12 Best WordPress Theme Framework of 2023

There are dozens of WordPress Frameworks available in the market, and over time, these theme frameworks have seen a lot of growth. Some of them are free; some are paid, while some of these frameworks might be familiar to you; others will likely be new.

In this article, I am going to discuss the 12 Best WordPress Theme Framework of 2023. Also, give you the best choice from them. So, enjoy the rest.

Before getting to the frameworks, let’s start with a quick explanation of what they are, the advantages and disadvantages. 

Read also: 9 Best WordPress CDN Plugin to Speed Up Your Site with How to Setup Guide.

What Is WordPress Theme Framework?

WordPress theme frameworks are the foundation of any WordPress theme. The core code has been contained by the framework itself to cover the elements as well as the features and functionalities of the theme. 

You can apply new features and design elements to create a theme or product with the framework. WordPress theme frameworks can be categorized into two types; They are in-house frameworks, like the ones known as TeslaThemes and then frameworks as the foundation of projects like Genesis Framework, which range from free to paid. 

You can quickly develop a wide variety of free and commercial themes built upon a specific framework. For example, with Genesis, you can purchase the framework on its own and then either develop your own custom child theme design or build a free or commercial Genesis child theme. 

Why Do You Actually Use a Theme Framework?

• Community: Most of the popular theme frameworks have a huge community base behind it. Therefore, it will give you every critical and support related question answered in no time.
• Ease of development: Using a theme framework can dramatically reduce the development time for you and this can make things easier over the long run without suffering. 
• Built-in functionality: Each and every theme frameworks come with a plenty of built-in widgets, and additional functionality. That will definitely help you to build any theme. 
• Speedy web development: WordPress theme framework helps you for speedy web development. Once you have the functionality in place with the specific framework, all that’s left to do is to create the design, that’s it! 
• Code Quality: Theme framework follows the best practice of coding. It is well reviewed, so you need not to think about the code quality.
• Upgrades: The ability to upgrade without losing any styling functionality of child themes is a plus point. This is why the theme framework is best to use.  

What are the disadvantages of WordPress Framework?

Everything has its right side and wrong side. Although we are talking about a bunch of WordPress theme frameworks and its need, we can’t ignore disadvantages at all. At least it is required to know before using any of them.  

Let’s take a look.

• Learning Curve: Each and every framework has its own learning curve. To utilize the full power of the context, you must get familiar with the framework-specific lingo. 
• Unnecessary Code: You might get disturbed by the redundant code because Frameworks come with tons of built-in functionality, which you may not use every time. 
• Framework Limitations: Frameworks have limitations, and it is quite usual. Sometimes to achieve super customizations, you might have to override core files. 
• Price: Most theme frameworks are not free. You have to pay a certain amount to get a theme framework.

Genesis Framework

Genesis framework is the most famous and one of the most used WordPress theme frameworks of recent times. Even if you are less familiar with WordPress, you probably heard about Genesis. Altogether it’s a theme-customized, highly secure, SEO friendly framework that offers a robust and reliable environment for developers.

It’s a child theme based framework. Along with the great themes, the Genesis framework has a fanatics interface as well. With unlimited updates, a well-documented support system, tons of fantastic child themes, and well-optimized modern code, Genesis undoubtedly is the first choice on this list. 

Get all of the extensive features like tons of child themes for a one-time payment of $59.95.

Key Features of Genesis

• Search engine optimized
• Delivers responsive turnkey designs
• Unlimited everything
• Gutenberg ready
• Theme customizer
• Highly security
• Update your site instantly
• Featured content widgets
• Custom page templates
• Easy customization without sacrificing speed
• Custom widgets & layout options
• Support from trusted developers
• One-click theme setup

Pricing of Genesis

Divi by Elegant Themes

Divi by Elegant Themes is the multipurpose WordPress theme framework that is made with commercial use in mind. It’s a feature-rich and highly functional drag-and-drop page builder tool with an impressive collection of pre-built page templates or child themes.

Create any kind custom website designs with Divi’s code-free experience, no matter your level of development experience. Divi Theme is powered by the fantastic drag-and-drop Divi Page Builder with a huge list of modules you can use to create your site.

However, members have to pay $89 per year to enjoy all these features with unlimited websites. 

Key Features of Divi

• Drag & Drop Building
• True Visual Editing
• 40+ Website Elements
• 800+ Pre-made Designs
• 100+ Full Website Packs
• Custom CSS Control
• Responsive Editing
• Design Options Galore
• Save & Manage Your Designs
• Global Elements & Styles
• Undo, Redo, & Revisions
• Complete Design Control 
• Translated Into 32 Languages
• Access 100’s of Divi Extensions
• Drag & Drop Uploading
• Quick Access To Element Styling
• Built in Split Testing and Powerful Conversion Insights
• Build and Sell Stunning Products
• User Roles, Theme Options & Website Support

Pricing of Divi

Avada

Avada; the Swiss Army knife of WordPress themes with over 200,000 sales. This is the top-selling theme of all time in ThemeForest so far. Avada will perfectly fit into any kind of business, no matter what type of theme design you wish to create and what kind of niche you are in.

