In a separate post, we provide a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you would like to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress themes and what makes themes so special, then make sure to check out our post here: A Handy Guide To WP Themes
In this article, you will learn where to explore many excellent free and paid themes for your WordPress site. 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 avoid experiencing problems like lack of product support and poorly-coded themes.
As we’ve explained in our previously-mentioned article, a WordPress theme is a special type of web design template used on WordPress-driven blogs and designed specifically on WordPress.
Many professional web designers and website development companies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WP community have access to thousands of quality themes covering a wide-range of uses.
Where To Find Responsive Themes For WordPress: So Many Choices … Where To Begin?
Let’s say you were to go to Google and search for key phrases like the following:
- best free WordPress themes
- best premium WordPress themes
- best paid WordPress themes for musicians (or whatever your business, area of interest or blog is about)
Chances are that you are going to get an overwhelming amount of disorganized information to sort through in your 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 explain these differences in a different post. To keep things simple, we’ll only cover themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this article, which gives you more freedom, more options and more control over your web design.
Free vs Paid WP Themes
Next, it’s useful to know that you will easily find many Free and Paid themes made available. Free themes for WordPress are normally distributed as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they can be listed as Premium (paid) themes.
WordPress Theme Marketplaces vs WP Theme Developers
There are mostly 2 places where WP themes can be found. The first is in theme marketplaces and WordPress theme directories. The second place are the commercial and independent theme vendors.
Theme marketplaces and 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 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 WordPress theme vendors typically develop both free and premium WP themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme designer or a small team of theme designer, to large theme design companies.
Many 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 WP theme directories .
Let’s now show you where to find the best themes for your website or blog.
Where To Find A WP Theme For Your Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – Themes Directory)
The official WordPress.org theme directory is the biggest and best place to search for free WordPress themes. In fact, it’s probably the only free directory you should use when looking for free WordPress 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 place 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, but it also relies on a theme review team comprised of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers to review and make sure that each theme in the directory meets high standards of quality and security.
To browse thousands of excellent FREE WordPress themes from the official WordPress 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 WordPress theme in the WordPress directory and not only find what you are looking for, but also easily install and activate it directly from within your WordPress dashboard with just a couple of mouse clicks.
Use 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 predominantly light color design, with a 2-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in the post where we discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” WP themes, we explained how responsive themes ensure that your theme will display without problems across all devices (e.g. computers, tablets and smartphones) …
You should use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering option lets you do just that …
… and bring up only WordPress themes that are “responsive” …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free WordPress Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free WordPress themes is that it costs nothing to download and use the theme on your site. An added plus, is that many free themes are professionally designed and come with 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 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 dedicated support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many free 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 more than a year since any change was last made, then we advise you to think twice about downloading it, as the theme may have been abandoned by its developer.
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 premium themes or even on custom web design. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded could be exactly what works for your site and for your business.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and ways to narrow down your search for themes that meet specific requirements, it’s time to turn our attention to finding paid themes.
Premium WP 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 theme directories online.
ThemeForest lets many professional WordPress theme designers showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are well over 17,000 premium WordPress themes to choose from (some starting from as little as $3) …
(click on the above images to see more themes on ThemeForest)
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 general blogs and administration sites, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for corporate sites or marketing purposes.
- Creative – themes for photography, crafts, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes ideal for sites about travel, holiday rentals, business directories, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, membership sites, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to teaching, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for fashion blogs, restaurants, etc.
- Mobile – e.g. mobile-switching themes.
- NonProfit – themes for nonprofit organizations, churches, etc.
- Real Estate – themes for real estate and real estate listings (e.g. home sales, etc.)
- Retail – themes for health products, trades or professionals (plumbers, legal firms, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to apps, affiliate marketing, seo, product reviews, direct sales, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and wedding 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!
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)
Browse thousands of great WP themes in the ThemeForest theme directory here:
Creative Market
(click on the images above to browse all themes on Creative Market)
Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme directory where you can browse many 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 marketplace, but you can easily go through all of their themes for WordPress and narrow your search using theme categories (e.g. Minimal or Popular themes, etc.) from their dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great WordPress themes crafted by independent WordPress theme designers in the Creative Market directory here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the images above to see all Mojo themes)
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 WP themes, but you can easily browse hundreds of WordPress themes and narrow your search with theme categories from the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great themes in the Mojo directory here:
Now that we have looked at WP theme aggregators, let’s look at commercial theme stores.
Commercial And Independent Theme Development Firms
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a selection of high quality premium themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on images above to browse all themes from SoloStream)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes designs stunning premium themes and offers a membership option that gives you access to all themes in their growing WP theme collection.
(click on the images above to view all themes from WooThemes)
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 develops WordPress themes based on a 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 site designs with beautiful frames for your content and unprecedented control of the framework.
Many website developers like this framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps the framework frequently updated to reflect best practices for coding and to ensure that themes are 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 with the Genesis framework 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 all 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 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 see more StudioPress themes)
Theme-Checking Tools
To round things up, here are some useful WordPress theme-related tools worth knowing about:
What WordPress Theme Is That
What WordPress Theme Is That is a free web tool that lets you easily detect what WP theme a website or blog is using.
This is a great resource if you ever come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what WordPress theme the site is using.
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 site uses the WP CMS platform: Is It A WordPress Blog?
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 using WordPress software, but it will also list the theme being used and list any WP plugins it detects.
- To use the online tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That?
- To learn how to use this tool go here: How To Check If A Web Site Was Built With WordPress
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)
We said this before and it’s worth repeating it again: If you decide to use FREE themes for your WordPress site, we highly recommend sticking with the reviewed and approved WordPress themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.
A method that is commonly used by a number of hacking groups and cyber criminals is to put up websites offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and then distribute modified themes and plugins that contain malicious code. 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 only download free themes from the official WordPress.org repository, or use well-known and reputable theme download sites.
If you are concerned about whether a WordPress theme installed on your blog may be infected with malicious or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your theme files. This plugin searches the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of injected code and outputs a report with the results …
(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Source: Plugin)
I hope that you have found the information on how to find the best WordPress free and premium themes useful.
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