D.P. reviews Team
Why Is Astra So Popular?
Brainstorm Force, the company behind Convert Pro and Ultimate Addons for Elementor, developed Astra in 2017. Because it’s compatible with popular page builders, many marketing tools, and some of the most popular WordPress plugins, it’s suitable for a wide range of projects.
Furthermore, the developers offer both a free and paid version of the theme. Astra is one of the most popular free WordPress themes due to its lightweight code and user-friendly features. You may be wondering whether this is a good option for you, as every site owner has unique requirements.
To assist you in making an informed decision, we’ve compiled a detailed Astra WordPress theme review.
Spending some time exploring Astra’s features in-depth will help you decide if it meets your unique requirements. That means discovering if it’s compatible with certain page builders, the starter templates it provides, and if it holds up in performance tests.
In this Astra WordPress theme review, we will examine the critical characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages of this tool. That way, you can determine if it’s the best option for your WordPress website.
Astra is marketed as lightweight, speedy, and customizable. Its developers also claim that it is “The Most Popular Theme of All Time:”
Despite this being a daring declaration, Astra having been downloaded 8,368,826 times as of now, it may not be an exaggeration. The theme has also received a five-star rating on its WordPress.org listing page, so it might be a great choice if you’re looking for a new theme.
Brainstorm Force, the developers of Elementor Ultimate Addons and Convert Pro, created Astra in 2017. It’s therefore compatible with some of the most popular page builders, marketing tools, and certain WordPress plugins. Furthermore, it’s a ‘freemium’ theme, which means that both free and premium versions are offered by the developers.
• Astra’s features:
A look over Astra WordPress theme.
Astra has some unique features that make it different from many other WordPress themes. Let’s see what it provides.
Design that focuses on performance.
We tested the Astra theme to see if it would boost performance on a test site.
To build a fast-loading WordPress site using Astra (as long as you follow other WordPress performance best practices), you must first establish a strong foundation.
Astra achieves this speediness in several ways. For example, it does not use jQuery, which can negatively affect performance via render-blocking. Instead, it uses Vanilla JavaScript to run interactive elements.
Keeping Astra efficient and lightweight is a result of its highly optimized code. In addition, self-hosted Google fonts are available, so your website does not have to retrieve these elements from an external server (slowing down page speeds in the process).
The ability to create custom pages is one of the page-building features.
This theme also provides enhanced page-building abilities with Astra. You can easily integrate this theme with popular page builders, such as Beaver Builder, Divi, Elementor, and more:
You can establish a custom canvas for your preferred page-building plugin using Astra page-level controls. For example, you can decide on the content and sidebar layouts for your page:
You can also disable specific elements, such as page headers and footers:
You can access advanced settings to disable particular header rows and choose transparent header qualities:
Take note that these settings might be slightly different based on your page builder plugin and starter site.
You can create tri-layer designs using the Header Footer Builder in Astra Pro. It comes with a variety of custom design options, including sticky and transparent elements. You can include logos, buttons, and widgets in your headers and footers in addition to interactive elements.
A decent choice, if you want to set up an eCommerce store, is Astra Pro, which is compatible with the WooCommerce plugin and offers a variety of custom settings to help you optimize your digital venture.
Furthermore, you can utilize the following WooCommerce-specific capabilities:
You can customize the single product page using the Customizer settings. Here is an example of what you can do.
However, as with many of Astra’s more advanced features, these settings are not included with the free version. You must therefore upgrade to a premium license if you want to make use of them.
Plugins are free.
After you install Astra, you can access its plugins immediately. It is recommended that you take advantage of these plugins. You can find these tools on the Astra Options page and activate them with one click:
The following plugins are recommended:
Remember that Astra does not require plugins to function properly. However, they can be helpful if you want to automate your design workflow and take advantage of the theme.
The vehicle has been designed to offer excellent social driving experiences.
