Written by: Sanjeev

GeneratePress Vs Astra Vs OceanWP | Which Is Best & Why?

Here we compared GeneratePress vs Astra vs OceanWP in terms of speed, customization, SEO optimization, security, and performance. Check which is the best theme.

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If you are looking for a lightweight, customizable WordPress themes and confused between GeneratePress, Astra and OceanWP, this article will help you. We will check three themes and talk about specific advantage with each of them.

GeneratePress Vs Astra Vs OceanWP - Which Theme is the Best?

Are you searching for the best WordPress theme in terms of speed, customization, SEO optimization, security, and performance? And confused about which theme you should choose?

Well, you would have definitely come across GeneratePress, Astra, and OceanWP WordPress Themes. After all, these three WordPress themes are quite captivating and successful in WordPress repository.

Comparison Of GeneratePress Vs Astra Vs OceanWP

There’s simply no wrong option or something you will regret about these themes. They share a lot of core functionalities while keeping the things simple for their users.

However, there are slight differences that make these themes different and best from each other. Here in this article, we have shared all the insights you need to choose between GeneratePress, Astra and OceanWP.

We’ve compared GeneratePress vs Astra vs OceanWP on varied factors. So, if you’re interested, brace yourselves, and let’s begin.

Quick Introduction About GeneratePress, Astra, And OceanWP

Let’s start with general introduction of the three themes. Here’s a brief about GeneratePress, Astra, and OceanWP –

GeneratePress

GeneratePress WordPress Theme Premium Version

Pricing: Freemium
Lifetime License: Available

GeneratePress is one of the lightweight WordPress themes out there. It weighs somewhere around 30KBs, which is why it loads so fast. With the new update they have even divided the resources in smaller modules and load only the required resource for the page. Their main CSS file is as small as 7KB, where sidebar and other resources will load only in case you need them.

Talking about the backend, the theme has pretty clean coding, and it supports all the leading page builders and WooCommerce. It’s a highly customizable theme where you get numerous options in the WordPress Customizer to tweak and make the changes you want. If you are using the free version, then you get limited customization options though you can use custom code using hooks and filters.

The GeneratePress theme is presently active on around 200,000 plus sites garnering thousands of 5-star reviews. You can check our detail review of GeneratePress WordPress Theme to get more information.


Astra

WordPress Theme For Page Builders

Pricing: Freemium
Lifetime License: Available

Astra is a creation of Brainstorm Force, famous for popular plugins like Ultimate add-ons, convert Pro, etc. It’s a multipurpose theme that can be easily integrated with Elementor and all the other page builders for WordPress. The performance is impeccable and offers you several professional demo websites to import.

With the new visual Header and Footer builder, WooCommerce block customizations, and speed optimization, it can be used to build any site. You can check our detail review of Astra with WooCommerce features for more information.

You can easily integrate this theme with LMS plugins or even WooCommerce. Talking about the statistic, this theme is currently active on more than 1+ million WordPress blogs and Websites.


OceanWP

OceanWP Themes For WordPress

Pricing: Freemium
Lifetime License: Available

In terms of performance, OceanWP may not be at the top. Overall, it may be better than those average themes found in plenty on WordPress Repository. However, this theme focuses more on the flexibility of content and the design.

It comes numerous premium add-on features such as sticky content, popup login, filterable portfolio, etc. These add-on feature make sure that you can customize your site as per your requirement.

If you consider the customization, OceanWP wins the race. With this theme, you can possibly create any website you want. If you visit WordPress.org, you’ll find this theme is active on 700,000+ websites.


Page Builders and Overall Customization Options

Here’ we’re going to compare these three themes based on the customization options they offer. A highly customizable theme allows you to do whatever you want in a way you want. The more customization capabilities a theme offer, it’s better for the webmaster as they don’t rely on the third-party plugins.

Also, since most of the lightweight themes doesn’t include many design components, most of the webmasters use them with Page Builder Plugins. We need to check if these theme works well with WordPress Page Builders and offers good integration.

