The Fastest WordPress Theme for Your Page Builder

To help you find the fastest WordPress theme for your page builder – I’ve tested the most popular themes available: Astra Pro, Hestia Pro, GeneratePress, Genesis, Dynamik, OceanWP, Page Builder Framework, Freelancer – and even the Beaver Builder theme. Enjoy!

With WordPress page builder plugins like Beaver Builder, Divi Builder, and Elementor constantly evolving, becoming more and more powerful tools for new and pro web designers alike… What’s left for the WordPress theme to handle?

The answer? Your site’s header, footer and stuff like search results, archives, tag and category pages. But even those can now be handled by the page builder’s theme builder. Elementor has one built-in, and Beaver Themer adds the capability to Beaver Builder. Both are great theme builders well worth having in your arsenal, by the way!

What is a theme builder?
WordPress page builder plugins like Beaver Builder and Elementor use the term theme builder to describe their ability to create and control global website elements like headers and footers, blog + archive templates, and other website elements traditionally handled by the theme. A theme builder is a powerful supplement to your theme and lets you do more than you can with most WordPress themes.

See all WordPress theme builder reviews »

With theme builders doing so much, the question gets even more relevant: what kind of theme will a WordPress page builder + theme builder benefit most from?

The answer is: a lean, fast theme.

With a some fresh website projects coming up, I wanted to assess the current WordPress theme market and give myself the gift of working with the leanest, fastest theme I could find.

And so I embarked on yet another journey through the (be)wilderness of WordPress framework’ish themes. We’re talking premium themes like GeneratePress, Hestia, Astra, Genesis, OceanWP and Cobalt Apps’ free (but coder-oriented) Freelancer Framework. I also included Cobalt Apps’ classic Dynamik Website Builder, as well as the official Beaver Builder theme, included in Beaver Builder’s Pro pack.

Many of these themes market themselves as being fast and perfect for page builders like Beaver Builder, Elementor and Divi Builder.

This performance comparison was done to scratch my own itch. I sincerely wanted to find the best (fastest) WordPress theme for use with page builders / theme builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder and Divi Builder. And of course it makes sense for me to share the results with you too, when I have a blog dedicated to simple website design. Good times:)

The results of this test will surprise you: there are HUGE differences between these themes!

Beaver Themer friendly themes

Thorough, meticulous performance testing is a time-consuming endeavor. To narrow the scope, I decided to focus exclusively on themes compatible with Beaver Builder’s Beaver Themer add-on, since I expect to use it in my upcoming website projects.

In contrast to Elementor’s built-in theme builder, Beaver Themer requires your theme to support it. I deemed this a solid minimum criteria for a theme to be included in the test.

Rest assured: Beaver Themer support does not mean Beaver Themer exclusivity – these themes are just as fine with Elementor and Divi Builder!

Here’s a list of the themes I performance-tested:

The tested themes

• Astra (free)
• Astra Pro
• Beaver Builder theme (comes with Beaver Builder Pro)
• Dynamik Website Builder (a Genesis child theme)
• Freelancer Framework
• GeneratePress (free)
• GeneratePress Premium
• Genesis
• Hestia (free)
• Hestia Pro
• OceanWP (free)
• OceanWP with Pro Extensions
• Page Builder Framework (free)
• Page Builder Framework Premium

Before we dive into the test results, a quick note:

And another disclosure: rather than buy all these themes, I asked the developers to provide me with a free license for the ones I didn’t already have in my arsenal. The only theme I’ve bought, is GeneratePress Premium. I did so after doing my preliminary testing with the free versions. The Genesis, Dynamik Website Builder and Beaver Builder themes I owned prior to this test.

The Test Criteria

The main tested page design reported below, was a simple blog layout with a top bar menu, content, sidebar and a simple footer. I recreated this layout with each theme.

Speed and server performance often goes hand in hand. So for this test, I went directly to the essence: code quality and efficiency, rather than superficially measure page load speeds.

To do so, I looked into how many PHP system calls each theme did when active. Less of these fellas, is a good indicator of a well-structured, lean, efficient theme. Lots of them: typically not a good sign.

To complement the sys calls, I supplemented with database queries. These tell us how many times WordPress (and the theme) asks the database a question necessary to create the page, dynamically. This back and forth access is the primary bottleneck that slows down all database-driven websites, compared to static, HTML-only websites. Hence: less db queries are better.

A few words about simplicity

Here at WebMatros, simplicity is key. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by options, in a world of constant change. We don’t want feature-bloat – we want focused features that helps you spread your wings online.

