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16 Fastest WordPress Themes (Based on Thorough Testing)

16 Fastest WordPress Themes (Based on Thorough Testing)

Author: Salman Ravoof
Published: March 1, 2022
Updated: August 6, 2024

Finding the fastest WordPress theme may seem like a lost cause. Are you supposed to test every theme you’re interested in and compare the differences in millisecond load times to find the most lightweight WordPress theme?

How do you account for changes in hosting speeds from the developers and their online demos? What if the testing tools produce conflicting results?

It’s unrealistic to think the average WordPress user will consistently test desired themes for performance. It’s tough to remove outside factors, and there are too many WordPress themes to consider.

That’s why we did the work for you.

Using four different speed tests, a new installation for each theme, and the same server for each theme’s speed testing, we were able to narrow down the fastest WordPress themes to a shortlist.

In addition, we compared the best of the best to show which of them perform well in different situations and which of them have the highest performance scores and fastest speeds.

Make sure to check out our guide on how to run speed tests if you’d like to run some tests on your own as well.

Interested in Woocommerce themes, instead? Check out our curated list of the fastest WooCommerce themes (based on testing).

Let’s get cracking!

How We Tested the Fastest WordPress Theme Candidates

Our search began with themes we’ve encountered in the past, along with the best WordPress themes based on popularity, high numbers of downloads, and quality reviews.

We added to our list of candidates from the WordPress Repository to identify hidden gems, newer themes, and highly-rated options that we may have missed from the previous collection.

If you come across a fast WordPress site, you can find out what theme it uses with our theme detector tool. If the theme is not in our list below, be sure to let us know about it in the comments!

The speed testing process went like this:

Install and activate the theme on a blank WordPress sandbox installation. This allows for standardization in WordPress hosting and no complications with other plugins or site files.
Leave the theme as-is, with no added media, menus, pages, or posts. We also want to leave out any demo content and not assign a homepage for a level starting point.
Run the website with the theme through the GTmetrix Speed Test.
Run the theme through the Pingdom Speed Test.
Run the theme through the PageSpeed Insights Test to evaluate mobile and desktop speed.
Run the theme through the Byte Check TTFB Test (we have a complete guide on how to reduce TTFB (Time to First Byte) if you’d like to dig deeper into the topic).

Each testing tool has its benefits. We’ve outlined what our metrics mean and why they’re essential to understanding the evaluation better.

As for why we used four tools, each of them has varying standards and results, so we want to ensure one tool isn’t giving better or worse results than another. In addition, a few of the tools focus on specifics like mobile speed, page size, or the speed at which the first website element appears.

Here’s a summary of the testing tools we used.

GTmetrix

GTmetrix takes a website and breaks down its speed and optimization. It’s an excellent tool for checking on performance issues and if a theme is way too cluttered with unnecessary files.

Since November 2020, GTmetrix is powered by Lighthouse and has a new report design. The new design includes an updated GTmetrix Grade based on the new Performance and Structure scores.

A screenshot of the new GTmetrix report. — GTmetrix.

GTmetrix Grade: It’s a weighted grade of both the Performance and Structure scores. The grade considers both the site’s raw performance and actual performance experienced by users.
Performance Score: The Lighthouse Performance score captured by GTmetrix during their tests. Higher is better.
Structure Score: It’s based on both Lighthouse audits and GTmetrix’s own custom audits. In ideal situations, it’s almost the same as the Performance Score.
Web Vitals: They’re metrics established by Google as key to users’ perception of performance. These key metrics include Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Total Blocking Time (TBT), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).

Pingdom

Pingdom is similar to GTmetrix, but we like to run both side-by-side since they offer slightly different metrics and can serve as a “check-and-balances” situation if any significant discrepancies happen between the two.

Performance Grade: This is a cumulative grade out of 100. The goal is to get as high of a score as possible. Some elements that contribute to the score include content size, errors, redirects, requests, and more.
Load Time: The amount of time it takes Pingdom to load the entire website with a theme installed. Lower is better.
Page Size: The size of your total site files. The theme affects this drastically. Lower is better.
Requests: The number of server requests to deliver your theme and site content to the user. Fewer is ideal.

