WordPress themes come in a wide range of looks, features, and functions. Although there are multipurpose themes designed for all kinds of websites, such as blogs, portfolios, and e-commerce sites, there are also themes specifically created for a particular niche.
We made sure to cover a wide range of multipurpose and niche themes so there would be something for everyone. Although they are all free, many of these themes also have premium versions that include additional features.
Getting started with WordPress and how to choose the best free themes are the focus of the first half of the article. If you’re already well seasoned in WordPress and want to dive right in, feel free to skip to the Best Free WordPress Themes. There we list 30 of the Best Multipurpose, WooCommerce, Blog, Portfolio and Magazine themes.
There are thousands of themes to choose from in WordPress
Some WordPress themes have ready-made templates for different niches that can fit into your website plan directly
Getting your themes from the WordPress directory ensures it is well coded
You can still get good website functionality even with free themes
Design, compatibility and support are just a few of the things to look out for when choosing a free theme.
Are Free WordPress Themes Good for Your Site?
Absolutely, free themes on WordPress are extremely beneficial to your website.
They add aesthetic value and increased functionality, often on par with premium themes, and at a low price point! There is no need to upgrade to a premium edition of a theme if the free version already provides everything you require.
With way over 200 already built Starter Templates at your disposal, themes, like Astra, even assist you in building any form of website.
Getting Started with WordPress
Firstly, make sure you are using WordPress, the world’s most popular CMS.
Tip
If you’re just beginning your WordPress journey, read our beginner’s guide: What is WordPress? An Overview of the World’s Most Popular CMS
Choose a Platform
Self-hosted WordPress.org is the go-to blogging platform since it avails you a great deal of autonomy, adaptability, and control. WordPress.com offers a free all in one solution, but it has limitations.
Finding a web hosting provider and plan is essential to get your website live. Getting WordPress hosting, optimized for your WordPress website, is ideal.
The domain name for your website will cost money. This is the internet address for your website. Use a name that is simple, memorable and relevant to your brand.
Choose a Theme
WordPress has support for thousands of free themes and plugins that let you expand your blog more quickly.
Learn how to use WordPress
WordPress is designed to be easy to use. But there are many tips and tricks to learn and plenty of resources.
For more information on getting started, refer to our beginner’s guide on How to Use WordPress
How To Choose The Best Free WordPress Theme
Finding a free theme is the easy part, there are thousands. Choosing a free theme that is of good quality, however, is a bit more of a challenge. Here are some key considerations when choosing your free theme.
Serious continuing development
Not everyone who can design a theme can also keep it up to date and provide adequate support in order to ensure that users will find it to be a worthwhile choice. Selecting a theme that the maintenance is ongoing and continuous would be a better choice.
Positive Social Proof and Good Reviews
The greatest way to tell if a theme creator has indeed been able to clear the first major filter of “serious continuous development†is through positive reviews and other forms of social verification. The more instances of strong social proof they have and the longer they have been promoting their theme, the better.
Security
You don’t need to be an expert in cybersecurity to be reasonably certain that your WordPress website theme complies with security best practices. Downloading any free WordPress website theme from the popular WordPress Collection is the simplest way you can do this. If something is in the repository, it has previously gone through a trustworthy quality-assurance procedure.
Essential Compatibility of WordPress Plugins
Plugins are what unleash WordPress’ true power by extending its capabilities (for example, by enabling the creation of online stores with WooCommerce) or enhancing its already-existing core functions (like when you use Yoast SEO to optimize your pages).
Major Page Builder Compatibility
The good news is that if a WordPress theme is listed in the official repository, it is already compatible with WordPress’ native Gutenberg, the world’s most extensively used site page builder. It’s a good idea to start with a theme that works with any or all of the popular page builders, such as Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, etc.
Multilingual and Translation Ready
Since most people in the globe do not understand English, a fundamental criteria for WordPress themes that you choose should be the fact that people may utilize them in their own language. Therefore, it should be able to make the user’s site available to others in a variety of languages.
Accessibility-Ready
The WordPress Repository allows developers to mark their themes as “accessibility-ready†if they have complied with a set of minimal accessibility requirements.
Good user-experience design
Very poor user-experience design frequently manifests in both the theme’s popularity and user evaluations. This would make it easier to identify the theme’s that are worthwhile for your site.
