WordPress is one of the most popular and versatile platforms for creating websites. Whether you want to start a blog, an online store, a portfolio, or a business website, WordPress has a theme for you. And the best part is, you don’t have to spend a dime to get a stunning and functional design for your site.
There are thousands of free WordPress themes available in the official WordPress.org directory and other third-party sources. But how do you choose the best one for your needs? How do you know which theme is reliable, fast, responsive, and customizable?
What to Look for in a Free WordPress Theme
There are many factors to consider when choosing a free WordPress theme for your website. You want a theme that is reliable, fast, responsive, and customizable. You also want a theme that suits your niche and purpose, whether it is a blog, an online store, a portfolio, or a business website.
According to the tested results, some of the features that you should look for in a free WordPress theme are:
- Mobile-friendliness: A theme must be 100% responsive because more than half of the global web use is on mobile. And it’s also an SEO ranking factor that you should pay close attention to.
- Updates and support: A theme must be regularly updated and well-supported by the developers. Outdated themes can cause compatibility issues with WordPress and PHP versions. A free theme may not offer one-on-one support, but it should have extensive documentation and an active support forum.
- Customizations: A theme must be customizable to some extent, so that you can change colors, fonts, backgrounds, layouts, and more to match your brand and style. Some themes may offer more customization options than others, such as header and footer builders, logo uploads, Google Fonts, etc.
- Compatibility: A theme must be compatible with popular plugins that can add features and functionality to your website. For example, if you want to create an online store, you need a theme that supports WooCommerce. If you want to use a page builder, you need a theme that works well with Elementor, Beaver Builder, Brizy, etc.
- Templates: A theme may offer ready-to-use starter sites or templates that you can import and use for different niches and purposes. This can save you time and effort in creating your website from scratch. You can then customize the templates with your own content.
These are some of the features that you should look for in a free WordPress theme. Of course, you may have other preferences and requirements depending on your website goals and needs. The best way to find out if a theme is right for you is to test it out yourself before installing it on your live site.
Best free WordPress themes
There are many free WordPress themes available for different purposes and niches. According to some of the web search results, here are some of the best free WordPress themes of 2024:
To help you out, we have handpicked and tested some of the best free WordPress themes of 2024. These themes are not only beautiful and feature-rich but also regularly updated and well-supported. They cover various niches and purposes, so you can find the perfect theme for your project.
| Theme | Features | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Shapely | Responsive and flat design, one-page layout, WooCommerce compatibility, translatable | One-page business and agency websites |
| Astra | Lightweight and fast, customizable header and footer, WooCommerce integration, starter templates | Multipurpose websites |
| Neve | Responsive and AMP-ready, drag and drop builder compatibility, custom layouts, WooCommerce booster | Blogs, e-commerce, business |
| Hestia | Material design, one-page layout, WooCommerce ready, live customizer | Creative agencies, startups, portfolios |
| OceanWP | Responsive and fast, multiple demos, WooCommerce features, extensions | E-commerce, blogs, business |
Here, Read more details about these best WordPress themes and other themes below:
OceanWP
OceanWP is one of the most popular and multipurpose free WordPress themes. You can use it for any type of website, including eCommerce or membership sites. It has a responsive and flat design that looks great on any device and screen size. It also has a one-page layout option that is ideal for landing pages and portfolios.
OceanWP is compatible with WooCommerce and other popular plugins, such as Elementor, Beaver Builder, WPBakery, and more. It also has many customization options, such as Google Fonts, logo uploads, color schemes, header styles, sidebar layouts, and more. OceanWP is also translation-ready and SEO-friendly.
Astra
Astra is another powerful and fast-growing free WordPress theme. It is lightweight and fast-loading, with a performance score of 95% on GTmetrix. It is also fully responsive and retina-ready, ensuring a smooth user experience across devices.
Astra is compatible with all major page builders, such as Elementor, Beaver Builder, Brizy, Gutenberg, and more. It also supports WooCommerce and other plugins for adding features like contact forms, social media icons, testimonials, etc. Astra has hundreds of starter templates that you can import with one click and customize with your own content.
