In another post, we have written a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you haven’t yet discovered WordPress themes and what makes themes unique, then go here to read our post: An Introduction to WP Themes
In this article, you will learn where to search for free and paid themes for your WP site. You will also learn about the different types of WordPress theme resources and get tips on how to make sure that you get the right themes for your needs and avoid dealing with problems like lack of support and poor theme coding.
As explained in our previously-mentioned article, a WordPress theme is a unique kind of web template used on WordPress-driven websites and blogs and designed to work specifically with the WP content management system in mind.
Many skilled website designers and web development companies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WordPress community can access thousands of quality themes covering an extensive range of uses and applications.
Finding Themes: How To Avoid Information Overload
Let’s say you were to open up Google and search for the following:
- best free themes for WordPress
- WordPress themes free
- best responsive WordPress themes for authors (type in whatever your business, search topic or blog is about)
Chances are that you are going to get an overwhelming amount of information 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 cover these differences in a later post. To keep things simple, please note that we will only be covering 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 site’s web design.
Free vs Paid WP Themes
Next, it’s useful to know that there are both Free and Paid WordPress themes being made available. Free WordPress themes are normally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they are sold as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.
WordPress Theme Directories Commercial And Independent WP Theme Design Companies
There are mostly two kinds of places where themes can be found. The first is in theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent theme stores.
Theme marketplaces and WP theme directories are big theme aggregators. WP theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and buyers find these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software marketplace.
Some of the bigger marketplaces 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 design houses can also design both free and paid themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme developer or a small team of theme developer, to large web and theme design and development companies.
Many 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 the best WordPress themes for your website.
Where To Find Great Themes For Your Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – WP Themes Directory)
The official WordPress theme directory is the biggest and best place to search for free WP 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 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 relies on a theme review team comprised of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers to review and ensure that each theme listed in the directory meets 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
You Don’t Even Have To Leave Your WP Dashboard
Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every theme in the WordPress directory and not only find a great theme for your website or blog, but also easily install and activate it directly from within your WP admin panel with a couple of mouse clicks.
Use WordPress Theme Feature Filter
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 themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly light colour design, with a two-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in an earlier article where we present an overview of WordPress themes and discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” WP themes, we explained how these ensure that your theme will display without problems across all devices (e.g. your computer, tablet and smartphone) …
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 costs nothing to download and use the theme. An added plus, is that many free themes are professionally designed and come with a number of customizable features, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.
The ”cons” of 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 theme developer to provide dedicated support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many free themes ask users for donations to help cover their costs of providing support.
When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been more than a year since any updates were made, then think twice about using it, as the theme may have been abandoned by its developer.
If you’re just getting started and your site 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 money on premium themes or even on custom theme design. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded may just be the thing that works for your site and helps to convert your site visitors into customers.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free WP themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and how to narrow down your search for themes that meet specific requirements, let’s turn our attention to finding premium WP themes.
Premium 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, you can search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:
Theme Marketplaces
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the biggest and well known theme marketplaces online.
ThemeForest allows many professional WP theme developers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are currently over 17,000 premium WP themes listed (some starting from as little as $3) …
(click on the images above to see more ThemeForest themes)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme directory, you will be able to browse for specific WordPress themes in a range of categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for bloggers and environmental blogs, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for business sites or marketing purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for photography, arts, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes ideal for sites related to employment opportunities, holiday rentals, tourism directories, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, event bookings and registrations, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to tutoring, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for fashion 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. home sales, etc.)
- Retail – themes for catalogs, trades or professionals (repairers, medical practitioners, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to apps, newsletters, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and dating advice blogs
- Miscellaneous – themes suitable for writing or discussing environmental 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 sends you theme update notifications)
Go here to browse many quality premium themes in the ThemeForest marketplace:
Creative Market
(click on the images above to browse more 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 WordPress themes in its marketplace, but you can easily go through all of their themes for WordPress and narrow your search using theme categories (e.g. Magazine or Photography themes, etc.) using the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great WordPress themes crafted by independent WP theme designers in the Creative Market marketplace here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the images above to browse more WordPress themes at Mojo)
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 go through all of their WordPress themes and narrow your search with theme categories using the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great premium WordPress themes in the Mojo theme marketplace here:
Now that we have looked at WordPress theme directories, let’s look at commercial WP theme vendors.
Commercial And Independent WordPress Theme Shops
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a selection of high quality WP themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on images above to see more SoloStream themes)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes designs eye-catching themes and offer a membership option that gives you access to all themes in their growing WordPress theme collection.
(click on the above images to browse all themes from WooThemes)
StoreFront
StoreFront Themes 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 view all themes from StoreFront)
StudioPress
StudioPress builds WordPress themes based on a 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 the Genesis framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps this framework regularly updated to reflect best coding practices and to make sure that themes remain always 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 StudioPress themes use something called “child themes,” which are like “skins” that sit on top of the framework and gives your site its unique look and feel.
If this 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 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 above images to see all StudioPress themes)
WP Theme-Checking Tools
Here are some useful WP theme-related tools worth knowing about:
What WordPress Theme Is That? WordPress Theme Checker
What WordPress Theme Is That.com is a free online tool that allows you to 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 the website or blog is using.
Tip: If you don’t know whether a site runs on WordPress or not, we have posted a a great tutorial that helps you tell whether or not a web site is powered by WordPress: How To Check If A Website Was Built Using 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 a site is powered by WordPress software, but it will also list the WordPress theme being used on the site and list any plugins it detects.
- To use this online tool visit the website here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
- To learn how to use this tool go here: Is Your Website Powered By WordPress?
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – WP Plugin
We suggested this earlier and it’s worth repeating it 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 directory.
A strategy that is commonly used by many hackers and cyber criminals is to put up websites offering “Free” WP themes all over the web and then 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 phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to only download free themes from the official WordPress repository, or use established and reputable theme merchants.
If you have any concerns about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your site could be infected with malware or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your WP theme files. The TAC plugin searches the source files of every them you have installed on your site for signs of suspicious code and then presents you with 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 great free and commercial themes for WordPress useful.
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