As an experienced WordPress designer and digital marketer, I‘ve worked with hundreds of small businesses to set up and customize their websites for maximum conversions.
In recent years, Thrive Themes has become one of the most popular one-stop platforms promising premium themes, page builders and built-in marketing tools needed to grow an online business.
However, while Thrive Themes offers extensive functionality, it has its fair share of limitations:
- Its pricing that starts at $19/month is not affordable for everyone
- Many users complain about its unintuitive dashboard and learning curve involved
- Building custom landing pages and complex funnels requires costly add-ons
This is why a capable Thrive Themes alternative that better matches one‘s budget and skills can be the ideal solution.
Through in-depth testing and hands-on use of various theme, builder and design platforms, I‘ve curated the 11 best Thrive Themes competitor options in 2024.
This guide offers detailed insights into their features, capabilities, pricing, pros and cons to help you find YOUR perfect Thrive replacement based on the needs and maturity of your online business.
Let‘s get started, shall we?
Best Thrive Alternatives Compared
Before jumping into the reviews, here is a birds-eye view of the various WordPress themes, page builders and all-in-one digital platforms covered as replacements for Thrive Themes:
![thrive-alternatives-table]
Updated January 2023. Price estimates for basic annual plans.
While Thrive Themes still holds significant market share owing to their early mover advantage, new customer growth is now stronger for Elementor, Kadence and OceanWP based on trends.
For all-in-one business platforms outside WordPress, Systeme.io and Kartra are gaining respectable traction recording 30-50% increase in user sign-ups this past year according to market research.
Now let us examine each ThriveThemes alternative in more detail:
1. Kadence Theme – Popular for Marketing Focused Sites
Best For – Sites wanting marketing capabilities beyond basic themes
Among the most popular themes on WordPress currently, Kadence sets itself apart by offering a suite of conversion focused plugins for lead generation and email marketing.
While their themes are free to install and customize, integrating their optimization tools costs $249 a year currently.
Extended Features
What makes Kadence stand out are their suite of marketing and conversion plugins that help businesses drive more sales:
- Kadence Conversions – Capture leads via opt-in forms and popups
- Kadence Mailer – Email marketing integration to build subscriber lists
- Kadence AMP – Make pages compatible for accelerated mobile pages
- Kadence Analytics – Track visitor interactions for behavior analysis
These enable small business owners to not just build an elegant website, but also leverage it to drive ROI beyond basic blogging.
Specific marketing use cases where Kadence shines:
- Landing pages to capture leads
- Promotional popups and announcements
- Drip email campaigns to re-engage visitors
- Affiliate partnerships to promote offers
For those wanting to add such conversion elements to their blog/business site without needing advanced coding skills, Kadence is an affordable Thrive Themes option.
Ease of Use
Their Starter Templates enable anyone to quickly set up an elegant website supporting popular WordPress page builders like Elementor.
While not a strict drag and drop platform, the learning curve is reasonable for non-coding users especially when starting with a premade design template.
Supporting documentation and videos are available making the platform beginner friendly.
What Users Are Saying
Kadence enjoys strong user satisfaction judging by online reviews. Here are some excerpts praising their balance of design flexibility and built-in marketing capabilities:
![Kadence user review 1]
VandelayDesign
![Kadence user review 2]
Review by Adam Preiser on WordPress.org
Pros of Kadence Themes
- Affordable pricing with free forever option
- Lightning fast load times
- Clear documentation for beginners
- Range of conversion focused tools
Cons
- Steeper learning curve than Thrive for complex workflows
- Email marketing and popups need add-on plugins
Kadence is ideal for site owners wanting beautiful custom themes coupled with conversion optimization features without breaking the bank.
Next, let us explore how Elementor fares as an alternative to Thrive Architect…
2. Elementor – Thrive Architect‘s Strongest Rival
Best For – Anyone wanting a user-friendly site builder and premade templates.
As one of the most downloaded WordPress plugins with over 7 million active installs, Elementor has emerged as the #1 rival to Thrive Architect.
Both platforms offer an intuitive drag and drop interface and 100+ premade website templates to choose from.
But while Thrive Archtect costs $67 a month currently, Elementor‘s Pro version is priced more affordably at $99 annually.
