WordPress is the world’s most popular CMS, and before you can build a website, you need to make one important choice. What WordPress themes are right for your website?
Today, there are over 10,000 themes you can choose from in the WordPress space that can be divided into free and premium options. Trying to pick the right one is like finding a needle in a haystack.
It’s going to take a lot of time, but I have painstakingly put together a list of the best WordPress themes to use in 2024.
Best Real Estate Theme: WP Real Estate
Viewing pictures of a property is one of the first steps most interested buyers do, and that means a website must exist to contain these pictures. While there are many themes dedicated to real estate, none match the excellence that is WP Real Estate.
If this name sounds familiar, it is because they also have a plugin with the same name that adds a variety of real estate listing tools.
Naturally, they are fully compatible with one another so you get the best of both worlds. In terms of design, the website was built with listings in mind and offers users several demo sites that you can install with a single click.
In terms of features, visitors will have no problem using an advanced search to find what they are looking for. With it, they can choose what criteria they are looking for and find listings that match those desires.
Benefits of Using WP Real Estate
- A simple setup that will have you building in under 60 seconds
- Choose from multiple header, page, and blog layouts
- Gain access to premium support
- Provides excellent performance for fast load times
- Excellent mobile design options
Best Video Theme: VPress
Video content is the backbone of many websites today, and as such, there are many themes that are built for it. One of the best WordPress themes for video content is VPress.
That’s because it has all of the bells and whistles you’re going to need to be successful.
In terms of design, it utilizes a minimalist style to allow your video content to be the center of attention. It also has an excellent video slider that you can use to rotate your most popular video content.
You’ll have no trouble building stylish video galleries that visitors can use to find content. It also includes filtering options to help you keep similar content together to make it easier for visitors to find.
Benefits of Using VPress
- Compatible with most plugins and third-party services like MailChimp
- Includes access to social media icons
- See related posts with video thumbnails
- Display video content in your widget areas
- Easily control the color scheme of your website
Best Premium-Like Free Theme: Hestia
WordPress themes have really evolved from their more primitive days, and as a result, there are many free themes that resemble premium options. And perhaps one of the best examples of this would be the free Hestia theme.
It is a multipurpose theme that can build just about any kind of website, but it really excels at one-page designs.
Now just to be clear, there is a Pro version of this theme with even more features. But for many websites, the free version is more than you need because it is highly customizable and compatible with the free version of Elementor.
As such, you’ll have no problem building an excellent appearance that looks like it cost a lot of money to make. It is also compatible with other tools such as WooCommerce, so even eCommerce is on the table with this one.
Benefits of Using Hestia
- The footer area is widgetized
- Translation ready with WPML support
- Excellent responsive design ensures your website looks good on any device
- Easily add text, buttons, and other elements to the header area
- Compatible with most major plugins
Best Theme For Authors: Binder Pro
Binder Pro is a publishing theme that is well-suited for authors to take advantage of. It’s well suited for magazine styles posts or traditional blog updates, which can be used to share upcoming books or anything else you may want to share.
Perhaps one of its strongest attributes would be its modular approach to design.
You can build individual sections for your website using modules. They include unique features suited for building any area. These modules can range from creating an author section to building a pricing table.
On top of the modules, you’ll also have access to a drag-and-drop editor that you can use to build pages any way you want. Ultimately, you have complete freedom when it comes to the site design and it really shows.
Benefits of Using Binder Pro
- This theme offers a variety of advertisement areas
- Includes a “Back to Top” button
- This theme is translation ready
- Choose from hundreds of Google Fonts
- Integrated with Options Backup
Best Theme For Artists: Indigo
WordPress themes are creative and so are artists, which makes them a perfect match for one another. However, finding a theme with a robust selection of creative tools isn’t easy, but that won’t be an issue with the Indigo theme.
This theme delivers all of the creative freedom that an artist would look for on a website.
You can build beautiful galleries to share your art with the world. These galleries can be customized to any size, so you can choose how many pieces appear on the page at one time.
If you are looking to sell your art, no problem. The theme is fully compatible with WooCommerce, so building an online storefront is a cinch. Overall, Indigo is one of the best WordPress themes for artists.
Benefits of Using Indigo
- Delivers an excellent responsive design that looks good on any device
- Intuitive design ensures that this theme is beginner friendly
- Includes a variety of demo content that can be installed in a single click
- Gain access to 30 modules
- Premium support that replies to all inquiries within 24 hours
Best BuddyPress Theme: Boss Theme
BuddyPress is a wildly popular plugin that is used to add social network functionality to WordPress websites. With it, users can add each other as friends, build online profiles, and much more. While most themes work with this plugin, finding one tailor-made for it isn’t easy.
Luckily, the Boss Theme is one of the best dedicated BuddyPress themes available for WordPress.
This theme was made with creative freedom in mind. You can customize any aspect of the website, including any features added by BuddyPress like social menus and much more.
It also works well with LMS platforms to help keep classrooms connected and membership sites for dating. Ultimately, for anything that you would want users to build a profile for, the theme is well-suited to accommodate.
Benefits of Using Boss Theme
- Allow users to log in using other social networks
- Import demo content in a single click
- Includes a variety of shortcodes like progress bars, tooltips, and more
- Provide real-time notifications
- Includes form-building tools for easy sign-ups
Best Wedding Theme: Jack And Rose
Many weddings nowadays have a dedicated website that lists all of the important information and help share photos from the event with guests. And just like everything else about a wedding, you’re going to need to spend some time to find the right theme.
Luckily, the Jack and Rose theme is one of the best themes for weddings in WordPress.
In terms of design, you can create a header area consisting of a single image, use a video as the background, or even use a slider to share multiple images. It has a classic wedding vibe that fits most scenarios.
Of course, if you are looking for something more unique, don’t worry, you can use the drag-and-drop editor to build your own pages and create your own styles.
