WORDPRESS
10 Best StudioPress Alternatives (Genesis Framework)
You’re not alone if you’re looking for an alternative to the StudioPress theme by Genesis Framework. While this platform is popular for WordPress users, other options may better suit your needs.
In this article, I explore some of the top StudioPress (Genesis Framework) alternatives and what each platform offers.
The Kadence WP Theme stands out as the best choice among the alternatives. Having used Kadence WP for over three years on all my sites, I can attest to its exceptional performance and customization capabilities.
Alongside Kadence WP, I also explore strong contenders that offer unique advantages for different types of websites.
Top 10 StudioPress (Genesis Framework) Alternatives
1. Kadence WP Theme (Overall Best Alternative)
Kadence WP Theme is the best Studiopress (Genesis Framework) alternative on the market. It offers a range of powerful features and customization options without sacrificing speed or SEO optimization.
It’s an excellent choice for anyone who wants complete control over their website’s design and functionality, whether you’re running a blog, business website, or online store.
Kadence WP Theme Key Features
- Lightning-fast speed: The Kadence WP Theme is built with speed in mind. It’s lightweight and optimized for fast loading times, essential for providing a great user experience and improving your website’s search engine rankings.
- Customization options: With Kadence WP Theme, you have complete control over your website’s design. You can easily customize everything from the layout and typography to the colors and background images without needing any coding skills.
- Flexible page builder: Kadence WP Theme has a powerful drag-and-drop builder that makes it easy to create complex layouts and add advanced features to your pages, such as sliders, forms, and pricing tables.
- WooCommerce integration: If you’re running an online store, Kadence WP Theme is a great choice. It’s fully compatible with WooCommerce, the most popular eCommerce plugin for WordPress, and comes with a range of pre-designed shop templates to help you get started.
- SEO optimization: Kadence WP Theme is optimized for search engines, with clean code, fast loading times, and built-in features that help you optimize your content for keywords and meta tags.
- Responsive design: Kadence WP Theme is fully responsive, meaning it looks great on all devices, from desktops to smartphones and tablets.
Kadence WP Theme Pros and Cons
Here are some of the pros and cons of using Kadence WP Theme:
Pros:
- Lightning-fast speed
- Flexible customization options
- Powerful page builder
- WooCommerce integration
- SEO optimization
- Responsive design
Cons:
- Some features require additional plugins
- It may be overwhelming for beginners.
Kadence WP Theme Pricing
- Free Plan: This plan is free and excellent for website creators wanting to start.
- Essentials Plan: This plan costs $149/year and gives you all the essentials, like the pro versions of the Kadence theme and starter templates.
- Full Plan: This plan costs $219/year and gives you full access to all the tools to help you sell.
- Lifetime Plan: With this plan, you get every product in its complete bundle, lifetime support, updates, and all future products for a one-time payment of $799/lifetime.
2. Astra Themes
Astra Theme is a popular WordPress theme for its speed and customization options. Due to its flexibility and ease of use, it is an excellent alternative to StudioPress (Genesis Framework).
Astra Themes Key Features
- Lightweight and Fast-Loading: Astra is designed to be minimal and optimized for performance, ensuring quick load times and a smooth user experience.
- Customizable Design Options: Astra offers a wide range of customization settings, allowing users to easily tweak colors, fonts, layouts, and more without needing to code.
- Compatible with Popular Page Builders: Astra works seamlessly with popular page builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, and Gutenberg, enabling users to create complex layouts and designs with ease.
- SEO-Friendly: Astra follows best practices for SEO, including clean code, schema markup, and optimized structure, to help improve search engine rankings.
- WooCommerce Integration: Astra integrates well with WooCommerce, providing features and customization options for e-commerce websites, such as product pages, checkout design, and more.
- Accessibility-Ready: Astra is built with accessibility in mind, ensuring that websites are usable by people with disabilities and compliant with accessibility standards.
Astra Themes Pros and Cons
Here are some pros and cons of using Astra Themes:
Pros:
- Fast loading speed
- Flexible design options
- Compatible with popular page builders
- SEO-friendly
- Affordable pricing
Cons:
- Limited free version features
- Some customization options require knowledge of CSS
Astra Themes Pricing
- Astra Free: This is free and available for download on the WordPress repository.
- Astra Pro: The Astra Pro plan costs $39 annually and has a lifetime subscription of $179 for one website. It includes all the features of the free version, plus additional advanced features such as more customization options and premium starter templates.
- Essential Toolkit: The Essential Toolkit costs $69 per year and $359 for a lifetime subscription for one website. It includes everything in the Astra Pro plan and the Astra premium sites plugin, which adds more features and customization options for your website.
- Business Toolkit: The Business Toolkit costs $129 per year and $499 for a lifetime subscription for one website. It includes everything in the Essential Toolkit, plus additional plugins such as the Ultimate Addons for Beaver Builder and Elementor, Convert Pro, Schema Pro, and WP Portfolio, providing a comprehensive toolkit for building and managing your website.
3. Thrive Themes
Thrive Themes is an excellent option if you’re looking for a theme with various marketing features. It offers a range of powerful tools for building and optimizing websites, making it an excellent option for those seeking a comprehensive solution for marketing-focused sites.
It’s popular with bloggers, entrepreneurs, and marketers who want to create high-converting websites if you’re looking for a StudioPress (Genesis Framework) alternative.
Thrive Themes Key Features
- Conversion-Focused Design: Thrive Themes are built with conversion optimization, with features like customizable buttons, testimonials, and call-to-action elements to help you generate leads and sales.
