Bloggers are always on the lookout for new WordPress themes to use on their websites. In this post, I will be sharing 20 free WordPress themes that you can download and use right away.
I’ll also be discussing what WordPress themes are, how to find free themes, the benefits of using free themes, and more. So if you’re new to WordPress or are simply looking for some new themes to try out, this post is for you!
1. What are WordPress themes and how do they work
2. How to find free WordPress themes
3. The benefits of using free WordPress themes
4. 20 free WordPress themes
5. How to install a WordPress theme
6. How to customize a WordPress theme
7. Tips for choosing the right WordPress theme for your blog
8. How to create a child theme for your WordPress theme
9. What to do if you can’t find a free WordPress theme that suits your needs
10. Alternatives to free WordPress themes
What are WordPress Themes?
WordPress themes are templates that determine the look and feel of your website. They come in both free and premium (paid) versions, and there are thousands of themes to choose from.
While you can technically use any theme on your WordPress site, it’s important to choose a theme that is compatible with the version of WordPress you are running, as well as one that is optimized for the type of website you are creating.
How to Find Free WordPress Themes?
There are a few ways to find free WordPress themes. The easiest way is to simply go to the WordPress.org website and browse through the thousands of themes that are available.
You can also find free WordPress themes by searching Google or other search engines. Just be sure to only download themes from reputable websites, as there are many sites that offer “nulled” or pirated versions of premium themes.
The Benefits of Using Free WordPress Themes?
Free WordPress themes have a number of benefits the most obvious being that they are free! This means you can try out as many themes as you like until you find one that suits your needs.
Free themes also tend to be more lightweight and fast-loading than premium themes, as they don’t include all the bells and whistles that many premium themes come with. This can be a good thing, as it can help your website load faster and run more smoothly.
20 Free WordPress Themes?
GeneratePress is a lightweight WordPress theme built with a focus on speed and usability. Performance is important to us, which is why a fresh GeneratePress install adds less than 10kb (gzipped) to your page size. We take full advantage of the block editor (Gutenberg), which gives you more control over creating your content. If you use page builders, GeneratePress is the right theme for you. It is completely compatible with all major page builders, including Beaver Builder and Elementor.
Thanks to our emphasis on WordPress coding standards, we can boast full compatibility with all well-coded plugins, including WooCommerce. GeneratePress is fully responsive, uses valid HTML/CSS, and is translated into over 25 languages by our amazing community of users. A few of our many features include 60+ color controls, powerful dynamic typography, 5 navigation locations, 5 sidebar layouts, dropdown menus (click or hover), and 9 widget areas. Learn more and check out our powerful premium version at https://generatepress.com
2. Hestia
Hestia is a modern WordPress theme for professionals. It fits creative business, small businesses (restaurants, wedding planners, sport/medical shops), startups, corporate businesses, online agencies and firms, portfolios, ecommerce (WooCommerce), and freelancers. It has a multipurpose one-page design, widgetized footer, blog/news page and a clean look, is compatible with: Flat Parallax Slider, Photo Gallery, Travel Map and Elementor Page Builder .
The theme is responsive, WPML, Retina ready, SEO friendly, and uses Material Kit for design.
3. Astra
Astra is fast, fully customizable & beautiful WordPress theme suitable for blog, personal portfolio, business website and WooCommerce storefront. It is very lightweight (less than 50KB on frontend) and offers unparalleled speed. Built with SEO in mind, Astra comes with Schema.org code integrated and is Native AMP ready so search engines will love your site. It offers special features and templates so it works perfectly with all page builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, Visual Composer, SiteOrigin, Divi, etc. Some of the other features: # WooCommerce Ready # Responsive # RTL & Translation Ready # Extendible with premium addons # Regularly updated # Designed, Developed, Maintained & Supported by Brainstorm Force. Looking for a perfect base theme?
Look no further. Astra is fast, fully customizable and WooCommerce ready theme that you can use for building any kind of website!
