In another article, we have written a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you would like to learn more about themes and what makes themes so special, then go here to read the article: A Handy Guide To Understanding WordPress Themes
In this article, you will learn where to browse hundreds of 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 ensure that you get the right themes for your needs and avoid dealing with problems like lack of support and poor coding.
As explained in another article, a theme is a unique kind of web template used on WordPress-driven blogs and designed to work specifically with the WP CMS platform in mind.
Many talented web designers and website design firms create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WP community enjoy access to thousands of uniquely-designed WordPress themes covering a wide-range of applications.
Finding Responsive Themes For WordPress: How To Avoid Getting Overwhelmed
If you were to go to Google and type the following:
- best premium WP themes
- WordPress themes free
- best free WordPress themes for authors (type in whatever your business, area of interest or website is about)
You are probably going to get an overwhelming amount of information to sort through in the search results.
So, to help you save time and make your life 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 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. To keep things simple, let’s just be covering 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 site.
Free vs Paid Themes
Next, it’s important to know that typically, you’ll find both Free and Paid WP themes being made available. Free themes for WordPress are generally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they are listed as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.
WP Theme Directories vs Commercial Theme Agencies
There are two places where you can find themes. The first place is in theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second type of place are the commercial and independent WP theme shops.
WP theme marketplaces and WordPress theme directories are big aggregators of themes. WP theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and visitors find 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 WP theme design companies can also create both free and commercial WP themes, and can vary in size, from an individual developer or a small team of developer, to large theme development companies.
Many commercial or independent 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 directories .
Let’s now show you where to search for great themes for your blog.
Choosing A Great Theme Themes For Your WP Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – WordPress Themes Directory)
The official WordPress theme directory is the largest 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 why, is because –as many free software users have learned– downloading free software, add-ons, apps, templates or themes from untrustworthy places can 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 WordPress site, but it also relies on a review team comprised of dedicated and code-savvy volunteers to review and ensure that each theme in the directory meets specific standards of quality and security.
To browse thousands of excellent FREE WordPress themes from the official WordPress Themes Directory, 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 what you are looking for, but also easily install and activate it directly from within your WordPress admin panel with only a few mouse clicks.
Use 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 a orange color design, with a 2-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” WordPress themes, we explained how these ensure that your theme will display without problems across all devices (e.g. your PC, tablet and smartphone) …
It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering option lets you do just that …
… and display only WP themes that are “responsive” …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free WordPress 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 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 to using free WP themes are that your themes may not get updated as often with new features and bug fixes, and it’s unrealistic to expect the theme developer to provide immediate support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most freely distributed themes ask users for donations to help cover their costs of providing support and updates, bug fixes, etc..
When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been over a year since any changes were last made, then it’s best to 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, 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 money on a theme. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free could be exactly what works for you and for your business.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free themes in the WordPress theme directory and ways to filter your search for themes that meet your specific requirements, it’s time to turn our attention to finding premium WP 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:
Theme Marketplaces And Directories
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the largest and most popular theme marketplaces online.
ThemeForest allows many professional WP theme creators to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are over 15,000 premium themes to choose from (some starting from as little as $3) …
(click on the images above to see more themes on ThemeForest)
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 personal blogs and parenting blogs, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for legal sites and marketing purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for visual galleries, galleries, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes ideal for sites related to directory listings, holiday rentals, social directories, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, membership sites, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to tutoring, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for fashion blogs, music venues, etc.
- Mobile – e.g. retina-ready themes.
- NonProfit – themes for nonprofit organizations, churches, etc.
- Real Estate – themes for real estate and real estate listings (e.g. rentals, etc.)
- Retail – themes for stores, trades or professionals (repairers, legal practitioners, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to technology, newsletters, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and romance tips and advice blogs
- Miscellaneous – themes suitable for writing or discussing political 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 themes site:
Creative Market
(click on the images above to view more themes on Creative Market)
Creative Market is another leading WP theme directory where you can browse 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 go through all of their WP themes and search through their theme categories (e.g. Portfolio or Commerce themes, etc.) from the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great premium WP themes crafted by independent WP theme designers in the Creative Market theme marketplace here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the above images to see all themes at Mojo.com)
Mojo is a marketplace 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 WordPress themes, but you can easily find WordPress themes and search through their theme categories by choosing the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great premium WP themes in the Mojo marketplace here:
Now that we have looked at WP theme marketplaces, let’s take a look at commercial and independent theme agencies.
Commercial Theme Developers
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a selection of professional quality themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on above images to view all themes from SoloStream)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes creates functional premium themes and offer a membership option that gives you access to their entire WP theme collection.
(click on the above images to see more WooThemes themes)
StoreFront
StoreFront creates beautiful WP 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 browse all themes from StoreFront)
StudioPress
StudioPress provides WordPress themes based on a framework that enables users to quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress website, and provides an auto-updating design architecture, turn-key designs with beautiful frames for your content and unprecedented control of the framework.
Many web developers like this framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps this framework frequently up-to-date to reflect best coding practices and to ensure 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 “skins” that sit on top of the theme 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 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 browse all themes from StudioPress)
WP 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 WP theme-checking tool that allows you to easily detect what WP theme a website or blog uses (including parent and child WordPress themes).
This is a great resource if you have come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what WordPress theme is being used on the website.
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 whether or not a website 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 not only confirm whether or not the site has been built on WordPress, but it will also list the theme being used on the site and list any plugins detected.
- To use this online tool visit the website here: What WordPress Theme Is That
- To learn how to use this tool go here: How To Check If Your Site Was Built With WordPress
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)
We suggested this before and it’s worth repeating again: 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 commonly-used strategy employed by a number of hackers and networks that engage in cyber criminal activities is to put up websites and directories offering “Free” WP themes all over the web and then distribute themes and plugins containing malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even display on search engine results for key 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 directory, or use well-known and reputable theme merchants.
If you are concerned about whether a WordPress theme installed on your site may contain malicious or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your WordPress theme files. The TAC plugin searches the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of malicious code and then outputs a report as shown in the screenshot below …
(TAC Report Page – Source: Plugin)
I hope that you have found the information on how to find the best free and commercial responsive themes for WordPress useful.
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