Benefits of Using Jack And Rose
- Includes demo content that can be added in a single click
- Includes RSVP options to allow guests to do so from the website directly
- Integrates with Google Maps to help provide directions
- Responsive design means it looks great on mobile devices
- Easily control the colors and typography
Best Job Board Theme: Civi
Being the middleman between a company and potential employees can be a lucrative position, and the internet has made that much easier. Many sites are dedicated to a job board, which is just a website that lists jobs to its user base.
It’s a simple concept, but you really do need a unique toolset to make a great website, which is why you’ll want to use the Civi theme.
It is one of the best WordPress themes for building a job board because it includes all of the essential features like an excellent user interface for employers. They can easily see the number of applicants, and even direct message them on the website.
In terms of design, there are over 15 layouts you can choose from and even pre-built home pages that can all be installed in just one click. You can also use your favorite page builder to build your own custom appearance.
Benefits of Using Civi
- Easily create subscription plans for employers to keep their job listings up
- Users can log in using social media accounts
- Easily create custom fields and taxonomies
- Translation ready
- Allow employers to upload video job descriptions
Best Corporate Theme: Thrive Themes
Building a site for your corporation has never been easier with WordPress. There is a great selection of WordPress themes that specialize in this, and perhaps the best one is Thrive Themes.
This is a suite of theme templates and tools that you can use to build any kind of website.
It offers several page templates made exclusively for corporations and businesses of any size. Of course, you don’t have to rely on pre-made templates. It has a very impressive drag-and-drop interface to make site creation from scratch a breeze.
It can be used to make any kind of website including blogs, education, eCommerce, and any combination of them. Corporations will be happy to know it is compatible with most major third-party tools, so it should integrate with any programs and services you already use.
Benefits of Using Thrive Themes
- Includes a full toolset for conversions and lead generation
- Integrates with several eCommerce solutions
- Create quizzes to engage users and collect data
- Create online courses that you can use for employee training or to teach visitors
- Includes a variety of affiliate marketing tools
Best Medical & Health Theme: MedicalPress
If you practice medicine or just cover health as your main topic, there are a ton of themes built for you. MedicalPress is the best theme for medical and health websites for a variety of reasons.
First and foremost, would be its excellent design. It exudes the professionalism that is expected from the medical field.
You’ll have a lot of options and tools to work with when it comes to customizing your website’s design. You’ll be able to create stunning sliders with the Slider Revolution Pro plugin, change any color, choose from hundreds of fonts, and much more.
Perhaps one of the most useful features would be its translations. With English as the default language, it also includes 6 machine-translated languages including Spanish, that can help you communicate with new patients. It also has WPML support for more options.
Benefits of Using Medical Press
- Protect all of your forms with Google reCAPTCHA
- Choose from multiple design styles and customize them to fit your needs
- Integrates with WooCommerce to accept online payments
- Includes templates to share details about the doctors such as their education and experience
- Includes access to a pre-made child theme
Best Theme For Travel Blogs: Tropicana
Traveling is the dream of many and has even managed to become a career of its own thanks to blogging. Tropicana is one of the best WordPress themes for a travel blog that focuses on island design.
That said, it also has templates for cities and can be customized to accommodate other travel destinations.
While you can use the natural options to customize the theme, the real customization options come from its Elementor integration. You can build excellent designs for any destination with it.
To better show off the destination, you can create galleries to share pictures of the location and activities travelers can participate in. It has multiple blogging layouts to better match your style as a writer.
Benefits of Using Tropicana
- A fully responsive design ensures your site looks good on any device
- Integrates with WPForms to create contact forms
- The theme is translation ready, which is necessary for international travelers
- Choose between a static header or image, or create a slider
- Sell merchandise with WooCommerce integration
Best Theme For Architecture: Arki
Many homeowners and businesses are looking for unique home and building designs to better match their individual style or their company, which is why so many look for architects nowadays.
For this reason, many architecture businesses have a website, and Arki is the best theme in WordPress for making one.
Arki offers several site templates that focus on different types of construction such as homes, buildings, or interiors. It also has a more generalized portfolio template that allows you to show off your past projects in a stylish manner.
Of course, designing your own pages is a cinch, and what most professional designers will aim for. This theme utilizes an intuitive drag-and-drop page builder with complete creative freedom. Overall, it is a terrific theme that’s worth checking out.
Benefits of Using Arki
- Create reusable blocks that can be synced to display the same information whenever they are updated
- Choose from over 20 header options
- Includes a comprehensive GDPR tool to ensure your site is compliant
- Compatible with all major plugins
- Create shape dividers between your banners and sections
Best Theme For Car Dealerships: OceanWP
Believe it or not, even shopping for a new car takes place online with many car dealerships having all of the information necessary for buyers to view. OceanWP is one of the best multipurpose themes in WordPress and has the Car Shop template to help build your site.
As the name implies, this template provides the perfect interface to sell cars to users.
You can create a great interface to allow users to enter the price range they are interested in buying, make & model, condition (new or used), and other factors. Each car entry can include several pictures to show off multiple angles and the interior.
It also has room for all of the information you may want to include about the car’s condition and any warranty information you may wish to include.
You can customize anything about this theme and it is compatible with Elementor for even more options.
Benefits of Using OceanWP
- Display the most recent car listings first
- Integrates with Google Maps to show directions
- Includes highly customizable widget areas
- Includes a blogging area to share updates and improve SEO
- Show testimonies from happy customers
Best Theme For Dentists: ProDent
Dentist offices use their websites to attract new clients every day. When it comes to the best WordPress themes for dental offices, ProDent is the best. It offers a stylish interface that is well-suited for the profession.
This can be easily viewed by checking out the three demo home pages. Each one can be imported and used for your own website.
