In a separate article, we have written a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you would like to know more about WP themes and what makes themes unique, then make sure to check out this article: An Overview of WordPress Themes
In this blog post, you will learn where you can look for free and paid themes for your website. 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 experiencing problems like lack of product support and poor coding.
As explained in our previous article, a WordPress theme is a special type of web design template that is used on WordPress-driven sites and designed specifically for the WordPress CMS platform.
Many website designers and website design firms create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WP community can access thousands of quality WordPress themes covering an extensive range of uses and applications.
Finding Themes: Let’s Simplify Things!
If you were to fire up Google and search for a key phrase like the following:
- best WP themes
- WordPress themes free
- best responsive WordPress themes for writers (enter whatever your business, search topic or blog is about)
You are probably going to get an overwhelming amount of junk to sort through in your search listings.
So, to help you save time and make your life easier, we’ll just cut through the clutter and make the process of finding great WP themes simple.
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes
Before we start, you need to know that WordPress offers users both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll cover these differences in a different article. For now, 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, as these give you more freedom, more options and more control over the design of your website.
Free vs Paid Themes
Next, it’s important to know that there are thousands of Free and Paid WordPress themes made available. Free themes are generally distributed as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they will be sold as Premium (paid) themes.
WordPress Theme Marketplaces & Theme Development Firms
There are 2 kinds of places where WordPress themes can be found. The first type of place is in WP theme marketplaces and WP theme directories. The second place are the commercial and independent WordPress theme stores.
WP theme marketplaces and WP theme directories are big theme aggregators. 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 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 development firms can also design both free and premium WP themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme designer or a small team of theme designer, to large web and theme design and development companies.
Many commercial or independent theme design houses 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 WP theme directories .
Let’s now show you where to find the best WP themes for your website.
Where To Find Themes For Your Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – Theme Directory)
The official WordPress.org theme directory is the largest and best place to download WP themes for free. In fact, it’s probably the only free theme directory you should use when looking for free WordPress themes. The reason why, is because –as many free software users have discovered– 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 theme directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your site, but it also uses a team of theme reviewers to review and make sure that each theme in the directory complies with their quality and security standards.
To browse thousands of excellent FREE WordPress themes from the official Themes Repository, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Find Free Themes Without Leaving Your Own WP Dashboard
Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every WP theme in the WordPress.org directory and not only find what you are looking for, but also easily install and activate it directly from inside your WP dashboard with a few mouse clicks.
Use Theme Filters
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 themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly pink color design, with a 4-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in the article where we discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” themes, we explained how these ensure that your theme will work across 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 back only WordPress themes that use “responsive” design standards …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free WP Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free WordPress themes is that it costs nothing to download and use the theme. Additionally, many free themes are professionally designed and come with a number of customizable settings, 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 it’s unrealistic to expect the developer to provide immediate support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many 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 more than a year since any changes were last made, then we advise you to think carefully about using it, as WordPress changes quite frequently 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 money on premium themes or even on custom web design. 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 WordPress themes in the WordPress theme directory and ways to narrow down your search for themes that meet your specific requirements, let’s turn our attention to paid 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 great support, you can search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:
WP Theme Directories
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the biggest and most popular WordPress theme marketplaces online.
ThemeForest lets many professional WP theme developers showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are well over 15,000 premium WP themes to choose from (some starting 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 general blogs and news editorials, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for legal sites and advertising purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for visual galleries, writing professionals, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes suitable for sites about employment opportunities, buy & sell, business directories, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, event bookings and registrations, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to training, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for music and bands blogs, cafes, etc.
- Mobile – e.g. responsive themes.
- NonProfit – themes for nonprofit organizations, charities, etc.
- Real Estate – themes for real estate and real estate listings (e.g. home sales, etc.)
- Retail – themes for catalogs, trades or professionals (repairers, engineering, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to hosting, newsletters, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and romance tips and advice 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 sends you theme update notifications)
Go here to discover great premium themes in the ThemeForest themes site:
Creative Market
(click on the images above to see more Creative Market themes)
Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme marketplace where you can browse 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 WordPress themes in its directory, but you can easily find WordPress themes and search through their theme categories using their dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of quality premium themes crafted by independent WordPress theme developers in the Creative Market marketplace here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the above images to view all Mojo themes)
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 go through all of their themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories (e.g. Blog or Business themes and theme frameworks, etc.) by selecting the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find quality premium WP themes in the Mojo marketplace here:
Now that we have looked at WordPress theme aggregators, let’s take a look at commercial WordPress theme agencies.
Commercial WP Theme Design Companies
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a great selection of professional quality premium WP themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on above images to see more themes from SoloStream)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes creates eye-catching themes that are very popular and highly sought after by web users and offer a membership option that gives you access to all themes in their growing theme portfolio.
(click on the images above to see all themes from WooThemes)
StoreFront
StoreFront specializes in WordPress themes for e-commerce. StoreFront themes also integrate well with some of the most powerful e-commerce platforms and plugins available.
(click on the above images to browse more StoreFront themes)
StudioPress
StudioPress provides 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 designs with beautiful frames for the content and unprecedented control of the framework.
Many website developers prefer using this framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps this framework frequently up-to-date to reflect best practices for coding and to make sure that themes remain 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 themes built with the Genesis framework use something called “child themes,” which are like “skins” that sit 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 very easy to work with, just like all other WordPress themes. The great thing about choosing StudioPress themes is that you pay 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 see all StudioPress themes)
Theme-Checking Tools
Let’s finish this post with a couple of useful WP theme-related tools worth knowing about:
What WordPress Theme Is That? – WP Theme Checker
What WordPress Theme Is That.com is a free WordPress theme and plugin-checking tool that lets you easily detect what WP theme and plugins a site 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 can’t tell whether a site runs on WordPress or not, we have published a a great tutorial that shows you how to tell whether or not a site uses the WP 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 if the site has been built on the WordPress CMS platform, but it will also list the theme being used and list any plugins detected.
- To use this tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That
- To learn more about using this tool go here: Is Your Site Powered By WordPress?
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – WordPress Plugin
We said this before and it’s worth repeating it again: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we highly recommend sticking with the approved themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.
A well-known method used by a number of hackers and cyber criminals is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” WP themes all over the web and then distribute themes that contain malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even come up on search engine results for phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s safer, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress theme repository, or use established and trusted sites.
If you have any doubts about whether a WordPress theme installed on your site could be infected with potentially malicious or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to perform a scan of your WordPress theme files. This plugin searches the source files of every them you have installed on your site for signs of injected code and then outputs a report …
(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Screenshot Source: WordPress.org Plugin Page)
I hope that you have found the information on how to find great WP useful.
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