With fusion builder live editor, unlimited design, and theme option, Avada gives you hope that you can create amazing, complex WordPress websites without knowing how to code. Just choose any design of your choice and apply your own customization, that’s it. 

Get all the quality features with updates only at $60.

Key Features of Avada

• Fusion Builder Live Editor
• Advanced Options Network
• Professional Avada Demos
• Beautifully designed Custom Widgets
• Avada Third Party Integration
• Mobile Responsive
• Multiple Premium Slider Options
• Intuitive Fusion Builder Live
• Fusion Mega Menu
• Popular Plugin Design Integration
• WooCommerce Compatible
• Unlimited Color & Styling Options
• Advanced Portfolio Layout Options
• Advanced Blog Layout Options
• Custom Page Templates & Page Options Included
• Avada is Multilingual/RTL Ready!
• Includes 30+ languages
• Built-In Contact Form

Pricing of Avada

Themify

Themify theme framework comes with the popular Themify Builder to power up any theme design for WordPress. You can simply create custom page layouts, and customize them with a range of page elements and modules, all through a drag-and-drop interface.

Webmasters can build their entire website from the front-end, which lets them see the design changes as they happen. Apply galleries, sliders, maps, widgets, and many more design elements, including third-party plugin widgets like WidgetKit.  

Access to all of their current themes of Themify is just $89.

Key Features of Themify

• Drag & Drop Builder
• Styling Panel
• Much more Widgets
• Shortcode Option
• Auto Theme Updates
• Logo Image Option
• Custom CSS
• SEO Optimized.
• Custom Styling.
• Social Icons.
• WPML Compatibility
• WooCommerce support
• Multisite support
• Over 600+ Google Web Fonts

Pricing of Themify

X Theme

X Theme the ultimate and one of the most popular WordPress themes in the market by Themeco. It is incredibly flexible; therefore, you can design any kind of website you wish to. WIth extensive premium features, it is packed with tons of ready to be used designs.

More or less X theme offers you two different page builders to choose from; the Visual Builder and the Cornerstone builder. Both theme builders are packed with some elegant design elements with cornerstone page builder integration and many included plugins.

The regular license starts from just $29.

Key Features of X Theme

• It’s a Customizer
• One Page Homepages
• Functionality via Shortcodes
• eCommerce Support
• Responsive Design
• 600 fonts included
• Unlimited Styling
• 400 individual responsive icons
• Easy Installation and Setup
• Front End Page Builder Tool
• Helpful Page Templates
• Supports images, galleries, and video
• Search Engine Optimized
• Custom Widgets
• Child Theme Compatible
• Translation Ready
• Includes Many Third Party Plugins

Pricing of X Theme

Gantry Framework

Gantry is a free and genuinely open-source framework from RocketTheme applicable for both WordPress and Joomla. Being open-source and free, Gantry has many great features, including intuitive interface and straightforward layout manager. 

Gantry makes use of widgetized page layouts, where individual widgets can be dragged and dropped to your desired place. This is the most highlighted feature, along with the mega menu support for navigation. You can also use third-party widgets and customize the position on the page. 

For making a user friendly, responsive layout, Gantry is the right choice for you.

Key Features of Gantry

• Open Source
• Responsive grid system
• Joomla and WordPress Support
• Stunning new administrator interface
• Easy to configure, customize, and extend.
• Powerful built-in fields
• Per menu-item level control over any configuration parameter
• Built-in extensible AJAX communication layer
• RTL language support
• Built-in LESS CSS compilation powered by lessphp 
• Flexible grid layout system for unparalleled control over block sizes
• Growl-style event notification
• Responsive HTML5 base template
• 65 base module positions
• 38 possible layout combinations for main body and sidebars
• Advanced typography
• Joomla and WordPress base styling
• Joomla ACL support
• Automatic per-browser-level CSS and JS control

Dynamik Website Builder

The Dynamik Website Builder is mainly a visual editor based on WordPress and the Genesis framework. If you want to create a site with Genesis and take full control of the design and layout, this is the tool you need. It’s a WordPress theme framework as well as a supporting tool for Genesis. 

Without writing any single line of code, you can create any layout or design for your site. Dynamik Website Builder allows you to change almost every aspect of your website’s appearance to create your own custom layouts from the fonts to widgets for specific page elements.

The Dynamik price starts from just $99 with the ultimate genesis child themes.

Key Features of Dynamik Website Builder

• No code required
• Over 800 design options
• Front end live preview 
• CSS editor and builder
• Custom CSS generator
• Optional responsive layout for multi-device compatibility
• 49 one-click homepage configurations
• Export settings  
• Create snapshots for future reference
• Import and export skins for sharing designs 
• Export your custom design as a Genesis child theme
• Create conditions to show certain elements

Pricing of Dynamik Website Builder

Zoom Framework

Zoom Framework by the WPZoom, an extraordinarily modern and user-friendly WordPress theme framework to use. The framework is now used to power all of the commercially available WordPress templates by the WPZoom team. You can choose a theme and complete it with the underlying structure, code, and functionality of the framework at the same time.  

