In another post, we provide a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you would like to learn more about WordPress themes and what makes themes so special, then go here to read our post: Understanding WP Themes – A Newbies’ Guide
In this blog post, we explain where to look for 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 ensure that you get the right themes for your needs and avoid dealing with problems like lack of product support and poorly-coded themes.
As explained in another post, a theme is a special type of web design template used on WordPress-driven sites and designed specifically with the WP content management system in mind.
Many web designers and web design firms create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WordPress community have access to thousands of professional-quality themes covering a wide-range of uses and applications.
Finding Great WordPress Themes: Let’s Keep Things Simple!
Let’s say you were to go to Google and type key phrases like this:
- best themes for WordPress
- WordPress themes free
- best paid WordPress themes for writers (enter whatever your business, area of interest or blog is about)
You are probably going to get an overwhelming amount of disorganized information to sort through in the 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 start, you should know that WordPress offers users both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll cover these differences in a later article. To keep things simple, we’ll only be covering themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this post, as these give you more freedom, more options and more control over your web design.
Free vs Paid Themes
Next, it’s useful to know that you will find thousands of Free and Paid WP themes made available. Free themes for WordPress are normally distributed as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they are licensed for use as Premium (paid) themes.
Theme Directories & WP Theme Shops
There are 2 kinds of places where you can find themes. The first is in WP theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second place are the commercial and independent WP theme developers.
Theme marketplaces and theme directories are large theme stores. 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 theme design companies can develop both free and paid WordPress themes, and can vary in size, from an individual designer or a small team of theme designer, to large theme development companies.
Many commercial theme design firms 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 find the best WP themes for your blog.
Finding A Great Theme Themes For Your WordPress Website
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – WP Theme Directory)
The official WordPress theme directory is the largest and best place to find free WP themes. In fact, it’s probably the only free WordPress theme directory you should use when looking for free WordPress 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 WP theme directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your website or blog, but it also relies on a team of theme reviewers comprised of dedicated and code-savvy volunteers to review and make sure that each theme in the directory complies with specific standards of quality and security.
To browse thousands of professionally-designed FREE WordPress themes from the official Themes Repository, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Find WP Themes Inside 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 start using it directly from inside your WP dashboard with only a couple of clicks.
Use The WordPress Theme Filters
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 easy to find what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with a light color design, with a two-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in another post where we discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” themes, we explained how responsive themes allow your site to be viewed correctly on all devices (e.g. the computers, smartphones and tablets used by visitors to browse your site information) …
You should use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering option lets you search across its entire database of free themes …
… and bring back only WP themes that are “responsive” …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free themes is that it costs you nothing to download and use the theme. An added plus, is that many free themes are professionally designed and come with a number of customizable options, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.
The downside 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 dedicated support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many free themes ask 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 a year since any change was last made, then you should think twice about using it, as WordPress is frequently updated and new features can create conflicts and errors with older code.
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 premium themes or even on custom web design. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded could be exactly what works for your site and helps to convert your site visitors into customers.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free WordPress themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and how to narrow down your search for themes that meet specific requirements, it’s time to turn our attention to finding paid themes.
Paid WP 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, then search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:
WP Theme Marketplaces
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the biggest and best-known WP theme directories online.
ThemeForest allows many professional WP theme designers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are well over 15,000 premium WordPress themes listed (some starting from as little as $3) …
(click on the images above to view more themes on ThemeForest)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme directory, you will be able to browse for specific themes in various categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for bloggers and e-magazines, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for business sites or advertising purposes.
- Creative – themes for portfolios, writing professionals, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes suitable for sites about directory listings, buy & sell, community resources, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, membership sites, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to teaching, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for photo gallery blogs, nightlife, etc.
- Mobile – e.g. mobile-switching 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 boutiques, trades or professionals (electricians, legal firms, 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 environmental 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)
Go here to find great premium WordPress themes in the ThemeForest website:
Creative Market
(click on the above images to see all Creative Market themes)
Creative Market is another leading WP theme directory where you can browse 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 browse hundreds of themes for WordPress and narrow your search using theme categories from the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of quality premium themes crafted by independent WP theme designers in the Creative Market directory here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the above images to browse more WordPress themes at Mojo.com)
Mojo is a directory 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 WP themes, but you can easily go through all of their themes for WordPress and narrow your search with theme categories (e.g. Landing Page or Business themes and theme frameworks, etc.) by selecting the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find quality premium WP themes in the Mojo themes directory here:
Now that we have looked at WP theme directories, let’s look at commercial WP theme developers.
Commercial Theme Agencies
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a selection of professional quality premium WordPress themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on images above to view all themes from SoloStream)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes designs functional themes for WordPress and offer a membership option that gives you access to all themes in their WordPress theme portfolio.
(click on the images above to see more themes from WooThemes)
StoreFront
StoreFront Themes specializes in creating e-commerce themes for WordPress. Their themes also integrate well with some of the most powerful e-commerce platforms and plugins available.
(click on the above images to see all themes from StoreFront)
StudioPress
StudioPress designs 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 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 the framework frequently up-to-date to reflect best practices for coding and to make sure 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 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 design.
If this 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 images above to browse more StudioPress themes)
WP Theme-Checking Tools
To round things up, here are a couple of useful WP theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:
What WordPress Theme Is That?
What WordPress Theme Is That is a free online tool that lets you easily detect what WP theme and plugins a site is using.
This is a great resource if you ever come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what WP theme is being used on the site.
Tip: If you don’t know if a site was built using WordPress or not, go here for a great tutorial that helps you tell whether or not a web site is powered by WordPress: Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Blog And WP-Checking Tools
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 if a site is powered by the WP CMS platform, but it will also list the theme being used and list any plugins detected.
- To use the tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That
- To learn how to use this tool go here: How To Check If Your Web Site Was Built Using WordPress
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – WordPress Plugin
A word of warning: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we recommend sticking with the approved themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.
A strategy that is commonly used by a number of hackers and syndicates that engage in cyber criminal activities is to put up websites and directories offering “Free” WP themes all over the web and then distribute modified themes with malicious code embedded in their files. In fact, some of these sites even display on search engine results for phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s safer, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress directory, or use established and reputable theme download sites.
If you have any doubts about whether a WordPress theme installed on your site could contain potentially malicious or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to run a scan of your WordPress theme files. This plugin searches the source files of every them you have installed on your site for signs of malicious code and outputs a report …
(TAC Report Page – Screenshot: WordPress.org Plugin Site)
We hope that you have found this information useful.
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