5 March 2024
Kadence vs Astra Theme Comparison: Which is Better for Your Website?
Are you trying to decide between Kadence vs Astra as the WordPress theme for your next website?
These two themes are good choices for a multipurpose WordPress theme, so you can’t go wrong with either. However, there are certain differences between the two themes that may make one more suitable for your specific needs than the other.
So, in our WordPress Astra vs Kadence theme comparison, we’ll help you understand the differences so you can make an informed decision.
This is not about choosing a single winner since, to be honest, we enjoy both themes and would be happy to use either. It’s just about highlighting some of the main differences that may shift things in one way or another for your specific use case.
Let’s get started with a quick introduction to both WordPress themes.
Kadence vs Astra: Quick Introduction
To start our Kadence theme vs Astra comparison, let’s look over the basics of both themes, including the teams who created them.
Kadence Theme
Kadence Theme is the main theme for Kadence WP. Before introducing the Kadence Theme, Kadence WP was only focused on plugins, including a number of WooCommerce plugins and the Kadence Blocks plugin.
Liquid Web bought Kadence WP through its subsidiary iThemes in April 2021.
If you’re unfamiliar with Liquid Web, it’s a popular managed WordPress hosting provider with a major buying spree for WordPress plugins and themes. The following are all of the WordPress brands that Liquid Web has bought through its StellarWP subsidiary:
Astra
Brainstorm Force, a big WordPress development company, developed the Astra theme. It is the first non-default WordPress theme that has ever surpassed one million active installs on the WordPress.org theme directory. Furthermore, it has the most five-star reviews of any theme on WordPress.org.
In comparison, Kadence Theme has 300,000 active installs, according to WordPress.org.
Although the Astra theme is Brainstorm Force’s most popular product, Brainstorm Force also makes the following popular plugins:
Astra vs Kadence: Starter Templates
While both themes provide you with all of the resources you need to build a website from scratch, they also provide importable starter templates that you can use to make the process easier.
For both themes, the starter templates are amazing. We believe Astra and Kadence are at the top of their game regarding starter template design quality.
In terms of quantity, Astra wins since it offers more starter templates.
While the Kadence theme has rapidly added starting sites, it is a younger theme than Astra and has yet to catch up.
Let’s go over each subject in further depth.
Kadence
The Kadence theme offers starter templates built using two page builders:
- Block Editor (Gutenberg)
- Elementor
However, not all starter templates are available in both builders. Gutenberg provides more options than Elementor.
Choose your favorite builder in the top-right corner, and then pick the demo site that you want to import:
When you open the importer, you will be given a few options. You can select:
- A color palette
- A font pairing
- Whether to import the full starter site or just a single page
- Install WordPress plugins (optional)
Astra
While Kadence starter templates are built using the Gutenberg block editor or Elementor, Astra allows you to choose from three different builders:
- Block Editor (Gutenberg)
- Elementor
- Beaver Builder
Previously, Astra also offered Brizy templates, but not anymore.
As a result, if you prefer Beaver Builder, that’s a big point in Astra’s favor.
Similar to Kadence, not all starter sites are available for all builders. Elementor has the most available options.
First, you’ll choose your preferred builder:
Then, you can choose the demo site that you want to import:
Then, you’ll get a setup wizard where you can:
- Add your logo
- Choose a custom color palette
- Choose a custom font pairing
Kadence vs Astra: Customization
Both WP themes use the native WordPress Customizer for customization and offer a wide range of options.
To be honest, both themes have many options to compare in detail. We won’t try to cover everything because it takes a lot of time.
Previously, we thought Kadence’s free version was slightly more functional than Astra’s. However, Astra’s latest changes have increased the flexibility of its free version, and the disparity is no longer as significant.
In terms of other differences, they exist, but it’s hard to come up with one overriding theme. Some users prefer Astra, and some users prefer the Kadence theme. It all comes down to the specific customization options that you’re looking for.
Kadence
Kadence offers more out-of-the-box customization features, such as the ability to change the header and footer without having to download addons. These features, like Astra, are easily accessible through the WordPress customization panel.
With the Kadence theme, you can customize everything from the color and font to the header, footer, site branding, and menus, as well as apply custom CSS for even more style flexibility. All of this is easily customizable through a simple interface, giving you more control over how your website’s global style appears.
Astra
Astra gives several global style and design customization possibilities. These handy settings are easily accessible from the WordPress theme customizer screen.
The free version of Astra has limitations without the use of third-party plugins or custom coding. However, the pro version allows you total control over how your theme is styled and how it appears in the end.
It’s worth noting that some customization settings can only be accessed via the Astra settings panel on the back end. This covers header and footer design and the installation of certain addons that give more design options.
Kadence WP vs Astra: Page-Level Controls
Both themes provide a variety of page-level settings that allow you to customize the layout of individual posts and pages.
These are especially helpful if you’re using a page builder. For example, you could switch to a full-width canvas and manage everything with your builder.
Both themes are very similar in terms of the rules, although each offers a few unique options.
Kadence
Astra
Astra vs Kadence Theme: WooCommerce Integrations
In terms of WooCommerce integrations, both themes are quite good.
Both WP themes have a native WooCommerce integration. If you have created an eCommerce store with WooCommerce, you will get special options in the WordPress Customizer to customize your store, along with other features.
Kadence
Some of the features that Kadence offers to its users looking to set up an eCommerce website include:
- Auto open side carts
- Shop toggle widget area
- Starter templates for eCommerce
- Custom shop page
- Ajax add to cart
Furthermore, Kadence offers a shop kit plugin to help with eCommerce website creation. This addon makes it easy to create custom shop pages and improves your checkout experience.
