After 15+ years working with WordPress, I‘ve tested my fair share of themes. Both free and premium.
As a webmaster and expert, I‘m often asked – are expensive premium WordPress themes really worth the high price tags?
My answer? Absolutely.
Now I know what you may be thinking…
"Why spend $60, $100, or even $300 on a theme when I can get free ones?"
This is a fair question. But in my experience, premium WordPress themes provide value that justifies the higher cost.
In this post, let‘s explore some of the most expensive premium themes on the market. I‘ll share examples, pros/cons, and statistics to help you understand why the investment can pay off.
By the end, you‘ll have a better sense of which high-end themes fit your needs and budget.
Contents
What Makes Premium WordPress Themes Stand Out?
Before jumping into specific themes, it‘s important to understand what sets expensive premium themes apart.
Here are the key factors I look for that justify the higher prices:
Design Quality and Customization
Premium WordPress themes have very polished, professional designs. You can really tell the difference in quality.
They also provide much more extensive customization options. We‘re talking fine-grained control over colors, fonts, layouts, and branding elements.
This high level of design quality and flexibility is invaluable. It allows you to craft a website aligned with your brand image.
Page Builder Integration
Many premium themes integrate directly with popular page builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, and Brizy.
This makes building out custom page layouts incredibly fast and easy. Simply drag-and-drop the elements you need.
Features and Functionality
Expensive premium themes come packed with features like:
- Sliders, galleries, portfolios
- Social media integration
- Testimonials and reviews
- eCommerce support
- Forms and lead generation
This eliminates the need for a lot of extra plugins. The features are baked right in.
Support and Documentation
With high-end premium themes, you can expect stellar customer support and detailed documentation.
This makes getting up and running much smoother. And any issues get promptly resolved by the theme developers.
Flexible Licensing
Many expensive themes have licenses that allow you to use them on multiple websites. Some offer lifetime access with a single purchase.
This adds a lot of value compared to single-site licenses that require yearly renewals.
Performance and Speed
Expensive premium themes put a strong emphasis on site speed through optimized code. Fast page load times are critical for SEO and conversions.
Now that you know what to look for, let‘s explore some specific examples and why they warrant the higher price tag.
1. Divi by Elegant Themes – $89/year
Divi by Elegant Themes is arguably the most popular premium theme on the market. It powers over 1 million websites, including many recognizable brands.
Pros
- Extremely flexible drag-and-drop builder
- 800+ pre-made layouts and templates
- Tons of design controls for customization
- Integrates with all major plugins and page builders
- Great community and support network
Cons
- Load times can be slow if you go overboard with options
- Building complex pages has a learning curve
Divi gives you an advanced WordPress site builder coupled with a professional-grade theme. Together they provide the premium features and customization serious websites need.
The lifetime option for $249 is a great deal considering you‘ll receive free access to all future updates. Divi sites also achieve higher conversion rates, on average:
Overall Divi delivers serious value given the robust features and flexibility it provides. I rank it as one of the best premium themes for anyone looking for a customizable all-in-one solution.
2. Astra – $59/year
Astra is one of the fastest premium WordPress themes available, with a lightweight codebase optimized for speed. Pages load incredibly fast.
It‘s also extremely customizable, with deep design controls for typography, colors, spacing, layouts, and white labeling.
Astra comes packed with features like:
- Drag and drop header/footer builder
- Advanced page layouts
- WooCommerce boosts
- Access to libraries of ready-made starter sites
You can use Astra on unlimited sites, which is rare for a premium theme.
Pros
- Blazing fast load times
- Very customizable design settings
- Feature-packed
- Unlimted site usage
Cons
- Requires some work to create custom page layouts
- More limited selection of pre-made templates
For those wanting a customizable theme focused on speed, Astra is hard to beat in terms of value for money. It‘s a top choice among developers as well.
3. Flatsome – $59/year
Flatsome is one of the most robust premium themes specifically built for eCommerce stores and online shops.
It comes with dedicated shop templates, one-page checkout support, visual product galleries, and all the features you need to optimize your online store:
- Sticky add-to-cart buttons
- Upsells and cross-sells
- Coupons
- Customer login portals
- Multiple shop layouts
Flatsome also integrates with top page builders and has the UX Builder for crafting custom layouts and advanced elements like sliders and banners.
There are also hundreds of ready-made header/footer layouts you can insert right into your site with a click.
Pros
- Packed with eCommerce features
- Great for building online stores
- Hundreds of shop-ready templates
Cons
- Less flexible for general websites
- Steeper learning curve
For anyone running or building an online store, Flatsome delivers tremendous premium value through its deep features and shop-specific focus. It‘s used on over 70,000 eCommerce sites – more than any other theme.
4. Newspaper by TagDiv – $59/year
Newspaper is the premium theme of choice for news/magazine websites.
It comes with 20+ custom widgets and templates specifically for content-focused sites, like:
- Category pages
- Post listings
- Video integration
- Article layouts
- News tickers
- And more…
Newspaper‘s template kit provides full customization over layouts and styling. You can really tailor it to your brand.
The global styling panel makes site-wide design changes easy. And Newspaper uses tags and terms you‘d expect as a publisher, like "article", "post", "author", etc. This makes setup intuitive.
Pros
- Content-centric templates and widgets
- Global styling control
- Made for news/magazine sites
Cons
- Less ideal for product-focused sites
- Templates may need adjustment
For newspaper or magazine websites, Newspaper delivers the premium quality and deep functionality worthy of its higher price point.
5. Jupiter by Artbees – $99/year
Jupiter is a premium multipurpose theme great for all types of businesses. It comes with hundreds of template pages and sections to get your site up fast.
The drag-and-drop page builder makes creating any custom layout or page easy. And Jupiter includes tons of advanced elements like:
- Countdown timers
- Pricing tables
- Testimonials
- Portfolios
- Maps
- Appointment forms
- And more…
It‘s also fast and optimized for performance. Jupiter uses modern development practices like lazy loading and code minification.
Pros
- Huge library of templates and layouts
- Page builder for customization
- Performance optimizations
Cons
- Setup and learning curve is steep
- Changing global styling can be tricky
Jupiter offers premium features focused on business websites and conversion optimization. For the price, you get significant value through the sheer amount of built-in functionality.
Are Expensive Premium Themes Worth It?
As you can see, premium WordPress themes range widely in terms of their purpose, features, and pricing. But a question still remains…
Are expensive premium themes really worth the high price tag?
In my opinion as a seasoned webmaster, yes – expensive themes are absolutely worth the money and here‘s why:
- You get what you pay for in terms of quality, features, and support
- They provide professional, polished designs not achievable with free themes
- The advanced customization options save tremendous time and effort
- Integrated functionality replaces the need for extra plugins
- Detailed docs and great support resources provide peace of mind
Sure, not everyone needs the robust feature sets and customization power. But for serious websites and businesses, premium themes deliver immense value.
They can significant improve the visitor experience and even increase conversions over time.
So if you‘re building a business-critical site, investing in a quality premium theme is well worth considering. The money you save on developer time and extra tools adds up quickly.
Hope this helps provide some useful perspective! Let me know if you have any other questions.
