The Best WordPress Themes for Speed & Fast Load Times
Theme Name
Why Recommended?
Speed Rating
Website Link
Pretty much the fastest theme on the web right now, free option available too!
Fastest (5/5)
A runner up to Generatepress, some better looking child themes/prebuilt templates with a free option just like GP!
Fastest (4.9/5)
A very popular theme that’s a little older now but with some fiddling of the settings can load lightning fast.
Fast (3.9/5)
Another flexible drag and drop functioning page builder, one that works on the front end of your WordPress website. Regardless whether you’re a beginner in the IT world or an experienced professional, Beaver Builder will provide you with enough control and flexibility, as well as easy to use features and options for those that want to build a unique site of their own.
Fast
A stylish one-page theme perfect for any type of business. Enjoy the high-performance that comes with great user experience.
Fast
If you’re using a page builder plugin, such as Elementor, and you also want the fastest possible basis for your site, then the Elementor Hello theme could just be the right option for you. A mega barebones theme that gives you the necessary functionality you’ll need in order to work with your page builder, although it doesn’t include some of the more detailed customization options you’d get with another theme (since you’re supposed to use Elementor to handle that).
Fast
In short, these are the fastest themes for WordPress:
GeneratePress Lightweight Theme – a very lightweight theme and one that’s specially built to make your site as fast as possible. One of the reasons why this theme is lightning fast is because it’s built so it doesn’t need Jquery (you can build a site without necessarily relying on Jquery). It renders fast which is also great news for Google Pagespeed Insights.
WP-Astra Theme – another super-fast theme with additional prebuilt child theme options that’ll suit almost any type of business.
Similarly to GeneratePress, this one also doesn’t necessarily eed the Jquery javascript library. However, Astra is generally heavier with features than GeneratePress, which is also the reason why it’s a bit slower (albeit still super-fast compared to other themes out there!).
Neve by Themeisle – the Neve theme was also conceived with speed in mind, and it definitely deserves its place among the fastest WordPress themes out there. Like the others on our list so far, this one also doesn’t rely on Jquery and sports some special features that can significantly boost conversion rates for WooCommerce users.
Also, it’s worth mentioning that the designers have made sure to include a bunch of beautiful pre-built templates.
OceanWP – another fast theme for your WordPress site which deserves its place among the top five here without a doubt. If you want to build a pretty-looking site that’ll work flawlessly, then this is the theme for you.
Why is Speed so Important?
It should almost go without saying that having a fast site is critical in the ruthlessly competitive online environment. Who’s going to wait for more than a couple of seconds for a website to load nowadays? You guessed it, very few people indeed.
Speed can impact a number of factors that’ll either make or break your site, such as rankings on Google, user experience, bounce rates, and of course, conversion rates. In short, the equation is simple – faster sites see more traffic and hence make more money.
What’s the Connection Between the Theme Speed and the Overall Site Speed?
The most important thing you need to remember is render speed. One part of this puzzle is the web-servers and pulling all the data from there as fast and seamlessly as possible, and the other part is the rendering speed of the site which is how quickly the web browser software can assemble and display the page after it’s downloaded it from your web hosting.
This is quite simple and straightforward because the faster a WordPress theme is the faster it’ll render and download. Faster themes have less page weight (smaller download size), have less files (less stuff to download) and the code is cleaner so the parsing and rendering process is faster.
How Do You Recognize a Fast Theme?
Fast themes come in small sizes – their CSS is lighter and cleaner, have less JavaScript, so the browser can display the page with less CPU processing power and they’re also lighter in code overall again requiring less processing power on the device to render.
What is Jquery & How Does it Affect Speed?
Jquery is a JavaScript library, and the themes that use Jquery are usually slower to render. Jquery was introduced to save time when it comes to coding the more visually demanding and more complex elements of a particular theme.
If you’re looking for a fast theme, and you want to build a site from the ground up, we’d recommend using a theme that’s not relying on Jquery.
Testing Speed
Be mindful when you’re reading stuff about fast themes online. You’ll see a lot of articles that have tested the theme demo and are using that as the benchmark for speed.
That’s a poor way to test for speed and most of those articles are put together by content writers who know nothing about the technical aspects of site speed nor how to interpret a speed test result.
Here are the most important things you should look for in a theme:
GeneratePress
This might just be the fastest WordPress theme on the internet right now! Tom Usborne, the theme’s developer, has created a real gem here, a theme so lightweight designed to be super-fast and user-friendly.
With the WordPress Customizer options at your disposal, this versatile theme will allow you to adapt it to whatever kind of niche you want for your business.
The premium version gives you a vast choice of pre-built demo sites, super-easy to import into your site.
For one of the fastest themes out there, you’ll have to pay $49.95 annually which is a real value for your money deal. GeneratePress also features a free version which allows you to get a glimpse into how it operates and see what all the fuss is about!
Key Features:
Cons
Astra
Astra is another great, lightweight theme, similar to GeneratePress. Its lightweightedness is owed, in large part, to doing away with jQuery. This theme includes a variety of free demo websites built with Elementor, Beaver Builder, Gutenberg (the WordPress block editor), and Brizy.
Astra also gives you at your disposal plenty of beautiful child themes and out of the box templates (more than GeneratePress in fact!)
If you’re more prone to dabbling with the theme on your own, then you can definitely use the customization options in the real-time Customizer and get as creative as you want!
This theme offers a free and paid version. The paid version starts at $59 paid annually, and then continues over to $169, and $249. You can also do a lifetime purchase starting at $249, then $499, and $699.
Key Features:
Cons
Neve by Themeisle
Neve is a general-purpose plugin that’s a great option for any kind of site.
