Choosing the right theme is crucial when building a WordPress site, whether for a blog, business, or online store. With hundreds of themes available, finding one that offers both performance and flexibility can be challenging. In this post we will provide Astra theme review, a WordPress theme that has become a favourite among WordPress users. Moreover, we will explore the features, pros, cons, and some test results of Astra’s free version to help you decide if it’s the right fit for your website.
What is Astra?
Astra is a WordPress theme developed by Brainstorm Force, known for its lightweight design and flexibility. With over one million active installations, it’s one of the most popular themes in the WordPress repository. Astra is designed to be fast, customizable, and compatible with popular page builders.
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Key Features of Astra Free Version
1. Lightweight and Fast Performance
One of Astra’s standout features is its lightweight design. The theme requires significantly fewer resources compared to many other WordPress themes, utilizing less than 50KB. Astra avoids using jQuery, a common JavaScript library that can sometimes slow down websites. Instead, it uses Vanilla JavaScript, ensuring faster loading times and better performance. This is one of the greatest feature we found during Astra WordPress theme review.
For website owners, this means a faster site, which is not only crucial for user experience but also for SEO. Search engines like Google prioritize fast-loading websites, making Astra a great choice for those who want to improve their site’s ranking.
2. Customizable Design
The free version offers basic yet essential customization features that allow you to tailor your site to your brand’s identity.
- Layout Options: Astra provides flexible layout options allowing you to control how your content is displayed.
- Colour and Typography: The free version includes basic colours and typography options.
- Headers and Footers: Astra allows you to make basic customizations to your site’s headers and footers, such as adding logos, site titles, and menus. While advanced customization options are available in the Pro version, the free version provides enough flexibility for most users.
3. Responsive and Retina Ready
In today’s mobile-first world, having a responsive website is non-negotiable. Astra excels in this area, ensuring that your site looks great on all devices, from desktops to mobile phones. The theme is also retina-ready, meaning it displays crisp, high-resolution images on modern devices.
4. Page Builder Compatibility
It is compatible with popular page builders like Elementor and Beaver Builder. This makes it a versatile choice for users who prefer a drag-and-drop approach to website design.
This compatibility also makes it easier for users who are already familiar with page builders to get started with Astra and quickly create stunning websites.
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5. WooCommerce Integration
If you are running an online store, Astra’s free version integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce. While the free version offers essential features like product grid settings and sidebar options, it’s sufficient for small to medium-sized stores. However, more advanced WooCommerce customization options are available in the Pro version.
6. SEO Optimization
The theme includes basic schema markup, which helps search engines understand your content better and can potentially improve your site’s visibility in search results. Coupled with its lightweight design and fast performance, Astra provides a solid foundation for building an SEO-friendly website.
7. Accessibility and Multilingual Support
Astra follows best practices for web accessibility, ensuring your website is usable by people with disabilities. The theme is also translation-ready and supports right-to-left languages, making it a suitable choice for multilingual websites.
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8. Starter Templates
Another important feature of Astra’s free version is the availability of starter templates. These templates can be imported with a single click. While the selection in the free version is limited compared to the Pro version, it still offers a variety of templates for different niches.
Performance Metrics We Tested in This Astra Theme Review
When you are choosing a WordPress theme like Astra, it’s important to know how well it performs. But if you are not familiar with technical terms, some of the metrics can be confusing. To provide a clearer picture of Astra’s performance, we conducted tests on key pages of a WooCommerce store using Astra theme.
How the Tests Were Conducted To Provide a Comprehensive Astra Theme Review
To ensure accurate and reliable results, we used Chrome DevTools for testing Astra’s performance. Here is a brief overview of the process
- DOM Content Load Time: We checked this using the Network tab in Chrome DevTools. This measures how quickly the main content of a webpage loads.
- Other Metrics: For Performance Score, FCP (First Contentful Paint), LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), and CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift), we used the Lighthouse tool in Chrome DevTools.
- Cache Handling: To avoid any cached data influencing the results, we cleared the cache and performed a hard refresh of the page before each test.
These steps were repeated for different pages of the Astra theme, including the Shop Page, Product Page, Cart Page, and Checkout Page, to get a comprehensive view of how the theme performs across the main pages. In the test we have just put the best result.
