Astra vs OceanWP Theme Comparison | Which Is Better Choice?

Which is better in Astra vs OceanWP comparison? Both are two of the most popular and commonly used WordPress themes. Both offer support for third-party WordPress plugins, high-quality professional designs, and multiple customization choices.

You can go to the official WordPress themes directory to download Astra and OceanWP for free. There are also paid premium versions of these themes that have additional features and functionality.

How do these two popular themes compare against each other? I’ll examine the strengths and weaknesses of both themes. You will see what each theme does well, and where they fall short, as well as features and options they provide.

NOTE: I have also compared Astra vs GeneratePress, so be sure to check that comparison too.

 

Astra vs OceanWP

Picking the right theme for your website is an important decision. It isn’t something that should be taken lightly. The theme you select needs to be appealing, and best meet your needs.

 

Astra Overview

Astra is one of the quickest, lightest, and most stylish WordPress themes around. Brainstorm Force released it in 2017. Astra is an easy to use WordPress theme. You can read my Astra theme review, where I compared the free and pro versions and listed all of its available features.

Brainstorm Force has been developing some amazing WordPress products for nine years. They also created Schema Pro (see the Schema Pro review), Convert Pro (see the Convert Pro review), WP Portfolio (see the WP Portfolio review), Ultimate Addons for Gutenburg, Ultimate Addons for Elementor, and Ultimate Addons for Beaver Builder.

 

 

Astra was created to be flexible, quick, and stylish. It can be used for biography sites, blogs, business sites, portfolios, restaurants, WooCommerce online stores, and many other types of websites.

It includes several options to make your headers more interesting and effective. Additional advanced features allow you to control the content, width, etc. Astra offers full integration with the WooCommerce plugin so that you can tweak your website even further to fit your business and commercial purposes.

There are pre-built pages (demos) included in the theme. These demos can be used for various sections of the site whenever you want. All demos can be customized easily without having to add or alter any code. There are plenty of wonderful customization choices right at your fingertips. Create a website that you want easily. Get rid of page titles and sidebars or adjust page widths as you see fit.

Just visit the WordPress repository to download Astra for free. Or if you want to have full Astra potential at disposal, you can also purchase Astra Pro, which is the Astra theme premium add-on plugin. The premium edition has additional customization choices and other features.

 

ASTRA PRO vs ASTRA FREE

An additional plugin called Astra Sites is also available. This plugin complements Astra Pro’s functions. Astra Sites has a wide selection of pre-made templates. All templates have working graphics and pages. You can use these added features whenever you’d like.

Astra’s free edition has customization choices that work well for companies of any size. Astra Pro plugin can be added separately to add transparent headers, create customized layouts, etc.

Astra Pro’s features can be used to create an appealing, effective site. The nice thing is that you don’t have to edit or add any code to make customizations.

Every Astra Pro feature has its own individual module. You get to choose which modules you want to enable or disable. This simplifies control and speeds up loading times.

The fewer features you use, the better your site performance tends to be. You can even improve Astra’s functionality with several other free separate plugins for Astra.

 

OceanWP Overview

OceanWP is a very customizable theme. It was developed with a very clear, clean code. It’s a lightweight theme that will preserve your website’s accuracy and speed. It also includes several impressive features that can be used to customize the site in multiple ways. Anyone can create an amazing website with OceanWP, even if they don’t have any development or design experience.

OceanWP can be used for multiple purposes. Some of its features include:

• Great page speed test scores and a search engine optimization base.
• Design that’s fully responsive and easy to read on tablets, cell phones, and other mobile devices.
• Integration with popular page builder plugins.
• The ability to use extensions to add even more customization choices.
• A demo library containing a wide variety of premium and free templates.

Separate extensions can be installed to add more features to the OceanWP theme. Certain extensions are only available for purchase, while others are available free of charge. All of these extensions are included in the Core Extensions Bundle. Some features of these extensions are Instagram feed integration, white labeling, unique Elementor widgets, and much more.

