Search for "the best Salla theme" and you will find plenty of lists. But a theme that suits a perfume store with twenty products may not suit an electronics store with a thousand. The right theme is the one that serves your products, your customers and your budget, and works well on your customer's phone.

So this guide is not a ranking. It is a way to decide: nine criteria, a mobile speed test you can run yourself, a one-hour trial plan, and a short scorecard.

Full disclosure: we at AfterAds make the Angel theme. It has its own section near the end of this article, and its figures are quoted as Salla shows them.

How themes work on Salla

What a theme controls

Salla describes a theme as a template of elements and features that shapes how your store looks and how visitors experience it (Salla Help Center: Theme Store). In practice, the theme decides how the home page, product card, product page, category page, menu and footer look, plus the settings you control from the dashboard.

Each theme has its own settings, and you customize a theme inside its own copy. Expect to set up your home page and design options again when you move to another theme.

The theme store: free and paid themes, paid once

The Salla theme store lists free and paid themes, and Salla says it holds more than 100 themes that are responsive on mobile browsers. In the dashboard, open Store & Channels, then Theme Marketplace. From there you can browse by industry, search by name, or use Filter.

A paid theme is a one-time payment, with no monthly or yearly fee (Theme Store FAQs).

Who builds the theme, and who supports you

Some themes are made by Salla and others by external developers. The developer's name appears under the theme name. If something goes wrong, use the theme's Support tab: Salla supports its own themes, and the developer supports an external theme.

Salla asks theme developers to answer support requests within two business days, to provide a documentation link that explains how the theme works, and to keep a changelog (Salla's theme metadata review).

Salla's new React engine: what it means for you

Salla's developer docs now have a "Twilight (React)" section for building themes with React, and they label the older Twig-based engine docs as "Deprecated". In the new engine, pages are rendered on the server first, so shoppers and search engines receive a finished page. The engine handles Arabic and English and the page direction, and merchants still change theme options from the dashboard without code (Salla developer docs).

As of 26 October 2026, we found no merchant-facing announcement from Salla about this change and no end date for current themes, which work as usual today. Ask the developer of any theme you are considering what their plans are for the new engine.

Before you browse: define what your store needs

Store type and catalog size

Salla groups themes by industry. Each developer picks the industries their theme suits, and Salla suggests themes based on your store's business type (Salla's theme publishing requirements). Start with your industry, then ask how many products you have. A large catalog needs clear filters, a well-organized menu and good search. A single-brand store with a few products needs a strong product page and a home page that tells its story.

Where your visitors come from

If most of your traffic comes from ads and links opened on phones, judge every theme on a phone first and on a desktop second. If you have data on your visitors' devices, rely on it rather than on general figures.

Budget: one price, and the real cost

A theme is paid for once, but add the time it takes to set up, any code changes you need, and the cost of switching to another theme later. Salla's own guide notes that external developers tend to charge more (How to choose the right theme for your store).

Nine criteria to judge any theme

1. Mobile performance

Google says Core Web Vitals are used by its ranking systems, and that it still shows the most relevant content first, even when the page experience is weaker (Google Search Central).

Salla's technical review requires a theme to average at least 60 for performance and at least 90 for accessibility in Lighthouse, tested on the default preview store (Salla's technical theme review). That is a minimum for getting listed, not a promise about your store once your own images and apps are added. The next section shows how to measure it yourself.

2. Arabic, right-to-left layout and fonts

  • Everything is aligned to the right, and arrows and sliders move the correct way.
  • Prices and the riyal show correctly and clearly.
  • Latin brand names and numbers inside Arabic sentences stay in order. Numbers are written left to right even inside Arabic text (Arabic Layout Requirements, W3C).
  • Arabic headings have no letter spacing. Arabic letters join, and pulling them apart breaks the word.
  • The Arabic font stays readable at small sizes: prices, option buttons, the footer.
  • If your store is bilingual, open the English version too and check that every page flips direction.

3. Fit for your type of store

Open the Details tab on the theme's page. Salla lists the theme's elements, supported components, home page sections and internal settings there before you buy. Then use multi-preview to see the theme with different business types. Check:

  • The product card: does it show what your customers look for, such as the price before and after a discount and an add-to-cart button?
  • The product page: does it support options and custom fields if your products need them?
  • The category page: are filters and sorting clear on a phone?
  • The home page: does it have the sections your industry needs?

4. Customization without code

How many options a theme has matters less than where they are: which parts can you control from the theme settings? Check colors, fonts, the header and footer, the product card, the product page, the category page and the home page sections. Anything you cannot find in the settings will need code or a developer.

5. Dark mode

If dark mode suits your brand or your customers prefer it, check:

  • Is there an automatic mode, as well as light only and dark only?
  • Can you upload a separate logo for dark mode?
  • Does dark mode cover every page, or only the home page?
  • Are text and prices readable on the dark background?