My mission with WebMatros, is to cut through the endless clutter and noise, to find the simplest solutions that help you do so.

Essentially, I want you to have more time doing what you love, rather than fiddle and fuss with complex software.

The Test Results

To ensure the validity and accuracy of this test, I meticulously not only double-checked, but carried out the test 3 times – in different scenarios (no other plugins active vs lots of popular plugins active, etc). The rankings reflect how these themes perform, relative to each other.

Open for an experiment?

Normally, I’d use Thrive Leads to hide the test resuls behind an opt-in form. But all that GDPR-talk got me thinking: why force you to sign up for something you have yet to see the value of? Why not, as an experiment, simply give you the content upfront, before you sign up for email updates?

If you support honesty and openness – and feel the results are useful to you – and you’d like more in the future: please feel free to sign up below. Thank you ♥

	Sys calls	Queries	Theme Check	PageSpeed	YSlow	Pingdom
GeneratePress	242	15	0	A 95	C 72	C 77
GeneratePress Premium	1190	22	0	A 94	D 68	C 77
Beaver Builder theme	312	17	63	C 71	D 62	A 100
Freelancer Framework	204	15	27	B 87	C 70	B 87
Genesis	804	16	18	B 86	D 63	B 89
Dynamik Website Builder	852	17	220	B 87	D 65	B 88
Astra	756	16	0	A 90	B 84	B 89
Astra Pro	2691	27	0	B 80	D 68	B 89
OceanWP	1898	18	0	C 72	D 62	A 100
OceanWP + extensions	2441	26	0	D 66	E 56	C 75
Page Builder Framework	4026	21	0	B 87	D 65	B 88
Page Builder Framework Premium	4356	31	0	B 88	D 66	B 88
Hestia	11773	20	0	C 73	D 62	B 89
Hestia Pro	17327	27	14	C 72	D 62	B 89

1. For PHP system calls and database queries, lower is better.
2. For the page speed scores, higher is better. The YSlow and Google PageSpeed scores were done with GTmetrix.
3. The Theme Check scores are the number of error lines reported by the Theme Check plugin. While these notices may not be problematic as such, every WordPress theme can, and should, comply with the official guidelines for WordPress themes. When a theme does, it’s a good sign – an embrace of the WordPress eco-system as a whole. Such themes play by the rules, so to speak.

The Winner? Rankings & Remarks

Important! These rankings are based on performance alone. Usability isn’t the focus of this test. However, for my overall recommendations, be sure to read the conclusion at the end of the post!

1. the GeneratePress theme

The winner coming out on top, is GeneratePress. Just like the Beaver Builder theme, GeneratePress Premium version strikes a good balance between simplicity and flexibility/power. It’s a well-coded theme too, staying lean by f.e. not loading a full JavaScript framework – instead using good ol’ fast JavaScript.

Coding-wise, GeneratePress is remarkably clean and lean. It showed no warnings or errors in W3 Validator (which evaluates how well the HTML adheres to the HTML standards).

As in this shoot-out, I often test competing solutions, to check whether I’m still using the best option, or other, better alternatives have appeared on the market, since my last comparison. I’m open, and not “married” to any particular solution. Regardless, GeneratePress has positively surprised me again and again, proving its place on the throne as one of the absolute finest WordPress themes.

2. the Beaver Builder theme

A long-time favorite of mine, the Beaver Builder theme (included in the Pro package), performed great in the tests. Honestly, it came somewhat as a surprise to me. Not that I’d expected it to do badly per se, but the reason I’ve chosen it for several projects has been due to its superb balance between ease-of-use and flexibility. It does what I, and most WordPress users, need a theme to do.

Such ease-of-use often comes at the expense of performance. Having previously coded many WordPress themes from scratch, I expected my alleged laziness in choosing the easier path with the point-n-click Beaver Builder theme to come at the cost of considerably worse performance.

That’s not been the case though:) Of course, a custom, hand-coded theme will always be faster than any turnkey solution. But the difference is smaller than expected.

Considering its design panel, its performance compared to Freelancer Framework below (which is a coders-only theme) is downright impressive.

3. the Freelancer Framework theme

The Freelancer Framework from Cobalt Apps is the leanest, most efficient theme, Code-wise. But it’s also the leanest, feature-wise. It’s an ultra-lean, bare-bones theme targeting coders 100% – there’s no drag & drop, nor any Customizer options.

Cobalt Apps’ Freelancer Framework depends 100% on your coding skills to customize your site. GeneratePress has a customization panel, in which even non-coders can design sites, easily. Hence GeneratePress does more than Freelancer, at roughly the same performance footprint. Quite impressive indeed!