GeneratePress

generatepress customizer options for colors settings

The GeneratePress theme is one of the most well-optimized themes in terms of speed. It has Gutenberg-optimized templates, which makes it quite useful. Several designs can be used for landing pages, magazines, restaurants, business portfolios, blogs, etc.

The demo templates come with GeneratePress Pro is not so good, but the theme is compatible with all the leading page builders. It comes with a unique pro component called Elements which allows you to easily insert added functionality in the theme. You can use Elements to design Header Layouts, custom call to action, conditional script addition, PHP code at certain location of the theme etc.

GeneratePress Blocks is a useful plugin by the same development team which can extend the Gutenberg functionalities. You can create any layout with the help of GeneratePress WordPress Theme and GeneratePress Blocks. So, I always suggest installing them in a pair for any site owner using Gutenberg.

This theme works closely with the WordPress Customizer and helps the user with:

  • Optimizing page layout
  • Number of presets for header customizations
  • Variable navigation settings
  • Widget friendly footer
  • Editable colors for the navigation menu
  • Various WooCommerce settings

The ‘no dependency’ guarantee is another lucrative feature of this theme. It means you need not download or install any extra plugin for this theme to work. The localization is relatively easy with this theme. There are around twenty different languages which you can translate your site into.

If you’re a developer, you can also use custom code to tweak specific theme settings. This is something a code lover would love to use with. If you are comfortable with coding, a free version of the theme is good enough to create any kind of site.


Astra

astra theme option in wordpress customizer

Creators of the Astra theme have put lots of effort into delivering varied design solutions. This provides a lot of options for the users who wants to design their sites perfectly.

As a user, you get the most considerable number of templates that are optimized for Elementor and other page builders. You get a template for:

  • Restaurants
  • Online courses
  • eCommerce stores
  • Business websites
  • Online businesses
  • Services website
  • Blogs and more

To export those templates, you just have to install the Starter Templates plugin from Astra, and you can export and customize any template or entire website in only one click.

How flexible the Astra theme depends on what modules you add to your plan. If you add an advanced module, you can do hell lot of things. Here is what you can customize with the Astra theme in action:

  • Backgrounds and colors
  • Use custom fonts
  • Tweak the navigations and header section
  • Add different layouts for different web pages
  • Header and Footer drag and drop builder
  • Design custom navigation
  • And lots of other things

Commonly most of the themes won’t let you access too many parts of your website. However, with Astra, the story is different. You can access the menus, headers, blogs, navigation bars, and other parts of your site. You can enrich the experience further by adding plugins and page builder that ease the managing process.

It fine-tunes well with the Elementor and can perform anything you expect from a good theme. Number of pre-defined templates are available for page builders like Elementor or Brizzy. It has numerous cool WooCommerce features like the Sales Bubble layout to brag about.

Like GeneratePress Elements Module, it also comes with Custom Layout module which allows you to design section of your site and assign them using hooks. You can also set those section visibilities based on users.

If you’re seeking something serious and more than just a blog, you should choose Astra’s Agency bundle. It comes with various other plugins with SEO in mind. So, it can prove to be quite useful. With Astra’s Agency bundle, you will also find a few more professional and engaging website demo templates to export.


OceanWP

OceanWP WordPress Theme Customier Options

The Ocean Extra Plugin backs the OceanWP theme. It powers the theme installation Wizard and gets you ready within a few seconds. When you’re installing the theme, the wizard will ask you to add some extra plugins or add-ons. It depends on what theme design you choose.

Unlike the GeneratePress theme, this theme has some dependencies like Page Builders or Form Builder Plugins for WordPress, however, some of them are optional. You are free to skip a few of these dependencies if you want while importing the demo content. 

If you access the premium library of this theme, you will get many beautiful designs for almost all kinds of websites. The number of add-ons you can attach to this theme is quite fascinating. The more extensions you add, the more you can customize the theme.

