Betheme
Elementor Classic Theme One-time Purchase
Author: muffingroup | Last Updated: 18.12.2025

Betheme v28.2.1

Quick Verdict

Betheme is a massively popular and feature-rich theme with an enormous library of pre-built websites, making it excellent for rapid prototyping. However, it suffers from significant performance issues, a steep learning curve, and critical compatibility conflicts with essential plugins like WPML and Advanced Custom Fields, making it a risky choice for projects requiring high performance or complex integrations.

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Analysis

Betheme is one of the best-selling WordPress themes of all time, celebrated for its immense versatility and a gigantic library of over 700 pre-built websites. This makes it a powerful tool for agencies and freelancers who need to rapidly prototype and deploy websites across a wide variety of industries. Its extensive theme options and bundled premium plugins like WPBakery and Slider Revolution provide a comprehensive toolkit for building nearly any type of site, from corporate pages to complex e-commerce stores.

However, this all-in-one approach comes with significant trade-offs. The theme is notoriously heavy and struggles with performance, often failing to meet Google’s Core Web Vitals standards without extensive, expert-level optimization. Furthermore, it has well-documented and critical compatibility issues with essential plugins. Activating WPML for multilingual sites can grind a website to a halt, while using Advanced Custom Fields with anything other than simple text can trigger fatal errors. These limitations make it a fragile choice for complex, high-stakes projects.

Ultimately, Betheme is best suited for experienced developers who can navigate its complexity, mitigate its performance issues, and work around its plugin conflicts. Its per-site licensing model can also become costly for agencies with many clients. Beginners, or anyone prioritizing speed, stability, and seamless plugin integration, would be better served by more modern, lightweight alternatives like Kadence or GeneratePress.

Elementor
Agency
Classic Theme
✅ Pros
• 700+ pre-built websites
• Excellent for rapid prototyping
• Includes client rebranding tool
❌ Cons
• Poor Core Web Vitals performance
• Critical plugin compatibility issues
• Inflexible per-site licensing model
Plugin Compatibility
Will my plugins work?
Research Confidence: High
Safe if
Betheme is safe for projects that require a basic plugin stack and do not depend on complex multilingual setups or advanced custom field integrations for their core functionality.
Check before purchase
Use caution when pairing Betheme with Elementor, as this combination is known to add performance overhead and has led to bugs where theme elements disappear or fail to save after updates [8, 9, 10].
Avoid if
Absolutely avoid Betheme for websites that rely on WPML for multilingual features or Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) for anything beyond basic text fields, as critical issues like severe performance degradation and fatal errors have been widely reported [3, 4, 6].

Community Quotes

"ACF taxonomy fields return arrays, but Betheme's dynamic data processor expects strings. This causes a fatal error: 'Uncaught TypeError: str_replace(): Argument #2 ($replace) must be of type string'."

— Muffin Group Forum [6]

"Multiple forum users report that activating WPML causes immediate slowness even with powerful hosting. The root cause: WPML generates excessive database queries that bypass caching optimization."

— WPML Forum [3], Muffin Group Forum [4]

"When translating menu built in Betheme templates using WPML, all style attributes were not transported into the English version. Styles such as typography and paddings had to be set again manually."

— Muffin Group Forum [5]

"Pairing the theme with Elementor adds heavy JavaScript, multiple CSS files, and third-party integrations that increase load times. Users also report elements disappearing and infinite save loops."

— Elegant Themes Blog [8], Muffin Group Forum [9], Muffin Group Forum [10]

Client Handoff
Can the client manage it?
Research Confidence: High
Safe if
Betheme is a safe choice if you are an agency with a technical team that can configure the complex options and use the built-in rebranding tool for a professional client handoff.
Check before purchase
Exercise caution when handing off a Betheme site to non-technical clients, as the vast number of options can be overwhelming and may lead to frequent support requests.
Avoid if
Avoid this theme for projects where the end-client will be managing the site themselves without prior WordPress experience, as the developer themselves recommends hiring professionals for setup and training [14].
Panel Difficulty
Complex
Documentation
Good
Learning Curve
Days

Community Quotes

"The theme's complexity creates a learning curve. Betheme itself recommends hiring professionals... Budget $400-2,000 for setup/training if clients are non-technical."

— Betheme Blog [14]

Freelancer Recommendation
This theme is best suited for agency-led projects where the client will not be making significant structural or design changes post-handoff. The complexity that makes it powerful for developers also makes it challenging for end-users.
Alternatives: Kadence, Astra
Performance & SEO
Will the site be fast?
Research Confidence: High
Safe if
This theme is only suitable for performance-focused projects if you are an experienced developer prepared to implement advanced server-level caching, a premium CDN, and meticulous manual optimization to counteract its inherent bloat.
Check before purchase
Use this theme with caution on standard shared hosting environments, as its heavy resource usage can lead to slow load times and a sluggish admin experience without significant optimization efforts [11].
Avoid if
Avoid Betheme for any website where passing Google's Core Web Vitals is a primary business requirement, as independent tests and user reports confirm it struggles significantly with key metrics like Largest Contentful Paint [1, 2].
82
Mobile
Benchmark: 90+
99
Desktop
Benchmark: 90+
3,300.00s
LCP Mobile
Benchmark: <2.5s
Overall Performance Rating
6/100
Test Information
Tested URL: https://themes.muffingroup.com/be/paintstore/

Code Observation (demo):

No direct PageSpeed test was conducted, but community analysis provides clear data. A 2025 test by WP Rocket placed Betheme last among 10 popular themes, scoring only 82/100 on mobile with a Largest Contentful Paint of 3.3 seconds, which is in the 'poor' range and fails Google's Core Web Vitals assessment [1]. Users frequently report slowness in both the front-end and the WordPress admin panel, especially with plugins like WooCommerce or WPML active [11, 68].

