Astra vs Sydney

Astra is a multipurpose WordPress theme from Brainstorm Force, developed for performance and SEO. Its no-code site builder offers customizable headers and footers, global editing, drag-and-drop controls, and live editing. It works with Gutenberg, Elementor, Beaver Builder, Brizy, WooCommerce, LearnDash, LifterLMS, and Easy Digital Downloads. WooCommerce features include product variation swatches, quick view, sticky add-to-cart, and an optimized checkout. Starter Templates provides importable website demos that can be customized, with free and premium templates available. The Astra theme and Starter Templates plugin are free from the WordPress repository. Paid options range from the Astra Pro add-on at $69 a year to toolkits and lifetime plans; listed annual plans include Astra Pro + AI at $99 a year, Essential Toolkit + AI at $199 a year, and Business Toolkit + AI at $279 a year. Paid site limits vary by plan, and staging and development sites count toward them. Some plans include hosted websites with SSL. Astra says paid plans have no trial and come with a 14-day refund guarantee. It says transactions are processed through Stripe and PayPal and card details are not stored.

Sydney is a multipurpose WordPress theme for business sites, freelancer pages, and creative portfolios. It works with the WordPress block editor and Elementor and is designed for self-hosted websites. The free theme includes three starter sites; Sydney Pro includes 17. Design controls include a header and footer builder, layout settings, prebuilt sections, and multiple sidebars. Sydney Pro adds seven blog layouts, post sharing, and displays for reading progress and time. Its store features include wishlists, product swatches, multistep checkout, and AJAX product search. Listed integrations include Toolset and WooCommerce, alongside Elementor widgets for MailChimp, Contact Form 7, WPForms, and Ninja Forms. Sydney supports WooCommerce, the block editor, and child themes. WordPress.org describes it as responsive, translation- and RTL-ready, and built with SEO-friendly code. The free plan costs nothing. Paid plans are $63/year for one website, $119/year for 10 websites, and $199/year for 100 websites; they include 12 months of premium support. Pro purchases have a 14-day money-back guarantee.