Reasonable Support Options
Reasonable support options are typically a public forum and documentation for free themes. Which is completely OK if the content found in those forums and documents are current and reliable enough to be useful.
What You Need to Be Aware of When Using a Free Theme
Even though the majority of these themes only demand an email address, what precautions should you take when choosing your free theme?
Older Design
Some of the free themes on WordPress were once paid themes before a fresh design took their place. This is not a problem. You might not get the newest material or a flat design, that’s all it means. However, nothing prevents you from including it yourself.
Limited Support
The Free themes are frequently offered “as-is†and you won’t receive the same degree of support as you would for a premium one.
Sometimes, developers will provide support, however, this is not always guaranteed. If you find that direct support for your chosen free theme is limited, check whether there are forums or online communities that address your needs. Communities, where users often provide a great alternative form of support. where users can assist one another.
However, you won’t receive the same degree of support from the free theme as you would from a premium one.
Slower Updates
Since developers must also cover expenses, they will prioritize their paid themes first. Therefore, free themes might not get any updates.
If you want to successfully choose a free theme yourself, then keep the above considerations in mind. If you want our recommendations for the best free WordPress themes, keep on reading
Best Free WordPress Themes
We’ve compiled a list of the most well-liked and user-friendly free WordPress themes on the market. There are five different categories of free themes to suit the intended purpose of your website. All of these themes guarantee excellent features and functionality to assist you in building a successful website.
You can start developing your website at a great price point by using a free WordPress theme. In a hurry? Here are the top 10 free WordPress themes in the following table.
A Look at Astra: Astra is a WordPress blog free theme that may be completely customized. It provides starting points for eCommerce websites, business blogs, portfolios, and personal blogs. It is responsive and seamlessly integrates with each of the top page builders available.
If necessary, you can quickly add an online marketplace to your blog thanks to its built-in support for WooCommerce. Additionally, it may be used to create blogs in just about any language and is ready for translation.
Astra is a simple theme with a wide range of color possibilities. It includes all Google fonts by default. This WordPress live custom builder has theme options, including the ability to add a logo.
Downloads:1+ million
Rating: 5/5
Key features and stats: lightweight, 100+ starter templates
Price: Free (or $49/year for the pro version with a $239+ lifetime deal)
Shapely combines great functionality with gorgeous visuals in a way that is both beautiful and useful. Your site development process will be significantly improved.
Despite its exclusive nature, the product is nonetheless accessible to all business sectors. Plugins like Yoast SEO, Google Analytics, Contact Form 7 and Gravity Forms will work with your website.
Neither coding nor specialized knowledge is required!
Additionally, Shapely offers thorough documentation, video training, and a helpful, knowledgeable support team.
Downloads: 100,000+ downloads
Review: 5/5
Key features and stats: one-page layout, WooCommerce compatible, flat and responsive design, and translatable
Blocksy is prepared to work its magic in creating several websites for diverse tasks.
Even if you’re a novice user, it was designed with Gutenberg and WooCommerce in mind for easy use. But we also discovered that it functions admirably with popular page editors like Elementor, Beaver Builder, and Brizy.
Because of this, Blocksy is a free theme for WordPress that is simple to adjust and has excellent layout, header, sidebar and footer choices.
With Blocksy, you may create a business page for your company or a personal blog.
Downloads: 80,000+
Rating: 5/5
Key features and stats: Built-in WooCommerce, Optimized for Gutenberg
Price: Free (annual plans from $49, lifetime plans from $149)
Kadence blows us away with its contemporary appearance. Kadence works best for businesses; we don’t suggest using it to launch a blog. But it’s fantastic for tiny, local businesses, internet programs, advertising firms, and personal branding, to mention a few.
We appreciate how easily Kadence integrates with popular plugins like bbPress, LearnDash, Elementor, and WooCommerce.
If you intend to build a genuinely attractive website, Kadence should be your first choice.
Downloads: 100,000+
Rating: 5/5
Key features and stats: seamless third-party plugin integration, simple customization, header and footer builders
Best for: Business, personal and eCommerce websites
A Look at Zakra:
Zakra features over 10 starter sites and a multi-purpose approach. Zakra works best for everything commercial, although it can still be used to create a blog.
And thanks to the simple WooCommerce integration, you can easily add an online marketplace to your website.