- Speed Optimization: Thrive Themes are lightweight and optimized for speed, ensuring that your website loads quickly and provides a smooth user experience.
- Customization Options: Thrive Themes offer extensive customization options, allowing you to personalize your website’s design to match your brand and style.
- Built-in Features: Thrive Themes come with a range of built-in features, such as customizable headers, footers, and sidebars, as well as custom widgets and shortcodes.
- SEO-Friendly: Thrive Themes are built using SEO best practices, helping your website rank higher in search engine results.
- Integrated Plugins: Thrive Themes integrate seamlessly with other Thrive plugins, such as Thrive Architect and Thrive Leads, to provide additional functionality and customization options.
Thrive Themes Pros and Cons
Here are the pros and cons of using Thrive Themes:
Pros:
- Built-in marketing tools
- Frequent updates and improvements
- User-friendly interface
- Great customer support
- Highly customizable
Cons:
- While Thrive Themes offers a range of customization options, it may not be as flexible as some other WordPress themes.
- Some features can be complex so beginners may have a learning curve.
- While Thrive Themes offers a range of templates and designs, they may not be as varied as some other WordPress themes.
Thrive Themes Pricing
Thrive Themes offers two pricing options:
- Thrive Suite Subscription: This annual subscription costs $299 and gives you access to all Thrive Themes products, including the themes and plugins.
- Thrive Themes Builder: This plan gives you access to only the Thrive Themes Builder and costs $99/year.
4. Divi By Elegant Themes
Divi By Elegant Themes is an excellent substitute for StudioPress (Genesis Framework) due to its ease of use, wide range of pre-built layouts and designs, and built-in A/B testing features.
The drag-and-drop interface makes it easy for anyone to create a custom website without coding knowledge. Divi’s responsive design also ensures your website looks great on any device.
Divi By Elegant Themes Key Features
- Divi Builder: A drag-and-drop page builder that allows you to create custom page layouts quickly.
- Pre-built Layouts: Over 800 pre-made designs and templates to choose from.
- Theme Customizer: Customize your website’s appearance and functionality with ease.
- Responsive Design: Your website will look great on any device.
- WooCommerce Integration: Create an online store with ease.
- A/B Testing: Test different website versions to see what works best.
Divi By Elegant Themes Pros and Cons
Here are the pros and cons of using Divi by Elegant Themes:
Pros:
- Easy to use with its drag-and-drop interface.
- Offers a wide range of pre-built layouts and designs.
- Comes with a built-in A/B testing feature.
- Its responsive design makes your website look great on any device.
- Integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce, allowing you to create an online store easily.
Cons:
- It can be a bit overwhelming at first due to the sheer number of options and features.
- The code generated by Divi can be a bit bloated, which may impact your website’s speed.
- Some users have reported issues with the theme’s compatibility with specific plugins.
Divi By Elegant Themes Pricing
- Divi: This costs $89 per year and has a lifetime subscription of $249. It includes access to all of Elegant Themes’ themes and plugins, updates, and support.
- Divi Pro: This plan costs $277 yearly and has a lifetime subscription of $297. It includes access to everything in the Divi plan plus Divi AI, Divi Cloud, and Divi Teams.
5. Elementor Hello Theme
Elementor Hello Theme is a great substitute for StudioPress (Genesis Framework) because it offers a lightweight and flexible design that is fully customizable with Elementor page builder.
Unlike StudioPress, Elementor Hello Theme is best for those who want a more visual and intuitive website design. It is also a great choice for those wanting to integrate eCommerce functionality into their website, as it offers WooCommerce integration.
Elementor Hello Theme Key Features
- Speed Optimization: The theme is lightweight, ensuring fast load times. This boosts your site’s performance.
- Full Customization: Using the Elementor plugin, you have complete control over layouts and designs without restrictions.
- No Code Necessary: You can create professional-looking webpages without touching a line of code.
- Theme Builder Compatibility: Perfectly compatible with Elementor’s theme builder for customizing headers, footers, and more.
- Regular Updates: Frequent updates help keep your theme secure and functional.
- SEO Friendly: Built with clean code that adheres to SEO best practices, improving your site’s search engine ranking.
Elementor Hello Theme Pros and Cons
Here are the pros and cons of using the Elementor Hello Theme:
Pros:
- Easy to use and customize
- Fast and lightweight design
- SEO-friendly structure
- Mobile-responsive
- Compatible with Elementor page builder
- WooCommerce integration for eCommerce websites
Cons:
- Limited customization options without Elementor page builder
- No built-in features for blog layouts
- No pre-built templates or layouts
Elementor Hello Theme Pricing
Elementor Hello Theme is forever free to use.
6. GeneratePress
If you are searching for a StudioPress (Genesis Framework) alternative, GeneratePress is an excellent option. It is a lightweight and easy-to-use WordPress theme that offers many customization options.
GeneratePress is a good alternative to StudioPress (Genesis Framework) because it offers similar features but a more affordable price tag. It is best for bloggers, small business owners, and anyone who wants a simple and customizable WordPress theme.
GeneratePress Key Features
- Lightweight Design: The theme is less than 30kb, making it one of the lightest. This boosts site speed and performance.
- Customization Options: The WordPress Customizer offers many customization options, including changing colors, typography, and layout.
- Modular System: Features can be enabled or disabled based on your needs. This helps keep your site streamlined and efficient.
- Compatible with Page Builders: Works seamlessly with popular page builders like Elementor and Beaver Builder.
