If you are following this blog you might be aware that I was using Thesis Framework on Makewebworld. I was using the Avenger skin from ThesisAwesome. I have used it for more than an year and finally gave up and moved to Genesis Framework.
I have my reasons for that move and I am going to discuss that in this post. But I want to make it clear that If you are looking for a Thesis vs Genesis comparison than I am not going to do that. Both are great framework and provide most of the required options.
I am going to discuss these two themes in terms of user perspective and the positive and negatives which helped me make the decision.
1. Price of Genesis Framework
Two themes are mostly equal in terms of prizing. I would consider Genesis Framework a bit cheaper than Thesis because of the child theme pricing.
Combine pricing for Genesis Framework and Child Theme is less than the pricing for Thesis Framework and skin. Most of the skins for Thesis costs somewhere between $40 to $70 where a child theme for Genesis is around $25. It may even be cheaper if you are a returning customer to Studiopress as you get a returning customer discount at Studiopress.
Some people will come and say that Genesis child theme is nothing more than a visual interface, where thesis skins does more than that. Genesis provides many plugin along with it and you can get them free of cost from WordPress repository.
There is one another plus point for Genesis, once you purchase it you can use it to any number of domain and also on client sites. You get it with GNU GPL license, so you do not need to pay anything else of you want to sell sites build on it, which is not the case with Thesis.
2. Child Theme Availability
Another Good point about Genesis is the child theme availability. Studiopress has many child theme available and you can either purchase the Studiopress All Theme Package or a single child theme.
Thesis Framework also have skins availability but you do not have that many skins available under a single umbrella. Also the price of genesis themes are vary reasonable and a process to migrate to another theme is also easy. Also because most of the functionality has been moved as a plugin you can change the child themes very easily without disturbing any of the data.
I have decided to go with Metro Child Theme, because of the cleaner look and mobile responsiveness.
3. Modification Compatibility
Both the framework are compatible for any kind of modifications, the flexibility is there. But against thesis 2.0, Genesis Framework is much easier to handle and update.
Thesis 2.0 lacks in good documentation and has a good learning curve for normal user, where as Genesis Framework requires less effort. Also if you have Studiopress All in One Package than it is very easy to port your modifications to one theme to another.
There are plugin available to make the editing easy for Genesis Framework, which is lacking with Thesis 2.0.
4. Studiopress as a Complete Package
Studiopress is a complete package and provides a framework and themes under a single umbrella. The issue with the thesis is that they only sale framework and you have to either work by yourself or but a skin from somebody else.
It becomes a issue when you face problem with the install, skin developer will send you to thesis support and thesis support will throw you back. I have practically faced this situation and has to use paypal resolution center to get my money back (This is not with Thesis Avenger, Hesham’s support is awesome).
I have used Studiopress customer support which is great, you get fast replies. Also their community forum is filled with lot of answers, you can resolve most of the issues by just browsing the forum.
5. Thesis 2.0
One of the main trigger for the move was Thesis 2.0. The upgrade has made all the existing skins and modifications useless, users either needs to stay on Thesis 1.8 or pay money to developers.
Developers were also struggling to understand the new system, most of the available skins are having major issues in terms of performance. So even if you decide to pay you are not sure that you will have a good experience.
In Genesis Framework most of the child themes are provided by studiopress only. So even if you have a drastic changes coming in the next version of Genesis Framework, you will be sure that your child theme will be supported.
So these are my reasons for moving to Genesis Framework and I would like you to make an informed decision. So which framework you are going with?
Customizing Genesis themes are not so easy, but having used it for over a year now i can now find it easy to edit. If you ever need any help contact me.
I am also used to now, initially it might be little hard to understand but there is enough help available in terms of Studiopress forums etc……Thanks for offering help also….
I also recommend Genesis. I even use the same people for hosting my blog and have been really happy with my experience with Studiopress.
But I also have to say I never have tried Thesis because as you pointed out, it did not seem to be for noobs like me.
I am also with them for hosting also, its a great experience so far with them…
Thesis was ok till v1.8, but there has been lot of changes with 2.0 and I want to spend time on my blog rather than learning new thesis….
The best thing about Genesis is simplicity. You don’t have to be a geek to customize Genesis child themes.
Yes, it is really easy to update the child theme and most of the modifications are available online, so no need to code also….
Comments are closed.