Where To Find The Best WordPress Themes

This tutorial shows you where to find many great free or premium WordPress themes for your online business, e-commerce store, website, or blog.

WordPress

In an earlier article, we provide new WordPress users with a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.

If you haven’t yet discovered WP themes and what makes themes so attractive to website owners, then go here to read the post: An Introduction to WordPress Themes

In this blog post, you will learn where to browse hundreds of free and paid themes for your WP website or blog. 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 dealing with problems like lack of support and poor theme coding.

As explained in another article, a WordPress theme is a special kind of web design template used on WordPress-powered sites and designed specifically on the WordPress platform.

Many web designers and website design houses create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WordPress community can access thousands of high quality WP themes designed to cover a wide range of purposes.

WP themes cover an extensive range of uses and applications.

Finding Great Themes For WordPress: Let’s Keep Things Simple!

Let’s say you were to fire up Google and type key phrases like this:

  • best free themes for WordPress
  • best responsive WordPress themes
  • best paid WordPress themes for business (or whatever your business, area of interest or blog is about)

You are probably 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 WP themes really simple.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes

Before we start, you need to 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, we’ll only focus on finding themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this article, which gives you more freedom, more options and more control over the design areas of your website.

Free vs Paid WP Themes

Next, it’s useful to know that typically, you’ll find both Free and Paid themes made available. Free themes are normally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they are made available to users as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.

WP Theme Marketplaces And Directories & Theme Design Houses

There are 2 places where WP themes can be found. The first type of place is in theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent theme stores.

Theme marketplaces and WP theme directories are large theme stores. WP 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 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 WordPress theme developers typically will design both free and paid WordPress 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.

Many commercial or independent theme companies 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 website.

Choosing WP Themes For Your Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

WordPress.org - Free Theme Directory

(WordPress.org – Free Theme Directory)

The official WordPress theme directory is the largest and best place to search for WP themes for free. In fact, it’s probably the only free WP theme directory you should use when looking for free WP themes. The reason for this, 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 … even your entire business at risk.

The WordPress theme directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your website, but it also uses a review team to review and ensure that each theme uploaded to the directory complies with their quality and security standards.

To browse thousands of great-looking FREE WordPress themes from the official Themes Repository, go here:

http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes

Tip

You Don’t Even Have To Leave Your WP Dashboard

Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every WordPress theme in the WordPress theme directory and not only find a great theme for your website or blog, but also easily install and activate it directly from within your WordPress admin panel with only a few clicks.

Search For Free Themes Without Leaving Your Own WordPress Dashboard!

Use The WordPress Theme Feature Filters

WordPress provides a filtering function inside the dashboard area that lets you narrow down your search for themes based on criteria like Colours, Layout and Features …

Use The Theme Filters

This makes it easy to find themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly dark colour design, with a four-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” themes, we explained how these ensure that your theme will display correctly on all devices (e.g. your visitors’ laptops, tablets and smartphones) …

Use The Theme Feature Filters

It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering function lets you do just that …

Use The WP Theme Filtering

… and display only WordPress themes that are “responsive” …

Use WordPress Theme Filtering

Pros & Cons Of Using Free WordPress Themes

The obvious “pro” to using free themes is that there is no cost 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 features, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.

The downside of using free WordPress themes are that your themes may not get updated as often with new features and bug fixes, and you shouldn’t expect the theme developer to provide urgent support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many freely distributed themes ask for donations to help cover their 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 change was last made, then you should think carefully about using it, as the WordPress software is frequently updated and this can result in conflicts or errors with older code.

If you’re just getting started and your website 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 any money on premium themes. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded could be exactly what works for you and your business.

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 criteria, let’s turn our attention to finding paid themes.

Premium 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 Directories

ThemeForest

ThemeForest - WordPress themes

ThemeForest is one of the biggest and best-known theme directories online.

