It is now clear that sunlight in the world of the web speed is one of the most important factors to achieve success both with people who navigate between the pages of the site, both on the serps of the search engines, who prefer to make room for fast loading content.
So, if the site is in WordPress, one of the most popular and widely used CMSs (Content Management System), the choice of theme is critical, to say the least. The graphic layout, in fact, can have an extremely significant impact on the performance and speed of the business or eCommerce site.
Often, however, one is not sure which theme to choose, among those that are simpler, more appealing, or more relevant to the type of product/service.
Well, to avoid making mistakes here is a list of the 10 fastest WordPress themes in the ranking of 2023.
Top 10 Fastest WordPress Themes in 2023
These 10 themes-suitable for a personal blog, a corporate site or an eCommerce site-were selected for their optimization techniques for page loading speed, search engine optimization, ease of use and functionality. They are distinguished, in fact, by having certain features that also make them perform better on Core Web Vitals parameters.
Each theme has scores derived from speed tests performed with some tools.
1. Astra
Astra is a free theme with Premium option, among the lightest (weighing only 50 KB), fast and customizable with various styling and formatting options (over 60 options to change colors, fonts, layouts without making changes to the code), capable of adapting to different types of sites.
The lightness of Astra code comes from a number of factors: clean code, the theme uses pure JavaScript, without frameworks or libraries such as jQuery, Angular, React, etc. In addition, Astra integrates technologies such as Lazy Loading to optimize loading times.
Lazy Loading is an optimization technique that delays the loading of certain elements such as images and videos until the user scrolls the page. In practice, these elements are not loaded immediately when opening the page with a saving in bandwidth.
Astra performance data:
- Loading speed between 91% and 100%
- WebpageTest Load Time: 60ms
- GTmetrix Load Time: 1.3 seconds
- Pingdom Load Time: 601ms
(Source: Hubspot)
Astra integrates with different plugins such as WooCommerce, LearnDash and Yoast SEO and with page builders such as Elementor, Beaver Builder, Brizy, Visual Composer, SiteOrigin etc.
With Astra it is possible to build different types of websites such as blogs, eCommerce, corporate sites, portfolio sites, etc.
Prices: Basic (free), Astra Pro ($49), Essential Bundle ($169), Growth Bundle ($249).
2. GeneratePress
GeneratePress is one of the lightest and fastest loading themes, suitable for business sites, blogs, eCommerce, and with many customization options, compatible with all major plugins including WooCommerce, and Page Builder like Elementor, Beaver Builder, Thrive and Architect etc. Fully responsive, fully functional on any device, desktop, tablet or smartphone.
The site achieves a speed score of 100%, thanks to the total size of the package, less than 30 kb, with a clean code, without superfluous elements, which makes it much faster to download than other WordPress themes.
GeneratePress performance data:
- WebpageTest Load Time: 1.435 seconds
- GTmetrix Load Time: 658ms
- Pingdom Load Time: 407ms
(Source: Hubspot)
Prices: Basic (free), Pro ($59/year or $249 forever, with support and upgrades).
3. OceanWP
This is also a multi-purpose, responsive, SEO friendly theme that lends itself to different types of platforms including eCommerce. It integrates with Social Media and several Page Builders such as Elementor and Divi.
Despite the many extra features, which you can add with widgets and shortcodes, and the customization options (with a variety of colors, page layouts, fonts, etc.) to change the design without putting a hand in the code, it remains a rather lightweight theme (with a loading score of 98%).
OceanWP’s code is clean and optimized, written in HTML5 and CSS3, jQuery and Bootstrap framework. Since it is annotated, it is also easy to customize.
Updates are released regularly to fix bugs, security patches and improve performance. The development team is also very responsive and provides high quality support for any question or problem.
OceanWP performance data:
- Loading time WebpageTest: 2,758 s
- Loading time GTmetrix: 233 ms
- Loading time Pingdom: 474 ms
(Source: Hubspot)
Prices: Basic (free), Personal ($54/year), Business ($89/year), Agency ($159/year).
4. Neve
Neve is our fourth suggestion for a fast, responsive and SEO-friendly theme with a loading time that reaches 90-100%.
The pages of the site, dressed with a minimalist design, customizable, that lends itself to build blogs, corporate sites, portfolios and eCommerce.
A plus point of this template is the ability to take advantage of some resources showing how to build a Web site. In any case, however, Neve is compatible with page builders such as Elementor, Beaver Builder, Brizy, and most common WordPress plugins.
This theme can also rely on well-optimized code that does not weigh down the site, thanks to optimization techniques such as concatenation and minification of CSS and JavaScript, image compression, and caching. These techniques reduce the number of requests to the server and the size of files, speeding up page load times.
Neve performance data:
- loading time WebpageTest: 3,964 s
- loading time GTmetrix: 3,2 ms
- loading time Pingdom: 1,29 s
(Source: Hubspot)
The theme developers provide support and updates to keep it safe, optimized and compatible with the latest versions of WordPress. Updates include bug fixes, security patches, and performance improvements.
Prices: Basic (free), Personal ($99/year), Business ($199/year), Agency ($349/year).
5. Schema
It follows this equally fast and mobile-first theme suitable more for news websites and blogs. Schema is written with Javascript, comes with a minimal structure and few HTTP requests. It uses shortcodes and offers several styling and formatting options. Like the others, it is compatible with Elementor, Beaver Builder, and other Page Builders.
Schema updates and support are. Developers release updates – free and unlimited – to keep the theme safe, optimized and with the latest features.
Schema performance data:
- loading time WebpageTest: 1,534 s
- loading time GTmetrix: 5,7 s
- loading time Pingdom: 472 ms
(Source: Hubspot)
Prices: Unlimited sites ($49/year).
6. Divi Theme
Divi is one of the most popular WordPress themes and for a very specific reason: it comes with a front-end builder, drag and drop, which allows you to add and arrange various blocks of content to insert text, images, buttons, starting with ready-made layouts to customize by changing fonts, colors, spacing and other details.
In terms of loading speed, Divi also ensures fast loading times.
Divi performance data:
- loading time WebpageTest: 2,214 s
- loading time GTmetrix: 1,9 s
- loading time Pingdom: 3,86 s
(Source: Hubspot)
Divi automatically adapts to mobile phones, tablets, laptops and desktops, without having to do anything, and has built-in tools to preview the appearance of the site on screens of different sizes.
Prices: Annual ($89/year), lifetime ($249).
7. Avada
Avada also offers a drag-and-drop interface that simplifies the construction of web pages by simply dragging widgets, elements and forms onto the page, interacting with a panel full of customization options, from images to colors, fonts and layouts (a library of hundreds of items including buttons, icons, text boxes, images, etc.).
The theme is optimized for mobile-friendly platforms and for speed.
Avada performance data:
- loading time WebpageTest: 3,865 s
- loading time GTmetrix: 2,3 s
- loading time Pingdom: 1,36 s
(Source: Hubspot)
Prices: Normal license ($69 for 6 months of support).
8. Qi Theme
Qi Theme is another theme among the lightest and fastest, with a multifunctional use, contains 150 free and premium demos that cover all the goals of professional and business communication, marketing and sales.
Chosen for both its aesthetic performance and the valuable technical side, this is one of the fastest loading themes, put to the test by numerous tests and rewarded by as many reviews.
Once again, the go-ahead for customization: in fact, Qi Theme offers a rich selection of demos and integrates the Qi Addons plugin for Elementor with over 100 widgets that add extra features and functionality.
Qi Theme performance data:
- loading time WebpageTest: 1,368 s
- loading time GTmetrix: 1,5 s
- loading time ingdom: 1,68 s
(Source: Hubspot)
Prices: Basic (free), Qi Addons ($69/year), Qi Theme & Addons ($129/year).
9. Customify
User-friendly approach and many customization options, Customify is a highly customizable WordPress theme, which make it a good theme to focus on building a personal or business site that wants to be recognized with a strong and communicative brand.
The theme integrates the WordPress Customizer editor that allows you toedit page elements in real time, without having to refresh or reload the page.
From a speed and performance perspective, Customify is highly optimized and built with a lightweight structure that helps reduce page load times. The theme also provides for minimizing CSS and JavaScript files to ensure optimal performance.
Customify performance data:
- loading time WebpageTest: 1,534 s
- loading time GTmetrix: 5,7 s
- loading time Pingdom: 472 ms
(Source: Hubspot)
Customify is a fully responsive theme and compatible with popular page builders such as Elementor, Beaver Builder, SiteOrigin, Thrive Architect, Divi, Visual Composer, and many others.