Of course, you’re going to want to customize it. When it comes to design options, ProDent has a plethora of options available. With the drag-and-drop editor, you can build any kind of page layout with any element you can imagine.
The best part about ProDent is the built-in booking system. This will allow your patients to book appointments online, or to allow your staff members to do it for them from the office computer.
Benefits of Using ProDent
- Create mega menus to showcase all of your services
- Integrates with MailChimp to send email reminders and newsletters
- Create stunning sliders to show off happy patients
- Add Google Maps to help new patients find your office
- Choose from hundreds of Google Fonts to match your style
Best Theme For Art Galleries: Peak
There is an incredible selection of WordPress themes that specialize in galleries. And standing at the top of this mountain is the aptly named Peak theme. It utilizes a grid layout to show off multiple pieces of art at once.
You can create your own custom grid with varying sizes for each entry, which can result in some really stunning designs.
The grid layout is not your only way of displaying art, as you can also build sliders that contain the standout pieces for your exhibits. These are great for highlighting the standout pieces and showing the depth of the gallery itself.
If you are also trying to sell your art, you can rest easy knowing it integrates with WooCommerce. This allows you to add your art as products and assign price tags and shipping labels to every piece. Overall, it has everything you’re going to need.
Benefits of Using Peak
- Create individual galleries for each category
- Create blogs about each piece to further describe the deeper meaning or inspiration
- Includes a portfolio page layout if you are also looking for additional work
- Include images in your mega menus
- Includes a custom 404 error page
Best Theme For Financial Sites: Financeup
Securing financial security has never been more important, which is why there are so many financial institutions and consultants available. Regardless of if you are saving for retirement or for a new home, someone is out there that can help.
Luckily, the internet has made this easier than ever and there are a ton of WordPress themes to help with Financeup among the best.
This theme was built for financial corporations, agencies, or private consultants. It offers a slider header display that you can use to show off what services you offer and excellent site navigation tools.
One of the best features of this theme is the inclusion of a testimonial widget. Showing off happy customers is a surefire way to bring in new ones as customers are more likely to use a service that gets better reviews.
Benefits of Using Financeup
- Create financial forums to allow users to engage with each other
- Use the client widget to show off your most important clientele
- Includes social icons to improve shareability
- Gain access to premium support that is ready to help you solve problems related to the theme
- Show off your financial advisors with the Team widget
Best Theme For Membership Sites: Public Opinion
Many find it hard to justify creating a membership site in 2024. But the numbers don’t lie, and they can be extremely lucrative. As such, there is no shortage of WordPress themes that can help you build a great one.
If you are looking to build a magazine-styled membership site, Public Opinion is one of the best themes for the job in WordPress.
It offers a newspaper/magazine style to deliver your content to users. Of course, you can use this for any kind of news from politics to gaming. You can also easily display the category and date for each post.
It even has a breaking news section to share your latest posts with visitors the moment they go live. You can easily customize the design of this theme as it is fully compatible with Elementor.
Benefits of Using Public Opinion
- Translation ready with WPML support
- Excellent performance on any device
- Create sticky menus that can appear on any side of the screen
- Create your own custom color scheme
- Import demo content in a single click
Best Yoga Theme: Vigour
Fitness and staying in shape have never been more popular, and one of the most popular forms of exercise is Yoga. There are so many styles of it that almost no course is identical and the same can be said for their websites.
When it comes to the best themes for Yoga sites in WordPress, Vigour is certainly a contender.
Vigour has an excellent design that allows you to show off your favorite pose as the header image. It also has full gallery support to show off each class you offer. Vigour works beyond just Yoga, as any fitness class works well in this theme.
It even has integration options with Instagram to help share your courses with a bigger audience. You can allow customers to sign up for courses, and even pay online with WooCommerce integration.
Benefits of Using Vigour
- Create custom pages for each Yoga instructor
- Includes class management tools to help you organize and maintain multiple classes
- Create and manage global sections to save time
- Choose from hundreds of Google Fronts
- Create sticky menus to improve site navigation
Best Starter Theme for Developers: Astra
Perhaps the most well-known theme on this list, Astra is being used by over 2 million websites today. It is a multi-purpose theme that excels at just about everything it does and has integration options for nearly every option.
It comes equipped with one of the best drag-and-drop page builders available, which makes it ideal for beginners.
In fact, when it comes to ease of use, the developer goes the extra mile by providing ready-to-use sites that you can import in a single click. All you really need to do is customize them to fit your needs. Thus, you can build a great website in a short amount of time.
However, this theme isn’t just for beginners. It has a plethora of customization options that give experienced web developers the tools they need to create any website they can imagine. When you combine all of this, you get one of the best themes WordPress has to offer.
Benefits of Using Astra
- Add infinite scrolling to your blog posts or products
- The theme’s lightweight design ensures everything loads fast
- It was built using a variety of optimizations to help your website rank higher
- Make changes to all of your layout options at once
- Includes access to a header & footer builder
Best Responsive Theme: Divi
Divi is one of the most popular themes in WordPress because it does everything really well, but perhaps its best trait is its responsive design. Most WordPress themes are naturally responsive, but Divi really stands out as the king of mobile-friendliness.
It is perfect for beginners and experts alike due to its intuitive design that allows for deep customizations.
Perhaps one of its strongest features is the hundreds of premade websites and page designs you can take advantage of. You can easily find what you are looking for as they are broken up into several categories (eCommerce, business, lifestyle, etc.).
In terms of design, Divi has a drag-and-drop page builder that allows you to move any page element to any location. It also comes packed with over 200 unique page elements you can use to build pages the way you want.
