Salient screenshot

Salient

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Updated Jun 2026 Analysis Jun 3, 2026

Classic One-Time Purchase Elementor WPBakery Creative & Portfolio Multipurpose by ThemeNectar
75
PageSpeed
5.0
Handoff /10
$60
Starting price
Safe — with caveats
Scout verdict

Top-5 best-selling ThemeForest theme with 170K+ sales, deep WPBakery customization and 400+ demos.

Compare
vs Bridge
Alternatives
Astra 6.0/10 Kadence 5.0/10 Avada 5.0/10

Overview

Safe to use

Top-5 best-selling ThemeForest theme with 170K+ sales, deep WPBakery customization and 400+ demos. Desktop performance excellent (97/100) but mobile needs optimization (75/100, LCP 4.1s). WPBakery lock-in is the major tradeoff — no Elementor support.

Analysis

Salient by ThemeNectar is one of the top-5 best-selling WordPress themes on ThemeForest, with over 169,000 sales and a 4.82/5 rating across 5,700+ reviews since its 2013 launch. It positions itself as a creative multipurpose theme built around a heavily customized WPBakery Page Builder fork, offering 400+ demo templates, smooth scrolling effects, View Transitions API support, and deep WooCommerce integration with dedicated shop layouts.

Performance is a mixed story. ThemeScout’s PageSpeed measurement shows an excellent 97/100 on desktop with 1.04s LCP, but mobile scores 75/100 with a 4.13-second LCP that sits right at the ‘needs improvement’ boundary. Default installations are significantly worse — community reports indicate 8-10 second load times without optimization. ThemeNectar provides a Performance tab with Delay JS Execution, local Google Fonts, and image preloading toggles that make a substantial difference when enabled.

The biggest tradeoff with Salient is vendor lock-in. Its custom WPBakery fork is the sole page builder — there is zero Elementor support and no migration path. Content built in Salient’s editor cannot be transferred to other themes without rebuilding from scratch. For agencies standardized on Elementor or teams planning for long-term flexibility, this is a dealbreaker. Security-wise, the Salient Core companion plugin has had multiple CVEs in 2024-2025 including a high-severity LFI/RCE vulnerability (CVE-2024-3812), all patched promptly.

Salient excels for creative agencies and designers who value visual polish, animation quality, and template variety within the WPBakery ecosystem. Its 12+ year track record, active changelog, and lifetime update policy provide confidence in long-term viability. But projects prioritizing mobile performance, builder flexibility, or minimal vendor lock-in should consider lighter alternatives like Astra, Kadence, or GeneratePress.

Performance

PageSpeed Mobile 75
PageSpeed Desktop 97

Core Web Vitals (mobile)

Metric Mobile Desktop Target
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) 4.13 1.04 < 2.5s

ThemeScout PSI measurement: mobile 75/100 (LCP 4.13s, CLS 0.000), desktop 97/100 (LCP 1.04s, CLS 0.000). Community reports 8-10s default load times. ThemeNectar provides built-in Performance tab with JS delay, font optimization, and image preloading.

Performance concerns

Default Salient installations load in 8-10 seconds without optimization due to heavy WPBakery asset payload and render-blocking resources, requiring deliberate configuration of the Performance tab settings plus a caching plugin and modern PHP 8.1+ to achieve acceptable Core Web Vitals scores on mobile.

Avoid if performance matters

Avoid Salient for mobile-first projects with strict Core Web Vitals targets, as the 4.13-second mobile LCP even on the official demo indicates a performance floor that lighter themes like Astra or GeneratePress simply don't have.

Tested URL: https://themenectar.com/salient/. View PageSpeed Insights report.

Client Handoff

5.0
out of 10

How easy it is to hand this theme off to a client without ongoing developer support.

Score breakdown

Criterion Rating
Panel complexity complex
Documentation quality good
Learning curve days
When it works well

Salient is suitable for handoff to clients with WordPress experience who are comfortable working within a WPBakery-based visual builder, as the documentation covers installation, theme options, and WooCommerce setup thoroughly with video support.

Use caution when

The deeply customized WPBakery fork creates strong vendor lock-in — migrating away from Salient means rebuilding all pages from scratch, and major version updates (v15 to v16, v16 to v17) have historically required careful migration steps to avoid breaking existing designs and custom CSS.

Avoid if

Avoid handing off Salient to agencies or developers who prefer Elementor or Gutenberg-first workflows, as there is no Elementor support whatsoever and the custom WPBakery implementation is fundamentally incompatible with modern block-based editing paradigms.

Scout recommendation

Salient uses a heavily customized WPBakery fork as its sole page builder. Documentation at themenectar.com/docs/salient/ is comprehensive with video tutorials. However, the custom WPBakery interface means standard WPBakery tutorials don't fully apply, and major version upgrades can break custom CSS or child theme overrides.

Alternatives: Astra 6.0/10 , Kadence 5.0/10 , Avada 5.0/10

Pricing

$60
Base price
Standard Commercial
License type
$18/yr
Annual renewal
6 mo
Support included

Available plans

Plan Price Type Includes
Regular License $60 other Single site, end users not charged for access
Extended License $2,950 extended_license Single site, end users may be charged

Plugin Compatibility

7
Plugins tested
3
Fully compatible
4
With issues
Plugin Category Status Notes
WooCommerce E-commerce Full support Deep native integration with Salient-specific product layouts, quick view, and shop templates. 40+ WooCommerce demos included.
WPML Multilingual Partial support WPML-certified since 2018. Edge cases: WooCommerce category headers not displayed on translations, dot navigation not auto-translated, Global Sections need manual WPML config.
Elementor Page Builder Not tested No Elementor support whatsoever. Salient is WPBakery-only by design. No migration path offered.
Yoast SEO SEO & Marketing Full support No reported compatibility issues.
Contact Form 7 Forms & Contact Full support Listed as compatible. No reported issues.
WP Rocket Caching & Performance Partial support Works but requires careful configuration — Delay JS in both Salient Performance tab and WP Rocket can conflict. Use one or the other.
WPBakery Other Not tested Auto-added: mentioned in community pain points

Verify WPBakery addon compatibility before purchase. Test WPML edge cases on multilingual WooCommerce sites.

