In a previous post, we have written a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you haven’t yet discovered themes and what makes themes so attractive to web site owners, then go here to read the post: A Basic Guide To Understanding WP Themes
In this article, you will learn where you can search for free and paid themes for your WordPress site. You will also learn about the different types of WordPress theme resources and get tips on how to ensure that you get the right themes for your needs and avoid experiencing problems like lack of support and poorly-coded themes.
As we’ve explained in another article, a theme is a unique kind of web template used on WordPress-driven sites and designed specifically with WordPress in mind.
Many skilled website designers and website design companies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WordPress community enjoy access to thousands of uniquely-designed themes designed to cover many purposes and needs.
Finding Great Responsive Themes For WordPress: How To Avoid Getting Overwhelmed
Let’s say you were to browse over to Google and type the following:
- best free themes for WordPress
- WordPress themes free
- best responsive WordPress themes for artists (type in whatever your business, search topic or website is about)
You are probably 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 WP themes simple.
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes
Before we start, you should know that WordPress offers users both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll explain these differences in a different article. In this post, let’s just cover 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 themes made available. Free WordPress themes are normally distributed as Open Source 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 Marketplaces Commercial And Independent Theme Developers
There are mostly 2 places where WP themes can be found. The first type of place is in WP theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent theme stores.
WordPress theme marketplaces and theme directories are large aggregators of themes. WordPress theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and visitors shop for 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 WP theme vendors typically will develop both free and premium WordPress themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme designer or a small team of designer, to large web and theme design and development companies.
Most commercial or independent theme stores sell 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 directories .
Let’s now show you where to find great themes for your blog.
Finding The Best Themes For Your WordPress Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – Themes Directory)
The official WordPress theme directory is the largest and best place to find WP themes for free. In fact, it’s probably the only free WordPress theme directory you should use when looking for free WP themes. The reason for this, is because –as some 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 and even your entire business at risk.
The WordPress theme directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your website, but it also relies on a review team comprised of dedicated and hard working volunteers to review and ensure that each theme in the directory complies with certain quality and security standards.
To browse thousands of excellent 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 directory and not only find a great theme for your website or blog, but also easily install and activate it directly from inside your WP dashboard with a few mouse clicks.
Use The WP Theme Feature Filters
WordPress provides a 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 easier to find what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with a orange color design, with a 3-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in the post mentioned earlier where we present an overview of WordPress themes and discuss the importance of using “responsive” WP themes, we explained how these ensure that your theme will work across all devices (e.g. your visitors’ laptops, smartphones and tablets) …
You should use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filter lets you search across its entire database of free themes …
… and bring back only WordPress themes that are “responsive” …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free WP Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free themes is that it’s free to download and use the theme on your site. Additionally, many free themes are professionally designed and provide a number of customizable options, 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 you shouldn’t expect the developer to provide personal support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most free themes will ask you for a donation 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 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, 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 a theme. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free could be exactly what 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 narrow down your search for themes that meet specific criteria, it’s time to turn our attention to finding paid themes.
Paid 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:
Theme Marketplaces And Directories
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the largest and well known theme directories online.
ThemeForest lets many professional WP theme creators showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are well over 15,000 premium themes listed (some starting from as little as $3) …
(click on the above images to view more 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 personal blogs and political blogs, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for corporate sites and advertising purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for portfolios, galleries, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes that suit sites related to employment opportunities, classifieds, , etc.
- eCommerce – themes for ecommerce, event bookings and registrations, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to training, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for photo gallery blogs, music venues, etc.
- Mobile – e.g. retina-ready themes.
- NonProfit – themes for nonprofit organizations, charities, etc.
- Real Estate – themes for real estate and real estate listings (e.g. rentals, etc.)
- Retail – themes for beauty products, trades or professionals (electricians, medical practitioners, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to hosting, affiliate marketing, seo, product reviews, direct sales, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and dating 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 emails you theme update notifications)
Browse lots of quality premium WP themes in the ThemeForest marketplace here:
Creative Market
(click on the above images to see all themes on Creative Market)
Creative Market is another leading WP theme directory where you can browse many 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 WordPress themes in its directory, but you can easily find WordPress themes and search through their theme categories from the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great premium themes crafted by independent WP theme designers in the Creative Market themes directory here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the above images to browse more themes at Mojo.com)
Mojo is a marketplace for premium-quality 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 find WordPress themes and search through their theme categories (e.g. BuddyPress or Photography themes and theme frameworks, etc.) by selecting the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great premium themes in the Mojo marketplace here:
Now that we have looked at WordPress theme aggregators, let’s turn our attention to commercial and independent WP theme vendors.
Commercial Theme Design Houses
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a great selection of professional quality premium themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on above images to browse all themes from SoloStream)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes creates eye-catching premium themes and offer a membership option that allows members to access all themes in their growing theme collection.
(click on the images above to view all themes from WooThemes)
StoreFront
StoreFront Themes creates gorgeous 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 images above to see more themes from StoreFront)
StudioPress
StudioPress provides WordPress themes based on a framework that allows you 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 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 consistently updated to reflect best practices for coding and to ensure that it always remains compatible with the latest WordPress version, but because you can update your themes 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 too technical, there’s no need to feel concerned about it. StudioPress themes are 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 above images to see more themes from StudioPress)
Theme-Checking Tools
Let’s finish this article with a few more useful WP theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:
What WP Theme Is That? – WP Theme And Plugin Search Tool
What WordPress Theme Is That.com is a free WP theme search tool that allows you to easily detect what WordPress theme a website 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 WordPress theme the website is using.
Tip: If you can’t tell if a site was built using WordPress or not, go here for a great tutorial that helps you tell if 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 then not only confirm whether or not a site has been built using the WordPress CMS platform, but it will also list the WordPress theme being used on the site and list any WP plugins detected.
- To use the tool visit the website here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
- To learn how to use this tool go here: Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Web Site And WordPress-Checking Tools
Theme Authenticity Checker - WordPress Plugin
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 directory.
A well-known method used by a number of hackers and networks that engage in cyber-crime is to put up websites and directories offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and then distribute themes with malicious code embedded in their files. In fact, some of these sites even come up on Google for key phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to only download free WordPress themes from the official WordPress theme repository, or use established and trusted theme merchants.
If you have any concerns about whether a WordPress theme installed on your site could be infected with malware or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your WP theme files. The TAC plugin scans the source files of every them you have installed on your site for signs of injected code and presents you with a report with the results …
(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Screenshot: Plugin, WordPress.org)
We hope that you have found this information useful.
***
"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)
***