Best free WordPress themes
WordPress provides one of the best content management systems (CMS), a simple but powerful platform that can be used to create and publish many different types of website.
At the heart of WordPress is the ability to create dynamic content using only basic rules. Applied to both post and pages makes it an incredibility versatile platform for publishing content to the web.
WordPress is just as comfortable being used to develop small static websites as it is for large news websites, or even a mixture of both.
Originally developed as a blogging platform, the free and open source nature of the project over time has led to a huge supporting community of developers.
There are a huge number of plugins to offer additional functionality – and an even bigger number of customized themes, many of which are available for free, which can all be simply and easily added to a website.
Here we feature some of the main websites that offer free WordPress themes, allowing you to not just create a customized website for free, but also its look and appearance.
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(Image credit: WordPress Theme Directory)
1. WordPress Theme Directory
Huge number of themes
Sort by type or style
A lot to sort through
As you might expect, the most popular place to find free WordPress themes is the official WordPress.org Theme Directory, which you can access straight from your WordPress dashboard.
WordPress.org has a volunteer theme review team who review and approve all submissions, and only those that meet quality and security requirements make it through.
With a current total of 4,486 themes to choose from, there are a number of ways to drill down to the specific theme you’re looking for. The Featured, Popular and Latest tabs at the top of the page are self-explanatory, while the Feature Filter button allows you to specify what kind of layout, subject and/or functionality you’re looking for in a theme. Or you can just enter appropriate keywords into the search box on the top right.
(Image credit: themegrade)
2. themegrade
Over 2,000 themes
Each theme rated
Editorial views
Launched in 2009, this site offers comprehensive review of WordPress themes, both for their visual design and their SEO value.
There are currently 1,628 free themes and 926 paid themes on the site, which have all been ranked Gold, Silver or Bronze by the team of reviewers. There are also detailed editor reviews of more than 40 WordPress theme providers.
To find what you’re looking for quickly, you can either use the search bar or the Friendly Theme Search, which helps you drill down by layout, subject category and ranking.
(Image credit: JustFreeThemes)
3. JustFreeThemes
Over 1,000 themes
Themes are graded
Most popular sorting
Click the Best Themes menu option to see the 10 most popular free WordPress themes of the year. You can also search for themes in the (slightly difficult to see) search box in the top right, and sign up for a free email service that notifies you once a week of last week’s best free themes.
(Image credit: FabThemes)
4. FabThemes
Curated listings
No hidden link footers
Ratings and reviews
Many sites are good at curating good-looking free WordPress themes, but FabThemes makes a point of only including themes that are also technically well made, and won’t end up causing nasty surprises down the line.
Promising no junk code, FabThemes promises that “Unlike other free themes spawning out there, we do not encrypt our theme footer files. We keep it clean and transparent so that you can use our themes with the confidence that your site will be safe.”
You can see themes arranged by popularity or date added. There are specially curated collections of wedding and photography-related themes, and you can search by subject and/or color. Ratings are attached to each theme based on user reviews, and users can leave comments on the page too.
(Image credit: aThemes)
5. aThemes
Includes own themes
Best practice standards
Easy translation options
Each theme appears in category listings, and each theme has its own dedicated page in which features and functions are described and explained. There are demo versions available for each, and documentation is provided.
All themes come with regular updates and support, which can mean fixing bugs or adding features according to changes to the WordPress code base.
Additionally, aThemes develops its own themes to WordPress best practice standards, which means that they are easy to translate into languages other than English, and also provide live previews through the WordPress customizer.
