In an earlier post, we provide a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you haven’t yet discovered themes and what makes WordPress themes unique, then go here to read the article: An Introduction to WordPress Themes
In this article, we show you where you can look for free and paid themes for your 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 having to deal with problems like lack of support and poorly-coded themes.
As we’ve explained in our previously-mentioned post, a WordPress theme is a unique kind of web template that is used on WordPress-powered blogs and designed to work specifically with the WP platform in mind.
Many skilled website designers and website design houses create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WordPress community can access thousands of professional themes covering a wide-range of applications.
Finding Responsive Themes For WordPress: How To Avoid Getting Overwhelmed
If you were to go to Google and search for key phrases like the following:
- best free themes for WordPress
- WordPress themes free
- best responsive WordPress themes for artists (or whatever your business, search topic or blog is about)
Chances are that you are 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 WordPress themes really simple.
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes
Before we get started, you need to know that WordPress offers users both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll explain these differences in a separate post. In this post, let’s just cover the topic of finding themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this post, which gives you more freedom, more options and more control over the design aspects of your site.
Free vs Paid WordPress Themes
Next, it’s important to know that there are both Free and Paid WP themes being made available. Free themes are normally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they can be made available to users as Premium (paid) themes.
WordPress Theme Marketplaces And Directories & WordPress Theme Design Houses
There are two different types of places where you can find themes. The first is in WordPress theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent theme houses.
WP theme marketplaces and WP theme directories are big theme aggregators. WP 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 directory.
Some of the larger theme stores 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 design houses can develop both free and premium WP themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme designer or a small team of developer, to large web and theme design and development companies.
Many commercial or independent 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 WP theme directories .
Let’s now show you where to search for great WP themes for your blog.
Choosing The Best Themes For Your Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – WordPress Theme Directory)
The official WordPress theme directory is the biggest and best place to download WordPress themes for free. In fact, it’s probably the only free theme directory you should use when looking for free WordPress 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 directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your website or blog, but it also relies on a team of theme reviewers to review and ensure that each theme uploaded to the directory complies with specific standards of quality and security.
To browse thousands of excellent FREE WordPress themes from the official WP Themes Repository, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
You Don’t Even Have To Leave Your WordPress Dashboard
Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every theme in the WordPress.org theme directory and not only find a great theme for your website or blog, but also easily install and start using it directly from inside your WordPress dashboard with only a few mouse 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 easy to find what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with a light color design, with a three-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in another post where we discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” WordPress themes, we explained how responsive themes allow your site to be viewed without problems on all devices (e.g. laptops, tablets and smartphones) …
It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filter lets you do just that …
… and bring back only WordPress 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. An added plus, is that many free themes are professionally designed and come with a number of built-in customizable options, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.
The ”cons” to using free WordPress 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 dedicated support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many free themes will ask you for a donation 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 a year since any changes were made, then you should think carefully about downloading it, as the WordPress software is frequently updated and these changes can create conflicts or errors with older code.
If you’re just getting started and your site 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 any money on paid themes or even on custom theme design. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free may just be the thing that works for you and for converting your site visitors into customers.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free WordPress themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and how to narrow down your search for themes that meet specific criteria, it’s time to turn our attention to paid WordPress themes.
Premium WordPress 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 great support, you can search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:
WP Theme Marketplaces And Directories
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the biggest and well known WP theme directories online.
ThemeForest allows many professional WP theme designers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are over 15,000 premium themes listed (you can find great themes from as little as $3) …
(click on the above images to view all ThemeForest themes)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme marketplace, you will be able to browse for specific WordPress themes in various categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for bloggers and parenting blogs, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for government sites and advertising purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for photography, writers, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes suitable for sites about employment opportunities, dining out & restaurants, tourism directories, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, event bookings and registrations, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to training, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for entertainment blogs, nightlife, etc.
- Mobile – e.g. retina-ready 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 health products, trades or professionals (repairers, chiropractors, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to technology, newsletters, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and dating advice blogs
- Miscellaneous – themes suitable for topics related to activism, 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 browse many great premium WordPress themes in the ThemeForest theme site:
Creative Market
(click on the above images to view more themes on Creative Market)
Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme directory where you can search through 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 themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories from their dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great WP themes crafted by independent WordPress theme designers in the Creative Market directory here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the images above to browse more themes at Mojo)
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 themes for WordPress and narrow your search with theme categories (e.g. Portfolio or Photography themes and theme frameworks, etc.) by using the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find quality premium WP themes in the Mojo directory here:
Now that we have looked at WordPress theme marketplaces, let’s take a look at commercial theme design companies.
Commercial And Independent Theme Design Houses
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a great selection of professional quality premium WP themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on above images to see more SoloStream themes)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes creates stunning themes for WordPress that are very popular and highly sought after by web users and also offer a membership option that gives you access to their entire WordPress theme collection.
(click on the images above to browse more WooThemes themes)
StoreFront
StoreFront specializes in 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 view all StoreFront themes)
StudioPress
StudioPress designs WordPress themes based on a framework that enables users 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 this 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 make sure that it is always compatible with the latest WordPress version, but because you can update themes built using the Genesis framework 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 “skins” that sit on top of the framework and gives your site its unique design.
If this all sounds way 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 themes from StudioPress is that you pay just 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 images above to view more themes from StudioPress)
WordPress Theme-Checking Tools
Here are some useful WP theme-related tools worth knowing about:
What WordPress Theme Is That
What WordPress Theme Is That.com is a free WP theme-checking tool that allows you to easily detect what WordPress theme and plugins a website 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 the website or blog is using.
Tip: If you can’t tell if a site uses WordPress or not, we have posted a a great tutorial that helps you tell if a web site uses WordPress: Does My Site Run On 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 whether or not the site was built on WordPress software, but it will also list the WordPress theme being used and list any WordPress plugins detected.
- To use this tool visit the website here: What WordPress Theme Is That
- To learn more about this tool go here: How Can I Tell If A Site Was Built Using WordPress?
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)
We suggested this before and it’s worth repeating it again: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we highly recommend sticking with the reviewed and approved WP themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.
A strategy that is commonly used by a number of hacking groups and cyber criminals is to put up websites and directories offering “Free” WordPress themes all over the web and distribute themes with malicious code embedded in their files. In fact, some of these sites even display on Google for key phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress repository, or use established and reputable theme merchants.
If you are in doubt about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your site could contain potentially malicious or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to perform a scan of your theme files. The plugin scans the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of suspicious code and presents you with a report as shown in the screenshot below …
(TAC Report Page – Screenshot Source: WordPress.org Plugin Site)
We hope that you have found this information useful.
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