In a separate article, we have written a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you haven’t yet discovered WP themes and what makes WordPress themes so special, then go here to read the article: An Introduction to WP Themes
In this article, we will show you where to browse hundreds of free and paid themes for your website. You will also learn about the different types of WordPress theme resources and get tips on how to make sure that you get the right themes for your needs and how to avoid having to deal with problems like lack of product support and poorly-coded themes.
As explained in our previously-mentioned post, a theme is a special type of web design template used on WordPress-powered blogs and designed specifically in WordPress.
Many individual web designers and website design firms create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WP community enjoy access to thousands of uniquely-designed themes designed to cover many purposes and needs.
Finding Themes: Let’s Simplify Things!
Let’s say you were to go to Google and search for a key phrase like this:
- best paid WP themes
- best responsive WordPress themes
- best free WordPress themes for business (or whatever your business, search topic or website is about)
Chances are that you are going to get an overwhelming amount of disorganized information to sort through in the search listings.
So, to help you save time and make your life easier, let’s just cut through the clutter and make the process of finding great WordPress themes simple.
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes
Before we start, you need to know that WordPress offers users both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll explain these differences in another post. To keep things simple, we’ll only cover the topic of finding themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this article, as these give you more freedom, more options and more control over your web design.
Free vs Paid Themes
Next, it’s important to know that there are both Free and Paid WordPress themes made available. Free WP themes are generally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they can be sold as Premium (paid) themes.
Theme Marketplaces And Directories vs Theme Vendors
There are two different types of places where you can find WordPress themes. The first place is in WordPress theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent theme shops.
Theme marketplaces and theme directories are large aggregators of themes. theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and buyers search for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software marketplace.
Some of the bigger marketplaces 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 theme vendors typically develop both free and commercial themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme developer or a small team of designer, to large theme design and development companies.
As you will see, most commercial theme companies 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 WP theme directories .
Let’s now show you where to find great WordPress themes for your blog.
Where To Find Themes For Your Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – WordPress Themes Directory)
The official WordPress theme directory is the biggest and best place to download WP themes for free. In fact, it’s probably the only free WordPress theme directory you should use when looking for free WP themes. The reason for this, is because –as many free software users have learned– downloading free software, add-ons, apps, templates or themes from untrustworthy places can put your computer, digital presence and even your entire business at risk.
The WordPress.org directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your WordPress site, but it also uses a team of theme reviewers to review and ensure that each theme in the directory complies with their quality and security standards.
To browse thousands of professionally-designed FREE WordPress themes from the official WordPress Themes Repository, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Search For Free WP Themes Without Leaving Your Own WP 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 start using it directly from inside your WP admin panel with only a few mouse clicks.
Use WordPress Theme Feature Filter
WordPress provides a filtering function inside the dashboard area that lets you narrow down your search for themes based on criteria like Colors, Layout and Features …
This makes it easy to find themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with a pink colour design, with a four-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in another article where we discuss the importance of using “responsive” WP themes, we explained how these allow your site to be viewed without problems across all devices (e.g. your visitors’ PCs, smartphones and tablets) …
It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering function lets you search across its entire database of free themes …
… and bring up only themes that are “responsive” …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free WP Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free themes is that it costs you nothing to download and use the theme on your site. Additionally, many free themes are professionally designed and come with a number of customizable options, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.
The downside to using free WP themes are that your themes may not get updated as often with new features and bug fixes, and you shouldn’t expect the developer to provide urgent support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most freely distributed themes ask users for donations to help cover costs of providing support.
When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been well over 1 year since any changes were last made, then you should think twice about using it, as the WordPress software changes quite frequently and this can create conflicts or errors with older code.
If you’re just getting started and your site 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 paid themes or even on custom theme design. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded may just be the thing that works for your site and for your business.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free WordPress themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and how to narrow down your search for themes that meet your specific requirements, it’s time to turn our attention to finding premium themes.