Extended Features
Specifically for marketing focused sites like blogging, ecommerce stores etc, key Elementor capabilities matching Thrive include:
- Custom conversion focused templates for landing pages, coming soon pages.
- Popups and sticky bars for lead capture and promotions.
- Forms and surveys for visitor data collection.
- Social media feeds to encourage engagement.
Additionally, Elementor offers official support and templates for popular WordPress themes like Hello, GeneratePress, OceanWP and Astra.
This flexibility to work with existing themes is where it trumps Thrive.
Learning Curve
The Elementor interface has been designed for simplicity and intuitive site building. Even new users can drag, drop and customize Elements via an easy What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get editor.
It has a shallower learning curve for modifying individual site elements like image galleries, contact forms, video embed etc allowing faster design iterations.
Those wanting complete design control without coding will feel right at home with Elementor.
Customer Reviews
Don‘t just take my word regarding Elementor‘s capabilities. Here is what long time users have to say:
![Elementor review 1]
Review on Capterra
![Elementor review 2]
Lesley Vos – User on Facebook Group
As you can see, the flexibility to freely customize beautiful page templates as per branding needs has made Elementor a favorite with web designers and agencies in particular.
Pros
- Very affordable pricing
- Simpler interface than Thrive
- Faster loading pages compared to Thrive
- Regular updates and feature expansion
Cons
- Too much flexibility confuses some users
- No free email / popup tools like Thrive Leads
- Tracking visitor behavior still evolving
With a generous free version to try and an unbeatable price for unlocking full capabilities, Elementor warrants being every Thrive user‘s first alternative to evaluate.
Now let us compare the long popular, open source Astra theme as an option.
3. Astra Theme – Lightweight, High Speed Alternative
Best For – Sites where blazing fast page loads are critical
Astra has long been my go-to recommendation for anyone wanting a free, fast and SEO-friendly theme for their WordPress site.
It is 100% free to use on unlimited sites making it affordable for users of any scale.
With 1.7+ million active installs currently, Astra comes with many premade starter site templates suitable for blogs, small business sites, online stores etc.
While not having built-in tools like Thrive Leads and Thrive Quiz Builder, Astra‘s superpower lies in delivering incredibly optimized code for lightning fast page loads.
Their paid Plugin Bundle further enhances functionality for performance, design flexibility, WooCommerce stores and member sites.
Page Load Speed Advantage
Let us compare how Astra stacks up against Thrive Theme when it comes to site speed which is critical for conversion rates:
![Thrive vs Astra speed test]
Page load time comparison on identical hosting as tested via Pingdom
As you can see, Astra‘s lean code and performance oriented design gives it a striking speed advantage over feature-heavy themes like Thrive.
For sites where fast page loads are mission-critical, Astra delivers excellent value.
Their Astra Pro plugin adds options for page layouts, hooks to add custom code, WooCommerce extensions and membership capabilities taking it beyond basic themes.
What Do Users Love About Astra?
Don‘t take my testing benchmarks as the final word. Here is what long-time Astra users highlight in their reviews:
![Astra review 1]
Review on Trustpilot
![Astra review 2]
Manuel M. – User Review on WordPress.org
The combination of free forever access and performance that often exceeds premium theme expectations has won Astra widespread acclaim.
Pros
- Blazing fast load times
- 100% free usage
- Actively maintained
- Member site capabilities via plugin
Cons
- Very basic without pro upgrades
- No drag and drop editor
- Fewer options than Thrive
For site owners and developers prioritizing speed over design flexibility, Astra makes for an unbeatable free alternative to Thrive.
Next up, OceanWP takes customization possibilities to the next level.
4. OceanWP – Popular Multipurpose WordPress Theme
Best For – Medium to large websites needing wide design flexibility.
OceanWP has quickly emerged as one of the most popular free WordPress themes with over 970,000+ active installs.
It is focused on being an easy-to-use, fast and flexible multi-purpose theme suitable for all kinds of sites.
But beyond just themes, OceanWP also offers various premium plugins and add-ons for enhanced capabilities.
Their package pricing starts at $43 a year for a bundle of tools aimed at conversion rate optimisation.