 

OCEANWP FREE vs OCEANWP PRO

OceanWP’s demos are quite impressive. There are blog demos, e-commerce demos, and single page demos with over 70 different options to select. A few of these options are available for free. The rest are included when you buy a Core Extensions Bundle.

Pricing is very affordable. You can create an amazing website without spending any money if you just want the theme by itself. You can purchase specific extensions separately to add just the features and functionality you need.

Or you can go will all extensions in Core Extension Bundle, which price starts at $59 annually. This is the cost for use on a single site. The price can go up to as much as $129, but you can use the plugins on up to 25 different websites. Check my OceanWP review for more info as well as its pros and cons.

 

Prebuilt Designs

Prebuilt high-quality designs are one of the best features of both OceanWP and Astra. OceanWP refers to those designs as theme demos while Astra calls theirs starter sites.

Astra has more than 70 pre-made designs available, from which 35 can be downloaded free of charge. OceanWP also has more than 70 prebuilt designs that can be used, but only 13 of them are available at no cost.

Design is usually subjective to a certain degree. In my opinion, the quality of Astra’s prebuilt designs is slightly better than OceanWP’s offerings. Astra also has more pre-made designs to choose from. Quality designs are obviously important to site owners. The ability to customize designs to meet your site needs is essential.

 

 

OceanWP and Astra both support WordPress theme customizer. This feature allows you to make edits and see them in real-time as they are being made.

You can use the free Astra Starter Templates WordPress plugin to make any edits with free templates. About 100 free high-quality designs that were developed using Brizy, the WordPress block editor, Elementor, and Beaver Builder are included with the plugin.

Those designs are separated by page builders. Whenever you select a particular design that was created using Beaver Builder, Brizy, or Elementor, you’ll need to have the respective page builder installed before that design will work properly.

If you decide to upgrade to one of the Astra agency bundles, you’ll have access to more than 50 additional designs. You can filter designs by specific categories.

Using starter templates to choose designs and add them to your site is pretty simple. Any time you choose a particular design, you’ll see all of the available templates for that design. You can also preview the design in a new tab that will appear.

You’ll be asked if you want to import content, widgets, and customizer settings during the import process. WPForms, Ultimate Addons for Gutenburg, and other necessary plugins will be activated when starter templates are used.

OceanWP’s import system is somewhat similar. You’ll be prompted to activate the WordPress plugins Ocean Extra, WPForms, and Elementor after you’ve activated the OceanWP theme.

 

 

I’m rather surprised that the core OceanWP theme doesn’t already include Ocean Extra because you can’t really do much without it. You can’t see OceanWP’s theme demos, settings pages, and theme panel without installing and activating Ocean Extra.

Importing demo designs in OceanWP is kind of like using the Starter Templates in Astra. All OceanWP demos were created using Elementor. OceanWP integrates with many popular page builders, but if you want to use pre-built demos, you will have to install and activate Elementor.

You can use 13 theme demos for free. If you buy the OceanWP Core Extensions Bundle, you’ll have access to additional 50+ designs.

 

 

A setup wizard will appear after you’ve activated OceanWP. This wizard is used to select the site’s demo. It’s a nice feature, even though their demo system definitely has room for improvement.

Any time that you select a new design, OceanWP will ask if you’d like to import pages, posts, widgets, a contact form, and customizer settings. It asks you these questions so that your site can display correctly on all devices. The problem is that you can’t delete any content that you’ve already imported previously.

A bigger issue is the fact that premium plugin extensions are required to run free demo designs. You have to purchase OceanWP complete edition if you don’t want to worry about any issues with your designs working correctly.

WINNER: Astra theme. Both resources have high-quality designs, but Astra stands out in this category. They have about 100 different free designs for 4 page builder plugins in their Starter Templates WordPress plugin. You can keep using the plugin even if you move over to another WordPress theme.