Additionally, due to its excellent flexibility, the design may be easily changed to meet your demands. It may be expanded with third-party plugins, integrated with all the well-known WordPress builders, and translated.
Downloads: 60,000+
Rating: 5/5
Key features and stats: wide and box layout, 10+ starter sites, regular updates
Price: Free (or $48.30+ for annual, $139.30 for lifetime)
One of the finest feature rich free WordPress themes, Qi Theme, has an amazing selection of 100 demos. Anything, including portfolios, blogs, business websites, and eCommerce, may be done with it.
It’s among the more noteworthy free theme options we’ve come across.
It comes in a compact design that ensures quick loading and excellent performance. Even though Qi Theme is relatively simple to use, it nevertheless includes helpful video tutorials and first-rate documentation.
Use Qi Theme to organize your projects, whether you are working on 1 or 100. (You even get free STOCK pictures!)
Downloads: 7,000+
Rating: 4.5/5
Key features and stats: Elementor page builder, Multiple starter websites, modern design,
Price: Free ($49+ for single and $99+ for unlimited sites)
Whenever it relates to the creative Go theme, it’s always go time. Although this excellent alternative works well for many purposes right out of the box, you may certainly design it further.
The straightforward design makes it easy to present all the information to the user in a stunning way and successfully pique their interest.
Go also has configurable fonts and colors, several footer and header designs, support for RTL, and social media menu links.
Before getting started, you have accessibility to the expert team if you happen to have any more questions. But first, use GO to evaluate numerous different iterations of potential websites.
Downloads: 90,000+
Rating: 4.5/5
Key features and stats: Configurable colors and fonts, social links, translated into 25+ languages
The most modern yet beautifully classic free theme available for various uses is Vantage.
It integrates a page builder, which simplifies the process of creating a polished website. Additionally, Vantage comes with a MetaSlider, a fantastic slider plugin that is free and makes managing your slideshows a breeze.
Take advantage of it for a fantastic visual presentation!
Lastly, Vantage works with WooCommerce, which you can use to create an online store for your website.
Downloads: 60,000+
Rating: 4.5/5
Key features and stats: 50+ widgets, Boxed and wide layout, CSS editor
Price: Free
5 Best free WooCommerce themes
Excellent template alternatives for online stores are available with free eCommerce themes for WordPress. Additional WordPress eCommerce plugins, such as WooCommerce, are supported.
Another one of those adaptable free WordPress themes that you may use for almost any website is Phlox.
Numerous free startup websites for businesses, agencies, travel, architects, and photographers are available, in addition to many more.
Phlox has so much free content that it easily outperforms many paid themes.
Appreciate their one-click importing and start using right away. Utilize the pre-made elements, create unique styles using Elementor, and even localize it for your audience.
Create a page that is as lovely as a Phlox!
Downloads: 50,000+
Rating: 5/5
Key features and stats: 19 demo sites, GDPR compliance, 30 custom widgets
Tyche is a focused WordPress theme for retail and apparel/clothing. It provides a shopping cart and has a design that is focused on making sales. It’s well-documented and has a huge amount of fantastic improved properties.
Additionally accessible are free delivery and a membership log-in account. The incredible WooCommerce plugin is compatible with Tyche.
It organizes its layout into several divisions like Trends, Most Wanted, and others.
Enjoy the Tyche website creation process. You’ll get it with a straightforward, uniformly colored design and clear code. Make a difference right away.
Downloads: 60,000+
Rating: 4.9/5
Key features and stats: Multiple sections for features, bold hero section, trending, and on-sale items
Creating online stores is now a kid’s game once you have Izabel. This free website theme for WordPress is all set and prepared to launch your online store in a matter of seconds.
Izabel has a simple, uncluttered appearance to provide a shopping experience that is distraction-free.
Izabel is also adaptable, quickly changing to fit desktop PCs, tablets, and smartphones. You can promote any item you want with Izabel, including furniture, clothing, accessories, purses, sunglasses, and electronics.
Portfolio, client testimonials, social media icons, plus right or left sidebar style options are the additional perks of Izabel. A blog area is a fantastic tool for content marketing and introducing new releases.
Downloads: 600+
Rating: 5/5
Key features and stats: Testimonials, Featured slider, quick setup
Price: Free (or $59.99/year for pro)
5 Best free WordPress blog themes
WordPress is popularly known for blogging. Any WordPress theme may be used to start a blog. These free WordPress themes, however, will support your efforts with features and designs tailored specifically for blogs.
