Most Lightweight and Fastest WordPress Theme

The goal of this article is to discover the most lightweight and Fastest WordPress Theme.

Instead of just giving you all the data without evidence, allow me to walk you through the experiment so you know the conclusion is based on scientific data.

It is not based on an opinion that could usually be biased.

The idea is to make this the most detailed and comprehensive test available on the internet.

Speed Test Conditions

To make this speed test fair, here are the things we will do.

So, everything is the same. The only difference is the pro version of each theme.

How will this test be conducted?

To make this test super comprehensive, we will have two sets of results.

1. Blank install test (Testing the default theme install)
2. Page with elements (Creating a page scratch with elements)

We will quickly run three tests on Google Page Speed Insights, Pingdom, and GT Metrix with the blank install test. The final result will be the average of the three tests.

With the “Page with elements” test, we will use the same elements and Gutenberg Blocks to build an almost identical landing page on all themes.

Then, we will conduct an extensive test that will span 12 hours on the same day.

Starting at 5 am, all the way through to 4 pm, we will be conducting a total of 10 tests every hour (Leaving 8 am and 9 am free because of daddy duties).

Fastest WordPress Themes to be Tested

All the themes below are said to be the fastest WordPress themes, and whenever I discover comparable new themes, I will add them to this list.

• Generatepress
• Astra WP
• Neve Theme by Themeisle
• Ocean WP
• Blocksy
• Kadence WP

So, in case you don’t find your favourite fastest WordPress Theme on this list, feel free to leave a comment below.

Experiment Done on Video (Leaving No Trace of Biasness)

To see how I did the test one step at a time, you can watch the video below. All the results documented in the video will be reflected in this article

Fastest WordPress Themes By Ranking

GeneratePress
(First Place)

Based on our extensive test, GeneratePress has emerged as the fastest WordPress Theme.

The only downside to this theme is its customizability. You probably need to learn CSS and JavaScript to customize the theme.

However, their awesome support team has made it easy for its customers to overcome the deficiency.

Google Page Speed Insights

94
(1 point lower than Kadence)

Pingdom Tools

Grade
92.3
(Best)

Load Time
778ms
(Best)

Page Size
279.6kb
(Best)

Request
21
(Best)

GT Metrix

Performance
97
(Best)

Structure
99.6

Fully Loaded
1.5s
(0.3s slower than Blocksy)

Get GeneratePress

Kadence WP
(Second Place)

Kadence WP got the best result in Google Page Speed Insights, and it is not far away from other attributes.

Although Kadence WP comes in second place, it is my top choice for beginners because it does not lack in speed, and its customizability far exceeds GeneratePress.

Plus, its free theme provides more features than many premium (paid) themes on the market.

Google Page Speed Insights

95
(Best)

Pingdom Tools

Grade
91.2
(1.1 points lower than #1)

Load Time
840ms
(62ms slower than #1)

Page Size
297.7kb
(18.1kb bigger than #1)

Request
24
(3 more than #1)

GT Metrix

Performance
95
(2 points lower than #1)

Structure
99.6

Fully Loaded
1.5s
(0.3s slower than Blocksy)

Get Kadence WP

Neve
(Third Place)

The Neve theme by Themeisle has been in close competition with Generatepress for a long time, and it was second-best in terms of speed.

Even when new themes like Kadence and Blocksy came out on the market, it is still holding strong in the third place.

It is still a better choice than Generatepress when it comes to customizability.

Google Page Speed Insights

92
(2 points lower than #1)

Pingdom Tools

Grade
90.3
(2 points lower than #1)

Load Time
850ms
(72ms slower than #1)

Page Size
283.7kb
(4.1kb bigger than #1)

Request
24
(3 more than #1)

GT Metrix

Performance
95
(2 points lower than #1)

Structure
99.6

Fully Loaded
1.6s
(0.4s slower than Blocksy)

Get Neve

Blocksy
(Fourth Place)

Blocksy is worthy of mention because its performance is not far away from the Neve Theme.

Like Kadence WP, it is one of the newest WordPress Themes on the market that comes with many of unique features.

The free theme features can be compared to most premium (paid) themes on the market.

Google Page Speed Insights

91
(3 points lower than #1)

Pingdom Tools

Grade
91.2
(1.1 points lower than #1)

Load Time
1012ms
(234ms slower than #1)

Page Size
358.1kb
(78.5kb bigger than #1)

Request
25
(4 more than #1)

GT Metrix

Performance
94
(3 points lower than #1)

Structure
99.6

Fully Loaded
1.2s
(Best)

Get Blocksy

Blank Theme Test

We are trying to figure out which theme performs the best on the blank install for this test.

