Tl;dr which paid theme to use if I'm a beginner who wants to make fast and beautiful (clean, minimalist, with the occasional "cool"/"fancy" feature here and there) sites mostly using a drag-and-drop theme builder? My goal is to be a freelance web developer.
I'm considering the following, and I'm open to other suggestions:
- Beaver Builder
- Blocksy
- Breakdance
- Bricks
- GeneratePress
- Greenshift
- SeedProd
Another theme question. I'm a noob who wants to get into web development. I can't see myself doing my current job long-term, and I want to achieve financial independence through business/entrepreneurship, so I want to start my own business.
I have been researching web dev and themes for a while, but since opinions change as theme builders get updated, I'd like to reach out to the community for their current-day opinions.
So far, I've been using free themes: 2024, Astra, GeneratePress, Hello Elementor, Kadence. I wondered why my sites looked so basic. Then I realized that I'd have way more functionality, and my sites would look cooler (or just normal lol), if I'd just pay for a pro version. The learning curve would be less steep.
I want to learn HTML/CSS as I go along. Right now, I'm starting with making personal sites for myself and family. Eventually, I might want to niche down to medical practices/private practice physicians, due to my background, but I am eager for any work and any chance to learn.
Background info:
- Experience level:
- noob
- Something that's easy to use (like a drag-and-drop) would be nice. I'm okay with occasional coding, as I am starting to learn HTML/CSS/JS through freecodecamp.
- noob
- Desired learning curve:
- not too steep
- I want to get started quickly on making beautiful sites. I will keep learning HTML/CSS, but I also have 2 other jobs, so my free time isn’t very plentiful. I am cutting back on one job to learn web dev, but I’m stuck in the other job (the most demanding one) for the next 1.5 years. So I want to get started with building sites and learn on the job.
- not too steep
- Desired features:
- my aesthetic is clean/minimalistic
- I’d like the option of "cool" features like Parallax and a slider plugin
- I care about site speed/bloat, though I understand that also depends on my work
- I would like something that offers many templates without requiring additional fees
- I haven’t had to use an e-commerce platform (like WooCommerce) yet, but I can see it as something I might need in the future.
- Budget:
- $150-500? I’m willing to pay for quality.
- LTD subscription would be nice, but updates/advancements are happening constantly, and we don’t know what the best product will be in the future. So a yearly subscription is okay. I am okay with paying for the time/energy savings and the convenience of benefiting from the experience of expert developers, and I hope to make back the subscription price with the work I get.
- $150-500? I’m willing to pay for quality.
Which paid version do you recommend?
Please let me know if I can add any other info to be more helpful. Thank you in advance for your advice and help.
Breakdance will be the easiest to build and you can do pretty advanced stuff in it too.
Bricks when you learn html/css/js and have a good idea how wordpress site works and everything.
Edit: Generate press and kadence is great as well. I would say with GP you still need a decent experience to get the best out of it and with kadence the pricing split puts me off tbvh though the all unlocked plan is the same price as competing builders but the lifetime plan is eye watering $799
You’re going to get 7 different answers. Try them all, use the one that clicks with you. Generally the decision comes down to your skill level.
edit: If you’re new to web/wordpress development, a few of the the suggestions won’t be suitable for you eg bricks, breakdance require experience with WP development and Bricks requires a solid understanding web development. To even use WordPress, there’s an expectation of basic web development knowledge eg image compression, SEO, html structure (i.e. h1, h2, etc) and having a working knowledge is highly advantageous. Without that knowledge, you can create very bad websites that don’t perform well.
no love for kadence?
check out ColibriWp paid version.
had no problems with it making whatever all those others can do for less.
they earned my support and make design fun like some other builders can do.
and it still works a-ok on sites we let the sub expire (you just dont get new updates, and thats also appreciated)
> my aesthetic is clean/minimalistic.
No doubt: GeneratePress+GenerateBlocks. I add Pods, in my setup.
GP Elements+GB DynamicData=”sky is limit”; good customizer reduce needs for extra CSS, clean generated code guarantee performant site. Great documentation and Youtube channel, first grade customer support.
> I’d like the option of “cool” features like Parallax and a slider plugin.
* They are not cool, rather annoying. Keep in mind that most visitors come from mobile.