer Customization

Footer customization in Astra and GeneratePress are similar. They are still identically different because Astra has a footer widget option in the same place, but the GeneratePress theme has all widget options in one different place.

So that is the difference between the Astra theme and the GeneratePress theme, but they work the same in terms of function.

Footer Customization in Astra:

Footer Customization in GeneratePress:

Widget Control

Astra and GeneratePress theme has a similar number of widgets, whether it’s for the sidebar area or footer area.

You can add multiple Widgets in the footer and sidebar area. Also, you can add a custom widget using the page builder.

Custom layout

One of the best features of both themes is creating a custom layout for the Single post or Page and even Header and Footer section. You can customize the Featured Image section and more.

WooCommerce on Astra and GeneratePress

Astra and GeneratePress have specifically WooCommerce integration modules for creating a shopping or e-commerce website.

When you need to create an e-commerce website, install the WooCommerce plugin and activate the modules.

Page Builders Supports

I have tested several Page Builder plugins on both themes, and the Elementor is one of the best page builder plugins that work great. However, the Astra theme has an extra add-on for Elementor.

The addon includes Astra Starter Sites. Starter sites are one of the best plugins that come with Astra’s free version, and the good thing is that you can use the plugin with any WordPress theme.

I have tested some other premium plugins, like Beaver Builder, Visual Composer, and Divi Builder. They also have free versions with limited features except for Divi Builder, but we had created a page with every one of them anyway. The experience was great.

If you want to try page building, you can try their free version, and Astra or even GeneratePress is fully compatible with these all plugins.

There will be no winner because page builders are extra goodies that help your themes enhance capabilities.

Support and Documentations

Both of the themes, Astra and GeneratePress, have their huge knowledge base and even video tutorials. They both also have ticket systems for support.

But there is one thing that GeneratePress has an advantage over Astra, which is a support forum.

You can resolve your problems by discussing them with other premium users and the support faculty.

If you are a free user, you can’t reply to the discussion, but you can see the conversation.

Astra Support and Documentations

The good thing is that Astra has a huge number of tutorials and video tutorials, and even third-party tutorials on YouTube.

GeneratePress Documentations

GeneratePress also has many documentation articles, video tutorials, and even third-party tutorials, but there is a thing in-person support.

That is the lack of Astra’s theme, and that matters. But I also love the Astra theme because Astra and GeneratePress have many things similar.

Pricing

Price is the most precious thing in the world for everyone. So, they have a reasonable price on the product.

Astra and GeneratePress have very similar prices that I have already mentioned at the top of the article. In this section, I will compare all of their plans and renewal prices, and even offers.

Pricing of Astra Theme

Astra has three plans with a limited time cycle, and even for a lifetime.

	Astra Pro	Essential Bundle	Growth Bundle
Annual Price	$59 $47	$276 $169	$523 $249
Lifetime Price	$523 $249	$996 $499	$1893 $699
Renewal Discount	20%	20%	20%
Features	Pro Modules	Astra Pro+ Page Builder + Templates	Everything

Astra theme has good pricing for everyone, but I thought they mixed up the pricing with lifetime offers and even any kind of limited offer. They confuse customers. Astra has three different-different plans for users and their perspectives.

These three plans have unlimited access to websites, which means you can use or sell your themes for work as a web developer. I think the other two plans except the base plan are unnecessary. Bull all things up to you.

Astra’s renewal offer is also low compared to GeneratePress, but if you take Astra’s lifetime plan, that would be a breakthrough price. After the breakdown, the discount of 20% you would be charged for Astra Pro renewal is about 47 US dollars.

Pricing of GeneratePress Theme

GeneratePress has great pricing on its theme, 59 US dollars (New Pricing) (No Discount on First Purchasing ). You can use this theme on up to 500 websites. They have only two plans, and I loved them.

If you are going to renew the validity of support and update, you will get a 40% discount. I have broken down the price of renewal which is about 20 US dollars. That is a considerable discount compared to the Astra Pro.

But the initial price is low compared to GeneratePress and have some advanced feature upon GeneratePress, so I think that time Astra Pro is the winner.

Circumstances

Some other factors affect your website’s performance, like the Hosting Services. If you are using a good host from an excellent hosting service provider, then you can also see the good results from above.

Cloud Hosting and Managed VPS Hosting services are the best hosting services. But they are significantly costlier than any shared hosting service.

But in the market, there are some shared hosting services provided that are providing the best performance services at affordable prices.

We can suggest you if you want performance on your website and want to make more audience and want them engaged with your blog, then you should use an excellent shared hosting service. Like Hostinger and Hostgator. These are the best affordable hosting providers.

FAQs About GeneratePress vs Astra Theme

My Final Verdict on GeneratePress vs Astra

So, guys, after lots of experiments upon those two themes, deciding who is the winner is very tough.

Astra Pro is the winner in some cases and some of GeneratePress, but guys, if you want a lightweight theme with advanced features and even a low price, then go with Astra Pro. But if you need a theme that is developer-friendly, highly customizable, and has awesome forum support, then go with GP Premium.

In our test, many factors were relay; in your case, that would be different, by-the-way you can see our test results, and both GeneratePress and Astra are similar. At some point, Astra is good, and at some point, GeneratePress.

But here is the thing, Astra Pro is the overall winner. My tests are focused on the beginners who started blogging or want to start. If you are looking for the best WordPress theme, then you can choose one of them.

What you think about these two themes let us know in the comment box.