Are you curious to read an impartial review of the Astra WordPress theme? Are you confused about using Astra into your website? If such is the case, the following article will explain everything to you.
It’s likely that you’re already familiar of this, but Astra is now one of the most widely used WordPress themes out there. It has over one million unique installations and a user rating of 4.9 out of 5 on average. You have to admit, that’s pretty great, right?
Therefore, would you say that this is the finest theme that WordPress has to offer? Is it truly a smart idea to use it as the theme?
Right here, we’ll respond to that question! This is a comprehensive evaluation that we have written of the Astra WordPress theme. We are going to talk about how simple it is to use, as well as its installation, how customizable it is, how well it performs, how much it costs, and many other characteristics.
So, let’s start!
Astra Theme Review 2022 : Overview
The theme offers tons of customizable features that make it possible to design a slick website. Moreover, the modern and elegant look of the theme is guaranteed to attract your visitors.
For a quick and easy set-up, you can find 180+ ready-to-import demo templates. You can choose one of them and apply on your site immediately. Just change some images, texts, and a few minor elements, and your site will be ready to be published in no time.
Moreover, it supports page builder tools brilliantly making it much easier to edit your site with your intuition.
As mentioned before, Astra has a whooping 1 million+ active installations with a 4.9/5-star rating from its users. This popularity and trust from the users show how excellent Astra is for providing its features and services.
This brings us to our next topic i.e. the features of the Astra theme that makes it better than the others.
Key Features
Astra is a really feature-packed theme that you may use. If you merely look at the features that come with the free version of the plugin, you’ll find capabilities that not even all of the premium themes can supply for you. Additionally, if you already have the premium version installed, now you will experience a lot more of them.
Great Performance
The Astra theme’s clean and basic code structure is the primary factor that contributes to its high level of performance. The programmers working on Astra don’t make use of any resource-intensive programs like JQuery. In addition to this, it is coded and arranged in a very effective manner.
You may get even better results from your site’s performance by combining the Astra theme with one of the top web hosting providers that are currently on the market.
Check out our post on how to quicken the load time of your website if you are interested in further pointers.
Customization Capabilities
The flexibility to make customizations is one of the key factors that differentiates one theme from another. In addition, Astra has a large number of customization choices, which enables you to make your website seem exactly how you want it to.
Even in the free edition, there are a ton of tools available to customize your experience. In addition, the premium edition contains more expanded editing choices than the standard version.
The WordPress Customizer will present you with a large number of settings to choose from once the theme has been installed. You’ll be able to locate all of the changeable components of your theme in that section.
For instance, it enables you to alter the color of the theme, as well as the text, links, and buttons, to correspond with the color of your business. Additionally, you have the ability to customize the fonts and typography by selecting from a variety of alternatives that may be most suitable for the audience you are trying to reach.
You also have the ability to alter the layouts of your posts and pages, as well as the header, footer, and menus, among other things. In the vast majority of themes, personalizing your header and footer might be challenging. Astra, however, provides header and footer builders so that you may totally customize each of these elements.
Page Builder Compatibility
Page builders are plugins for WordPress that make it simple to construct and update your website pages by allowing you to drag and drop elements into place. In essence, it transforms the pieces of your web page into grids that can be dragged and dropped into the positions that you want them to be in.
In addition, Astra was developed to be compatible with the most popular page builder plugins for WordPress, which makes it incredibly easy to make edits to your website. Elementor, Beaver Builder, and Brizy are three of the page builder plugins that Astra is compatible with and supports.
In addition to the straightforward connection, it also comes with its own add-ons for the aforementioned page builders. Check out the Ultimate Addons for Elementor and Ultimate Addons for Beaver Builder, for instance. Astra is built on top of these plugins and, as a result, gives you the ability to construct anything your mind can conjure up.
You don’t enjoy utilizing a page builder? No problem! It also includes strong customization options for the default WordPress editor, which is called Gutenberg. You may create your website with the help of their free plugin, which is called Ultimate Addons for Gutenberg.
Layout Options
The following layout otions are available:
Boxed:
The boxed layout makes it so much easier to highlight different portions of importance by enclosing them in their own individual box.
Full Width:
Using this style, you’ll be able to show your website’s content over the complete width of the screen.
Padded:
It gives you the ability to adjust margins on the content, which allows you to give it some separation from the other items.
Fluid Layout:
Because the layout is fluid, you can make the content of your site seem excellent no matter how much you extend or compress the browser window you’re using.
Spacing Control:
It enables you to provide adequate space and margins for all of the elements.
Default Container:
Header and Footer Builder
Astra’s most recent release, version 3.0, has a number of new features, the most recent of which are header and footer builders.
The fact that the header and footer builders are visual builders is the most beneficial aspect of these builders. That is, they provide an interface that allows you to build and change using a drag-and-drop method. With that, you will be able to design great headers and footers by using the builder’s interface, and you will also be able to position the pieces in whatever sequence you like.