- Mobile Responsive: Automatically adjusts to fit any screen size, ensuring a great user experience on all devices.
- SEO Optimized: Built with clean, efficient code that helps with search engine optimization.
GeneratePress Pros and Cons
Here are some pros and cons to consider before choosing GeneratePress:
Pros:
- Easy to use and customize
- Fast-loading and lightweight
- Regular updates and support
- Affordable pricing
- Schema.org integration for better SEO
- Mobile-responsive design
Cons:
- Limited free version features
- No built-in page builder
- Lacks some advanced customization options
GeneratePress Pricing
GeneratePress offers both free and premium versions.
- Free Version: Basic features are available for free.
- Yearly Plan ($59/year): Includes all premium modules, a year of updates, and support.
- Lifetime Plan ($249): One-time payment for all premium features, lifetime updates, and support.
7. Blocksy
Blocksy is an excellent substitute for StudioPress (Genesis Framework) because it offers more customization options and features.
Blocksy has a powerful header and footer builder, advanced typography options, and customizable single-post and page layouts. It also has a built-in mega menu that is unavailable in StudioPress (Genesis Framework).
Blocksy Key Features
- Fast Loading: Blocksy is optimized for speed, so your website will load quickly and provide a better user experience.
- Customizable Header and Footer: Blocksy offers a range of customization options for your header and footer, allowing you to create a unique look for your website.
- WooCommerce Integration: Blocksy seamlessly integrates with WooCommerce, making it an excellent choice for creating an online store.
- Gutenberg Compatible: Blocksy is fully compatible with the Gutenberg editor, making creating custom layouts and designs accessible.
- Responsive Design: Blocksy is designed to be fully responsive, ensuring your website looks great on all devices.
- SEO Friendly: Blocksy is optimized for search engines, helping your website rank higher in search results.
Blocksy Pros and Cons
Like any WordPress theme, Blocksy has its pros and cons. Here are some of them:
Pros:
- Fast and lightweight
- Highly customizable
- Beginner-friendly
- Regular updates and support
- Free version available
Cons:
- Limited free version features
- Some customization options require premium version
- No drag-and-drop page builder
Blocksy Pricing
Blocksy offers both a free and premium version. Here are the pricing options for the premium version:
- Blocksy Free: The free version of Blocksy includes basic features and customization options. It’s a good choice for users who are just starting and don’t need advanced functionality.
- Blocksy Premium: Blocksy Premium is available in three pricing tiers:
- Personal: This plan is priced at $69 per year and includes a lifetime subscription of $199. It provides access to all premium features on one website.
- Professional: Priced at $99/year and a lifetime subscription of $299. This plan is ideal for online businesses and can be used on ten websites.
- Agency: Priced at $149 per year and a lifetime subscription of $499. The Agency plan includes access to all premium features for unlimited websites, making it a cost-effective choice for developers and agencies.
8. OceanWP Themes
If you’re looking for a powerful and flexible WordPress theme that can be customized to your heart’s content, OceanWP Themes might be the perfect choice. With a wide range of features and a user-friendly interface, it’s a great alternative to StudioPress (Genesis Framework).
OceanWP Themes Key Features
- Lightweight and Fast: Ocean WP is designed to be lightweight and fast-loading, enhancing your site’s performance.
- Responsive Design: Ensures your site looks great on all devices, from desktops to smartphones.
- eCommerce Ready: Compatible with WooCommerce, providing features to build a robust online store.
- Extensive Customization: Offers multiple theme options and easy customization through the WordPress Customizer.
- Page Builder Integration: Works seamlessly with popular page builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, and WPBakery.
- Constant Updates: Frequent updates keep it compatible with the latest WordPress versions and trends.
OceanWP Themes Pros and Cons
Here are the pros and cons of using OceanWP Themes:
Pros:
- Easy to use and customize
- Wide range of features and options
- Affordable pricing options
- Great for beginners and experts alike
- Regular updates and support
Cons:
- Limited free version features
- Some features require paid add-ons
- May not be suitable for complex websites
OceanWP Themes Pricing
- Free version: This is free to use
- Starter Plan: This plan costs $35 per year and has a lifetime subscription of $141. It can be used for one website.
- Personal plan: It costs $43 per year to use for three websites. A lifetime subscription is available for a one-time payment of $178.
- Business plan: This plan costs $71 per year for up to ten websites. A lifetime subscription is available for a one-time payment of $285.
- Agency plan: This plan costs $127 per year and can be used on up to 300 websites. A lifetime subscription is also available for a one-time payment of $509.
9. Themify
Themify offers a great alternative to StudioPress (Genesis Framework) with its easy-to-use drag-and-drop builder and wide range of pre-designed layouts.
While it may not offer the same level of customization as other alternatives, it is an excellent choice for those who want a solid, affordable option with SEO optimization and mobile responsiveness.
Themify Key Features
- Drag-and-drop builder for easy customization: Themify’s drag-and-drop builder allows you to customize your websites by simply dragging and placing elements where you want them without needing coding skills.
- Over 40 pre-designed layouts to choose from: Themify offers more than 40 pre-designed layouts. These layouts provide a quick and easy way to start building a website by providing a solid foundation that can be further customized.
- Built-in Themify Builder add-ons: The Themify Builder has various built-in add-ons that extend its functionality. These add-ons can add different features and elements to a website, such as sliders, galleries, maps, and more, enhancing the site’s capabilities and design.
- SEO optimized: Themify themes are designed with SEO best practices in mind. This means they include features and structures that help improve a website’s visibility in search engine results, such as clean code, fast loading times, and optimized meta tags.
