The success of your WordPress site heavily depends on the theme you choose for building a website. There are thousands of free and commercial themes showcased on the official wordpress.org site. Choosing one from the lot is really a tough task and we make the task bit easier for you. Here is a list of top 10 free WordPress themes available on the WordPress repository. You can download, install and activate these themes on your site from admin panel.
Best Free WordPress Themes
Note, there is no free lunch. All the theme developers offer limited version as a free download and charge you to get the premium version. We believe one of the free themes is sufficient for a normal content site offering blog and store. If you own or build a full fledged business site then we highly recommend to check the commercial theme companies on official wordpress.org site instead of looking for free ones. We have also mentioned the cost of offered premium versions of the top 10 listed free themes. Check out the top list if you are looking for purchasing premium WordPress theme packages in bulk.
1. Astra
Astra is the most popular and lightweight theme with more than 1 million active installations. This theme is from the developer Brainstorm Force who also offer many other popular products like Schema Pro, Convert Pro, Starter Templates, etc. The free version is available in WordPress theme repository with limited options. This is sufficient to build a professional looking business site or blog with the predefined templates. You can purchase the Pro add-on for $59 to get additional features like flexible typography, custom layouts, custom hooks and pro templates. Check out the complete review of Astra theme here.
2. GeneratePress
In fact GeneratePress should be the top theme in our list due to its original design and long availability before Astra theme. However, it has limited free features like you can’t remove the footer copyright and the latest demos are primarily focusing on upselling their Generateblocks Pro blocks plugin. It is still a good bet for those want to build a website with super fast loading pages. When we update this article, GeneratePress theme has more than 400 thousands of active installation. It is a fully responsive and lightweight theme with multiple sidebar options. The free version is fully compatible with major plugins like WooCommerce, BuddyPress, bbPress, etc. The premium version will cost you $59 with additional features like sections, page header, masonry layout and additional menus. Check out the complete review of GeneratePress theme here.
3. Kadence
If you love Gutenberg blocks, then you might be heard of Kadence Blocks plugin. Kadence theme is from the same developer and is a lightweight, responsive, multipurpose theme actively installed on more than 100 thousands WordPress sites. It offers all features needed to customize a free site like typography, meta data, layouts and comes with handful of free starter templates. You can upgrade to premium version for $79 to get additional header add-ons, custom fonts and code insertion with hooks.
4. OceanWP
OceanWP is another lightweight, SEO optimized theme for kick starting your WordPress site. It offers features for customizing header, footer, blog layout and WooCommerce store. There are also social and other additional widgets to boost the conversion rate of your website.
The pro version will cost you $54 which includes 7 free and 14 pro extensions bundle.
5. Neve
Neve is from the popular Themeisle developer who also offers the popular theme Hesita. This is a minimalist lightweight theme with all options you need for customizing the layouts. You can build a blog, business or WooCommerce store with minimal design using the free theme. The pro version offers additional booster add-ons for customizing blog layouts, header and footer builder, Elementor and WooCommerce.
The pro version will cost you $59 per year.
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6. Blocksy
WordPress introduced Gutenberg block editor years back with version 5.0. However, there are not many themes available for making use of the blocks and Blocksy is one of that category. You will love the theme only if you like to use Gutenberg blocks and not the old Classic Editor. You can use one of the starter templates to start site and customize the layout using block options available within the editor.
The Blocksy pro version is available with hooks, header builder and custom sidebar options which will cost you $49.
7. Hueman
Earlier days, Hueman was one of the most popular themes available in WordPress theme repository. However, the above listed themes make use of the lightweight concept and taken over the popularity. You can still use Hueman theme to build magazine style WordPress sites for free. You can change the layout with right sidebar, left sidebar or three columns. The author also offers an add-on plugin or shortcodes and floating social sharing buttons. It supports featured slider, comment count on featured images, header and footer customizations. Though it is fully responsive, when used with three columns the right sidebar will disappear on mobile devices and needs to click the arrow to view the right sidebar as a slide out on iPad.
There is also a pro version available for $49 focusing on offereing mobile optimized theme.
8. Colormag
Colormag is a the most popular free magazine style theme used for creating quick and stylish news, magazine, technology and general blogs. This is also one of the oldest magazine themes and powers more than 100 thousands of WordPress sites.
You can customize each category to display in different color and makes the home and archive pages attractive. It supports WooCommerce, fully responsive, has a featured slider and other widgets. While the free version can be downloaded from WordPress repository, the pro version with enhanced features can be purchased for $69 from the developer’s site.
9. Responsive
Responsive is a free WordPress theme powers more than 40 thousands websites. It completely focuses on providing a fluid responsive layout so that your site will look perfect on all devices. There are 30+ starter templates to build a blog, portfolio, WooCommerce store or business website.
The pro version is available for $47 with additional features and 100+ ready to import templates.
10. Virtue
Virtue is a Bootstrap theme that is from the same Kadence theme developer. You can build online store, portfolio, business sites and it supports WooCommerce. The free version allows you to change the blog layout, customize header menu and adjust typography settings.
The premium version of the theme will cost you $75 per year which includes the Kadence Blocks Pro plugin.
Related: How to move live WordPress site to local server?
Summary
Everyday hundreds of developers release free themes in WordPress repository and on third-party websites. The above list is a mere reference based on the popularity. Choosing the best theme for your site depends on your need and we always recommend to go for a premium version. Because, you can get proper support with premium version while getting support on free themes is not always guaranteed. Most of the popular free WordPress themes used few years back are all gone out of focus with the introduction of Gutenberg and page speed focus from Google. Therefore, make sure to go for a theme with standard features without need of custom additional plugins. This will help you to switch theme when needed without hassle.
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