In a separate post, we provide a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you would like to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress themes and what makes themes so special, then make sure to check out this post: Understanding WP Themes – A Newbies’ Guide
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 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 we’ve explained in another article, a WordPress theme is a special kind of web design template that is used on WordPress-powered websites and designed to work specifically with WordPress in mind.
Many individual website designers and web development houses create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users can access thousands of high quality WordPress themes designed to cover many purposes and needs.
Finding Great Themes: So Many Choices … Where To Begin?
If you were to go to Google and type something like this:
- best free WP themes
- best responsive WordPress themes
- best free WordPress themes for authors (or whatever your business, search topic or website is about)
Chances are that you are going to get an overwhelming amount of disorganized information to sort through in your search results.
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 WordPress themes simple.
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes
Before we get started, you should know that WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll cover these differences in a different article. To keep things simple, please note that we will only focus on finding themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this post, which gives you more freedom, more options and more control over the design areas of your site.
Free vs Paid WordPress Themes
Next, it’s useful to know that you will find thousands of Free and Paid themes made available. Free WP themes are generally distributed as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they can be listed as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.
Theme Directories & Theme Developers
There are mostly 2 kinds of places where WP themes can be found. The first is in theme marketplaces and WordPress theme directories. The second type of place are the commercial and independent theme stores.
WP theme marketplaces and theme directories are big aggregators of themes. WordPress theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and buyers find these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software marketplace.
Some of the bigger 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 WordPress theme design companies can also design both free and commercial themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme developer or a small team of theme designer, to large web and theme design companies.
As you will see, many commercial or independent theme developers 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 or blog.
Choosing The Best Responsive Themes For Your WP Website
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – WP Themes Directory)
The official WordPress theme directory is the largest and best place to download free WP themes. In fact, it’s probably the only free WordPress theme directory you should use when looking for free WP themes. The reason why, is because –as many free software users have discovered– 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 WP directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your website or blog, but it also relies on a theme review team to review and ensure that each theme listed in the directory meets their quality and security standards.
To browse thousands of great-looking FREE WordPress themes from the official WP Themes Directory, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
You Don’t Even Have To Leave Your WordPress Dashboard
Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every theme in the WordPress.org 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 admin panel with a few mouse clicks.
Use Theme Feature Filter
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 …
This makes it easy to find themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly blue color design, with a three-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in an earlier article 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. laptops, tablets and smartphones) …
You should use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering option lets you do just that …
… and bring back only WP themes that have been built using “responsive” design standards …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free WordPress themes is that there is no cost to download and use the theme. Additionally, many free themes are professionally designed and come with a number of built-in customizable options, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.
The ”cons” to 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 personal support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many freely distributed themes will ask you for a donation 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 updates were made, then we advise you to think carefully about using it, as WordPress changes quite frequently and new features can create conflicts or errors with older code.
If you’re just getting started and your site 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 paid themes or even on custom theme design. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded could be exactly what works for your site and for your business.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free WP themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and ways to narrow down your search for themes that meet your specific criteria, it’s time to turn our attention to paid themes.
Paid WordPress 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 great support, then search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:
Theme Marketplaces
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the largest and best-known WP theme directories online.
ThemeForest allows many professional WP theme creators to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are well over 17,000 premium WordPress themes to choose from (some starting from as little as $3) …
(click on the images above to see more ThemeForest themes)
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 bloggers and news editorials, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for business sites and advertising purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for photography, cv and resume writing, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes ideal for sites related to travel, holiday rentals, , etc.
- eCommerce – themes for selling products online, event bookings and registrations, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to training, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for film & tv blogs, restaurants, 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. home sales, etc.)
- Retail – themes for health products, trades or professionals (electricians, dentists, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to hosting, 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, green living 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)
Browse lots of great WP themes in the ThemeForest theme marketplace here:
Creative Market
(click on the above images to view all themes on Creative Market)
Creative Market is another leading WP theme directory where you can search through thousands of quality premium 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 Popular themes, etc.) using their dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great premium WordPress themes crafted by independent WP theme designers in the Creative Market theme marketplace here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the above images to browse more Mojo themes)
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 browse hundreds of WP themes and search through their theme categories (e.g. BuddyPress or eCommerce themes and theme frameworks, etc.) from the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great WordPress themes in the Mojo marketplace here:
Now that we have looked at WP theme aggregators, let’s turn our attention to commercial and independent WP theme shops.
Commercial And Independent Theme Vendors
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a great selection of high quality premium themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on images above to browse more themes from SoloStream)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes creates great premium themes for WordPress that are very popular and highly sought after by website users and also offer a membership option that gives you access to all themes in their growing WP theme portfolio.
(click on the images above to see more WooThemes themes)
StoreFront
StoreFront Themes creates beautiful 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 StoreFront themes)
StudioPress
StudioPress designs WordPress themes based on a framework that allows 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 website developers like the Genesis framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps this framework consistently updated to reflect best practices for coding and to ensure that it always remains 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 sounds 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 one low price allows 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 above images to browse all StudioPress themes)
Theme-Checking Tools
Let’s finish this post with a few more useful WP theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:
What WP Theme Is That – WP Theme Search Tool
What WordPress Theme Is That is a free WordPress theme and plugin search tool that allows you to easily detect what WordPress theme a site 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 theme the website is using.
Tip: If you can’t tell whether a site was built using WordPress or not, go here for a great tutorial that shows you how to tell whether or not a web site was built using WordPress: Is Your Website Powered By 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 was built on the WordPress CMS platform, but it will also list the theme being used by the site and list any plugins it detects.
- To use this tool visit the website here: What WordPress Theme Is That
- To learn more about this tool go here: Is My Site WordPress?
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)
We said this earlier and it’s worth repeating it again: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we strongly recommend sticking with the themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.
A well-known strategy used by many hacking groups and cyber criminals is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” WordPress themes all over the web and distribute modified themes and plugins containing malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even come up on Google’s search results for phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress.org theme repository, or use well-known and reputable theme download sites.
If you are concerned about whether a WordPress theme installed on your blog may be infected with potentially malicious or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to run a scan of your theme files. This plugin searches the source files of every them you have installed on your site for signs of malicious code and presents you with a report with the results …
(TAC Report Page – Screenshot Source: Plugin)
We hope that you have found the information on how to find great WP useful.
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