Top Free WordPress Themes – Carefully Selected for 2024
Best Free WordPress Blog Themes, WordPress themes are popular among millions of websites worldwide, offering a multitude of options. While themes may not always match the uniqueness or high performance of custom-built websites, they are an excellent starting point, especially if you lack technical expertise in website development or seek a proven design with support features.
With over 12,000 free themes available on WordPress.org and nearly 18,000 paid themes on the premium marketplace ThemeForest, selecting the right one for your business can be daunting.
To help you narrow down your choices, we’ve curated a list of the 50 best WordPress themes for 2024. Our selection includes both free and paid themes suitable for various purposes, such as:
- Free themes
- Multipurpose themes
- Portfolio website themes
- eCommerce themes
- Blog themes
People start blogs for many reasons, including self-expression, entertainment, and education. Blogging is also a highly effective digital marketing strategy for attracting organic traffic to businesses.
WordPress is a top choice for blogging platforms due to its user-friendliness and customization options. Whether you want a simple personal blog or a complex site with eCommerce integration, WordPress can meet your needs.
To design your blog, simply choose and install a theme from its extensive library. Selecting the right WordPress theme for your blog enhances professionalism and credibility. However, with thousands of options, finding the perfect one can be challenging.
A free WordPress theme offers a cost-effective starting point for designing your website.
Choosing the right WordPress theme for your site’s purpose is crucial for creating a visually appealing website. However, with so many free themes available, finding the best one can be overwhelming.
This article lists over 60 exceptional free WordPress themes, helping you choose a theme that boosts your company’s credibility and aligns with your brand’s style.
Our list includes both freemium and free WordPress themes designed for various types of websites, including online portfolios and eCommerce stores.
First, ensure you’re using the best blogging platform. Self-hosted WordPress.org is ideal for starting your blog, offering ample freedom, flexibility, and control. We provide a helpful guide on the differences between WordPress.org and WordPress.com.
WordPress.org is open-source and supports thousands of free templates (themes) and extensions (plugins) to help you grow your blog quickly. Check out our article on why you should use WordPress to learn more.
Next, use our step-by-step beginner’s guide on how to start a WordPress blog for comprehensive instructions on getting started.
While many WordPress themes are free, you will need to pay for a domain name, which serves as your site’s address on the internet.
You will also need WordPress web hosting, which is where your site is stored online.
In this article, we have compiled some of the best WordPress themes for blogs. Whether you’re a new or experienced blogger, our curated selection will help you find the perfect theme.
Key Factors to Consider When Choosing a WordPress Blog Theme
To select the ideal theme for your WordPress website, it’s essential to recognize the attributes of a high-quality theme. Here are some important factors to consider:
- Responsiveness: With over 50% of website traffic coming from mobile devices, having a mobile-friendly website is crucial. Ensure your theme provides an optimal user experience across all devices.
- SEO-Friendliness: A theme can impact site speed, content structure, and usability, all of which affect your blog’s search engine ranking. Choose a theme that is fast, SEO-friendly, and cross-browser compatible.
- Features: Opt for a theme that is feature-rich to reduce costs and simplify website management. Look for features such as one-click demo import, pre-made page templates, and compatibility with page builder, marketing, and SEO plugins.
- Flexible Customization Options: The best WordPress themes offer extensive customization options, allowing you to modify and add functionality to demo sites or pre-made templates.
- Ease of Use: Your theme should be easy to navigate on the front end and simple to manage on the back end. Everything from installation and setup to customization and configuration should be straightforward and user-friendly.
Choosing the Best Free WordPress Blog Themes
Selecting the best free WordPress blog theme is crucial for launching a successful blog. It’s not just about picking a theme that looks appealing and is free of charge.
A visually appealing theme that is poorly designed can cause your website to lose traffic and frustrate your readers.
