Phlox is a multipurpose WordPress theme from averta, the team behind the Master Slider plugin, built to work with Elementor and averta's own Auxin builder. It's been tracked since 2018 and sits among the few hundred most used themes we track — steady, not spiking.
A page builder theme with portfolio roots
Averta pitches it as fit for 'almost any type of website,' with dozens of bundled widgets and one-click demo imports. What holds up in practice is narrower: a general-purpose theme leaning on Elementor for layout and its own Auxin Elements plugin for portfolio widgets. Its position in the wider theme landscape has held steady for years rather than growing or fading fast.
Where Phlox actually lands
The author's everything-for-everyone pitch doesn't quite match who's using it. Sites running Phlox cluster around photography and creative portfolios, followed by nonprofits, schools, agencies, and religious or community groups — a leaning, not a lock, since no single niche dominates. English-language sites lead clearly, with German, French, Italian, Spanish, and Dutch installs forming a solid tail, pointing to real traction among European freelancers and small agencies rather than just US audiences.
What the data says it does well
The plugin pairings back up the builder story: Elementor and averta's own Auxin Elements plugin appear on most active installs, confirming Phlox leans on builders rather than a fixed layout. Contact Form 7 and Yoast SEO turn up often too — standard kit for small nonprofits and service businesses needing a contact form and basic SEO without a developer. WooCommerce shows up on a modest share, enough to confirm simple stores work, but it's no commerce specialist.
The trade-offs worth knowing
It isn't on WordPress.org, so there's no free trial through the plugin directory and no wide bench of community child themes to fall back on if support slows. Running both Elementor and the proprietary Auxin builder is a double commitment: pages built with Auxin's own elements are harder to move off later than ones built with the block editor. And given its skew toward photography, nonprofit, and school sites, it's a weak fit for a content-first blog or a serious storefront build.
If Phlox isn't quite it
Averta also sells Phlox Pro, which unlocks more premium widgets if the free elements feel thin. For a similar Elementor-friendly, multipurpose brief, xtra covers much the same ground with a wider tag set for e-commerce and layout. If the real goal is a magazine or lifestyle blog, Brooklyn fits that better. And for real estate specifically, Houzez is the specialist tool — Phlox was never built to compete there.
Questions worth answering first
Is Phlox free?
No — it's sold directly by averta, not listed on WordPress.org, so there's no free version to test first.
What page builder does Phlox use?
It works with Elementor, Visual Composer, and SiteOrigin, plus averta's own Auxin Elements plugin for portfolio widgets.
Is Phlox good for WooCommerce?
It supports WooCommerce and appears on some stores, but services and nonprofit sites far outnumber storefronts — a dedicated e-commerce theme usually serves better.
Where that leaves you
Choose Phlox if you're running a portfolio, nonprofit, school, or community site and want Elementor-level flexibility without a second full builder — the niche clustering and plugin data both support that. Skip it for a free block-editor-native theme, a serious e-commerce build, or one backed by a large open community; averta's smaller paid ecosystem won't give you that safety net.
Last updated 2026-08-09