Benefits of Using Divi
- Add and customize hover effects for any site element
- Enjoy one of the most advanced code editors available in WordPress
- Control the depth of shadows on images or text
- Choose from dozens of animations for various page elements
- Provides fast page speed (perfect scores on PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix)
Best WooCommerce Theme: WoodMart
One of the most popular website types are online stores, otherwise known as eCommerce sites. And WooCommerce is the most popular plugin to build such a website. As you might expect, there is a buffet of themes dedicated to building an awesome E-Store.
The WoodMart theme is one of the best available for a variety of reasons.
First off, it is fully compatible with WooCommerce to transform your site into an online store, and you can choose between multiple page-builder plugins like Elementor or WPBakery to help design that store.
It also comes equipped with a variety of essential features that any online store should include. For instance, there is a review system in place for customers to leave and view reviews of the products you sell.
Overall, it’s one of the best eCommerce themes available.
Benefits of Using WoodMart
- Add a vertical sticky menu to improve site navigation
- The theme has received nearly perfect page scores on both mobile and desktop according to Google PageSpeed
- Gain access to over 370 different templates to customize your website with
- Includes a drag-and-drop header builder
- Add variations (colors, sizes, etc.) to product pages
Best Theme For Events: Pro
Event planning has changed significantly over the last decade with most events having their own dedicated website. As such, you’re going to need a theme that can adapt to any event type and include the necessary tools to make it a hit.
Enter the Pro theme. This theme can build any kind of website and has an impressive slew of features that make it ideal for any event site.
Perhaps one of the better examples of this is its approach to headers and footers. This theme provides a unique header and footer builder that gives you the freedom to brand various interfaces for your website.
Obviously, with so many options at your fingertips, there is a slight learning curve. However, the Pro theme has a secret weapon, its support team. The team is always available to help answer questions and troubleshoot problems you may run into.
Benefits of Using Pro
- Create custom grids to build pages the way you want
- Gain access to native sliders that allow you to build beautiful galleries
- Use the drag-and-drop builder to construct mega menus
- Add animations, scroll effects, and more Effects Modules
- This theme is constantly receiving new and exciting updates
Best Restaurant Theme: Delicio
This probably won’t come as a shocker, but restaurants, big and small, need a website in 2024. The majority of diners today, regularly look for restaurants in their area via the web and even check out the menus before arriving.
Of course, many also outright make their orders online for delivery or pickup, thus, having a website for yours is a must.
While there are many restaurant focused themes, Delicio is one of the best to use in WordPress. It allows you to easily create your restaurant’s menu online and provides an excellent interface for online orders and reservations.
On top of the functionality, you will also gain access to a stylish and responsive design. It looks great on any device and offers a variety of customization options that you can take to the next level with page builders like Elementor.
Benefits of Using Delicio
- This theme is translation-ready and WPML compatible
- Add your logo anywhere on your website
- Easily add images to your online menu
- This theme is fully compatible with WooCommerce Restuarant Order
- One-click demo importer available
Best Theme For Bakeries: Bakes And Cakes Pro
Do you own a bakery or pastry shop and want to help get your sweet treats into the hands of more customers? If so, building a website with the Bakes and Cakes Pro theme is a surefire way to do that.
It has all of the tools you’ll need for success including an incredible design.
The homepage itself is beautiful and sports a slider that you can use to show off your most eye-catching treats. It even has a portfolio section you could use to display custom orders like wedding and birthday cakes.
There is also a dedicated reservation section for customers to request you to hold specific cakes and pastries when they are first baked. Or, to outright make a request for using eCommerce tools like WooCommerce.
Benefits of Using Cakes And Bakes Pro
- Create beautiful galleries to show off your products
- Choose from 7 unique header options
- Includes 7 pre-made pages like Testimonials, Contact Us, and more
- Easily insert your site logo throughout the website
- Integrates with your favorite social media networks
Best Themes For Recipe Blogs: Foodica
Many people enjoy finding new recipes they can make at home and the internet has made that so much easier. You can easily create recipe blogs to share your best dishes with visitors, and the Foodica theme is the best option for building such a site.
You can easily display your most popular recipes and your latest concoctions with stunning thumbnails.
In terms of design, Foodica goes the way of minimalist themes. It doesn’t have a lot to show, which leaves more room for your signature dishes and menu items to stand out for customers. You can choose between six color schemes or build your own.
If there is one thing I cannot praise enough about this theme, it would be the performance. The site runs fast and gets nearly perfect page scores on multiple speed tools. This ensures customers can quickly place an order before they think about other options.
Benefits of Using Foodica
- Translation ready and WPML compatible to ensure anyone can read your menu
- This theme provides one of the best documentation out there
- Easily import the demo site in a single click
- choose from four different locations that are designed to display ads
- Responsive design ensures orders can be placed from any device
Best Business Theme: Exponent
Your website says a lot about your business, which is why you want it to say positive things. Since many businesses today have a website, you’ll need a theme that specializes in business design, which is exactly what Exponent does.
You’ll be able to choose from 33 demos and import them in a single click to get a head start.
Each demo can be customized to fit the needs of your website and styled to match your business’s style. It is also ready for international use as it supports translations for nearly every language.
Of course, the demos are only the beginning of your design options. You’ll also gain access to a page builder, header & footer builder, and a variety of other customization options. All in all, you’ll have complete control over the appearance of your website.
Benefits of Using Exponent
- Choose from a nearly endless number of grid layouts that you can customize
- Utilizes lazy loading to ensure pages load fast
- Easily switch between color swatches
- Provides GDPR tools to ensure your site is legal in the EU
- Contact a talented support team at any time for troubleshooting
Best Free Business Theme: Guten
Who says a great business site needs to cost a lot of money to make? There is a terrific selection of free themes that you can take advantage of when building a business site, and perhaps Guten is one of the best options.
Business sites need to exude a professional touch, which is often only available in premium themes, but Guten changes that.
This theme offers you complete creative freedom and is compatible with most page builders to give you even more options. It is also fully compatible with WooCommerce to meet any needs in the eCommerce department.