Astra comes with some integrated social features. Google Web Stories, for example, is one of them. You may use this module to showcase your business’s content in the same manner as Facebook or Instagram stories, to tell stories and post news:
Furthermore, Astra provides social icon widgets:
Visitors can immediately and conveniently start engaging with your brand on other platforms using these social icons. You won’t need to install a third-party plugin to link your website and social platforms thanks to this feature.
The design of a theme can have a significant effect on whether or not it is a good fit for your website. For this part of our Astra WordPress theme review, we will examine all of the styling and customization options available to you.
The ease of use
The majority of Astra’s settings can be accessed via the WordPress Customizer. Furthermore, it comes with over 200 starter websites, some of which are built using page builders as well as the theme itself.
Once you install and activate Astra, you can navigate to Appearance > Astra Options and click on Starter Templates. On that page, you can use a page builder to customize your template:
In this section, you can find templates based on site categories, such as Business or Blog. After you choose a template, you can upload a logo and adjust its width:
You can then choose from predefined color and font combinations, or alter them:
You can enter your details and import Customizer settings, widgets, and content for your starter site (if required):
After Astra imports the starter site and its content, it will take a couple of minutes to import the starter site and its content:
You can go to your new website by clicking on View Your Website: Now you should see a success screen and a demo video.
Once you have chosen your preferred page builder plugin, you can start customizing your site. Our starter site was created with Elementor, so we’ll start by heading to Edit with Elementor > Site Settings:
Elementor plugin will be launched by this:
Despite Astra being quite user-friendly, its free support is quite limited. This means that if you have any issues, you will only be able to access video tutorials, troubleshooting posts, and a limited ticketing system.
If you plan on using your WordPress website extensively, Astra Pro may not be the best option, as it does not provide premium customer support. With this in mind, you will not be able to access premium customer support with Astra.
Global design and customization options are available.
With Astra, you can control your site’s typography, colors, button styles, and container (page layouts) via global styles in the WordPress Customiser.
Besides choosing different types, widths, and margin settings for headers and footers, you can access basic options with the free version of Astra Pro.
From the Customizer, you can set up blog layout options, breadcrumbs, and sidebar designs. Simply click around and adjust settings to suit your needs.
The art of composing text.
Effective typography can significantly improve your overall branding by setting the tone for your content and matching your visual appeal.
With its free version, Astra offers more than 700 Google fonts (800+ with the premium version) or presets to save time on design. Additionally, you can import custom fonts.
Font size and spacing can also be customized across your website using Astra:
You can also define mobile-friendly dimensions using this plugin. This can help you provide a fantastic user experience for every visitor, regardless of their device.
There are three different site layouts to choose from.
You can create and use site and blog layouts with Astra Pro. These templates can display your content and blog posts in attractive and user-friendly formats, including:
In addition to the basic header and footer styling, you can also access advanced header and footer styling options:
With Astra Pro, you can customize the content of your websites and blog posts. Free accounts are limited to a standard content container and a set post design.
Choosing an Astra starter site that already has the visual specifications you desire may be a good idea. These restrictions, if you can’t find one you like, maybe a bit constraining.
Are there any disadvantages to using Astra?
Beyond the fact that you may download and use Astra for free, you may have already noticed that the free version has significant limitations in certain situations.
Only the premium theme provides these more advanced features:
Astra Pro starts at $47 per year. You may also purchase lifetime access starting at $239. With any paid plan, Astra provides a 14-day money-back guarantee, allowing you to try it out and decide if it suits your needs.
The positives and negatives of using the Astra WordPress theme are listed below:
Astra is a multipurpose WordPress theme that is suitable for any sort of website. Thus, it may be a terrific option if you want to establish an attractive, efficient website in a short amount of time.
However, if you desire advanced personalization features and eCommerce abilities, you might want to choose Astra Pro. Therefore, you must ensure that this theme is within your budget before deciding against other choices.
Astra is one of the most well-known WordPress themes. It provides varied options for customizing websites for all sorts of subject areas, both for free or for a fee.