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Key Findings of Our Test
| Metrics/Pages | Shop Page | Product Page | Cart Page | Checkout Page |
| DOM Content Load Time | 0.92s | 0.77s | 1.2s | 1.24s |
| Performance Score | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| FCP | 0.5s | 0.5s | 0.5s | 0.6s |
| LCP | 0.7s | 0.6s | 0.6s | 0.6s |
| CLS | 0 | 0 | 0.003 | 0 |
Understanding the Astra WordPress Theme Review Test Results
Let us break down the test results in a way that’s easy to understand, so you can see why Astra is such a great choice. Don’t worry if you’re not able to interpret the results on your own; we’ll explain everything in detail in this Astra theme review post so you can gain a clearer understanding.
1. DOM Content Load Time
What It Means: This is the time it takes for the main content of a webpage to load. The quicker this happens, the faster your site feels to visitors.
Astra’s Results:
- Shop Page: 0.92 seconds
- Product Page: 0.77 seconds
- Cart Page: 1.2 seconds
- Checkout Page: 1.24 seconds
Result analysis: Astra loads website’s main content very quickly, often in less than a second. This means visitors don’t have to wait long to start interacting with your site, which is great for keeping them engaged.
2. Performance Score
What It Means: This score is out of 100 and measures how well your website performs in terms of speed and efficiency.
Astra’s Results:
- All pages scored a perfect 100.
Result analysis: A score of 100 means the site is fast and responsive. This is excellent for user experience and search engine rankings.
3. FCP (First Contentful Paint)
What It Means: These measures how quickly the first piece of content like text or an image appears on your page.
Astra’s Results:
- Shop, Product, and Cart Pages: 0.5 seconds
- Checkout Page: 0.6 seconds
Result analysis: With content appearing in about half a second, Astra ensures that visitors see something on your site almost instantly. This quick load time can make the site feel fast and responsive.
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4. LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
What It Means: LCP measures how long it takes for the largest piece of content like the hero image or heading to load.
Astra’s Results:
- Shop Page: 0.7 seconds
- Product Page: 0.6 seconds
- Cart Page: 0.6 seconds
- Checkout Page: 0.6 seconds
Result analysis: Astra loads the most important parts of site quickly, usually in less than a second. This helps keep visitors engaged because they can see the main content right away.
5. CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)
What It Means: CLS measures how much the layout of your page shifts as it loads. A low score is better because it means the page does not jump around, which can be annoying for visitors resulting in a bad ux.
Astra’s Results:
- Shop Page: 0
- Product Page: 0
- Cart Page: 0.003
- Checkout Page: 0
Result analysis: Astra keeps pages stable as they load, with little to no layout shifting. This makes for a smoother, more professional user experience.
Pros and Cons of Astra Free Version
Pros
- Lightweight and Fast: Optimized for performance, leading to faster load times.
- Customizable: Offers basic but essential customization options.
- Responsive and Retina Ready: Ensures a great user experience across all devices.
- Page Builder Compatibility: Works well with popular page builders.
- WooCommerce Integration: Supports e-commerce features with WooCommerce.
- SEO-Friendly: Built-in schema markup and optimized code.
- Free Starter Templates: Get a head start with pre-built designs.
Cons
- Limited Advanced Features: Some customization options and advanced features are reserved for the Pro version.
- Basic WooCommerce Support: More sophisticated WooCommerce features require the Pro version.
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Conclusion: Is Astra Free Worth It?
In this detailed Astra theme review you must have got a solid understanding that Astra’s free version is a powerful theme that offers a great balance of performance, flexibility, and ease of use. Anyone looking to create a WordPress website without investing in a premium theme, Astra provides an excellent starting point.
However, if you are looking for advanced customization, enhanced WooCommerce features, or specialized design options, you might eventually consider upgrading to the Pro version. But even with its limitations, the free version of Astra remains one of the best choices for a fast, reliable, and customizable WordPress site.
Whether you’re building your first site or looking to switch to a more performance-oriented theme, Astra’s free version is definitely worth considering.
Moreover, if you are looking for a theme that truly aligns with your brand, you can contact us at Lime Street. This is our WordPress development agency and we have built some unique themes.
