GeneratePress theme is one of the most favorite themes out there; If we see GeneratePress Theme Review and its ratings, it has 848 Five Star (*****) reviews/ratings amongst 858 reviews and more than 200k active installs in the world.
In this article, we’re going to share with you whether GeneratePress theme premium is well worth the money or not to make your nice blog.
Download Generatepress Premium Theme
You might get thinking that is it right for your business? As users of this theme ourselves, we offer you an honest, unbiased, and truthful GeneratePress theme review so you’ll make an informed decision yourself.
GeneratePress Theme Review Summary
GP theme features a strong specializes in excellent performance and little, clean code. The theme size is a smaller amount than 30 kB, which is that the smallest WordPress theme you will find. This makes it incredibly fast to load and one of the fastest WordPress themes out there.
Generate Press theme is one of the foremost popular and highest-rated WordPress themes within the market today. it’s a multipurpose theme that will be wont to create any quiet website. within the 5 years since it launched, it’s been one of the foremost stable, feature-rich, fast, and best-supported WordPress themes available.
Let’s see how many 5-star the GeneratePress theme review obtained till the day:
You can still use page builders to create your site, however since it’s fully compatible with the bulk of popular page builders. It seems that the majority of users opt-in to Beaver Builder and Elementor, with the latter being the more popular choice.
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The theme comes in two flavors, free and premium. The premium version comes with several additional modules. To use these modules, you’ll get to purchase a license for a plugin called “GP Premium”, which then must be installed and activated.
A default, fresh installation of the GeneratePress theme is sort of plain, but this will be said about most themes unless you import a demo site. it’s the normal look and formatting of a typical blog site; an easy set of header, menu, sidebar, and footer.
Its strength is that it can thoroughly be customized to seem very different from its base appearance, rivaling even people who were made using page builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, and Divi (check out our reviews), and our Elementor vs Divi comparison.
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The only con of using a GeneratePress theme over page builders is that it takes a touch longer to create beautiful pages thanks to the shortage of drag and drop. But the result’s a more code compliant and lighter website.
Building sites are often sped up, however, by activating the site-library module. With the module activated, you’ll select and import pre-built templates to jumpstart your project.
The image above is one among the pre-built site templates that you simply can import to your site.
In summary, a GeneratePress theme may be a free lightweight WordPress theme that features a companion premium plugin called “GP Premium Plugin”. The latter unlocks the powerful “modules” feature containing a good selection of additional customization options and has add-ons that you simply can utilize to create a gorgeous and professional-looking website.
Incidentally, at CollectiveRay, we constantly review WordPress themes and make roundups with them. you’ll find many more themes for WordPress on this site.
GeneratePress Review – Step By Step Guide
In this extensive GeneratePress theme Review, we will go through every feature available while purchasing the theme and how to use the full theme to build a beautiful website/blog.
What is GeneratePress Theme?
Actually, GeneratePress Theme is a free lightweight multi-purpose WordPress theme by which you can create a blog, a business site, a portfolio site, an e-commerce site using Woocommerce plugin, etc using the premium versions.
Before starting our GeneratePress Theme review let’s know more about GP Theme.
- It is actually a WordPress Theme
- It is a lightweight and Multipurpose Theme.
- The new price of the Generatepress preimum theme is $59/year and $249 for a lifetime deal.
- 30 days money-back guarantee without any question asked.
- 1 year of updates and support on the yearly plan and lifetime support/updates for the lifetime deal.
- Mr Tom Usborne, Founder, and Lead Developer.
- 40% off on yearly renewal for old customers and no renewal discount for new customers.
- Can use the theme on up to 500 domains/subdomains (websites).
- Dedicated Team and Time for Development and Support.
- The GeneratePress Theme (GP Theme) is Gutenberg Ready.
- Fully Translated over 30+ languages.
- Fully Supports RTL languages.
- Full access to premium modules and site library.
- GP and WPML are fully compatible.
Free vs Premium
If you compare Generatepress free theme vs premium theme, then, you know that the premium theme has a lot of features. If you are going to use a free version then you can download the theme without paying any charges from the GeneratePress official site.