With a few clicks, you can add pop-type registration forms, an Instagram gallery, and many other similar features. These add-ons make the customization pretty easy for the user. Here is what you can do:

  • Edit fonts and colors
  • Customize the layout, container width, social links, mobile menu, and a lot more
  • Flexible sidebar and footer settings
  • Individual font settings for the main menu, blogs, and headings
  • Scroll to the top button
  • Edit buttons

You can reach the part of the theme you want to edit right from the dashboard. The demo designs within this theme work exceptionally well with Elementor. Many of the demo design will use the free version of Elementor Page Builder plugin.

Pro Tips: If you are searching for the best theme to work with page builders, we recommend you go with Astra.


GeneratePress, Astra, And OceanWP | Which Theme Load Faster?

Website speed is among the 200+ singles google considers ranking any website, that’s why the leading speed of a website matters most, and it totally depends upon which theme you are using. Although all these themes are lightweight, Astra and GeneratePress focus more on performance than OceanWP.

Below, you will find a table having data of performance tests of all three themes. You should know that these themes were installed with a default configuration on AWS LightSail instance to run the tests. Though, in a real-world scenario, the results can be different as users customize the site a lot.

You’ll find median values in the below table, which was a result of multiple Webpage Test. Here you go:

Theme NameMean Loading Time (s)Med. Loading Time * (s)Med. Speed Index* (s)Page Size (KB)
GeneratePress0.50.50.527
Astra0.70.50.536
OceanWP0.80.80.7233
Theme Page Loading Speed Test Results

The * indicates it’s the median result of 15-speed tests organized separately.

Now, if you consider the performance, GeneratePress or Astra is going to win. However, it never means OceanWP is slow in any way. It’s way faster than tons of themes free or paid available out there. OceanWP still has more optimizations available than a common WordPress theme.

This site is build using GeneratePress theme and currently the page loads well under 2 seconds with all the customizations. The speed improves for the second visit due to proper browser caching. So, there are other optimization techniques which can help in the user perceived page loading speed.

Pro Tips: Site loading speed is a combination of multiple factors. A lightweight theme will only aid in a fast-loading site, but you need other optimization like caching, script enqueueing, HTTP2 support etc.


Demo Websites Or Site Templates In GeneratePress vs Astra vs OceanWP

For a professional WordPress site developer, importable demo sites with a theme can be quite crucial. Fortunately, all of these themes come with portable demo sites. However, you can access limited demo site for free with OceanWP and Astra, but not with GeneratePress.

In the case of GeneratePress, you’ll have to buy the premium version to import the demo sites, frankly speaking, the demo sites in GeneratePress are not so good and limited in numbers.

Here’s another thing to note, with Astra, you will get access to site templates according to which plan you have purchased. To use all the available templates, you need to buy the Astra Agency Bundle, which will cost you around $199.

With Astra and OceanWP, you get access to a few predesigned templates for free, but still, you need to pay if you want to use all the templates. Now, let’s talk about each theme in detail:

GeneratePress

generatepress site library for customized design

Earlier, GeneratePress was not at par with OceanWP and Astra, but it has been improving. You can access over 40 importable demo sites with this theme. Some of them are standard, while others rely on Elementor or Beaver Builder.

There are all types of templates available. Although the variety may not be as comprehensive as that of Astra or OceanWP, it’s still impressive. You must know GeneratePress offers no free access to demo sites. You need to purchase the premium package to import demo sites.

The only good thing about those demos, they are build using Elements (Premium module of GeneratePress) which can easily be copied and used. So, if you like a section of a demo, you should be able to easily check the Element powering the section and copy it in your site design.


Astra

wordpress astra theme starter template importer

With Astra, you get a great collection of demo websites based on four-page builders, which you can choose from. Those page builders are:

  • Brizy
  • Gutenberg
  • Beaver Builder
  • Elementor

OceanWP and GeneratePress depend primarily on Elementor. So, if you’re using some other page builder, you may run into problems. However, with Astra, it’s relatively easy. Even if you’re using the Beaver Builder, you won’t face problems.

With the available demo sites, you’ll get numerous niches to choose from. This way, you can get a head-start regardless of the type of site you’re building. 

