In another post, we provide a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you haven’t yet discovered themes and what makes themes so special, then make sure to check out the article here: A Newbies’ Guide To WordPress Themes
In this blog post, you will learn where you can browse hundreds of free and paid themes for your WordPress website. 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 dealing with problems like lack of customer support and poorly-coded themes.
As we’ve explained in another post, a WordPress theme is a unique type of web template used on WordPress-driven websites and designed to work specifically for WordPress.
Many skilled web designers and website development companies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users enjoy access to thousands of uniquely-designed themes designed to cover a wide range of website uses.
Where To Find Great Themes: Let’s Simplify Things!
Let’s say you were to browse over to Google and type the following:
- best paid WordPress themes
- best free themes for WordPress
- best free WordPress themes for musicians (enter whatever your business, area of interest or blog is about)
Chances are that you are going to get an overwhelming amount of 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 WordPress themes really simple.
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes
Before we start, you need to know that WordPress offers users both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll cover these differences in a later post. To keep things simple, please note that we will 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 blog.
Free vs Paid WordPress Themes
Next, it’s important to know that you will find thousands of Free and Paid WP themes made available. Free themes for WordPress are generally distributed as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they will be listed as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.
Theme Directories & WordPress Theme Design Houses
There are two different types of places where you can find WP themes. The first type of place is in WP theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second type of place are the commercial and independent WP theme stores.
WP theme marketplaces and WP theme directories are large theme aggregators. WordPress theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and buyers 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 theme developers can develop both free and premium themes, and can vary in size, from an individual designer or a small team of developer, to large web and theme design and development companies.
As you will see, most commercial or independent theme shops 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 WordPress theme directories .
Let’s now show you where to find great themes for your website or blog.
Choosing The Best Themes For Your WP Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – Themes Directory)
The official WordPress.org theme directory is the largest and best place to search for WordPress 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 why, is because –as some 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 WP theme directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your WP site, but it also uses a theme review team to review and make sure that each theme uploaded to the directory complies with specific quality and security standards.
To browse thousands of great-looking FREE WordPress themes from the official WP Themes Repository, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Look For Free Themes Inside Your Own WP Dashboard
Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every WP theme in the WordPress directory and not only find what you are looking for, but also easily install and activate it directly from inside your WordPress dashboard with just a few clicks.
Use The 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 what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with a orange colour design, with a 3-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in another article where we discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” themes, we explained how these ensure that your theme will display correctly on all devices (e.g. the PCs, smartphones and tablets used by visitors to view your website) …
It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering option lets you search across its entire database of free themes …
… and find only themes that are “responsive” …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free WP themes is that it’s free to download and use the theme on your site. Additionally, many free themes are professionally designed and provide a number of built-in customizable settings, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.
The ”cons” of using free 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 personal support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many free themes ask users 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 we advise you 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 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 paid themes. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free may just be the thing that works for your site and for your business.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free WP themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and how to narrow down your search for themes that meet specific requirements, let’s turn our attention to finding paid 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 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 WP theme marketplaces online.
ThemeForest lets many professional WordPress theme developers showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are over 15,000 premium WordPress themes listed (some starting from as little as $3) …
(click on the above images to browse all themes on ThemeForest)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme directory, you will be able to browse for specific WordPress themes in a range of categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for general blogs and political blogs, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for legal sites or marketing purposes.
- Creative – themes for portfolios, galleries, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes suitable for sites related to travel, classifieds, , etc.
- eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, event bookings and registrations, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to tutoring, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for fashion blogs, dining out, 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 specialty stores, trades or professionals (plumbers, legal firms, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to hosting, newsletters, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and romance tips and advice blogs
- Miscellaneous – themes suitable for writing or discussing environmental 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 sends you theme update notifications)
Go here to discover quality premium themes in the ThemeForest site:
Creative Market
(click on the above images to see more Creative Market themes)
Creative Market is another leading WP theme directory where you can browse 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 find WordPress themes and search through their theme categories (e.g. Blog or Popular themes, etc.) from the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of quality premium themes crafted by independent WordPress theme designers in the Creative Market marketplace here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the above images to view more Mojo themes)
Mojo is a marketplace 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 WordPress themes, but you can easily go through all of their WP themes and search through their theme categories (e.g. Magazine or Photography themes and theme frameworks, etc.) by using the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great WordPress themes in the Mojo theme directory here:
Now that we have looked at WP theme directories, let’s take a look at commercial and independent WordPress theme design companies.
Commercial And Independent Theme Agencies
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 browse more SoloStream themes)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes designs eye-catching WordPress themes and offer a membership option that lets you access all themes in their theme collection.
(click on the images above to see more WooThemes themes)
StoreFront
StoreFront creates gorgeous WordPress themes for e-commerce. StoreFront themes also integrate well with some of the most powerful e-commerce platforms and plugins available.
(click on the above images to browse all StoreFront themes)
StudioPress
StudioPress designs WordPress themes based on a framework that allows you to quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress site, and provides an auto-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 this framework regularly updated to reflect best coding practices and to make sure that themes remain always compatible with the latest WordPress version, but because you can update your themes 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 sounds too technical, there’s no need to feel concerned 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 you pay 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 above images to see more StudioPress themes)
WP Theme-Checking Tools
Here are some useful WordPress theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:
What WordPress Theme Is That – WP Theme Search Tool
What WordPress Theme Is That is a free web tool that allows you to easily detect what WordPress theme a website is using (including parent and child WordPress themes).
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 uses.
Tip: If you can’t tell if a site uses WordPress or not, go here for a great tutorial that shows you how to tell if a web site uses WordPress: Is It A WP 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 then not only confirm if the site has been built using WordPress software, but it will also list the WordPress theme being used and list any plugins it detects.
- To use this tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That?
- To learn more about using this tool go here: Was My Website Built Using WordPress? How To Tell
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)
We suggested this before and it’s worth repeating again: If you decide to use FREE themes for your WordPress site, we highly recommend sticking with the reviewed and approved themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.
A tactic that is commonly used by a number of hacking groups and networks that engage in cyber-crime is to put up websites and directories offering “Free” WP themes all over the web and distribute modified themes containing malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even come up on Google’s search results for search phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress.org directory, or use well-known and reputable theme merchants.
If you are in doubt about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your blog may contain malicious or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to perform a scan of your WP theme files. This plugin searches the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of malicious code and then outputs a report with the results …
(TAC Report Page – Screenshot: Plugin, WordPress.org)
We hope that you have found this information useful.
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