4. the Genesis theme

Just like Cobalt Apps’ Freelancer Framework, Genesis is a theme for coders. There are no built-in design controls. What disappointed me (as a Genesis user myself) was that Genesis didn’t perform as well as Freelancer Framework. Freelancer Framework is more modern in its architecture too, utilizing the freshest web-technologies.

Genesis still has a lot going for it though! The many fine StudioPress Themes like the Essence Pro, Foodie Pro and Mai Lifestyle Pro themes, will all give you a well-designed starting point you can use as is, or as foundation for further customization. As an example, this website is based on the Altitude Pro theme. If you look closely and compare the two, you can see it, but it’s been heavily customized.

5. Dynamik (Genesis child theme)

Dynamik Website Builder requires Genesis, as it’s a Genesis child theme, adding a huge amount of design controls to Genesis, letting non-coders design websites. Despite its power, it adds very little overhead on top of Genesis, as its test results clearly testify.

6. the Astra Pro theme

Astra Pro is a popular theme in the WordPress world, and popular in the Beaver Builder and Elementor camps. Performance-wise, it scored acceptably, somewhere in the middle of the bunch. Functionality-wise, I see it as somewhere in the middle as well. Astra is a quality theme, and a good all-rounder.

7. the OceanWP theme

Overall, I like and enjoy OceanWP. It’s a well-thought-out, feature-rich theme.

Performance-wise it didn’t come out on top, but it did ok. And if you’re up for some tweaking, you may be able to further improve its performance:

You see, OceanWP has a nifty feature that lets you disable unneeded scripts and styles. To ensure overall consistency and fairness I didn’t do so in this test, but you should certainly take advantage of that feature and rid your site of unnecessary code-bloat, if you go with OceanWP.

Elementor user?
If you’re using the Elementor page builder, OceanWP gets even better, as it has some extra goodies for Elementor users. Check out OceanWP’s website for more.

8. the Page Builder Framework theme

Excluding Hestia’s outrageously poor performance results, which I see as a reason to disqualify it, Page Builder Framework clocked in as the last viable, yet least performant, contender.

Is it still a good theme? Yes.

As its generic name somewhat suggests, Page Builder Framework is equally generic functionality-wise. As I sit here writing this, I can’t come up with a single standout feature that would make me favor it above the other test-contenders – in light of its relatively sub-par performance. I emphasize that last line to make it clear I’m not bashing Page Builder Framework here. It’s a fine theme! The other themes simply do better, overall.

9. the Hestia Pro theme

Well well well… What. happened. here?? In my first measurement of Hestia, right after installation and activation of the theme, the number of PHP system calls were reasonable. But as soon as I had used the theme for a few minutes to create the test page layout: all hope for Hestia was lost. The number of system calls exploded – and no matter what I did: they stayed elevated! I even redid the test, with another page layout. I also went through all the usual WordPress troubleshooting steps, including deactivating all plugins, reinstalling Hestia, etc. All to no avail. Sadly.

Conclusion? It’s just the way it is. It’s just the way Hestia is. The way Hestia rolls. Apparently, it’s in its architecture.

Not good.

Hestia Pro 2.0 UPDATE!
ThemeIsle recently released Hestia Pro 2.0. I redid the test, hoping version 2.0 would alleviate Hestia’s bad results in the original test (v. 1.1.86). Unfortunately, Hestia Pro 2 doesn’t solve or fix anything. Rather, it has made the results slightly worse: from 16237 sys calls in version 1.x to a staggering 17327 calls in version 2.0.

Again: not good.

As much as I like ThemeIsle (the makers of Hestia), these poor performance results are more than enough to eliminate it completely from further consideration. To make matters worse: these were not my only gripes with Hestia. I’ll get into those in an upcoming full Hestia Pro review. Bookmark this site and keep an eye out for the review! Alternatively: sign up for the email list, to be notified in your inbox:

Fastest WordPress theme for your website?

For my own upcoming projects, I’m having a hard time choosing between my long-time favorite, the Beaver Builder theme, and the fast and lean GeneratePress Premium. Those two are my own top choices.

So there you have it, my recommendations, short, sweet and to the point! I heartfully hope you’ve enjoyed this comparison review? It took much longer to do than anticipated (phew…) but I wanted to ensure the reliability and validity of the results, so you can make the best choice for you – based on solid facts.

What are your thoughts on these results? Have you tried any of the themes? Which ones do you prefer? I’m curious! So please comment below – and feel free to share the post to enlighten your network too:) Thank you!