- Mobile responsive design: Themify themes are fully responsive, automatically adjusting to look great on all devices, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
- WooCommerce integration: This allows you to easily create and manage an online store, with product pages, shopping carts, and checkout processes.
Themify Pros and Cons
Here are the pros and cons of using Themify:
Pros:
- Easy to use drag-and-drop builder
- Wide range of pre-designed layouts to choose from
- SEO optimized
- Mobile responsive design
- Affordable pricing
Cons:
- Limited customization options compared to some other alternatives
- Some users have reported issues with customer support
Themify Pricing
- Single theme: A single theme costs $59 and includes one year of support and updates.
- Master Club (access to all themes and plugins): This plan gives you access to 42 themes and costs $89/year.
- Lifetime Club (lifetime access to all themes and plugins): This plan costs $249 and gives you lifetime access to all 42 themes.
10. Neve
Neve is an excellent alternative to StudioPress (Genesis Framework), offering similar features and benefits. However, Neve does have some advantages over StudioPress.
For example, Neve is faster and lighter than the Genesis Framework, making it an excellent choice for websites that need to load quickly. Additionally, Neve offers more customization options, allowing you to create a unique website that matches your brand.
Neve Key Features
- Lightweight and fast loading: Neve is optimized for speed and performance, making it perfect for websites that need to load quickly.
- Customizable design: Neve has various pre-designed templates and customization options, allowing you to create a unique website that matches your brand.
- SEO-friendly: Neve is built with SEO in mind, ensuring your website is optimized for search engines.
- Mobile responsive: Neve is fully responsive, ensuring your website looks great on all devices.
- WooCommerce integration: Neve is compatible with WooCommerce, making it an excellent choice for online stores.
- Translation-ready: Neve is translation-ready, allowing you to create a website in any language.
Neve Pros and Cons
Here are the pros and cons of using Neve:
Pros:
- Fast-loading and lightweight
- Customizable design
- SEO-friendly
- Mobile responsive
- WooCommerce integration
- Translation ready
Cons:
- Limited free version features
- Some customization options require coding knowledge
Neve Pricing
- Free Version: Limited features and customization options.
- Personal Plan: This plan costs $69 annually and grants access to premium features. It is great for users just getting started with their websites.
- Business Plan: This plan costs $149 per year and is best for online shops
- Agency Plan: This plan costs $259 annually and includes advanced features. This plan is excellent for freelancers and agencies.
Understanding StudioPress (Genesis Framework) and Its Features & Why Consider an Alternative
If you’re a WordPress user, you’ve probably heard of StudioPress and its popular Genesis Framework.
StudioPress is a well-known developer of WordPress themes and plugins, and the Genesis Framework is its flagship product. It’s a powerful and flexible framework that allows you to create custom WordPress websites quickly and easily.
However, the Genesis Framework is not for everyone. It has some limitations that may make it unsuitable for specific users.
The Genesis Framework can be challenging for beginners to use effectively. Its reliance on hooks and filters for customization requires a basic understanding of PHP and WordPress development, which can be daunting for users without coding experience.
Genesis’s default design options and styling are somewhat limited compared to more feature-rich themes. Users looking for highly customizable and visually rich designs might find Genesis lacking out-of-the-box flexibility.
Genesis Framework is a premium product, and while it’s reasonably priced for its quality, the cost can add up, especially when purchasing additional child themes or hiring developers for customization.
Genesis is designed to be used with child themes. While this promotes best practices in WordPress development, it can be unclear for beginners who might not understand the necessity of using both a parent theme (Genesis) and a child theme for customization.
Genesis focuses on performance and clean code, which means it lacks some of the built-in features that other themes might offer, such as integrated page builders, advanced theme option panels, and a wide variety of pre-built templates.
While community and support are available, the documentation is less comprehensive than expected. This can make troubleshooting and learning the framework more challenging, particularly for non-developers.
Users often need to rely on additional plugins to add functionalities not included in Genesis. This can lead to compatibility issues and a more complex site management process.
These limitations mean that while the Genesis Framework is a powerful tool for developers and those comfortable with code, it may not be the best choice for users seeking a highly visual or beginner-friendly WordPress theme.
Choosing the Right Platform
Selecting the right WordPress theme is crucial for your website’s success. Your chosen theme will affect your site’s aesthetics, functionality, user experience, and performance.
Here are some key factors to consider when choosing a WordPress theme:
1. Purpose and Requirements
Understand the primary purpose of your website. Is it a blog, an e-commerce site, a portfolio, or a business website? Different themes cater to various types of websites.
List out the features you need. For instance, e-commerce sites require WooCommerce integration, while portfolios might need gallery functionalities.
2. Design and Aesthetics
Choose a theme that aligns with your brand’s style and aesthetic. Consider color schemes, typography, and layout options. Ensure the theme offers enough customization options to allow you to tailor the design to your liking without needing extensive coding knowledge.
3. Responsiveness
Verify that the theme is fully responsive, meaning it adapts to various screen sizes and devices, providing an optimal user experience on desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
4. Performance and Speed
Select a theme known for its lightweight and fast-loading design to ensure your site performs well. Poor performance can negatively impact user experience and SEO.
Look for themes optimized for speed and performance, reducing the need for additional performance-enhancing plugins.
5. SEO Friendliness
Choose a theme that follows SEO best practices, including clean and optimized code, fast load times, and proper use of HTML tags. Ensure compatibility with popular SEO plugins to enhance your site’s search engine optimization efforts.