ThemeForest lets many professional WP theme designers showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are currently over 15,000 premium themes to choose from (you can find great themes from as little as $3) …

ThemeForest - Premium WordPress Themes

(click on the above images to browse more ThemeForest themes)

If you visit the ThemeForest theme directory, you will be able to browse for specific themes in a range of categories, such as:

  • Blog/Magazine – themes for personal blogs and blog magazines, etc.
  • Corporate – themes suitable for government sites or advertising purposes.
  • Creative – themes suitable for visual galleries, writers, etc.
  • Directory Listings – themes ideal for sites related to employment opportunities, dining out & restaurants, , etc.
  • eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, membership sites, etc.
  • Education – themes that suit sites related to teaching, etc.
  • Entertainment – themes for music and bands blogs, nightlife, 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 health products, trades or professionals (plumbers, legal practitioners, 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!

Useful Tip

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

(ThemeForest sends you theme update notifications)

Browse thousands of quality premium themes in the ThemeForest directory here:

Creative Market

Creative Market - WordPress Theme Marketplace

(click on the above images to browse more Creative Market themes)

Creative Market is another leading WP theme marketplace 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 WP themes in its directory, but you can easily browse hundreds of WP themes and narrow your search using theme categories from the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …

Creative Market theme marketplace

Browse through hundreds of great WordPress themes crafted by independent WP theme developers in the Creative Market directory here:

Mojo Themes

Mojo Themes - WP Theme Directory

(click on the above images to view more Mojo themes)

Mojo is a directory for premium-quality 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 WP themes, but you can easily go through all of their WordPress themes and search through their theme categories by choosing the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

Mojo theme directory

Visit the site to find great WordPress themes in the Mojo directory here:

Now that we have looked at WP theme directories, let’s look at commercial theme vendors.

Commercial Theme Shops

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.

Solostream Themes

(click on above images to see all themes from SoloStream)

Woo Themes

Woo Themes creates stunning themes for WordPress and offer a membership option that allows you to access all themes in their theme portfolio.

Woo Themes For WP

(click on the above images to browse more WooThemes themes)

StoreFront

StoreFront Themes specializes in creating e-commerce themes for WordPress. StoreFront themes also integrate well with some of the most powerful e-commerce platforms and plugins available.

StoreFront

(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 allows you to quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress site, and provides a self-updating design architecture, turn-key designs with beautiful frames for the content and unprecedented control of the framework.

Many website developers prefer using 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 coding practices and to ensure that themes are always compatible with the latest WordPress version, but because you can update your themes 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 “skins” that sit on top of the 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 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.

StudioPress

(click on the above images to view all StudioPress themes)

WordPress Theme-Checking Tools

To round things up, here are a few more useful WordPress theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:

What WordPress Theme Is That?

What WordPress Theme Is That WP Theme Checker

What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free online tool that allows you to easily detect what WordPress theme and plugins a site uses.

This is a great resource if you ever come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what WP theme the website uses.

Useful Tip

Tip: If you can’t tell whether a site uses WordPress or not, we have published a a great tutorial that shows you how to tell if a website is WordPress-driven: Is Your Web Site Built With 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 then not only confirm if a site was built using WordPress software, but it will also list the theme being used on the site and list any plugins it detects.

Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – WP Plugin

Disclaimer

We suggested this earlier and it’s worth repeating it again: If you decide to use FREE themes for your WordPress site, we recommend sticking with the approved themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.

A commonly-used method employed by many hackers and networks that engage in cyber-crime is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and distribute themes and plugins that contain malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even come up on Google for key phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s safer, therefore, to only download free themes from the official WordPress.org directory, or use well-known and reputable theme vendors.

If you are in doubt about whether a WordPress theme installed on your site could be infected with malicious or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your WP theme files. This plugin searches the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of suspicious code and then presents you with a report as shown in the screenshot below …

Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)

(TAC Report Page – Screenshot Source: Plugin Site, WordPress.org)

I hope that you have found this information useful.

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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum

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