OceanWP has far fewer designs. You’ll also need to have Elementor installed before you can use their designs. You can’t delete imported content, and anyone using the free version of OceanWP has to pay to upgrade before they can properly use the 13 free designs.

 

Page Builder Compatibility

WordPress has its own default streamlined editor which really simplifies content creation. The only downside is that it doesn’t offer a lot of choices or flexibility. That’s one reason why so many page builders exist. Page builders let you drag, drop, and arrange specific content in your posts and pages as you see fit.

Most page builder plugins work great with any theme. OceanWP and Astra were both created from the ground up with page builders in mind. Astra and OceanWP were designed to make customization choices, and native theme features compatible with whatever page builder you prefer.

 

 

Astra was designed with a page builder plugin in mind. It integrates seamlessly with Beaver Builder (see Beaver Builder free vs pro), Divi Builder (check Divi vs Elementor), Brizy, Elementor (see Elementor free vs pro), WPBakery Page Builder, and Site Origin.

As added bonus, you have the option of being able to turn off the sidebar and page title as you’re creating and editing content. This allows you to concentrate on design. The Astra Agency Bundle (Astra’s most expensive option) includes several page builder-specific add-ons (Ultimate Addons for Beaver Builder and Ultimate Addons for Elementor plugin).

OceanWP was also developed to work great with page builders. It was designed to support Beaver Builder, Divi, Elementor, and WPBakery. The premium edition of OceanWP includes an extension that has several Elementor-specific widgets.

WINNER: It’s a tie. Both OceanWP and Astra support WordPress page builders very well. The only major thing to look for is which page builder was used to create some of the pre-built website designs you consider to use.

 

Customization, Features & Settings

OceanWP and Astra both have plenty of helpful features to get the site created and running in no time. Each theme supports drop and drag page builders, has speed optimization, includes search engine optimization friendly markup code, and native support for WooCommerce. Both themes are translation ready. They also support right to left languages, including Hebrew, Persian, and Arabic.

Astra concentrates on the fact that its theme was developed with filters and hooks in its code. These elements help developers create better sites. They state that their theme only needs 50KB of resources to load and that jQuery wasn’t used.

OceanWP’s developers chose to highlight their theme’s ‘Market Leading WooCommerce Integration.’ Some of the features that they focus on are the product quick view option, the floating “add to cart” bar, and a native popup for the shopping cart.

There aren’t too many differences between OceanWP and Astra in terms of essential WordPress features. OceanWP provides users with more control over their site design and their website in general.

I really like the WordPress theme customizer. You can use it to make changes and see how those changes impact the site in real-time. Astra lets you customize your site, but OceanWP does a much better job because it has more customization choices.

 

 

OceanWP has a dedicated theme settings section in addition to the WordPress theme customizer choices. You’ll need to premium Ocean Extra plugin before these settings can be seen.

The developers should draw more attention to the fact that Ocean Extra is a required (instead of recommended) plugin. You won’t be able to see the OceanWP control panel and other important theme functions until the plugin has been activated.

You can activate or deactivate different sections in the customizer at the top of the primary theme panel. Below that, you’ll find links for options such as changing header, uploading logo, and other common site settings. You’ll also find an integrations section in this area.

 

 

Mailchimp List ID and API fields will be available once the theme has been activated. As you install and activate other OceanWP plugin extensions, you’ll have access to other additional settings.

OceanWP has a convenient library page to store all of the templates that you create. This can benefit many website owners. It lets you create content and then save your creation as a template. You can then use a shortcode to call that template in various pages and posts. For instance, you may want to create a contact information template or a newsletter template that can be placed in blog posts.

OceanWP also has a theme settings importer and exporter. You can achieve this same function in Astra via a free plugin extension.

You may find yourself using the Scripts & Styles Panel in OceanWP setting frequently. You can use this section to activate or deactivate the CSS and Javascript from the site.

