In an earlier post, we provide new WordPress users with a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you would like to know more about the benefits of using themes and what makes themes so revolutionary in terms of web design, then make sure to check out our post: Understanding WordPress Themes – A Practical Guide
In this article, you will learn where you can 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 product support and poorly-coded themes.
As we’ve explained in another article, a WordPress theme is a unique type of web design template used on WordPress-driven blogs and designed to work specifically for WordPress.
Many skilled website designers and website development firms create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users enjoy access to thousands of great themes covering an extensive range of applications.
Finding Great WP Themes: How To Avoid Information Overload
Let’s say you were to fire up Google and type the following:
- best free WordPress themes
- best premium WordPress themes
- best free WordPress themes for business (or whatever your business, area of interest or website 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 really simple.
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes
Before we start, you should know that WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll explain these differences in another article. For now, please note that we will only be covering themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this article, which gives you more freedom, more options and more control over the design areas of your blog.
Free vs Paid WP Themes
Next, it’s important to know that there are thousands of Free and Paid themes being made available. Free themes are generally distributed as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they can be licensed for use as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.
WordPress Theme Marketplaces & Theme Design Houses
There are 2 kinds of places where you can find WordPress themes. The first type of place is in theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent WP 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 shop for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software directory.
Some of the bigger theme stores 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 theme developers typically develop both free and premium WP themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme developer or a small team of developer, to large theme design companies.
As you will see, most commercial theme design firms 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 search for great WordPress themes for your website or blog.
Finding The Best Responsive Themes For Your WP Website
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – WordPress Themes Directory)
The official WordPress.org theme directory is the biggest and best place to download free WP 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 some free software users have learned– 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 WordPress directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your website, but it also uses a theme review team comprised of dedicated and code-savvy volunteers to review and ensure that each theme uploaded to the directory complies with their quality and security standards.
To browse thousands of professionally-designed FREE WordPress themes from the official Themes Directory, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Look For Free WP Themes Without Leaving Your Own WordPress Dashboard
Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every theme in the WordPress theme directory and not only find a great theme for your website or blog, but also easily install and activate it directly from within your WP dashboard with just a couple of mouse clicks.
Use WordPress 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 what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly gray colour design, with a two-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” WordPress themes, we explained how these ensure that your theme will display correctly on all devices (e.g. PCs, tablets and smartphones) …
It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering function lets you do just that …
… and bring up only WP themes that have been built using “responsive” design standards …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free WP themes is that it costs nothing to download and use the theme. Additionally, many free themes are professionally designed and offer 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 WordPress 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 personal support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many freely distributed themes ask users for donations 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 more than 1 year since any updates were made, then we advise you to think twice about using 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 relatively 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 a theme. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free could be exactly what works for you and your business.
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 your specific criteria, it’s time to turn our attention to finding premium 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 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 best-known WP theme marketplaces online.
ThemeForest lets many professional WordPress theme developers showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are well over 17,500 premium themes to choose from (some starting from as little as $3) …
(click on the images above to browse all themes on ThemeForest)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme marketplace, you will be able to browse for specific WP themes in a range of categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for general blogs and environmental blogs, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for medical sites and advertising purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for video galleries, ebook authors, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes suitable for sites related to employment opportunities, holiday rentals, , etc.
- eCommerce – themes for selling products online, event bookings and registrations, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to teaching, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for gossip blogs, cafes, etc.
- Mobile – e.g. retina-ready 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 (electricians, medical centers, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to software, affiliate marketing, seo, product reviews, direct sales, 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 sends you theme update notifications)
Go here to find great premium themes in the ThemeForest theme website:
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 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 WordPress themes in its marketplace, but you can easily find themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories (e.g. Portfolio or Business themes, etc.) from their dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of quality premium themes crafted by independent WordPress theme developers in the Creative Market themes directory here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the above images to view more Mojo themes)
Mojo is a marketplace 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 go through all of their themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories by selecting the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find quality premium WordPress themes in the Mojo theme directory here:
Now that we have looked at WP theme directories, let’s look at commercial theme stores.
Commercial And Independent WordPress Theme Developers
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a selection of professional quality WordPress themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on above images to browse all themes from SoloStream)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes designs eye-catching themes that are very popular and highly sought after by website users and offers a membership option that gives you access to their entire theme portfolio.
(click on the images above to see more WooThemes themes)
StoreFront
StoreFront Themes specializes in WP themes for e-commerce. Their themes also integrate well with some of the most powerful e-commerce platforms and plugins available.
(click on the images above to see all themes from StoreFront)
StudioPress
StudioPress designs WordPress themes based on a framework (called the “Genesis” framework) that lets you quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress site, and provides an auto-updating design architecture, turn-key site designs with beautiful frames for your content and unprecedented control of the framework.
Many website developers prefer using the Genesis framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps this framework regularly up-to-date to reflect best coding practices 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 themes built using 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 way 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 themes from StudioPress 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 all StudioPress themes)
Theme-Checking Tools
To round things up, here are a couple of useful WordPress theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:
What WordPress Theme Is That?
What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free WordPress theme and plugin search tool that lets you easily detect what WordPress theme and plugins a site is using (including parent and child WP 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 runs on WordPress or not, go here for a great tutorial that shows you how to tell if a site uses the WP CMS platform: How To Tell If Your Web Site 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 then not only confirm if a site is powered by WordPress software, but it will also list the theme being used on the site and list any WP plugins it detects.
- To use the tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That
- To learn more about this tool go here: Is My Web Site WordPress?
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)
We suggested this earlier and it’s worth repeating again: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we highly recommend sticking with the reviewed and approved themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.
A tactic that is commonly used by a number of hackers and cyber criminals is to put up sites 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’s search results for key phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s safer, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress.org repository, or use established and reputable theme vendors.
If you have any concerns about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your blog may be infected with malicious or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your WP theme files. This plugin searches the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of malicious code and outputs a report as shown in the screenshot below …
(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Screenshot: Plugin)
We hope that you have found this information useful.
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