In a previous article, we have written a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you haven’t yet discovered WP themes and what makes WP themes so special, then make sure to check out the article here: An Overview of WP Themes
In this blog post, we show you 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 how to avoid experiencing problems like lack of support and poorly-coded themes.
As we’ve explained in another post, a theme is a unique type of web template used on WordPress-powered sites and designed specifically with WordPress in mind.
Many individual web designers and website design firms create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users have access to thousands of high quality WordPress themes designed for a wide range of website uses.
Where To Find Themes: Your Time-Saving Guide
If you were to open up Google and search for the following:
- best WP themes
- best responsive themes for WordPress
- best free WordPress themes for blogs (or whatever your business, area of interest or blog is about)
You are probably going to get an overwhelming amount of information to sort through in your search listings.
So, to help you save time and make things easier, let’s 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 another post. For now, please note that we will only be covering 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 the design areas of your website.
Free vs Paid Themes
Next, it’s important to know that typically, you’ll find both Free and Paid themes made available. Free themes for WordPress are normally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they will be made available to users as Premium (paid) themes.
WP Theme Directories vs Theme Stores
There are two types of places where WP themes can be found. The first place is in WP theme marketplaces and WordPress theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent theme houses.
WP theme marketplaces and WP 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 find these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software marketplace.
Some of the bigger marketplaces 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 WP theme agencies can develop both free and premium WordPress themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme designer or a small team of designer, to large theme design and development companies.
As you will see, many commercial theme developers 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 find the best WordPress themes for your blog.
Finding Great Themes For Your Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – WP Theme Directory)
The official WordPress.org theme directory is the largest 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 WP themes. The reason for this, 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 put your computer, digital presence and even your entire business at risk.
The WordPress directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your website, but it also relies on a team of theme reviewers to review and make sure that each theme in the directory meets high quality and security standards.
To browse thousands of great-looking FREE WordPress themes from the official Themes Directory, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Find WordPress Themes Inside Your WP Dashboard
Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every theme in the WordPress.org theme directory and not only find what you are looking for, but also easily install and start using it directly from within your WP admin panel with only a couple of mouse clicks.
Use WordPress Theme Filters
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 what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with a blue colour design, with a four-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in the article where we discuss the importance of using “responsive” WordPress themes, we explained how these ensure that your theme will display correctly across all devices (e.g. your visitors’ computers, smartphones and tablets) …
It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering function lets you do just that …
… and find only 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 on your site. An added plus, is that many free themes are professionally designed and provide 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 you shouldn’t expect the developer to provide urgent support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many freely distributed 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 over one year since any change was made, then you should think carefully about using it, as the theme may have been abandoned by its developer.
If you’re just getting started and your website or blog is still relatively 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 premium themes. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free 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 theme directory and ways to filter your search for themes that meet your specific requirements, let’s turn our attention to premium WordPress themes.
Paid 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 great support, you can search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:
Theme Marketplaces And Directories
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the largest and most popular WP theme marketplaces online.
ThemeForest allows many professional WP theme designers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are well over 17,000 premium themes listed (you can find great themes from as little as $3) …
(click on the images above to view more ThemeForest themes)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme marketplace, you will be able to browse for specific themes in a range of categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for personal blogs and news editorials, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for legal sites and advertising purposes.
- Creative – themes for design, crafts, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes that suit sites about directory listings, holiday rentals, business directories, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for selling products online, event bookings and registrations, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to tutoring, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for music and bands blogs, cafes, 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. commercial property, etc.)
- Retail – themes for shopping, trades or professionals (repairers, dentists, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to hosting, newsletters, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and wedding advice 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 WordPress themes in the ThemeForest directory here:
Creative Market
(click on the above images to view all themes on Creative Market)
Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme directory where you can search through thousands of 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 directory, but you can easily browse hundreds of themes for WordPress and narrow your search using theme categories (e.g. Magazine or Commerce themes, etc.) from their dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of quality premium WordPress themes crafted by independent WP theme designers in the Creative Market themes marketplace here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the above images to view more themes at Mojo.com)
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 go through all of their themes for WordPress and narrow your search with theme categories by choosing the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great WordPress themes in the Mojo theme marketplace here:
Now that we have looked at WP theme marketplaces, let’s take a look at commercial theme design companies.
Commercial And Independent WordPress 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 above images to browse more themes from SoloStream)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes designs great premium themes for WordPress and offer a membership option that lets you access all themes in their WP theme collection.
(click on the images above to view all themes from WooThemes)
StoreFront
StoreFront 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 builds WordPress themes based on a framework that allows you to quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress website, and provides a self-updating design architecture, turn-key site designs with beautiful frames for your content and unprecedented control of the framework.
Many website developers prefer using this framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps the framework regularly up-to-date to reflect best coding practices 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 may 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 look and feel.
If this sounds too technical, don’t worry about it. StudioPress themes are very 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 images above to view all StudioPress themes)
WordPress Theme-Checking Tools
Here are a couple of useful WordPress theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:
What WordPress Theme Is That
What WordPress Theme Is That is a free online tool that allows you to easily detect what WordPress theme 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 WordPress theme the website or blog is using.
Tip: If you don’t know whether a site was built using WordPress or not, we have posted a a great tutorial that shows you how to tell if a website was built using WordPress: Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Web Site And WordPress-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 whether or not a site is powered by WordPress, but it will also list the WP theme being used and list any WordPress plugins detected.
- To use the online tool visit the website here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
- To learn how to use this tool go here: Is My Website Built Using WordPress? Tell-Tale Signs & WP-Checking Tools
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – WordPress Plugin
We said this before and it’s worth repeating again: If you decide to use FREE themes for your WordPress site, we recommend sticking with the themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.
A well-known tactic used by many hackers and cyber criminals is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and then distribute 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 best, therefore, to only download free WordPress themes from the official WordPress repository, or use established and reputable theme vendors.
If you are in doubt about whether a WordPress theme installed on your blog may contain malicious or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to perform a scan of your WordPress theme files. The plugin scans the source files of every them you have installed on your site for signs of injected code and presents you with a report as shown in the screenshot below …
(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Source: Plugin)
We hope that you have found the information on how to find the best free and premium responsive themes for WordPress useful.
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