For the premium theme version, you need to pay $59/year and $249 for a lifetime deal with a one-time payment as I have mentioned above. You may customize the theme as your choice. There are over 60+ sites demo where you may import before making the website and edit it. You can get all the things about GeneratePress Premium theme Modules in detail below:
GeneratePress Premium Theme Modules
In the premium version of GP Theme, you can find various features. You can explore all modules like Backgrounds, Blog, Colors, Copyright, Disable Elements, Elements, Menu Plus, Secondary Nav, Sections, Site Library, Spacing, Typography.
To enable all premium modules: Appearance > GeneratePress > Modules > Activate
- Backgrounds: Backgrounds Module helps to add background images to the site.
- Blog: Customize the feature image, columns, archive using the Blog Module in the Customizer section.
- Colors: Play with different colors in the body, header, Navigation, Widgets, Footer section.
- Copyright: Edit or Change the copyright of the website in the footer section.
- Disable Elements: Turn off various elements through the different posts/pages of your site.
- Elements: The most important modules of GeneratePress Theme – add dynamic heroes, advance hooks that help to customize the theme.
- Menu Plus: Menu-Plus Module helps to make the menu sticky, off-canvas navigation, mobile header, etc.
- Secondary Nav: With Secondary navigation, you can add an extra menu with colors, typography, layout, etc.
- Sections: Break out the content and make it more beautiful using the Sections Module.
- Site Library: Enjoy over 46+ libraries, import the demo site and content and launch your site quickly.
- Spacing: Manage Margin and Padding using Spacing Modules, control the size in GeneratePress.
- Typography: Select over 70 different Google fonts to style your site.
- Woocommerce: Install woocommerce plugin and Activate WC module to style product, checkout pages on your e-commerce website.
Background
Background Module helps to add background images to the site. The eligible section has the background options so you can import images and set sizes, positions, etc.
Blog
Customize the feature image, columns, archive using the Blog Module in the Customizer. Select and control options like post date, author, categories, tags, featured images, etc. in the blog module.
Colors
Play with different colors in the body, header, Navigation, Widgets, Footer section. There are over 60+ colors options available in the Customizer.
You can color every part of the theme including body, top bar, header, primary navigation, button, content, forms, footer, widgets, etc.
Copyright
The copyright module helps to edit or change the copyright of the website in the footer section.
Disable Elements
Turn off various elements through the different posts/pages of your site. You can find the disable elements section at the post/page level.
Elements
Element is the most important module of GeneratePress Theme that helps to add dynamic heroes, advance hooks, Layout, etc.
Most of the advanced features can be implemented by using Elements Module. Users and Developers use this module most of the time to tweak and achieve advanced customization.
To activate the Elements modules. Go to
Appearance > GeneratePress > Elements > Activate
Elements Modules have three parts: Header, Hook, Layout.
- Header: Header Element can be used to build the header on your site. On this GP Element, you can add a background image, text, etc, and style it. i.e. HTML and CSS are used in this Element to build Page Hero.
- Hook: The most powerful feature in GeneratePress Theme is a Hook Element. It helps to insert content into the available hook on your website. Users don’t have to create a Child Theme anymore. This element helps to achieve advanced customization in the blog.
- Layout: This Element helps to control the Layout in specific posts, pages, categories, Archives, and even in the entire site. It helps to style your site in an advanced form.
- Block: Block is the most advanced Element module in GeneratePress Theme. Block Element helps in advance customization using Block Editor instead of using HTML. You can combine Block with GenerateBlocks and create a separate site footer, site header, right-sidebar, left sidebar.
When you use Element, you need to work with Display Rules i.e. you need to set the element to be displayed in different locations. Locations can be anywhere between entire sites, pages, posts, categories, tags, etc.
Menu Plus
MenuPlus Module helps to make the menu sticky, off-canvas navigation, mobile header, etc. Menu plus options can be found on the Customize > Layout where you need to check out respective sections.
Secondary Nav
With secondary navigation, you can add an extra menu with colors, typography, layout, etc. You need to activate Secondary Navigation in GeneratePress.
Appearance > GeneratePress > Secondary Nav > Activate
Sections
Sections are the mini page builder available only in GeneratePress Premium Add-ons. If you are using an advanced Page builder like Elementor, Beaver Builder, etc. then you can avoid using sections.
If you are using Classic Editor then you can use sections modules in your post/page with ease. It is easier to build a page with available settings in sections.