4. OceanWP
OceanWP is the perfect theme for your project. Lightweight and highly extendable, it will enable you to create almost any type of website such a blog, portfolio, business website and WooCommerce storefront with a beautiful & professional design. Very fast, responsive, RTL & translation ready, best SEO practices, unique WooCommerce features to increase conversion and much more. You can even edit the settings on tablet & mobile so your site looks good on every device. Work with the most popular page builders as Elementor, Beaver Builder, Brizy, Visual Composer, Divi, SiteOrigin, etc… Developers will love his extensible codebase making it a joy to customize and extend. Best friend of Elementor & WooCommerce. Looking for a Multi-Purpose theme? Look no further! Check the demos to realize that it’s the only theme you will ever need: https://oceanwp.org/demos/
5. Neve
Neve is a super fast, easily customizable, multi-purpose theme. It’s perfect for blogs, small business, startups, agencies, firms, e-commerce shops (WooCommerce storefront) as well as personal portfolio sites and most types of projects. A fully AMP optimized and responsive theme, Neve will load in mere seconds and adapt perfectly on any viewing device. While it is lightweight and has a minimalist design, the theme is highly extendable, it has a highly SEO optimized code, resulting in top rankings in Google search results. Neve works perfectly with Gutenberg and the most popular page builders (Elementor, Brizy, Beaver Builder, Visual Composer, SiteOrigin, Divi). Neve is also WooCommerce ready, responsive, RTL & translation ready. Look no further. Neve is the perfect theme for you!
6. Zakra
Zakra is flexible, fast, lightweight and modern multipurpose theme that comes with many starter free sites (currently 10+ free starter sites and more will be added later) that you can use to make your site beautiful and professional. Check all the starter sites at https://zakratheme.com/demos. Suitable for personal blog, portfolio, WooCommerce stores, business websites and niche-based sites (like Cafe, Spa, Charity, Yoga, Wedding, Dentist, Education etc) as well. Works with Elementor plus other major page builders so you can create any layout you want. The theme is responsive, Gutenberg compatible, SEO friendly, translation ready and major WordPress plugins compatible.
7. Sydney
Sydney is a powerful business theme that provides a fast way for companies or freelancers to create an awesome online presence. As well as being fully compatible with Elementor, Sydney brings plenty of customization possibilities like access to all Google Fonts, full color control, layout control, logo upload, full screen slider, header image, sticky navigation and much more. Also, Sydney provides all the construction blocks you need to rapidly create an engaging front page. Looking for a quick start with Sydney? With just a few clicks, you can import one of our existing demos (https://athemes.com/sydney-demos/)
8. Kadence
Kadence Theme is a lightweight yet full featured WordPress theme for creating beautiful fast loading and accessible websites, easier than ever. It features an easy to use drag and drop header and footer builder to build any type of header in minutes. It features a full library of gorgeous starter templates that are easy to modify with our intelligent global font and color controls. With extensive integration with the most popular 3rd party plugins, you can quickly build impressive ecommerce websites, course websites, business websites, and more.
Page Builder Framework is a super fast, lightweight (less than 50kb on the frontend) and highly customizible WordPress theme made to work with all page builders such as Elementor, Beaver Builder, Visual Composer, SiteOrigin, Divi, Thrive Architect, Brizy and more. It can be daunting to look for the perfect theme to pair with the page builder you love. Page Builder Framework is the only theme that has been specifically created for Page Builders. It has been written from ground up with SEO in mind, is 100% Gutenberg compatible and follows the latest web standards (HTML5 and schema.org markup). With its minimalistic approach and lots of customization options in the WordPress customizer, it enables you to build almost any type of website such as a Blog, Portfolio website, Agency website or WooCommerce storefront. Agency owners and Developers love Page Builder Framework for its flexibility and extendability when it comes to building outstanding client websites. If you’re not a coder, don’t worry! With endless options in the WordPress customizer it’s the perfect fit for users at any skill level. Are you using a Page Builder and still looking for the perfect theme? Look no further.
