Where To Find The Best WordPress Themes

This tutorial shows you where to find many great free or premium WordPress themes for your online business, e-commerce store, website, or blog.

WordPress

In an earlier article, we provide new WordPress users with a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.

If you haven’t yet discovered WordPress themes and what makes WordPress themes so revolutionary in terms of website design, then go here to read our article: An Overview of WP Themes

In this article, you will learn where to browse hundreds of 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 make sure 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 our previously-mentioned article, a WordPress theme is a special type of web template that is used on WordPress-driven websites and blogs and designed specifically with WordPress in mind.

Many skilled website designers and web development companies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WordPress community can access thousands of professional themes designed for many purposes and needs.

Themes cover an extensive range of uses.

Finding Great WordPress Themes: So Many Choices … Where To Begin?

Let’s say you were to browse over to Google and search for the following:

  • best WordPress themes
  • WordPress themes free
  • best free WordPress themes for artists (or 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 both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll explain these differences in a later article. To keep things simple, we’ll only be covering themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this post, as these give you more freedom, more options and more control over the design areas of your site.

Free vs Paid WP Themes

Next, it’s important to know that you can find thousands of Free and Paid themes made available. Free themes for WordPress are normally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they will be sold as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.

Theme Directories vs Theme Vendors

There are 2 kinds of places where you can find WordPress themes. The first type of place is in theme marketplaces and WP theme directories. The second place are the commercial and independent theme companies.

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 buyers shop for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software marketplace.

Some of the larger 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 WP theme shops typically create both free and commercial themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme developer or a small team of developer, to large theme design companies.

Most commercial or independent theme design houses 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 find great themes for your website or blog.

Choosing A Great Theme For Your Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

WordPress.org - Free Theme Directory

(WordPress.org – Themes Directory)

The official WordPress theme directory is the biggest and best place to download WP themes for free. In fact, it’s probably the only free WP theme 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 place your computer, digital presence and 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 theme review team to review and ensure that each theme listed in the directory meets specific quality and security standards.

To browse thousands of professionally-designed FREE WordPress themes from the official Themes Directory, go here:

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

Useful Tip

Find WP Themes Inside Your Dashboard

Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every WordPress theme in the WordPress theme directory and not only find a great theme for your website or blog, but also easily install and activate it directly from inside your WordPress admin panel with just a couple of clicks.

Look For Free Themes Without Leaving Your Own WP Dashboard!

Use The WordPress Theme Filters

WordPress has a built-in filtering function inside the dashboard area that lets you narrow down your search for themes based on criteria like Colours, Layout and Features …

Use The Theme Feature Filters

This makes it easy to find what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with a pink colour design, with a 3-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” WP themes, we explained how responsive themes ensure that your theme will display correctly across all devices (e.g. the computers, smartphones and tablets used by visitors to view your website) …

Use Theme Feature Filters

You should use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering option lets you search across its entire database of free themes …

Use WordPress Theme Feature Filters

… and display only WordPress themes that are “responsive” …

Use The WordPress Theme Filtering

Pros & Cons Of Using Free WP Themes

The obvious “pro” to using free themes is that it costs nothing to download and use the theme. 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 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 developer to provide urgent support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many freely distributed 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 1 year since any updates were made, then think twice about downloading 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 money on paid themes. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free may just be the thing that works for your site and your business.

Now that we’ve seen how to find free WP themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and how to filter your search for themes that meet your specific requirements, let’s turn our attention to finding paid WP themes.

Premium WP 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 Directories

ThemeForest

ThemeForest theme directory

ThemeForest is one of the biggest and well known theme directories online.

