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WordPress theme comparison

Lightning vs modernize

At a glance

  • Lightning has more active installs: 100K+, against 1K+ for modernize.
  • On a typical day, Lightning is downloaded about 432 times, modernize about 0.
  • Lightning is rated higher: 4.8 out of 5 from 12 reviews, against 4.7 from 3 reviews.
  • Lightning was updated more recently: Sep 9, 2026, against Sep 17, 2017 for modernize.
  • Lightning has been around longer: since 2015, against 2016 for modernize.

Line by line

Lightning leads on 4 of 4 comparable lines.

MetricLightningmodernize
Popular rank#28–
Active installs100K+1K+
Downloads, last 30 days19.8K7
Rating4.8(12)4.7(3)
Last release2 months ago9 years ago
Requires PHP7.4–

From WordPress.org's public data, refreshed every night. Downloads are WordPress.org's official daily figures for the last 30 days.

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