6. Updates and changelog

Open the Changelog tab on the theme's page. Look at the date of the last release, how many releases came out in recent months, and how clear the notes are: do they say what was fixed and what was added? A theme that has not been updated for a long time may fall behind Salla's new features.

7. Support and documentation

Look at the Support tab: which channels are offered, and is there a documentation link that explains the settings? Then test it yourself: send one real question before you buy, and note how fast and how clearly they reply.

8. Reviews: how to read them

  • Look at the number of ratings before the average. A 5.0 from 10 reviews tells you less than a 4.8 from a thousand.
  • Check the spread from 1 to 5 stars, not just the final number.
  • Read the most recent reviews. They reflect the theme as it is today.
  • Look for what reviewers say about setup, support and speed, and how the developer replies.
  • Salla lets a merchant rate a theme only after a period of use, not right after buying it.
  • Visit stores that use the theme. They are listed at the bottom of its page on the theme store.

9. Price

Weigh the price against the criteria above and against the cost of switching later. Some themes show a discounted price. Decide on fit, not on the discount.

How to measure a theme's mobile speed yourself

Pick the right pages

Test real stores that use the theme, listed at the bottom of its page. Keep in mind that Salla's rules limit official preview stores to elements built into the theme, while real stores may add heavy images and apps. Test the same three page types for every theme: the home page, a category page and a product page.

Run PageSpeed Insights and read the result

Step 1: Open PageSpeed Insights, paste the page URL and start the analysis.

Step 2: Make sure you are reading the mobile result, not the desktop one.

Step 3: Know the two kinds of data. The first is real-user data from Chrome over the last 28 days. If the page does not have enough visits, the tool shows data for the whole site instead, and for a small store it may show nothing at all. The second is a lab test on a simulated mid-range phone, and that is where the 0 to 100 score comes from (About PageSpeed Insights).

Step 4: Read the three metrics before the score (Core Web Vitals):

  • LCP, how long the largest element takes to appear: good at 2.5 seconds or less.
  • INP, how fast the page responds to a tap or click: good at 200 milliseconds or less. It appears in real-user data only.
  • CLS, how much the layout shifts while loading: good at 0.1 or less.

Step 5: Read the score. 90 to 100 is good, 50 to 89 needs improvement, and below 50 is poor. The score combines five lab metrics with different weights. Total Blocking Time carries the most at 30%, followed by LCP and CLS at 25% each (Lighthouse performance scoring).

Common measuring mistakes

  • Running the test once. Results change from run to run with the network and the device, and the Lighthouse docs note that the median of 5 runs is twice as stable as a single run (Lighthouse variability). Run it 5 times and take the middle result.
  • Comparing one theme's home page with another theme's product page.
  • Blaming the theme for heavy images or a pile of apps that the store owner added.
  • Chasing a score of 100 instead of improving the three metrics.

After you install: measure your own store

Your images, banners and apps change the result. Measure your three pages once the store is set up, and again after every big change.

Try before you buy: a one-hour plan

If your store is on a paid Salla plan, Salla lets you try up to five paid themes before buying. Click Try for free on the theme's page in your Salla dashboard, and Salla creates a copy marked as a trial under Store Design. You can customize, preview, rename or delete it (Managing themes and customization). If a theme's page has no Try for free button, preview it on your own store instead.

Step 1 (5 minutes): Shortlist 3 themes from your industry.

Step 2 (10 minutes): Preview each one on Salla's default store or on your own store, and try multi-preview.

Step 3 (15 minutes): Create a trial copy of the closest match, or preview it on your store if no trial is offered. Add your logo and colors, and look at it with your real products.

Step 4 (10 minutes): On your phone, go through the whole path a customer takes: home, a category, a product, then the cart.

Step 5 (10 minutes): Run the speed test from the previous section on two real stores that use the theme.

Step 6 (5 minutes): Read the reviews and the changelog, and send support one question.

Step 7: Once you have the reply, buy the theme that passed the steps above and start setting it up.

Publish the new theme without surprises

Do not publish the new theme straight away. Under Store Design you can duplicate a theme copy, customize it, preview it and then publish it. Publishing comes in two kinds: default, for every visitor, and custom, for a specific country, city or language. You can also schedule a publish for a set date and time. A published copy cannot be deleted until you publish another one.

The number of copies you can keep of each theme depends on your plan: up to 50 on Special, 2 on Pro and 1 on Plus. On Basic, you get one copy of Raed, Click or a theme you bought earlier. Keep your old theme's copy until you are sure about the new one.

