If you’re a website owner or a WordPress user, you’ve likely come across the Astra WordPress theme. Astra is a highly popular theme known for its lightweight and fast performance, customization options, and SEO-friendly features.
In this article, we will review the Astra WordPress theme in detail, exploring its features, installation process, pricing, pros and cons, comparisons with other popular themes, customer support, and more. So, let’s dive in and take a closer look at what Astra has to offer.
Introduction to Astra WordPress Theme
Astra is a WordPress theme developed by Brainstorm Force, a web solutions company based in India. It was launched in 2014 and has gained immense popularity among website owners and WordPress users due to its impressive performance and flexibility. Astra is a lightweight and fast theme that is designed to provide a solid foundation for building websites quickly and easily.
Features of Astra WordPress Theme
Lightweight and Fast
One of the standout features of the Astra WordPress theme is its lightweight and fast performance. Astra is designed to be highly optimized for speed, with minimal CSS and JavaScript files, which helps in reducing the loading time of your website. This can result in improved user experience, better search engine rankings, and higher conversions.
Customization Options
Astra offers a wide range of customization options, making it a versatile theme for different types of websites. It comes with numerous pre-designed starter templates that you can import and customize to create a unique website. Astra also provides a powerful theme customizer that allows you to make changes to various aspects of your website, including layout, typography, colors, and more, without writing any code.
Responsive Design
In today’s mobile-first era, having a responsive website is crucial. Astra ensures that your website looks great and functions seamlessly on all devices, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones. Its responsive design ensures that your content is displayed optimally on different screen sizes, providing a consistent user experience across all devices.
SEO-Friendly
Astra is built with search engine optimization (SEO) in mind. It follows best practices for SEO, such as using schema markup, clean and valid HTML code, and optimized heading tags. Astra also supports popular SEO plugins like Yoast SEO and Rank Math, making it easier for you to optimize your website for search engines and improve its visibility in search results.
Accessibility Ready
Another notable feature of the Astra WordPress theme is its accessibility readiness. Astra is designed to be accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. It follows the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 standards and includes features such as skip links, keyboard navigation, and optimized contrast ratios, making your website more inclusive and user-friendly.
Installation and Setup of Astra WordPress Theme
Installing and setting up the Astra WordPress theme is straightforward and user-friendly. Here’s a step-by-step guide:
- Purchase and download the Astra theme from the official website or the WordPress theme repository.
- Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard and navigate to “Appearance” > “Themes”.
- Click on “Add New” and then “Upload Theme” to upload the Astra theme file that you downloaded.
- Once the theme is uploaded, click on “Activate” to activate the Astra theme on your website.
Once the theme is activated, you can customize it according to your preferences using the built-in theme customizer. You can change the layout, colors, fonts, header and footer designs, and more, without writing any code. Astra also provides numerous starter templates that you can import and customize to kickstart your website design process.
Astra WordPress Theme Pricing and Plans
Astra offers both free and premium versions of the theme. The free version comes with basic features and customization options, while the premium version, called Astra Pro, unlocks advanced features and functionalities. Astra Pro offers three pricing plans:
- Astra Pro – $59/year: Provides access to all Astra Pro features for one year, including advanced customization options, additional starter templates, and priority support.
- Mini Agency Bundle – $169/year: Includes Astra Pro, as well as other powerful plugins like Schema Pro, Convert Pro, and WP Portfolio, making it suitable for small agencies and freelancers.
- Agency Bundle – $249/year: Provides access to Astra Pro, all Brainstorm Force plugins, and future releases for agencies and web developers.
Astra offers a 14-day money-back guarantee, so you can try the premium version risk-free and see if it meets your needs.
Pros and Cons of Astra WordPress Theme
As with any theme, Astra has its pros and cons. Let’s take a closer look at them:
Pros
- Highly customizable: Astra offers a wide range of customization options, allowing you to create a unique website tailored to your brand and style.
- Performance-oriented: Astra is optimized for speed and follows best practices for performance, resulting in fast loading times and better user experience.
- SEO-friendly: Astra is built with SEO in mind, with clean code, schema markup, and support for popular SEO plugins, helping to improve your website’s search engine rankings.
- Accessible: Astra follows accessibility standards, making your website inclusive and user-friendly for all users, including those with disabilities.
- Integrations with popular page builders: Astra seamlessly integrates with popular page builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, and Gutenberg, giving you more design flexibility.
Cons
- Limited free version features: While Astra’s free version provides basic customization options, some advanced features are only available in the premium version.
- Need to purchase additional add-ons for advanced functionality: Astra offers various add-ons for advanced features like custom layouts, mega menus, and more, but these are not included in the base theme and require separate purchases.
Astra WordPress Theme vs Other Popular Themes
Astra is not the only WordPress theme available in the market. Let’s compare Astra with some other popular themes to see how it stacks up:
- Astra vs. GeneratePress: Both Astra and GeneratePress are lightweight and performance-oriented themes with similar customization options. However, Astra offers more pre-designed starter templates, while GeneratePress has a free version with limited features.
- Astra vs. Divi: Divi is a popular theme known for its drag-and-drop visual builder, which offers more design flexibility compared to Astra. However, Divi can be overwhelming for beginners and may have a steeper learning curve.
- Astra vs. OceanWP: OceanWP is another lightweight and customizable WordPress theme with similar features to Astra. However, Astra offers better performance and is more SEO-friendly than OceanWP.
- Astra vs. Avada: Avada is a feature-rich and popular WordPress theme with a visual builder and a wide range of customization options. However, it is not as lightweight as Astra and may slow down your website’s loading speed.
Overall, Astra offers a great balance of customization, performance, and SEO-friendliness, making it a popular choice for WordPress users.
Conclusion
Astra is a highly customizable and performance-oriented WordPress theme that offers a wide range of features and functionalities. It’s also essential to secure your website; using plugins like WP Force SSL ensures your connection is secure, and WP Login LockDown protects your site from brute force login attempts. Its accessibility and SEO-friendliness make it an excellent choice for any website, while its integrations with popular page builders provide design flexibility. Astra’s pricing plans are affordable, making it a suitable choice for small businesses, freelancers, and agencies. While Astra may have some limitations, its overall benefits and features make it a strong contender in the WordPress theme market.