This means nothing else, other than the respective WordPress theme, is installed.

Pingdom Tools (Grade)

Overall Performance
Winner: Neve & GeneratePress

The results of the three tests are consistent.

GeneratePress and Neve are tied at the top spot for the “Grade Score” of Pingdom Tools.

Pingdom Tools (Load Time)

The total time it took for the page to load fully.

Overall Performance
Winner: GeneratePress

Pingdom Tools (Page Size)

Overall Performance
Winner: Generatepress

Based on the result, Generatepress is considered the most lightweight WordPress theme.

Pingdom Tools (Number of Requests)

The more requests a theme has, it usually correlates to poor performance.

Overall Performance
Winner: Generatepress & Neve

GT Metrix (Performance Rating)

Overall Performance
Winner: Generatepress

Summary

GeneratePress is the most lightweight and fastest WordPress Theme for the Blank Install Test.

It has won almost every category of the test and only lost marginally at the Google Page Speed Insights score.

With Page Elements Test

We can’t rely solely on the Blank Install Test to tell which is the fastest WordPress Theme.

And that’s why we are conducting this test.

Because web pages on the internet come with page elements such as images, text, etc.

For this test to work, I will create a page like this from scratch using the same settings, images, fonts, elements, and Gutenberg Blocks.

It took about an hour and a half to create the same landing page six times.

And then, starting at 5 am, for 12 hours, I have recorded ten results in an hour interval.

Because I think this way, we will be able to get an accurate result.

You’ll be surprised that the “With Page Elements” test results are very different from the Blank Install Test result.

So, I hope you would appreciate the hard work and thought put into this article.

Google Page Speed Insights

Overall Performance
Winner: Kadence

Pingdom Tools (Grade)

Overall Performance
Winner: Generatepress

Pingdom Tools (Load Time)

Overall Performance
Winner: Generatepress

Pingdom Tools (Page Size)

Overall Performance
Winner: Generatepress

Pingdom Tools (Number of Requests)

Overall Performance
Winner: Generatepress

GT Metrix (Performance Rating)

Overall Performance
Winner: Generatepress

GT Metrix (Fully Loaded)

The “Fully Loaded” metric from GT Metrix is such an important metric, but for some reason, I did not include it right until 12 pm (maybe I wasn’t fully awake).

So, there are only 5 test results for this metric, and I hope you won’t think less of this entire experiment.

Overall Performance
Winner: Blocksy

Aggregation Rules & Example

Let’s put everything together, and here’s how we will determine which is the fastest WordPress Theme.

We will assign a maximum of 6 points for each tested category, and if there is a tie, both themes will be given the same points. So, here’s an example:

1. Generatepress being the fastest will be assigned 6 points.
2. Kadence and Neve tied at second place. They will be assigned 5 points each.
3. Astra WP and Blocksy tied at third place. They will be given 4 points each.
4. Ocean WP will be awarded 3 points in the last place.

Finally, we will consolidate all the points assigned to each of them. The WordPress Theme that acquired the most points wins.

Conclusion: Which is the Fastest WordPress Theme?

Blank Install Test

GeneratePress has emerged as the Fastest WordPress Theme based on the Blank Install Test.

Even though Kadence and Blocksy earned the same points, Kadence won the Page size and load time (important metrics), hence gaining the 4th position.

As I’ve mentioned, the Blank Install Test results can’t tell the whole story, and that’s why we need the “With Page Elements” Test.

You’d be surprised that the results from both tests are very much different.

With Page Elements Test

GeneratePress is the definite winner as it won in both the “Blank Install Test” and “With Page Element Test.”

It is quite surprising that Kadence climbed from 4th place to 2nd place, replacing the Neve Theme.

And what’s shocking is Astra WP being pushed down to 5th place. I thought a matured theme would have gotten better results, but apparently not.

Blocksy climbed one rank up with a huge lead ahead of Astra WP.

And finally, Ocean WP remains in the 6th position.

Conclusion

The “With Page Elements Test” takes precedence over the “Blank Install Test.”

So, the results of the “With Page Elements Test” are final.

Thank you for being here! I hope this article helped.

If you have any suggestions or you need my assistance, feel free to leave a comment.