Is anybody using Kadence WP theme instead of Astra (or GeneratePress)?

[nYXem]

I love GeneratePress for its speed, it's damn good. However, as I'm not a developer and blogging is not my primary profession, I can't afford the time to learn coding in order to be really comfortable with GP.

As for Astra, it blows away my mind with its speed and customisability. I don't have a lot to complain about to be honest.

But, for a while I have been considering switching over to Kadence by looking at its feature set. I think it will make my job a little easier.

Now, I know GP is faster than Kadence and Kadence offers far more features than GP.

But, what I don't know is -

What is the fastest theme between Astra and Kadence? (there are conflicting reviews online)
And which one offers a better deal as far as the speed + customisability combo is concerned?

Is there anybody here who has used both Astra and Kadence on a real site (not a blank installation)? Which one is better for a blog that consists of a home page and a blog page? I don't use page builders.

Regards,
nYXem

 

[hkhkhkhkhk123]

I used to have a woo commerce store built on Astra. Honestly speaking, I don't think it is a fast theme.

 

[nYXem]

I used to have a woo commerce store built on Astra. Honestly speaking, I don't think it is a fast theme.

Thanks for your comment, buddy.
I see! Astra works really well for me on blogs though. I have never tried WooCommerce except for testing, so can't comment on that.

It's just that on paper, Kadence seems to be a little ahead. Real world scenario - well, not sure.

Anyone else?

 

[keith778]

neve is better than both astrawp and generatepress

https://themeisle.com/themes/neve/ FREE version is enough for your requirement

 

[Hoco]

You don't need coding for GeneratePress.

You can use WPStackable (free blocks) or GenerateBlocks (Faster) to design websites visually.

GenerateBlocks free version is limited in styling options though, unless you go pro then it makes GenerateBlocks insanely better. Whereas WPStackable has better options to style but is slightly slower and can be buggy.

I swapped from a theme that was an all in one to GeneratePress and I don't think i'll ever use another them to be honest.

 

[nYXem]

neve is better than both astrawp and generatepress

https://themeisle.com/themes/neve/ FREE version is enough for your requirement

Yes, heard good things about it, might give it a spin as well.

You don't need coding for GeneratePress.

You can use WPStackable (free blocks) or GenerateBlocks (Faster) to design websites visually.

GenerateBlocks free version is limited in styling options though, unless you go pro then it makes GenerateBlocks insanely better. Whereas WPStackable has better options to style but is slightly slower and can be buggy.

I swapped from a theme that was an all in one to GeneratePress and I don't think i'll ever use another them to be honest.

I have observed that for tweaking various things in GP you need to either add custom CSS or an extra plugin. If a good theme can help me avoid both, I would prefer that.
Based on the feature set, I understand that Kadence does have a lot of features right out of the box that cater to such needs.
Having said that, I absolutely agree that GP is awesome. It's just that it is probably not as easily customisable as Kadence.

 

[seopunk]

With regards to the latest standard set by Google core web vitals I prefer to have Neve or a custom theme not that difficult to code.

 

[hkhkhkhkhk123]

have you ever though of giving "blosky" theme a try.

 

[nYXem]

have you ever though of giving "blosky" theme a try.

Ah, you said that. The answer is - Yes.
The reason that gave Kadence a preference over Blocksy is - Kadence blocks. I think it will integrate better with the Kadence theme.

 

[SEO_Alchemy]

Kadence theme + kadence blocks is a super fast and intuitive combo. I've been using that exclusively for past 4 months. Their dev team and support is top notch. You don't have tons of bloat and unnecessary crap. I highly recommend this combo. There are tons of tutorials and website builds on YouTube that will get you up to speed to using the UI. Astra is great also, it has many more prebuilt elements, but I found the Kadence combo to be more intuitive to work with.

 

[hkhkhkhkhk123]

Ah, you said that. The answer is - Yes.
The reason that gave Kadence a preference over Blocksy is - Kadence blocks. I think it will integrate better with the Kadence theme.

there can be a chance that blosky has its blocks too..

