In another post, we have written a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you would like to learn more about the benefits of using WP themes and what makes themes so revolutionary in terms of web design, then make sure to check out the article here: A Handy Guide To Understanding WP Themes
In this blog post, you will learn where to explore loads of 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 customer support and poorly-coded themes.
As we’ve explained in our previously-mentioned article, a WordPress theme is a special type of web design template that is used on WordPress-driven websites and blogs and designed specifically on the WP CMS platform.
Many talented website designers and website development agencies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WP community can access thousands of unique themes designed to cover many purposes and needs.
Finding WP Themes: Too Much Information … Where To Begin?
Let’s say you were to fire up Google and search for the following:
- best themes for WordPress
- best free themes for WordPress
- best paid WordPress themes for artists (or whatever your business, search topic or blog is about)
Chances are that you are going to get an overwhelming amount of junk to sort through in the 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 WordPress themes really simple.
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes
Before we start, you need to know that WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll explain these differences in a different post. To keep things simple, let’s just 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 the design aspects of your site.
Free vs Paid WP Themes
Next, it’s important to know that you will find thousands of Free and Paid themes made available. Free themes for WordPress are generally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they can be sold as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.
Theme Marketplaces And Directories Commercial And Independent Theme Vendors
There are two 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 WP theme vendors.
WordPress theme marketplaces and WordPress theme directories are large theme aggregators. theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and visitors find these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software directory.
Some of the larger marketplaces 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 WordPress theme vendors typically will create both free and commercial WordPress themes, and can vary in size, from an individual designer or a small team of theme developer, to large theme design and development companies.
Most commercial theme design firms 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 search for great themes for your blog.
Finding The Best Themes For Your Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – Free WordPress Theme Directory)
The official WordPress.org theme directory is the largest and best place to search for WordPress themes for free. 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 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 WordPress.org directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your site, but it also uses a theme review team comprised of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers to review and ensure that each theme uploaded to the directory complies with certain standards of quality and security.
To browse thousands of great-looking FREE WordPress themes from the official Themes Repository, 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 WordPress theme in the WordPress.org directory and not only find a great theme for your website or blog, but also easily install and activate it directly from within your WordPress admin panel with a couple of mouse clicks.
Use The Theme Filters
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 a gray colour design, with a 3-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in an earlier article where we present an overview of WordPress themes and discuss the importance of using “responsive” WP themes, we explained how responsive themes allow your site to be viewed correctly on all devices (e.g. computers, 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 themes that have been built using “responsive” design standards …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free WP Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free WP themes is that it costs nothing to download and use the theme. An added plus, is that many free themes are professionally designed and provide a number of built-in customizable options, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.
The downside of 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 theme developer to provide dedicated support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most freely distributed 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 the theme may have been abandoned by its developer.
If you’re just getting started and your website or blog is still quite 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 paid themes. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free could be exactly what works for you and helps to convert your site visitors into customers.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free WP themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and ways to narrow down your search for themes that meet your specific criteria, let’s turn our attention to premium themes.
Paid 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 most popular WordPress theme marketplaces online.
ThemeForest allows many professional WordPress theme designers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are currently over 15,000 premium WordPress themes listed (you can find great themes from as little as $3) …
(click on the images above to view more ThemeForest themes)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme directory, you will be able to browse for specific themes in various categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for general blogs and green living blogs, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for government sites or marketing purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for creative work, kindle book authors, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes suitable for sites about travel, buy & sell, community resources, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for selling products online, 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. 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, medical practitioners, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to apps, newsletters, 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 find great premium WordPress themes in the ThemeForest themes website:
Creative Market
(click on the images above to browse more themes on Creative Market)
Creative Market is another leading WP theme marketplace where you can search through thousands of 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 find themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories using their dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great premium themes crafted by independent WP theme designers in the Creative Market marketplace here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the above images to view more 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 WordPress themes and search through their theme categories (e.g. Responsive or eCommerce themes and theme frameworks, etc.) by choosing the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great premium WP themes in the Mojo theme marketplace here:
Now that we have looked at WordPress theme directories, let’s look at commercial and independent WordPress theme agencies.
Commercial And Independent Theme Vendors
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 view all SoloStream themes)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes creates eye-catching 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 above images to see all themes from WooThemes)
StoreFront
StoreFront specializes in creating WP 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 view all StoreFront themes)
StudioPress
StudioPress builds WordPress themes based on a framework that lets users quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress site, and provides a self-updating design architecture, turn-key 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 this framework frequently updated to reflect best coding practices and to make sure that it is 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 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 very easy to work with, just like all other WordPress themes. The great thing about choosing themes from StudioPress 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 view more themes from StudioPress)
WP Theme-Checking Tools
To round things up, here are a few more useful WordPress theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:
What WP Theme Is That – WordPress Theme And Plugin Checker
What WordPress Theme Is That is a free online tool that allows you to easily detect what WordPress theme a website or blog is using (including parent and child themes).
This is a great resource if you ever come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what WordPress theme is being used on the site.
Tip: If you can’t tell whether a site uses WordPress or not, go here for a great tutorial that shows you how to tell if a site is WP-driven: Is Your Website Powered By 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 has been built on the WordPress CMS platform, but it will also list the WP theme being used and list any WP plugins it detects.
- To use the online tool visit the website here: What WordPress Theme Is That
- To learn how to use this tool go here: The Easy Way To Tell If Your Blog Runs On The WordPress CMS Platform
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – WordPress 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 commonly-used strategy employed by many hacking groups and cyber criminals is to put up websites and directories offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and distribute modified themes and plugins that contain malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even display on Google’s search results for search phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress directory, or use established and trusted theme vendors.
If you are in doubt about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your site may be infected with malicious or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to run a scan of your theme files. This plugin scans the source files of every them you have installed on your site for signs of suspicious code and then presents you with a report …
(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Screenshot: Plugin)
We hope that you have found the information on how to find great free and paid themes for WordPress useful.
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