A quick scorecard

Copy these questions into your notes and answer yes or no for each theme:

  • Is the theme made for my industry, and does it show what my products need on the card and the product page?
  • On mobile, did the home, category and product pages reach an LCP of 2.5 seconds or less and a CLS of 0.1 or less, as the median of 5 runs?
  • Is every page aligned to the right, with numbers and Latin names in the right order?
  • Is the Arabic font readable at small sizes?
  • Is the English version correct, if my store is bilingual?
  • Can I control colors, fonts, the header, the footer and the product card from the settings, without code?
  • Does dark mode cover every page, with a separate logo, if I need it?
  • Is the last release in the changelog recent, with clear notes?
  • Is there a documentation link, and did support reply within two business days?
  • Are there many ratings, and are most recent reviews positive?
  • Have I visited at least two stores that use the theme?
  • Have I tried the theme on my own store, with a trial copy or a preview?
  • Is the price still right once I add setup time and the cost of switching later?

Where Angel fits, and when to pick something else

This section is about our own theme, so hold it to the same criteria.

AfterAds started in 2019 at a Saudi merchant's request, and we worked with more than 200 merchants on Salla before we started making themes. We launched Angel in 2023; its changelog on Salla starts on 21 March 2023. On 26 October 2026, Angel was among the top 3 themes in the top section of the official Salla theme store.

As of 26 October 2026, Angel's page on Salla shows an average rating of 4.9 from 1,048 ratings, and more than 8,100 stores have chosen it according to Salla's data. Its price is 750 SAR, paid once, and it is currently shown at a sale price of 300 SAR.

What Angel offers, according to its Salla page and its settings:

  • More than 80 options to control the store without code, including the header, footer, side menu, product card, product page and category page.
  • Dark mode with three states (automatic, light only and dark only), a separate dark-mode logo, and dark-mode colors for backgrounds and text.
  • A custom font by link (Google Fonts, fontstatic.com or a CSS file), with one weight for headings and one for body text.
  • Home-page tabs, a built-in WhatsApp button, a newsletter form that works with a Google Apps Script link you add, and a loading screen you can customize.
  • A public changelog in the theme's Changelog tab on Salla. The version shown on 26 October 2026 is 1.175.0. You pay for Angel once, and updates come with no subscription.

Angel is likely a good fit if:

  • You want detailed control over how your store looks, from the settings, without code.
  • Your store is bilingual and you want to choose, per home-page element, which language it shows in.
  • You want dark mode with your own colors and logo.

Pick something else if:

  • Your budget at launch is zero. Start with a free theme and apply the same criteria when you switch later.
  • You need an industry-specific feature you cannot find on Angel's page. Look through themes made for your industry.
  • You prefer a theme with very few settings. More options mean more setup time.

Before you buy, try Angel on your own store with Try for free on its page in your Salla dashboard if your store is on a paid plan, or preview it on your store from the same page, and read the Angel page and its documentation.

Frequently asked questions

Is a theme a one-time payment or a subscription?

A one-time payment. Salla states that themes are paid for once, with no monthly or yearly fee.

Can I try a paid theme before buying it?

Yes, if your store is on a paid plan: you can try up to five paid themes by clicking Try for free on the theme's page in your Salla dashboard, and a trial copy appears under Store Design. You can also preview any theme on your own store before buying.

How many copies of a theme can I create?

It depends on your plan: up to 50 copies of each theme on Special, 2 on Pro and 1 on Plus. On Basic, one copy of Raed, Click or a theme you bought earlier.

Who supports me if a theme has a problem?

Salla's support team for themes made by Salla, and the developer for external themes. The contact channels are in the Support tab on the theme's page.

Is a free theme enough to start?

It can be, especially on a tight launch budget. Apply the same nine criteria to it, and when you switch later, move through a copy that you preview before publishing.

What is a good PageSpeed Insights result?

A score of 90 to 100 is good, but the three metrics matter more: LCP at 2.5 seconds or less, INP at 200 milliseconds or less, and CLS at 0.1 or less. Do not chase 100.

Why does my score change every time I test?

Network conditions, the test device and server load change from run to run. Run the test 5 times and take the middle result.

Does the theme affect how my store ranks on Google?

Through page speed and experience, yes. Google says Core Web Vitals are used by its ranking systems, but the most relevant content still comes first. A fast theme will not make up for weak page content.

When can I rate a theme?

After a period of use, not right after you buy it. You rate it from the theme's menu under Store Design, and you can edit your rating later.

Can I change my theme after the store launches?

Yes. Prepare a copy of the new theme, customize and preview it, then publish it right away or schedule it for a quieter time.

What does Salla's React engine mean for my store?

Salla has added a new React-based engine for theme developers. As of 26 October 2026, we found no announcement for merchants and no end date for current themes. Ask the developer of the theme you are considering about their plans.

Do I need a developer to customize a theme?

Not for anything the theme's settings in the dashboard allow. Beyond the settings, you will need code or a developer.

Your next step

Shortlist 3 themes from your industry, judge them on the nine criteria, measure their mobile speed as the median of 5 runs, and try them on your own store before you pay. The theme that passes the scorecard with your real products is the right one for your store, whoever made it. If you want to start with Angel, read its page and documentation, or contact us with your question.