 

 

 

OceanWP and Astra both have impressive functions that assist WordPress users in creating effective and impressive websites. They have great support for third-party plugins, ranging from popular drag and drop page builders like Divi to WooCommerce and many more.

Your eyes may initially be drawn to beautiful WordPress themes, but that’s only one aspect. A theme’s customization choices are far more important than how a theme looks.

While you’re in the WordPress appearance area, you will see the Astra Options page. Support links are displayed on the right-hand side. Links to important sections of the WordPress theme customizer are on the top of the page.

 

 

You can activate Astra Pro Modules which you intend to use. After an Astra Pro module has been activated, the WordPress theme customizer will then have the module’s functions added to it.

Astra’s core version has plenty of helpful WordPress customizer configuration choices. You can use them to edit headers, footers, sidebars, blog, etc. You have even more customization selections once you activate the Astra Pro modules. There will be more choices for colors, layouts, navigation, styling, typography, widgets, and more.

 

 

The WordPress customizer is the headquarters for all of Astra’s primary theme choices. You can opt to override some settings on custom post types, pages, and other posts. You can edit headers, layouts, and sidebars for any page on site or deactivate the footer bar, featured image, title, and other important areas.

OceanWP provides more customization choices than Astra. After installing and activating Ocean Extra on your site, you can go to your admin area to find the OceanWP theme panel.

You can deactivate any irrelevant or unnecessary sections of the WordPress customizer. The customizer also has links to important areas. The integrations tab of the theme panel allows you to use API keys to integrate with third-party services.

The Scripts & Styles Panel is one of my favorite OceanWP features. There you can deactivate any inactive CSS or JavaScript. If you’re trying to minimize your page weight and improve the site’s overall performance, this can be a beneficial option. You can use OceanWP’s importer and exporter to save crucial settings for the site.

OceanWP also supports WordPress theme customizer. Their free theme version has an exhaustive list of typography choices. There are also options for header, footer, blog, and top bar. You can use the customizer to configure Sticky Footer and other premium OceanWP extensions.

I appreciate just how much control OceanWP gives you over the style and structure of particular pages and posts. You can do a lot more than just deactivate headers, footers, and sidebars. You can go into the OceanWP settings box to edit the title, logo, menus, header, and other items. These changes can affect the look of every page on the website.

WINNER: OceanWP. Astra is very customizable. There are plenty of customization choices for it in the WordPress theme customizer. But OceanWP gives users more flexibility, as it allows them to enable or disable different styles, scripts, and customizer sections.

Astra Pro has more variety in terms of theme customizer choices than OceanWP’s full version. However, OceanWP has a distinct advantage because of the additional control over how individual pages are styled.

 

WooCommerce Integration

Astra’s built-in WooCommerce support has the following helpful features:

• A dropdown cart.
• An off-canvas sidebar that contains product search and filter selections.
• Product quick view.
• The option to provide a two-step or distraction-free checkout.
• You can use “bubble” indicators to emphasize specific products that are on sale.
• Customizer choices that give better control of the complete product catalog.

Astra’s premium edition has a module that was specifically created for WooCommerce. You can access the WooCommerce customizer with that module to control the following functions:

• Shopping cart icons can be added to menus. This selection also has a dropdown effect that allows customers to see the products in their shopping cart before they complete orders.
• The look of product archive pages can be altered.
• You can add an AJAX “add to cart’ button and a sticky panel to the top part of the page.
• You get to choose WooCommerce content styles.
• You can activate an interruption and distraction-free checkout mode.
• The option of showing upsells or related items to visitors.

Your online store will have an impressive, intuitive, and conversion-optimized user interface with the Astra theme without using any third-party plugins.

 

 

Astra also has dedicated integrations for the popular LearnDash and LifterLMS plugins. Using WordPress customizer, you can make layout and functionality choices for courses created with those plugins.