If, however, you specifically want a theme that’s WooCommerce friendly, then Neve is also up to the task. It contains a WooCommerce Booster module which helps you upgrade your online store with all kinds of new features that will seamlessly integrate with WooCommerce.
The team behind the Neve theme gives you three pricing plans to choose from. The cheapest one starts from $49, paid annually, and continues with $79, to $129. The prices for a lifetime purchase start at $149, and then continue over to $299 and $449. You can also download this theme for free and see how it works.
Key Features:
Cons
OceanWP
In the same rank with GeneratePress and Astra, OceanWP is another fast theme on our list that won’t disappoint. Super fast and lightweight (although not as much as the aforementioned ones), it fits whatever kind of niche your eCommerce venture is in. It’ll provide you with pre-built demo sites so you don’t have to build a new site from top to bottom.
Key Features:
Cons
Genesis
Genesis is a superb choice for bloggers – offers great templates, weighs less than 30kb, is SEO optimized, and also sports a mobile-responsive design. A fun fact about this theme is that it’s actually one of the oldest such themes on the theme market. Nevertheless, that hasn’t stopped it from being one of the fastest ones as well.
The Genesis Framework Package costs $59.95 and it includes instant access as well as a one-time purchase fee. The Pro Plus Membership costs $499.95 and with it you get the entire theme collection. This is a great option for the developers and designers out there.
Key Features:
Cons
Honorable Mentions
In the section that follows, we included other popular themes which are not among the top fastest ones, but are still pretty fast and definitely worth mentioning and considering.
These themes provide for a flexible styling and more child themes, precisely because they don’t have to conform so much to the lightweight code of the other themes we mentioned above.
Divi
If you’ve searched the online theme market so far, then you must’ve stumbled upon Divi. This is a very, very popular WordPress theme, with more than 600 000 users worldwide!
The Divi theme is a multipurpose one, so you can use it for whatever kind of business or other type of site you have. Whether it’s a blog, an eCommerce store, a portfolio, another type of business site, you’re gonna be covered, there’s no doubt about that.
The yearly access to this wonderful theme costs $89, whereas the lifetime one costs $249 and it’s a one-time purchase with a lifetime of updates and support.
Key Features:
Cons
Avada
Avada is the best selling theme on the ThemeForest marketplace, which is probably the most famous virtual trading place for themes. What characterises this theme is that it’s pretty easy to use and doesn’t require any special coder’s knowledge to operate it. So, users new in the field can set out building great sites without much effort.
Regular licence for this theme on ThemeForest costs $60 and the $18 of extended support after 6 months.
Key Features:
Cons
Bridge
Bridge is a theme for the extra-creative WordPress users out there. It’s a flexible theme that allows users to have more control over their websites.
This theme includes premium plugins, as well as a wide range of modules, all of which enhance the customization process and offer more options for creativity.
The regular site licences on ThemeForest costs $59 with additional support for 6 more months for $17.63.
Key Features:
Cons
Optimize Press
OptimizePress is a powerful WordPress theme that you can use to create various types of pages, starting from membership portals, to blog pages, sales pages, landing pages as well as training areas. And it’s one of the best themes you can use when it comes to sales pages.
OptimizePress comes in three pricing plans: $99, $149 and $199, paid yearly, depending on the number of sites you have.
Key Features:
Cons
BeaverBuilder
This is by far one of the most flexible page builders. The drag and drop function allows for an easy front end tinkering and creative customization.
This theme doesn’t require any special coding knowledge to use it – it can be used by basically anybody, regardless of whether they’re experienced or not.
The cheapest pricing plan for Beaver Builder starts at $99, and then continues over to $199, and $399 for a year, with a 40% discount for renewals.
Key Features:
Cons
Hestia Pro
This one’s a one-page theme that’s convenient for any type of business. Hestia Pro is one good-looking, high-performance theme that your visitors are bound to love.
Pricing starts at $69, then $99, and $199, paid annually. For lifetime purchase you’ll have to pay $199 (the cheapest option), and then $299, and $599.
Key Features:
Cons
Elementor Hellow Theme
You can’t really go wrong with any of the honorable mentions here, and that includes Elementor as well. Last but not least, this theme is fast and simple, without many bells and whistles, but with just enough elements and features to provide you with a decent site functionality and loading speed.
The pricing for this theme goes from $49, to $99, and $199, paid yearly.
Keep in mind though, the Elementor Hello is not really a theme to be used on its own. If you’re using Elementor Pro to build a theme or a page, then this will be a great addition since it’ll enhance the theme building functionality.
Key Features:
Cons
Frequently Asked Questions
What else is important when it comes to site speed?
Theme speed is pretty important when it comes to improving the overall site speed, but of course, it’s not the only factor. Other important factors in this equation are:
–Hosting provider (hosting quality);
–Hosting location;
–The use of CDN (Content Delivery Network);
–The overall size of the page – page weight in MB.
–General optimization of the page, things like caching, lazy loading and webp image formats
How do I test my site speed?
You can try our free speed testing tool SiteSpeedBot.com. Once you put your site in there, it will give you a more detailed overview of what you need to improve and provide you with advice on how to make your site load faster.
Does theme speed impact SEO?
The answer is a definitive yes. Site speed is considered a ranking factor for SEO and the theme speed has a big impact on the site speed.
In our years of experience optimizing sites for speed, we’ve come to the conclusion that the size of each page in megabytes (or the page weight) is a key factor here. So, a site that has a lot of pages, especially ones that go over the 3-5mb limit, will most likely not rank well.
Some of the techniques you can implement for making your pages weigh less are:
Image optimization
Using lazy loading for images and video
Use of nextgen webp file formats