In an earlier post, we provide new WordPress users with a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you would like to know more about the benefits of using themes and what makes WordPress themes so attractive to web site owners, then go here to read the post: An Overview of WP Themes
In this article, you will learn where to browse hundreds of free and paid themes for your WordPress website. You will also learn about the different types of WP theme resources and get tips on how to make sure that you get the right themes for your needs and avoid experiencing problems like lack of support and poorly-coded themes.
As explained in our previous article, a theme is a unique kind of web design template that is used on WordPress-powered websites and blogs and designed to work specifically for WordPress.
Many web designers and web development agencies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WordPress community can access thousands of great WordPress themes covering an extensive range of applications.
Finding Great Themes For WordPress: How To Avoid Getting Overwhelmed
Let’s say you were to go to Google and type key phrases like this:
- best responsive WP themes
- best premium themes for WordPress
- best responsive WordPress themes for artists (or whatever your business, search topic or website is about)
Chances are that you are going to get an overwhelming amount of junk to sort through in your 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 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 a separate post. To keep things simple, we’ll only cover themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this post, which gives you more freedom, more options and more control over the design of your blog.
Free vs Paid Themes
Next, it’s useful to know that typically, you’ll find both Free and Paid themes 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 made available to users as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.
Theme Marketplaces & Theme Stores
There are 2 kinds of places where WP themes can be found. The first is in WP theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent WordPress theme stores.
WP theme marketplaces and WordPress 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 customers shop for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software directory.
Some of the bigger theme stores 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 develop both free and paid themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme developer or a small team of developer, to large web and theme design and development companies.
As you will see, many commercial 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 WordPress theme directories .
Let’s now show you where to find great WP themes for your website.
Finding Responsive Themes For Your Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – Theme Directory)
The official WordPress theme directory is the biggest and best place to search for WP themes for free. In fact, it’s probably the only free WP theme directory you should use when looking for free WP themes. The reason why, is because –as many 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 WP directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your WordPress site, but it also relies on a theme review team comprised of dedicated and hard working volunteers to review and make sure that each theme uploaded to the directory meets high standards of quality and security.
To browse thousands of professionally-designed FREE WordPress themes from the official WP Themes Repository, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Find Themes Inside Your 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 start using it directly from within your WP dashboard with just a few mouse clicks.
Use The WP 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 Colours, Layout and Features …
This makes it easier to find themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with a gray color design, with a 3-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in another post where we discuss the importance of using “responsive” WordPress themes, we explained how responsive themes ensure that your theme will display correctly on all devices (e.g. your computer, tablet and smartphone) …
You should use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering function lets you search across its entire database of free themes …
… and bring back only themes that use “responsive” design standards …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free WP Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free WP themes is that it costs you nothing to download and use the theme. An added plus, is that many free themes are professionally designed and provide a number of customizable settings, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.
The downside of using free WordPress themes are that your themes may not get updated as often with new features and bug fixes, and it’s unrealistic to expect the theme developer to provide personal support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many 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 more than a year since any change was made, then you should think carefully about downloading it, as WordPress changes quite frequently and this can result in 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 any money on a theme. 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 ways to narrow down your search for themes that meet your specific requirements, it’s time to turn our attention to finding premium themes.
Paid WordPress 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 ongoing support, you can search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:
WP Theme Marketplaces
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the largest and best-known WP theme directories online.
ThemeForest allows many professional WP theme developers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are currently over 17,000 premium themes listed (some starting from as little as $3) …
(click on the above images to see more themes on ThemeForest)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme marketplace, you will be able to browse for specific WP themes in a range of categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for general blogs and administration sites, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for business sites and marketing purposes.
- Creative – themes for portfolios, cv and resume writing, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes ideal for sites about directory listings, classifieds, social directories, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for online shopping, membership sites, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to training, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for celebrity blogs, restaurants, 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 travel, trades or professionals (repairers, engineering, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to apps, affiliate marketing, seo, product reviews, direct sales, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and romance tips and advice blogs
- Miscellaneous – themes suitable for topics related to activism, 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 browse many great premium themes in the ThemeForest directory:
Creative Market
(click on the images above to browse more Creative Market themes)
Creative Market is another leading WP theme directory 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 WordPress themes in its marketplace, but you can easily browse hundreds of WP themes and narrow your search using theme categories from their dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great premium WordPress themes crafted by independent WP theme developers in the Creative Market marketplace here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the images above to view all WordPress themes at Mojo)
Mojo is a marketplace 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 WP themes, but you can easily go through all of their themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories by choosing the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great WordPress themes in the Mojo directory here:
Now that we have looked at WP theme marketplaces, let’s look at commercial WP theme developers.
Commercial Theme Agencies
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a selection of high quality WP themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on images above to browse all themes from SoloStream)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes creates stunning WP themes and offers a membership option that gives you access to all themes in their growing theme portfolio.
(click on the images above to see more WooThemes themes)
StoreFront
StoreFront Themes creates stunning 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 see all themes from StoreFront)
StudioPress
StudioPress designs WordPress themes based on a framework that allows you to 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 your 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 the framework regularly updated to reflect best practices for coding and to make sure that themes remain always compatible with the latest WordPress version, 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 design.
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 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 images above to see all themes from StudioPress)
Theme-Checking Tools
Here are a few more useful WP theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:
What WordPress Theme Is That?
What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free WordPress theme-checking tool that allows you to easily detect what WP theme and plugins a website or blog is using.
This is a great resource if you ever come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what theme the website or blog is using.
Tip: If you can’t tell whether a site was built using WordPress or not, go here for a great tutorial that shows you how to tell whether or not a website uses WordPress: Is My Blog 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 not only confirm whether or not a site is built using WordPress software, but it will also list the theme being used on the site and list any plugins detected.
- To use the online tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That?
- To learn more about using this tool go here: Does My Site Run On WordPress?
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)
A word of warning: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we highly recommend sticking with the approved WP themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.
A strategy that is commonly used by many hackers and networks that engage in cyber criminal activities is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” WordPress themes all over the web and distribute modified themes containing malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even come up on Google for key phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s safer, therefore, to only download free WP themes from the official WordPress.org repository, or use well-known and reputable theme download sites.
If you have any concerns about whether a WordPress theme installed on your blog may contain malware or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to perform a scan of your WordPress theme files. The plugin scans 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: Plugin)
We hope that you have found this information useful.
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