For instance, you can offer a course progress indicator or activate interruption-free learning and checkout. Astra is a good choice if you’re creating a website that offers online courses for sale.

 

 

OceanWP also has plenty of useful features for building a WooCommerce store. Some of those features are:

• A product quick view option.
• A dropdown cart that has a nice responsive implementation for mobile devices.
• After a customer has added an item to their online shopping cart, you can select to have that item highlighted.
• A convenient off-canvas menu for filter and product search selections.
• Floating bar with the “add to cart” button. This floating bar will be displayed when site visitors scroll down towards the bottom of the product pages.
• Simple sales badges.
• Multi-step and/or interruption-free checkout options that can be activated or deactivated at any time.
• Styling that’s dedicated to the native WooCommerce filter and category widgets.
• The ability to use shortcodes to show the shopping cart icon anywhere on site.
• The shopping cart can be displayed on tablets, cell phones, and other mobile devices.
• A helpful off-canvas filter.
• An intuitive multi-step checkout process.

WINNER: OceanWP. OceanWP has the edge over Astra because it offers more WooCommerce features and options.

 

Free Versions Comparison

Many WordPress users will be satisfied with core free versions of the Astra or OceanWP theme. But what do these themes offer in their free edition? How do Astra and OceanWP’s free editions compare with each other?

Both Astra and OceanWP have many common features. Some of those features are support for WordPress theme customizer, integration with WooCommerce, and pages that load quickly.

OceanWP and Astra both include several impressive pre-built designs. All of the designs are of very high quality.

Astra has more templates that can be used with the free version. It offers 35 different theme demos. OceanWP only has 13 free theme demos, but they provide more options when the WordPress theme customizer is used.

 

 

There are a few areas where OceanWP falls short. For instance, the developers should really reexamine the installation process. Currently, whenever OceanWP is activated, a message appears for Ocean Extra.

The message states that Ocean Extra is a suggested plugin. This leads users to believe that Ocean Extra is an optional plugin. In reality, you need to have Ocean Extra installed and activated before you can use the theme options panel, import theme demos, or go through the setup wizard. All of these activities are important theme functions.

 

 

A larger concern is how OceanWP has established its theme demos. Unfortunately, you need to install at least one premium plugin before any of OceanWP’s free theme demos will work properly. Important design aspects are noticeably absent without the use of a premium plugin. Buying a premium addon to use a free template for me means that the template is not exactly free.

OceanWP does have a nice assortment of choices in the WordPress theme customizer section. The problem is in how their theme demo system is implemented. If you want to use one of their designs, you’ll either have to learn to live with a demo that may have portions missing or flawed or pay for a premium plugin for the theme demo to do what it’s supposed to do.

WINNER: Astra theme.

 

Premium Plugin Modules & Extensions

Both OceanWP and Astra are freemium products. Their developers depend on the purchase of premium plugin extensions for these themes.

Upgrading to OceanWP’s Core Extension Bundle or Astra to Astra Pro allows you to tap the full potential of these themes. You’ll be able to use all of the premium plugin extensions and theme demos.

Astra Pro has 18 different modules. None of these modules can be purchased individually. When you buy an Astra Pro license, you’ll automatically unlock access to all 18 modules.

The modules available in Astra Pro are Colors & Background, Typography, Spacing, Blog Pro, Mobile Header, Header Sections, Nav Menu, Sticky Header, Page Headers, Custom Layouts, Site Layouts, Footer Widgets, Scroll To Top, WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, LearnDash, LifterLMS and White Label (check all Astra features).

 

 

Astra Pro adds extra customization settings and design choices to Astra’s core WordPress theme customizer. Modules like Page Headers, Custom Layouts, Site Layouts, Blog Pro, and other similar modules give you more options for creating amazing, unique websites.

