Please note this article is not sponsored or do i have affiliate links
INTRODUCTION
As a web designer, I’m always looking at different themes and tools in the WordPress arena that helps me create websites that are stylish, fast and easy to build. I must admit at this point that I’m a regular user of the Astra theme and as a pro user I really enjoy their product for many reasons that I will try to cover in this post. A good friend of mine recently asked me about GeneratePress and Generateblocks. Which is faster was one of his main questions.
As I was conducting various tests it dawned on me that in order to get a true benchmark we need to include the standard Gutenberg Editor with a default WordPress Theme that comes with a fresh Install. So for testing purposes, I used the default Twenty Twenty-Three theme and I’m glad I did to see the results below.
I have seen many articles online regarding the two theme builders and I couldn’t help but feel a lot of these are sponsored in some way or other. So the only way to test this was to build two sites and have a head to head comparison in the following areas;
Speed
Ease of use
Options
Functionality
This article is not sponsored by anyone. As a techie, I enjoy exploring these kinds of challenges as they help me make important decisions in the future and is well worth sharing the results.
First of all, I created three subdomains with identical settings. They are all running from the same server so this test will be ideal. ( Please note i have since deleted these subdomains as they are not great for SEO )
https://astra.yourwebsite.agency/home/
https://generatepress.yourwebsite.agency/home/
https://gutenberg.yourwebsite.agency/
Astra Theme
I installed the free Astra Theme along with the Spectra plugin which is also free and from Brainforce Team who are responsible for the Astra Theme. It is worth noting for the first part of this test I will only be using the free versions of both themes and plugins. ( along with a standard no extras WordPress install)
The spectra plugin has extra WordPress Gutenberg Blocks. As you can see from the image below they have a wide selection of blocks, 32 blocks in fact that will expand or enhance the default Gutenberg WordPress experience and all have great customisation for each element.
I also installed the Starter Templates plugin which is a free plugin also from the Brainforce Team with over 1 million installs. This plugin gives you access to 132 pre-made full website templates and individual pages for your favourite page builder such as Elementor, Beaver Builder and Block Editor. Also, the plugin offers 285 “patterns” or pre-made blocks that can be inserted at the click of a button and 58 wireframes to work with.
GeneratePress Theme
I installed GeneratePress Theme which is a free open-source theme that prides itself on speed, usability and accessibility. The free version has very limited options with no theme builder ( that’s premium). I also installed the GenerateBlocks free plugin that only provides 6 extra Gutenberg blocks. When you compare this to the Spectra Plugin that offers 32 extra blocks.
To be honest I would have liked to write more about the free features of the theme and plugin however there was nothing I could find. Feel free to share things I missed in the comments!
Twenty Twenty-Three Theme
The Twenty Twenty-Three theme is one of the standard free themes that come ready and installed with WordPress. It is using the default Gutenberg editor.
Speed Test
Firstly I wanted a simple head-to-head test with identical content using just the core elements of the block builders. As the GenerateBlocks only had 3 useable blocks the content was limited. A simple heading, a paragraph, an image and a button.
I used two speed test sites, https://pagespeed.web.dev/ & https://tools.pingdom.com/ – with page speed I included 3 tests of each as the times can vary from test to test. Also note I have all sites on noindex so search engines cannot see them, hence giving a low SEO Score.
Astra
Mobile tests;
GeneratePress
Mobile tests;
Twenty Twenty-Three
Mobile tests;
As you can see from the results the Astra Theme results vary on every test whereas the GeneratePress results are consistent. I would be inclined to say the scores are even however I would give the edge to GeneratePress for consistency. Halfway through the testing I decided to create a standard “out of the box” WordPress Theme “Twenty Twenty-Three” with no additional plugins or builders. The speeds are all very similar.
Astra
Desktop tests;
GeneratePress
Desktop tests;
Twenty Twenty-Three
Desktop tests;
As you can see the Astra Theme results already lagg behind the GeneratePress results. GeneratePress are also more consistent. So it would seem that GeneratePress is indeed faster than Astra! Also, it’s worth noting the content on each page is very simple and still, there is a big difference in speed. However, after adding the Twenty Twenty-Three theme for comparison there really isn’t a lot of difference in the speed between that and GeneratePress. With the Pingdom speed test the standard Twenty Twenty-Three was in fact the quickest.