Teczilla marketing is a child theme of teczilla wordpress theme perfect for corporate, finance , startup etc.It is a Very creative, fully customizable and multipurpose theme.Any website you want to make with this theme will look beautiful and compaitable.It has built in typography also dynamic typography also has unlimited color optiopns in it.The theme suitable for saas application website, architecture, interior design, corporate, corporate, business, decoration, business, furniture, home decor, law firm, corporate, insurance, app landing page, it solutions, shop ecommerce, marketing, gym, blog, travel corporate, construction, spa salons, industries, Beauty, photography, and many other websites compatible. Service option has icon and image options. Full Width responsive page layout. SEO optimized pages and fast speed loading.Compatible with gutenberg, elemnetor page builder WooCommerce, contact form 7, Jetpack, Google analytics and so many popular premium & free plugins nicely works with teczilla theme. For more theme information, check out Theme demo here at https://www.avadantathemes.com/demo/teczilla-marketing/ and theme instructions here at https://www.avadantathemes.com/documentation/teczilla-free-theme/
11. Simple Life
Simple Life is a simple, minimal and accessibility ready theme for your awesome WordPress website. It comes with a whole set of interesting, rich features and flexible theme customization. This theme is easily customizable with the Customizer feature of WordPress. It is also translation ready.
12. One Page Express
One Page Express is a beautiful WordPress Theme that can be used to create a one page website in minutes by drag and drop. In comes with a predesigned home page and over 30 ready to use content sections that you can easily customize. It also has lots of customization options (video background, slideshow background, header content types, etc) that will help you create a beautiful, unique one page website in no time. One Page Express is responsive so it works on mobile devices out of the box. DEMO: https://onepageexpress.com/#demos
13. Illdy
Illdy is a stunning multipurpose WordPress theme built based on Bootstrap frontend framework making it fully responsive and mobile friendly. This theme is well suited for business, landing page, portfolio or any other creative websites. This leaves heavy lifting to WordPress Customizer therefore you can create your website on live preview mode.
14. Shapely
Shapely is a powerful and versatile one page WordPress theme with pixel perfect design and outstanding functionality. It is by far the most advanced free WordPress theme available today with loads of unmatched customization options. This theme comes with several homepage widgets that can be used to add portfolio, testimonials, parallax sections, your product or service information, call for action and much more. Shapely supports most free and premium WordPress plugins such as WooCommerce, Jetpack, Kali Forms, Gravity Forms, Contact Form 7, Yoast SEO, Google Analytics by Yoast and much more. This theme is the best suited for business, landing page, portfolio, ecommerce, store, local business, personal websites but can be tweaked to be used as blog, magazine or any other awesome website while highlighting its unique one page setup. This is going to be the last WordPress theme you will ever want to use because it is so much better than anything you have seen. Needless to say that this theme is SEO friendly thanks to its well optimized strucutre. Shapely theme is mobile friendly and fully responsive making it your best multipurpose partnert for any project and website.
15. PopularFX
Lightweight theme to make beautiful websites with Pagelayer. Includes 100s of pre-made templates to design your dream website !
16. VW Consulting
W Consulting is an exceptional theme of top quality crafted by a VW Theme, The premium theme making company that has established itself as a brand over the years. It is a prime consulting theme applicable for the expert discussions related to business and other areas of consultation like medical, enterprise, sales, IT, software, HR, CA, financial services, accountant, Operations consulting, Financial consulting, corporations, Human resources consulting, startups, Risk and compliance consulting, Strategy consulting, marriage cousling, lawyer, Recruitment, carrier counselling, doctor, marketing consultancy, HR consulting, Agency, Trading, Career Consultant, Legal Consultant, Social Media Consultant, PR Consultant, Irrigation Industry, Farming Sector Websites, services agency, SEO services agency, Recruiting, Chemical, Pharmaceuticals, banking, Finance, developers, reiki, healing, agency and other types of consultation. Full with exemplary features like CTA [call to action] button, retina ready, Editor Style, layout control, Google Fonts, sticky navigation, translation ready, Custom Background, full color control, Right Sidebar, Bootstrap, customization as well as personalization options, secure as well as clean code, multiple widgets, testimonial section and much more, it is also well suited for the start-ups, medium and large organization websites. Since VW consulting is stunning, animated, modern as well as luxurious, it is good for business website like consultancy, business consultant, accountants, financial advisor, advertising consulting, HR consulting, loan, tax help, Advising, tax advisor, Solicitor, Insurance, etc, consultants and consulting companies, coaches (life coach, health coach), speakers and creative agencies, content marketers, affiliate bloggers and psychologists, perfect solutions for corporate, wedding planners, law firms, finance, investment firms, recipes, sport shops, online agencies, portfolios, freelancers. Demo: https://www.vwthemes.net/vw-consulting/