 

[Kenobii]

Kadence looks very clean to me. I really want to test it out in my upcoming projects.
GP is still the best to me after years of using WP.

 

[hkhkhkhkhk123]

Kadence looks very clean to me. I really want to test it out in my upcoming projects.
GP is still the best to me after years of using WP.

why is gp on top of your list. Can you a give a reason please.

 

[nYXem]

Kadence theme + kadence blocks is a super fast and intuitive combo. I've been using that exclusively for past 4 months. Their dev team and support is top notch. You don't have tons of bloat and unnecessary crap. I highly recommend this combo. There are tons of tutorials and website builds on YouTube that will get you up to speed to using the UI. Astra is great also, it has many more prebuilt elements, but I found the Kadence combo to be more intuitive to work with.

Thanks for your take on this.

there can be a chance that blosky has its blocks too..

I don't think so. Although it has a feature called Content Blocks, unlike Kadence Blocks, they are not Gutenberg blocks. They are basically similar to Elements in GP or Custom Layouts in Astra.

 

[Amalgam]

Have not used astra sorry, but just in regards to Kadencr / Kadence is now my go-to that I use for everything. It is fast and pretty - and hits CWV targets with a little tweaking. Blocks are excellent to work with too.

 

[nYXem]

I have just installed Kadence on a test site with some content that had GP installed before.
What shocked me is that I'm getting better pagespeed insights score with Kadence than I was getting with GP. Although, with gtmetrix, the scores are a little down.
And it's so cool that Kadence is offering a bunch of small features out of the box that otherwise would need a plugin or a code tweak with GP.

 

[hkhkhkhkhk123]

I have just installed Kadence on a test site with some content that had GP installed before.
What shocked me is that I'm getting better pagespeed insights score with Kadence than I was getting with GP. Although, with gtmetrix, the scores are a little down.
And it's so cool that Kadence is offering a bunch of small features out of the box that otherwise would need a plugin or a code tweak with GP.

Hey there, speaking of Kadence, you seem to be quite a fan of it. But in terms of blogging, Kadence doesn't have starter templates for beginners. It just offers few templates but none of them are suitable for blogs. How did you do that? Did you start off from scratch? Thanks

 

[UnusualSubstance]

neve is better than both astrawp and generatepress

https://themeisle.com/themes/neve/ FREE version is enough for your requirement

Yes, heard good things about it, might give it a spin as well.

funnily enough, I just shared the pro version.
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/get-neve-pro-edition.1345986/

 

[nYXem]

Hey there, speaking of Kadence, you seem to be quite a fan of it. But in terms of blogging, Kadence doesn't have starter templates for beginners. It just offers few templates but none of them are suitable for blogs. How did you do that? Did you start off from scratch? Thanks

Haha! I'm a fan of GP and Astra. It's too early to say I'm a fan of Kadence. But I can't deny that it offers far more features than the other two. I like that a lot because it means I can avoid adding extra plugins and code snippets. Plus, Kadence Blocks integrates nicely with the theme.
You're right about the starter templates though, buddy. Kadence has just a few of them, so that's a turn off for those who need them.
I never use them anyway. Although I'm no WordPress pro, I prefer to build the interface from the scratch on my own.

funnily enough, I just shared the pro version.
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/get-neve-pro-edition.1345986/

That's cool!

 

[hkhkhkhkhk123]

Haha! I'm a fan of GP and Astra. It's too early to say I'm a fan of Kadence. But I can't deny that it offers far more features than the other two. I like that a lot because it means I can avoid adding extra plugins and code snippets. Plus, Kadence Blocks integrates nicely with the theme.
You're right about the starter templates though, buddy. Kadence has just a few of them, so that's a turn off for those who need them.
I never use them anyway. Although I'm no WordPress pro, I prefer to build the interface from the scratch on my own.

That's cool!

Cool. Now let me just put it simply. Kadence + Kadance blocks VS Elementor + ASTRA, which is better? I am for blogging.