With the latest WordPress update, Sections can’t be used with Gutenberg Editor. so GeneratePress is building GenerateBlocks – a lightweight WordPress block that can accomplish nearly anything. It is compatible with Gutenberg Editor.
Site Library
After purchasing the premium version, you will get full access to the site library. You can import the whole library and make your site live quickly.
These site libraries can be imported with GeneratePress options and demo content. If you have content then you can skip the demo content. GeneratePress sites use default WordPress Editor, Elementor free or Pro version, and Beaver Builder to create some of the demo sites and content.
Importing the site library is easy and can be imported quickly. To import a demo site you need to Activate the Site Library in Premium Modules.
Appearance > GeneratePress > Site Library > Activate
Now, you will get full access to the site library, Appearance > GeneratePress > Site Library, Import the desired site and content on your site. There are over 46+ demo sites in the site library section and it is increasing steadily with the theme of a nice layout.
Spacing
The spacing add-ons help to manage margin & padding and control the size in GeneratePress. You can use this module in the header, menu item, container separate, sidebar width, content padding, width padding, footer widget & footer padding, secondary menu, etc.
Typography
Choosing fonts is crucial when you are creating a site. In the typography module, you can select over 70 different System fonts and Google fonts to style your site.
You can customize the fonts of each area in the GP theme. You can change font family, font variants, Font weight, font size, etc in the header, footer, sidebar, body, menu, etc.
Also, to optimize and speed up your site, you can host the google fonts locally in WordPress.
Woocommerce
Woocommerce is a plugin for WordPress to create an e-commerce site. It is a free and open-source plugin. so before using this module you need to install and activate the Woocommerce plugin on your website.
woocommerce modules help to customize your product pages, checkout pages, etc. using colors, layout, typography options in your site.
Support
The main thing to look at before purchasing any theme is to look after their support. GeneratePress Theme has two versions, free and premium. Free GP Theme has 900+ 5-stars ratings on wordpress.org and the support is quite impressive.
GeneratePress premium support is best and I rate the support as 5/5 stars for the eagerness to help and solve the issue. Leo, David, and Tom himself are willing to solve the queries raised by the clients.
I, myself have asked around 20+ questions in the time of writing this review and almost all my problems were solved. This is a screenshot of the few topics that I have asked about in the support forum.
Documentation
As always, documentation is a crucial part of every project and GeneratePress Theme has the best documentation part. You can find an in-depth guide about each and every module, customization, Hooks, Filters, etc
You can access GeneratePress Theme Documentation at docs.generatepress.com. The documentation is divided into four parts, it is easier to navigate and search any tutorial within the knowledge base.
Let’s say you want to know about Elements in GeneratePress then you can search it and find extensive documentation. They have properly explained each and everything in their documentation.
Moreover, you can search for every related problem via Google Search, the official GP Theme documentation ranks higher in SERPs. so, it is easier to find everything in Google too.
How to install GeneratePress Premium Theme?
To activate GeneratePress Premium Theme, first, you need to install a free version of GP Theme. You can install it within WordPress.
- Visit Appearance > Themes > Add New
- Search GeneratePress
- Install and Activate the Theme.
After activating the free theme, you need to download the GP premium plugin from the official site.
- Visit the GeneratePress site.
- Click on Log in Menu.
- Login using Username and Password.
- You will be redirected to Download Section.
- Download GP Premium.
- And then go to your WordPress Dashboard.
- Go to Plugins > Add New.
- Click on Upload Plugin.
- Browse GP Premium.
- Install and Activate it.
- Go to Appearance > GeneratePress.
- Enter the License Key.
- Activate the necessary GeneratePress Modules.
- Now enjoy the premium version.
Page Speed – Is GeneratePress the Fastest Theme?
Google states that Speed is a ranking factor so, for both desktop and mobile versions your site needs to be very fast. Mostly user visits sites from mobile using 2G, 3G, 4G or even using WiFi, so it is crucial to load your site faster on the mobile version.
Search Engines like Google look after 200+ ranking factors and page speed is one of them. so the speed is one factor that helps to outrank your competitor in SERPs.
Therefore, the GeneratePress team is behind you to help better in speed and accessibility.
Before starting GeneratePress Speed Test, you need to use some of the speed optimizing plugins and tweak settings to optimize your website.