6. Compatibility
Ensure the theme is compatible with essential plugins you plan to use, such as page builders (Elementor, Beaver Builder), e-commerce plugins (WooCommerce), and SEO plugins. Choose a regularly updated theme to remain compatible with the latest WordPress versions and security standards.
7. Ease of Use
Select a theme that is easy to set up and use, especially if you are not a developer. Look for themes with intuitive interfaces and comprehensive documentation. Consider whether the theme matches your preferred page builder for easier customization.
8. Support and Documentation
Check if the theme developer offers reliable customer support to assist you with any issues or questions. Good documentation is essential for troubleshooting and maximizing the theme’s features. Ensure the theme comes with thorough and precise documentation.
9. Reviews and Ratings
Research user reviews and ratings to understand other users’ experiences with the theme. Look for feedback on performance, support, and ease of use.
10. Price
Consider your budget. While many free themes are available, premium themes often come with additional features, better support, and regular updates. Evaluate the features and support the premium theme provides to ensure it offers good value for its price.
Final Thoughts on StudioPress (Genesis Framework) Alternatives
Now that you’ve explored some of the top alternatives to Studiopress (Genesis Framework), it’s time to decide which one is right for you.
If you’re looking for a lightweight and customizable option, Kadence WP is a great choice. Its intuitive interface and powerful features make it a popular choice among developers and designers.
On the other hand, if you need a versatile and reliable theme, Astra Theme is a solid option. Its extensive library of starter templates and easy customization options make it an excellent choice for businesses and bloggers.
Divi is another excellent competitor if you need a versatile theme builder. It offers a wide range of design options and customization features.
Thrive Themes is another option if you’re looking for a theme optimized for conversions. Its focus on lead generation and sales makes it a popular choice for marketers and online businesses.
Lastly, the Elementor Hello Theme is an excellent option if you have already used the Elementor page builder. Its seamless integration with Elementor makes it a breeze to customize and design your website.
No matter which alternative you choose, you can rest assured that you’ll get a high-quality and reliable theme to help you achieve your website goals.
FAQs
What are the top free alternatives to StudioPress (Genesis Framework)?
Some popular choices include Kadence WP, Astra, Elementor Hello Theme, and GeneratePress. These themes offer a range of customization options and are lightweight and fast, making them an excellent choice for those on a budget.
How do the Kadence WP Theme and the Genesis Framework compare in performance and customization?
Kadence WP Theme is a popular alternative to the Genesis Framework. It offers a range of customization options and a user-friendly interface. In terms of performance, the Kadence WP Theme is lightweight and fast, making it an excellent choice for those looking to optimize their website’s speed and performance.
What options are available for developers looking for an advanced and flexible alternative to the Genesis Framework?
If you’re a developer looking for a more advanced and flexible alternative to the Genesis Framework, several options are available. Some popular choices include Kadence WP, Divi, Astra, and Thrive Themes.
How does the pricing of popular Genesis Framework alternatives compare for developers on a budget?
The pricing of popular Genesis Framework alternatives varies depending on the theme or framework you choose. Some themes, such as Astra and KadenceWP, offer a free version with limited customization options, while others, such as Divi and Thrive Themes, require a paid subscription to access all features. However, many of these alternatives offer affordable pricing options, making them an excellent choice for developers on a budget.
Disclosure: We may earn commissions if you buy via links on our website. Commissions don’t affect our opinions or evaluations. We’re also an independent affiliate of many platforms, including ClickFunnels, Kartra, GoHighLevel, Podia, Northwest Registered Agent, and others. We’re not employees of these services. We receive referral payments from them, and the opinions expressed here are our own and are not official statements of these companies.
WORDPRESS
WP Engine sues WordPress co-creator Mullenweg and Automattic, alleging abuse of power
Web hosting provider WP Engine has filed a lawsuit against Automattic, and WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg, accusing them of extortion and abuse of power. The lawsuit comes after nearly two weeks of tussling between Mullenweg, who is also CEO of Automattic, and WP Engine over trademark infringement and contributions to the open-source WordPress project.
WP Engine accused Automattic and Mullenweg of not keeping their promises to run WordPress open-source projects without any constraints and giving developers the freedom to build, run, modify and redistribute the software.
“Matt Mullenweg’s conduct over the last ten days has exposed significant conflicts of interest and governance issues that, if left unchecked, threaten to destroy that trust. WP Engine has no choice but to pursue these claims to protect its people, agency partners, customers, and the broader WordPress community,” the company said.
The case document, filed in a court in California, also accused Mullenweg of having a “long history of
obfuscating the true facts” about his control of WordPress Foundation and WordPress.org
The story so far
Mullenweg had criticized WP Engine for infringing WordPress and WooCommerce trademarks. He called them the “Cancer of WordPress” and also called out WP Engine’s private equity partner, Silver Lake, for not caring about the open-source community.
Later, WP Engine sent a cease-and-desist letter, asking Mullenweg and Automattic to withdraw these comments. Automattic then sent its own cease-and-desist, accusing WP Engine of infringing WordPress and WooCommerce trademarks.
Notably, Mullenweg banned WP Engine on September 25 from accessing WordPress.org resources, including plug-ins and themes, and preventing WP Engine customers from updating them. Two days later, Mullenweg provided a temporary reprieve and unblocked WP Engine until October 1.
On Wednesday, Automattic published a proposed seven-year term sheet that it had sent to WP Engine on September 20, asking the hosting company to pay 8% of its gross revenues per month as a royalty fee for using the WordPress and WooCommerce trademarks.
