In a previous post, we provide new WordPress users with a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you would like to learn more about WordPress themes and what makes WordPress themes so attractive to web site owners, then make sure to check out our post: An Overview of WordPress Themes
In this article, you will learn where you can look for free and paid themes for your site. You will also learn about the different types of WordPress theme resources and get tips on how to ensure that you get the right themes for your needs and avoid experiencing problems like lack of customer support and poor theme coding.
As explained in our previously-mentioned article, a theme is a unique kind of web design template used on WordPress-powered websites and blogs and designed to work specifically with WordPress in mind.
Many talented web designers and website design companies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users have access to thousands of high quality themes covering a wide-range of uses and applications.
Where To Find Responsive Themes: Your Time-Saving Guide
If you were to open up Google and search for a key phrase like the following:
- best premium WP themes
- best paid themes for WordPress
- best responsive WordPress themes for artists (or whatever your business, search topic or blog is about)
You are probably going to get an overwhelming amount of information to sort through in your search listings.
So, to help you save time and make things easier, we’ll just cut through the clutter and make the process of finding great WP themes simple.
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes
Before we start, you need to know that WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll cover these differences in a separate article. In this post, we’ll only cover themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this article, which gives you more freedom, more options and more control over the design of your website.
Free vs Paid Themes
Next, it’s important to know that there are both Free and Paid WordPress themes being made available. Free themes for WordPress are normally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they will be made available to users as Premium (paid) themes.
Theme Marketplaces vs Theme Agencies
There are mostly two kinds of places where themes can be found. The first type of place is in theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent theme companies.
Theme marketplaces and theme directories are big aggregators of themes. theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and buyers shop for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software directory.
Some of the larger theme stores don’t just sell WordPress themes. They can also sell WordPress plugins and templates for other web applications (e.g. Joomla, Drupal, etc.)
Commercial and independent WordPress theme vendors typically develop both free and premium WordPress themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme developer or a small team of developer, to large theme design companies.
Many commercial or independent theme shops sell themes exclusively on their own web sites, but some will also list their themes in marketplaces and directories, or even create a free or “lite” version of their themes for free directories .
Let’s now show you where to find great WordPress themes for your website or blog.
Finding Responsive Themes For Your WordPress Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – WP Theme Directory)
The official WordPress theme directory is the biggest and best place to find WordPress themes for free. In fact, it’s probably the only free directory you should use when looking for free WP themes. The reason why, is because –as some free software users have learned– downloading free software, add-ons, apps, templates or themes from untrustworthy places can contain malicious code and place your computer, digital presence and even your entire business at risk.
The WordPress directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your website or blog, but it also relies on a review team comprised of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers to review and make sure that each theme in the directory complies with high quality and security standards.
To browse thousands of excellent FREE WordPress themes from the official WP Themes Repository, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Look For Free Themes Inside Your Own WordPress Dashboard
Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every theme in the WordPress theme directory and not only find what you are looking for, but also easily install and activate it directly from within your WordPress dashboard with a couple of mouse clicks.
Use Theme Filters
WordPress has a built-in filtering function inside the admin area that lets you narrow down your search for themes based on criteria like Colours, Layout and Features …
This makes it easy to find what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with a light colour design, with a 4-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in the article where we discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” WordPress themes, we explained how these ensure that your theme will display correctly across all devices (e.g. PCs, tablets and smartphones) …
You should use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filter lets you do just that …
… and find only WordPress themes that are “responsive” …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free WP Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free WP themes is that it costs nothing to download and use the theme. Additionally, many free themes are professionally designed and provide a number of customizable settings, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.
The ”cons” of using free themes are that your themes may not get updated as often with new features and bug fixes, and it’s unrealistic to expect the developer to provide dedicated support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many free themes will ask you for a donation to help cover their support costs.
When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been more than 1 year since any changes were made, then think carefully about downloading it, as WordPress changes quite frequently and new features can result in conflicts or errors with older code.
If you’re just getting started and your website or blog is still relatively new, it’s a good idea to start with a free theme until you have a better idea of the kind of site design that would work best for your site before spending any money on a paid theme. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded could be exactly what works for your site and for converting your site visitors into customers.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free WordPress themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and how to filter your search for themes that meet specific criteria, let’s turn our attention to finding premium themes.
Paid WordPress Themes
If you are looking for themes with stunning design, or professional quality yet highly affordable WordPress web design themes with a distinctive look, unique customizable options and ongoing support, you can search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:
Theme Marketplaces
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the largest and best-known WP theme directories online.
ThemeForest lets many professional WordPress theme developers showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are well over 17,500 premium themes to choose from (some starting from as little as $3) …
(click on the above images to see more ThemeForest themes)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme directory, you will be able to browse for specific themes in a range of categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for general blogs and political blogs, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for legal sites and advertising purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for portfolios, cv and resume writing, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes suitable for sites related to travel, buy & sell, business directories, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for online shopping, membership sites, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to tutoring, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for fashion blogs, cafes, etc.
