In an earlier article, we have written a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you would like to learn more about WP themes and what makes WP themes unique, then go here to read the article: About WP Themes – A Guide For Beginners
In this article, we explain where you can look for free and paid themes for your website or blog. 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 theme coding.
As we’ve explained in our previous article, a theme is a unique type of web template that is used on WordPress-driven blogs and designed specifically on the WP content management system.
Many individual web designers and web development houses create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users have access to thousands of high quality WP themes designed for many purposes and needs.
Where To Find Great Themes For WordPress: Your Time-Saving Guide
Let’s say you were to go to Google and type something like this:
- best themes for WordPress
- WordPress themes free
- best paid WordPress themes for blogs (type in whatever your business, search topic or blog 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 things easier, we’ll just cut through the clutter and make the process of finding great WordPress themes really simple.
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes
Before we start, you should know that WordPress offers users both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll explain these differences in a different article. For now, let’s just cover the topic of finding 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 web design.
Free vs Paid WordPress Themes
Next, it’s useful to know that you can find thousands of Free and Paid themes being made available. Free themes are normally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they are listed as Premium (paid) themes.
Theme Marketplaces And Directories vs WordPress Theme Design Companies
There are two places where you can find themes. The first place is in theme marketplaces and WP theme directories. The second type of place are the commercial and independent theme developers.
WP theme marketplaces and WordPress 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 shop for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software directory.
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 WordPress theme vendors typically will create both free and paid WP themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme developer or a small team of theme designer, to large theme design companies.
Most commercial or independent theme stores sell their 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 themes for your website or blog.
Choosing A Great WP Theme For Your Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – Themes Directory)
The official WordPress theme directory is the largest and best place to search for free WP themes. In fact, it’s probably the only free directory you should use when looking for free WordPress themes. The reason for this, 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 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 website or blog, but it also uses a team of theme reviewers comprised of dedicated and hard working volunteers to review and make sure that each theme uploaded to the directory complies with their quality and security standards.
To browse thousands of great-looking FREE WordPress themes from the official WP Themes Repository, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Find Themes Inside Your WP Dashboard
Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every theme in the WordPress.org theme directory and not only find what you are looking for, but also easily install and activate it directly from inside your WordPress dashboard with a couple of clicks.
Use WP Theme Filters
WordPress provides a 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 themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with a blue color design, with a two-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” themes, we explained how these allow your site to be viewed without problems across all devices (e.g. the laptops, smartphones and tablets used by visitors to view your site) …
It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering option lets you search across its entire database of free themes …
… and bring back only themes that are “responsive” …
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. An added plus, is that many free themes are professionally designed and offer a number of built-in customizable settings, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.
The downside of 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 theme developer to provide personal support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most free themes ask for donations to help cover support costs.
When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been over one year since any change was last made, then you should think twice about downloading it, as WordPress is frequently updated and these changes can create conflicts or errors with older code.
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 a theme. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded could be exactly what works for you and for your business.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and ways to narrow down your search for themes that meet specific requirements, let’s turn our attention to finding premium WordPress 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 responsive support, then search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:
WP Theme Directories
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the largest and well known WP theme directories online.
ThemeForest lets many professional WordPress theme creators 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 see all themes on ThemeForest)
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 bloggers and blog magazines, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for business sites and marketing purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for design, kindle book authors, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes ideal for sites about travel, holiday rentals, , etc.
- eCommerce – themes for online shopping, membership sites, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to training, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for fashion blogs, nightlife, 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. home sales, etc.)
- Retail – themes for retail stores, trades or professionals (repairers, engineering, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to apps, newsletters, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and marriage counselling blogs
- Miscellaneous – themes suitable for writing or discussing environmental issues, 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)
Browse thousands of great WP themes in the ThemeForest themes marketplace here:
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 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 go through all of their WP themes and narrow your search using theme categories using the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great themes crafted by independent WP theme designers in the Creative Market theme marketplace here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the above images to view all themes at Mojo.com)
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 WordPress themes, but you can easily find WP themes and narrow your search with theme categories (e.g. Landing Page or eCommerce themes and theme frameworks, etc.) by using the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great premium WP themes in the Mojo marketplace here:
Now that we have looked at WordPress theme aggregators, let’s turn our attention to commercial and independent theme agencies.
Commercial And Independent Theme Vendors
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a great selection of high quality premium 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 eye-catching WordPress themes and offer a membership option that lets you access all themes in their theme portfolio.
(click on the above images to view more themes from WooThemes)
StoreFront
StoreFront 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 above images to see more StoreFront themes)
StudioPress
StudioPress develops WordPress themes based on a framework that lets users quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress site, and provides a self-updating design architecture, turn-key site designs with beautiful frames for your content and unprecedented control of the framework.
Many website developers prefer using this framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps the framework frequently 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 theme framework and gives your site its unique look and feel.
If this sounds too technical, don’t worry 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 above images to see all StudioPress themes)
WP Theme-Checking Tools
To round things up, here are a few more useful WordPress theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:
What WordPress Theme Is That? WordPress Theme Checker
What WordPress Theme Is That.com is a free web tool that lets you easily detect what WP theme a website is using.
This is a great resource if you have come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what WP theme is being used on the website.
Tip: If you can’t tell if a site runs on WordPress or not, we have published a a great tutorial that shows you how to tell if a website uses WordPress: The Easy Way To Tell If Your Web Site Was Built Using WordPress Software
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 software, but it will also list the WP theme being used and list any plugins it detects.
- To use the tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That
- To learn more about this tool go here: Is My Site WordPress?
Theme Authenticity Checker - Plugin
We suggested this earlier and it’s worth repeating again: If you decide to use FREE themes for your WordPress site, we recommend sticking with the approved WordPress themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.
A well-known tactic used by a number of hacking groups and cyber criminals is to put up websites and directories offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and distribute modified themes with malicious code embedded in their files. In fact, some of these sites even come up on Google’s search results for phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to only download free themes from the official WordPress theme repository, or use established and trusted sites.
If you are in doubt about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your blog may be infected with potentially 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 scans the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of malicious code and presents you with a report with the results …
(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Screenshot: Plugin)
I hope that you have found the information on how to find great WP free and commercial responsive themes useful.
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