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In an earlier post, we provide a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.

If you would like to know more about themes and what makes themes unique, then go here to read our article: A Useful Guide To Understanding WordPress Themes

In this article, we show you where you can explore loads of wonderful free and paid themes for your WP website. You will also learn about the different types of WP theme resources and get tips on how to ensure that you get the right themes for your needs and how to avoid dealing with problems like lack of support and poorly-coded themes.

As explained in another article, a theme is a unique type of web design template used on WordPress-driven sites and designed to work specifically with WordPress in mind.

Many website designers and web development houses create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users can access thousands of quality WP themes covering an extensive range of uses.

Finding Themes: So Many Choices … Where To Begin?

Let’s say you were to launch Google and type key phrases like this:

• best free WP themes
• WordPress themes free
• best free WordPress themes for business (enter whatever your business, search topic or website is about)

You are probably going to get an overwhelming amount of junk to sort through in your search listings.

So, to help you save time and make things easier, let’s 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 should know that WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll explain these differences in a separate article. To keep things simple, let’s just be covering 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 useful to know that typically, you’ll find both 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 are made available to users as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.

WordPress Theme Marketplaces And Directories & Theme Development Firms

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

Theme marketplaces and theme directories are big theme aggregators. theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and customers find these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software directory.

Some of the bigger marketplaces don’t just sell WordPress themes. They can also sell WP plugins and templates for other web applications (e.g. Joomla, Drupal, etc.)

Commercial and independent WordPress theme stores can also create 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 companies.

As you will see, many commercial or independent theme stores 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 search for the best WP themes for your website.

Where To Find The Best Responsive Themes For Your Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

(WordPress.org – WP Themes Directory)

The official WordPress theme directory is the largest and best place to download WordPress themes for free. In fact, it’s probably the only free WP theme 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 … even your entire business at risk.

The WP theme directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your website, but it also uses a review team to review and ensure that each theme listed in the directory meets high quality and security standards.

To browse thousands of great-looking FREE WordPress themes from the official WP Themes Directory, go here:

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

You Don’t Even Have To Leave Your WP Dashboard

Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every theme in the WordPress.org directory and not only find a great theme for your website or blog, but also easily install and start using it directly from within your WordPress dashboard with a couple of mouse clicks.

Use WordPress Theme Filtering

WordPress provides a filtering function inside the admin area that lets you narrow down your search for themes based on criteria like Colors, Layout and Features …

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

Note: in another post where we discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” WordPress themes, we explained how responsive themes allow your site to be viewed correctly across all devices (e.g. computers, tablets and smartphones) …

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

… and display only themes that are “responsive” …

Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes

The obvious “pro” to using free WP themes is that there is no cost to download and use the theme on your site. Additionally, many free themes are professionally designed and offer a number of built-in customizable features, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.

The downside to using free WordPress 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 dedicated support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many free themes ask users for donations 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 a year since any changes were last made, then you should think twice about using it, as the theme may have been abandoned by its developer.

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 premium themes or even on custom web design. 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 WP themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and ways to narrow down your search for themes that meet your specific requirements, let’s turn our attention to premium WP 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 great support, you can 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 best-known WP theme directories online.

ThemeForest allows many professional WP theme creators to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are currently over 15,000 premium WP themes listed (some starting from as little as $3) …

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

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

• Blog/Magazine – themes for general blogs and green living blogs, etc.
• Corporate – themes suitable for medical sites or marketing purposes.
• Creative – themes suitable for video galleries, galleries, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes ideal for sites about employment opportunities, holiday rentals, , etc.
• eCommerce – themes for selling products online, event bookings and registrations, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to teaching, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for gossip 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 retail stores, trades or professionals (electricians, chiropractors, etc.)
• Technology – themes related to software, newsletters, etc.
• Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and marriage counselling blogs
• Miscellaneous – themes suitable for writing or discussing political issues, 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 emails you theme update notifications)

Go here to browse many great themes in the ThemeForest themes marketplace:

• ThemeForest

Creative Market

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

Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme directory where you can browse many 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 WordPress themes in its directory, but you can easily browse hundreds of themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories from the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …

Browse through hundreds of great WordPress themes crafted by independent WordPress theme designers in the Creative Market themes directory here:

• Creative Market

Mojo Themes

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

Mojo is a directory for premium-quality 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 WP themes and search through their theme categories (e.g. Responsive or Photography themes and theme frameworks, etc.) by choosing the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

Visit the site to find great WordPress themes in the Mojo directory here:

• Mojo Themes

Now that we have looked at WP theme directories, let’s look at commercial theme developers.

Commercial And Independent WP Theme Developers

SoloStream

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

(click on above images to view more SoloStream themes)

Woo Themes

Woo Themes designs great themes and offers a membership option that allows you access to their entire WP theme collection.

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

StoreFront

StoreFront Themes creates amazing 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 browse all themes from StoreFront)

StudioPress

StudioPress provides WordPress themes based on a framework (called the “Genesis” framework) that enables users to quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress site, and provides an auto-updating design architecture, turn-key site 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 the framework consistently updated to reflect best coding practices and to make sure that it is always compatible with the latest version of WordPress, but because you can update themes built using the Genesis framework without losing any customizations you may 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 theme framework and gives your site its unique design.

If this all sounds way 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 entitles 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 above images to see more themes from StudioPress)

Theme-Checking Tools

Here are a few more useful WP theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:

What WordPress Theme Is That WordPress Theme Checker

What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free WordPress theme-checking tool that lets you easily detect what WP theme a website uses (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 the website is using.

Tip: If you can’t tell whether a site was built using WordPress or not, we have published a a great tutorial that helps you tell whether or not a website is WP-driven: How Can I Tell If My Site Was 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 was built using WordPress, but it will also list the WP theme being used and list any plugins it detects.

• To use this tool visit the website here: What WordPress Theme Is That?
• To learn how to use this tool go here: Does My Blog Run On WordPress?

Theme Authenticity Checker - 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 commonly-used tactic employed by a number of hacking groups and cyber criminals is to put up websites offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and then distribute modified themes and plugins that contain malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even display on search engine results for phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s safer, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress.org theme directory, or use well-known and reputable theme vendors.

If you are concerned about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your blog could contain malicious or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your theme files. This plugin searches the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of malicious code and then outputs a report with the results …

(TAC Report Page – Screenshot Source: WordPress.org Plugin)

We hope that you have found the information on how to find the best WordPress useful.

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