With Astra, without paying anything, you can access around 100 plus demo sites. And if you purchase the Agency bundle, you’ll get access to 50 more professional demo sites. In a nutshell, with Astra, you get numerous options to choose from.


OceanWP

OceanWP WordPress Starter Layouts

With OceanWP, you can access over 70 importable sites. However, around 10-15 of the total available are free while the others come with a premium license. OceanWP offers niche targeted sites, a site for bakeries or the wedding business being some examples.

Another point to note is most demo sites on OceanWP rely on Elementor. So, if you’re using some other page builder, you should be aware of the fact. It’s only the Astra WordPress theme, which offers importable demo sites for different page builders other than Elementor.

Pro Tips: Availability of demo layouts can help in kickstart the site design but still capability to design and customize individual sections sets these themes apart. Let your imagination wild while designing your site.


WooCommerce Support and Customization Options

WooCommerce is an online eCommerce platform on WordPress. Using this platform, you can configure your online store in no time. The best part is that all three themes offer easy integration with WordPress Customizer.

You can easily handle your shopping cart functionality, product pages, and similar settings available in WooCommerce. Out of these three WordPress themes, OceanWP seems to have better control. However, both Astra and OceanWP are great if you’re planning to build an online store.

With Astra come other necessary integrations like the LifterLMS and the LearnDash. These plugins come in handy if you want to build an online course website. Here’s a brief comparison of what WooCommerce functionalities can you access using these themes:

GeneratePress

You may not get WooCommerce support with the free version of GeneratePress, but with the premium version, there are many features. If you buy a premium version, you’ll get a dedicated WooCommerce module, which gives you access to the real-time customizer.

And using this customizer, you can control the following:

  • Add a shopping cart icon on the menu
  • It also comes with a dropdown effect. This enables the buyer to look for what’s in his cart without actually leaving the page
  • Tweak the way your product archives look
  • Add a cart button along with a sticky panel present on top of the page
  • Configure WooCommerce content styles

Astra

Astra comes within built-in support for WooCommerce. Here are some features you get: –

  • Filter options and sidebar for searching products
  • Bubble indicator for products on sale
  • Customizer options for controlling the product catalogue
  • Product quick view
  • Two-step checkout

WooCommerce support means a lot for people who want an online store with all the functionalities. Without requiring any additional plugins, Astra and WooCommerce can give you a conversion-based user interface right from the beginning. This is what makes Astra unique.

As mentioned earlier, Astra offers dedicated integrations for LearnDash and LifterLMS. These plugins are quite important if you want to make layout and functionality tweaks with the courses you have to offer. You can use the WordPress Customizer and get the job done in minutes.

Distraction-free learning, course progress indicator, two-step course checkouts, being some common examples. If you think about building an online course site, Astra can be of help.


OceanWP

Similar to other options, OceanWP comes with numerous WooCommerce options too. Here are some of them: –

  • It has a product ‘quick view’ option
  • Cart dropdown for viewing items in the cart without changing the page
  • Exemplary implementation for mobile users
  • Different menu for searching products and adding filters
  • A floating bar that helps the user to add products to the cart when the user’s scrolling the page
  • Easy checkout options

The above shows OceanWP comes with appreciable compatibility options with WooCommerce. So, if you want a customizable online store, this is it.

Pro Tips: All three WordPress themes provides extensive support to WooCommerce. Astra has some good demo layouts which can give a quick start to your site setup.


Pricing Plans, Bundles & Premium Functionality

At WordPress.org, you can find a free version of all of these three themes. However, if you need some extra functionality, you can always opt for the premium versions. Considering affordability, GeneratePress is the most affordable option if you take it for multiple sites.

And if you have a single site to implement the theme on, you can go for OceanWP. However, it’s not a significant difference when it comes to a single site. The bulk always brings along great deals. Another notable feature of all these three themes is the renewal discount.  

So, if you want to continue their services after a year and renew it, you’ll get a 20-40% discount on the total fee. However, to avail of this discount, you’ll have to use any of the themes for at least one year.

