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In a previous article, we provide new WordPress users with a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.

If you would like to learn more about the benefits of using themes and what makes themes unique, then go here to read our article: Understanding WP Themes – A Guide For Beginners

In this article, you will learn where you can find loads of professional free and paid themes for your site. You will also learn about the different types of WP theme resources and get tips on how to make sure that you get the right themes for your needs and avoid experiencing problems like lack of support and poor coding.

As explained in another article, a theme is a unique kind of web template used on WordPress-driven blogs and designed specifically for the WP content management system.

Many individual web designers and web design firms create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users have access to thousands of great themes designed for many purposes and needs.

Finding Great Great Themes For WordPress: So Many Choices … Where To Begin?

If you were to launch Google and type the following:

• best free themes for WordPress
• WordPress themes free
• best paid WordPress themes for churches (enter whatever your business, area of interest or website is about)

Chances are that you are going to get an overwhelming amount of junk to sort through in the search results.

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 really 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 post. For now, please note that we will only focus on finding 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 aspects of your website.

Free vs Paid Themes

Next, it’s useful to know that you will easily find many Free and Paid themes being made available. Free themes are generally distributed as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they can be licensed for use as Premium (paid) themes.

WP Theme Directories & WordPress Theme Shops

There are mostly two different types of places where you can find WP themes. The first is in WordPress theme marketplaces and WordPress theme directories. The second place are the commercial and independent WordPress theme developers.

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 visitors find these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software marketplace.

Some of the bigger 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 theme stores can develop both free and commercial WordPress themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme designer or a small team of developer, to large web and theme design and development companies.

Most commercial theme developers 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 search for great WordPress themes for your blog.

Where To Find Themes For Your Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

(WordPress.org – Free WP Theme Directory)

The official WordPress.org theme directory is the largest and best place to search for free WP themes. In fact, it’s probably the only free WP theme directory you should use when looking for free WordPress themes. The reason why, is because –as some free software users have discovered– downloading free software, add-ons, apps, templates or themes from untrustworthy places can place your computer, digital presence … even your entire business at risk.

The WordPress 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 comprised of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers to review and make sure that each theme in the directory complies with their standards of quality and security.

To browse thousands of excellent FREE WordPress themes from the official WordPress Themes Directory, go here:

http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes

You Don’t Even Have To Leave Your WordPress Dashboard

Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every WP 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 WordPress dashboard with just a couple of clicks.

Use Theme Filtering

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 easier to find what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly pink colour design, with a 4-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.

Note: in the article mentioned earlier where we present an overview of WordPress themes and discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” WP themes, we explained how these allow your site to be viewed correctly on all devices (e.g. your visitors’ PCs, tablets and smartphones) …

It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering option lets you do just that …

… and bring back only themes that have been built using “responsive” design standards …

Pros & Cons Of Using Free WP Themes

The obvious “pro” to using free WordPress themes is that it’s free to download and use the theme. Additionally, many free themes are professionally designed and offer 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 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 personal support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many freely distributed themes will ask you for a donation to help cover support costs.

When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been well over a year since any updates were made, then it’s best to think twice about downloading it, as WordPress changes quite often and these changes can create conflicts and errors with older code.

If you’re just getting started and your website 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 theme you downloaded for free could be exactly what works for your site and for your business.

Now that we’ve seen how to find free themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and ways to filter your search for themes that meet your specific criteria, let’s turn our attention to premium WP themes.

Paid 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, then search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:

Theme Marketplaces And Directories

ThemeForest

ThemeForest is one of the biggest and well known theme directories online.

ThemeForest lets many professional WP theme developers showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are over 17,000 premium themes listed (you can find great themes from as little as $3) …

(click on the above images to view more themes on ThemeForest)

If you visit the ThemeForest theme marketplace, you will be able to browse for specific themes in a range of categories, such as:

• Blog/Magazine – themes for personal blogs and e-magazines, etc.
• Corporate – themes suitable for legal sites or advertising purposes.
• Creative – themes suitable for visual galleries, freelancers, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes suitable for sites related to directory listings, dining out & restaurants, tourism directories, etc.
• eCommerce – themes for online shopping, event bookings and registrations, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to tutoring, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for celebrity blogs, cafes, etc.
• Mobile – e.g. retina-ready themes.
• NonProfit – themes for nonprofit organizations, churches, etc.
• Real Estate – themes for real estate and real estate listings (e.g. home sales, etc.)
• Retail – themes for shopping, trades or professionals (plumbers, legal firms, etc.)
• Technology – themes related to technology, affiliate marketing, seo, product reviews, direct sales, 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)

Browse lots of great premium themes in the ThemeForest theme marketplace here:

• ThemeForest

Creative Market

(click on the above images to see more Creative Market themes)

Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme marketplace where you can browse many 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 WordPress themes in its marketplace, but you can easily browse hundreds of WP themes and narrow your search using theme categories (e.g. Landing Page or Wedding themes, etc.) from the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …

Browse through hundreds of quality premium WordPress themes crafted by independent WP theme developers in the Creative Market theme marketplace here:

• Creative Market

Mojo Themes

(click on the images above to browse all WordPress themes at Mojo)

Mojo is a marketplace for premium 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 WordPress themes, but you can easily find themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories by using the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

Visit the site to find quality premium WP themes in the Mojo themes directory here:

• Mojo

Now that we have looked at WordPress theme aggregators, let’s look at commercial and independent WP theme development firms.

Commercial Theme Developers

SoloStream

SoloStream provides WordPress users with a selection of professional quality themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.

(click on above images to see all themes from SoloStream)

Woo Themes

Woo Themes designs functional premium themes for WordPress and offer a membership option that gives you access to their entire theme collection.

(click on the above images to view all WooThemes themes)

StoreFront

StoreFront specializes in e-commerce themes for WordPress. StoreFront themes also integrate well with some of the most powerful e-commerce platforms and plugins available.

(click on the above images to see all StoreFront themes)

StudioPress

StudioPress builds WordPress themes based on a framework (called the “Genesis” framework) that lets you quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress site, and provides a self-updating design architecture, turn-key designs with beautiful frames for the 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 frequently up-to-date to reflect best practices for coding and to ensure 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 StudioPress themes 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, there’s no need to feel concerned about it. StudioPress themes are 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 browse all themes from StudioPress)

WordPress Theme-Checking Tools

To round things up, here are a couple of useful WP theme-related tools worth knowing about:

What WordPress Theme Is That

What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free WP theme search tool that allows you to easily detect what WP theme and plugins a site is using (including parent and child themes).

This is a great resource if you ever come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what theme is being used on the site.

Tip: If you don’t know whether a site uses WordPress or not, we have published a a great tutorial that helps you tell whether or not a web site is WP-driven: Is It A WordPress Blog?

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 whether or not a site is built on the WP CMS platform, but it will also list the theme being used and list any plugins it detects.

• To use the online tool visit the website here: What WordPress Theme Is That
• To learn more about using this tool go here: Is My Site WordPress?

Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – Plugin

A word of warning: If you decide to use FREE themes for your WordPress site, we highly recommend sticking with the approved themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.

A commonly-used method employed by many hackers and cyber criminals is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and distribute modified themes and plugins with malicious code embedded in their files. In fact, some of these sites even come up on Google for search phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress.org directory, or use well-known and reputable sites.

If you have any concerns about whether a WordPress theme that you have 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 perform 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 presents you with a report with the results …

(TAC Report Page – Source: Plugin)

I hope that you have found the information on how to find the best WordPress free and commercial responsive themes useful.

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