Perhaps one of the more unique options is that you gain access to a library of pre-made page layouts that you can use for free. Normally, only premium themes include these. And yes, there are plenty of layouts suited for business sites.
Benefits of Using Guten
- Optimized for search engines
- Includes exclusive Gutenberg blocks
- This theme is translation ready
- Choose from 10 header layouts
- Everything is fully responsive without any extra work
Best Theme For Affiliate Marketing: Avada
Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money for any website, and some websites are built specifically for this. The Avada theme is an amazing multi-purpose theme that does everything well and has a variety of features that can help you build an affiliate marketing site.
No matter what kind of products you are trying to push, you can build a website tailor-made for that niche with Avada.
Right from the get-go, users are greeted with one of the best setup wizards for any theme. It helps you choose the basic options like font, color, heading styles, and much more in just a few minutes.
Of course, its popularity goes beyond its awesome design. One of the more unique features includes a Performance Wizard. This will help you optimize your website for the best performance by disabling unused features and optimizing videos and images.
Benefits of Using Avada
- Includes access to a WooCommerce builder to give you access to eCommerce functionality
- Utilizes exceptional mobile design to deliver the best experience on any device
- Easily upload your own custom icons to make the website reflect your style
- Includes access to over 90 pre-built websites with one-click imports
- Create mega menus with advanced customization options
Best Free Blog Theme: Clean Blocks
WordPress introduced the Gutenberg editor back in 2018, and it changed the way editing in WordPress worked. Since then, a number of themes built with Gutenberg in mind have been released, and one of the most prominent is Clean Blocks.
It is a free multi-purpose theme with a Pro version available that offers great flexibility and a number of unique Gutenberg blocks.
Normally, you would need to install plugins to add sliders, testimonials, and other key features, but not with Clean Blocks. Instead, it is built into the theme and you can easily access these features via blocks.
In terms of design, the layout delivers a modern style that is enhanced with custom widgets, bulk theme customization options, and much more. Overall, it’s an incredible theme for WordPress and both the free and Pro version are worth checking out.
Benefits of Using Clean Blocks
- Easily customize the excerpt length of featured posts
- Enhance your comment section with threaded comments
- The featured content display ensures your newest and most popular content is on full display
- Gain access to advanced webmaster tools
- Create stunning portfolios to showcase your professional experience
Best Theme For Churches: X
In 2024, everything has been digitalized including your faith. Churches can use websites to set up events in their communities to list their service times, and even accept donations online. As such, there is no shortage of great themes that can build these kinds of sites.
Perhaps one of the best is the X theme. It is multipurpose by nature but has dedicated website templates built for churches.
In terms of design, the theme offers you a lot. You can drag and drop widgets to any location, build headers and footers that are perfect for your website, and so much more. If you are looking for design options, X is among the best WordPress has to offer.
It has a lot of simple features that are great for churches to take advantage of like being able to list the number of members in your community, the number of volunteers, easily upload video content from your events, and much more.
Benefits of Using X
- Easily add sliders to your website and customize them to fit your needs
- Choose what the size of your font is on specific devices
- Utilize Loopers to save time and replicate repeatable tasks
- Adds powerful role management tools to ensure user roles only access what they need
- Integrates with most of the popular WordPress plugins
Best Theme For Nonprofits: Zeko
Nonprofit organizations and charities have found a lot of success through online donations. As such, there is a terrific selection of WordPress themes that these organizations can take advantage of with Zeko among the best.
It has an excellent design that can be customized for your niches like humanitarian aid, wildlife conservation, and much more.
Many nonprofit organizations operate on an international level today. This allows them to collect more donations and ultimately have a bigger impact. However, that presents one big issue: the language barrier.
Luckily, this theme is translation ready, so it’s not an issue.
In terms of design, you’ll have no issue getting the design just right as it is compatible with major page builder plugins like Elementor that not only give you more design options but keep the entire process user-friendly.
Benefits of Using Zeko
- Compatible with WooCommerce to sell merch and fundraiser items
- Includes a variety of accessibility options
- Includes detailed documentation, and live support if you run into problems
- Import demo content in a single click
- Responsive design ensures your website can be viewed on any device
Best Portfolio Theme: Oshine
Many freelancers rely on their online portfolios to show off their creative side and attract new customers. And perhaps one of the best themes for building an online portfolio is Oshine.
Thus, you can expect a variety of features focused on images and layouts that allow your best creations to stand out.
In terms of layout, the world is your oyster as this theme comes with the Tatsu page builder, which gives you complete freedom when it comes to page layout and other design elements within WordPress.
As is common for portfolios or photography websites, it has multiple options for creating one-page websites but can also work in multi-page environments. All in all, you’ll be happy with the end result if you build with Oshine.
Benefits of Using Oshine
- Use video content as the website’s background
- Choose from over 600 Google fonts and over 800 font icons
- Import site demos in a single click
- Utilizes lazy loading to ensure your galleries load fast
- Incorporate hover effects on various site elements like images
Best Resume Theme: RyanCV
Finding your dream job has only become harder over the years as there are other applicants with similar skill sets competing for the same position. One way to stand out is to build a great online resume for employers to check out.
When it comes to the best resume themes for WordPress, RyanCV stands at the top.
It has multiple templates you can use for different professions such as systems engineering, business consulting, law, and many more professions. Each one is professional with lots of dedicated areas.
When it comes to showing off your skills, you have a ton of options to demonstrate skills and projects. For example, you could use a progress bar, a progress circle, or by selecting the number of circles or stars that represent your proficiency.