ThemeForest allows many professional WordPress theme designers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are over 17,500 premium themes to choose from (you can find great themes from as little as $3) …

ThemeForest - Premium WordPress Themes

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

If you visit the ThemeForest theme marketplace, you will be able to browse for specific WordPress themes in various categories, such as:

  • Blog/Magazine – themes for bloggers and blog magazines, etc.
  • Corporate – themes suitable for medical sites or marketing purposes.
  • Creative – themes suitable for video galleries, writers, etc.
  • Directory Listings – themes that suit sites related to travel, holiday rentals, business directories, etc.
  • eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, membership sites, etc.
  • Education – themes that suit sites related to teaching, etc.
  • Entertainment – themes for film & tv blogs, nightlife, etc.
  • Mobile – e.g. responsive themes.
  • NonProfit – themes for nonprofit organizations, churches, etc.
  • Real Estate – themes for real estate and real estate listings (e.g. commercial property, etc.)
  • Retail – themes for specialty stores, trades or professionals (plumbers, engineering, etc.)
  • Technology – themes related to technology, newsletters, etc.
  • Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and dating advice 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!

Tip

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

(ThemeForest sends you theme update notifications)

Go here to discover great premium themes in the ThemeForest site:

Creative Market

Creative Market - WordPress Theme Marketplace

(click on the images above to see all Creative Market themes)

Creative Market is another leading WP theme directory where you can search through thousands of quality premium WordPress 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 browse hundreds of themes for WordPress and narrow your search using theme categories (e.g. Landing Page or Photography themes, etc.) using their dropdown “Themes” menu …

Creative Market - marketplace of WordPress themes

Browse through hundreds of quality premium WordPress themes crafted by independent WP theme developers in the Creative Market themes marketplace here:

Mojo Themes

Mojo Themes - WordPress Themes Directory

(click on the images above to see more WP 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 WP themes, but you can easily find themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories by choosing the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

Mojo theme marketplace

Visit the site to find quality premium themes in the Mojo marketplace here:

Now that we have looked at WordPress theme aggregators, let’s look at commercial and independent WordPress theme shops.

Commercial 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.

Solostream Premium WordPress Themes

(click on above images to view all themes from SoloStream)

Woo Themes

Woo Themes creates great premium themes for WordPress that are very popular and highly sought after by web users and offer a membership option that gives you access to their entire theme portfolio.

WooThemes WordPress Themes

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

StoreFront

StoreFront creates beautiful WordPress themes for e-commerce. StoreFront themes also integrate well with some of the most powerful e-commerce platforms and plugins available.

StoreFront - WP Themes

(click on the above images to view more themes from StoreFront)

StudioPress

StudioPress develops WordPress themes based on a framework that allows you to quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress website, and provides a self-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 updated to reflect best practices for coding and to ensure that themes are always compatible with the latest WordPress version, but because you can update your themes without losing any customizations you may 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 design.

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 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.

StudioPress Themes For WP

(click on the images above to browse all themes from StudioPress)

Theme-Checking Tools

Let’s finish this article with some useful WP theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:

What WordPress Theme Is That WordPress Theme Checker

What WordPress Theme Is That? - WordPress Theme And Plugin Search Tool

What WordPress Theme Is That.com is a free WP theme and plugin-checking tool that allows you to easily detect what WP theme and plugins a site uses.

This is a great resource if you ever come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what WordPress theme is being used on the site.

Useful Tip

Tip: If you can’t tell if a site uses WordPress or not, we have published a a great tutorial that helps you tell if a site is WordPress-driven: Was My Website Built With WordPress? Tell-Tale Signs & WordPress-Checking Tools

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 whether or not a site has been built on WordPress software, but it will also list the theme being used on the site and list any plugins it detects.

Theme Authenticity Checker - Plugin

Info

A word of warning: If you decide to use FREE themes for your WordPress site, we recommend sticking with the approved themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.

A strategy that is commonly used 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 that contain malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even display on Google’s search results for phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s safer, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress.org repository, or use well-known and trusted theme download sites.

If you have any doubts about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your site could contain potentially malicious or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your theme files. The plugin searches the source files of every them you have installed on your site for signs of injected code and then presents you with a report as shown in the screenshot below …

Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) - Plugin

(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Screenshot Source: Plugin)

We hope that you have found the information on how to find great WP free and commercial themes useful.

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"Learning WordPress has been a huge stumbling block for me. I've been looking for something that covers absolutely everything but doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Thank you so much ... you have just provided me with what I have been looking for! Truly appreciated!" - Tanya

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