In a separate article, we provide new WordPress users with a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you would like to learn more about the benefits of using themes and what makes themes so attractive to website owners, then make sure to check out our article: About WP Themes – A Handy Guide
In this article, we will show you where to browse hundreds of free and paid themes for your WP website or blog. 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 previous article, a WordPress theme is a special kind of web design template that is used on WordPress-powered sites and designed specifically with the WP content management system in mind.
Many individual website designers and web development houses create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users have access to thousands of excellent themes covering an extensive range of uses and applications.
Finding WP Themes: How To Avoid Getting Overwhelmed
If you were to open up Google and type the following:
- best premium WP themes
- best responsive WordPress themes
- best free WordPress themes for business (type in whatever your business, area of interest or website is about)
You are probably 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, let’s just cut through the clutter and make the process of finding great WP 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 later post. For now, 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, which gives you more freedom, more options and more control over your site’s web design.
Free vs Paid WP Themes
Next, it’s useful to know that there are thousands of Free and Paid WordPress themes being made available. Free themes are normally distributed as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they are made available to users as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.
Theme Marketplaces & WP Theme Developers
There are two types of places where themes can be found. The first place is in theme marketplaces and WordPress theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent WordPress theme houses.
Theme marketplaces and WordPress theme directories are big theme stores. WordPress theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and customers shop for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software directory.
Some of the bigger marketplaces don’t just sell WordPress themes. They can also sell WordPress plugins and templates for other web applications (e.g. Joomla, Drupal, etc.)
Commercial and independent WordPress theme development firms typically design both free and commercial themes, and can vary in size, from an individual developer or a small team of designer, to large web and theme design companies.
Many commercial or independent theme design houses 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 find the best WordPress themes for your blog.
Finding WordPress Themes For Your Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – WordPress Themes Directory)
The official WordPress.org theme directory is the largest and best place to download free WordPress themes. In fact, it’s probably the only free theme directory you should use when looking for free WordPress 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 put your computer, digital presence … 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 relies on a theme review team comprised of dedicated and code-savvy volunteers to review and ensure that each theme listed in the directory meets certain quality and security standards.
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.org directory and not only find a great theme for your website or blog, but also easily install and start using it directly from within your WordPress admin panel with just a few mouse clicks.
Use Theme Filtering
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 themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly gray color design, with a four-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 using “responsive” themes, we explained how responsive themes ensure that your theme will display without problems on all devices (e.g. the PCs, smartphones and tablets used by visitors to view your information) …
It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering function 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 WordPress 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 offer a number of built-in customizable features, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.
The ”cons” of 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 developer to provide urgent support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most freely distributed themes will ask you for a donation to help cover costs of providing support.
When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been over a year since any change was last made, then it’s best to think twice about downloading it, as the WordPress software changes quite frequently and new features can result in conflicts and 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 money on a theme. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free could be exactly what works for you and helps to convert your site visitors into customers.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free themes in the WordPress theme directory and ways to filter your search for themes that meet your specific requirements, it’s time to turn our attention to finding paid WP themes.
Premium 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 Directories
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the biggest and well known theme marketplaces online.
ThemeForest lets many professional WP theme creators showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are well over 17,500 premium themes to choose from (you can find great themes from as little as $3) …
(click on the images above to view more ThemeForest themes)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme directory, you will be able to browse for specific themes in a range of categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for personal blogs and news editorials, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for corporate sites and advertising purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for visual galleries, galleries, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes ideal for sites about directory listings, holiday rentals, tourism directories, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for online shopping, event bookings and registrations, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to tutoring, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for celebrity blogs, dining out, etc.
- Mobile – e.g. responsive 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, legal practitioners, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to hosting, newsletters, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and dating advice blogs
- Miscellaneous – themes suitable for writing or discussing environmental 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)
Go here to find quality premium WP themes in the ThemeForest website:
Creative Market
(click on the images above to see all Creative Market themes)
Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme directory where you can search through 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 WordPress themes in its directory, but you can easily go through all of their themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories using their dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great WordPress themes crafted by independent WP theme designers in the Creative Market directory here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the above images to see all WordPress themes at Mojo)
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 WP themes, but you can easily find themes for WordPress and narrow your search with theme categories (e.g. Magazine or Photography themes and theme frameworks, etc.) by selecting the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find quality premium WP themes in the Mojo theme directory here:
Now that we have looked at WordPress theme marketplaces, let’s look at commercial and independent theme stores.
Commercial And Independent Theme Developers
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 see more themes from SoloStream)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes creates stunning themes for WordPress that are very popular and highly sought after by web users and offers a membership option that allows members access to all themes in their growing WP theme collection.
(click on the above images to see all WooThemes themes)
StoreFront
StoreFront creates stunning e-commerce themes for WordPress. Their themes also integrate well with some of the most powerful e-commerce platforms and plugins available.
(click on the above images to view more themes from StoreFront)
StudioPress
StudioPress provides WordPress themes based on a framework (called the “Genesis” 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 designs with beautiful frames for the content and unprecedented control of the framework.
Many web developers prefer using the Genesis framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps this framework consistently updated to reflect best coding practices and to ensure 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 StudioPress themes use something called “child themes,” which are like “skins” that sit on top of the theme framework and gives your site its unique design.
If this all sounds way 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 view all StudioPress themes)
WP Theme-Checking Tools
Here are some useful WP theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:
What WordPress Theme Is That? WP Theme Checker
What WordPress Theme Is That.com is a free WP theme search tool that allows you to easily detect what WP theme and plugins a website or blog uses.
This is a great resource if you ever come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what WP theme the website uses.
Tip: If you can’t tell if a site was built using WordPress or not, we have posted a a great tutorial that helps you tell if a web site uses the WP CMS platform: 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 whether or not the site is built on WordPress software, but it will also list the WP theme being used by the site and list any WP plugins it detects.
- To use this online tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
- To learn more about using this tool go here: The Easy Way To Tell If Your Website Runs On WP Software
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)
We suggested this earlier and it’s worth repeating again: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we strongly recommend sticking with the approved WordPress themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.
A commonly-used strategy employed by many hacking groups and syndicates that engage in cyber criminal activities is to put up websites offering “Free” WP themes all over the web and then distribute themes and plugins with malicious code embedded in their files. In fact, some of these sites even display on Google’s search results for phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to only download free WordPress themes from the official WordPress theme directory, or use established and trusted theme merchants.
If you have any doubts about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your site may contain malicious or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your theme files. The TAC plugin scans the source files of every them you have installed on your site for signs of injected code and presents you with a report as shown in the screenshot below …
(TAC Report Page – Screenshot Source: Plugin, WordPress.org)
We hope that you have found the information on how to find the best free and premium themes for WordPress useful.
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