Alternatively, WP Engine was given the option to commit 8% by deploying employees to contribute to WordPress’s core features and functionalities, or a combination of both people hours and money.
WP Engine didn’t accept these terms, which included a probation on forking plugins and extensions from Automattic and WooCommerce.
You can contact this reporter at [email protected] or on Signal: @ivan.42
WORDPRESS
Automattic demanded web host pay $32M annually for using WordPress trademark
“WPE’s nominative uses of those marks to refer to the open-source software platform and plugin used for its clients’ websites are fair uses under settled trademark law, and they are consistent with WordPress’ own guidelines and the practices of nearly all businesses in this space,” the lawsuit said.
Mullenweg told Ars that “we had numerous meetings with WPE over the past 20 months, including a previous term sheet that was delivered in July. The term sheet was meant to be simple, and if they had agreed to negotiate it we could have, but they refused to even take a call with me, so we called their bluff.” Automattic also published a timeline of meetings and calls between the two companies going back to 2023.
Mullenweg also said, “Automattic had the commercial rights to the WordPress trademark and could sub-license, hence why the payment should go to Automattic for commercial use of the trademark. Also the term sheet covered the WooCommerce trademark, which they also abuse, and is 100 percent owned by Automattic.”
Automattic alleged “widespread unlicensed use”
Exhibit A in the lawsuit includes a letter to WP Engine CEO Heather Brunner from a trademark lawyer representing Automattic and a subsidiary, WooCommerce, which makes a plugin for WordPress.
“As you know, our Client owns all intellectual property rights globally in and to the world-famous WOOCOMMERCE and WOO trademarks; and the exclusive commercial rights from the WordPress Foundation to use, enforce, and sublicense the world-famous WORDPRESS trademark, among others, and all other associated intellectual property rights,” the letter said.
The letter alleged that “your blatant and widespread unlicensed use of our Client’s trademarks has infringed our Client’s rights and confused consumers into believing, falsely, that WP Engine is authorized, endorsed, or sponsored by, or otherwise affiliated or associated with, our Client.” It also alleged that “WP Engine’s entire business model is predicated on using our Client’s trademarks… to mislead consumers into believing there is an association between WP Engine and Automattic.”
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5 Most Profitable Online Businesses You Can Start Today for Free!
In today’s digitalized world, starting a business doesn’t always mean you have to have a good chunk of money and years of experience in the field. Yeah, it’s good if you have them, but even without them, you can start a business and make money. Not just a few hundred dollars; some businesses can even make you a millionaire if you invest your time and available resources into them.
You need to have the right approach and the proper set of skills to make that happen. And you can learn such skills for free on the internet. So, all you need is the willingness to put in the work and effort it needs.
In this post, you’ll see 5 most profitable online business ideas that you can start today for free. You don’t need anyone to help you with these businesses when you’re starting out; you can do it all alone, and you can manage these businesses from the comfort of your home.
Even if you don’t know a single thing about these businesses, you can learn them for free on YouTube, Udemy, and the Interent. There’s more than enough free resources out there about these topics to take you from 0-10 real quick.
So, sit down and grab your popcorns, because this article might be the only thing you need to launch your first online business, today itself!
Please note: This post contains affiliate links to products I use, trust, and recommend. If you choose to purchase a helpful product using these links, I may receive a small commission for referring you – at no extra cost to you. These funds help me keep this blog up and running.
1. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the most profitable and easy-to-start businesses out there. In affiliate marketing, you need to promote someone else’s product in order to make money. The person who promotes the product in exchange for some commission is called an affiliate.
When you sign up to be an affiliate of any program, you’ll get a unique link to promote the products called an affiliate link. You need to use your affiliate link to send customers to the seller’s page. That link tracks the amount of sales you generate to determine the money you make.
You don’t need to create, package, or ship the products yourself. The seller who is selling the product will do these all. All you need to do is, refer customers to the seller. And when the customer referred by you through your affiliate link makes a purchase, you get a small percentage of the sale amount as a reward. That’s it. That’s what affiliate marketing is!
Through affiliate marketing, you can promote both physical and digital products.
You don’t always have to sell products to earn affiliate commission. Sometimes, you get commission to make people download something. That can be an app, software, or browser extension. Sometimes, you get commissions to make people sign up for particular websites or services. Sometimes, you get commission to generate leads for businesses and agencies, etc. All these things need to be done through your affiliate link in order for you to make a commission.
How to Get Started?
1. Choose your Niche
You need to choose a niche to start affiliate marketing. You can’t promote everything from workout gear to making money online courses yourself! So, choosing a niche is very important to succeed in affiliate marketing. Some popular niches for affiliate marketing are: health & fitness, finance, home & kitchen, technology, relationships, etc.
2. Find the Product
After choosing a niche, you need to find a product to promote. If you decide to get into the health and fitness niche, then you can promote workout plans, weight loss supplements, keto meal plans, hair loss products, and so much more. So, decide what you want to promote and find a good product for it.
3. Build a Platform
Now, you’ve decided your niche, and your product is ready to promote, so all you need is a platform to promote it. You can promote affiliate products either through a blog or through social media. You can write articles on your blog or grow your social media accounts to share your affiliate links.
Here are some popular affiliate marketing platforms you can join.
The affiliate marketing industry is worth nearly $17 billion. So, you can start your affiliate marketing journey today to get a small chunk of that seventeen billion dollars for yourself!
2. Selling Digital Products
Selling digital products is another great way to make a hefty amount of money online. Digital products are a great way to share your knowledge and creativity with the world while making some money.