From color scheme, website logo, and easy one-click demo content installation, install widgets, plus includes import and export options, Zoom offers a set of options and controls to customize many aspects of your website. However, while purchasing the All Themes Package, you will also get access to over 50+ WPZoom themes. 

WPZoom’s theme framework offers excellent value for money. The best pricing starts from $99 per year. 

Key Features of Zoom Framework

• Simple & Easy Installation Process 
• 1-Click Demo Content Importer
• True Responsive Design
• Live Customizer
• Regular Theme Updates
• Easy Customization
• Logo Input
• 1-click Theme Updates
• Translation-ready
• SEO Friendly Code

Pricing of Zoom Framework

iThemes Builder

iTheme builder is a robust framework with over 90+ child themes to start with. Includes a Layout Editor this responsive framework allows you to create a layout by pointing and clicking. You can choose the modules, such as header, navigation bar, and footer, and insert them in the order you want on the page without any coding knowledge.

In particular, the builder makes use of Blocks to add niche-specific functionality, for instance, for a Restaurant Block. It allows you to add menu items and location details to your site. With the style manager plugin, you can customize the site’s style like background color, headers, images, navigation, content areas, footers, and more.

The basic Foundation Pack starts from $56. There are two more plans to choose from.  

Key Features of iThemes Builder

• No Need to Any Coding Knowledge
• Multiple Blocks
• Responsive support for different devices.
• The layout editor offers complete flexibility
• Style Manager
• Robust Design Option
• Over 90+ Child Themes

Pricing of iThemes Builder

Thesis Framework

Thesis is another powerful and highly customizable WordPress theme framework which is the direct competitor to Genesis. The visual template editor is a robust theme framework for blogging sites, and small businesses come with email subscription services like AWeber and MailChimp. 

From color to typography, you get complete control over all the small elements with many customization options, and developers and webmasters alike can use it easily. The drag-and-drop functionality gives you another level of designing experiences without having to code at all.

It is a modular template and design system for WordPress. The recent release of Thesis 2.0 brought some interesting new features to the framework.

Key Features of Thesis

• Build Themes with a visual interface
• Multiple Boxes as Block
• Custom designs by simply drag and drop
• Site tools for SEO and site branding
• Designed for bloggers and small business owners. 
• Developer friendly
• Backup, restore, import, and export Theme data
• turn repetitive HTML into objects

TeslaThemes Framework

TeslaThemes framework is part of its 66 different themes, and these themes are basically based on the custom made TeslaThemes Framework. Therefore, by joining the club, you get access to all the existing themes and future releases along with the framework.

Altogether, the layouts and other elements of TeslaThemes are 100% responsive and provide cross-browser compatible sites. Any WordPress user from beginner to pro can modify and customize their website with this framework from one-click updates to some amazing page templates.

Get all themes along with the framework only at $99.

Key Features of TeslaThemes

• Fully Responsive
• 68 Premium Theme
• Simple Installation
• Premium Support
• Predefined Samples
• Practicing all The Latest Trends

Pricing of TeslaThemes Framework

Cherry Framework

Cherry Framework is a versatile WordPress theme framework developed by TemplateMonster.  It can be used for building plugins too. It is a great option to choose with fully responsive designs, easy installation processes, regular updates, shortcodes, and widgets.

The integration of Bootstrap functions and well documentation gives it another level of acceptance. You can get the Cherry Framework and its child themes for WordPress from Template Monster, and there you will get over 300 premium child themes for the framework.

The framework itself is free and open-source, but unfortunately, the child themes aren’t. All of its themes come with a $75 price tag per item on average.

Key Features of Cherry Framework

• Fully Open Source
• Speeding Up the Development
• Well Documented
• Build Themes, Build Plugins
• Modular Structure
• Extendability
• Highly Secure

Our Pick

So, which one is the best from the above fourteen. It’s hard to say because every framework has its own specification and user base. However, from my side, I will go for the Genesis framework by StudioPress. It is an excellent framework for theme development in WordPress. 

Genesis is not bloated like others with tons of options, but you get just what you need. Altogether it’s a theme-customized, highly secure, SEO friendly framework that offers a robust and reliable environment for developers. Also, the price is reasonable too.

For beginners, you should consider using the Gantry framework. The best thing is it is free and open-source. They have a drag-drop interface that lets you create websites using a visual interface within time.

Wrapping Up

This was the list for the Best WordPress Theme Frameworks of 2023. We are trying to cover every best framework, which is extremely popular and easy to use. I hope you will enjoy it. Don’t forget to share your valuable opinion in the comment section below. Let me which one do you use and why?