Here are several important factors to consider beyond aesthetics when choosing the perfect theme for your blog:
- Responsive Design: Your blog must be mobile-friendly. Select a responsive WordPress theme that looks great on any device.
- Simplicity: A theme overloaded with features can slow down your site and confuse readers. Opt for a WordPress blog theme designed with simplicity in mind.
- Features: WordPress themes offer a range of features, from managing your site’s admin area to providing pre-made blocks and designs. Identify which features are most important for your website and choose themes that deliver these functionalities.
- Compatibility: Ensure that the theme you choose can be easily integrated with your existing tech stack, including analytics platforms, SEO tools, and WordPress plugins your business uses.
- Usability: Some themes offer a codeless drag-and-drop setup, while others require technical knowledge to create a highly customized UI and UX. Choose a theme based on your business’s web design and development expertise.
- Price: WordPress themes range from free community options for startups to premium themes costing anywhere from $13 to over $1,000 for large enterprises. Consider both the initial price and the cost of essential features within the theme.
- Reviews: Themes with a high volume of downloads and positive reviews are more likely to run smoothly and provide a high-quality solution for your site. However, they may also result in a UI similar to competitors using the same theme.
Before choosing a theme, ensure you’re using the right blogging platform for ease and flexibility. If you prefer not to use a free WordPress blog theme, check out this article on the best and most popular WordPress theme shops.
When selecting the best WordPress theme for your website or online store, it’s essential to consider how it aligns with your brand’s mission, goals, requirements, and limitations.
Top Free WordPress Themes
Ideal for starter sites and cost-cutting, thousands of free and freemium WordPress themes are available for download to enhance your website.
1. Astra: A Top Free WordPress Theme
Astra is one of the best WordPress themes, offering extensive design customizations. Suitable for any type of website, from business sites to personal blogs, Astra is also compatible with popular builder plugins like Divi.
Astra caters to both beginners and advanced users. Beginners can use its wide variety of starter sites to speed up the setup process, while developers can enhance the theme’s functionality using hooks and filters.
Theme Stats:
- Downloads: 2,300,000+
- Rating: 5/5
- Notable Features: Lightweight, various starter sites, developer tools
- Best for: All kinds of websites
- Price: Freemium, with paid plans starting at $47/year
Performance is a key focus for Astra. It requires only 50 KB of resources, ensuring fast page load times. If you’re seeking a lightweight, versatile theme that’s easy to set up, Astra is an excellent choice.
2. OceanWP: A Versatile Free WordPress Theme
OceanWP is an excellent WordPress theme for creating blogs, portfolio sites, and online stores. It features a wide range of pre-made blog templates, many of which include a full-width header image, ideal for showcasing featured stories on your blog.
The theme can be easily customized using the WordPress Customizer, allowing you to change the blog’s general layout and adjust the header padding to fit different screen sizes. For those who prefer using the Customizer to design their site, the Ocean Extra companion plugin adds a search feature for quicker navigation and enables or disables options for a faster editing experience.
Theme Stats:
- Downloads: 6,600,000+
- Rating: 5/5
- Notable Features: 200+ demos, full-width hero, free extensions
- Best for: All kinds of websites
- Price: Freemium, with premium plans starting at $43/year
OceanWP is also compatible with popular page builders like Brizy, Thrive Architect, and Divi, offering extensive flexibility. Additionally, it provides numerous free add-ons to enhance the blog’s functionality.
Overall, OceanWP is an ideal choice if you seek a highly customizable and flexible theme.
3. Neve: A User-Friendly WordPress Theme for Speed and Customization
Neve is a beginner-friendly solution, perfect for eCommerce and corporate blogs. With a growing collection of ready-to-import websites, it seamlessly integrates with Gutenberg and various page builder plugins.
This clean WordPress blog theme prioritizes speed and efficiency. With a bare theme size of only 28 KB, and pre-made homepage content totaling 532 KB, Neve still achieves remarkably fast loading times, typically around 0.7 seconds, even without WordPress optimization.