Benefits of Using RyanCV
- Create a timeline for your work experience
- Import all demo content in a single click
- Includes the Contact Form 7 plugin to make it easy to receive replies and job offers
- Gain access to 24/7 support to answer any questions about the theme
- Includes a blogging section for you to share more about yourself
Best Newspaper Theme: Soledad
While WordPress can be used for just about anything today, it started off as a simple blogging platform. And it’s still a blogging platform at its roots. The Soledad theme keeps this alive by delivering an excellent environment for Newspaper sites.
With that said, Soledad has also evolved over the years and can be used for just about anything. Yet, blogging is still its specialty.
In terms of design, you have a buffet of options available and can choose from a huge selection of demos to quickly assemble your website.
In total, there are now over 250 demos to browse.
One of the more unique features is the inclusion of the Slider Revolution plugin. This premium plugin allows you to build stunning slideshows to display on your posts and pages. Overall, it’s an amazing theme with a lot to offer blogs.
Benefits of Using Soledad
- This theme works great for eCommerce sites and is fully compatible with WooCommerce
- Control images and videos in the backgrounds
- Choose from over 700 Google fonts
- Easily preview all changes before making any changes permanent
- Gain access to an incredible color pallet
Best One-Page Theme: SeedProd
SeedProd is a unique entry on this list because it is not technically a theme, but instead, it is a theme builder. It gives you creative freedom over what you make, with one of its specialties being one-page website design.
This might sound complicated, but it’s actually the opposite. Everything is done with a drag-and-drop page builder.
It utilizes a What You See IS What You Get (WYSIWYG) design, which is really helpful for beginners. It also comes with a variety of pre-made pages like Maintenance or Coming Soon to help ensure visitors are informed.
You’ll also gain access to a variety of anti-spam protection for your homepage. This can help you significantly reduce the amount of spam your website receives with simple tools like ReCAPTCHA, which improve the quality of the leads you get.
Benefits of Using SeedProd
- Integrates with most major tools and plugins like MailChimp, Constant Contact, and more
- Utilizes Smart sections to make your website feel like a professional made it
- The excellent mobile design ensures your website looks good on any device
- Easily create opt-ins to boost your sales and subscribers
- Access the Subscriber Manager to get the latest information on new subscribers
Best Themes For Fitness Blogs: Meridian Fitness
Perhaps one of the most popular topics on the internet is fitness. It’s such a broad spectrum that encompasses workout routines, weightless journeys, diets, and much more.
As such, you better believe there is an incredible selection of fitness themes to choose from. And standing at the top of that list is none other than the Meridian Fitness theme.
This theme can work for just about any niche in the fitness world you can think of. You can use your website as an online way to sign up for fitness courses or to receive diet instructions.
No matter what you use it for, the website will look great.
You can easily import the demo site to give yourself a head start. From there, you can take advantage of the advanced array of customization tools that give you the creative freedom to really capture the essence of fitness.
Benefits of Using Meridian Fitness
- Easily display important course information in an eye-catching manner
- Utilize MailPoet to build up your newsletter subscriber list
- Automatically generates a class schedule that easy to read for visitors
- Excellent responsive design ensures customers can sign up for courses from their smartphones
- Utilize the WordPress customizers to make sitewide changes in an instant
Best Medium Style Theme: Ultra
Medium is a popular blogging platform, however, it has one major downside. You don’t actually own the website you make.
This is why many Medium users switch to WordPress, and if you are looking for a Medium-style theme, look no further than Ultra.
It is an amazing multi-purpose theme that is just, hands down, worth considering regardless of what website you are building.
When it comes to design options, Ultra has it in spades. You’ll gain access to over 60 unique layouts and dozens of pre-made websites that you can apply them to. These websites include everything from fitness to eCommerce.
Perhaps one of the most unique features of this theme is the section scrolling feature. When scrolling down a page, instead of continuing downward, certain sections will appear as a slideshow before continuing.
It’s terrific for developers of one-page sites that want more room.
Benefits of Using Ultra
- Craft incredible mega menus to improve site navigation
- Create animated colors backgrounds and place them in any location
- Utilize the slider layout to give your website a unique feel
- Choose between preset typographies, or from over 600 Google fonts
- Add video content as the background image
Best Theme For Musicians: Wayfarer
Are you part of a band and want to share your music with the world? While many platforms like YouTube can help, at some point you’ll want to build your own website, which is where the Wayfarer theme comes into play.
This theme was built specifically for bands and musicians to show off their work, sell albums, and list upcoming performances.
As you might expect, the theme has a built-in audio player that allows you to upload your songs or samples of songs for visitors to listen to.
You can even create a playlist to play the moment a visitor clicks on the page, just be mindful of the volume.
It also includes an upcoming gigs/events list that you can use to keep fans in the loop. It always keeps the next performance at the top and automatically updates when new entries are added.
Benefits of Using Wayfarer
- Include details about upcoming Gigs including Google Maps
- Includes a library for music videos
- Responsive design ensures it looks and sounds good on any device
- Includes a social icon menu to help visitors share information
- Choose from a number of custom fonts
Best Theme For Podcasting: Kadence
Kadence is a multipurpose theme that has a lot of excellent starter websites to choose from. And perhaps one of its best is the Podcast Starter Template. It offers a great starting point for any podcast site.
It also has the advantage of being compatible with just about every major WordPress plugin. Thus, it fits in any environment.
All of the site templates can be installed with a single click. In the case of the Podcast Starter Template, it comes with the Seriously Simple Podcast plugin, which makes your site ready to host podcasts.
All you need to do is add your episodes.
While these templates are great, you could also build a terrific website from scratch using the default building tools available in this theme. Regardless of what you choose, Kadence is simply one of the best themes on the market and an excellent choice for podcasters.
Benefits of Using Kadence
- Easily customize the color scheme of your entire site from a single location
- Build your own site header with a drag-and-drop editor
- Utilize CSS pre-loading for better performance
- Add a “Scroll to the Top” button on any page or post
- Responsive design ensures this theme looks great on devices of any size
Best Education Theme For Teachers: Eduma
Online courses are not just for college students. Today, you can find online courses for just about anything through a variety of sites and it can be extremely profitable if done correctly.
