In another article, we provide a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you haven’t yet discovered themes and what makes WP themes unique, then go here to read our article: A Useful Guide To Understanding WordPress Themes
In this blog post, you will learn where you can discover many great free and paid themes for your website. 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 how to avoid dealing with problems like lack of customer support and poor theme coding.
As explained in our previously-mentioned post, a WordPress theme is a unique type of web template that is used on WordPress-driven sites and designed specifically on WordPress.
Many individual web designers and web design houses create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users can access thousands of high quality themes covering a wide-range of applications.
Finding Themes: So Many Choices … Where To Begin?
If you were to open up Google and type the following:
- best free WP themes
- best responsive themes for WordPress
- best free WordPress themes for musicians (enter 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 results.
So, to help you save time and make things easier, let’s just cut through the clutter and make the process of finding great WordPress themes 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 another post. To keep things simple, please note that we will only be covering the topic of finding 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 important to know that you can find thousands of Free and Paid WordPress themes being made available. Free themes for WordPress are generally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they can be sold as Premium (paid) themes.
Theme Marketplaces And Directories vs Theme Stores
There are mostly two types of places where themes can be found. The first place is in WordPress theme marketplaces and WP theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent WordPress theme houses.
Theme marketplaces and WP theme directories are large theme aggregators. theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and customers 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 WP plugins and templates for other web applications (e.g. Joomla, Drupal, etc.)
Commercial and independent WordPress theme developers can create both free and commercial themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme designer or a small team of developer, to large web and theme development companies.
Many commercial or independent theme developers 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 great WP themes for your website or blog.
Finding A Responsive Theme For Your Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – Free WP Theme Directory)
The official WordPress.org theme directory is the biggest and best place to find free WordPress themes. 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 learned– downloading free software, add-ons, apps, templates or themes from untrustworthy places can contain malicious code and put your computer, digital presence … even your entire business at risk.
The WordPress.org directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your website or blog, but it also uses a team of theme reviewers to review and ensure that each theme listed in the directory complies with high standards of quality and security.
To browse thousands of great-looking FREE WordPress themes from the official Themes Directory, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Find Themes Inside Your Dashboard
Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every theme in the WordPress theme directory and not only find what you are looking for, but also easily install and start using it directly from inside your WordPress admin panel with a couple of mouse clicks.
Use WordPress Theme Filtering
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 easy to find what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly dark colour design, with a three-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in another article where we present an overview of WordPress themes and 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 PCs, smartphones and tablets used by visitors to browse 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 bring back 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 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 immediate support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many 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 changes were last made, then think carefully about downloading it, as the WordPress software changes quite often and these changes can create conflicts or errors with older code.
If you’re just getting started and your website or blog 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 any money on premium themes or even on custom theme design. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free may just be the thing that works for your site and for converting your site visitors into customers.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free themes in the WordPress theme directory and how to narrow down your search for themes that meet specific criteria, it’s time to turn our attention to finding paid themes.
Paid WordPress 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:
Theme Marketplaces
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the biggest and most popular WP theme marketplaces online.
ThemeForest allows many professional WP theme developers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are currently over 17,000 premium WordPress themes to choose from (you can find great themes from as little as $3) …
(click on the above images to browse all themes on ThemeForest)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme marketplace, you will be able to browse for specific WP themes in various categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for bloggers and e-magazines, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for legal sites or advertising purposes.
- Creative – themes for visual galleries, kindle book authors, 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 teaching, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for music and bands blogs, restaurants, 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. rentals, etc.)
- Retail – themes for catalogs, trades or professionals (electricians, legal firms, 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 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 emails you theme update notifications)
Go here to discover quality premium WordPress themes in the ThemeForest themes directory:
Creative Market
(click on the images above to view more Creative Market themes)
Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme marketplace where you can search through many 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 marketplace, but you can easily go through all of their themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories from the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great themes crafted by independent WordPress theme designers in the Creative Market marketplace here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the images above to see more WP themes at Mojo.com)
Mojo is a directory for premium-quality 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 browse hundreds of WP themes and search through their theme categories by choosing the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great WP themes in the Mojo directory here:
Now that we have looked at WordPress theme aggregators, let’s look at commercial and independent theme vendors.
Commercial And Independent WP Theme Vendors
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a great selection of professional quality WordPress themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on above images to browse more SoloStream themes)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes designs great premium themes and offers a membership option that gives you access to all themes in their growing WordPress theme collection.
(click on the above images to see all WooThemes themes)
StoreFront
StoreFront specializes in creating 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 images above to browse all StoreFront themes)
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 an auto-updating design architecture, turn-key site designs with beautiful frames for your content and unprecedented control of the framework.
Many web developers like the Genesis 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 practices for coding and to ensure that it is 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 StudioPress themes use something called “child themes,” which are like a paint job that sits 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 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.
(click on the images above to browse all themes from StudioPress)
WordPress Theme-Checking Tools
To round things up, here are some useful WP theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:
What WP Theme Is That? WP Theme Checker
What WordPress Theme Is That.com is a free web tool that allows you to easily detect what WordPress theme and plugins a website or blog uses (including parent and child themes).
This is a great resource if you have come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what theme is being used on the website.
Tip: If you don’t know whether a site was built using WordPress or not, we have published a a great tutorial that shows you how to tell if a web site is WP-driven: Is It A WordPress Website?
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 the site was built on WordPress, but it will also list the WP theme being used and list any plugins it detects.
- To use the online tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
- To learn more about this tool go here: Is My Site WordPress?
Theme Authenticity Checker - Plugin
A word of warning: If you decide to use FREE themes for your WordPress site, we highly recommend sticking with the approved themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.
A commonly-used strategy employed by many hackers and syndicates that engage in cyber-crime is to put up sites offering “Free” WP themes all over the web and distribute modified themes and plugins with malicious code embedded in their files. In fact, some of these sites even display on search engine results for search phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress repository, or use established and reputable theme download sites.
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 WordPress theme files. The TAC plugin searches the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of injected code and presents you with a report as shown in the screenshot below …
(TAC Report Page – Screenshot: Plugin Site, WordPress.org)
We hope that you have found this information useful.
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