Here, Tom has created a speedtest.generatepress.com subdomain to test GeneratePress Theme where Tom suggests using Autoptimize free plugin to optimize.
Tom calls GeneratePress 3.0 – A New Era update as it is one of the most important updates in the history of GeneratePress. With GeneratePress 3.0, Tom has made the whole theme, even more, lightweight than before saving 55% by combining 3 CSS to one main.min.css reducing 3 HTTP requests to one, and lots of changes in the codes.
The Core Web Vitals is crucial factors too look after as Google considers speed as a ranking signal. Google’s Core Web Vitals mainly looks after Largest Contentful Paint, First Input Delay, and Cumulative Layout Shift. We can get huge benefits with GP 3.0, so update to the latest version wisely.
Moreover, Tom decided to test 3.0 version with Google Lighthouse, and here is the result.
Personally, I am using NameCheap hosting, WP Rocket plugin, and Cloudflare CDN in this website, and after optimizing, I manage to get a 99/100 score in GTMetrix.
I have tested my website even in Google PageSpeed Insights, the result is amazing.
I manage to get a 99/100 score for Desktop and 95/100 for Mobile Version. so, by these tests, I can say GeneratePress Premium theme is one of the fastest themes available in the market.
GeneratePress Theme Review Tutorial:
If you are searching for GeneratePress premium tutorials then you can find plenty of them on the internet.
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You can try to disable google fonts in GeneratePress or learn to add google analytics in GeneratePress Theme.
Moreover, you can try to show Related Posts on your site, display the last updated date in GP sites, also create the last widget sticky or remove powered by GeneratePress.
If you need code to enhance the functionality in GeneratePress Theme you can use the GeneratePress Custom Code Snippets in your website.
If you are using free GeneratePress Theme then you can ask them in the WordPress forum support section. For premium users, you can get direct support from the official GP site.
GeneratePress Lifetime Deal
GeneratePress Lifetime: As compared to Astrawp WordPress Theme, GeneratePress also offers a lifetime deal. You can use GP Premium LifeTime Theme up to 500 websites with lifetime premium Support
Moreover, AstraWP has two kinds of licenses: one is annual renewal and the other is a lifetime deal. Astra Pro, Mini Agency Bundle, and Agency Bundle are three kinds of pricing modules available in Astra Theme but there are two pricing modules in GeneratePress i.e. that costs $59 with no annual renewal discount for new purchases but existing customers can get a 40% discount and another is GeneratePress Lifetime deal at $249 price for one-time.
GeneratePress Lifetime DealFlexbox Grid vs Legacy Floats
With GeneratePress 3.0, by default new sites are going to use Flexbox Grid but for existing users by default, you are going to use the Floats grid system.
Flexbox Grid version is lightweight than the Legacy Floats grid system, where existing users can switch between floats and flexbox from Customizer.
- Go to Appearance > Customizer > General.
- Choose between Flexbox and Floats in Structure Option.
- Hit Publish Button.
External File Dynamic CSS
With the GeneratePress Premium 1.11.0 update, you can see lots of changes, mainly the performance improvements.
And here we can see one feature called Dynamic CSS Print Method.
Before, GeneratePress was used to add the Inline CSS file below the main stylesheet. Now, GeneratePress has added an option to generate your dynamic CSS in an external file. This feature helps in significant performance improvements.
- Go to Appearance > Customizer > General.
- Choose External File option when asked Dynamic CSS Print Method.
- Click on Regenerate CSS File and Hit Publish Button.
Tom and his team have upgraded the GeneratePress Premium theme to 2.0 with the first-ever block-based theme and they have named it GP Theme builder.
In this major haul update, you can use dynamic data within a block element, moreover, you can design content areas using content templates, design page hero sections using header elements with complete control that is not limited to the theme customizer.
With this updated GP Theme is ditching jQuery i.e. the theme is using Vanilla JavaScript to boost the performance. The jQuery part is only included in sticky navigation and WooCommerce.
Also, as stated in changelog the sections module is now deprecated i.e. it is easier to build sections with the block editor and GenerateBlocks.
Moreover, you can check the latest changelog on the GeneratePress site to find more about updates.
List of Plugins for GeneratePress WordPress Theme
I always try to avoid the excessive use of plugins in my blog. But there are some of the best plugins that you can’t generally avoid in WordPress. You need plugins to add extra features and functionality to your blog.