Astra
The Astra theme also has many features, making it a great option for setting up WooCommerce websites. Some of these features include:
- eCommerce starter templates
- Compatible with many WooCommerce plugins
- Code free customizations
- Dropdown shopping cart
- Checkout options
- Sales bubble customization
- Product catalogs
One of the main advantages of using the theme to create eCommerce sites is that it optimizes mobile sales. This can help you convert mobile traffic, which accounts for up to 50% or more of all traffic on many websites.
Kadence Theme vs Astra: Hooks/Custom Layouts
This section will not be particularly interesting to casual users. In fact, you may want to skip it since some of the terminology we’ll use is a little complicated.
However, both themes allow developers and expert users to work with hooks and custom layouts.
If you are unfamiliar with this concept, the basic concept is that these features allow you to insert custom content into different parts of your theme or completely modify specific elements of your theme.
These are known as “Elements” in the Kadence theme and “Custom Layouts” in Astra.
Kadence
The Kadence theme allows you to build four types of elements:
- Content section
- Fixed section
- Template
- HTML editor
While all four element types are valuable, we’re particularly interested in the template element since it allows you to use the native block editor as a theme builder.
Furthermore, you can customize your single post templates, archive templates, and more. Alternatively, you might customize your header and footer.
You can use conditional rules to limit the content to which the template is applied. You may also set user rules to limit the template’s display to specific users and expiry rules to prevent the template from being used after a particular period of time.
Astra
Astra allows you to build five types of custom layouts.
- Header
- Footer
- 404 page
- Hooks
- Inside post/page content
In comparison to most other themes, this would be a really powerful feature. However, it lacks the full template/theme-building functionality that the Kadence theme and Blocks offer, which is why we say the Kadence theme has the edge.
Still, Astra is quite useful in this case. You may use conditional rules to limit the layout to certain content on your site, and you get the same user targeting and scheduling/expiration options as the Kadence theme.
Overall, custom layouts in Astra are excellent. It’s only that the Kadence theme is better.
Astra vs Kadence: Pricing
In terms of pricing, these two themes are very comparable to each other.
Both themes use a freemium pricing model. You can download the free version from WordPress.org and buy the pro version to extend the theme functionality.
Furthermore, both themes give you two options for upgrading. Purchase only the theme or purchase a bundle that includes the theme and other plugins.
In addition, both themes give the option to pay for one year or pay for a lifetime at once.
Kadence
Kadence offers a free version with three premium plans:
- Kadence Theme Pro: It costs $79/year for unlimited site usage.
- Essential Bundle: It costs $149/year for unlimited site usage and includes Kadence Blocks Pro, Kadence Theme Pro, Pro Starter Templates, and Kadence Custom Fonts.
- Full Bundle: It costs $219/year for unlimited site usage and offers everything in the Essential Bundle, plus Kadence Cloud, Kadence Conversions, Kadence WooCommerce Shop Kit, Child Theme Builder, etc.
Finally, there’s a Lifetime Full Bundle for a one-time price of $799.
Astra
Astra offers a free version and three premium versions with annual or lifetime purchases.
- Astra Pro: It costs $49/year ($199 for a lifetime) for a single site usage.
- Essential Toolkit: It costs $79/year ($399 for a lifetime) for a single site usage. This plan includes everything in Astra Pro, plus Ultimate Addons for Elementor, Premium Starter Templates, Spectra Pro, etc.
- Business Toolkit: It costs $149/year ($599 for a lifetime) for a single site usage. This plan includes everything in Essential Toolkit, plus ureFeedback, SureWriter, etc.
Kadence Theme vs Astra Theme: Customer Support
Kadence and Astra offer various ways to get in touch with customer support and resolve issues. Both themes have an extra level of service for premium users, ensuring you aren’t stuck trying to fix your own issues.
Kadence
Kadence provides the following support options:
- Comprehensive knowledge base
- Email support (ticket system)
- Support forums
- Video tutorials
- Private Facebook group
- FAQs
Kadence offers good support options, but you might spend some time finding the answer if you have a specific query. We think their help resources are not as extensive, but the support team is helpful.
Astra
Astra offers the following support options:
- Comprehensive documentation
- Email support (ticket system)
- Video tutorials
- Private Facebook group
- FAQs
Astra has been in business for a long time. Therefore, they provide really comprehensive guides. In addition, the user community is large, and you may easily find many resources shared by others.
Final Thought – Kadence vs Aatra: Which is Better?
Is Astra’s theme better than Kadence’s? Or is Kadence better than Astra?
Honestly, both themes are top-tier, with amazing features and functionality.
However, in their free theme version, Kadence outperforms Astra in terms of features.
While Astra has done an excellent job of upgrading its free theme with new features over the last year, it still lacks several important features that are freely available in Kadence.
Assuming you’re used to the free theme, you’ll find Kadence more appealing and feature-rich than Astra’s free theme.
Things are more difficult to determine in Pro versions. There are several elements to consider, including unique functions, features, and individual preferences.
Astra Pro and Kadence Pro have advanced features that make it difficult to choose a winner. Your choice is determined by your preferences, budget, required features, and other factors.
Start with the free theme (Astra or Kadence), then upgrade to a Pro plan, test the features that are important to you within the refund policy term, and see how things work.
As someone who has used both Astra and Kadence, we can tell you that it’s difficult to say which is better or a clear winner.
Both themes are equally good, with superb design capabilities and customization features. In terms of speed and performance, you can build lightning-fast sites with both WordPress themes.
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