Premium Themes
If you are looking for themes with stunning web design, or professional quality yet highly affordable WordPress web design themes with a distinctive look, unique customizable options and great support, then search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:
Theme Directories
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the largest and well known theme marketplaces online.
ThemeForest lets many professional WP theme designers showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are currently over 17,000 premium themes listed (some starting from as little as $3) …
(click on the images above to view more ThemeForest themes)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme marketplace, you will be able to browse for specific themes in various categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for personal blogs and environmental blogs, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for legal sites and advertising purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for design, writers, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes that suit sites about directory listings, dining out & restaurants, , etc.
- eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, membership sites, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to training, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for film & tv blogs, music venues, etc.
- Mobile – e.g. mobile-switching themes.
- NonProfit – themes for nonprofit organizations, churches, etc.
- Real Estate – themes for real estate and real estate listings (e.g. commercial property, etc.)
- Retail – themes for stores, trades or professionals (repairers, medical centers, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to apps, landing pages, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and marriage consellor 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 browse many great premium themes in the ThemeForest directory:
Creative Market
(click on the images above to view all themes on Creative Market)
Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme marketplace where you can browse thousands of quality premium WP 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 go through all of their themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories from their dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great WordPress themes crafted by independent WP theme developers in the Creative Market themes marketplace here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the images above to browse more Mojo themes)
Mojo is a marketplace for premium-quality WordPress 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 WP themes, but you can easily browse hundreds of WP themes and narrow your search with theme categories using the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great premium themes in the Mojo marketplace here:
Now that we have looked at WordPress theme directories, let’s take a look at commercial theme vendors.
Commercial Theme Vendors
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a selection of high quality WP themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on images above to view all themes from SoloStream)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes designs functional WordPress themes that are very popular and highly sought after by website users and offer a membership option that gives you access to all themes in their growing theme portfolio.
(click on the above images to browse all WooThemes themes)
StoreFront
StoreFront Themes specializes in creating e-commerce themes for WordPress. Their themes also integrate well with some of the most powerful e-commerce platforms and plugins available.
(click on the images above to see all StoreFront themes)
StudioPress
StudioPress provides WordPress themes based on a 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 site designs with beautiful frames for your content and unprecedented control of the framework.
Many web developers prefer using this framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps this framework regularly up-to-date to reflect best practices for coding and to make sure that it is always compatible with the latest WordPress version, but because you can update your themes without losing any customizations you have made to your theme.
This is because themes built with the Genesis framework use something called “child themes,” which are like a paint job that sits on top of the theme 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 you pay one low price 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 browse all StudioPress themes)
Theme-Checking Tools
Let’s finish this article with some useful WordPress theme-related tools worth knowing about:
What WP Theme Is That WordPress Theme Checker
What WordPress Theme Is That is a free WP theme-checking tool that lets you easily detect what WP theme a website uses.
This is a great resource if you have come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what theme the website uses.
Tip: If you can’t tell whether a site was built using WordPress or not, we have published a a great tutorial that shows you how to tell whether or not a site was built using WordPress: How To Check If Your Website Was Built Using 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 not only confirm whether or not a site is powered by the WP CMS platform, but it will also list the WP theme being used and list any WordPress plugins detected.
- To use this tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That?
- To learn more about this tool go here: Does My Blog Run On WordPress?
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – Plugin
A word of warning: If you decide to use FREE themes for your WordPress site, we recommend sticking with the reviewed and approved WP themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.
A method that is commonly used by a number of hackers and cyber criminals is to put up sites offering “Free” WordPress themes all over the web and then distribute modified themes that contain malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even display on Google’s search results for phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress.org repository, or use well-known and reputable theme merchants.
If you have any doubts about whether a WordPress theme installed on your blog could be infected with malicious or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your WP theme files. The plugin scans the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of suspicious code and then presents you with a report with the results …
(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Screenshot Source: Plugin Page, WordPress.org)
I hope that you have found this information useful.
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