Ease of use & functionality ( free versions)
Up until this point of the tests, I can say I’m pretty disappointed with the functionality of the free version of GeneratePress & GenerateBlocks Compared to the Astra Theme and Starter Templates. With the free versions of Astra I am able to build website pages with the various templates that are offered for free, however, there are none available for GeneratePress/blocks free version.
That said is there anything stopping you from using the free Astra starter templates with the GeneratePress theme? As I type this my mind starts to “spark” and prompts me to test this out!
Well after testing the starter templates with GeneratePress and Twenty Twenty-Three, the templates did not work with Twenty Twenty-Three and some of the blocks in the GeneratePress theme looked “squiffy” and not as they should have.
Summary of free versions
When it comes to building websites I want to have as much functionality as possible. I’m personally a fan of Astra with Elementor builder as this combination gives me speed and ease of use for building webpages, however like all page builders this comes at an expense of page loading times because these page builders do “bloat” the website out with extra code.
For this experiment I was mainly focused on speed ( Page loading times) and in doing so I sacrificed all usual page builders, using only the Gutenberg builder with the additional block builders ( Spectra & GenerateBlocks )
Whilst performing the above tests the GeneratePress Theme would only be more advantageous over a standard theme in the sense you would have more compatibility with other plugins. If page loading times are at the top of your priorities then GeneratePress would be the way to go at the expense of limited functionality and end result of aesthetics of the website.
If ease of use with more options & functionality is what you are looking for then Astra Theme with spectra and starter templates is the way to go.
Paid Versions of Astra & GeneratePress & GenerateBlocks
As I mentioned at the start of this article I’m a frequent user of Astra Theme which gives me a head start on the functionality of how it works. That said I’m now enjoying exploring the premium version of GeneratePress in comparison to Astra.
Pricing
GeneratePress Premium & GenerateBlocks Pro are two separate entities which give different options and are priced individually. GeneratePress gives you access to a premium template library of 99 website templates whereas the Astra free Starter templates give you 132 (free). So if we was going head to head, the free version of Astra would be similar to the paid version of GeneratePress! Astra Pro & GeneratePress are priced at $47 and $59 respectively ( at the time of writing this article ).
So what extra options do you get for Astra Pro? Well to see the full list of options for Astra pro then visit their pricing Page. In summary, you get an advanced header & footer builder, layouts, sticky header, mega menus, global controls and Woocommerce controls to name a few. Astra Pro has a 3-tiered pricing plan, Astra Pro, Essential Bundle and Growth bundle. The Essential Bundle priced at $137 gives you an extra 180 Premium templates in the starter templates plugin. The templates will work with Elementor page builder or Beaver page builder and less in the standard Gutenberg page builder. The GeneratePress templates only work with the Gutenberg page builder, although the theme does work with all popular page builders, not alongside its templates.
The Essential bundle also includes a Portfolio plugin which would only be useful for web designers to showcase their websites or indeed the Astra templates as your own. Lastly, the Essential bundle includes one page builder addon of your choice, either for Elementor or Beaver Builder. The Growth Bundle package is priced at $187 and includes both page builder addons namely “Ultimate Addons for ” ( Elementor & Beaver Builder). Also included are Convert Pro and Schema pro plugins.
It’s worth noting that all the prices are an annual subscription. With Astra, you get unlimited website use and GeneratePress is for 500 websites – which even for a freelance web designer is more than enough.
GenerateBlocks Pro has a pattern library which is the same as the 285 free patterns library in the Astra Starter templates. There are over 150 professional patterns or pre-made blocks in GenerateBlocks Pro, although I haven’t counted them. it would seem the other functionality of this plugin is similar to the pro version of Astra Pro. GenerateBlocks Pro is priced at $39 for 1 site per year, $69 for 10 sites and $99 for 250. As a professional user, I would need to pay the $99 version Plus the $59 for GeneratePress you are totalling $158 per year which is in between the middle and the top package of Astra at $137 and $187.
Value for Money
At this point, it is hard for me to give a true opinion regarding value for money as I’ve not used GenerateBlocks or GeneratePress to build any websites. However, this is next on my list and I hope to update this article in due course.
With regards to Astra Theme, I’m subscribed to the growth bundle at $187 per year and I find it a good value for money. Particularly as I use Elementor page builder so the ultimate addons for Elementor is a very good substitute for Elementor Pro.
The GeneratePress Premium and GenerateBlocks Pro is built on the Gutenberg builder which as we have seen above will give faster page load times and ultimately better for SEO. The only downside to this is building the pages in a Gutenberg builder environment which for any seasoned users of Elementor will take some adjustment.
