Building a site from scratch takes days; importing a finished, well-designed starter site takes minutes. Astra Premium Sites Templates is the premium library that unlocks the full collection of Starter Templates for the Astra theme — full websites, single pages, and block patterns across Elementor, Gutenberg, and the block editor. It is the companion to Astra Pro Addon: the addon unlocks theme features, this one unlocks the designs.
The template quality is the reason people stay with the Astra ecosystem. Each starter site is a complete, coherent build — homepage, about, services, blog, contact — with typography, colors, and spacing already worked out. You swap in your own content and logo, and a site that would take a week of design work is ready in an afternoon.
Competitive Features
- Full premium library unlocked. The free plugin gives a taste of the templates; this is the complete premium set, updated as new designs ship.
- AI-powered website builder. Generate a tailored template selection from a business description, then fine-tune — including AI-generated Elementor templates.
- Multi-builder support. Templates for Elementor, the block editor, and legacy Beaver Builder imports, so your builder choice does not lock you out.
- SureCart ecommerce templates. Deep integration with SureCart stores, with template products created during import for a smoother setup.
- Spectra v3 templates. A toggle lets you switch between legacy v2 and the newer beta v3 template set.
- Color palette generator. For classic templates, a primary color generates a full color scheme with live preview.
- Multisite support. Sub-site admins can import classic templates on multisite networks.
- AVIF image support in the AI Builder. Templates using AVIF images carry those formats across on import.
Key Features
- One-click full site import. Pick a design, choose your builder, and the importer handles plugins, content, images, and customizer settings in one pass.
- Single pages and block patterns. Not every project needs a whole site — import just a pricing page or a pattern block into an existing build.
- Customizer-level integration. Imported sites respect Astra’s global settings, so fonts and colors stay editable through the standard Customizer after import.
- Export support. The Astra Sites Exporter plugin lets you package your modified site for reuse — handy for agencies with a proven base design.
- Improved import reliability. Recent updates hardened plugin installation and error handling to cut import failure rates on restrictive hosts.
- Regular template additions. New starter sites and patterns ship continuously, covering new niches and SureCart commerce flows.
- Dark mode accessibility. Premium tooltips in the Elementor library were refined for clarity and dark mode rendering.
- eCommerce-first search. SureCart ecommerce templates surface first when searching for store-related keywords.
Comparison with Competitors
Astra Premium Sites vs Kadence Starter Templates
| Feature | Astra Premium Sites | Kadence Starter Templates |
|---|---|---|
| Library size | Large premium collection | Solid collection |
| AI website builder | Yes, with AI-generated Elementor templates | AI-powered onboarding |
| Builders | Elementor, block editor, Beaver Builder (legacy) | Block editor, Elementor |
| Commerce templates | SureCart integration | WooCommerce-focused |
| Theme | Astra | Kadence |
Both ecosystems are excellent. Astra’s library is bigger and the SureCart integration is unique; choose by which theme you want to live in.
Astra Premium Sites vs Envira-style single-purpose galleries
| Feature | Astra Premium Sites | Single-purpose template plugins |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Full sites, pages, patterns | One content type |
| Design coherence | Complete, consistent designs | Isolated blocks |
| Import model | Full site import with settings | Manual placement |
| Updates | Continuous new designs | Rarely updated |
Template plugins that only cover one element cannot replace a full starter site workflow — the value here is the complete, coherent design.
Recommended Stack — imported templates still need to perform. I pair the template library with WP Rocket for caching and Smush to compress the imported images, which are often the heaviest part of a fresh starter site.
Official Changelog
Version 4.7.7
Release Date: September 16, 2026
- Fix: The Starter Templates page no longer returns a 404 on Apache/LiteSpeed hosts with mod_substitute active, caused by the response exceeding the server’s line-length limit.
- Security: Restricted the CartFlows, Cart Abandonment Recovery and LatePoint import endpoints and the template data request endpoint to administrators only.
- Security: Image sideload endpoints now download from approved stock image hosts only, preventing server-side request forgery against internal network services.
Version 4.7.6
Release Date: September 8, 2026
- New: Classic Templates — added a custom color palette generator that creates a full color scheme from a primary color, with live preview and st-color URL parameter support.
- New: Added deep-link support for in-house template filtering.
- Improvement: Refined the Elementor Template Library premium tooltips for better usability, clarity, and dark mode accessibility.
- Improvement: SureCart ecommerce templates now appear first when searching for ecommerce-related keywords.
- Improvement: Improved plugin installation and error handling to reduce import failure rates.
- Improvement: Improved the template import experience.
- Fix: Resolved the eCommerce option selection issue in template preview.
Version 4.7.5
Release Date: August 20, 2026
- New: Added Sigmize (Conversion Testing) to the features selection step in the onboarding flow.
- New: Finish Setup — added a Sigmize action item to the Finish Setup checklist.
- Improvement: Ensured compatibility with WordPress 7.1.
- Improvement: AI Builder — added AVIF image support, so templates using AVIF images bring them across with the other formats.
- Improvement: AI Builder — removed the goals selection screen and the tone and keywords options from the AI website builder onboarding.
- Improvement: Design Kit — the Spectra Blocks plugin is now installed from the WordPress.org repository.
- Fix: Resolved a console error on the Starter Templates page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need the Astra theme for these templates?
Yes. The templates are built for Astra and import its Customizer settings. Install the free Astra theme first — the premium plugin then unlocks the complete library on top of it.
Which page builders are supported?
Elementor and the Gutenberg block editor are fully supported. Beaver Builder imports are available in legacy mode and can be re-enabled with a filter, as the developer is sunsetting that integration.
Can I import just one page instead of a whole site?
Yes. Alongside full starter sites, the library includes single pages and block patterns that you can drop into an existing site without touching anything else.
Does it work on multisite?
Yes. Recent versions added multisite support, letting sub-site admins import classic templates on their own sites within a network.
Can I customize colors after importing?
Absolutely. Imported sites map onto Astra’s global Customizer settings, and the classic templates include a color palette generator that builds a full scheme from one primary color.
Do new templates keep coming?
Yes. The library is updated continuously with new starter sites, patterns, and AI Builder improvements — updates are included in the download.
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