WordPress theme comparison
Lightning vs Responsive
At a glance
- Lightning has more active installs: 100K+, against 10K+ for Responsive.
- On a typical day, Responsive is downloaded about 496 times, Lightning about 451.
- Lightning is rated higher: 4.8 out of 5 from 12 reviews, against 4.7 from 559 reviews.
- Responsive was updated more recently: Nov 5, 2026, against Sep 9, 2026 for Lightning.
- Responsive has been around longer: since 2012, against 2015 for Lightning.
Line by line
Lightning leads on 3 of 5 comparable lines.
| Metric |  Lightning |  Responsive |
|---|---|---|
| Popular rank | #28 | #151 |
| Active installs | 100K+ | 10K+ |
| Downloads, last 30 days | 19.6K | 33.3K |
| Rating | 4.8(12) | 4.7(559) |
| Last release | 2 months ago | 4 days ago |
| Requires PHP | 7.4 | 5.6 |
From WordPress.org's public data, refreshed every night. Downloads are WordPress.org's official daily figures for the last 30 days.
Tags they share
- Top Block editor styles themes
- Top Blog themes
- Top Custom colors themes
- Top Custom logo themes
- Top Custom menu themes
- Top Editor style themes
- Top Featured images themes
- Top Footer widgets themes
- Top Full width template themes
- Top One column themes
- Top Sticky post themes
- Top Theme options themes
- Top Threaded comments themes
- Top Translation ready themes
- Top Wide blocks themes
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