In another article, we have written a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you haven’t yet discovered themes and what makes WordPress themes so attractive to website owners, then make sure to check out our post: About WP Themes – A Practical Guide
In this article, you will learn where to look for free and paid themes for your 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 experiencing problems like lack of customer support and poorly-coded themes.
As we’ve explained in another post, a theme is a unique kind of web template used on WordPress-driven sites and designed specifically with the WordPress platform in mind.
Many individual website designers and web development companies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users can access thousands of unique themes covering an extensive range of applications.
Finding Themes: Let’s Simplify Things!
Let’s say you were to fire up Google and type key phrases like this:
- best themes for WordPress
- best responsive themes for WordPress
- best paid WordPress themes for writers (type in whatever your business, search topic or website is about)
Chances are that you are going to get an overwhelming amount of junk to sort through in the search listings.
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 really 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 separate article. To keep things simple, please note that we will only cover the topic of 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 blog.
Free vs Paid Themes
Next, it’s important to know that you can find thousands of Free and Paid themes being made available. Free themes are normally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they can be licensed for use as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.
Theme Directories vs WP Theme Shops
There are mostly two types of places where themes can be found. The first place is in WordPress theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent theme shops.
WP theme marketplaces and 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 visitors shop for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software directory.
Some of the bigger 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 theme vendors can create both free and commercial WordPress themes, and can vary in size, from an individual designer or a small team of theme designer, to large web and theme design companies.
Most commercial theme design houses sell their 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 the best themes for your website or blog.
Where To Find WP Themes For Your Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – Themes Directory)
The official WordPress theme directory is the biggest and best place to download WordPress themes for free. In fact, it’s probably the only free directory you should use when looking for free WordPress themes. The reason why, is because –as some free software users have discovered– downloading free software, add-ons, apps, templates or themes from untrustworthy places can 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 uses a theme review team to review and ensure that each theme listed in the directory meets specific quality and security standards.
To browse thousands of excellent FREE WordPress themes from the official 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 WordPress theme in the WordPress.org theme 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 clicks.
Use WP Theme Filtering
WordPress provides a 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 themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with a orange colour design, with a two-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in another article where we discuss the importance of using “responsive” WordPress themes, we explained how these allow your site to be viewed without problems on all devices (e.g. your PC, tablet and smartphone) …
You should use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering option lets you do just that …
… and display only WordPress themes that use “responsive” design standards …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free themes is that it’s free to download and use the theme on your site. Additionally, many free themes are professionally designed and offer 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” of using free WordPress 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 dedicated support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most 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 over one year since any changes were last made, then you should think twice about using it, as the theme may have been abandoned by its developer.
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 a theme. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded 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 narrow down your search for themes that meet your specific requirements, let’s turn our attention to finding paid WordPress 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 ongoing 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 most popular theme marketplaces online.
ThemeForest allows many professional WordPress theme designers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are over 17,000 premium themes listed (some starting from as little as $3) …
(click on the images above to browse 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 general blogs and administration sites, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for business sites or advertising purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for video galleries, cv and resume writing, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes that suit sites related to directory listings, dining out & restaurants, community resources, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for online shopping, event bookings and registrations, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to teaching, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for photo gallery blogs, dining out, etc.
- Mobile – e.g. responsive themes.
- NonProfit – themes for nonprofit organizations, charities, etc.
- Real Estate – themes for real estate and real estate listings (e.g. commercial property, etc.)
- Retail – themes for catalogs, trades or professionals (plumbers, engineering, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to apps, newsletters, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and marriage celebrant 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 emails you theme update notifications)
Browse thousands of great WP themes in the ThemeForest theme directory here:
Creative Market
(click on the above images to browse more Creative Market themes)
Creative Market is another leading WordPress 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 directory, but you can easily go through all of their WordPress themes and narrow your search using theme categories (e.g. Magazine or Popular themes, etc.) from their dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great premium themes crafted by independent WordPress theme designers in the Creative Market marketplace here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the images above to view all themes at Mojo)
Mojo is a marketplace for premium-quality 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 WP themes, but you can easily browse hundreds of WordPress themes and search through their theme categories (e.g. BuddyPress or Business themes and theme frameworks, etc.) using the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great WP themes in the Mojo marketplace here:
Now that we have looked at WordPress theme directories, let’s take a look at commercial theme design companies.
Commercial And Independent WordPress Theme Agencies
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a great selection of professional quality premium WP themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on images above to view more SoloStream themes)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes designs functional themes for WordPress and offers a membership option that allows members to access all themes in their WordPress theme collection.
(click on the images above to browse more themes from WooThemes)
StoreFront
StoreFront Themes specializes in e-commerce themes for WordPress. StoreFront themes also integrate well with some of the most powerful e-commerce platforms and plugins available.
(click on the above images to view all themes from StoreFront)
StudioPress
StudioPress provides WordPress themes based on a framework (called the “Genesis” framework) that lets users quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress site, and provides a self-updating design architecture, turn-key site designs with beautiful frames for the content and unprecedented control of the framework.
Many web developers like the Genesis 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 ensure that themes remain always compatible with the latest version of WordPress, but because you can update themes built using the Genesis framework without losing any customizations you may 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 framework and gives your site its unique design.
If this all sounds way too technical, don’t worry 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 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 see all themes from StudioPress)
Theme-Checking Tools
Let’s finish this article with a couple of useful WP theme-related tools worth knowing about:
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 and plugins a site 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 the website or blog is using.
Tip: If you can’t tell whether a site runs on WordPress or not, go here for a great tutorial that helps you tell if a web site uses the WP CMS platform: Is It A WP Web Site?
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 if a site is powered by WordPress software, but it will also list the theme being used by the site and list any WordPress plugins it detects.
- To use this tool visit the website here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
- To learn how to use this tool go here: Is It A WP Website?
Theme Authenticity Checker - Plugin
We said this before and it’s worth repeating it again: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we recommend sticking with the themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.
A well-known strategy used by many hacking groups and networks that engage in cyber-crime is to put up websites and directories offering “Free” WordPress themes all over the web and distribute modified themes that contain 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 stick with the official WordPress repository, or use established and trusted theme vendors.
If you are in doubt about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your site may contain malware or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to perform 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 presents you with a report …
(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Source: Plugin Site, WordPress.org)
We hope that you have found the information on how to find great WP free and commercial themes useful.
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group
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