You have the option of including a wide variety of components, such as texts, widgets, header menus, footer menus, social symbol links, and so on, in both your headers and footers. In addition, using the various layouts makes it simple to alter the appearance of the header and footer of the page.
In addition, you are able to create a mobile-specific header as well as a footer using a variety of components and layouts.
Demo Import
Demo import is an essential function that a theme should be able to provide. A demo site is nothing more than a ready-made website template that has been designed specifically to display the capabilities of a certain theme. In addition, quality WordPress themes such as Astra make it possible to import a demonstration site into any WordPress installation.
You may import the demo data quickly and simply with just one click when you make use of the demo import option. After that, you’ll be able to update the material, make adjustments to the photos, words, and other elements, and then your website will be ready to be published. It will save a great deal of time!
In addition, Astra is one of the themes that has a significant selection of preset demos to choose from. In terms of statistics, it contains more than 180 beginning templates that are importable. Obviously, some are free while others require a paid subscription in order to access them.
Because Astra is a theme that can be used for a variety of purposes and niches, the initial demos that it provides are likewise versatile. Astra provides demo templates for different types of websites, including eCommerce, membership, portfolio, and business websites, so you may create whatever type of website you want.
Integration
A WordPress plugin is a piece of software that can be uploaded to a website running the WordPress content management system and used to provide additional functionality. There are instances in which WordPress themes do not perform effectively with such plugins, which results in the creation of complications.
In the case of Astra, it is compatible with a wide variety of WordPress plugins and offers easy integration. LifterLMS and LearnDash are two examples of plugins that it works well with and supports. In addition to that, it offers extensive integration with a variety of well-known page builder plugins, which is something that we have already covered.
In addition, Astra works faultlessly with the majority of the most popular plugins for WordPress, including those for SEO, membership, performance, and eCommerce.
Following the installation of Astra, you will have access to a number of functions such as these. Now that we have everything out of the way, let’s look at how to install Astra.
Installing and Customizing Astra
You probably already are aware that Astra is offered in both a free and a paid edition. The procedure that must be followed in order to install the theme ultimately is determined by the version of the theme that you wish to install.
In any case, the installation of either version of Astra is accomplished through a series of uncomplicated steps.
Installing the Astra WordPress Theme
Installing & Getting Started with Astra Pro
You are going to need to install the Astra Pro Addon in order to upgrade to the premium version of Astra. It is the paid version of the plugin that extends the functionality of Astra so that you may make more modifications to your website.
You can view the many premium plans that are available for the Astra Pro Addon on the pricing page for Astra. You will then be able to choose which of the available packages you would want to purchase.
Following the completion of the transaction, navigate to My Accounts > Downloads via the menu.
Next, in order to get notifications, updates, and support for your product, you will need to activate the license that you purchased for it. To accomplish this, navigate back to the Brainstorm Force Account page and this time choose Licenses before copying the license key from that section of the page.
Customizing the Astra Theme
Global
You can find the options for everything under the Global tab.
Typography:
Make adjustments to the font, size, weight, line height, margin, and other parameters as necessary.
Colors:
You may choose the colors for the text, the theme, the link, the link hover, the headers, and the backdrops, among other things.
Container:
It’s the part of the screen where all of the material from your site is shown. You have the ability to select a layout type and determine the width of the container for blogs, archives, pages, and the entire site.
Buttons:
Header Builder
Blog/ Archive
It gives you the ability to customize the look of both your blogs and your archives. It is imperative that you take care of these settings if you manage a website that hosts blogs.
Single Post and Blog/Archive both have these settings modifiable on their respective pages. Some of these are
The width of the content:
You have the option of setting a custom width, or working with the default width of 1200 PX.
Post Structure:
Show or conceal highlighted photos, as well as the blog’s title and meta description. Additionally, you may shift their places around.
Meta:
Sidebar
You may also choose a different placement for your sidebar depending on whether you’re editing pages, posts, or archives. In addition to this, you may totally conceal it. In addition, you have the ability to choose the width of your sidebar.
Footer Builder
You may totally customize your footer with the use of a drag-and-drop interface, which is quite similar to the header builder. You will have the ability to effortlessly add a variety of features such as HTML text, a footer menu, social icons, widgets, copyright, and so on.
If you are unhappy with the places they are now in on your footer, you can simply drag them to a new location on your footer. You have the ability to make individual changes to the locations, margins, alignment, and layout of each element.
Menus, Widgets, Astra Options & More
Creating and displaying various menus, widgets, and other elements are also essential aspects of the customizing choices available. You may perform such actions by navigating to their respective areas inside the Appearance menu.
In addition, if you navigate to the Astra Options menu located under the Appearance heading, you will be able to view the features that are exclusive to the Astra theme.
You may find further information in the post that we have written on how to establish a website. There, we have particularly displayed all of the customization possibilities that are available with the Astra Theme.