As such, there are a lot of amazing themes when it comes to education.
Perhaps one of the best options is Eduma. It includes everything you’ll need to build and deliver courses to students online.
So what makes this theme a great choice for education-based sites? It would have to be its natural integration of LearnPress.
LearnPress is an LMS plugin for WordPress that gives you all of the tools necessary to build courses online.
It even gives you the option to choose which LearnPress features to enable on your site, as not every site will need all of the tools.
In terms of design, you’ll be able to build a beautiful website and can choose from over 30 demos.
Benefits of Using Eduma
- Gain access to a drag-and-drop course builder to handle everything from courses to assignments
- Integrate with BuddyPress to create a community around your courses
- Easily insert your logo and change the website colors to match your brand
- Accept payments from major gateways like PayPal, Stripe, and more
- The theme is translation ready, so you can build courses on an international level
Best Cryptocurrency Theme: Blockchain
If there is one buzzword that has been just about everywhere, it is cryptocurrency. Every day, new projects are launching in this space, and if you plan on building a website for yours, the Blockchain theme is exactly what you are looking for.
So, what makes this the best theme for cryptocurrency websites?
Well, it comes with a cryptocurrency exchange rate integration from CoinMarketCap. This allows you to display the latest information anywhere on your website.
It also comes with several widgets focused specifically on displaying this information.
In terms of actual web design, you’ll be able to build your website using the default Gutenberg editor, or with the Elementor page builder.
This gives you absolute freedom over the way your website looks, which makes it great for beginners.
Benefits of Using Blockchain
- Compatible with most third-party tools and WordPress plugins
- The theme is translations ready, supports WPML, and RTL support
- This theme offers terrific speeds that are achieved by only loading site elements when needed
- Utilize Google fonts to make sure your website looks great
- Create global sections that you can reuse in multiple locations
Best Magazine Theme: Jannah
If you are building a news or magazine-style website, there are a lot of themes that can help. However, perhaps one of the best options to consider is Jannah. That’s because this theme has everything you need wrapped into a stylish appearance.
Perhaps its best feature is how accessible it is for new developers. Let’s face it, building a website is anything but easy.
One way Jannah helps new developers is by providing a healthy selection of demos that developers can import in a single click. While this is a common trend among the top WordPress themes, each demo is crafted for a specific niche in news delivery.
For example, if you what to cover politics, there’s a demo for that. Or perhaps you want to cover the latest in video game news. No worries, there’s a demo for that, too.
If there’s a topic you want to cover the news for, Jannah is the theme for you.
Benefits of Using Jannah
- Includes access to Advanced Ad Blocker to ensure your ad revenue is secure
- Optimize all custom and auto-generated CSS for faster load times
- Add shadow effects to any block in Gutenberg
- Customize the style of your widgets by creating unique widget styles
- Make it easy for visitors to share your content on social media with sticky share buttons
Best Minimalist Theme For Writers: Kalium
Kalium is a multi-purpose theme that can be used for anything, and while you can design any kind of website with it, its base design is a minimalist theme. It is a blank canvas that you can fill with whatever you want.
It’s easily one of the top minimalist themes you can try today due to its high level of customization.
You can take this to the next level by using your favorite page builder plugin. It also has a great selection of templates you can use to get a head start on designing your website, which includes 25 in total.
While the theme can be used for just about anything, its natural design has led it to become a great choice for portfolios and photography due to its minimalist design.
When combined with great layout options, it becomes one of the best options available.
Benefits of Using Kalium
- Lightweight design ensures that the theme gets an excellent page score
- Install all site templates with just a single click of the mouse
- The theme was built with international users in mind, thus it is translation-ready and GDPR compliant
- Build headers from scratch to meet your site’s needs
- Extensive eCommerce options available through WooCommerce integration
Best Theme For Lawyers: TheGem
While many hope they never need to use a lawyer’s service, finding one has never been easier thanks to the internet. Most law firms big or small have a website, and it needs to look professional to make the best first impression.
While there are many WordPress themes that can do this, none do it as well as TheGem theme.
It has a variety of templates for any kind of website to take advantage and this includes lawyers. These templates look like a professionally made theme and include all of the areas you would need for a standard lawyer website.
Of course, you can also build your site from scratch using a collection of robust customization features alongside your favorite page builder plugins like Elementor or WPBakery.
It’s perfect for beginners and experts alike.
Benefits of Using TheGem
- Seamlessly switch between light and dark modes of your website
- Includes access to nine unique page layouts
- Advanced grid layouts are perfect for online stores or portfolio websites
- Choose from several unique hover styles and animations
- Responsive design ensures it looks great on any mobile device
How to Choose The Best WordPress Themes
Themes today have so many options that trying to make a blanket statement that one theme is better than the rest just doesn’t work in 2024. Thus, you’ll need to determine what themes are the best for you.
Luckily, I have put together a surefire way you can determine by just following a few key steps.
Step 0: Identify Your Needs
It’s fair to say that you can’t pick the perfect theme for your website if you do not understand the needs of said website.
For example, let’s say you want to build an eCommerce website. Well, are you going to pick a theme that was made for blogging, or are you going to pick one for eCommerce? You’ll probably pick an eCommerce one.
This logic applies to just about every aspect of your website. Before you pick a theme, come up with a list of features you want to include, page layouts you want to use, and anything else you can think of.
With this in mind, you can start looking for a theme that will be able to achieve those results.
Step 1: Read the Reviews
User reviews are incredibly helpful regardless of whether you are looking for a new place to eat or a new theme.
The WordPress theme directory allows users to leave a one to five-star rating and they can include their reasonings. This is a pretty useful indicator and can give you an idea of what real users liked about the theme and what they didn’t.