17. SKT Sandwich
SKT Sandwich is an easy to use gutenberg block editor based template can be used for pizza, pizzeria, burger, multi cuisine, Mexican, chinese, fast food, bakery, cafe, coffee, tea shop, restaurant, bistro, joint, pub, bar, fine dine in, takeaway, delivery, recipe, french fries, food blogging, vlog, hotel, lodge, resort, homestay business model or any such hospitality services. Compatible with WooCommerce and also SEO plugins. Documentation: https://www.sktthemesdemo.net/documentation/skt-sandwich-doc/
18. Olsen Light
Olsen Light is a clean, minimal, stylish and elegant WordPress blog theme, perfect for lifestyle, food, cooking, fashion, travel, wedding, health & fitness, photography and beauty blogging. Ideal for personal or multi-author blogs. Well documented and supported, very flexible and easy to use from beginners and experienced users alike. Its responsive design will give your visitors the perfect mobile browsing experience on phones, tablets & retina enabled displays. It is fast and lightweight, coded with best SEO practises in mind, supports RTL languages and is translation ready. It supports single and two column blog layouts, customizable excerpts, custom logos, a homepage slider, social icons and social sharing, a footer Instagram carousel, custom widgets and more. It supports the WordPress block editor and is also compatible with the most popular page builders like Elementor, Divi, Brizy and Beaver Builder.
19. Gist
Gist is best ever crafted free WordPress theme for Blog, news and Magazine. Gist is a simple, easy to use, modern and creative, user friendly WordPress theme with typography, fonts and color options. In addition Gist is responsive, cross browser compatible and child theme ready. Gist comes with added custom widgets for social, recent post and author, sticky sidebar options, footer widget, sidebar options, meta option, copyright option, social options etc. https://demo.candidthemes.com/gist/
20. Bootstrap Four
A versatile and responsive Bootstrap WordPress starter theme FOR DEVELOPERS based on Alpha Twitter Bootstrap 4.
How to Install a WordPress Theme?
Installing a WordPress theme is a simple process that can be done in just a few clicks. First, you’ll need to download the theme you’ve chosen to your computer. Most themes will come in a .zip file format.
Once the theme is downloaded, go to your WordPress Dashboard and navigate to Appearance > Themes. At the top of the Themes page, click on the Add New button.
On the next screen, click on the Upload Theme button at the top. Now, simply select the theme’s .zip file from your computer and click on the Install Now button. WordPress will now install the theme for you.
How to Customize a WordPress Theme?
Once you’ve installed a WordPress theme, you can start customizing it to match your own personal style. The process of customization will vary depending on the theme you’ve chosen, but most themes will allow you to change things like the colors, fonts, logo, and background image.
To customize a WordPress theme, go to your WordPress Dashboard and navigate to Appearance > Customize. This will open up the WordPress Customizer tool which will allow you to make changes to your theme.
Tips for Choosing the Right WordPress Theme for Your Blog?
When choosing a WordPress theme for your blog, it’s important to consider things like the overall design, typography, color scheme, and whether or not the theme is responsive (meaning it will look good on mobile devices).
It’s also a good idea to choose a theme that is compatible with the plugins you want to use on your site. For example, if you want to use a specific social media plugin, make sure the theme you choose has support for that plugin.
How to Create a Child Theme for Your WordPress Theme?
If you want to make customizations to your WordPress theme that are beyond what the Customizer tool allows, you’ll need to create a child theme. A child theme is a WordPress theme that inherits the functionality of another WordPress theme, known as the parent theme.
Creating a child theme is a fairly simple process, but it does require some basic knowledge of HTML and CSS. If you’re not comfortable coding, you can always hire a developer to help you create your child theme.
1. Create a new folder for your child theme.
For example, if your parent theme is called “Twenty Seventeen”, you could name your child theme folder “Twenty Seventeen Child”.
