Head to head
BethemevsTotal-ResponsiveMulti-PurposeWordPressTheme
Betheme and Total are two of the most established multipurpose WordPress themes on the market, both priced around $60 and built for buyers who want one theme to handle many project types. Choosing between them comes down to the scale of your ambitions, how much you value a massive demo library versus a tighter, more curated experience, and which page-builder ecosystem fits your workflow.
Assessed on documented capabilities & licensing · updated
At a glance
| BethemeOur pick | Total - Responsive Multi-Purpose WordPress Theme | |
|---|---|---|
| Made by | muffingroup | WPExplorer |
| Type | Theme | Theme |
| Pricing model | Paid | Paid |
| What you pay for | — | — |
| Best for | — | — |
The breakdown
Target Use Cases
Both themes are designed to cover a wide range of website types — corporate sites, portfolios, online stores, blogs, agencies, and creative projects. However, they approach breadth differently.
Betheme leans into sheer volume. Its author describes over 700 pre-built websites and 2,000+ importable page designs, covering niches from veterinary clinics to loan agencies to barber shops. If you manage many client sites across wildly different industries, Betheme's library gives you a starting point for almost any brief.
Total targets a similar audience — corporations, small businesses, freelancers, and agencies — but its demo collection is smaller and more curated. The theme positions itself as particularly well-suited to freelancers who want one reliable tool they can master and reuse across client projects. It also explicitly lists Events Calendar Pro compatibility and a broader range of historical WooCommerce versions (back to 5.x.x), which may matter if you work with legacy store setups.
Feature Breadth
Both themes bundle WPBakery Page Builder and support Elementor/Elementor Pro, WPML, WooCommerce, Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms, Easy Digital Downloads, bbPress, BuddyPress, and Events Calendar. At that level the feature lists are nearly identical.
Where they diverge is in proprietary tooling. Betheme ships its own BeBuilder page builder, a header/footer builder, and a dedicated theme builder — meaning you get an additional native option on top of WPBakery and Elementor. That extra layer adds flexibility but also adds complexity; buyers who prefer simplicity may find three builder options more confusing than helpful.
Total leans on the WordPress Block Editor as a first-class citizen alongside WPBakery and Elementor — a practical advantage for buyers who want to stay close to core WordPress editing. It also lists compatibility with more WooCommerce generations, which is a small but real benefit for agencies supporting older client stores.
Both themes are well documented, responsive, and cross-browser compatible. Neither has a clear edge on basic performance settings or customizer depth based on available metadata alone.
Pricing and Value
The price difference is minimal: Betheme costs $60 and Total costs $59 — effectively the same investment. Both are one-time license fees, so ongoing costs depend on your hosting and any premium plugins you add.
At $60, Betheme's 700+ pre-built sites make the per-demo cost negligible and offer strong raw value for agencies that need variety. Total's slightly lower price is almost irrelevant by itself, but for a freelancer who only needs one polished demo to customize, the smaller library is no disadvantage.
Buyer Satisfaction and Sales
This is where the two themes diverge most sharply on paper.
- Betheme: 4.82/5 rating from approximately 7,000 reviews; over 336,000 total sales.
- Total: 4.86/5 rating from approximately 2,000 reviews; approximately 58,300 total sales.
Betheme's sales volume is in a different league — roughly six times higher than Total's — which reflects years of market dominance and a very large user base. A large install base generally means a wider community, more third-party tutorials, and faster identification of bugs.
Total's per-review rating is marginally higher (4.86 vs 4.82), which is a positive signal about buyer satisfaction relative to its audience size. However, with a smaller review pool, single outlier ratings carry more statistical weight. Both scores are strong; neither should be dismissed.
Maintenance and Update Track Record
Active maintenance is one of the most important long-term factors in theme selection.
Betheme was last updated in July 2026 and lists compatibility with WordPress 7.0.x — the most current WordPress release at time of writing. That signals the author is actively tracking WordPress core and keeping the theme current.
Total was last updated in May 2026, also listing WordPress 7.0.x compatibility. The two-month gap between update dates is not alarming, but Betheme's more recent update is a slight advantage for buyers who prioritize cutting-edge compatibility.
Both themes have been on the market long enough to demonstrate sustained author commitment, which is reassuring for either choice.
Genuine Trade-offs to Consider
Betheme cons
- Three overlapping builder options (BeBuilder, WPBakery, Elementor) can create decision fatigue and steeper onboarding.
- A very large theme can mean more code to load; performance tuning may require more attention.
- With 336,000+ installs, designs can feel familiar or "seen before" without significant customization.
Total cons
- Smaller demo library limits out-of-the-box variety for agencies managing many diverse clients.
- Lower total sales mean a smaller community, potentially fewer third-party resources and community tutorials.
- Slightly less recent update at time of review, though the gap is modest.
The verdict
Betheme is the stronger pick for agencies and developers managing high volumes of diverse client projects — its massive demo library, proprietary builder, and unmatched sales track record justify the choice. Total is the better fit for freelancers or small studios who want a clean, well-rated, Block-Editor-friendly theme they can master deeply and reuse efficiently. At nearly identical prices, the decision is really about scale and workflow preference.