In a separate article, we provide new WordPress users with a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you haven’t yet discovered WP themes and what makes themes so special, then make sure to check out this article: An Overview of WordPress Themes
In this article, you will learn where to find many professional free and paid themes for your 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 avoid having to deal with problems like lack of support and poorly-coded themes.
As explained in another post, a WordPress theme is a unique kind of web template used on WordPress-driven websites and designed specifically with WordPress in mind.
Many individual web designers and website design firms create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users can access thousands of professional-quality WP themes covering a wide-range of uses and applications.
Where To Find Themes: So Many Choices … Where To Begin?
Let’s say you were to open up Google and search for the following:
- best WP themes
- best premium WordPress themes
- best paid WordPress themes for artists (type in whatever your business, search topic or website is about)
Chances are that you are going to get an overwhelming amount of information to sort through in the search results.
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 WordPress themes 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 post. For now, please note that we will only be covering 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 web design.
Free vs Paid Themes
Next, it’s useful to know that there are both Free and Paid themes being made available. Free WordPress themes are generally distributed as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they will be listed as Premium (paid) themes.
Theme Marketplaces And Directories & WordPress Theme Stores
There are mostly two places where you can find themes. The first is in theme marketplaces and WordPress theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent theme vendors.
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 visitors search 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 WP plugins and templates for other web applications (e.g. Joomla, Drupal, etc.)
Commercial and independent WP theme agencies can also design both free and premium WordPress themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme developer or a small team of theme designer, to large web and theme design and development companies.
Many commercial or independent theme shops 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 great themes for your blog.
Where To Find WP Themes For Your Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – WP 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 WP theme directory you should use when looking for free WordPress 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 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 WordPress site, but it also relies on a team of theme reviewers to review and ensure that each theme listed in the directory meets high quality and security standards.
To browse thousands of excellent FREE WordPress themes from the official WP Themes Repository, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Find Free Themes Inside Your Own WP Dashboard
Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every 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 WP dashboard with only a couple of mouse clicks.
Use Theme Filtering
WordPress has a built-in 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 easy to find what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly gray colour design, with a 4-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in the post where we discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” themes, we explained how responsive themes ensure that your theme will display without problems across all devices (e.g. computers, tablets and smartphones) …
You should use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filter lets you search across its entire database of free themes …
… and bring up only themes that use “responsive” design standards …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free WordPress Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free WordPress themes is that there is no cost to download and use the theme. An added plus, is that many free themes are professionally designed and offer a number of 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 free themes ask users for donations to help cover their costs of providing support and updates, bug fixes, etc..
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 made, then you should think twice about using it, as WordPress changes quite often and this can create conflicts or errors with older code.
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 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 for your business.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free themes in the WordPress theme directory and how to filter your search for themes that meet specific requirements, it’s time to turn our attention to premium WP themes.
Paid WP 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 ongoing 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 best-known WordPress theme marketplaces online.
ThemeForest lets many professional WP theme designers showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are currently over 17,000 premium WordPress themes listed (some starting from as little as $3) …
(click on the above images to browse more themes on ThemeForest)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme directory, you will be able to browse for specific WP themes in a range of categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for general blogs and blog magazines, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for business sites and marketing purposes.
- Creative – themes for design, freelancers, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes ideal for sites related to employment opportunities, classifieds, tourism directories, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for ecommerce, event bookings and registrations, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to training, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for fashion blogs, nightlife, etc.
- Mobile – e.g. responsive 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 catalogs, trades or professionals (repairers, legal practitioners, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to apps, affiliate marketing, seo, product reviews, direct sales, 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 sends you theme update notifications)
Go here to find great premium themes in the ThemeForest theme site:
Creative Market
(click on the images above to see more Creative Market themes)
Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme directory where you can browse thousands of 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 find themes for WordPress and narrow your search using theme categories (e.g. Blog or Commerce themes, etc.) using their dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great themes crafted by independent WP theme designers in the Creative Market directory here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the images above to browse all themes at Mojo)
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 WordPress themes and narrow your search with theme categories by using the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great themes in the Mojo themes marketplace here:
Now that we have looked at WordPress theme marketplaces, let’s look at commercial and independent WP theme vendors.
Commercial And Independent WP Theme Stores
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a selection of high quality premium themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on above images to see all SoloStream themes)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes creates eye-catching themes that are very popular and highly sought after by website users and offers a membership option that allows members access to all themes in their WordPress theme collection.
(click on the above images to see more themes from WooThemes)
StoreFront
StoreFront specializes in creating WP themes for e-commerce. Their themes also integrate well with some of the most powerful e-commerce platforms and plugins available.
(click on the images above to browse more StoreFront themes)
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 site, and provides an auto-updating design architecture, turn-key designs with beautiful frames for your content and unprecedented control of the framework.
Many web 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 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 “skins” that sit on top of the framework and gives your site its unique design.
If this sounds 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 above images to view all themes from StudioPress)
Theme-Checking Tools
Let’s finish this article with a couple of useful WordPress theme-related tools worth knowing about:
What WordPress Theme Is That
What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free WordPress theme-checking tool that lets you easily detect what WordPress theme a site uses (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 site.
Tip: If you don’t know if a site runs on WordPress or not, we have published a a great tutorial that shows you how to tell if a website is WP-driven: Is My Website Built Using WordPress? Tell-Tale Signs & WordPress-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 has been built on the WP CMS platform, but it will also list the WordPress theme being used by the site and list any WordPress plugins it detects.
- To use the tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That?
- To learn how to use this tool go here: Was My Website Built Using WordPress? Tell-Tale Signs & WordPress-Checking Tools
Theme Authenticity Checker - Plugin
We said this before and it’s worth repeating again: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we highly recommend sticking with the WP themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.
A commonly-used method employed by many hackers and cyber criminals is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and distribute themes and plugins containing malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even come up on Google’s search results for phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress directory, or use well-known and trusted theme download sites.
If you are in doubt about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your site may contain malware or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your theme files. The plugin scans the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of injected code and presents you with a report with the results …
(TAC Report Page – Source: Plugin)
We hope that you have found the information on how to find the best free and commercial responsive themes for WordPress useful.
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