If your website doesn't have a good load time, your visitors may decide to leave instead of waiting to see your pages, regardless of site type. Whether your goal is to attract subscribers or make a sale, every second counts. Boost your work with one of the fastest free WordPress themes.
Page speed is a huge factor in creating a smooth user experience and can have a huge impact on your conversions. A fast-loading website is also essential if you want to Rank well on Google.
There are many things that affect speed, including your page size, responsive design, good UI features, parallax effect and scroll time, number of pop-ups, how you use Google Fonts and the WordPress plugins you have installed. Fortunately, there are many lightweight professional WordPress themes that can help you achieve your goals.
In this compilation, we will present you with ten of the fastest free WordPress themes. We tested each one ourselves using the same hosting provider and a standard set of the demo content, including widgets, page templates, and typography. They all have high quality code and are easily adapted to any niche using the block editor and WordPress Customizer. Let's go!
Table of Contents
- GeneratePress
- Neve
- Astra
- Zakra
- Customify
- Mesmerize
- X Theme
- Blocksy
- OceanWP
- Hestia
- Which is the fastest free WordPress theme?
GeneratePress
GeneratePress boasts one of the fastest themes - lightweight and accessible. High encryption standards ensure reliability and security. It is also Search Engine Optimization (SEO) compatible, giving you a head start on improving your Google rankings before you add your content.
This theme also comes with advanced theme options. You will be able to modify all layout elements, install demo sites, and more. It also offers compatibility with Elementor, a drag and drop page builder that allows you to modify both the desktop and mobile versions of your website.
- Total Page Size: 39.8KB
- Requests: 10
- Pagespeed: A (99%)
- YSlow: A (94%)
- Fully Loaded: 1.1s
Neve
Our modern theme is super fast and easy on your server resources. Neve is also optimized for mobile devices, giving you an added SEO boost. Even better, you can start customizing it almost immediately without digging into the code by installing one of its pre-made designs.
Neve is compatible with all popular page builders. You can easily customize various elements of your website, like the homepage, and see the changes in real time as you edit. Overall, this theme is very flexible and easy to use, making it a great solution for beginners and advanced users looking to boost their productivity.
- Total Page Size: 57.6KB
- Requests: 12
- Pagespeed: A (99%)
- YSlow: A (93%)
- Fully Loaded: 0.9s
Astra
The Astra theme is one of the most used WordPress themes. It is optimized for performance by removing jQuery dependencies, which often cause delays. It also allows you to choose individual modules to include on your site, so you can edit your content more efficiently.
This fast WordPress theme comes with a real-time customizer, so you can see your work in front of your eyes. Integrates with popular page builders such as Elementor and Beaver Builder. It also comes with a rich presentation library and many customizable elements, including header and sidebar design options.
- Total Page Size: 107KB
- Requests: 15
- Pagespeed: A (99%)
- YSlow: A (92%)
- Fully Loaded: 0.9s
Zakra
Zakra is a multipurpose theme that works well for online stores. It is optimized for speed, thus maximizing your chances of conversion. It's also fully responsive and AMP ready, so your website looks great on any device.
The developer provides several demos for this theme, including several e-commerce starter sites. It integrates well with the Elementor page builder, so you can fully customize your content as well. Additionally, Zakra works seamlessly with WooCommerce and is SEO-friendly, making it a great choice for online retailers.
- Total Page Size: 97.1KB
- Requests: 16
- Pagespeed: A (90%)
- YSlow: B (87%)
- Fully Loaded: 0.6s
Customify
As the name suggests, the main focus of this theme is advanced customization. You can start with one of the many starter sites or demos and modify it to your needs. You can even make changes to the footer and header using Customify's dedicated builder. Last but not least, it is Elementor compatible.
Customify is a fast, lightweight and super responsive theme. Its SEO optimized design will help you achieve high search engine rankings. Moreover, this theme is compatible with popular plugins like WooCommerce or Mega Menu.
- Total Page Size: 381KB
- Requests: 19
- Pagespeed: A (98%)
- YSlow: A (90%)
- Fully Loaded: 1.5s
Mesmerize
Mesmerize is another versatile theme that ranks among the best free WordPress themes. It allows you to easily create a unique website with its drag and drop builder. It comes with splash pages and various header designs, as well as a large selection of customizable content blocks. You can also add modern effects like video backgrounds while maintaining fast web page loading speed.
Mesmerize is responsive, so you can rest assured that your website will look great even on mobile devices. It is also compatible with WooCommerce and offers multiple eCommerce sites to launch an online store.
- Total Page Size: 415KB
- Requests: 24
- Pagespeed: A (98%)
- YSlow: B (84%)
- Fully Loaded: 1.1s
X Theme
Theme X boasts a stunning design that attracts many users. Its drag and drop builder makes it easy to build your website with no coding experience required. It also comes with a comprehensive template manager, content block selection, and demos to further customize your site.
This theme comes with several premium plugins including Slider Revolution. It's also retina-ready and fully responsive, which will help your content shine on any device. Last but not least, X supports WooCommerce, so it's a powerful theme for any type of business. When you tweak some of its features, you can easily get the metric you want and pass any speed test, achieving minimal page load times.
- Total Page Size: 122KB
- Requests: 12
- Pagespeed: A (98%)
- YSlow: A (91%)
- Fully Loaded: 1.2s
Blocksy
Blocksy is another amazing, fast, flexible and free WordPress theme. You will be able to design your pages easily thanks to its drag and drop functionality. It is also compatible with popular page builders such as Elementor. You can also customize individual features of your website with a variety of color and layout options.
Blocksy integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce, making it a great theme for online stores. It is also SEO friendly and super responsive, which will have a positive impact on your conversions.
- Total Page Size: 118KB
- Requests: 25
- Pagespeed: A (98%)
- YSlow: B (86%)
- Fully Loaded: 1.1s
OceanWP
Like Astra, OceanWP allows you to choose individual modules to include in your website, so you only have to modify the elements you need. It is compatible with popular page builders and comes with handy extensions to further enhance your website functionality.
You can also start with one of OceanWP's many unique layouts and demos to quickly create your perfect design. This theme includes WooCommerce integration, making it a refined and lightweight option for online retailers. It is SEO ready and fully responsive at launch.
- Total Page Size: 356KB
- Requests: 29
- Pagespeed: A (97%)
- YSlow: B (85%)
- Fully Loaded: 1.9s
Hestia
Our final recommendation is Hestia, our one-page theme that uses Material Design principles. It's simple yet super flexible and its live customizer makes it suitable for beginners as well as advanced designers.
This fast free WordPress theme works easily with block editors like Elementor, Beaver Builder, Visual Composer, and Divi. Hestia's lightweight construction is an outstanding match for popular plugins, such as WooCommerce. Plus, it's SEO-ready, so rest assured that search engines will love your site.
- Total Page Size: 201KB
- Requests: 21
- Pagespeed: A (97%)
- YSlow: B (87%)
- Fully Loaded: 0.9s
Which is the fastest free WordPress theme?
A theme optimized for speed can help you rank high in search engines. It can also generate traffic and, most importantly, boost your efforts to convert visitors into customers or subscribers. However, with thousands of free and premium themes, as well as premium versions of free themes available in the market, choosing a theme can be overwhelming.
In this article, we have collected ten fastest WordPress themes and tested them. GeneratePress and Neve are our top two picks, but as you can see from the performance test results above, each of these themes should serve you well.
