The Only Way to Test a Wordpress Theme's Speed BEFORE Downloading It.
I have struggled with site speed a lot. One of the reasons is, that I have used slow themes. I have even paid for premium themes that were horribly slow.
The truth is, that MOST Wordpress themes, even premium themes, are SLOW! The developers lie to you that their themes are speed optimized, while they are NOT speed optimized at all.
I loved my latest premium theme, except for the fact that once again, it was SLOW! I had a hard time admitting it to myself, that I had once more fallen for a gorgeous looking theme that was badly coded and very slow.
I tried different site speed plugins to fix the issue, but nothing really worked. Trying to fix a slow theme with plugins is like putting bandages on an infected wound.
There is only one way to find out if a Wordpress theme actually is fast or not BEFORE you download it and waste your money. I wish I'd known this earlier, so I'm gonna share this with you now.
The Only Way to Check Site Speed Before Getting a New Theme.
So, there's a website called GTMetrix for checking site speed. This website also reports the fully loaded time (the time it takes for the whole website to load) and total page size, plus the amount of requests the site sends.
What you need to do is enter the Wordpress theme demo's URL in GTMetrix and test its speed.
I was quite horrified when I entered my latest favorite theme's demo in GTMetrix. I had already figured out this theme is very slow, and yes, the GTMetrix report confirms it. The fully loaded time is 7,9 seconds. Totally unacceptable! The total page size is also very big, and it sends many requests.
And this is just the theme demo. When you use this theme with a website with your blog content, more images and plugins, your website will be even slower than the demo!
Is There Any Fast Theme Out There? Yes, There Is.
As much as I like the look of Vilva Pro theme, I could no longer ignore how slow it is. My bounce rate has gone up again, and probably Google is not ranking me as well anymore, because my site is slow. Site speed is an important ranking factor.
I've paid for my mistakes, but now I'm done with slow themes. I even wondered are there any fast Wordpress themes out there. Fortunately, there are, but not many.
I was lucky to run into Astra theme. This is honestly one of the fastest Wordpress themes. And its FREE! Yes, there is a premium version too, but even the free version is very optimizable. Google fonts are included in the free version, you can change heading colors etc. And it's FAST!
I did change my theme to Astra theme, and my site speed score improved immediately. My desktop site speed is close to 100 now, WITHOUT any other site speed plugins except for lazy load and image optimization plugins. But I don't have any extra cache or minify plugins now.
Mobile speed still needs work, but probably accelerated mobile pages would solve the mobile speed issue. Astra theme premium has native AMP support. I might upgrade to premium, but I wanted to test the free version first before rushing into another premium theme again.
So, if you're looking for a free Wordpress theme that is FAST and optimizable, I can honestly recommend Astra theme. I have tried many slow and poorly coded Wordpress themes, so I know when I've found one that is actually fast.
Have you tried Astra theme? Have you also struggled with professional-looking, gorgeous Wordpress themes, that are poorly coded and SLOW? Please let me know!
Kirsti
Recent Comments
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Hi Kirsti, thank you for sharing this important information. I am using a theme called Light House(Free). I am in the 90's to 100 for desktop and 79 to 86 for mobile.
I will try the Astra free theme on a test site.
Thank you, Best wishes,
Michael
I have used GTmetrix a lot and like it. May try Astra. I like generatepress on a couple of my small sites.
That's what I'm using right now. It's fast and I highly recommend it.
It's also customizable.
Sonny
Thanks for sharing your experience, Sonny! That's great to hear you've also found the Astra theme. I think it's the first theme I've tried that is actually fast. And it's rare that even a free version of a theme is as customizable as Astra theme.
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Hi Kirsti
Yes, I hear you about slow themes! [roll eyes] I have also had my share of discovering that my favorite theme is slow as can be. Argh!
I went as far as creating a "test website", using one of my free Siterubix websites, and then I installed the different themes one by one, and then tested the speed of the "test website" with GTmetrix, so that I'll be able to compare the proverbial "apples with apples".
When comparing a theme's demo site with another theme's demo site, one can't really say how many pictures there are, how optimized they are, which plugins are used, etc, so one doesn't really know what you are comparing.
Thus running my own "tests" with the plugins that I want to use, knowing how many pictures and how optimized (or not) they are, gave me a much better idea of how the different themes are performing compared to the exact same test website.
And yes, you are right, Astra (free version) is a very good and high speed theme. From my tests Astra and Generate Press (which Jay uses) had the same speed.
Wishing you health and all of the very best!
Sharlee (Chocolate IceCream)
Thanks for sharing, Sharlee!
Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, testing themes with a test website. If they are free themes you're testing.
Because if it's a premium theme, you don't want to waste money and pay for a theme just to find out you paid for yet another slow theme (like I have done, unfortunately).
Hi Kirsti
Yes, the idea is that if the free Theme is fast, one can probably bargain on it that the paid for premium Theme won't be any slower. The only bother is when a developer doesn't have a free Theme, but then it begs the question WHY, right? And although they may have their reasons and we can only speculate, I am grateful for the Theme developers who had enough confidence in their product to gave us a free Theme.
Wishing you health and all of the very best!
Sharlee (Chocolate IceCream)
Some of the themes without a free version are not very good, honestly. The developers just sell the premium version, and typically won't give you a refund (because they know there's something wrong with the product).
Yes, you are saying exactly what my thoughts are as well. If they are not prepared to put a free template out to be tested (even if it is a bit watered down), and then they are not prepared to give a refund, that is a BIG red flag to me.
There was one theme that I was VERY interested in. I've spend days reading through everything I could lay my hands on, and reading the Developer's blogs about it. But, he didn't give much details about the things I would want to know and which I would have been able to check out for myself if I was able to see/test a free version.
So I emailed the Developer, and I asked him 8 of my most pressing questions, that I wanted answered, before I would even consider it any further. (I had a list of 20 questions that I really wanted to have answered, but thought I'll start with the 8 most important ones.)
I also asked about a refund, since there was no guarantee on his website and nothing was said about a refund. And note, I was VERY interested in his theme, I really, REALLY liked what I've seen, and I've made it clear in my email to him.
WELL... [roll eyes] did he blow his top when he received my 8 questions! He told me that his experience is that people like me who ask so many questions, are not the type of people who should be using his theme, and that people like me, who ask about refunds, are just a waste of his precious time! [roll eyes]
HUH?! I mean, one of the questions I asked him was whether his theme is compatible to be set-up as a child theme. I asked because it is important, not because I'm being difficult. Geez, as a Developer I thought he would have known that it is important, but apparently not.
So after I decided that he's a jerk (ha-ha-ha), I also decided that he is probably right, I am probably too advanced an user for his theme (Thank you to WA for educating me so well!) and that I probably shouldn't bother with his theme.
Then I tested Astra theme (that's what free themes are for, so that we can test it and answer most of our questions for ourselves), and then I flicked them an email with a few additional things that I wanted to know and they responded in good timing and was courteous. So I went with them and bought their Premium theme on their Black Friday Special. (And I'm NOT an affiliate for Astra, just in case anybody wonders about it.)
So yes, you are right Kirsti, I run the other direction if they don't have a refund offer and don't have a free theme.
Stay healthy and strong!
Sharlee (Chocolate IceCream)
That says a lot about the customer service of the developers; they didn't even bother answering your questions. It's actually good you tested them out like that BEFORE buying a theme. When the customer service is non-existent, it's better not to buy a theme.
I also purchased the premium version of Astra theme, because I was so happy with the free version, but I wanted even more customization options. Actually, I bought the lifetime license, because I got a good discount for that. They seem to have a very good customer service as well. That's also a very important thing to have!