Astra is a standout in terms of performance and efficient code in our WordPress theme review. It is also user-friendly for beginners and works well with page builder plugins. However, you will need to upgrade to Astra Pro for advanced eCommerce features, layout templates, and premium support.
Please post your comments below if you have any questions!
Furthermore, the developers offer both a free and paid version of the theme. Astra is one of the most popular free WordPress themes due to its lightweight code and user-friendly features. You may be wondering whether this is a good option for you, as every site owner has unique requirements.
To assist you in making an informed decision, we’ve compiled a detailed Astra WordPress theme review.
Spending some time exploring Astra’s features in-depth will help you decide if it meets your unique requirements. That means discovering if it’s compatible with certain page builders, the starter templates it provides, and if it holds up in performance tests.
In this Astra WordPress theme review, we will examine the critical characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages of this tool. That way, you can determine if it’s the best option for your WordPress website.
Astra is marketed as lightweight, speedy, and customizable. Its developers also claim that it is “The Most Popular Theme of All Time:”
Despite this being a daring declaration, Astra having been downloaded 8,368,826 times as of now, it may not be an exaggeration. The theme has also received a five-star rating on its WordPress.org listing page, so it might be a great choice if you’re looking for a new theme.
Brainstorm Force, the developers of Elementor Ultimate Addons and Convert Pro, created Astra in 2017. It’s therefore compatible with some of the most popular page builders, marketing tools, and certain WordPress plugins. Furthermore, it’s a ‘freemium’ theme, which means that both free and premium versions are offered by the developers.
• Astra’s features:
A look over Astra WordPress theme.
Astra has some unique features that make it different from many other WordPress themes. Let’s see what it provides.
Design that focuses on performance.
We tested the Astra theme to see if it would boost performance on a test site.
To build a fast-loading WordPress site using Astra (as long as you follow other WordPress performance best practices), you must first establish a strong foundation.
Astra achieves this speediness in several ways. For example, it does not use jQuery, which can negatively affect performance via render-blocking. Instead, it uses Vanilla JavaScript to run interactive elements.
Keeping Astra efficient and lightweight is a result of its highly optimized code. In addition, self-hosted Google fonts are available, so your website does not have to retrieve these elements from an external server (slowing down page speeds in the process).
The ability to create custom pages is one of the page-building features.
This theme also provides enhanced page-building abilities with Astra. You can easily integrate this theme with popular page builders, such as Beaver Builder, Divi, Elementor, and more:
You can establish a custom canvas for your preferred page-building plugin using Astra page-level controls. For example, you can decide on the content and sidebar layouts for your page:
You can also disable specific elements, such as page headers and footers:
You can access advanced settings to disable particular header rows and choose transparent header qualities:
Take note that these settings might be slightly different based on your page builder plugin and starter site.
You can create tri-layer designs using the Header Footer Builder in Astra Pro. It comes with a variety of custom design options, including sticky and transparent elements. You can include logos, buttons, and widgets in your headers and footers in addition to interactive elements.
A decent choice, if you want to set up an eCommerce store, is Astra Pro, which is compatible with the WooCommerce plugin and offers a variety of custom settings to help you optimize your digital venture.
Furthermore, you can utilize the following WooCommerce-specific capabilities:
You can customize the single product page using the Customizer settings. Here is an example of what you can do.
However, as with many of Astra’s more advanced features, these settings are not included with the free version. You must therefore upgrade to a premium license if you want to make use of them.
Plugins are free.
After you install Astra, you can access its plugins immediately. It is recommended that you take advantage of these plugins. You can find these tools on the Astra Options page and activate them with one click:
The following plugins are recommended:
Remember that Astra does not require plugins to function properly. However, they can be helpful if you want to automate your design workflow and take advantage of the theme.
The vehicle has been designed to offer excellent social driving experiences.
Astra comes with some integrated social features. Google Web Stories, for example, is one of them. You may use this module to showcase your business’s content in the same manner as Facebook or Instagram stories, to tell stories and post news:
Furthermore, Astra provides social icon widgets:
Visitors can immediately and conveniently start engaging with your brand on other platforms using these social icons. You won’t need to install a third-party plugin to link your website and social platforms thanks to this feature.
