In a separate article, we have written a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you haven’t yet discovered themes and what makes WP themes so attractive to website owners, then go here to read our article: About WordPress Themes – A Guide For Business Owners
In this blog post, we show you where to look for free and paid themes for your WP 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 how to avoid having to deal with problems like lack of product support and poorly-coded themes.
As explained in our previously-mentioned article, a theme is a unique kind of web template that is used on WordPress-powered sites and designed to work specifically with the WP CMS platform in mind.
Many skilled website designers and web development companies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WordPress community enjoy access to thousands of professional themes covering an extensive range of applications.
Finding Great WP Themes: Your Time-Saving Guide
Let’s say you were to fire up Google and search for the following:
- best WP themes
- best paid themes for WordPress
- best free WordPress themes for business (or whatever your business, area of interest or blog is about)
You are probably going to get an overwhelming amount of disorganized information to sort through in the search listings.
So, to help you save time and make your life easier, we’ll just cut through the clutter and make the process of finding great WP themes 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 cover these differences in a separate article. In this post, please note that we will only cover the topic of finding 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 of your website.
Free vs Paid WordPress Themes
Next, it’s useful to know that there are thousands of Free and Paid WP themes being made available. Free themes are normally distributed as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they can be listed as Premium (paid) themes.
Theme Directories & Theme Developers
There are two different types of places where you can find WP themes. The first type of place is in theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second place are the commercial and independent theme vendors.
Theme marketplaces and WordPress theme directories are large 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 WordPress plugins and templates for other web applications (e.g. Joomla, Drupal, etc.)
Commercial and independent WP theme stores typically design 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.
Most commercial theme companies 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 WP theme directories .
Let’s now show you where to find the best WP themes for your website.
Finding Themes For Your Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – Free Theme Directory)
The official WordPress.org theme directory is the biggest and best place to download WP themes for free. In fact, it’s probably the only free theme directory you should use when looking for free WP 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 … even your entire business at risk.
The WordPress directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your site, but it also uses a review team to review and ensure that each theme uploaded to the directory meets certain standards of quality and security.
To browse thousands of excellent FREE WordPress themes from the official WordPress Themes Repository, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Search For Free Themes Inside Your Own WP Dashboard
Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every theme in the WordPress.org 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 WP dashboard with only a few clicks.
Use Theme Feature Filters
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 a gray 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 using “responsive” themes, we explained how these allow your site to be viewed correctly on all devices (e.g. your laptop, tablet and smartphone) …
It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering function lets you do just that …
… and bring up only WP themes that use “responsive” design standards …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free WordPress Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free WP themes is that it costs you nothing to download and use the theme on your site. 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 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 immediate support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many freely distributed themes will ask you for a donation to help cover costs of providing support.
When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been well over a year since any updates were last made, then you should think twice about downloading it, as the theme may have been abandoned by its developer.
If you’re just getting started and your website 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 premium themes or even on custom web design. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded could be exactly what works for you and your business.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free WordPress themes in the WordPress theme directory and how to filter your search for themes that meet your specific criteria, let’s turn our attention to finding premium WordPress themes.
Premium WP 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 ongoing 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 over 15,000 premium WP themes to choose from (you can find great themes from as little as $3) …
(click on the images above to view all themes on ThemeForest)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme marketplace, you will be able to browse for specific themes in various categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for general blogs and environmental blogs, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for corporate sites or marketing purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for creative work, writing professionals, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes ideal for sites about employment opportunities, dining out & restaurants, business directories, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for online shopping, membership sites, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to tutoring, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for film & tv blogs, music venues, 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 retail stores, trades or professionals (electricians, dental practitioners, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to software, affiliate marketing, seo, product reviews, direct sales, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and dating advice blogs
- Miscellaneous – themes suitable for topics related to activism, 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 emails you theme update notifications)
Browse lots of great premium WP themes in the ThemeForest directory here:
Creative Market
(click on the above images to see more 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 WP themes in its marketplace, but you can easily browse hundreds of WP themes and search through their theme categories (e.g. Portfolio or Popular themes, etc.) from the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of quality premium WordPress themes crafted by independent WordPress theme developers in the Creative Market marketplace here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the images above to browse more themes at Mojo.com)
Mojo is a directory for premium 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 WP themes and narrow your search with theme categories by choosing the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find quality premium WP themes in the Mojo directory here:
Now that we have looked at WP theme aggregators, let’s turn our attention to commercial theme developers.
Commercial And Independent WordPress Theme Vendors
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 images above to see all SoloStream themes)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes designs functional premium themes and offers a membership option that lets you access all themes in their theme portfolio.
(click on the images above to view all WooThemes themes)
StoreFront
StoreFront Themes specializes in WP themes for e-commerce. StoreFront themes also integrate well with some of the most powerful e-commerce platforms and plugins available.
(click on the images above to view more 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 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 frequently updated to reflect best coding practices and to make sure that themes remain always compatible with the latest version of WordPress, but because you can update your themes without losing any customizations you have made to your theme.
This is because themes built with 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 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 StudioPress themes 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 browse all StudioPress themes)
Theme-Checking Tools
Here are some useful WordPress theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:
What WordPress Theme Is That
What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free online tool that allows you to easily detect what WP theme a website or blog is using (including parent and child themes).
This is a great resource if you ever come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what WordPress theme the website is using.
Tip: If you can’t tell if a site runs on WordPress or not, we have published a a great tutorial that helps you tell if a web site was built using WordPress: Is My Blog 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 was built using WordPress software, but it will also list the theme being used by the site and list any plugins it detects.
- To use the online tool visit the website here: What WordPress Theme Is That?
- To learn more about this tool go here: The Easy Way To Tell If Your Blog Was Built Using WordPress
Theme Authenticity Checker - WP Plugin
A word of warning: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we recommend sticking with the WP themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.
A commonly-used tactic employed by many hacking groups and syndicates that engage in cyber criminal activities is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” WP themes all over the web and distribute modified themes and plugins containing malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even display on Google for key phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to only download free WordPress themes from the official WordPress theme repository, or use well-known and reputable theme vendors.
If you are in doubt about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your site could contain malware or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your WP theme files. The TAC plugin scans the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of suspicious code and presents you with a report …
(TAC Report Page – Screenshot Source: Plugin)
We hope that you have found the information on how to find the best free and premium responsive themes for WordPress useful.
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