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 another post, we provide a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.

If you haven’t yet discovered WordPress themes and what makes WordPress themes so special, then make sure to check out our article: A Handy Guide To Understanding WordPress Themes

In this blog post, you will learn where you can search for free and paid themes for your WordPress site. 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 avoid having to deal with problems like lack of support and poor theme coding.

As explained in our previously-mentioned article, a WordPress theme is a unique type of web template used on WordPress-driven websites and designed to work specifically on WordPress.

Many individual web designers and website design firms create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WP community enjoy access to thousands of unique themes covering a wide-range of uses and applications.

WP themes cover a wide-range of uses and applications.

Finding Great Themes For WordPress: Let’s Keep It Simple!

Let’s say you were to fire up Google and type a key phrase like this:

  • best free WordPress themes
  • WordPress themes free
  • best responsive WordPress themes for authors (or whatever your business, search topic 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 WordPress 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 post. For now, we’ll only focus on finding themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this article, which gives you more freedom, more options and more control over your web design.

Free vs Paid WP Themes

Next, it’s useful to know that you will find thousands of Free and Paid WordPress themes being made available. Free themes are normally distributed as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they are listed as Premium (paid) themes.

Theme Marketplaces vs WP Theme Vendors

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

WordPress theme marketplaces and WP theme directories are large theme aggregators. WP theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and visitors search for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software directory.

Some of the larger marketplaces don’t just sell WordPress themes. They can also sell WP plugins and templates for other web applications (e.g. Joomla, Drupal, etc.)

Commercial and independent WordPress theme shops can design both free and commercial WP themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme designer or a small team of theme developer, to large web and theme design companies.

As you will see, 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 WP theme directories .

Let’s now show you where to search for great WP themes for your website or blog.

Choosing A Responsive Theme Themes For Your WP Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

WordPress.org - WordPress Theme Directory

(WordPress.org – WP Themes Directory)

The official WordPress.org theme directory is the largest and best place to find WP themes for free. In fact, it’s probably the only free theme directory you should use when looking for free WordPress 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 put your computer, digital presence … even your entire business at risk.

The WordPress theme directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your WordPress site, but it also relies on a team of theme reviewers comprised of dedicated and hard working volunteers to review and make sure that each theme listed in the directory meets certain standards of quality and security.

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

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

Tip

You Don’t Even Have To Leave Your WordPress 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 just a few clicks.

Find Free Themes Without Leaving Your Own WordPress Dashboard!

Use The Theme Filtering

WordPress provides a filtering function inside the dashboard area that lets you narrow down your search for themes based on criteria like Colors, Layout and Features …

Use The Theme Filtering

This makes it easier to find themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly orange color design, with a 2-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.

Note: in an earlier post where we present an overview of WordPress themes and discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” WordPress themes, we explained how these ensure that your theme will work on all devices (e.g. laptops, tablets and smartphones) …

Use The WordPress Theme Filters

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 …

Use The Theme Feature Filter

… and bring back only themes that use “responsive” design standards …

Use WP Theme Filters

Pros & Cons Of Using Free WP Themes

The obvious “pro” to using free WP themes is that it’s free to download and use the theme on your site. An added plus, is that many free themes are professionally designed and offer a number of built-in 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 it’s unrealistic to expect the theme developer to provide immediate support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many freely distributed themes ask 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 over one year since any updates were last made, then think carefully about downloading it, as the theme may have been abandoned by its developer.

If you’re just getting started and your site 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 theme design. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free could be exactly what works for you and helps to convert your site visitors into customers.

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

ThemeForest

ThemeForest

ThemeForest is one of the biggest and most popular theme marketplaces online.

ThemeForest lets many professional WP theme developers 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) …

ThemeForest - Premium WordPress Themes

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

If you visit the ThemeForest theme directory, you will be able to browse for specific themes in a range of categories, such as:

  • Blog/Magazine – themes for bloggers and political blogs, etc.
  • Corporate – themes suitable for business sites or marketing purposes.
  • Creative – themes for video galleries, galleries, etc.
  • Directory Listings – themes suitable for sites related to travel, dining out & restaurants, social directories, etc.
  • eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, event bookings and registrations, etc.
  • Education – themes that suit sites related to training, etc.
  • Entertainment – themes for photo gallery blogs, cafes, 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 (electricians, legal practitioners, etc.)
  • Technology – themes related to hosting, landing pages, etc.
  • Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and romance tips and 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!

Tip

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

(ThemeForest sends you theme update notifications)

Browse lots of great themes in the ThemeForest directory here:

Creative Market

Creative Market - WP Theme Marketplace

(click on the images above to view more themes on Creative Market)

Creative Market is another leading WP theme directory where you can search through many 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 directory, but you can easily go through all of their WordPress themes and narrow your search using theme categories (e.g. Minimal or Commerce themes, etc.) using the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …

Creative Market

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

Mojo Themes

Mojo Themes - WordPress Themes Directory

(click on the above images to browse more WordPress 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 WordPress themes, but you can easily find WordPress themes and narrow your search with theme categories (e.g. Blog or eCommerce themes and theme frameworks, etc.) from the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

Mojo - marketplace premium WordPress themes

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

Now that we have looked at WordPress theme directories, let’s look at commercial theme developers.

Commercial And Independent WP Theme Vendors

SoloStream

SoloStream provides WordPress users with a great selection of professional quality premium WordPress themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.

Solostream Themes For WP

(click on above images to see all SoloStream themes)

Woo Themes

Woo Themes creates great themes that are very popular and highly sought after by web users and also offers a membership option that gives you access to all themes in their growing theme portfolio.

Woo Themes WordPress Themes

(click on the above images to see more themes from WooThemes)

StoreFront

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

StoreFront - WordPress Themes

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

StudioPress

StudioPress develops WordPress themes based on a framework (called the “Genesis” framework) that enables users 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 web developers like this framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps this framework consistently up-to-date to reflect best coding practices and to ensure that it is 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 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 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 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 - WordPress Themes

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

Theme-Checking Tools

Let’s finish this article with a few more useful WordPress theme-related tools worth knowing about:

What WordPress Theme Is That.com

What WordPress Theme Is That.com

What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free web tool that lets you easily detect what WordPress theme a website is using.

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

Useful Tip

Tip: If you can’t tell whether a site uses WordPress or not, we have published a a great tutorial that shows you how to tell if a site was built using WordPress: Is Your Web Site 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 whether or not the site has been built on the WordPress CMS platform, but it will also list the theme being used and list any WordPress plugins detected.

Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – Plugin

Note

We said this earlier and it’s worth repeating again: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we highly recommend sticking with the themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.

A method that is commonly used by many hacking groups and syndicates that engage in cyber criminal activities is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and distribute themes and plugins with malicious code embedded in their files. 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 safer, therefore, to only download free WordPress themes from the official WordPress.org theme repository, or use established and trusted sites.

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 run a scan of 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 outputs a report as shown in the screenshot below …

Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)

(TAC Report Page – Screenshot: WordPress.org Plugin)

We hope that you have found this information useful.

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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)

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