In another article, we provide a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you would like to learn more about the benefits of using WP themes and what makes themes so special, then go here to read the article: A Practical Guide To Understanding WordPress Themes
In this article, we explain where you can browse hundreds of free and paid themes for your 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 product support and poor theme coding.
As explained in our previously-mentioned post, a theme is a special kind of web design template that is used on WordPress-driven websites and blogs and designed to work specifically with WordPress in mind.
Many skilled website designers and website development companies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WordPress community can access thousands of high quality themes covering an extensive range of uses and applications.
Finding Great Themes: So Many Choices … Where To Begin?
If you were to launch Google and search for the following:
- best free themes for WordPress
- WordPress themes free
- best free WordPress themes for blogs (type in whatever your business, area of interest or website is about)
You are probably 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 explain 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, which gives you more freedom, more options and more control over your web design.
Free vs Paid WP Themes
Next, it’s important to know that typically, you’ll find both Free and Paid WP themes made available. Free WP themes are normally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they will be licensed for use as Premium (paid) themes.
Theme Marketplaces And Directories vs WP Theme Development Firms
There are 2 places where WordPress themes can be found. The first is in WordPress theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second place are the commercial and independent theme developers.
WordPress theme marketplaces and WP 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 search for 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 WP theme stores can design both free and paid themes, and can vary in size, from an individual designer or a small team of theme designer, to large web and theme design and development companies.
Many commercial theme stores 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 WordPress themes for your website or blog.
Choosing 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 find free WordPress 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 place your computer, digital presence … even your entire business at risk.
The WP theme directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your website, but it also relies on a review team to review and make sure that each theme listed in the directory meets specific standards of quality and security.
To browse thousands of professionally-designed FREE WordPress themes from the official WordPress 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 WP theme in the WordPress.org theme 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 dashboard with only a couple of clicks.
Use Theme Filters
WordPress provides a filtering function inside the admin area that lets you narrow down your search for themes based on criteria like Colours, Layout and Features …
This makes it easier to find themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with a dark color design, with a two-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in the post where we discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” themes, we explained how responsive themes allow your site to be viewed correctly across all devices (e.g. PCs, tablets and smartphones) …
You should use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering function lets you do just that …
… and bring up only themes that have been built using “responsive” design standards …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free themes is that it costs nothing to download and use the theme on your site. Additionally, many free themes are professionally designed and come with a number of customizable settings, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.
The downside to 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 personal support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most freely distributed themes ask users 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 well over one year since any updates were made, then it’s best to think carefully about downloading it, as the theme may have been abandoned by its developer.
If you’re just getting started and your website 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 money on a premium theme. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free may just be the thing that works for you and helps to convert your site visitors into customers.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free WP themes in the WordPress theme directory and how to narrow down your search for themes that meet your specific requirements, it’s time to turn our attention to finding premium WP themes.
Premium WP 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, you can search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:
WP Theme Marketplaces
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the largest and best-known WordPress theme directories online.
ThemeForest lets many professional WordPress theme designers showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are over 15,000 premium themes to choose from (you can find great themes from as little as $3) …
(click on the images above to view more themes on ThemeForest)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme marketplace, you will be able to browse for specific WordPress themes in a range of categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for bloggers and parenting blogs, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for business sites or advertising purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for video galleries, writing professionals, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes ideal for sites related to travel, buy & sell, , etc.
- eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, membership sites, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to teaching, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for film & tv blogs, nightlife, 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. home sales, etc.)
- Retail – themes for catalogs, trades or professionals (electricians, chiropractors, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to apps, affiliate marketing, seo, product reviews, direct sales, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and marriage consellor blogs
- Miscellaneous – themes suitable for topics related to activism, 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 thousands of great premium themes in the ThemeForest directory here:
Creative Market
(click on the images above to see all Creative Market themes)
Creative Market is another leading WP theme marketplace 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 WordPress themes in its directory, but you can easily find 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 WP theme developers in the Creative Market theme marketplace here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the above images to see more themes at Mojo.com)
Mojo is a marketplace for premium 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 go through all of their WordPress themes and narrow your search with theme categories (e.g. Responsive or Business themes and theme frameworks, etc.) using the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great themes in the Mojo themes directory here:
Now that we have looked at WordPress theme directories, let’s turn our attention to commercial theme design houses.
Commercial Theme Shops
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a selection of professional quality premium themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on images above to see more SoloStream themes)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes creates great WP themes and offer a membership option that lets you access all themes in their growing WordPress theme portfolio.
(click on the above images to view all themes from WooThemes)
StoreFront
StoreFront specializes in creating 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 browse more StoreFront themes)
StudioPress
StudioPress provides WordPress themes based on a framework that allows you 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 frequently updated to reflect best practices for coding and to ensure 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 themes built using 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 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 entitles 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 more themes from StudioPress)
Theme-Checking Tools
To round things up, here are a couple of 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 lets you easily detect what WP theme a website uses (including parent and child 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 uses.
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 uses the WP CMS platform: Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Site 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 not only confirm if a site is built on the WordPress CMS platform, but it will also list the WordPress theme being used by the site and list any plugins it detects.
- To use the online tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That?
- To learn how to use this tool go here: How Can I Tell If A Site Was Built Using WordPress?
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – Plugin
We suggested this before and it’s worth repeating again: If you decide to use FREE themes for your WordPress site, we strongly recommend sticking with the WP themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.
A strategy that is commonly used by a number of hackers and cyber criminals is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and distribute themes with malicious code embedded in their files. In fact, some of these sites even come up on Google for phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to only download free WordPress themes from the official WordPress.org theme directory, or use established and trusted theme download sites.
If you have any doubts about whether a WordPress theme installed on your blog may contain potentially malicious or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your theme files. The plugin scans the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of malicious code and then outputs a report …
(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Screenshot Source: Plugin Page, WordPress.org)
We hope that you have found the information on how to find great free and commercial themes for WordPress useful.
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