In a separate post, we have written a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you haven’t yet discovered themes and what makes themes so revolutionary in terms of website design, then go here to read the article: An Introduction to WP Themes
In this article, we explain where to look for free and paid themes for your WordPress site. 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 we’ve explained in our previous article, a WordPress theme is a unique type of web template that is used on WordPress-powered websites and designed specifically with WordPress in mind.
Many talented website designers and web design companies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users can access thousands of exciting themes covering a wide-range of uses.
Finding Themes: So Many Choices … Where To Begin?
Let’s say you were to fire up Google and search for the following:
- best free WordPress themes
- WordPress themes free
- best responsive WordPress themes for churches (enter whatever your business, area of interest or blog 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 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 users both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll explain these differences in a separate article. To keep things simple, 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 web design.
Free vs Paid Themes
Next, it’s useful to know that you can find thousands of 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 licensed for use as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.
WP Theme Marketplaces & WP Theme Stores
There are mostly two kinds of places where themes can be found. The first is in theme marketplaces and WP theme directories. The second place are the commercial and independent theme vendors.
WordPress theme marketplaces and WordPress theme directories are big aggregators of themes. theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and buyers find these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software directory.
Some of the larger 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 can design both free and paid WP themes, and can vary in size, from an individual developer or a small team of theme developer, to large theme design companies.
Many commercial or independent theme companies sell their 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 themes for your website or blog.
Choosing A Great Theme Themes For Your WordPress Website
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – WordPress Theme Directory)
The official WordPress.org theme directory is the biggest and best place to find WP 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 many free software users have discovered– downloading free software, add-ons, apps, templates or themes from untrustworthy places can put your computer, digital presence and even your entire business at risk.
The WP directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your WordPress site, but it also uses a team of theme reviewers comprised of dedicated and code-savvy volunteers to review and ensure that each theme in the directory complies with their standards of quality and security.
To browse thousands of professionally-designed FREE WordPress themes from the official Themes Directory, 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 WP theme in the WordPress.org theme 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 WP admin panel with only a couple of clicks.
Use Theme Feature Filters
WordPress provides a filtering function inside the admin area that lets you narrow down your search for themes based on criteria like Colors, Layout and Features …
This makes it easier to find themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly pink color design, with a 3-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in another article where we discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” WP themes, we explained how these allow your site to be viewed without problems across all devices (e.g. your visitors’ laptops, smartphones and tablets) …
It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering function lets you do just that …
… and bring up only themes that are “responsive” …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free themes is that it’s free to download and use the theme on your site. An added plus, is that 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 ”cons” to 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 theme developer to provide personal support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most free themes will ask you for a donation to help cover their costs of providing support.
When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been well over 1 year since any updates were last made, then think twice about using it, as the WordPress software is frequently updated and new features can create conflicts and 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 money on premium themes. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded may just be the thing that works for your site and your business.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free themes in the WordPress theme directory and ways to narrow down your search for themes that meet your specific criteria, it’s time to turn our attention to finding paid themes.
Premium 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 great support, then search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:
WP Theme Marketplaces
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the biggest and well known WP theme marketplaces online.
ThemeForest allows many professional WordPress theme designers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are well over 15,000 premium WordPress themes listed (you can find great themes from as little as $3) …
(click on the images above to view all themes on ThemeForest)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme marketplace, you will be able to browse for specific WordPress themes in a range of categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for bloggers and parenting blogs, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for government sites or marketing purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for design, freelancers, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes that suit sites related to travel, buy & sell, community resources, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, membership sites, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to tutoring, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for celebrity blogs, dining out, etc.
- Mobile – e.g. retina-ready themes.
- NonProfit – themes for nonprofit organizations, charities, etc.
- Real Estate – themes for real estate and real estate listings (e.g. commercial property, etc.)
- Retail – themes for health products, trades or professionals (electricians, medical practitioners, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to software, 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)
Browse thousands of quality premium themes in the ThemeForest marketplace here:
Creative Market
(click on the above images to browse all Creative Market themes)
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 directory, but you can easily go through all of their WordPress themes and search through their theme categories using the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great themes crafted by independent WP theme developers in the Creative Market themes directory here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the above images to browse more Mojo themes)
Mojo is a directory 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 browse hundreds of WP themes and narrow your search with theme categories by selecting the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great WP themes in the Mojo theme marketplace here:
Now that we have looked at WP theme marketplaces, let’s take a look at commercial and independent theme stores.
Commercial Theme Design Houses
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a selection of high quality themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on above images to browse more SoloStream themes)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes creates stunning WP themes and offer a membership option that allows members access to their entire theme portfolio.
(click on the above images to see more themes from WooThemes)
StoreFront
StoreFront 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 images above to see more themes from StoreFront)
StudioPress
StudioPress designs WordPress themes based on a framework (called the “Genesis” framework) that enables users to quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress website, and provides a self-updating design architecture, turn-key site 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 the framework consistently up-to-date to reflect best practices for coding and to ensure that themes are always 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 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 look and feel.
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 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 images above to see more StudioPress themes)
WordPress 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? – WordPress Theme And Plugin Search Tool
What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free WordPress theme-checking tool that allows you to 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, we have posted a a great tutorial that helps you tell if a web site uses the WordPress CMS platform: Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Web Site And WP-Checking Tools
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 a site was built on the WordPress CMS platform, but it will also list the theme being used by the site and list any plugins it detects.
- To use this tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
- To learn more about this tool go here: How To Check If Your Site Was Built With WordPress
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)
We said this before and it’s worth repeating again: If you decide to use FREE themes for your WordPress site, we strongly recommend sticking with the reviewed and approved themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.
A tactic that is commonly used by many hacking groups and syndicates that engage in cyber criminal activities is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and distribute modified themes with malicious code embedded in their files. In fact, some of these sites even display on search engine results for phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to only download free themes from the official WordPress directory, or use well-known and trusted theme vendors.
If you are concerned about whether a WordPress theme installed on your site may be infected with potentially malicious or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to run a scan of your theme files. The TAC plugin searches the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of suspicious code and then outputs a report …
(TAC Report Page – Screenshot: Plugin Site, WordPress.org)
We hope that you have found this information useful.
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