- Mobile – e.g. mobile-switching themes.
- NonProfit – themes for nonprofit organizations, charities, etc.
- Real Estate – themes for real estate and real estate listings (e.g. rentals, etc.)
- Retail – themes for catalogs, trades or professionals (electricians, legal practitioners, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to technology, affiliate marketing, seo, product reviews, direct sales, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and marriage counselling blogs
- Miscellaneous – themes suitable for topics related to activism, parenting sites or blogs … even themes you can use if your site is still under-construction!
When you purchase WordPress themes from ThemeForest, you will receive email notifications when a new update is available for your theme …
(ThemeForest sends you theme update notifications)
Go here to find quality premium WP themes in the ThemeForest marketplace:
Creative Market
(click on the images above to see more Creative Market themes)
Creative Market is another leading WP theme directory where you can browse thousands of quality premium themes from independent theme creators.
As stated on their website …
“Creative Market is a platform for handcrafted, mousemade design content from independent creatives around the world.”
Creative Market doesn’t just sell WP themes in its directory, but you can easily find WP themes and search through their theme categories (e.g. Portfolio or Business themes, etc.) using the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of quality premium themes crafted by independent WordPress theme designers in the Creative Market themes marketplace here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the above images to see more themes at Mojo.com)
Mojo is a directory for premium WP themes where theme vendors are strongly encouraged to provide customers with lifetime support and upgrades.
According to their website …
“Mojo is a marketplace where anyone can find, rate and buy quality themes & templates in one trusted place.”
Like Envato and Creative Market, Mojo doesn’t focus exclusively on WordPress themes, but you can easily find themes for WordPress and narrow your search with theme categories from the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find quality premium themes in the Mojo themes directory here:
Now that we have looked at WP theme marketplaces, let’s look at commercial theme design houses.
Commercial WordPress Theme Development Firms
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a selection of professional quality WP themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on images above to see all SoloStream themes)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes creates stunning premium themes for WordPress that are very popular and highly sought after by web users and also offers a membership option that allows members to access all themes in their growing theme portfolio.
(click on the above images to browse all themes from WooThemes)
StoreFront
StoreFront Themes specializes in WordPress themes for e-commerce. Their themes also integrate well with some of the most powerful e-commerce platforms and plugins available.
(click on the images above to browse all StoreFront themes)
StudioPress
StudioPress builds WordPress themes based on a framework (called the “Genesis” framework) that allows you to quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress website, and provides an auto-updating design architecture, turn-key designs with beautiful frames for your content and unprecedented control of the framework.
Many website developers like the Genesis framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps this framework consistently updated to reflect best practices for coding and to make sure that it always remains compatible with the latest WordPress version, but because you can update themes built using the Genesis framework without losing any customizations you have made to your theme.
This is because themes built using the Genesis framework use something called “child themes,” which are like a paint job that sits on top of the framework and gives your site its unique look and feel.
If this all sounds too technical, don’t worry about it. StudioPress themes are very easy to work with, just like all other WordPress themes. The great thing about choosing themes from StudioPress is that one low price allows you to receive unlimited support and updates, and you can install your themes on unlimited domains.
For more details, click here: StudioPress.
(click on the images above to see all themes from StudioPress)
Theme-Checking Tools
Let’s finish this post with a few more useful WP theme-related tools worth knowing about:
What WP Theme Is That WP Theme Checker
What WordPress Theme Is That is a free online tool that allows you to easily detect what WP theme a website uses.
This is a great resource if you ever come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what WP theme the website is using.
Tip: If you don’t know whether a site runs on WordPress or not, we have published a a great tutorial that shows you how to tell if a site was built using WordPress: Is Your Website Built With WordPress?
Using this tool is very simple. Just enter the site’s domain name into the field and click the search icon or hit “Enter.” The tool will then not only confirm if the site has been built on the WP CMS platform, but it will also list the theme being used by the site and list any WordPress plugins it detects.
- To use this online tool visit the website here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
- To learn more about this tool go here: How Can I Check If A Web Site Was Built With WordPress?
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – WordPress Plugin
We suggested this before and it’s worth repeating it again: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we strongly recommend sticking with the themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.
A commonly-used tactic employed by a number of hacking groups and cyber criminals is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” WordPress themes all over the web and then distribute themes and plugins containing malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even come up on search engine results for phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to only download free WP themes from the official WordPress.org theme repository, or use established and trusted theme vendors.
If you have any doubts about whether a WordPress theme installed on your site may contain potentially malicious or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to run a scan of your theme files. The plugin searches the source files of every them you have installed on your site for signs of malicious code and then outputs a report …
(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Screenshot Source: Plugin Page, WordPress.org)
I hope that you have found the information on how to find the best WordPress free and paid themes useful.
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