In a separate post, we provide a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you haven’t yet discovered WP themes and what makes WP themes so revolutionary in terms of website design, then make sure to check out our post here: An Introduction to WP Themes
In this blog post, you will learn where to discover many fantastic free and paid themes for your WP site. You will also learn about the different types of WordPress theme resources and get tips on how to make sure that you get the right themes for your needs and how to avoid having to deal with problems like lack of customer support and poorly-coded themes.
As explained in another post, a WordPress theme is a special kind of web template that is used on WordPress-powered blogs and designed to work specifically with WordPress in mind.
Many individual web designers and website development companies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users enjoy access to thousands of high quality themes covering a wide-range of uses and applications.
Where To Find WordPress Themes: Let’s Simplify Things!
If you were to go to Google and search for the following:
- best free WordPress themes
- WordPress themes free
- best free WordPress themes for musicians (enter whatever your business, area of interest or blog is about)
Chances are that you are going to get an overwhelming amount of junk to sort through in the search results.
So, to help you save time and make things easier, we’ll just cut through the clutter and make the process of finding great WordPress 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 explain these differences in a different article. 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 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 for WordPress are normally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they can be listed as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.
WordPress Theme Directories vs Commercial Theme Design Companies
There are two kinds of places where WordPress themes can be found. The first type of place is in WP theme marketplaces and WordPress theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent theme companies.
Theme marketplaces and theme directories are big theme stores. theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and customers find these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software directory.
Some of the larger directories 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 design companies typically will develop both free and premium themes, and can vary in size, from an individual developer or a small team of theme designer, 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 WordPress theme directories .
Let’s now show you where to search for great themes for your website.
Choosing A Great WP Theme 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 search for free WordPress themes. In fact, it’s probably the only free theme directory you should use when looking for free WP themes. The reason why, is because –as some free software users have discovered– downloading free software, add-ons, apps, templates or themes from untrustworthy places can place your computer, digital presence … even your entire business at risk.
The WordPress.org directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your site, but it also relies on a team of theme reviewers to review and ensure that each theme uploaded to the directory meets high standards of quality and security.
To browse thousands of excellent FREE WordPress themes from the official Themes Directory, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Find Free WordPress Themes Without Leaving Your Own WP Dashboard
Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every WP theme in the WordPress directory and not only find what you are looking for, but also easily install and activate it directly from inside your WordPress dashboard with a few mouse clicks.
Use Theme Feature Filters
WordPress has a built-in filtering function inside the admin 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 pink colour design, with a 4-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in another post where we present an overview of WordPress themes and discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” WP themes, we explained how these ensure that your theme will work across all devices (e.g. your laptop, tablet and smartphone) …
It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filter lets you search across its entire database of free themes …
… and bring up only themes that are “responsive” …
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 on your site. An added plus, is that many free themes are professionally designed and provide 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 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 urgent 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 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 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 a paid theme. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free could be exactly what works for your site and for converting your site visitors into customers.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free WordPress themes in the WordPress theme directory and how to filter your search for themes that meet your specific requirements, let’s turn our attention to finding paid WordPress themes.
Premium 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 responsive support, you can search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:
Theme Marketplaces And Directories
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the largest and well known theme marketplaces online.
ThemeForest allows many professional WP theme developers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are over 15,000 premium themes to choose from (you can find great themes 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 green living blogs, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for business sites or marketing purposes.
- Creative – themes for video galleries, crafts, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes that suit sites related to directory listings, dining out & restaurants, community resources, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for ecommerce, membership sites, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to training, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for gossip blogs, music venues, 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 boutiques, trades or professionals (electricians, medical practitioners, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to apps, newsletters, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and romance tips and advice blogs
- Miscellaneous – themes suitable for topics related to activism, parenting 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 quality premium themes in the ThemeForest theme directory here:
Creative Market
(click on the above images to view all themes on Creative Market)
Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme directory 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 WP themes in its marketplace, but you can easily browse hundreds of WordPress themes and search through their theme categories (e.g. Minimal or Commerce themes, etc.) using their dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great premium themes crafted by independent WordPress theme developers in the Creative Market marketplace here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the images above to browse all 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 browse hundreds of themes for WordPress and narrow your search with theme categories from the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great WP themes in the Mojo marketplace here:
Now that we have looked at WordPress theme marketplaces, let’s turn our attention to commercial theme design companies.
Commercial And Independent WP Theme Stores
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a great selection of high quality WP 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 creates functional premium themes that are very popular and highly sought after by website users and also offer a membership option that allows members to access their entire WordPress theme collection.
(click on the above images to browse more WooThemes themes)
StoreFront
StoreFront Themes specializes in creating 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 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 an auto-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 this framework consistently up-to-date to reflect best practices for coding and to ensure that it always remains compatible with the latest version of WordPress, 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 “skins” that sit on top of the theme framework and gives your site its unique look and feel.
If this 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 themes from StudioPress is that you pay just 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 images above to browse more themes from StudioPress)
WordPress Theme-Checking Tools
Let’s finish this post with a couple of useful WP theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:
What WP Theme Is That? – WP Theme And Plugin Checker
What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free online tool that allows you to easily detect what WP theme a site is using.
This is a great resource if you have come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what WordPress theme the website or blog is using.
Tip: If you don’t know whether a site uses WordPress or not, we have published a a great tutorial that helps you tell whether or not a web site is powered by WordPress: Is My Site 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 has been built on WordPress software, but it will also list the WP theme being used by the site and list any plugins it detects.
- To use the online tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That
- To learn how to use this tool go here: Is It A WP Site?
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)
A word of warning: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we recommend sticking with the approved themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.
A commonly-used tactic employed by many hackers and cyber criminals is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” WP themes all over the web and then distribute modified themes 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 best, therefore, to only download free WP themes from the official WordPress theme repository, or use well-known and trusted theme vendors.
If you are concerned about whether a WordPress theme installed on your site could contain potentially 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 – Source: Plugin Page, WordPress.org)
We hope that you have found this information useful.
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