Some of Astra Pro’s modules can benefit web design companies and agencies. You can use White Label to rebrand Astra to appear as your own creation. Easy Digital Downloads, LifterLMS, LearnDash, and WooCommerce can be used to integrate Astra with popular third-party services and plugins.

OceanWP has 13 premium plugin extensions. You can purchase these extensions individually or all together as a bundle. These extensions are Cookie Notice, Elementor Widgets, Footer Callout, Full Screen, Instagram, Ocean Hooks, Popup Login, Portfolio, Side Panel, Sticky Footer, Sticky Header, White Label, and Woo Popup.

 

 

You can use several OceanWP premium extensions to change your site layout. Footer Callout, Sticky Footer, Sticky Header, and Side Panel can help you accomplish those goals. You can also use white labeling, just like you can with Astra.

There’s also a very customizable portfolio extension. You can use shortcodes to import portfolios that you’ve already made. The WordPress theme customizer can then be used to alter your designs as you see fit.

Certain OceanWP premium extensions can be helpful, but they aren’t very theme-specific. The Instagram WordPress and Cookie Notice plugins are good examples. They have their merits, but WordPress.org has plenty of other alternatives that are just as effective.

If you’re going to compare all of OceanWP and Astra’s premium extensions and modules strictly on a like for like basis, I’d have to say that Astra is better. That’s because they have more plugins that are specific to their theme.

Saying that Astra Pro is better is unfair in certain instances. Astra Pro’s modules compensate for the lack of customization choices in its free edition. If we say that OceanWP has the best settings and features, we must properly acknowledge Astra’s premium plugin extensions.

WINNER: Astra theme. Astra’s pro modules and free plugins give more style choices. You also have additional support for third-party products and additional layout selections. OceanWP’s plugins have their own unique benefits. However, they really don’t do much to improve the free theme.

 

The Cost of Using Astra & OceanWP

Both OceanWP and Astra have free versions. If you only use these free editions, you won’t be able to use all available theme demos and will not have access to the additional features and functionality that the premium extensions and plugins have to offer.

Cost is usually a significant factor in selecting WordPress themes. If you don’t have the budget or don’t want to spend money, the decision is much easier. All you need to do in that situation is to download the free versions of Astra and OceanWP. You can try them out to determine which one best meets your needs.

If you decide to go with pro versions to get the most out of these themes, then it’s time to evaluate both Astra Pro and OceanWP Pro costs.

Astra Pro has three premium plans. Those are Astra Pro, the Mini Agency Bundle, and the Agency Bundle. These plans have support and updates and can be used on as many sites as you wish. Each plan also has a complete 14-day money-back guarantee if you’re not completely satisfied with your purchase.

 

 

Pricing is $59 for Astra Pro per year, $169 annually for the Mini Agency Bundle, and $249 yearly for the Agency Bundle. Prices go to $249 for Astra Pro,$499 for the Mini Agency Bundle, and $699 for the Agency Bundle when you purchase their lifetime licenses.

The 55 extra starter template designs can only be accessed after buying one of the agency bundles. The Mini Agency Bundle comes with a few added bonuses. You’ll receive the pro version of Ultimate Addons for either Beaver Builder or Elementor and WP Portfolio. The Agency Bundle includes these plugins along with a SkillJet Academy membership, Schema Pro, and Convert Pro.

The mentioned additional plugins in Astra Agency plans are all very powerful and beneficial plugins. However, if you’re not going to use the extra WordPress plugins or agency designs, you don’t really need to upgrade to the more expensive agency plans.

OceanWP’s premium pricing plans are quite different from Astra. The OceanWP Core Extension Bundle has 60 pro demos and a dozen premium plugin extensions.

 

 

The primary OceanWP pricing page lists the Core Extension Bundle at $39 annually for a single site license, $79 per year for a three-site license, and $129 for an annual license that can be used on up to 25 different websites. Purchasing a lifetime license raises prices to $159 for usage on one site, $319 for a three-site license, and $519 for a 25 site license.