Digital products are products that are created and sold online. They don’t exist in the real world, except for printables. Printables are graphics that are created digitally but needs to be printed out in the real world to be used.
From ebooks to online courses and printables to music, there’s a wide variety of products that you can create and sell.
Here are some digital products that you can create and sell easily.
If you’re wondering which digital product sells the best and which one you should sell, consider this analysis done among 96,000 creators by influencers.club. According to the analysis, online courses were the most sold digital products, with 35.7% of the entire digital products sold, followed by ebooks (7.3%) and cookbooks (3.8%).
Here are a few more:
Check out 16 Best Digital Products to Sell in 2024
How to Get Started?
1. Choose Your Niche
The first step to building a profitable digital product business is to choose a niche that you’re interested in and have a demand in the market. You can select a niche based on your expertise, passion or to profit from an untapped market opportunity. Make sure that there are enough people willing to pay for your products so that you can make a good amount of money selling them.
2. Create Your Product
After choosing a niche to get into, you need to create a solid product to sell. In order to get constant sales, your product needs to be highly valuable. Either it needs to solve your customer’s problem or it needs to add significant value to their life. Make sure that your product is up-to-date, functional, and user-friendly.
3. Set up a Platform to Sell
Now that you have decided your niche and your product is ready to sell, all you need is a platform to host and sell your products. You can either sell digital products through your own website or through platforms like Etsy, Gumroad, Teachable, etc.
You can sell ebooks, printables, planners, digital arts, wallpapers, templates, etc. through Etsy and Gumroad. And to sell online courses, you can use platforms like Teachable or Udemy.
You can use graphic design tools like Canva and Adobe Illustrator to create printables, stickers, templates, wallpapers, etc. And you can write your ebook on Google Docs or Notepad and save it as a pdf to sell it.
4. Price Your Products
After your product is ready and you’ve decided a platform to sell, you need to set a price to sell your products.
Pricing is a really crucial part. You can’t price it too high or too low. If you price it too high, very few people are likely to buy it, and if you price it too low, you won’t make enough profit.
So, while pricing your product, evaluate the product yourself and do your market research to analyze your competitors pricing to determine your own product’s pricing.
You can promote your digital products by creating video/image content, writing blog posts, email marketing, paid ads, SEO, and through social media marketing.
Digital products can be a great way to make money online passively without needing much work and attention. So, this might be something you would love to get into! The best part is, there is no limit on how much money you can make. Ana from TheSheApproach has made over $55,000 selling ebooks alone through her small blog.
3. Print on Demand
Print on Demand, or POD, is gaining immense popularity in recent times due to its business model. Print on demand business has less to no startup cost, which makes it easier for anyone to get into it.
In Print on Demand business, you create designs to print on mugs, t-shirts, hoodies, caps, pants, etc. After your design is ready, you find a print-on-demand supplier to print and sell your products.
Unlike other type of businesses, in POD, the products are not produced first and listed for sale later. Instead, the products are promoted first and only produced or printed when a customer places an order.
In POD, your job is to create designs and market your products. Your POD supplier will do everything else, from printing, packaging, and delivering the product. They will even handle the returns if they have to.
How to Get Started?
1. Choose a Niche
First of all, choose a niche you want to start your business in. Choose a niche that has huge demand in the market and something you’re interested in. For example, if you’re interested in sports, you can create designs related to sports, print them, and sell them.
2. Create Your Designs
After you’ve chosen your niche, you need to create designs to print on products. Good designs attract more eyeballs and generate more sales compared to plain, low-quality designs. So, put your maximum effort into creating good designs. Your designs might be the only differentiator between success and failure of your POD business.
3. Choose a Print on Demand Supplier
After your design is ready, you need to find a good and trustworthy POD supplier to print and supply your products. Choose a supplier that uses high-quality materials to create products, has less fees, low shipping time, good customer support, and large area coverage. These things are crucial for your business’s success.
Here are some popular print-on-demand suppliers:
4. Set up Your Store
Now that your product is ready to sell, you need to find a platform to sell it. You can sell your POD products on Etsy, WooCommerce, or eBay, or setup a Shopify store to sell them. Your store must be clean and colorful to convert more visitors into customers.
5. Price Your Products
After your store is setup, you need to price your product. Make sure to check your competitors prices before pricing your own products. You can’t sell your products for significantly more than what your competitor is selling for. If you do so, you won’t get as many sales as you would have with a lower price point.
You can market your Print on Demand products mainly through social media and paid ads. You can start and grow a social media account to promote your POD products for free.
The print-on-demand market is worth more than $7.24B in 2024 and is projected to reach $43.4B by 2030 with a growth rate of staggering 26.8%. So, this might be the chance to dip your toes into the world of ecommerce with print on demand.
4. Dropshipping
Dropshipping is one of the hottest and most popular online business right now. It has made thousands of teenagers and 20-year-olds millionaires, and its craze is not going down anytime soon.
Dropshipping is a business model where you find a product, advertise it, and generate sales, but someone else produces, packages, and ships them for you.
You buy products for less price from retailers or even manufacturers and sell them for a higher price through your own store. For example, if I find a cool watch on Alibaba.com that I can buy for $7 a piece, then I will create my own store to advertise that product and sell it for $20, $30, or even more. That is how you make money with dropshipping.
In dropshipping, you don’t have to worry about producing product, packaging, shipping, or keeping a product inventory because whenever an order comes in, you forward that order and customer’s details to your supplier, and then your supplier will produce, package, and deliver the product to your customer. There are several tools and softwares to automate this entire process. Here you’re basically a middleman reselling the products.