Tip
If you’re planning to start a blog, you may want to explore our article on the best website builders for blogs. These builders are optimized for blogging, offering features that make it easier to create, manage, and grow your blog effectively.
The Writee theme has a simple enough design that it can be used for any type of blog. It’s perfect for novices because it’s so simple to set up. It includes a variety of widgets, including a “About Me†panel and social widgets, which bloggers will need.
Downloads: 8000+
Rating: 5/5
Key features and stats: Responsive themes with responsive designs
Ashe is a classy WordPress blog theme appropriate for markets like lifestyle, travel, or food. You can show your content using one of the many layouts it offers.
The WooCommerce connection makes it easy to sell goods and generate income from your blog. Additionally, you can use its promo-box feature to emphasize discounts and other ads by displaying up to three linked pictures in the header area.
Downloads: 60,000+
Rating: 5/5
Notable features: different layout options, promo boxes
Key features and stats: blogs
Price: freemium (from $29.99 for a lifetime license)
If your site is about beauty, food, beauty, or sports, Vilva can help you design it beautifully.
This versatile theme includes a social media connection that displays your posts and embeds your Instagram profile. In order to make it simple for visitors to subscribe, users can also add a membership or newsletter area to the site.
Additionally, the theme works with Google fonts of over 900, allowing you to customize the font to match your brand’s aesthetic.
Downloads: 6,000+
Rating: 5/5
Notable features and stats: newsletter and subscription section, Instagram integration
A sleek free WordPress blog theme named Hemingway uses a traditional two-column layout. It supports posts in the aside, video, standard, and quotation formats, among others.
A chosen post can be made sticky and positioned at the top part of the website’s homepage, making sure that visitors will not miss it.
Furthermore, the image section full-width’s header contributes to making a wonderful first impression, and the parallax effect for scrolling makes the user experience more engaging.
Downloads: 20,000+
Rating: 4.5/5
Notable features and stats: two-column design, sticky-post feature
Price: free
5 Best free WordPress portfolio themes
Tip
If you’re considering creating a portfolio website, you might be interested in reading about the best website builders specifically designed for portfolios. These platforms offer unique features that can help you showcase your work effectively and create a professional online presence.
For independent contractors who want to create their online portfolios, WordPress themes for portfolios provide attractive layout choices to showcase your projects.
Virtue is a customizable WordPress theme that may be easily customized. It has two page layout options, boxed and full-width, with 800 Google Fonts.
It also has a grid-style structure, which is a great choice for building an online portfolio. It has three header menu alternatives, and for a personalized browsing experience, each page may have a different header design.
Downloads: 40,000+
Rating: 5/5
Notable features and stats: multiple header menu options, 800+ Google Fonts
Inspiro is a freemium WordPress theme for video and photography websites. Self-hosted files as well as videos from Youtube and Vimeo are supported by the fullscreen background for video
The theme is also lightweight, which aids in speedy page loading. Additionally, it works with WooCommerce, allowing you to set up a store on your portfolio site.
Downloads: 50,000+
Rating: 4.5/5
Notable features and stats: multi-platform video support, fullscreen video background
Clean-looking Perfect Portfolio is a free theme for WordPress. The theme can be utilized by many creatives and professionals, such as designers, web developers, and illustrators. In contrast to the majority of portfolio themes on this list that are specifically geared at photographers.
Your works are presented in a tidy grid format in the portfolio section. Additionally, it lets you organize your content, and when visitors move to a different category, the theme employs a distinctive animation.
Additionally, the theme is WooCommerce-ready, enabling you to sell your products or services online and earn money.
Downloads: 3,000+
Rating: 5/5
Notable features and stats: grid layout, WooCommerce support
Best for: Photography, portfolio, and creative websites
A Look at Rife:
The WordPress theme Rife is excellent for creative companies, photographers, and clothing stores. It offers a wide range of customization tools to help you design the page layout you desire, including a one-page option, brick galleries for photographers, as well as a giant menu.
The adaptable slider accommodates a range of information, including images and videos, and the animation effect on the text gives the impression that it is being produced live.
Downloads: 30,000+
Rating: 5/5
Notable features and stats: one-page mode, mega menu, live writing effect
For portfolio blogs and websites looking for a dramatic design, Modern is a completely free and comprehensive WordPress theme. To display content, it has a slideshow in full-screen.