You can purchase OceanWP premium extensions separately if you prefer. Each of their premium extensions is listed at $29.99 per year for a single site. You can also purchase individual extensions that can be used on up to three sites for $69.99 per year and valid licenses for use on up to 25 websites for $119.99 per year.

WINNER: Tie. Despite their confusing sales policy, OceanWP has the cheapest single website plan. Astra’s entry-level plan is not only more expensive, but it does not include any additional premium website templates.

OceanWP’s multi-site plans are more expensive. If you have more than one site and you like the added designs and plugins that Astra has to offer, that might be a better alternative.

 

Astra vs OceanWP FAQ

Here are the most frequently asked questions regarding Astra vs OceanWP.

1. Which theme is better – Astra or OceanWP?

You will not go wrong with either theme. Both are easy to use, affordable, and has a nice assortment of features. They perform well, have a lot of great customization choices, along with quality documentation and support.

2. Astra or OceanWP for WooCommerce? Which is a better choice in this case?

OceanWP provides little more WooCommerce features than Astra.

3. Which theme is more popular?

Astra is much more popular than OceanWP. Astra has more than one million installations.

4. Which theme is faster?

OceanWP and Astra are both lightweight themes. It’s a close call, but Astra performs just a little bit better than OceanWP.

5. Are premium versions of Astra and OceanWP worthy purchase?

OceanWP Pro and Astra Pro add much more customization options, settings, and features. They are definitely worth the added investment.

6. Is Astra the best WordPress theme?

If we take a number of installations and ratings from the WordPress.org repository solely, then you could say that Astra is definitely one of the best free themes available.

7. How compatible are Astra and OceanWP with page builder plugins?

Astra and OceanWP work very well with Beaver Builder, Elementor, Thrive Architect, and other well-known page builder plugins.

8. Can I disable the modules that I don’t need?

OceanWP and Astra both use a modular approach. This means that you can activate or deactivate modules you don’t intend to use.

9. Is Astra a free theme? 

Astra is a free WordPress theme. You can buy the Pro edition that provides extra options and settings, for $59.

 

Astra vs OceanWP Final Thoughts

OceanWP and Astra are free WordPress themes. They both include some very impressive pre-built designs. I think that Astra is on a better path in terms of design, which can be used with 4 different page builders. OceanWP only provides 13 Elementor-based designs to users of their free edition, but all designs require at least one premium extension to display properly.

All OceanWP users can also use the Astra Starter Templates plugin and import the same pre-built designs that Astra users have access to if they wish. And don’t let the problems with OceanWP’s demo system discourage you. They still have unique features and settings that Astra can’t offer.

Costs for using OceanWP and Astro can vary. They really depend on the designs you want to use, the number of sites you intend to use, and the most important features.

Single site owners can get a better deal by purchasing the full edition of OceanWP. You can use 13 premium plugins and 60 premium designs.

Astra Pro may be a bit more expensive than expected for people who only own one website. However, it can be a more affordable option for those who own multiple sites because usage is unlimited. Their module system reduces the number of plugins you’ll have to install, and Astra modules add more value to the free theme than OceanWP’s premium extensions.

The only drawback to Astra’s premium pricing structure is that you have to buy one of their agency plans before using any of the 55 extra designs. The overall package is a better value because the developers have also included their other WordPress plugins.

I think that Astra’s free edition is better than OceanWP’s free edition. This is because you need to activate premium plugin extensions before OceanWP’s free theme demos will work correctly. Astra also has more free theme demo selections.

OceanWP has more customization choices than Astra. If theme customization is important to you, OceanWP may be your best bet.  But these criticisms aren’t as relevant if you’re planning to upgrade to Astra Pro, as that adds hundreds of additional design and layout options.

I’d strongly suggest installing and testing both themes. Then you can see the functions, features, customization, and options of each theme before deciding which one best meets your needs.