2. Create a file called style.css and add the following code:
/*Theme Name: Twenty Seventeen ChildTheme URI: http://example.com/twenty-seventeen-child/Description: Twenty Seventeen Child ThemeAuthor: John DoeAuthor URI: http://example.comTemplate: twentyseventeenVersion: 1.0.0License: GNU General Public License v2 or laterLicense URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.htmlTags: light, dark, two-columns, right-sidebar, responsive-layout, accessibility-readyText Domain: twenty-seventeen-child*/3. Create a file called functions.php and add the following code:
<?phpfunction my_theme_enqueue_styles() {$parent_style = 'parent-style'; // This is 'twentyfifteen-style' for the Twenty Fifteen theme.wp_enqueue_style( $parent_style, get_template_directory_uri() . '/style.css' );wp_enqueue_style( 'child-style',get_stylesheet_directory_uri() . '/style.css',array( $parent_style ),wp_get_theme()->get('Version'));}add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'my_theme_enqueue_styles' );?>4. Upload the two files (style.css and functions.php) to your child theme folder.
5. Activate your child theme from the WordPress Dashboard by going to Appearance > Themes. Your child theme should now be listed as a theme you can activate.
6. You can now start making customizations to your child theme! Any changes you make will not affect the parent theme, so you can always revert back to the original if you need to.
If you want to learn more about creating child themes, check out the WordPress Codex.
https://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes
Why Should You Use a WordPress Theme Framework?
A WordPress theme framework is a tool that provides a foundation for building WordPress themes.
A theme framework typically includes a parent theme, child theme, and a set of features and options that can be used to build any type of WordPress site.
The advantage of using a theme framework is that it can save you a lot of time and effort when creating WordPress themes. A good theme framework will provide you with everything you need to create a professional-looking website, including pre-designed templates, widgets, shortcodes, and custom functions.
If you’re thinking of using a WordPress theme framework, here are some of the best ones to consider:
– Genesis by StudioPress: https://my.studiopress.com/themes/genesis/
– Thesis by DIYthemes: https://diythemes.com/thesis/
– Underscores (_s) by Automattic: https://underscores.me/
When choosing a WordPress theme framework, it’s important to consider your needs and the features you want. Some theme frameworks are designed for beginners, while others are more suited for advanced users.
Whichever theme framework you choose, make sure it’s one that you’re comfortable using and that provides the features you need to build the type of website you want.
What to do if you can’t find a free WordPress theme that suits your needs
If you can’t find a free WordPress theme that suits your needs, there are a few options you can consider:
– Purchase a premium WordPress theme:
There are many excellent premium themes available on the market, and most of them include a wide range of features and options.
– Use a custom WordPress theme:
If you have some coding experience, you can create your own custom WordPress theme from scratch. This can be a time-consuming process, but it will give you complete control over the look and feel of your website.
– Use a Theme Framework:
A WordPress theme framework is a tool that provides a foundation for building WordPress themes. A good theme framework will provide you with everything you need to create a professional-looking website, including pre-designed templates, widgets, shortcodes, and custom functions.
When choosing a WordPress theme framework, it’s important to consider your needs and the features you want. Some theme frameworks are designed for beginners, while others are more suited for advanced users. Whichever theme framework you choose, make sure it’s one that you’re comfortable using and that provides the features you need to build the type of website you want.
– Use a child theme:
If you want to make changes to an existing WordPress theme, you can create a child theme. A child theme inherits the functionality of the parent theme but allows you to make modifications without affecting the parent theme. This is an excellent option if you want to customize an existing theme without having to start from scratch.
Alternatives to free WordPress themes
If you’re looking for a more customizable and feature-rich WordPress theme, you may want to consider purchasing a premium WordPress theme. Premium themes typically include a wider range of features and options, and they often come with support from the developer.
If you have some coding experience, you can also create your own custom WordPress theme from scratch. This can be a time-consuming process, but it will give you complete control over the look and feel of your website.
Finally, if you’re not happy with the free WordPress themes available, you can try using a WordPress theme framework. A WordPress theme framework is a tool that provides a foundation for building WordPress themes. A good theme framework will provide you with everything you need to create a professional-looking website, including pre-designed templates, widgets, shortcodes, and custom functions.
Conclusion
Choosing the right WordPress theme framework is important, and there are a few things you should consider before making your decision. In this article, we’ve outlined the pros and cons of using a WordPress theme framework, and we’ve provided some tips for choosing the right one. We’ve also listed some alternatives to free WordPress themes if you’re not happy with what’s available. So, what are you waiting for? Start browsing now and find the perfect WordPress theme framework for your needs!