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For over a decade, Genesis Framework was a popular WordPress theme used by a lot of reputed websites, bloggers, and marketers, especially for its speed and performance. A lot of developers built and sold their own child themes set up on the Genesis Framework, and hundreds of agencies used it to design their client’s websites.
Everything was perfect until StudioPress was acquired by WP Engine; that’s when things started getting downhill, the theme received fewer updates, the craze went down, and many agencies stopped using Genesis to build websites. Basically, the Genesis community lost their trust.
Just like others, I was a huge fan of Genesis. I used StudioPress themes on all my websites for nearly six years. But considering the uneven future of the Genesis framework, I decided to change my theme.
While on my research hunt, I came across some amazing themes that are future-proof and performance-oriented. So In this article, I will share my list of Genesis Framework Alternative themes that are worth buying.
Genesis Framework Alternatives
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GeneratePress
GeneratePress was my first choice because it shared the same value as Genesis used to do. That is — Lightweight and performance. The default free theme’s page size is just 7.5kb and scores 100% on Google PageSpeed Insights.
With the premium version, you get more flexibility to customize your theme with pre-made starter sites from Site Library, Theme Builder with Dynamic Block Elements, advanced hook system to customize your site without affecting your performance.
Premium plans are quite affordable starting at just $50 per year with 500 sites, which is more than enough to run a small agency. The Site Library that comes with the premium plan is enough to replace the page builders and build any type of niche website.
As you can see in the above screenshots, you can literally customize everything from color to font; You can also add different elements with hooks that will help you avoid installing unnecessary plugins. Read the comprehensive review of GeneratePress.
Astra
Astra WordPress theme is more popular than GeneratePress and they claim that their theme is used by popular websites such as NASA, Standford, and Google (I think probably for some sub-blog directories). Anyways, the theme is lightweight and officially supports third-party page builders like Elementror, Beaver, etc.
Personally, I like GenereatePress more than Astra. But Astra offers some additional useful features like locally hosting Google fonts with just a click; I had to do this task manually on GeneratePress.
As you can see both the themes offer similar functionalities and features but one major fact is Astra theme is better if you would like to use third-party page builders.
Astra is also freemium and the pricing for the pro version starts at $49 per year which includes all the top features.
Kadence WP
Kadence WP is another WordPress Theme that is can be a better alternative to Genesis Framework due to its speed. Kadence theme is getting some recognition among the top bloggers because it provides a native page builder called Kadence Blocks that is based on Gutenberg. With Kadence Blocks, you can add content from the pre-build library and customize it.
You can also build an online store with WooCommerce extensions. Pricing starts at $59 per year for the Pro plan which includes a license to use on unlimited sites.
I haven’t used the pro version yet, but I tested the free one and it’s quite fast. The free version itself comes with a bunch of Starter Templates that are based on Gutenberg and Elementor.
Divi
Divi used to be a bloated WordPress theme and page builder, but recently they made it fast and SEO-friendly; so now it can be considered as a Genesis alternative. The Divi theme is powerful with its in-built page builder and you can customize it to a large extent without worrying about performance like other page builders.
With the Divi theme, you get 800+ pre-built designs and 100+ Full Website bundles. So, basically, you can create any type of site with just a click. Not only that, but you can also use its marketing tools to collect leads, boost eCommerce sales, split tests, etc.
You can also integrate with every major email provider and grow your email list. The pricing starts at $89 per year and you can pay the one-time payment of $249 and get support and updates for the lifetime.
Blocksy
Blocksy can be considered another Genesis Alternative theme that’s built from scratch to be Gutenberg compatible and its lighting fast. Blocksy theme is also recommended by WordPress speed experts like Johnny.
Blocksy claims to be faster than most WordPress themes in speed testing tools, so I decided to test its free theme with my Tech blog; to my surprise, it did perform excellently out of the box.
Blocksy pro plan starts at $49/year which includes premium features like hooks, custom code snippets, mega menu, gallery slider, etc.
Which is the Best Genesis Framework Alternative?
In this article, I’ve shared my list of the best Genesis Framework Alternatives that might be future-proof. Among these personally, I recommend and use GeneratePress for its simplicity.