⚠️ Based on DevTools inspection of demo, not a production audit

Community Quotes

"WP Rocket's official 2025 testing placed it last among 10 popular themes, achieving only 82/100 mobile PageSpeed with a 3.3-second Largest Contentful Paint (red zone)."

— WP Rocket Blog [1]

"Users report slow admin panels and page editor loading, particularly noticeable when WooCommerce is loaded (even if not used)."

— Muffin Group Forum [11], Muffin Group Forum [68]

Freelancer Recommendation

If high performance is a priority, Betheme is not a recommended starting point. The effort required to optimize it often outweighs the benefits of its pre-built designs.

Alternatives: GeneratePress, Kadence
Update Safety
Will updates break the site?
Research Confidence: High
Safe if
Updating Betheme is safe if you follow development best practices, such as testing all updates on a dedicated staging environment before deploying to the live site to catch any breaking changes.
Check before purchase
Proceed with caution when updating, as users have reported that major version jumps can introduce styling and content issues, and the theme does not offer a simple one-click rollback feature [13].
Avoid if
Avoid performing automatic or untested updates on a mission-critical website, as a failed update could require a full database restoration from a server backup, potentially leading to significant downtime [13].

Community Quotes

"A user updating from v21 to v24 reported: 'Styles and content seem odd'. No rollback option exists through ThemeForest—recovery requires contacting hosting providers for database restoration."

— Muffin Group Forum [13]

Freelancer Recommendation

Never update Betheme directly on a live production site. Always use a staging environment to test for visual regressions, plugin conflicts, and functionality breaks before deploying the update.

Alternatives: Astra, Kadence
Scalability
Can I use it for multiple projects?
Research Confidence: Medium
Costs
Pricing breakdown
Explicit Costs
  • Regular License $60
  • Support (6) Included
  • Regular License $60
  • Extended License $2950
Hidden Costs (Community)
"One license equals one end product. Agencies cannot obtain unlimited/multi-site licenses, requiring separate $69 purchases per client—creating scale disadvantages for high-volume operations."— Reddit [15]
Demo Gallery
10 example sites
Pay 3
Pay 3
Beauty 6
Beauty 6
Estate 5
Estate 5
Doctor
Doctor
Leasing 2
Leasing 2
Agency 9
Agency 9
Furniture Store
Furniture Store
Paint Store
Paint Store
Clothing Store 3
Clothing Store 3
Car Cosmetics
Car Cosmetics
View all 10 demos →
Frequently Asked Questions
8 questions from community

Is Betheme fast enough to pass Google's Core Web Vitals?

Performance & Speed

No, Betheme generally struggles to pass Core Web Vitals out of the box. An independent 2025 test by WP Rocket found it had a Largest Contentful Paint of 3.3 seconds on mobile, which is considered "poor" by Google's standards [1].

Sources: 1

Does Betheme have full compatibility with WPML for multilingual websites?

Plugin Compatibility

No, its compatibility is limited and problematic. Multiple users report that activating WPML causes severe performance degradation on both the front-end and back-end, and can also cause styling to break on translated pages [3, 4, 5].

Sources: 3,4,5

Can I use Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), specifically taxonomy fields, with Betheme?

Plugin Compatibility

You should avoid using complex ACF fields. The theme author has confirmed that support is limited to basic string-based values. Using more complex fields like taxonomies can cause fatal PHP errors because the theme's code is not built to handle the array data they produce [6].

Sources: 6

What are the known issues when using Betheme with the Elementor page builder?

Plugin Compatibility

Known issues include increased performance bloat from extra code, conflicts after theme updates that cause elements to disappear, and editor bugs like infinite saving loops [8, 9, 10].

Sources: 8,9,10

Is there an agency or multi-site license available for Betheme?

Pricing & Licensing

No, Betheme operates on a strict one-license-per-website model as per ThemeForest's standard licensing. This can make it expensive for agencies building a large number of client sites, as a new license must be purchased for each project [15].

Sources: 15

What is the primary advantage of choosing Betheme over competitors?

General

Its main advantage is the massive library of over 700 pre-built, importable websites. This feature makes it an excellent tool for rapid prototyping and quickly building sites for clients across many different industries [43].

Sources: 43

Are theme updates safe, or is there a risk of them breaking my site?

Updates & Stability

Updates carry a moderate risk. Users have reported that major updates can cause styling and content to break, and there is no built-in rollback feature. It is critical to test updates on a staging site before applying them to a live environment [13].

Sources: 13

Why might the WordPress admin dashboard feel slow after installing Betheme?

Performance & Speed

This is a commonly reported issue. The theme's large feature set and heavy code base can consume significant server resources, leading to a slow admin panel, particularly when other resource-intensive plugins like WooCommerce are also active [11, 68].

Sources: 11,68
Sources & Methodology
89 sources indexed

Timeframe

Last 12 months

Analysis Date

January 5, 2026

Confidence Assessment

Confidence is high due to the large volume of sales and extensive user feedback available, providing a clear picture of the theme's performance and common issues.

Methodology Note

This analysis is based on a combination of official documentation, marketplace data, and a wide range of community discussions from forums and social media to identify common user experiences, pain points, and strengths. Note: A data conflict was found for WooCommerce compatibility between the theme description ('10.3') and sidebar metadata ('9.x.x').

Referenced Sources 89