Below, you’re going to find what these themes have to offer if you have a premium membership. Let’s start with Astra.

Astra

Astra Pro brings along a companion plugin that further helps you access new features. All these features are modular. You can enable or disable any feature whenever you want. Here are some examples: –

  • Scroll to top link
  • Footer Widget
  • Nav Menu
  • Site Layouts
  • White Label
  • Blog Layouts
  • Header and Footer Builder
  • WooCommerce
  • Color Controls
  • Sticky Header
  • Page Headers
  • Custom Layouts
  • LearnDash and LifterLMS Integration
  • Better Typography
  • Spacing Control

To access the premium demo sites with Astra, you need to go for the Mini Agency bundle. It’ll cost you around $135. You’ll also get access to other products crafted by the Brainstorm Force. However, if you want access to the full range of plugins, you need to buy the full agency bundle for $199.


GeneratePress

With the GeneratePress premium license, you’ll get access to the companion GeneratePress plugin along with a pre-built site library. This plugin is quite useful as it gives you tons of features that are all modular. It means you can enable or disable them whenever you want.

Here are some features you’ll get:

  • Menu Plus
  • Spacing
  • Elements
  • Blog
  • Colors
  • Typography
  • Secondary Nav
  • WooCommerce
  • Sections (Deprecated with Elements)
  • Copyright
  • Backgrounds
  • Disable Elements

OceanWP

With premium OceanWP, you’ll get access to premium extensions along with pre-built demo sites. Here are some of the extensions you’ll get:

  • Side Panel
  • Cookie Notice
  • Fullscreen
  • Popup Login
  • White Label
  • Instagram
  • Portfolio
  • Sticky Footer
  • Woo Popup
  • Ocean Hooks
  • Sticky Header
  • Elementor Widgets

GeneratePress vs Astra vs OceanWP, Which Is The Best Theme?

You know what, the comparison isn’t going to end anytime sooner. So, let us wrap this up with a short descriptive summary of every theme we have at hand.

OceanWP is quite similar to Astra if you consider plugins, marketing, SEO, communication, and customization. If you need something highly customizable, you can go for OceanWP. Again, pricing options are quite flexible. So, you can choose the plan you want.

Astra, as you may know by now, is a multipurpose theme. It has various templates suited for a lot of businesses. You also get compatibility with almost all the best page builders out there. The page builders can help you introduce customizations to the extent you desire.

Also, there are ample pricing options available. As an individual, you can go to Astra Pro, which costs $59. If you’re an agency, you can select Mini Agency bundle or Agency bundle charging $169 and $249, respectively.

WordPress ThemeSingle Site LicenseMax Sites / Max PriceLifetime Pricing
(One Time Payment)
GeneratePressN/A500 Sites / $59 Per Year500 Sites / $249
AstraN/AUnlimited Sites / $59 Per YearUnlimited Sites / $249
OceanWP$39 Per Year25 Site / $129 Per Year25 Sites / $519
Pricing Comparison of GeneratePress vs Astra vs OceanWP

If you’re a lover of the native WordPress block editor, you may be needing the GeneratePress theme. It’s more lightweight, which means more speed. This theme chooses unnumberable WordPress developers who build attractive yet straightforward websites with a smooth flow for their clients.

Pro Tips: All three themes are best, but we recommend you go with GenerarePress If you are looking for the best blog theme. And if you are looking for the best theme for services website, shopping website or any other types of websites, then Astra & OceanWP are best.

Whether you choose GeneratePress vs Astra vs OceanWP, it won’t be a mistake in either of the cases. However, what suits you the best can only be decided what exactly you need. If any of the above themes have everything you desire, you can go with the option.

Full Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning that if you click on one of the links and purchase an item, we may receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). We only hyperlink the products which we feel adds value to our audience. Financial compensation does not play a role for those products.

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About Sanjeev

A passionate blogger and technology enthusiast with more than 20 years of experience in enterprise software development. Over 12 Years of experience in successfully building blogs from scratch.

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