The design of a theme can have a significant effect on whether or not it is a good fit for your website. For this part of our Astra WordPress theme review, we will examine all of the styling and customization options available to you.
The ease of use
The majority of Astra’s settings can be accessed via the WordPress Customizer. Furthermore, it comes with over 200 starter websites, some of which are built using page builders as well as the theme itself.
Once you install and activate Astra, you can navigate to Appearance > Astra Options and click on Starter Templates. On that page, you can use a page builder to customize your template:
In this section, you can find templates based on site categories, such as Business or Blog. After you choose a template, you can upload a logo and adjust its width:
You can then choose from predefined color and font combinations, or alter them:
You can enter your details and import Customizer settings, widgets, and content for your starter site (if required):
After Astra imports the starter site and its content, it will take a couple of minutes to import the starter site and its content:
You can go to your new website by clicking on View Your Website: Now you should see a success screen and a demo video.
Once you have chosen your preferred page builder plugin, you can start customizing your site. Our starter site was created with Elementor, so we’ll start by heading to Edit with Elementor > Site Settings:
Elementor plugin will be launched by this:
Despite Astra being quite user-friendly, its free support is quite limited. This means that if you have any issues, you will only be able to access video tutorials, troubleshooting posts, and a limited ticketing system.
If you plan on using your WordPress website extensively, Astra Pro may not be the best option, as it does not provide premium customer support. With this in mind, you will not be able to access premium customer support with Astra.
Global design and customization options are available.
With Astra, you can control your site’s typography, colors, button styles, and container (page layouts) via global styles in the WordPress Customiser.
Besides choosing different types, widths, and margin settings for headers and footers, you can access basic options with the free version of Astra Pro.
From the Customizer, you can set up blog layout options, breadcrumbs, and sidebar designs. Simply click around and adjust settings to suit your needs.
The art of composing text.
Effective typography can significantly improve your overall branding by setting the tone for your content and matching your visual appeal.
With its free version, Astra offers more than 700 Google fonts (800+ with the premium version) or presets to save time on design. Additionally, you can import custom fonts.
Font size and spacing can also be customized across your website using Astra:
You can also define mobile-friendly dimensions using this plugin. This can help you provide a fantastic user experience for every visitor, regardless of their device.
There are three different site layouts to choose from.
You can create and use site and blog layouts with Astra Pro. These templates can display your content and blog posts in attractive and user-friendly formats, including:
In addition to the basic header and footer styling, you can also access advanced header and footer styling options:
With Astra Pro, you can customize the content of your websites and blog posts. Free accounts are limited to a standard content container and a set post design.
Choosing an Astra starter site that already has the visual specifications you desire may be a good idea. These restrictions, if you can’t find one you like, maybe a bit constraining.
Are there any disadvantages to using Astra?
Beyond the fact that you may download and use Astra for free, you may have already noticed that the free version has significant limitations in certain situations.
Only the premium theme provides these more advanced features:
Astra Pro starts at $47 per year. You may also purchase lifetime access starting at $239. With any paid plan, Astra provides a 14-day money-back guarantee, allowing you to try it out and decide if it suits your needs.
The positives and negatives of using the Astra WordPress theme are listed below:
Astra is a multipurpose WordPress theme that is suitable for any sort of website. Thus, it may be a terrific option if you want to establish an attractive, efficient website in a short amount of time.
However, if you desire advanced personalization features and eCommerce abilities, you might want to choose Astra Pro. Therefore, you must ensure that this theme is within your budget before deciding against other choices.
Astra is one of the most well-known WordPress themes. It provides varied options for customizing websites for all sorts of subject areas, both for free or for a fee.
Astra is a standout in terms of performance and efficient code in our WordPress theme review. It is also user-friendly for beginners and works well with page builder plugins. However, you will need to upgrade to Astra Pro for advanced eCommerce features, layout templates, and premium support.
Please post your comments below if you have any questions!
