TLDR; Comparison of Astro themes for SAAS marketing site and selecting best theme
As part of my upcoming project, I am considering migrating the Easyanalytics marketing website to Astro. This article serves as a guide to choosing an appropriate theme for a Software as a Service (SaaS) marketing website that aligns with common requirements and demands minimal effort to set up. Here, we will define the key components of a SaaS website, establish a checklist of criteria for theme evaluation, and explore available Astro themes. The end goal is to select the most suitable theme that delivers the maximum features out of the box.
SAAS website requirements
A typical SaaS marketing website requires three main components:
- Landing Page: A well-designed landing page is crucial for capturing the attention of potential customers and conveying the value proposition of your SaaS product. It is also the first touchpoint for potential customers, where first impressions are made.
- Blog: A blog is a powerful tool for content marketing, allowing you to showcase your expertise, educate your audience, and attract organic traffic through search engine optimization (SEO).
- Documentation: Comprehensive and user-friendly documentation is essential for onboarding new users and providing them with the information they need to effectively use your product.
Criteria for a SaaS Marketing Website Theme
The ideal theme for a SaaS marketing website should satisfy the following criteria:
- Landing Page: A visually appealing and persuasive landing page template that effectively communicates the product's value proposition.
- Blog Page: A dedicated blog section with a clean layout and easy navigation to showcase your content. Acts as the backbone for content marketing efforts, driving traffic and engagement.
- Documentation Pages: Well-structured documentation pages with support for code snippets, tables, and other formatting options.Provide comprehensive product information and support, a must-have for user retention.
- Table of Contents (TOC) Support: Automatic generation of a table of contents for easy navigation within lengthy blog and documentation pages, especially in long-form content.
- Go-to-Top Support: A convenient "Go to Top" button to improve user experience and navigation in blog and documentation pages.
- Related Content Support: Automatic suggestions for related blog posts to keep visitors engaged.
- Social Sharing: Built-in social sharing buttons to encourage visitors to share your content on their social media platforms, amplifying reach.
- Tags/Categories: Support for organizing blog posts using tags and categories for better discoverability.
- SEO Optimization: Automatic generation of SEO-friendly meta tags, Open Graph (OG) tags, Twitter cards, JSON-LD structured data, and sitemaps to improve search engine visibility.
- Integrated Search: A powerful search functionality to help users quickly find relevant content within your website.
- Internationalization Support: Built-in support for multiple languages. Expands your reach by catering to a global audience through localized content.
Astro Themes Comparison Table
We evaluated various themes listed on the Astro website based on the above criteria and compiled a comparative table for easy reference. In this table, unsupported features are listed under the "Unsupported" column. If a feature isn't mentioned, it's safe to assume it's supported. The "Notes" column lists additional features or traits that, while not directly relevant to SaaS, may still be noteworthy.
| Theme Name | Unsupported | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ScrewFast | toc(coming soon) | Winner |
| astroplate | docs, toc,goto top, json-ld | |
| astrowind | docs, toc, goto top, json-ld, search | |
| nebulix | docs, toc, related content, social sharing, json-ld | |
| astroship | docs, toc, goto top, related content, social sharing, json-ld, search | |
| astro-nomy | toc, goto top, related content, social sharing, search, seo | shadcn, active development, subscription features |
| play-astro | docs, toc, json-ld, search, internationalization | |
| sendit-astro-template | docs, toc, goto top, social sharing, json-ld, search, internationalization | |
| hello-astro | toc, goto top, related content, social sharing | plantuml, mermaid, math equations(katex) |
| astros | docs, toc, goto top, related content, social sharing, json-ld, search | giscus(comments using github) |
| starlight | goto top, related content, social sharing, json-ld | blog is integrated via starlight-blog plugin starlight-blog |
| astropod | blog, docs, related content, search, json-ld | audio playback feature (good for podcast) |
| astro-paper | docs, related content, json-ld | dynamic og feature (good for personal blog) |
| astro-sphere | docs, toc, related-content, social sharing, json-ld | filter by tags feature |
| astro-theme-cactus | docs, related content, social sharing, json-ld | dynamic og feature |
| bookworm-light-astro | docs, toc, goto top, json-ld, intrnationalization | |
| bigspring-light-astro | docs, toc, goto top, related content, social sharing, json-ld, search, internationalization | |
| StarFunnel | docs, toc, related content, social sharing, json-ld, search, internationalization | |
| pinwheel-astro | docs, toc, goto top, related content, social sharing, json-ld, search, internationalization | |
| astro-launch-ui | blog, docs, toc, goto top, related content, social sharing, tags/categories, seo, search, internationalization | |
| manual | toc, goto top, related content, social sharing, tags/categories, json-ld, internationalization | |
| accessible-astro-starter | docs, toc, goto top, related content, social sharing, json-ld, search | |
| odyssey-theme | docs, toc, goto top, related content, social sharing, json-ld, internaltionalization | |
| astrosaas | blog, docs, toc, goto top, realted content, seo, social sharing, tags/categories, search, internationalization | |
| astro-theme | blog, docs, toc, goto top, realted content, seo, social sharing, tags/categories, search, internationalization | |
| Tailcast | docs, blog, toc, goto top, related content, social sharing, tags/categories, search, internationalization, seo |
Conclusion
After a thorough review, we've chosen the ScrewFast theme. It meets most of our established criteria, and the upcoming features listed on its website promise to address the current unsupported features. Additionally, ScrewFast uses Tailwind CSS and maintains a clear separation between data and components, which simplifies the theme upgrading process for users.