With all the available options, choosing the right WordPress template can be a daunting task. For example, most top themes available on ThemeForest are so powerful and well-built that they almost look identical from the first glance. And if you’re considering Avada and Enfold as your final candidates, the choice only gets harder as both themes are TF top-sellers with massive feature sets and fantastic design. So how do we choose just one? Let’s break down the primary aspects of theme quality and find out which template is right for whom:
Close-up Comparison
There are several things to consider when buying a WordPress theme, and design plus features are by far not the only components of the mix: one should also be mindful of such aspects as search engine optimization, theme speed, item rating and reviews, and support quality. For your convenience, we’ve summarized the important factors in a table; below we will discuss them in more detail.
| Avada | Enfold | |
|---|---|---|
| Year created | 2012 | 2013 |
| Content Builder | Fusion (custom) | Avia (custom) |
| Builder elements | 55 | 47 |
| One-click demos | 27 | 27 |
| ThemeForest sales | 300,000+ | 100,000+ |
| Average rating | 4.77 | 4.84 |
| Price | $60 | $60 |
Both Avada and Enfold have a long history on ThemeForest, having been around for more than 5 years. Avada was the theme that probably had the most influence on the ongoing all-round, multipurpose WP theme revolution, and Enfold followed suit shortly after. The idea was to create a truly versatile and flexible theme which would allow users to build their own layouts; this implied integrating a content builder of some sort, and most themes went for the Visual Content Builder by WPBakery at first. The idea was a huge success, and nowadays you won’t find a self-respecting premium WP theme that does not use a content composer.
Avada, and later Enfold, when their own way, creating custom content builders which are fully integrated into the theme core – this meant smoother updates and zero compatibility troubles. These custom composers contain dozens of pre-made functional elements such as widgets, sliders, buttons, etc, enabling each user to build beautiful custom pages from scratch, with being confined to pre-set layouts. At the moment Avada offers 55 composer blocks, and Enfold is slightly behind with 47, yet both are continuously adding new ones to their arsenals, and the tally might change in the future.
Time flows fast in the world of web design, so over the years both themes had to keep modernizing to keep pace with the latest visual trends. Most experts would agree that Enfold has managed this path slightly better than its competitor, being more minimalist from the start. While the initial theme demos have stayed mostly intact since their creation, theme authors responded to the new design challenges, most notably the flat design movement, by creating numerous new demos based on specific user needs; whether it’s a coincidence or not, both Avada and Enfold currently offer 27 demos, and each can be easily installed with a single click as a ready-made website to tinker with and work from.
When it comes to popularity, Avada is clearly the winner, with over 300 thousand purchases on ThemeForest, Enfold having three times less. However, this can be a double-edged sword, since a huge user base can generate a wide variety of websites, so new users building a website on even a theme as versatile as Avada can have difficulties staying unique. This is mitigated by the wide variety of settings, options, layouts, and content blocks each theme offers, but should not be forgotten when choosing the right one for your website.
Support is top-notch for both themes, with entire teams of dedicated experts always ready to answer user questions. Both Enfold and Avada have extensive manuals and video tutorials, with slightly differing approaches to pre-purchase information. Avada chose to make its knowledgebase public, letting anyone to browser through its features before buying, while Enfold’s manual is contained within the downloadable theme package. However, Avada does not let non-buyers ask questions on its support forums (in fact, their forums can only be viewed by those who have the purchase code), while Enfold has a separate section on its open forums for pre-purchase questions.
Enfold has a slightly higher average rating among the two themes, standing at 4.84 as opposed to Avada’s 4.77. This might seem like an insignificant difference, but given tens of thousands reviews, even decimals can translate into large numbers of extra negative or positive opinions.
It’s easy to see that none of the themes has a clear upper hand and can be called the ultimate winner. However, there are cases in which one might be preferable over the other, and we’ll go over them in the next sections of our article.
Who Should Use Avada?
Avada is perfect for those who have little or no experience with WordPress, or need to set up a website as quickly as possible. Their extensive online tutorials and walkthroughs include countless useful articles, from general WP-related questions to specific Avada-related aspects: you might not even need to use the support ticket system at all! It is also worth keeping in mind that, as the top-selling ThemeForest item, Avada has the highest motivation to stay on top of its game by constantly improving, which is clearly evident from the frequency with which the authors publish new updates.
Who Should Use Enfold?
Enfold is a great theme for picky users who aim for absolute quality and support excellence. With this theme, websites stand slightly more chances of looking unique. Despite its 100,000+ sales, Enfold can still be called an underdog when compared to the behemoth Avada, and this gives Enfold’s authors additional motivation to keep striving for the top position.
Have you got hands-on experience with any of the themes? Still looking for the right one? Let us know what you think in the comments below!