In an earlier article, we provide a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you haven’t yet discovered WordPress themes and what makes themes so special, then go here to read our article: An Introduction to WP Themes
In this article, you will learn where to search for free and paid themes for your WordPress website or blog. 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 how to avoid dealing with problems like lack of customer support and poorly-coded themes.
As explained in another post, a theme is a unique type of web template that is used on WordPress-powered websites and blogs and designed specifically with the WordPress CMS platform in mind.
Many individual website designers and website development firms create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WP community have access to thousands of unique themes covering an extensive range of applications.
Where To Find Great Responsive Themes For WordPress: Let’s Simplify Things!
If you were to open up Google and type key phrases like this:
- best free WP themes
- best paid themes for WordPress
- best paid WordPress themes for writers (type in whatever your business, search topic or blog is about)
You are probably going to get an overwhelming amount of information to sort through in your 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 WordPress themes really simple.
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes
Before we get started, you need to know that WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll explain these differences in another post. For now, we’ll only be covering 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 the design of your website.
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 will be made available to users as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.
Theme Marketplaces & Theme Agencies
There are two different types of places where WordPress themes can be found. The first place is in WP theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent theme development firms.
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 find 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 WordPress plugins and templates for other web applications (e.g. Joomla, Drupal, etc.)
Commercial and independent theme design houses typically develop both free and paid themes, and can vary in size, from an individual designer or a small team of designer, to large web and theme development companies.
As you will see, many commercial theme shops 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 directories .
Let’s now show you where to search for the best themes for your website or blog.
Finding A Great Theme Themes For Your WordPress Website
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – Themes Directory)
The official WordPress.org theme directory is the largest and best place to download free WP themes. In fact, it’s probably the only free directory you should use when looking for free WP themes. The reason for this, 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.org directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your website, but it also uses a team of theme reviewers comprised of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers to review and make sure that each theme uploaded to the directory complies with high standards of quality and security.
To browse thousands of professionally-designed FREE WordPress themes from the official Themes Repository, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Find Free Themes Without Leaving Your Own WordPress Dashboard
Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every WordPress theme in the WordPress 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 admin panel with only a few 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 what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with a orange color design, with a two-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 these ensure that your theme will display without problems across all devices (e.g. your visitors’ computers, tablets and smartphones) …
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 WordPress 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 provide 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” of 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 theme developer to provide dedicated support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most 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 over 1 year since any changes were 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 or blog is still quite new, there is nothing wrong with using 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 theme you downloaded for free may just be the thing that 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 specific requirements, it’s time to turn our attention to premium themes.
Premium 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 responsive 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 largest and well known theme directories online.
ThemeForest allows many professional WP theme designers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are well over 15,000 premium WordPress themes to choose from (you can find great themes from as little as $3) …
(click on the images above to browse all ThemeForest themes)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme directory, you will be able to browse for specific WP themes in a range of categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for general blogs and news editorials, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for corporate sites and advertising purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for creative work, ebook authors, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes that suit sites about employment opportunities, buy & sell, tourism directories, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, membership sites, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to training, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for gossip blogs, dining out, 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 specialty stores, trades or professionals (repairers, legal practitioners, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to hosting, affiliate marketing, seo, product reviews, direct sales, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and romance tips and advice blogs
- Miscellaneous – themes suitable for writing or discussing political 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 sends you theme update notifications)
Go here to discover quality premium themes in the ThemeForest site:
Creative Market
(click on the above images to see all themes on Creative Market)
Creative Market is another leading WP theme marketplace where you can browse thousands of 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 WP themes in its directory, but you can easily browse hundreds of themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories (e.g. Magazine or Wedding themes, etc.) using the site’s 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 above images to view more WordPress 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 dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find quality premium themes in the Mojo directory here:
Now that we have looked at WordPress theme aggregators, let’s turn our attention to commercial and independent theme developers.
Commercial And Independent WP Theme Development Firms
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a great selection of high quality premium WP themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on above images to browse more themes from SoloStream)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes creates great themes for WordPress that are very popular and highly sought after by web users and also offer a membership option that gives you access to their entire theme collection.
(click on the above images to see more themes from WooThemes)
StoreFront
StoreFront Themes creates beautiful WordPress themes for e-commerce. 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 that enables users to quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress site, and provides an auto-updating design architecture, turn-key designs with beautiful frames for the 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 the framework consistently up-to-date to reflect best coding practices and to make sure that it always remains 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 StudioPress themes 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 way 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 StudioPress themes is that you pay just 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 see more StudioPress themes)
WP Theme-Checking Tools
Let’s finish this article with some useful WP theme-related tools worth knowing about:
What WP Theme Is That WordPress Theme Checker
What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free WordPress theme search tool that lets you easily detect what WP theme and plugins a website is using (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 is being used on the site.
Tip: If you can’t tell whether a site was built using WordPress or not, go here for a great tutorial that helps you tell if a web site uses the WP CMS platform: How To Check If Your 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 has been built using the WordPress CMS platform, but it will also list the WordPress theme being used and list any plugins detected.
- To use the online tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That?
- To learn more about this tool go here: Is Your Website Built With WordPress?
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)
We suggested this earlier and it’s worth repeating again: If you decide to use FREE themes for your WordPress site, we strongly recommend sticking with the themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.
A strategy that is commonly used by a number of hackers and cyber criminals is to put up websites offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and then distribute themes and plugins with malicious code embedded in their files. In fact, some of these sites even display on search engine results for search phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s safer, therefore, to only download free WordPress themes from the official WordPress.org theme directory, or use well-known and reputable theme vendors.
If you have any concerns about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your blog may be infected with malicious or unwanted code, 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 suspicious code and then outputs a report as shown in the screenshot below …
(TAC Report Page – Source: Plugin)
I hope that you have found this information useful.
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