Here, I am going to share some of the important plugins I have been using on my GeneratePress site.
- BunnyCDN – Improve the loading time of your WordPress site using BunnyCDN (Cheap as ~$1/month). Also, Read BunnyCDN Review.
- CAOS – Host Google Analytics Locally to improve the loading time of your website.
- Code Snippets – Add PHP code to functions.php without creating a child Theme.
- LuckyWP Table of Contents – Create a user-friendly Table of Contents automatically. You can also create table of contents in WordPress without plugin.
- Limit Modified Date – Prevent the date to be modified while making minor changes to your content.
- Scriptless Social Sharing – Add a Social Sharing button to your posts and pages without loading any JavaScript. It helps to improve the loading time of the website. I have also created my own social sharing buttons for GeneratePress without plugin.
- WP Rocket – Load your WordPress website within a second. The Best WordPress Caching Plugin.
- WP Show Posts – WP Show Posts helps to create the list and allows you to insert it anywhere on the website with the help of shortcodes.
- Remove URL Field from GeneratePress – The plugin allows you to disable/Remove the URL/Website field from the Comment form in GeneratePress Theme.
Competitors & Alternatives
Even though GeneratePress is the fastest and lightweight WordPress Theme, there are some of the competitor themes in the market that matches the level of GeneratePress.
Before buying any theme, Users like to compare the products. Here, Users often search GeneratePress vs Astra vs Oceanwp and compare between these awesome themes.
Let’s compare Generatepress vs Astra vs Oceanwp.
Astra
Astra is yet another fastest and lightweight WordPress Theme. Like GeneratePress Theme, you can download Astra Theme for free and for premium modules you need to purchase.
The Astro Pro starts from $59. Moreover, you can purchase a mini agency bundle to an agency bundle that comes with a yearly renewal or with a lifetime license.
Astra WP is compatible with page builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, Brizy, and the latest block editor, Gutenberg. For white-level service, Astra Theme is the best in the market.
OceanWP
Like Astra WP and GeneratePress, you can download the OceanWP theme for free, and later on, you can purchase the premium bundle.
Like other themes, OceanWP is compatible with most of the page builders. There are 20+ demos available to start your site with including blogs, one-page, business sites. Oceanwp Theme is a Multipurpose SEO-friendly and fast-loading WordPress theme available in the market.
FAQs
What is GeneratePress Theme?
GeneratePress is a multipurpose lightweight free WordPress Theme developed by Tom Usborne, mainly focusing the performance, security, and usability.
Is GeneratePress free?
Yes, GeneratePress is a free WordPress theme and you can download or install it from the wordpress.org directory or from an official website. GeneratePress has a premium version too which costs you $59 on a yearly plan and $249 for a lifetime with a one-time fee.
What is the best Page Builder for GeneratePress?
GenerateBlocks is the best page builder for GeneratePress. GenerateBlocks is developed by the same developer, Tom Usborne, the person behind GeneratePress WordPress Theme.
Does GeneratePress Theme work best with Elementor?
Elementor and GeneratePress work perfectly in WordPress. Both the free and premium version works flawlessly but the GP Pro version has lots of features.
Is Beaver Builder good to integrate with GeneratePress Theme?
Yes, you can integrate Beaver Builder with GeneratePress Theme. You can find a few themes in the GeneratePress Site Library that are build using Beaver Builder.
Can you use GeneratePress Premium on Unlimited Sites?
No, GeneratePress premium theme can be used only up to 500 sites according to new rules, you can even use GP Theme to build client sites.
Do I need to renew the GeneratePress License?
No, renewing the GeneratePress theme is not compulsory but if you can want to get the latest update then you can renew the theme at $59/year.
Wrapping Up
At last, I want to give a big thank Mr Tom Usborne and his Team for building such a wonderful GeneratePress Theme which is one of the best and fastest WordPress Themes right now. I have been using GP Premium WordPress Theme with various Modules activated in this blog.
I hope you loved/liked our extensive GeneratePress Review. Even though you can find the free version of GeneratePress Theme, I would suggest trying the GeneratePress Premium version.
GP Premium provides full access to the site library, support including 30 days money-back guarantee with a 40% discount on yearly renewal.
Moreover, If you have any questions then please free to comment below.
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Generatepress Premium Theme Tutorial Video:
