In an earlier post, we provide a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you haven’t yet discovered WP themes and what makes WordPress themes so special, then make sure to check out the post here: Understanding WP Themes – A Beginner’s Guide
In this blog post, you will learn where to find many fantastic free and paid themes for your site. 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 experiencing problems like lack of customer support and poor coding.
As explained in another article, a WordPress theme is a special type of web design template that is used on WordPress-driven sites and designed specifically with WordPress in mind.
Many talented website designers and website design houses create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WP community have access to thousands of professional themes covering a wide-range of uses.
Finding Themes: So Many Choices … Where To Begin?
If you were to go to Google and type the following:
- best themes for WordPress
- best free WordPress themes
- best responsive WordPress themes for blogs (or whatever your business, area of interest or website 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 things easier, we’ll just cut through the clutter and make the process of finding great WP themes really simple.
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes
Before we get started, you should know that WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll cover these differences in a separate article. For now, let’s just be covering 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 the design of your website.
Free vs Paid Themes
Next, it’s important to know that typically, you’ll find both Free and Paid WP 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 & WP Theme Development Firms
There are mostly 2 places where you can find WP themes. The first place is in WP theme marketplaces and WordPress theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent theme vendors.
Theme marketplaces and theme directories are big aggregators of themes. WP 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 directory.
Some of the larger marketplaces 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 shops can create both free and paid themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme designer or a small team of developer, to large web and theme design 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 themes for your website or blog.
Finding The Best Responsive Themes For Your WordPress Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – Themes Directory)
The official WordPress theme directory is the largest and best place to search for WordPress themes for free. In fact, it’s probably the only free 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 contain malicious code and 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 WP site, but it also relies on a review team comprised of dedicated and code-savvy volunteers to review and make sure that each theme in the directory complies with specific standards of quality and security.
To browse thousands of professionally-designed FREE WordPress themes from the official 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.org 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 WP admin panel with just a couple of mouse clicks.
Use WordPress Theme 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 …
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 the article where we discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” themes, we explained how responsive themes allow your site to be viewed without problems on all devices (e.g. your visitors’ laptops, tablets and smartphones) …
You should use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering option lets you search across its entire database of free themes …
… and find only themes that use “responsive” design standards …
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. Additionally, 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 downside of 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 developer to provide immediate support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many free 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 changes were made, then you should 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 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 money on paid themes or even on custom web design. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded 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 WP themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and how to narrow down your search for themes that meet your specific requirements, it’s time to turn our attention to paid WordPress themes.
Paid 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 ongoing 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 well known WordPress theme directories online.
ThemeForest allows many professional WordPress theme designers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are well over 17,500 premium WP themes to choose from (some starting from as little as $3) …
(click on the images above to see more ThemeForest themes)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme marketplace, you will be able to browse for specific themes in various categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for bloggers and parenting blogs, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for corporate sites or advertising purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for creative work, arts, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes that suit sites related to travel, classifieds, business directories, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, membership sites, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to training, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for film & tv blogs, dining out, 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. commercial property, etc.)
- Retail – themes for catalogs, trades or professionals (electricians, dentists, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to software, landing pages, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and romance tips and 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 sends you theme update notifications)
Browse lots of great premium WordPress themes in the ThemeForest directory here:
Creative Market
(click on the images above to browse more themes on Creative Market)
Creative Market is another leading WP theme marketplace where you can browse many quality premium WP 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 WP themes and narrow your search using theme categories (e.g. Magazine or Photography themes, etc.) using their dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great WordPress themes crafted by independent WordPress theme designers in the Creative Market marketplace here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the images above to view more Mojo themes)
Mojo is a directory 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 WordPress themes, but you can easily find WP themes and narrow your search with theme categories (e.g. Landing Page or Photography themes and theme frameworks, etc.) from the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find quality premium themes in the Mojo themes marketplace here:
Now that we have looked at WP theme directories, let’s turn our attention to commercial WP theme stores.
Commercial WP Theme Design Houses
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a great selection of professional quality themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on above images to browse all SoloStream themes)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes designs stunning themes for WordPress and offer a membership option that lets you access their entire theme collection.
(click on the images above to browse all 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.
(click on the images above to view more 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 an auto-updating design architecture, turn-key designs with beautiful frames for the 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 this framework consistently updated to reflect best practices for coding and to make sure that it always remains 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 a paint job that sits on top of the theme framework and gives your site its unique look and feel.
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 themes from StudioPress 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 browse more StudioPress themes)
WordPress Theme-Checking Tools
Here are a few more useful WordPress theme-related tools worth knowing about:
What WordPress Theme Is That WP Theme Checker
What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free WordPress theme-checking tool that lets you easily detect what WordPress theme a website uses.
This is a great resource if you have come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what WP theme the site is using.
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 whether or not a web site was built using WordPress: How Can I Check If My Website Was Built Using 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 not only confirm if a site has been built on WordPress, but it will also list the theme being used on the site and list any WP plugins it detects.
- To use the online tool visit the website here: What WordPress Theme Is That
- To learn how to use this tool go here: How Can I Check If A Site Was Built Using WordPress?
Theme Authenticity Checker - Plugin
A word of warning: If you decide to use FREE themes for your WordPress site, we strongly recommend sticking with the reviewed and approved WordPress themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.
A commonly-used strategy employed by many hackers and cyber criminals is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and then distribute modified themes and plugins with malicious code embedded in their files. In fact, some of these sites even come up on Google for search phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress theme repository, or use established and reputable theme merchants.
If you are concerned about whether a WordPress theme installed on your blog may contain 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 them you have installed on your site for signs of injected code and then presents you with a report with the results …
(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Screenshot: Plugin Page, WordPress.org)
We hope that you have found the information on how to find the best free and paid themes for WordPress useful.
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)
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