Prices: Basic (free), Personal Bundle ($59/year), Business Bundle ($89/year), Agency Bundle ($129/year).
10. Parallax Pro
The WordPress theme developed by StudioPress is based on the Genesis framework, known for its stability, speed and SEO optimization. The feature of the theme is the visual effect of 3D motion generated by scrolling the page. When the page scrolls down, the background image moves with a different speed than the page content.
Parallax Pro offers many options to customize the site with widgets to change colors and fonts, always keeping it responsive. This theme is also compatible with the WooCommerce plugin.
From the standpoint of speed, Parallax Pro fits right into this top 10 ranking, thanks to some optimization techniques such as GZIP compression, to compress images and other components, and deferring the loading of Javascript.
Parallax Pro performance data:
- Full loading time WebpageTest: 1,537 secondi
- loading time GTmetrix: 3,9 secondi
- loading time Pingdom: 512 ms
(Source: Hubspot)
Prices: Basic (free), Genesis Pro ($360/year and includes support for Genesis and all its WordPress themes).
What are the system requirements to install WordPress themes faster?
To use WordPress themes, some basic technical requirements are necessary:.
- PHP 7.2 or higher: PHP is the scripting language on which WordPress is based. Newer versions are faster and safer.
- MySQL 5.6 or higher: MySQL is the database in which WordPress stores all site data and content. A newer version improves database performance.
- At least 2 GB of RAM for a small site. The larger the site, the more memory is needed.
- At least 10 GB of disk space for a small site. Again, the larger the site, the more space you need.
What makes a WordPress theme fast?
The fastest WordPress themes have some common features that make them perform so well:
- Optimized code: the code is written without scripts or unnecessary styles that slow the loading of the page.
- Optimized images: images are compressed and resized for the web.
- GZIP compression: compression method that reduces file size to 70% to make faster transfer from servers to browsers. The smaller the data to be sent, the faster the loading of pages in the browser will be.
- Reduce HTTP requests: Each HTTP request (images, style sheets, scripts, and fonts) increases the overall loading time of the site. The number of files required and the size of the transferred files affect the loading time of a page. Themes with fewer files imply fewer HTTP requests and therefore load faster.
- Asynchronous or delayed loading of CSS and Javascript.*
- Built-in cache: The cache stores static elements of the site to serve them faster.
- Responsive, dynamic design (also loads mobile version).
- Clean and basic layout, with few items to load for a fast mobile experience. **
* Scripts can be loaded synchronously or asynchronously.
Synchronous means that files are loaded one at a time, in the order they appear on the web page. Thus, if the browser encounters a script, it will stop loading the other elements of the page until the script is fully loaded.
Asynchronous loading, on the other hand, allows multiple files to be loaded at the same time, accelerating web page performance.
Asynchronous loading themes are faster.
**A separate version of the mobile site creates a duplication of site resources, which can result in increased bandwidth.
In addition to all these factors, one should not forget that a major role in the speed of the site is played by the provider one chooses. If for any reason the server is trudging along, there is no remedy but to transfer the domain.
Why can a fast website position itself better?
A fast website is important for a number of factors, because it improves the user experience but is also a key factor in improving ranking in search engine results, increasing conversions and authority. Read more in our article on core web vitals.
User experience is one of the most important metrics when evaluating the success of a website. If your website loads slowly, it is more prone to abandonment risk and increased bounce rate.
On the contrary, a website that loads quickly, improves the browsing experience and increases the time you spend on the site, with a return in terms of engagement, greater involvement.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Google has repeatedly stated that website speed is a ranking factor, meaning it affects ranking. This means that if the site loads slowly, its ranking in search results goes away, with a negative return in visibility and reach.
Conversion Rate: this parameter improves as the site becomes faster. This means that if the website is slow, people may abandon it before taking or completing a specific action, whether it is submitting a request for a quote, making a purchase, or filling out a form.
The site speed on mobile devices is another element that you definitely need to consider. With the increased use of smartphones and tablets to surf the web, site speed has become even more important. A website that loads slowly, in fact, affects the increased data consumption, as well as the expectations of people who are increasingly accustomed to the fast pace.