These are some of the most significant alterations that you may make to Astra at your discretion. On the other hand, if you don’t feel like getting involved in the chaos, you may just load an appropriate Astra demo. Now we can go on to the next issue, which is importing the Astra demo site.
asImporting Astra Starter Sites
As was mentioned before, Astra comes with a substantial collection of demos that have already been created. Installing a free WordPress plugin known as Starter Templates is required in order for you to try and test them on your website.
After you have logged in to your WordPress dashboard, navigate to the ‘Plugins’ menu and click “Add New.” After that, conduct a search for “starting templates.” When you come across it, all you need to do is click the “Install Now” option. After you have done that, you will need to click the ‘Activate’ option as well.
Simply select the one that appeals to you, then go ahead and click the option labeled “Import Complete Site.” Additionally, you can choose to import only a subset of the available pages. The process of importing the information could take a little bit of time. After that, it will be enabled on your website and ready for use.
You’ll need to make adjustments to the graphics, menus, and other components that are included in the example template. To make the necessary adjustments to your site, navigate to the WordPress customizer.
Astra Theme Review 2022 : Support
It is really important, particularly if you are just starting out with WordPress, to have help from the people who create the themes you use. You are aware that with Astra, you can construct a whole website without having to manually edit a single line of code. However, there is always the possibility that you may become confused and run into some technological issues. When a problem arises like this, the technical help is invaluable.
Astra provides its consumers with a variety of channels via which they may receive assistance and support. Going to the Astra support website and typing in your query there is the quickest and easiest approach to get assistance. The Astra knowledge base has more than 300 articles that might be of use to you. It will provide pertinent replies to you based on the question that you asked.
If you are still in need of assistance, you may file a ticket for more assistance. Both free and paid customers have access to their ticket support; however, only paying users have access to their more devoted premium service. The members of the support staff will respond to you with a solution once you have submitted your questions to them via a ticket.
It’s possible that the procedure will go more slowly over the weekends, but they will ultimately get back to you with an answer.
You can also discover a ton of video tutorials online that walk you through each stage of the procedure in detail. Simply go to YouTube.com and type in any question; the results will offer you straightforward lessons not only from the Astra team but also from other online marketers.
Next, let’s take a look at the cost of the Astra.
Astra Pricing Review
There is a free version of Astra in addition to a paid premium version. Even the free edition comes with so many capabilities that you can use them to create a gorgeous website that is suitable for professional use.
If you upgrade to the premium version, you will get access to a greater number of features. The price is quite low and reasonable considering all of the features that are included, which is the nicest part.
As can be seen in the screenshot on the right, it offers three straightforward price levels, which are
- Astra Pro @ $59 per year
- Mini Agency Bundle @ $169 per year
- Agency Bundle @ $249 per year
If we decide to stop providing the service, you can get your money refunded for any of the premium packages during the first 14 days.
Astra Pros and Cons
Pros
- It’s a WordPress theme that loads lightning-fast.
- It is compatible for use with the most popular page builders.
- The collection features more than 180 different demo sites to choose from.
- There is a wide variety of customization available to choose from.
- The Prices are relatively low.
- It frequently updated that include new upgrades and bug fixes.
cons
- At first, beginners may experience a sense of confusion.
- Support is pretty sluggish during weekends.
1) Divi
The WordPress theme known as Divi is a robust option for developing websites appropriate for a wide variety of specializations. Because it is built on the Divi builder, also known as the visual drag-and-drop builder, it makes it incredibly simple to customize the website. In addition to this, it provides hundreds of demo templates that you may use to quickly design your website.
Divi, on the other hand, is an entirely paid-for theme, in contrast to Astra. In addition, you will be required to acquire it as part of a bundle that also includes the Divi theme and the Divi builder. In addition, you’ll have access to over 40 different website modules, such as sliders, calls to action, forms, and testimonials, among others, that you may integrate into your site as required.
2) Neve
Your site will load much more quickly on mobile devices as well if you use Neve since it is compatible with Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), which is short for Accelerated Mobile Pages. In addition to this, Neve will make your website accessibility-ready, which means that it will be accessible to anyone who have physical or mental impairments.
3) OceanWP
OceanWP is a WordPress theme that is quick and packed with features, and it is capable of producing any kind of professional website. It has free as well as premium versions, and you can select which one to use based on the features that are most important to you for your online presence.
If you are interested in opening an online store, you will find that OceanWP has a wide variety of possibilities. In addition to that, it is compatible with languages written from right to left (RTL). Additionally, it is compatible with a wide variety of page builders and has an especially tight connection with Elementor.
In conclusion, the aforementioned options are some of the substitutes that you might make use of rather of Astra. You may install WordPress on your localhost and try the different configurations if you want to see the results for yourself.
Conclusion
The review of the Astra WordPress theme that we’ve been working on is now complete. According to what we learned from this post, Astra is most famous for its rapid page loading speed, its ability to be customized, its demo sites, its compatibility with page builders, and many other features.
There is no shadow of a doubt that Astra is among the very best WordPress themes that you can use as the foundation for your website. Astra comes highly recommended by us to all of our readers not just for these reasons but also for many more such as its reasonable pricing, assistance, and support, as well as its convenience of use.