How to Get Started?
1. Find a Product
To start a dropshipping business, first you need to find a product that solves a specific problem of your customers. Sometimes the product can be a fashionable or decorative item like a watch. The product has to have a high potential to sell. In the world of dropshipping, a product that solves a problem and has a high potential to sell is called a winning product.
2. Find a Supplier
After finding a good product to sell, you need to find a supplier who can supply you the same product for a cheaper price. A supplier can be the making or breaking point of your business because your job is to promote the product and bring customers. Everything except that is done by your supplier, so if you find a good supplier, you won’t have or have very few problems in your business, and vice versa.
So, before choosing your supplier, check their product quality, delivery time, packaging style, and customer service. A good supplier must have high-quality products, low delivery time, good packaging quality, and good customer support.
AliExpress is the go-to platform to find suppliers and products at a cheaper price, for dropshipping.
3. Build Your Store
After you’ve found a good product and a reliable supplier, you need to build a store to market your products. You can create your store on platforms like WooCommerce, Shopify, GetResponse, and Wix or sell them directly on Amazon or eBay. The design of your store must be clean, simple, and colorful to get more sales.
4. Market Your Store
After your store is setup and ready to sell, you need to advertise it, to bring customers to it. To advertise your store, you can use social media, paid ads, content marketing, SEO, and more.
Most dropshippers advertise their store through either Facebook or TikTok ads and through content marketing by creating viral pieces of content for TikTok, Instagram reels, and YouTube shorts.
That’s it! That’s how you can start your own dropshipping business and profit from the $250B dropshipping industry.
5. Dropservicing
Now you know what dropshipping is, but have you ever heard about dropservicing? Huh? Dropshipping deals with selling physical products, but dropservicing is all about selling services.
Dropservicing, also known as service arbitrage, is a business model where you sell services to clients. But instead of doing the work yourself, you outsource the work to a third-party service provider, either a freelancer or an agency. In dropservicing, you’re basically a middleman, just like in dropshipping, who acts as a service seller in front of clients to make money without doing any work yourself.
Whatever remains after paying your service provider from the amount your client paid is your profit. For example, if you find a client who is ready to pay you $1000 to edit a video for him. Then you find a freelancer or a video editing agency who can edit the same video for $400, then you can keep the remaining $600 with yourself. The more you charge your client and the less you pay your service provider, the more money you make. Didn’t understand? Read it again, you’ll get it!
How to Get Started?
1. Choose a Niche
To start a dropservicing business, you must be good at some kind of skill or a particular niche. That can be web designing, video editing, graphic designing, content writing, etc. Even though you’re not the one doing the work, you need to have proper knowledge and skill in the field to convince your client that you’re capable enough and a perfect fit for the work.
2. Find Your Service Provider
After you’ve decided your niche, you need a service provider to do the required tasks for you. While choosing a service provider, you need to make sure that they are good at what they do; otherwise, you’ll end up with a low-quality output that may not satisfy your clients and may not fulfill their requirements. You can find service providers on platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer, etc., or on social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn.
3. Setup a Platform
After you’ve decided your niche and found the service providers, you need to market your services in order to get clients. To do so, either you can create your own website, create a profile on freelancing platforms, or promote your services through social media.
While setting up a platform, you need to add your portfolio, past works, pricing, client testimonials, and contact information. Don’t worry if you don’t have any of these! You can add your service provider’s portfolio and client testimonials as yours while setting up your platform.
4. Set Your Prices
Before you launch your dropservicing business, you need to set a price for your services. While setting up pricing your services, find out how much your service provider is charging for the service you’re going to sell, and set your prices accordingly. For example, if your service provider charges $400 to edit a video, you can set your video editing price at $600, $700, or more.
You can promote your dropservicing business through content marketing, SEO, social media marketing, cold outreach, paid advertising, and freelance platforms.
Cold outreach is a process where you reach out to or contact someone via email who doesn’t have any connection with your business. The email is meant to aware them about your product or service and provide them with an offer.
Best Platforms to Start Your Business
If you’re thinking of starting a blog to get into affiliate marketing, then I would highly suggest you create your blog on either Wix or WordPress. These two are the best blog builders out there.
And if you’d like to create your own website to promote your digital products, dropshipping/dropservicing business, and print-on-demand products, then I would suggest you use GetResponse’s simple drag-and-drop website builder. It’s very easy to use and completely free to create and manage a website for lifetime. Getresponse also has its own email marketing tool, so, if you want, you can even start email marketing with it for completely free!
Tips to succeed:
1. Stay Consistent: You won’t see results overnight, so you need to be consistent to get results and make money.
2. Learn, Learn, Learn: Whatever business you get into, learn about it as much as you can. Learning will help you gather more knowledge about the topic, which ultimately helps you to get better results and earn more.
3. Be Patient: Many people give up too early because they are really, really impatient. Remember, great things take time, and if it were so easy and fast, then everyone would have done it.
4. Provide Value: If you want to make money, then you need to provide something that is equally valuable to your customers. So, make sure your main motive is to provide value along with making money.
So, these were the 5 most profitable online business ideas that you can start today for free. Let me quickly recap them for you. 1. Affiliate marketing 2. Selling digital products 3. Print on Demand (POD) 4. Dropshipping 5. Dropservicing. Make sure to give them a try if you’re thinking of starting an online business. And tell me in the comments, which one of these businesses would you start if you have to?