Theme Stats:
- Active Installations: 300,000+
- Rating: 5/5
- Notable Features: 100+ pre-built websites, drag-and-drop editor, speed-optimized
- Best for: All kinds of websites
- Price: Freemium, with premium plans starting at $69/year
In terms of customization, Neve offers a drag-and-drop interface for arranging your blogs, archive pages, headers, and footers, making customization a breeze. Overall, Neve is an excellent choice for building a fast-loading blog with an easy customization workflow.
4. Hestia: A Top Free One-Page WordPress Theme
Hestia is an outstanding one-page WordPress theme, perfect for blog owners who value simplicity and in-depth customization options.
Set up your blog quickly with Hestia’s ready-made designs. The Material Kit allows you to customize these designs to match your blog’s style and content without any coding. Key features include box-shadows on buttons and cards.
Theme Stats:
- Active Installations: 100,000+
- Rating: 5/5
- Notable Features: Retina-ready layout, one-page design, code-free Material Kit design tools
- Best for: All kinds of websites
- Price: Freemium, with premium plans starting at $69/year
This free WordPress theme follows the material design approach, featuring clean lines and vibrant colors. It is also retina-ready, ensuring your blog looks fantastic on high-resolution screens.
With its vibrant design and advanced Material Kit tools, Hestia is an excellent choice for those seeking advanced customization options without the need for coding.
5. GeneratePress: A High-Performance WordPress Theme
GeneratePress is a freemium, open-source WordPress theme renowned for its speed, usability, and accessibility.
Features:
- Block-based page builder
- 100% PageSpeed scores
- Compatibility with third-party plugins
- Customizable layout options
- Available in 25+ languages
Price:
- Free: $0
- Premium: $59/year
Reviews:
- Rating: 5/5
- Active Installations: 600,000+
GeneratePress is available for free with an optional premium upgrade, making it an excellent choice for those seeking a high-performance, customizable WordPress theme.
6. Ashe: Elevate Your Blog with Style and Functionality
Ashe is a lightweight blog theme packed with features and customization options. This versatile theme, suitable for multi-author blogs, boasts a full-width header image and interactive slider to showcase featured posts effectively.
Catering to various blog niches including fashion, travel, food, and photography, Ashe is translation-ready and supports right-to-left (RTL) languages for global accessibility.
Theme Stats:
- Active Installations: 50,000+
- Rating: 5/5
- Notable Features: Optimized for search engines, post sliders, promo boxes
- Best for: Beauty, fashion, wedding, bakery, and photography blogs
- Price: Freemium, with premium plans starting at $29.99/license
Leverage Ashe’s promo boxes feature to display advertisements or highlight popular posts. Additionally, its compatibility with WooCommerce allows you to seamlessly integrate online shop pages, perfect for monetizing your blog with merchandise sales.
7. Zakra: A Highly Customizable WordPress Theme
Zakra is a versatile WordPress theme boasting a responsive design and advanced typography. With over 80 pre-made demo sites, setting up your blog is quick and straightforward. The theme is fully compatible with the Gutenberg editor, enhancing your editing experience.
Theme Stats:
- Downloads: 60,000+
- Rating: 5/5
- Notable Features: Highly customizable, 80+ demo sites, search engine optimized
- Best for: All kinds of websites
- Price: Freemium, with premium plans starting at $59/year
You’ll discover various header and layout options, along with the ability to adjust the primary color palette. Combined with highly customizable typography, including font family and line height settings, Zakra makes it effortless to align your blog with your identity and design preferences.
Furthermore, Zakra stands out as one of the lightest and fastest WordPress themes available, contributing to improved search engine rankings and enhanced user experience.
8. Garfunkel: A Stylish and User-Friendly WordPress Blog Theme
Garfunkel stands out as a stylish WordPress blog theme with a visually appealing masonry layout. Its responsive and retina-ready design ensures optimal viewing across various devices and high-resolution screens.