The same is also true for premium themes, and since people are paying for them, they are more likely to leave a review. That said, sometimes popular themes have thousands of users, but only a handful of reviews.
This is probably because the theme is not asking users to leave a review. It really makes a difference.
Of course, nowadays reviews don’t just come from users. There are a variety of lists and reviews of various WordPress themes. These types of lists can be a great starting point to narrow your search down from thousands of themes to just a few.
Step 2: Make Sure It Is Responsive
Did you know that 60.67% of website traffic comes from mobile devices?
As you can imagine, building a website for someone on a mobile device is different than doing the same for a desktop user. Luckily, you don’t actually need to build two websites to please everyone.
Instead, you need to incorporate responsive design.
Responsive design ensures that anything you build will scale to the proper size, regardless of what device a user uses. Or in other words, a website will look great on mobile devices and desktop screens.
And the best part is that most WordPress themes have this feature naturally but be on the lookout for what each theme offers. Of course, if you think this is just for the visitor experience you would be wrong.
Mobile responsiveness is now a factor in your website’s ranking, thus it directly impacts how much traffic your website receives.
Step 3: Look Into Support Options
In most cases nowadays, people are building websites with zero experience, and that’s great. However, this is really thanks to a large number of tutorials in the WordPress community, but sometimes themes can get way too specific.
This can cause a lot of learning pain for beginners, which is why having support options directly from the developers is useful.
Sometimes you can freely email a theme developer a question and get a reply back in days. However, some people can’t wait that long. The good news is that there are faster options available, however, they usually are not free.
Instead, most themes offer a Pro version that will include support, but sometimes it is tied into a higher-tiered plan, so be sure to read everything. The good news is you are usually getting a lot more than support, you are getting extra features in the process.
Now official support is great, but that’s really not the only option anymore.
Some popular themes with thousands of users often have a lot of helpful resources online that those users create. Some web hosting companies may also have guides for popular WordPress themes. So, be on the lookout for these resources.
Step 4: Make Sure It Is SEO Friendly
When most people look at a theme, they are imagining a beautiful website they can build that visitors will love. However, none of that actually matters if you do not have any visitors.
Thus, without a doubt, one of the most important factors, when you choose a WordPress theme, is if it is SEO Friendly.
However, similarly to how themes use the term responsive, SEO friendly is another term that just about every theme throws around. Thus, you can’t quite take the term at face value, instead, you should be on the lookout for a few key features.
One thing that is important is to ensure the theme does content ordering correctly. Essentially, this is where the elements load in the correct order, and if not, it can look funky.
Ever load a page and you see some of the sidebar or header areas load first and then the rest of the page just kinda pops in? That’s bad content ordering.
The main content should always load first. And this really stems from a badly coded theme, which can be hard or impossible to identify if you don’t know anything about coding. An unoptimized theme will always perform worse.
Not to mention how this kind of a problem can trigger things like Longest Contentful Paint and Cumulative Layout Shift errors in Google Search Console.
One way to check is to use a third-party tool like the W3C Markup Validation Service. If you can’t read code, this is the best alternative.
The other main features to be on the lookout for are a variety of navigational options, rich snippet support, full control over meta tags, and more.
That said, plugins can be used to supplement any theme feature, but they will never be as good as an optimized layout.
Step 5: Make Sure It Is Updated Regularly
Last, but not least, you want to ensure that any theme you choose to use is updated regularly.
Themes are often updated to close security vulnerabilities and make adjustments in line with core WordPress updates. If a theme does not get regular updates, it is a security risk, and can even lead to compatibility issues with certain plugins.
Under no circumstances should you ever choose a theme that has not been updated in over a year.
Unfortunately, a lot of theme developers, both free and premium, do not actually say when they are ending support. At this point, your only option is to find another theme. Thus, you should make sure the developers have a good track record.
If you follow these steps, you’ll definitely pick a theme that will serve you well.
So What’re Better, Free or Premium Themes?
When you are selecting a WordPress theme, this is a big question that just about everyone has.
There is a stigma that premium themes are “better” than free ones, but that’s not really true. Both free and premium themes are just code. Some themes are coded better than others and that can happen whether free or premium.
That said, premium themes certainly come with more tools and support than their free counterparts, and that could be the deciding factor for many. In truth, that’s really what you are paying for when you buy a premium theme.
It’s also worth talking about the actual price tag. Let’s face it; if you are starting a new blog, saving an extra 50 or 100 dollars is a big deal. Even if the extra features are nice, they may not be worth it when starting out.
So to answer the actual question, one is not better than the other. One just has more features to offer.
How Do Page Builders Fit Into This?
Page builders allow you to create unique content that the standard tools within WordPress themes do not allow.
The good news is that most themes will work fine with page builders. In fact, most will list the page builders they support as a selling point, so it’s not hard to find this information. However, there is something that themes and page builders leave out.
How they impact your theme’s performance.
In most cases, you won’t notice any kind of slowdown or impact on performance. However, once you start using a lot of custom elements and text, it can start to have an impact, but this is rare.
Usually when the performance is impacted, it’s because the theme is not coded well. Ultimately, using page builders should have little to no impact, but if they do, you probably need a new theme.
Find the Best WordPress Themes Today
As you can see there are a lot of amazing themes in WordPress, and truth be told, this list is really just scratching the surface. Thus, I strongly recommend looking beyond this list and spending time going through theme libraries.
Doing so can help you find great themes that may not have a huge backing, but are just as good, if not better, than the big boys on this list. Themes are constantly evolving, and figuring out what’s right for your website is also changing.
Thus, you always need to be on the lookout for the next big themes in WordPress.
What is the most important factor when choosing WordPress themes? Are you building a new website, or choosing a new theme for an existing one?