In another article, we have written a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you haven’t yet discovered themes and what makes themes so special, then make sure to check out this article: About WP Themes – A Non-Technical User’s Guide
In this blog post, we show you where to browse hundreds of 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 ensure that you get the right themes for your needs and how to avoid dealing with problems like lack of support and poorly-coded themes.
As explained in another post, a theme is a special kind of web template that is used on WordPress-powered websites and designed to work specifically with the WordPress platform in mind.
Many skilled website designers and website development agencies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users have access to thousands of uniquely-designed WordPress themes covering a wide-range of applications.
Where To Find Responsive Responsive Themes For WordPress: Your Time-Saving Guide
If you were to go to Google and type key phrases like the following:
- best free WordPress themes
- WordPress themes free
- best free WordPress themes for blogs (or whatever your business, search topic or website is about)
Chances are that you are going to get an overwhelming amount of disorganized information to sort through in your 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 WP 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 cover these differences in another post. In this post, let’s just focus on finding 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 of your website.
Free vs Paid WordPress Themes
Next, it’s useful to know that you can find thousands of Free and Paid WordPress themes being made available. Free themes are generally distributed as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they will be licensed for use as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.
Theme Marketplaces And Directories & Theme Development Firms
There are mostly two different types of places where you can find themes. The first is in WordPress theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second type of place are the commercial and independent WP theme stores.
WordPress 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 visitors shop for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software marketplace.
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 WordPress theme developers typically design both free and commercial WP themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme developer or a small team of designer, to large web and theme design and development companies.
Most commercial 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 directories .
Let’s now show you where to find the best WP themes for your blog.
Choosing Great Themes For Your WP Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – Theme Directory)
The official WordPress theme directory is the biggest and best place to download free WordPress themes. In fact, it’s probably the only free WordPress theme directory you should use when looking for free WP 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 WordPress theme directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your site, but it also relies on a review team to review and make sure that each theme listed in the directory complies with high quality and security standards.
To browse thousands of excellent FREE WordPress themes from the official Themes Directory, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Look For Free WordPress 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 what you are looking for, but also easily install and activate it directly from inside your WordPress dashboard with just a few clicks.
Use Theme Feature Filter
WordPress has a built-in 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 blue colour design, with a four-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in another article where we discuss the importance of using “responsive” WordPress themes, we explained how these allow your site to be viewed without problems across all devices (e.g. your visitors’ computers, smartphones and tablets) …
It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filter lets you do just that …
… and find only themes that have been built using “responsive” design standards …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free WordPress Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free WP themes is that it costs nothing to download and use the theme on your site. Additionally, many free themes are professionally designed and offer 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” to 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 freely distributed themes will ask you for a donation 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 updates were last made, then we advise you to think carefully 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, 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 any money on paid themes or even on custom web design. 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 WP themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and ways to filter your search for themes that meet specific requirements, let’s turn our attention to paid WP themes.
Paid WP 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:
WordPress Theme Marketplaces And Directories
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the biggest and well known WP theme marketplaces online.
ThemeForest lets many professional WordPress 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 above images to view more 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 general blogs and parenting blogs, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for government sites or advertising purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for visual galleries, cv and resume writing, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes that suit sites about employment opportunities, holiday rentals, , etc.
- eCommerce – themes for selling products online, membership sites, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to training, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for music and bands blogs, cafes, 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. rentals, etc.)
- Retail – themes for travel, trades or professionals (repairers, engineering, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to hosting, landing pages, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and dating 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)
Go here to find quality premium themes in the ThemeForest website:
Creative Market
(click on the above images to view more themes on Creative Market)
Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme marketplace where you can search through many 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 find WordPress themes and narrow your search using theme categories (e.g. Magazine or Business themes, etc.) using their dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great themes crafted by independent WordPress theme developers in the Creative Market marketplace here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the images above to see more WordPress 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 find WP themes and narrow your search with theme categories from the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great premium WordPress themes in the Mojo theme directory here:
Now that we have looked at WP theme directories, let’s look at commercial theme developers.
Commercial And Independent Theme Vendors
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a great selection of high quality themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on above images to view all themes from SoloStream)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes designs functional premium themes and offer a membership option that allows you access to all themes in their WP theme collection.
(click on the images above to view all themes from WooThemes)
StoreFront
StoreFront specializes in 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 images above to see more StoreFront themes)
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 an auto-updating design architecture, turn-key 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 frequently updated to reflect best practices for coding and to make sure that themes remain 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 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 StudioPress themes is that one low price allows 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 above images to see more themes from StudioPress)
Theme-Checking Tools
Let’s finish this post with some useful WordPress theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:
What WP Theme Is That WordPress Theme Checker
What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free web tool that lets you easily detect what WP theme a website or blog is using (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 uses.
Tip: If you don’t know whether a site uses WordPress or not, go here for a great tutorial that shows you how to tell whether or not a website was built using WordPress: Is My Blog 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 using the WordPress CMS platform, but it will also list the WordPress theme being used and list any plugins detected.
- To use this online tool visit the website here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
- To learn how to use this tool go here: How Can I Check If My Website Was Built Using 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 themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.
A commonly-used tactic employed by a number of hackers and cyber criminals is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and then distribute themes and plugins that contain malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even come up on Google for key phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s safer, therefore, to only download free WP themes from the official WordPress.org directory, or use well-known and trusted sites.
If you have any concerns about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your blog could contain malware or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to run a scan of your theme files. This plugin searches the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of injected code and then outputs a report as shown in the screenshot below …
(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Screenshot: Plugin)
I hope that you have found this information useful.
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