In an earlier post, we provide new WordPress users with a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you would like to learn more about WordPress themes and what makes WordPress themes so attractive to website owners, then go here to read our article: An Introduction to WP Themes
In this article, you will learn where to search for free and paid themes for your WordPress website or blog. 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 customer support and poorly-coded themes.
As we’ve explained in our previous article, a WordPress theme is a special kind of web design template used on WordPress-driven websites and blogs and designed to work specifically in WordPress.
Many individual website designers and web design firms create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users enjoy access to thousands of professional themes covering a wide-range of uses.
Finding WP Themes: Your Time-Saving Guide
Let’s say you were to open up Google and type key phrases like the following:
- best WP themes
- best paid themes for WordPress
- best free WordPress themes for authors (type in whatever your business, area of interest or blog is about)
Chances are that you are going to get an overwhelming amount of disorganized information to sort through in your 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 WP themes simple.
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes
Before we get started, you need to know that WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll cover these differences in a later post. For now, let’s just cover the topic of finding 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 your site’s web design.
Free vs Paid WordPress Themes
Next, it’s important to know that you will find thousands of Free and Paid themes being made available. Free WordPress themes are generally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they can be made available to users as Premium (paid) themes.
WP Theme Marketplaces vs Commercial WordPress Theme Developers
There are mostly 2 places where WP themes can be found. The first place is in WordPress theme marketplaces and WordPress theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent theme shops.
WP theme marketplaces and WordPress 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 visitors shop for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software marketplace.
Some of the larger directories 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 vendors can develop both free and commercial themes, and can vary in size, from an individual designer or a small team of theme designer, to large theme design and development companies.
As you will see, most commercial or independent theme design houses 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 website.
Choosing Great Themes For Your Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – Free Theme Directory)
The official WordPress theme directory is the largest and best place to download WordPress themes for free. In fact, it’s probably the only free theme directory you should use when looking for free WordPress themes. The reason why, is because –as some free software users have learned– downloading free software, add-ons, apps, templates or themes from untrustworthy places can contain malicious code and place 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 website, but it also uses a review team comprised of dedicated and code-savvy volunteers to review and make sure that each theme listed in the directory complies with their quality and security standards.
To browse thousands of professionally-designed FREE WordPress themes from the official WordPress Themes Directory, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Search For Free Themes Without Leaving Your Own WP Dashboard
Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every WP 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 within your WP dashboard with only a few mouse clicks.
Use Theme Filtering
WordPress has a built-in filtering function inside the admin area that lets you narrow down your search for themes based on criteria like Colors, Layout and Features …
This makes it easier to find what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with a gray colour design, with a three-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in the post mentioned earlier where we present an overview of WordPress themes and discuss the importance of using “responsive” themes, we explained how these ensure that your theme will display correctly on all devices (e.g. the computers, smartphones and tablets used by visitors to browse your site) …
It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filter lets you do just that …
… and find only themes that have been built using “responsive” design standards …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free WordPress 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 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 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 developer to provide urgent support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many free themes ask users 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 more than 1 year since any changes were last made, then think carefully about using it, as the WordPress software changes quite frequently and this can create conflicts and errors with older code.
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 any money on a paid theme. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free could be exactly what works for you and your business.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and how to narrow down your search for themes that meet specific criteria, it’s time to turn our attention to premium themes.
Paid 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 responsive support, you can search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:
WordPress Theme Marketplaces And Directories
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the largest and well known WordPress theme marketplaces online.
ThemeForest allows many professional WP theme creators to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are well over 17,000 premium themes listed (some starting from as little as $3) …
(click on the above images to view all themes on ThemeForest)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme marketplace, you will be able to browse for specific WP themes in various categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for bloggers and environmental blogs, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for corporate sites and marketing purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for design, cv and resume writing, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes that suit sites about employment opportunities, holiday rentals, social directories, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, membership sites, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to teaching, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for music and bands blogs, restaurants, etc.
- Mobile – e.g. retina-ready 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 specialty stores, trades or professionals (plumbers, 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 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 find great themes in the ThemeForest marketplace:
Creative Market
(click on the above images to see more Creative Market themes)
Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme directory where you can browse many quality premium WP 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 using the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great WordPress themes crafted by independent WordPress theme designers in the Creative Market directory here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the above images to view all WordPress themes at Mojo)
Mojo is a directory 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 browse hundreds of WordPress themes and search through their theme categories by choosing the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great premium themes in the Mojo marketplace here:
Now that we have looked at WP theme aggregators, let’s look at commercial theme shops.
Commercial Theme Development Firms
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a selection of professional quality premium WP themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on above images to see more themes from SoloStream)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes designs eye-catching WordPress themes that are very popular and highly sought after by web users and offers a membership option that lets you access all themes in their growing theme portfolio.
(click on the above images to see more WooThemes themes)
StoreFront
StoreFront Themes creates amazing 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 see more themes from StoreFront)
StudioPress
StudioPress provides WordPress themes based on a framework that lets users 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 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 coding practices and to make sure that themes remain always 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 StudioPress themes 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 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 view more StudioPress themes)
Theme-Checking Tools
Here are a few more useful WordPress theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:
What WordPress Theme Is That.com
What WordPress Theme Is That is a free web tool that allows you to easily detect what WordPress theme a website is using (including parent and child WordPress themes).
This is a great resource if you ever 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 if a site runs on WordPress or not, we have published a a great tutorial that helps you tell whether or not a website uses WordPress: How Can I Check If My Site 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 whether or not a site has been built on WordPress, but it will also list the theme being used and list any plugins detected.
- To use this tool visit the website here: What WordPress Theme Is That
- To learn how to use this tool go here: Is My Website WordPress?
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – WordPress Plugin
We suggested this before and it’s worth repeating it again: If you decide to use FREE themes for your WordPress site, we strongly recommend sticking with the reviewed and approved themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.
A commonly-used strategy employed by many hackers and networks that engage in cyber criminal activities is to put up sites offering “Free” WordPress themes all over the web and distribute modified themes containing malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even display on Google’s search results for search phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s safer, therefore, to only download free themes from the official WordPress.org directory, or use established and reputable theme merchants.
If you have any concerns about whether a WordPress theme installed on your blog may be infected with malicious or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your WordPress theme files. This plugin searches the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of injected code and then outputs a report as shown in the screenshot below …
(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Screenshot Source: Plugin)
I hope that you have found the information on how to find the best WordPress useful.
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