In a previous article, we have written a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you haven’t yet discovered themes and what makes WP themes so special, then go here to read our article: A Practical Guide To Understanding WP Themes
In this article, we explain where to search 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 avoid experiencing problems like lack of product support and poor coding.
As we’ve explained in another post, a theme is a unique type of web template used on WordPress-driven sites and designed specifically on WordPress.
Many individual website designers and website development companies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WordPress community can access thousands of professional-quality themes covering an extensive range of applications.
Finding Themes: How To Avoid Information Overload
If you were to go to Google and search for the following:
- best premium themes for WordPress
- WordPress themes free
- best responsive WordPress themes for authors (enter whatever your business, search topic or website is about)
You are probably going to get an overwhelming amount of junk to sort through in your search results.
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 really 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 explain these differences in a different post. To keep things simple, let’s just 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 areas of your website.
Free vs Paid WP Themes
Next, it’s important to know that you can find thousands of Free and Paid themes made available. Free themes are normally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they will be made available to users as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.
WordPress Theme Directories vs Commercial Theme Shops
There are mostly two different types of places where you can find WordPress themes. The first type of place is in WordPress theme marketplaces and WordPress theme directories. The second place are the commercial and independent theme developers.
WordPress theme marketplaces and 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 search for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software directory.
Some of the larger 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 theme design companies can also design both free and paid themes, and can vary in size, from an individual designer or a small team of theme designer, to large theme development companies.
As you will see, 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 WordPress theme directories .
Let’s now show you where to find the best themes for your website.
Finding A Great Theme For Your Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – Free Theme Directory)
The official WordPress theme directory is the largest and best place to find free WP themes. In fact, it’s probably the only free 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 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 WP site, but it also relies on a review team to review and make sure that each theme in the directory meets specific standards of quality and security.
To browse thousands of professionally-designed FREE WordPress themes from the official Themes Directory, 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 theme in the WordPress.org theme directory and not only find a great theme for your website or blog, but also easily install and activate it directly from within your WP admin panel with a couple of 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 easier to find themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly gray color design, with a 2-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in another article where we present an overview of WordPress themes and discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” themes, we explained how these allow your site to be viewed without problems across all devices (e.g. PCs, tablets and smartphones) …
You should use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filter lets you search across its entire database of free themes …
… and display only themes that use “responsive” design standards …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free WP Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free WP themes is that there is no cost to download and use the theme on your site. An added plus, is that many free themes are professionally designed and provide 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 of 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 theme developer to provide dedicated support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many 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 1 year since any changes were last made, then you should think carefully about using it, as the theme may have been abandoned by its developer.
If you’re just getting started and your website 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 premium themes. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free could be exactly what works for you and for converting your site visitors into customers.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free themes in the WordPress theme directory and how to narrow down your search for themes that meet specific requirements, it’s time to 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 ongoing support, then search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:
Theme Marketplaces And Directories
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the biggest and most popular WordPress theme directories online.
ThemeForest allows many professional WP theme designers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are currently over 17,000 premium themes to choose from (some starting from as little as $3) …
(click on the above images to see all themes on ThemeForest)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme directory, you will be able to browse for specific WordPress themes in a range of categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for bloggers and environmental blogs, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for corporate sites and advertising purposes.
- Creative – themes for visual galleries, galleries, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes that suit sites about travel, classifieds, tourism directories, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for ecommerce, membership sites, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to teaching, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for fashion blogs, cafes, 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. home sales, etc.)
- Retail – themes for shops, trades or professionals (repairers, dentists, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to apps, landing pages, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and wedding 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 discover great WP themes in the ThemeForest marketplace:
Creative Market
(click on the above images to see all Creative Market themes)
Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme directory where you can browse 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 WordPress themes in its marketplace, but you can easily find themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories from their dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great themes crafted by independent WordPress theme developers in the Creative Market themes directory here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the images above 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 WP themes, but you can easily go through all of their WP themes and search through their theme categories by choosing the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great premium themes in the Mojo directory here:
Now that we have looked at WP theme marketplaces, let’s turn our attention to commercial and independent WordPress theme stores.
Commercial Theme Stores
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a great selection of high quality WordPress 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 designs stunning themes for WordPress that are very popular and highly sought after by website users and also offer a membership option that gives you access to their entire WP theme collection.
(click on the above images to browse more themes from WooThemes)
StoreFront
StoreFront Themes 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 themes from StoreFront)
StudioPress
StudioPress develops WordPress themes based on a framework (called the “Genesis” framework) that allows users to quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress website, and provides a self-updating design architecture, turn-key site designs with beautiful frames for the content and unprecedented control of the framework.
Many website developers like the Genesis 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 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 using the Genesis framework use something called “child themes,” which are like “skins” that sit on top of the theme framework and gives your site its unique design.
If this all 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 StudioPress themes 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 browse all StudioPress themes)
Theme-Checking Tools
To round things up, here are a couple of useful WordPress theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:
What WP Theme Is That WP Theme Checker
What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free online tool that allows you to easily detect what WordPress theme a website uses.
This is a great resource if you ever come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what theme the site uses.
Tip: If you can’t tell if a site runs on WordPress or not, we have posted a a great tutorial that shows you how to tell if a website is WordPress-driven: 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 was built on the WordPress CMS platform, but it will also list the WordPress theme being used by the site and list any WP plugins it detects.
- To use this online tool visit the website here: What WordPress Theme Is That
- To learn how to use this tool go here: How Can I Tell If My Website Was Built With WordPress?
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – Plugin
We suggested this before and it’s worth repeating 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 tactic that is commonly used by a number of hacking groups and syndicates that engage in cyber-crime is to put up websites offering “Free” WordPress themes all over the web and then 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 safer, therefore, to only download free WP themes from the official WordPress repository, or use established and trusted theme merchants.
If you have any concerns about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your site may be infected with potentially malicious or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your WP theme files. This plugin searches the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of suspicious code and then presents you with a report with the results …
(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Source: Plugin)
I hope that you have found this information useful.
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