Theme Stats:
- Downloads: 173,000+
- Rating: 5/5
- Notable Features: Mobile-friendly and retina-ready design, masonry layout, multiple post formats
- Best for: Lifestyle, hobby, and travel blogs
- Price: Free
User-friendly and Gutenberg-ready, Garfunkel offers a Pinterest-style layout with various page templates, including the archive and full-width pages. It supports multiple post formats, such as quotes and galleries, catering to blogs with diverse content.
Custom widgets are available for displaying recent posts and comments through thumbnails and avatars. Additionally, Garfunkel seamlessly integrates with Jetpack Infinite Scroll, enabling continuous scrolling on your blog for enhanced user experience.
9. Cenote: Elevate Your Blogging Experience with Modern Design
Cenote stands out as a feature-rich theme designed for bloggers, writers, and content creators seeking a modern website aesthetic. With its clean design, Cenote enhances user experience while providing ample customization options.
Thanks to its one-click demo import feature, setting up your WordPress website with Cenote is a breeze, simplifying the website creation process.
Theme Stats:
- Active Installations: 10,000+
- Rating: 5/5
- Notable Features: Masonry layout, one-click demo import, breadcrumb support, multiple header styles
- Best for: Any blog niche
- Price: Freemium, with premium plans starting at $59/year
Cenote supports the masonry layout, enabling you to present posts, images, and content in a visually appealing grid format without predefined column heights. You can choose from three header styles and further customize them to align with your blog’s unique identity.
Additionally, this freemium WordPress theme includes full breadcrumb support, facilitating intuitive navigation for your blog readers.
10. Hueman: Unleash Flexibility and Style for Your Blog or Magazine
Hueman stands out as a free WordPress blogging and magazine theme renowned for its remarkable flexibility. Featuring a grid layout that excels in showcasing content-rich websites, Hueman offers an array of customization options to tailor your website to perfection.
Theme Stats:
- Downloads: 30,000+
- Rating: 4.9/5
- Notable Features: Multiple layout and post format options, responsive and retina-ready design, flexible color controls
- Best for: Magazines, journals, and news blogs
- Price: Freemium, with premium plans starting at $49/year
With Hueman, you have the freedom to choose how to display content on your website, including the option to add a widget area to specific pages, posts, or sections. Additionally, you can incorporate a full-width header for advertisement banners to maximize revenue opportunities.
Flexible color controls empower you to select primary and secondary accent colors, while also allowing customization of the topbar, footer, and header images to align with your branding.
This free blog theme supports ten WordPress post formats, including quote, gallery, video, and audio, making it an ideal choice for blogs featuring diverse content types such as magazines, online journals, or news blogs.
11. Kadence: A Feature-Packed WordPress Theme for Speed and Flexibility
Kadence is widely recognized as a multipurpose theme, renowned for its clean and modern design that enhances readability and usability for WordPress blogs. The free version seamlessly integrates with Gutenberg, Beaver Builder, and WooCommerce.
The theme offers starter templates and a Gutenberg design library that can be activated with a single click. This design library provides a plethora of pre-made block patterns, facilitating quick customization of layouts—a perfect blend of block-based editing with classic theme versatility.
Theme Stats:
- Downloads: 300,000+
- Rating: 5/5
- Notable Features: Optimized for speed, feature-packed, customization flexibility
- Best for: All kinds of websites
- Price: Freemium, with premium plans starting at $129/year
Despite its feature-rich nature, Kadence remains lightweight, with a pre-made starter site homepage size of just 574 KB. Its efficiency translates to faster loading times and an improved user experience overall.
12. Blocksy: A Versatile WordPress Theme with Advanced Customization
Blocksy is a multipurpose theme designed to excel with the Gutenberg editor while remaining compatible with other page builders like Beaver Builder and Brizy.
