Quick verdict: Ella is the volume king of ThemeForest Shopify themes, nearly 48,000 sales, 28+ homepage layouts, $79. As a Swiss-army template it is genuinely hard to beat on price-per-feature. The flip side is exactly that success: tens of thousands of stores run it, ThemeForest themes sit outside Shopify's Theme Store quality gates, and "every layout imaginable" is not the same thing as "your layout".
What is the Ella theme?
Ella is a multipurpose Shopify theme by halothemes (a ThemeForest Power Elite author), sold on ThemeForest for $79 (regular license, as of August 2026). It is OS 2.0 compatible and targets fashion, jewelry, furniture, dropshipping and general multipurpose stores.
The pitch is options:
- 28+ homepage layouts, 9+ product page layouts, 6+ category layouts
- Mega menu variations, Ajax cart, wishlist, size charts, swatches
- Rich product snippets for SEO, multi-language and multi-currency support
- 6 months of support included
What it does well
At $79 with that layout count, Ella is the cheapest way to try many different store shapes before committing to one. For a first store on a budget, or a dropshipper testing niches, the economics are honest.
Where it falls short
- Outside the Theme Store means outside its standards. Shopify's marketplace enforces performance and quality rules; ThemeForest does not. Multipurpose themes carry every layout's code weight, which tends to show in speed scores.
- 48,000 stores share it. The recognizability problem at its maximum.
- Options are not identity. Picking layout 17 of 28 is still picking someone else's layout; the brands Ella's demos imitate had theirs designed.
- Support runs out. Six months, then renewals, versus Theme Store themes' ongoing updates.
Alternatives to Ella
- Theme Store premiums with enforced quality: Impulse, Prestige. Budget-side comparisons live in our best Shopify themes guide and the free themes guide.
- Generate instead of choosing. If what attracts you to Ella is layout freedom, generation is that idea taken seriously: describe the layout, get it as clean custom code, with nothing you did not ask for. See the Shopify theme generator.
FAQ
Is the Ella theme good? For its price, yes: it is the best-selling ThemeForest Shopify theme for a reason. Just go in understanding what a $79 multipurpose template can and cannot be.
Is Ella slow? Multipurpose themes ship more code than any single store uses, which works against speed. Test the demo with Lighthouse before buying, and keep your media light.
Can I download the Ella theme for free? Not legally: Ella is a paid ThemeForest product. "Free download" results are nulled copies, unaudited code with no updates; the free-download guide covers why that trade always loses and the legit free routes.
Ella vs Theme Store themes? Theme Store themes cost more ($300-500) but pass Shopify's performance and quality review and update continuously. Ella wins on price and layout count.
Keep reading: generate a custom Shopify theme and find out what theme a store runs.