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Most people here have hands on experience with both situations…
So…
Generally speaking, for best site performance is it best to use a theme from ThemeForest (or similar)…
Or a page builder like Elementor Pro.
I know there’s a bunch of factors at play, but in your professional experience, which would YOU go for?
No. In terms of page load speed, the list is as follows:
1. FSE themes, a.k.a. block themes – they load very little js and css. Whether they are comortable to use is another matter.
2. Lightweight classic themes, like e.g. GeneratePress
3. A professional page builder theme – Bricks. Most advanced and comfortable in my opinion, but slightly heavier than 1 and 2, due to its nature.
These are the choices that I would consider.
For best site performance, use a block based theme like 2024 and the built in block editor.
Unfortunately the block editor is really limited and you’ll want to use an additional block plugin to beef it up. Some options are: Twentig, stackable, spectra, Kadence.
It’s a malformed question. “A theme from themeforest or elementor” is sorta like asking “which is faster, a car with firestone tires, or a car bought from a dealership?”.
Many, many themes on themeforest (and elsewhere) are designed to be used *with* elementor. And inversely, using elementor doesn’t mean you don’t also need to choose a theme. Apples and oranges.
That said, I’d avoid themeforest like the plague. I’m sure there’s a few decent products on there, but they are the exception not the rule. The vast majority of plugins *and* themes will be poorly built, poorly supported, and likely soon to be abandoned.
Less complicated themes are better, and you will not find those with the options you presented. Using a free theme from the WordPress themes directory is probably best, but some of those use upsell techniques and that may not be the best choice.
A free theme that is simple and straightforward and easy is probably best in terms of speed.
The top 4 themes are the paid versions of Astra, Generate Press, Kadence and Ocean wp
ThemeForest as it is already optimized for speed
GeneratePress is just the best! Super fast, lightweight and bloat-free. If you can make a site using free version or one of their demos (called Site library), go with it.
Use minimum plugins, avoid 3rd party scripts, use a single analytics, preload Headers/Hero images, dont use too large images, and use a good hosting (VPS, if you can, so resources are not shared) – do these and you will have a nice , fast website 🙂