Featuring six demo versions, Blocksy’s blog starter site stands out with clean code, minimalist design, and effective utilization of white space for improved readability. Importing posts, widgets, and starter sites is made simple with its one-click demo importer.
Theme Stats:
- Active Installations: 100,000+
- Rating: 5/5
- Notable Features: Header and footer builder, ultra-performance, one-click demo importer
- Best for: All kinds of websites
- Price: Freemium, with premium plans starting at $49/year
One of Blocksy’s standout features is its drag-and-drop header and footer builder, offering nine menu elements and a sticky navigation option. If you’re planning to build a blog with multiple categories and require a theme that supports highly customizable header and navigation, Blocksy is an excellent choice.
13. Sydney: Empower Your Online Presence with Versatility
Sydney is a dynamic WordPress theme designed to elevate the online presence of professionals.
Featuring multiple header options, including full-width header images or sliders, Sydney offers custom widgets for showcasing contact information, testimonials, and services.
Theme Stats:
- Active Installations: 100,000+
- Rating: 5/5
- Notable Features: Custom widgets, various layouts, page templates, and headers
- Best for: Agency, photography, and travel blogs
- Price: Freemium, starting at $55/year
With extensive customization options, you can tailor Sydney to reflect your branding and style preferences effortlessly. Using the WordPress Customizer, you can adjust colors, fonts, page templates, and layouts with ease.
Even in its free version, Sydney seamlessly integrates with popular plugins like WPForms and WooCommerce. It boasts responsiveness and is built with SEO best practices in mind.
Given its ability to support professional websites, Sydney is an ideal choice for incorporating a blog within a business, agency, or photography website, providing all-encompassing solutions for your online endeavors.
14. ColorMag: Empower Your Blog or Magazine with Style
ColorMag is a highly popular magazine-style layout theme, renowned for its extensive library of starter sites featuring multiple WordPress blog templates. It offers a wide range of customization options, including custom logos and sticky menus.
Theme Stats:
- Active Installations: 100,000+
- Rating: 5/5
- Notable Features: Magazine-style layout, one-click demo importer, customization flexibility
- Best for: Blogs, news sites, and online magazines
- Price: Freemium, with premium plans starting at $59/year
One standout feature of ColorMag is its ability to assign different colors to each post category, ensuring your website remains well-organized and making it easier for visitors to navigate to their preferred content categories.
With its rich feature set and pre-made starter sites, ColorMag is an ideal choice for magazines and news blogs. Furthermore, it seamlessly integrates with WooCommerce, enabling you to monetize your site with a subscription-based model if desired.
15. Kale: Streamlined Simplicity for Your Blogging Needs
Kale enjoys popularity among bloggers, particularly food enthusiasts, thanks to its clutter-free design that prioritizes writing and content creation.
Theme Stats:
- Active Installations: 10,000+
- Rating: 4.9/5
- Notable Features: Minimalist design, post sliders, RTL support
- Best for: Food, parenting, lifestyle, and fashion blogs
- Price: Freemium, with premium plans starting at $7.99/month
Featuring a special front page with featured posts, Kale allows you to highlight your best content effectively. Additionally, you can opt to display a banner or post slider in the header area. For websites catering to languages read from right to left, Kale offers RTL support.
As a notably straightforward WordPress blog theme, Kale is incredibly easy to set up, ensuring accessibility for bloggers of all skill levels.
16. Sinatra: Empower Your Blog with Performance and Style
Sinatra is a standout free WordPress blog theme renowned for its exceptional performance, contemporary design, and user-friendly interface. Optimized for Gutenberg and compatible with popular plugins like JetPack, Sinatra ensures seamless integration with your preferred tools.
