X Theme Review (2026): Features, Pricing and X vs Pro

X suits a single business site if you want Cornerstone, ready-made designs and bundled plugins in one purchase. Themeco’s Pro is the better fit for custom headers, footers and templates. A lighter theme is easier to justify if you mainly need a blog or a simple set of pages.

What Is the X Theme Today?

The X product page on theme.co with the release notice.

X is a multipurpose WordPress theme from Themeco. It launched in 2013 and became one of the best-selling themes ever on ThemeForest. Themeco says it has sold more than $10 million worth of X.

This review uses Themeco’s current product pages and documentation rather than a licensed installation. The important distinction is between X, its included Cornerstone plugin and the separate Pro theme.

X supplies the theme design and Cornerstone for page content. Pro builds Cornerstone into the theme and extends it to more site templates. A third-party plugin with the same Cornerstone name on WordPress.org is not Themeco’s builder, so use the actual vendor package.

X vs Pro: Which One Should You Buy?

Themeco’s own docs say the main difference between X and Pro is how much of Cornerstone you get.

This is the question most “x theme vs pro” searches are asking. Both themes share the same four Stacks, Theme Options, portfolios, one-page navigation, font and color managers, Components and Design Cloud. The difference is how much of Cornerstone you get.

X costs $89 once for one site with lifetime updates, while Pro starts at $99 annually for one site or $249 for unlimited sites, with updates dependent on an active subscription. Both provide Page and Component Builders, but X installs Cornerstone separately and Pro builds it into the theme.

Pro adds custom header/footer builders, single/archive/shop/product layouts and the CSS Grid editor. X instead uses predefined header/footer options. Both have site, content and preset templates in Design Cloud; Pro adds header/footer templates, and Pro Max plans add the Max tools.

In plain terms: X gives you a styled theme and a page builder for the content area of your pages. Pro lets you design the whole site, including headers, footers, blog post layouts and WooCommerce product pages, without writing code.

Themeco’s docs give a clear example. In X, changing the layout of single blog posts means a child theme and editing PHP template files. In Pro, you design that template in Cornerstone and assign it to posts from inside the builder.

Pick X if you run one site, like starting from a finished design, and prefer to pay once.

Pick Pro if you want full control over every template or build many sites for clients.

Can you upgrade from X to Pro later?

Yes. Themeco’s account dashboard has an option to convert an X license to a Pro license. Your Theme Options carry over when you switch themes, and Pro turns off the separate Cornerstone plugin because it is no longer needed. Two warnings from Themeco’s docs: the conversion is one-way, and child theme customizations may need fixes because Pro’s header and footer builder adds new markup. Test the switch on a staging copy of your site first.

The Cornerstone Builder in X

Cornerstone is a front-end builder. You edit the page you see, with a control panel on one side and a live preview on the other. In X, it covers the content area of pages and posts.

The published tools include responsive styles, reusable Components, dynamic content and custom-code controls. These help someone maintaining a coordinated design, but they also require learning the builder’s layout and styling model.

X’s restriction is the surrounding template system. A content-area builder does not provide Pro’s full header, footer and archive design tools. Decide whether predefined theme layouts are enough before comparing the number of elements or bundled extensions.

For another front-end editing system, compare Divi. The presence of similar controls does not establish that either editor will be easier for your own workflow.

Stacks, Demos and Design Cloud

The Agency demo, one of the starter sites linked from the X product page.

X has always been built around “Stacks.” A Stack is a theme within the theme. Switching Stacks changes the whole look of your site without changing themes. The four Stacks are Integrity, Renew, Icon and Ethos. They range from a conventional business design to a more minimal or magazine-style layout. Design Cloud then supplies starter content and reusable templates.

Judge the actual mobile menu, typography and page layout you intend to use. A starter is sample content to adapt, and switching a Stack or importing a design is not proof that an existing customized site will need no repair work.

WooCommerce Support

X works with WooCommerce out of the box. Each Stack has its own shop design, so you get four store looks to choose from. Theme Options let you set shop columns, products per page, product tabs, related products, upsells and cross-sells. ThemeForest lists the theme as compatible with WooCommerce 9.x.

Cornerstone also includes WooCommerce elements such as products, add-to-cart forms, mini carts and cart drop-downs. The bundled Woo Checkout Editor plugin lets you change checkout fields.

The limit is templates. In X you cannot design a custom single product page or shop archive in the builder. That is a Pro feature. For a small store that is happy with the Stack’s shop design, X is enough. For a store that wants a custom product page layout, Pro is the better fit.

Performance and SEO

We have not run our own speed tests on X, so we cannot give you load-time numbers we stand behind.

We have not verified a current speed advantage over another theme. A near-empty demo or an anonymous review cannot predict the performance of a site with real images, sliders, integrations and logged-in visitors.

The builder has changed its content storage and styling over time. Back up and test a major update before assuming an old layout or extension will remain compatible. Use the actual page output to assess performance, rather than counting options or repeating a vendor’s optimization claim.

SEO still needs content, metadata and a sound site structure. A theme’s semantic-markup claim does not establish a search-ranking advantage or replace a dedicated SEO plugin.

Customization and Theme Options

Theme Options handles site-wide width, typography, navigation, blog and shop appearance. Those controls are useful within the predefined layouts, but they do not remove the difference between X’s page builder and Pro’s wider template builders.

Child themes can preserve code customizations through a parent-theme update. They do not guarantee an effortless switch to another theme or editor.

Bundled extensions

The vendor bundles a range of extensions for sliders, galleries, menus, forms and store presentation. Install only the ones the project needs and check how their updates are delivered.

An advertised bundle value assumes you would otherwise purchase those products separately. It is a weak reason to choose a theme if the core editor and template limits do not fit.

Pricing and Support

What X costs

X currently lists $89 for a Regular License covering one end product, with six months of support. Updates and a paid support extension are separate entitlements. An ordinary store is not an Extended License use merely because it sells goods; paid access to the end product or unusual resale needs its own license check.

There is no free version of X and no multi-site license. If you run four sites, you need four licenses, which comes to $356.

What Pro costs

Pro is sold directly by Themeco. The current non-Max annual options are $99 for one site and $249 for unlimited sites. Those plans do not include the full Max collection.

The Max offers add products beyond the core Pro theme. Check the selected billing period and regular price.

Pro Max Single currently lists $149 annually. Agency covers ten sites at a promotional $199 annually against a $399 regular price. Unlimited lists a promotional $299 against $799. A promotional amount is not proof that renewals stay discounted.

The page also offers lifetime billing, with separate checkout prices and terms. Do not treat an annual Max quote as a one-time payment. The extra tools include forms, charts, templates and other Cornerstone products; buy the bundle for tools you need, rather than its combined advertised value.

Support

Themeco advertises product support during the license’s support period, alongside a public forum and documentation. We have not measured response time or resolution quality. Help with custom code or third-party plugins falls outside standard support; Themeco sells a separate paid service called One for that.

One habit worth building: Themeco ships updates often, and its release notes warn that if you update Cornerstone, you must update X too. Back up your site and test big updates on a staging copy before running them on your live site.

X Theme Alternatives

Themeco Pro is the closest alternative when X’s template limits are the obstacle. Avada and Divi offer other theme-specific visual builders and different licensing models.

For a content-led site with fewer design dependencies, compare Kadence, GeneratePress or Astra. The choice is the amount of template control you need and the editing system you want to keep maintaining.