Numerous fields, such as graphic design, photography, and copywriting, fit this topic. Seven different categories of content, video, audio, video, and galleries, can be posted.
With the layout that is predefined from the theme’s demo website, the one-click demo content importer streamlines the creation of websites. However, the theme also supports a variety of drag-and-drop website page builders for simple modification if these options don’t fit your brand.
Downloads: 3,000+
Rating: 5/5
Notable features and stats: full-screen slideshow, multiple post formats
Price: free
5 Best free WordPress magazine themes
WordPress themes for magazines provide layouts for websites with plenty of posts, helping to display them in a clear and orderly way. Some of these themes additionally include elements like the news ticker or a banner for breaking news that assist in drawing users’ attention to important postings.
The popular internet magazine theme is called ColorMag. A site using it should load in less than one second because it was designed with speed in consideration.
The most recent headlines are shown at the beginning of the page in the news ticker in the header area. In addition, the slideshow’s home page could include significant news.
Additionally, ColorMag is WooCommerce ready and works with well-known page builders, enabling you to add a paid subscription option to the online magazine site.
Downloads: 100,000+
Rating: 5/5
Notable features and stats: WooCommerce-ready, news ticker header
Price: freemium (from $59/year or $169 for a lifetime license)
On the site, the news ticker section shows highlighted headlines and breaking news. The color from each category tag can be changed to aid website users in navigation.
The premium theme News Portal Pro offers WooCommerce compatibility, image features for hovering, and import of demo content.
Downloads: 9,000+
Rating: 5/5
Notable features and stats: category tag coloring, news ticker
Price: freemium (from $59.99/year or $119.99 for a lifetime license)
A contemporary WordPress theme for internet news websites is called Newsup. There is plenty of room to showcase your content on the site thanks to the responsive banner slider and post display grid-list included on the default example site.
The footer and header of the website can also be customized with a huge selection of social media icons, such as those for LinkedIn, Pinterest, and YouTube.
To help you monetize the online magazine website, this WordPress theme also works with WooCommerce and includes an advertisement widget.
Downloads: 30,000+
Rating: 5/5
Notable features and stats: news ticker,multi-content layout
A WordPress free theme designed specifically for magazine websites, SuperMag, offers a number of layout possibilities.
Additionally, it has a global color setting which enables you to quickly change the site’s background or primary color. Additionally, it allows for custom CSS, enabling users to manually alter the website’s design.
This theme for magazines is also ad-ready; users can use the theme’s settings or add widgets to insert adverts in various parts. Additionally, WooCommerce is compatible with it, allowing you to sell goods on your website.
Downloads: 5,000+
Rating: 5/5
Notable features and stats: global color settings, custom CSS, breaking news section
Price: freemium (from $55/year or $159 for a lifetime license)
Wrapping It Up
There are many WordPress themes that are multipurpose, however, choosing a theme that is focused on a certain market will save time and assist you to get better results.
There are also free themes that could assist you to achieve your site goals with relevant functionality to your niche.
It’s not always necessary to purchase a specific plugin for eCommerce capabilities. If you need features like a shopping cart or product view choices, a WooCommerce site theme may already include those functions.
If you don’t find what you need among the large selection of free themes, only then you might want to look for premium themes.
The speed of your website depends on a lot of things, but your choice of theme largely contributes to it. Some of the fastest-loading WordPress themes you would find include Arke, Blocksy, and Hello.
Which Free WordPress Theme Is the Most Customizable?
How much you would need to customize your website depends on your website’s needs. The WordPress themes that count as most customizable include: Zakra, Spacious, Suffice, Astra, and OceanWP.
Is it safe to deactivate WordPress plugins?
WordPress plugins are simply switched off when you deactivate it. However, it remains set up on your site, so if necessary, you can activate it once more.
How do I know if the WordPress plugin is active or not?
By logging into your WordPress admin dashboard, you can check it. Go to Installed Plugins under Plugins. Both inactive and active plugins are listed here.
How to recover a deleted WordPress plugin?
Install a new plugin instead of trying to find the lost one because you can only recover it if you have made a backup for the entire website. 2. If you had a backup, you may locate the plugin at wp-content >plugins. To restore it, you must copy its plugin folder from here and upload it to the same location.
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