Theme Stats:
- Downloads: 30,000+
- Rating: 5/5
- Notable Features: Pre-built page templates, multiple layouts, hero options, block widgets
- Best for: Creative, photography, hotel, restaurant, and travel blogs
- Price: Free
This versatile blog theme offers a range of pre-built templates, diverse layouts, block widgets, and unlimited color options, empowering you to customize your blog to suit your unique style. With hero options available for both the homepage and blog pages, you can create captivating hero sections that leave a lasting impression on your visitors.
All customization options are conveniently accessible through the WordPress Customizer, providing a hassle-free experience for tailoring your blog to perfection. Additionally, Sinatra allows you to effortlessly connect your social media accounts, enabling you to engage with your audience across various platforms and amplify your content’s reach.
17. Shapebox: Capture Attention with Unique Design and Versatility
Shapebox is a versatile WordPress theme crafted primarily for bloggers, distinguished by its unique layout that effortlessly captures visitors’ attention.
Theme Stats:
- Active Installations: 1,000+
- Rating: 5/5
- Notable Features: Extensive customization options, dark mode, high-quality code
- Best for: Any blog niche
- Price: Free
This free blog theme offers extensive customization options, allowing you to choose accent colors and adjust various elements such as fonts, layouts, and templates. With Shapebox, you can create a distinctive homepage, sidebar layout, category, search, and error 404 pages, while also benefiting from unlimited widget options.
Shapebox prioritizes a superior user experience, featuring a fully responsive layout design and the option for dark mode. Moreover, it incorporates high-quality code that ensures both security and efficiency, contributing to improved website performance and security.
18. Namaha: Embrace Serenity and Simplicity in Your Blogging Journey
Namaha emerges as a beautifully crafted freemium WordPress theme, characterized by its zen-inspired design that exudes calmness and understated elegance. Tailored for blogs in the wellness or spiritual niche, Namaha offers a tranquil environment for your readers to explore and engage with your content.
Theme Stats:
- Active Installations: 2,000+
- Rating: 4.3/5
- Notable Features: Zen-inspired minimalist design, fully responsive, Polylang integration
- Best for: Health, wellness, spiritual, and coaching blogs
- Price: Freemium, with premium plans at $25/license
This blogging theme boasts simplicity in its setup, ensuring ease of use for both beginners and experienced website owners alike. Fully responsive, Namaha guarantees that your website maintains its visual appeal and functionality across various devices, enhancing user experience.
With Namaha, you have the flexibility to extend your blog’s functionality using popular plugins such as Polylang, WooCommerce, and WPForms, allowing you to create a truly immersive and dynamic online presence.
Also Read How to Reduce Time to First Byte in WordPress
FAQ’s for Best Free WordPress Blog Themes 2024
1. What makes Shapebox stand out among other WordPress themes?
Shapebox distinguishes itself with its unique layout, extensive customization options, and support for dark mode, providing a distinct design that captures visitors' attention. Moreover, its high-quality code ensures improved performance and security for your website.
2. How does Hueman cater to bloggers and magazine publishers?
Hueman offers immense flexibility with multiple layout and post format options, making it suitable for both bloggers and magazine publishers. Its responsive and retina-ready design, along with flexible color controls, allows for seamless customization to match your branding.
3. Why is Namaha considered the best theme for wellness and spiritual blogs?
Namaha's zen-inspired minimalist design fosters a calm and serene atmosphere, making it the ideal choice for wellness and spiritual blogs. Its simplicity in setup and full responsiveness ensures a user-friendly experience across different devices, enhancing engagement with your content.
4. What sets Cenote apart from other WordPress themes?
Cenote stands out with its modern design, one-click demo import feature, and extensive customization options. Its support for the masonry layout and multiple header styles allows for creative freedom in presenting your content, making it a versatile choice for any blog niche.
5. How does Kale enhance the blogging experience for food enthusiasts?
Kale offers a clutter-free design tailored for food bloggers, featuring a special front page with featured posts and options for displaying banners or post sliders in the header. Its simplicity in setup and support for RTL languages ensure an enhanced blogging experience for food enthusiasts.
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