Why We Should Ban ThemeForest.
Technical debt is real debt. We stopped buying cheap templates when we realized our clients were paying 10x in 'interest' later.
The "Just One More" Trap
Add plugins to see how they impact stability.
It costs $59. It looks perfect in the demo. It has 400 pre-built layouts. What could go wrong?
The "Lock-in" Effect
ThemeForest themes are not just styles; they are massive applications that hijack WordPress. To generate those 400 layouts, they bundle heavy plugins like Visual Composer and Slider Revolution directly into the theme logic.
// What happens when you try to switch themes:
[vc_row][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_column_text]
...content is trapped in proprietary shortcodes...
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Performance
Black Hole
To support every possible feature for every possible buyer, these themes load thousands of lines of CSS and JS on every page.
- ✕Unused CSS: Most sites use 5% of the theme's CSS but load 100% of it.
- ✕Dependency Hell: You can't update one plugin without breaking the theme.
Avg. Mobile Load
The Agency Standard
We believe in decoupling. Your content should live in the database, pure and portable (Sanity). Your frontend should be a lightweight view layer (Next.js).