GeneratePress vs Web Stories
Compare WordPress plugins and tools side by side. Pick products with “Compare” in the software directory.
| Feature | GeneratePress v3.6.1 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.9/5 Visit Details | Web Stories v1.42.0 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free · ★ 4.2/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 500,000+ | 60,000+ |
| Last updated | December 1, 2025 | May 15, 2025 |
| Editions | GeneratePress · GP Premium ($) | Web Stories |
| Pros | Lightweight theme focused on speed; Customizer options for layout, typography and colour; WooCommerce, bbPress and BuddyPress compatibility | Free and open source (Apache 2.0) from Google; Publishes tap-through, AMP-friendly visual stories; Optional ad, shopping and embed features |
| Cons | Many advanced options require the paid GP Premium add-on; Customizer shows premium-only sections for some settings | Stories are a separate post type, not ordinary page content; Ad and shopping features need third-party accounts; Opt-in usage tracking exists, off until a user opts in |
| More features | ||
| Other features | Customizer layout, typography and colour options, GeneratePress dashboard page, Widget areas, Premium options upsell in customizer | Experiments admin page, AMP story player output, Google Ad Manager ads in stories, Google AdSense ads in stories, MGID ad widgets, WooCommerce product lookup for shopping tags, Shopify product lookup, oEmbed embeds in stories, Hotlinked media copied to the media library, Google Fonts for story text |
| Integrations | ||
| Marketing | — | Google Ad Manager, Google AdSense, MGID |
| Analytics | — | Google Site Kit |
| Social | — | |
| E-commerce | WooCommerce | WooCommerce, Shopify |
| Plugins | bbPress, BuddyPress | Advanced Custom Fields |
| Other | Google Fonts | — |
| Requires WordPress | 6.5 | 6.6 |
| Requires PHP | 7.4 | 7.4 |
| Tested up to | 6.9 | 6.8 |
| Phones home | No | Only if you agree |
| External services | — | wp.stories.google, cdn.ampproject.org, fonts.googleapis.com |
| Blocks | — | 1 |