Astra
Brainstorm Force · Freemium · 4.9/5
A lightweight multipurpose theme with a huge library of importable starter sites for almost any niche.
Ph
Phlox
by averta
A multipurpose theme with hundreds of demo sites and its own Elementor widget pack.
4.8MultipurposeFreemium
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What Phlox is
A multipurpose theme with hundreds of demo sites and its own Elementor widget pack.
It sits in the multipurpose part of the theme market and is sold by averta on a freemium basis. A theme decides your layout, your typography and a large slice of your page weight, so it is the hardest thing on a WordPress site to change later.
Before you commit, record a speed test of your current site, then run the same test after you switch, on the same page, so you can see exactly what the new theme costs you.
What Phlox looks like
The official screenshot from the WordPress.org theme directory, as published by the theme authors.
See it running on a live demo site at the WordPress.org preview.
Real user ratings
Score
4.8/5
Reviews
866
Active installs
30,000+
Downloads
1.8M
Latest version
2.17.22
Last updated
2026-08-01
Figures come straight from the public WordPress.org theme directory API for version 2.17.22. You can check them yourself on the WordPress.org listing.
Where Phlox ranks elsewhere
Phlox does not appear in the published "best of" lists we track from WPBeginner, TechRadar, Kinsta, Themeisle and similar sites. That is not a mark against it - those roundups are short and skew towards the biggest names.
What changed in the latest version
Phlox does not publish a changelog we can read automatically, so check the vendor's own release notes before you update a live site.
Pros and cons
- One of the biggest free demo libraries available.
- Rated 4.8 out of 5 by 866 WordPress.org reviewers.
- There is a free version you can trial before paying.
- Works with the block editor and the mainstream page builders.
- Demo imports pull in several companion plugins you must then maintain.
- Switching themes later means rebuilding page layouts, so choose deliberately.
How to use it
- 1Install the theme from Appearance > Themes, then activate it on a staging copy first.
- 2Create a child theme or use the theme's own custom CSS panel so updates never overwrite your work.
- 3Set global colours, fonts and container width before you build any pages.
- 4Import a starter layout if one fits, then strip out demo sections you do not need.
- 5Replace demo images with compressed WebP versions sized for the slot they sit in.
- 6Run a before and after check on our speed test so you can see the real page cost.
How it compares
Other multipurpose themes we recommend, with their public WordPress.org score where one exists.
| Theme | Rating | Reviews | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phlox | 4.8/5 | 866 | Freemium | One of the biggest free demo libraries available. |
| Astra | 4.9/5 | 6,524 | Freemium | Ships very little CSS and JavaScript out of the box, so pages stay fast even on shared hosting. |
| Kadence | 4.9/5 | 453 | Freemium | Header, footer and typography controls are unusually deep for a free theme. |
| Blocksy | 5/5 | 872 | Freemium | Very complete free tier, including content blocks, header builder and dark mode. |
| Neve | 4.7/5 | 1,281 | Freemium | Good balance between speed and ready-made starter layouts. |
| OceanWP | 4.9/5 | 5,714 | Freemium | Shop layouts, off-canvas filters and product quick view work without a page builder. |
Alternatives