BUILD a creative and dynamic website … OR … BUY via a potentially slower theme???

I'm stuck …

And let me preface this WHOLE DAMN THING by saying I'm not a Dev and haven't built a site in almost 7 years … BUT … I am solidly confident I can pull off a decent build with my technical and graphics skills…. so please excuse any ignorance on Dev basics or misspeaking I may do below ….

I'm trying to choose a theme for my new business website and have basically narrowed it down to a small handful of finalists … in the following order.

1. The Gem
2. OceanWP
3. Phlox
4. Astra (barely)

I'm trying to create a site that's dynamic and creative with interesting effects … but am also focused on it not being bloated and slow – and need it to have good SEO, page ranking … all the important things …

High Level Pros/Cons for each …

• The Gem – https://codex-themes.com/thegem/wordpress-woocommerce-theme/#

  • Pros … killer inclusions and templates
    • It has some GREAT templates with interesting and cool effects …
    • It INCLUDES quite a bit – Rev Slider, Layer slider, Includes tons of premium elements from Elementor, making the subscription unnecessary, tons of pre-built blocks, widgets and lots more.
    • Is only a one-time cost of $59
  • Cons … sounds like it's slower and bloated
    • Rates a little slow
    • Has so much built-in that may not be needed so maintenance and cleanup will be needed for speed and rank optimization.

• OceanWP – https://oceanwp.org

  • Pros …. mostly in the speed and quality columns
    • Has lots of templates – but they're pretty basic …
    • Great ratings and reviews and updates
    • Seems optimized for SEO, speed, etc
  • Cons … more cost and customization
    • No inclusions … will need to purchase all the sliders, Elementor Pro, +++ etc .. making it more costly
    • It's an annual cost for the theme too … $35-43/year+
    • Requires lots more customization to get the type of site I'm aiming for

• Phlox – https://www.phlox.pro

  • Pros … similar to The Gem
    • Also has some killer templates
    • Includes a lot for Elementor, Sliders, Widgets, and more etc as well … similarly to The Gem
  • Cons – similar to The Gem

• Astra

  • You all know it … not going into it … but has basically the same pros and cons as OceanWP, with a slight edge in the reviews and lightweightness columns …

SO … my challenge …

1. Go with The Gem (or possibly Phlox) … and then need to
   • Cut out unneeded features and bloat and disabling plugins and scripts slowing the site down
   • Edit some code for speed by minifying CSS, Javascript and html.
   • Potentially (well, most likely, from what my GPT friend tells me) needing to do some optimization for speed, SEO, ranking, etc on an ongoing basis.
2. Go with OceanWP … and then need to
   • Do a lot more work upfront learning and research on how to get all the features and effects I'd like to have …
   • Then implement them … likely paying for many of them, potentially on an ongoing basis.

So …. what do you all think is best?!

Have any use-based feedback on The Gem, Phlox or OceanWP?

I VERY MUCH appreciate any and all constructive feedback!!!