Where To Find The Best WordPress Themes

In a separate article, we provide a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.

If you would like to know more about WP themes and what makes WordPress themes unique, then go here to read the post: Understanding WordPress Themes – A Useful Guide For Website Owners

In this article, you will learn where you can search for free and paid themes for your WordPress 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 experiencing problems like lack of customer support and poor coding.

As explained in another article, a WordPress theme is a special kind of web template that is used on WordPress-driven blogs and designed to work specifically with WordPress in mind.

Many professional web designers and web development agencies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users can access thousands of quality WordPress themes covering an extensive range of applications.

Where To Find WordPress Themes: Too Much Information … Where To Begin?

Let’s say you were to launch Google and search for the following:

• best free themes for WordPress
• best paid themes for WordPress
• best responsive WordPress themes for musicians (type in whatever your business, search topic or website is about)

You are probably 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, 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 get started, you need to know that WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll explain these differences in another article. To keep things simple, let’s just cover the topic of finding themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this post, as these give you more freedom, more options and more control over your site’s web design.

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 will be licensed for use as Premium (paid) themes.

Theme Directories & WP Theme Design Houses

There are 2 places where you can find themes. The first is in theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second type of place are the commercial and independent WordPress theme stores.

Theme marketplaces and theme directories are big aggregators of themes. WordPress theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and buyers shop for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software marketplace.

Some of the bigger 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 vendors can also create both free and premium themes, and can vary in size, from an individual developer or a small team of theme developer, to large web and theme design companies.

Most commercial or independent theme companies 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 great themes for your blog.

Where To Find A Great Theme For Your Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

(WordPress.org – Themes Directory)

The official WordPress theme directory is the largest and best place to search for 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 some free software users have learned– downloading free software, add-ons, apps, templates or themes from untrustworthy places can contain malicious code and put 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 website or blog, but it also uses a team of theme reviewers to review and ensure that each theme in the directory meets specific quality and security standards.

To browse thousands of great-looking FREE WordPress themes from the official WordPress Themes Repository, 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.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 inside your WP dashboard with just a few clicks.

Use The WP Theme Filtering

WordPress provides a 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 easier to find what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly pink colour design, with a 2-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.

Note: in the post mentioned earlier where we present an overview of WordPress themes and discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” WP themes, we explained how responsive themes ensure that your theme will display 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 are “responsive” …

Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes

The obvious “pro” to using free WP themes is that there is no cost to download and use the theme. Additionally, 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 downside 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 immediate support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most 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 well over 1 year since any updates were last made, then it’s best to think twice 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 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 money on paid themes. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free may just be the thing that works for your site 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 criteria, let’s turn our attention to finding paid 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 great support, then search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:

WP Theme Marketplaces And Directories

ThemeForest

ThemeForest is one of the biggest and most popular theme directories online.

ThemeForest lets many professional WP theme developers showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are over 17,500 premium WordPress themes listed (you can find great themes from as little as $3) …

(click on the images above to browse more ThemeForest themes)

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 news editorials, etc.
• Corporate – themes suitable for corporate sites and marketing purposes.
• Creative – themes for visual galleries, freelancers, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes suitable for sites related to directory listings, classifieds, tourism directories, etc.
• eCommerce – themes for ecommerce, event bookings and registrations, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to tutoring, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for music and bands blogs, dining out, 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 stores, trades or professionals (repairers, medical practitioners, etc.)
• Technology – themes related to technology, affiliate marketing, seo, product reviews, direct sales, etc.
• Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and marriage celebrant blogs
• Miscellaneous – themes suitable for writing or discussing environmental issues, 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 emails you theme update notifications)

Go here to discover great themes in the ThemeForest website:

• ThemeForest

Creative Market

(click on the images above to view more Creative Market themes)

Creative Market is another leading WP theme marketplace where you can search through many 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. Blog or Business themes, etc.) using the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …

Browse through hundreds of great WP themes crafted by independent WordPress theme designers in the Creative Market themes marketplace here:

• Creative Market

Mojo Themes

(click on the above images to view all Mojo themes)

Mojo is a directory for premium-quality 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 (e.g. Blog or eCommerce themes and theme frameworks, etc.) using the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

Visit the site to find quality premium themes in the Mojo marketplace here:

• Mojo

Now that we have looked at WP theme aggregators, let’s look at commercial WordPress theme shops.

Commercial And Independent WordPress Theme Shops

SoloStream

SoloStream provides WordPress users with a great selection of professional quality WordPress 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 designs stunning premium themes for WordPress that are very popular and highly sought after by website users and also offer a membership option that lets you access their entire theme collection.

(click on the images above to view more WooThemes themes)

StoreFront

StoreFront Themes 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 images above to browse all themes from StoreFront)

StudioPress

StudioPress builds WordPress themes based on a framework (called the “Genesis” framework) that lets you quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress website, and provides an auto-updating design architecture, turn-key site 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 the framework consistently up-to-date to reflect best coding practices and to ensure that themes remain always compatible with the latest version of WordPress, but because you can update your themes without losing any customizations you may have made to your theme.

This is because StudioPress themes use something called “child themes,” which are like a paint job that sits on top of the 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 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 above images to browse more themes from StudioPress)

Theme-Checking Tools

Here are a couple of useful WordPress theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:

What WordPress Theme Is That? – WP Theme Checker

What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free WordPress theme and plugin-checking tool that lets you easily detect what WordPress theme and plugins a website or blog uses.

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 site.

Tip: If you don’t know if a site was built using WordPress or not, go here for a great tutorial that shows you how to tell whether or not a web site is powered by WordPress: How Can I Check If My Website Was Built With 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 WP theme being used and list any WordPress plugins detected.

• To use the tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
• To learn more about this tool go here: Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Blog And WordPress-Checking Tools

Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – WP Plugin

A word of warning: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we recommend sticking with the reviewed and approved WordPress themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.

A well-known method used by many hackers and cyber criminals is to put up websites offering “Free” WordPress themes all over the web and then distribute themes with malicious code embedded in their files. 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 stick with the official WordPress repository, or use established and reputable theme download sites.

If you have any doubts about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your blog may be infected with potentially malicious or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your theme files. This plugin scans the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of malicious code and presents you with a report …

(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Screenshot: WordPress.org Plugin Site)

I hope that you have found this information useful.

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