WordPress theme comparison
Lightning vs The Evolution
At a glance
- Lightning has more active installs: 100K+, against 20+ for The Evolution.
- On a typical day, Lightning is downloaded about 451 times, The Evolution about 0.
- The Evolution is rated higher: 5.0 out of 5 from 1 review, against 4.8 from 12 reviews.
- Lightning was updated more recently: Sep 9, 2026, against Jan 22, 2024 for The Evolution.
- Lightning has been around longer: since 2015, against 2022 for The Evolution.
Line by line
Lightning leads on 3 of 4 comparable lines.
| Metric |  Lightning |  The Evolution |
|---|---|---|
| Popular rank | #28 | – |
| Active installs | 100K+ | 20+ |
| Downloads, last 30 days | 19.6K | 2 |
| Rating | 4.8(12) | 5.0(1) |
| Last release | 2 months ago | 2 years 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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