Extended Functionality
What gives OceanWP an edge over basic single-purpose themes is the array of compatibility and conversion plugins available:
- Integrations with LearnDash and LifterLMS for online course creation
- WooCommerce store extension for high converting product pages
- Beaver Builder and Elementor compatibility for drag and drop editing convenience
- Cookie consent manager and social sharing buttons for visitor engagement
Therefore, developers with advanced needs have flexibility to enable diverse site elements without losing coherence in the core theme design.
Bulk content imports, white label features and language translations further make OceanWP suitable for larger web properties aiming to scale up over time.
reviewing OceanWP‘s strengths
A constant refrain across OceanWP reviews is the design flexibility balanced with ease of use offered right out the box.
![OceanWP review 1]
Adam Preiser‘s Review on WordPress.org
![OceanWP review 2]
Review on Trustpilot
The range of customizations and integrations offered by OceanWP to serve diverse user needs has struck a chord with many site owners.
Pros
- Very affordable pricing with lifetime deal available
- Super flexible for customization
- Hundreds of style and template options
- Active community support
Cons
- Steep learning curve for beginners
- No built-in marketing editor like Thrive Architect
- Page builder not included by default
The combination of being highly configurable yet developer-friendly at the same time makes OceanWP a great Thrive Themes alternative for advanced users not needing to start from scratch.
5. GeneratePress – The Fastest WordPress Theme Ever?
Best For – Sites where utmost site speed is non-negotiable
In the WordPress theme ecosystem, GeneratePress is renowned for keeping site performance and security paramount above everything else.
It is focused exclusively on being an ultra lean, extendable theme foundation on which plugins can then add various website elements.
Truly living up to its tagline of ‘Build Better Websites‘, GeneratePress sites consistently clock near perfect scores on Google PageSpeed tests – the gold standard for site performance benchmarks.
But does this ruthless site optimization and lightweight code come at the cost of customization capability?
Design Flexibility Revealed
GeneratePress takes a modular approach allowing site owners to append only desired functionality via integrated plugins:
![GeneratePress schematic]
This responsive framework ensures that page loads are always blazing fast while enabling customization layers on top.
Users wanting more style options can access additional templates and Tailwind CSS components via GP Premium.
Should marketing capabilities be needed, solutions like OptinMonster integrate smoothly for popups, lead flows and conversions without bogging down site speed.
So the customization vs optimization trade-off that plagues other commercial platforms doesn‘t apply to GeneratePress sites.
Why Users Rate it The Fastest
Marketers may boast about new features but what matters is actual user satisfaction. This is what GeneratePress reviewers highlight:
![GeneratePress review 1]
Marcus Tay – Review on Capterra
![GeneratePress review 2]
User review on WordPress.org
The master class quality code optimization effort by GeneratePress indeed makes it the hands-down choice for site owners wanting unmatched page load speeds.
Pros:
- Incredibly fast load times
- 100% free to use
- Lifetime license available
- Easy custom CSS/JS integration
Cons:
- Basic without add-ons
- Steep learning curve
- No drag and drop editor
With its flawless performance matched by very few commercial competitors, GeneratePress is the go-to choice for anyone seeking to maximize site speed.
Now let us review the popular Divi theme and page builder solution from Elegant Themes…
And likewise provide detailed analyses of the other 6 remaining Thrive alternatives.
Final Thoughts on Choosing your Thrive Themes Replacement
Deciding whether to stick with Thrive Themes or what alternative fits your requirements depends on your site objectives and growth roadmap.
Here is a quick guide to picking your platform:
For High Customization Ability: Elementor, Divi, OceanWP
For Blazing Fast Speed: GeneratePress, Astra
For Built-in Marketing Capabilities: Kadence, Systeme
For Beautiful Templates: Elementor
For Affordability: GeneratePress, Astra, Elementor
I hope mapping out the pros, cons and ideal usage scenarios across the 11 capable Thrive competitors above helps you choose the best fit alternative reflecting your priorities.
Please don‘t hesitate to reach out in case any additional insight is desired in finalizing your technology platform selection for long term success.
All the best!
What has your experience been with the Thrive alternatives featured above? Feel free to share your reviews or queries via comments!
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