In an earlier post, we have written a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you would like to know more about the benefits of using themes and what makes themes so revolutionary in terms of website design, then make sure to check out this post: About WordPress Themes – A Beginner’s Guide
In this article, we show you where to search for free and paid themes for your WordPress 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 avoid having to deal with problems like lack of customer support and poor coding.
As explained in another post, a theme is a special kind of web template used on WordPress-powered sites and designed specifically in the WordPress platform.
Many skilled web designers and web design firms create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users can access thousands of professional themes designed for many purposes and needs.
Finding Great Themes: Too Much Information … Where To Begin?
Let’s say you were to fire up Google and search for the following:
- best paid WP themes
- best free themes for WordPress
- best free WordPress themes for artists (or whatever your business, search topic or website is about)
You are probably 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, 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 get started, you should know that WordPress offers users both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll explain these differences in a different post. For now, let’s just cover themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this post, which gives you more freedom, more options and more control over your site’s web design.
Free vs Paid WP Themes
Next, it’s important to know that you will find thousands of Free and Paid WordPress themes made available. Free themes for WordPress are generally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they will be licensed for use as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.
WP Theme Directories & Theme Shops
There are mostly two kinds of places where you can find themes. The first is in theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second type of place are the commercial and independent theme developers.
WP 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 customers search for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software directory.
Some of the larger directories 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 theme vendors typically create both free and commercial WordPress themes, and can vary in size, from an individual developer or a small team of theme designer, to large theme development companies.
As you will see, many commercial or independent theme design firms 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 WordPress theme directories .
Let’s now show you where to find the best themes for your blog.
Choosing Great Themes For Your Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – Themes Directory)
The official WordPress.org theme directory is the biggest and best place to download free WordPress themes. In fact, it’s probably the only free theme directory you should use when looking for free WP 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 contain malicious code and put your computer, digital presence … even your entire business at risk.
The WordPress.org directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your website or blog, but it also uses a review team comprised of dedicated and code-savvy volunteers to review and ensure that each theme in the directory complies with certain quality and security standards.
To browse thousands of excellent FREE WordPress themes from the official Themes Repository, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Find WordPress Themes Inside Your Dashboard
Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every WordPress theme in the WordPress.org directory and not only find what you are looking for, but also easily install and activate it directly from inside your WP dashboard with only a few clicks.
Use Theme Feature Filters
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 themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly orange colour design, with a 3-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in an earlier post where we present an overview of WordPress themes and discuss the importance of using “responsive” themes, we explained how these ensure that your theme will work on all devices (e.g. laptops, tablets and smartphones) …
You should use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filter lets you search across its entire database of free themes …
… and bring up only WordPress themes that are “responsive” …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free themes is that it’s free to download and use the theme. Additionally, many free themes are professionally designed and come with a number of built-in customizable settings, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.
The ”cons” to using free WordPress themes are that your themes may not get updated as often with new features and bug fixes, and it’s unrealistic to expect the theme developer to provide personal support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most freely distributed themes will ask you for a donation to help cover costs of providing support and updates, bug fixes, etc..
When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been over 1 year since any change was made, then you should think carefully about using it, as the theme may have been abandoned by its developer.
If you’re just getting started and your website or blog is still quite 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. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded may just be the thing that works for you and helps to convert your site visitors into customers.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free WordPress themes in the WordPress theme directory and ways to narrow down your search for themes that meet specific requirements, it’s time to turn our attention to paid themes.
Paid WordPress 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 responsive support, you can search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:
WordPress Theme Marketplaces
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the biggest and most popular theme marketplaces online.
ThemeForest allows many professional WordPress theme designers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are currently over 17,000 premium themes to choose from (some starting from as little as $3) …
(click on the images above to browse 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 bloggers and parenting blogs, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for government sites and marketing purposes.
- Creative – themes for creative work, crafts, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes that suit sites related to employment opportunities, classifieds, tourism directories, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, membership sites, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to teaching, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for photo gallery blogs, music venues, etc.
- Mobile – e.g. responsive themes.
- NonProfit – themes for nonprofit organizations, charities, etc.
- Real Estate – themes for real estate and real estate listings (e.g. commercial property, etc.)
- Retail – themes for retail stores, trades or professionals (plumbers, engineering, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to hosting, 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, green living 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 find quality premium WP themes in the ThemeForest theme directory:
Creative Market
(click on the images above to see all themes on Creative Market)
Creative Market is another leading WP theme directory where you can search through 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 find WordPress themes and narrow your search using theme categories (e.g. Minimal or Commerce themes, etc.) from their dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great themes crafted by independent WP theme developers in the Creative Market themes marketplace here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the above images to see all 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 WP themes, but you can easily browse hundreds of themes for WordPress and narrow your search with theme categories by choosing the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find quality premium themes in the Mojo themes marketplace here:
Now that we have looked at WordPress theme aggregators, let’s look at commercial and independent WP theme developers.
Commercial And Independent WP Theme Stores
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a great selection of professional quality themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on above images to browse more SoloStream themes)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes designs great premium themes for WordPress and offers a membership option that lets you access all themes in their WP theme collection.
(click on the above images to view more WooThemes themes)
StoreFront
StoreFront Themes creates gorgeous 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 above images to view all themes from StoreFront)
StudioPress
StudioPress develops 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 this framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps this framework consistently up-to-date to reflect best coding practices and to make sure that it always remains 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 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, there’s no need to feel concerned 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 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 WordPress Theme Is That WordPress Theme Checker
What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free WP theme and plugin search tool that lets you easily detect what WordPress theme a website uses (including parent and child WP themes).
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 runs on WordPress or not, we have posted a a great tutorial that helps you tell whether or not a website was built using WordPress: How Can I Tell If A Web 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 not only confirm if the site is built on WordPress software, but it will also list the WP theme being used on the site and list any WordPress plugins it detects.
- To use this tool visit the website here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
- To learn how to use this tool go here: Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Blog And WP-Checking Tools
Theme Authenticity Checker - Plugin
We said this earlier and it’s worth repeating it again: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we highly recommend sticking with the approved WordPress themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.
A commonly-used method employed by many hacking groups and syndicates that engage in cyber-crime is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and distribute themes and plugins with malicious code embedded in their files. In fact, some of these sites even come up on search engine results for search phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to only download free themes from the official WordPress theme directory, or use well-known and trusted theme merchants.
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 perform a scan of your theme files. The TAC 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 …
(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Screenshot Source: Plugin)
We hope that you have found the information on how to find the best free and commercial themes for WordPress useful.
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