WordPress theme comparison
Lightning vs Simple Modern
At a glance
- Lightning has more active installs: 100K+, against 100+ for Simple Modern.
- On a typical day, Lightning is downloaded about 432 times, Simple Modern about 1.
- Simple Modern has no reviews yet.
- Lightning was updated more recently: Sep 9, 2026, against Oct 25, 2025 for Simple Modern.
- Lightning has been around longer: since 2015, against 2025 for Simple Modern.
Line by line
Lightning leads on 4 of 4 comparable lines.
| Metric |  Lightning |  Simple Modern |
|---|---|---|
| Popular rank | #28 | #2,102 |
| Active installs | 100K+ | 100+ |
| Downloads, last 30 days | 19.8K | 18 |
| Rating | 4.8(12) | No ratings |
| Last release | 2 months ago | 1 year ago |
| Requires PHP | 7.4 | 7.4 |
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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