Community Feedback

40 discussions analyzed
Timeframe Last 12 months
Analyzed Jun 2026
Pain points
  • Default installation is slow — 8-10 second load times (historical — unconfirmed current) performance
    Show description

    Salient ships with heavy JS/CSS payload due to WPBakery customization. Default sites load in 8-10 seconds without optimization. Render-blocking resources are the primary culprit. Performance tab settings must be explicitly enabled.

    Enable Performance tab options: Delay JS Execution, Load Google Fonts Locally, Optimize Top-level Images. Use PHP 8.1+ and caching plugin.
    Common 60%
    Moderate ThemeNectar Ticksy [1]
  • Major version upgrades risk breaking designs (historical — unconfirmed current) handoff
    Show description

    Major version jumps (v15→v16, v16→v17, v17→v18) have required migration guidance. Users report anxiety about losing design settings during updates. Custom CSS and child theme overrides may break.

    Always update in staging first. Follow ThemeNectar migration guides for major versions.
    Common 60%
    Moderate ThemeNectar Ticksy [2]
  • WPBakery-only with no Elementor support — strong vendor lock-in plugin compat
    Show description

    Salient uses a heavily customized WPBakery fork as its sole page builder. No Elementor support exists. Migrating away means rebuilding all pages. Standard WPBakery addons may not work with the custom fork.

    Accept WPBakery lock-in or choose a builder-agnostic theme.
    Common 60%
    Major ThemeNectar Docs [3]
  • Security CVEs in Salient Core plugin including LFI/RCE (historical — unconfirmed current) general
    Show description

    CVE-2024-3812: Local File Inclusion allowing contributor-level RCE in Salient Core <= 2.0.7. CVE-2025-59001: unauthorized access for subscribers. Multiple XSS vulnerabilities patched. All in companion Salient Core plugin.

    Always run latest Salient Core version. Monitor WPScan advisories.
    Verified 25%
    Major WPScan [4]
  • Support response times inconsistent despite 12-hour target (historical — unconfirmed current) support
    Show description

    ThemeNectar targets 12-hour response, but some users report 2-3 day waits or even weeks without response. Support is ticket-based via Ticksy with no live chat option.

    Use documentation and YouTube tutorials for common issues. File clear, detailed tickets.
    Occasional 35%
    Minor ThemeForest Reviews [5]
  • Theme bloat — heavy JS/CSS payload from WPBakery customization (historical — unconfirmed current) performance
    Show description

    Dedicated support ticket exists for 'Salient theme bloat'. The customized WPBakery fork and extensive feature set result in large initial payload that cannot be fully eliminated.

    Use Performance tab settings and consider removing unused theme components where possible.
    Common 60%
    Minor ThemeNectar Ticksy [6]
  • WPML edge cases with WooCommerce category headers and Global Sections (historical — unconfirmed current) plugin compat
    Show description

    WooCommerce category header images not displayed on translated pages. Dot navigation elements not auto-translated. Global Sections require manual WPML configuration to be translatable.

    Manually configure WPML for edge cases. Update WPML to 4.6.8+ for WPBakery preview fix.
    Occasional 35%
    Minor WPML Errata [7]
  • WordPress core compatibility breaks on older Salient versions (historical — unconfirmed current) updates
    Show description

    Salient versions older than v11 were incompatible with WordPress 5.5. Users who delayed updates experienced site downtime when WordPress auto-updated.

    Keep Salient updated within 1-2 minor versions of latest.
    Occasional 35%
    Moderate ThemeNectar Ticksy [8]

Community discussions analyzed from ThemeNectar Ticksy support system, ThemeForest reviews, WordPress.org forums, security databases, and independent review sites.

FAQ

Sources & Methodology

High confidence based on 170,000+ sales, extensive public support ticket history, 5,700+ ThemeForest reviews, multiple independent review sources, and verified security advisories.

Profile compiled from Envato API marketplace data, ThemeScout PSI measurements (3 mobile + 3 desktop runs, median values), ThemeNectar Ticksy support tickets, security databases, WPML errata, and independent review sites.

  1. [[1]] ThemeNectar Ticksy — PageSpeed complaint — forum
  2. [[2]] ThemeNectar Ticksy — Update settings concern — forum
  3. [[3]] ThemeNectar Official Documentation — Official docs
  4. [[4]] WPScan Salient Vulnerabilities — documentation
  5. [[5]] ThemeForest Salient Reviews — marketplace
  6. [[6]] ThemeNectar Ticksy — Theme bloat — forum
  7. [[7]] WPML Salient WooCommerce Errata — documentation
  8. [[8]] ThemeNectar Ticksy — WP compatibility — forum
  9. [[9]] ThemeForest Marketplace Listing — marketplace
  10. [[10]] ThemeNectar Official Salient Page — Official docs
  11. [[11]] Darrel Wilson Salient Review — review_site
  12. [[12]] ThemeNectar Changelog — changelog
  13. [[13]] ThemeScout PSI Measurement — documentation

Analysis date: June 3, 2026

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