Hestia
> Answer capsule: Hestia is a free WordPress theme by Themeisle with over 4.6 million active installs. It uses a one-page scrolling layout with drag-and-drop section controls, works with major pa...
What Is Hestia?
Hestia is a free WordPress theme developed by Themeisle, built around Google’s Material Design principles, with a single-page layout optimized for small business sites, startups, and freelancer portfolios.
Answer capsule: Hestia is a free WordPress theme by Themeisle with over 4.6 million active installs. It uses a one-page scrolling layout with drag-and-drop section controls, works with major page builders like Elementor, and has a paid Pro tier (Hestia PRO) that unlocks additional sections, white-label options, and advanced WooCommerce support.
This page is for small business owners and freelancers who want a quick, factual answer about Hestia before deciding whether to install it.
Disclosure: Some links on WPSchool are affiliate links. We earn a commission if you purchase, at no extra cost to you.
Last verified: April 2026
What does Hestia do in WordPress?
Hestia controls your site’s visual design — layout, typography, header style, section order, and color scheme. It ships with a front page built from stacked sections (hero, features, team, testimonials, contact). You configure each section inside the WordPress Customizer without touching code. In our testing on a fresh install, the default homepage is live in under ten minutes.
Who uses Hestia?
Hestia has 4,611,966 active installs as of September 2025, making it one of the twenty most-installed themes on WordPress.org. We see it frequently on client sites in the freelance and local-business category — service businesses that need one clean page without a large design budget. Its 4.8/5 rating across 560 reviews reflects that user base: people who want something presentable fast, not a pixel-perfect custom build.
Free vs. Hestia PRO
The free version covers the core use case: a front page with all main sections, a blog layout, and basic Customizer controls. Hestia PRO adds roughly a dozen extra front-page sections, white-label mode (useful for agencies handing sites off to clients), advanced header options, and deeper WooCommerce integration. Themeisle prices PRO at around $99/year for a single site as of 2026 — worth it for agencies managing client handoffs; overkill for a single personal site.
One thing competitors rarely mention: the free version does not support multiple inner-page layouts out of the box. If you need custom templates for service pages or landing pages, you either add a page builder like Elementor or upgrade to PRO. We ran into this on a client project and solved it by pairing the free Hestia with the free Elementor plugin — a combination that works cleanly.
Does Hestia work with page builders?
Yes. Hestia is compatible with Elementor, Beaver Builder, and the native WordPress block editor (Gutenberg). The theme handles global styles and the front-page structure; the page builder handles individual page content. This split is practical: non-technical clients can adjust text in the Customizer while you handle deeper layout changes in the builder.
Related terms
- WordPress theme — the parent concept; Hestia is one of 11,000+ themes on the official directory
- WordPress Customizer — the built-in panel where Hestia sections are configured
- Elementor — page builder commonly paired with Hestia for inner pages
- Themeisle — the Romanian company that develops and maintains Hestia
- Freemium WordPress theme — the business model Hestia uses (free core, paid extensions)