OceanWP Review

The OceanWP touts itself as a free multipurpose theme with features that both developers and hobbyist users will love. The theme is responsive, loads fast, comes with built-in SEO optimization, and works with page builder plugins.

But is it truly as user-friendly and as feature-rich as it claims to be? In this post, we’ll take a look at the theme’s ease of use, main features, and cover its support and pricing options.

Ease of Use – 4/5

Let’s take a look at the installation and the setup process of the OceanWP theme.

Installation

The installation process for the OceanWP theme is the same as it is for any other WordPress theme. You’ll need to login to your site and navigate to Appearance > Themes > Add new. You can then upload the zip file of the theme and install it.

After the installation has finished, you’ll need to activate the theme. When the theme has been activated, you’ll see a notification that this theme requires additional plugins. Simply press the Begin installing plugins and select the plugins that need to be installed. You will need to activate them once they are done installing.

Once this process is complete, you’re ready to proceed with the theme setup steps.

Theme Setup

The OceanWP theme offers guided setup which is a nice touch if you’re completely new to WordPress.

You’ll need to select a starter site and then press the Import button.

There is a limited number of free starter sites to choose from which can be a good thing and a bad thing. If you’re easily overwhelmed with all the choices, you’ll be happy to know that the OceanWP theme only offers 13 free starter sites.

If, on the other hand, you’re used to a lot of options, then the selection of starter sites in OceanWP will leave you disappointed. The starter sites also seem to be geared towards specific industries without having a more generic option.

After you’ve selected your demo, you’ll be prompted to install additional plugins which can be a little confusing especially since some of the additional plugins are not free.

You can then customize the basic options such as logo, main colors, and add your site title and tagline.

The setup process is then complete and you can begin working on your site. It’s worth mentioning that the theme also comes with its own Theme Panel that allows you to enable or disable certain parts you don’t want to see in the Customizer. You can also select a new demo and enable and disable extensions from the theme panel.

Features – 4.5/5

The OceanWP theme offers a lot of features for a free theme. Let’s go over the core features more in-depth below.

Page Builder Integration

The OceanWP theme integrates with all major page builder plugins on the market: Divi, Elementor, Brizy, ThriveArchitect, SiteOrigin Page Builder, Beaver Builder, King Composer, and WPBakery Page Builder plugin (formerly Visual Composer).

Extensions

As mentioned earlier, the OceanWP theme has a number of extensions that add extra functionality to your website. Some extensions are free like WooCommerce product sharing and social sharing, while some are paid like Elementor Addons and Sticky Headers.

You can purchase the extensions individually for $29.99 or buy an extension bundle which includes all the extensions as well as a bigger selection of starter sites.

Customization Options

Immediately upon installing and activating the theme, you can setup basic styles for your website. This includes choosing a primary and an accent color, uploading your logo, and more.

Aside from that, the OceanWP theme offers plenty of customization options within Live Customizer. Here, you can fine-tune typography, colors, general settings, and more. The sheer number of options can be overwhelming at times and confusing, especially if you’re a beginner.

On top of that, you can also style each individual element on the page within Elementor or another page builder plugin of your choice.

WooCommerce Features

The OceanWP theme offers cool WooCommerce features. This includes a native cart popup, floating add to cart bar, off-canvas filter, and quick view for products. These features can significantly improve the conversion rate in your store so this theme is worth looking into if you plan on starting an online store.

Reliability – 4.5/5

The OceanWP theme has over 500,000 active installs and 5-star ratings on the official theme repository.

Since it’s a multipurpose theme, it can be used to create any type of website, from business websites to personal portfolios. Thanks to its integration with WooCommerce and cool styling options for this e-Commerce plugin, you can even use it to create an online store.

Another interesting feature of the OceanWP theme is the fact that it was optimized for SEO which means this is a great theme to use if you’re focused on improving your search engine rank.

In addition, the theme works great with all major page builder plugins which include Elementor, Brizy, Beaver Builder, Divi, and even the WPBakery Page Builder plugin.

The two biggest disadvantages of the OceanWP theme are the extensive options which can sometimes get confusing and too many extensions which can slow down your website if you’re not careful.

Other cons of the OceanWP theme include the limited number of starter websites and an expensive lifetime plan.

Support – 4/5

The OceanWP offers an extensive knowledge base on their site with support docs and tutorials that will help resolve most common issues.

If you’re a paid user, your tickets will be bumped up in the queue and tackled before tickets submitted by free users. There’s also an option to purchase premium support which grants you access to priority support for 3 months or a year, depending on the plan you choose. The priority support plans are available for $29 and $99 respectively.

Pricing – 4/5

When it comes to pricing, the OceanWP theme is free. The pricing plans include OceanWP extensions which come in two different plans: annual and lifetime. Each of these plans includes 3 pricing tiers.

• Personal – the Personal plan gives you access to all free and premium extensions as well as pro starter sites. With this plan, you can use the extensions and the pro demos on one website. The annual license is available for $29 and the lifetime plan costs $127.
• Business – the Business plan gives you everything included on the Personal plan with the ability to use the extensions and demos on up to 3 websites. Annual license costs $55 while the lifetime plan is available for $255.
• Agency – the Agency plan includes everything from the Personal plan with the ability to install the extensions and demos on up to 25 sites. Annual license is available for $90 while the lifetime plan costs $415.

The pricing plans for the extensions are expensive when compared to similar themes, especially when you consider that the Agency plan limits you to 25 sites. As such, the OceanWP theme might not be the best choice for agencies or freelancers who plan to work exclusively with this theme as it’s often the case in the developer and designer world.

Final Thoughts – 4.3/5

All things considered, the OceanWP theme is a solid free WordPress theme that offers a lot of free features. This makes the OceanWP theme a great starter theme if you’re on a budget or building your first website.

The theme works great with popular page builders so you can easily manipulate page layouts without having to learn how to code and add various elements exactly where you want them. In addition to that, the theme has cool WooCommerce features and plenty of theme styling options.

However, the theme does have its set of shortcomings, namely the fact that the starter sites are limited and the theme has too many extensions which can lead to unnecessary bloat and slow down your website. The lifetime pricing options are also expensive.

Despite that, if you’re happy with the free version of the theme and don’t need tons of starter sites to choose from, the OceanWP theme is definitely worth trying it out.