PageSpeed Insights

Google PageSpeed Insights excels with displaying how user experience is the most critical part of having a fast WordPress theme. It focuses on how quickly content is shown to the user, while also revealing the aspects of the theme that make for slow delivery times.

We use both mobile and desktop tests for our measurements as it gives a better overall picture.

Here are the primary data points to know about:

A screenshot of the PageSpeed Insights Mobile test. — PageSpeed Insights.

Performance Score: This score is out of 100. The performance scoring is detailed here, with speed index, time to deliver content, and idle timing.
First Contentful Paint: The amount of time taken for your theme and website to show the first content item. Lower is better.
Largest Contentful Paint: The amount of time taken for your theme and website to show the largest content item. Lower is better.
Speed Index: How much time elapses for every content item to appear to the user. Again, lower is ideal.
Time to Interactive: Interactivity is different than visibility. Essentially, it means that a button might be visible, but the user may not be able to click it yet. So, this timing should be longer than the Speed Index, but we still want a lower number.
Total Blocking Time: The time spent waiting for a download to start, typically because other assets such as stylesheets and scripts have a higher priority.
Cumulative Layout Shift: Measures the page’s visual stability. Does the page content move or jump unexpectedly, especially during the initial load? A CLS score of <0.1 is considered good, while >0.25 is deemed poor.

Byte Check

A TTFB test (Time to First Byte test) measures how long the browser takes to complete an HTTP request and ends up with one byte of data being sent to the user from the server.

Essentially, it’s saying how long it takes for the tiniest bit of information to be delivered. Hosting plays a prominent role in delivering the first byte, so choosing the fastest WordPress hosting solution is essential, but a clunky theme causes problems too.

Here’s what we look at during our testing using bytecheck.com:

A screenshot of Byte Check's TTFB test results. — Byte Check.

Time To First Byte: The TTFB is ideally a very short period (in milliseconds). It reflects how long it takes the first byte of data to go from the server to the user.
Total Time: The total time could incorporate other factors, but we found that it’s always the same in our testing. We figure hosting changes would modify this number.
Request Size: Ideally low, the request size is the size of data sent through the HTTP request. Our testing revealed the same request size across all themes.
Total Header Size: This is important because, in some cases, the header file sizes often weigh down a theme. Measured in bytes, it’s the total file size of your theme/website header. Our testing revealed the same header size across all themes.

Now that the testing method and tools are clear, it’s time to look at our results and find the fastest WordPress theme (backed by data).

Note: The themes are listed in no particular order. Read their individual test results and conclusions to understand how they perform. You can also skip to the final section to view a compiled table of all the results.

1. Hello Elementor

If you’re familiar with the Elementor Page Builder, you know how fast and easy it can be to build a WordPress site without using any code. Elementor is a top pick in the world of drag-and-drop page builders, so it’s no surprise that the same developers have produced a theme that’s fast and versatile, called Hello Elementor.

Hello Elementor's homepage. — Hello Elementor.

The theme is marketed as fast and flexible. As you may assume, it combines nicely with Elementor and many other plugins like WooCommerce, Advanced Custom Fields, Yoast, and more.

The mobile design performs well in testing and provides a smooth interface, so your visitors aren’t confused with a glitchy menu or text. The theme starts you off with a relatively blank slate, but the power of Elementor comes into play for designing what you need for any industry.

Pricing

The Hello Elementor theme is available as a free download.

The Elementor Page Builder is free, with paid plans (starting at $49 per year) for additional templates, widgets, and element builders.

Notable Features

The Hello Elementor theme integrates with Elementor, one of the most uncomplicated page builders out there.
The base design and theme files are minimalistic and straightforward, allowing breakneck speeds and an overall clean interface.
With the Elementor integration, you can make any website with the theme and page builder.
Some of the page builder elements that come with Hello Elementor include video, headings, spacers, Google Maps, portfolios, posts, and many more.
Hello Elementor has built-in tools for rapidly designing landing pages.
The theme integrates with popular plugins like WooCommerce, Yoast, and WPML.
You receive a beautiful responsive design for all devices.
Create multilingual and translated sites with help from RTL support.
Hello Elementor has a strong following and solid support resources, making it easy for you to reach out for help and find articles online.