Hestia
Hestia is one of ThemeIsle’s most popular products, with tons of 5-star reviews. It is a modern and elegant theme that suits any kind of business or creative website. It has a one-page layout with a full-width header, parallax scrolling effects, portfolio section, testimonials section, pricing tables, blog section, and more.
Hestia is compatible with WooCommerce and other plugins like Elementor, WPForms, Jetpack, etc. It also has a live customizer that lets you change colors, fonts, backgrounds, layouts, and more with real-time previews. Hestia is also translation-ready and SEO-friendly.
Neve
Neve is another multipurpose theme from ThemeIsle that offers a minimalist and fast design. It has a lightweight and flexible framework that loads in less than a second on a default install. It is also fully responsive and adaptive to any screen size and device.
Neve works well with all major page builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, Brizy, Divi, and more. It also supports WooCommerce and other plugins for adding features like contact forms, newsletters, social media icons, etc. Neve has over 80 ready-to-use starter sites that you can import and customize with your own content.
Shapely
Shapely is a free WordPress theme that has a one-page layout and a pixel-perfect design. It is suitable for business, landing page, portfolio, eCommerce, and other types of websites.
It has many customization options and supports popular plugins like WooCommerce, Jetpack, Contact Form 7, etc. You can download Shapely from the WordPress.org theme directory1 or from the Colorlib website2.
Sydney
Sydney is a professional and powerful theme for businesses and freelancers. It has a full-screen slider that you can use to showcase your services, products, or projects. It also has a front page layout with blocks that you can drag and drop to create a stunning homepage.
Sydney has over 600 Google Fonts, unlimited color options, logo uploads, and more customization options. It also has sticky navigation, social icons, blog layouts, and more features. Sydney is responsive, translation-ready, and SEO-friendly.
Simple
Simple is a clean and minimalist theme for bloggers and writers. It has a simple and elegant design that focuses on your content. It has a single-column layout with no sidebar or footer widgets. It also has a full-width header image that you can use to display your logo or tagline.
Simple is compatible with Gutenberg, the new WordPress editor that lets you create beautiful posts and pages with blocks. It also supports custom menus, custom backgrounds, custom headers, and custom colors. Simple is responsive and SEO-friendly.
Kadence
The Kadence Theme is a fully functional, lightweight WordPress theme that makes it easier than ever to create stunning, quickly loaded, and accessible websites. It has a simple drag-and-drop header and footer builder that makes it possible to quickly create any kind of header.
It has an extensive collection of exquisite beginning templates that are simple to customize using our sophisticated global font and color options. With deep integration with the most widely used third-party plugins, you can easily create eye-catching websites for businesses, e-commerce, courses, and other purposes.
PopularFX
PopularFX is a versatile theme that works with any niche business website. It has a sleek and modern design that can be used for any type of website. It has a full-width slider, portfolio section, blog section, call-to-action buttons, and more.
It is a lightweight theme to make beautiful websites with Pagelayer. Includes 100s of pre-made templates to design a stunning website!
Zakra
Zakra is a fast and lightweight theme that can be used for multiple purposes. It has a flexible and multipurpose design that can be customized with the WordPress customizer. It also has a header and footer builder that lets you create your own header and footer layouts.
Zakra has over 65 starter sites that you can import and use for different niches like business, education, health, travel, etc. It also supports WooCommerce and other plugins for adding features like contact forms, newsletters, social media icons, etc. Zakra is responsive, translation-ready, and SEO-friendly.
GeneratePress
GeneratePress is another fast and lightweight theme that offers a high-performance website. It has a modular design that lets you enable or disable the features you need. It also has a customizer that lets you change colors, fonts, backgrounds, layouts, and more.
GeneratePress has over 70 demo sites that you can import and use for different niches like blog, business, eCommerce, etc. It also supports WooCommerce and other plugins for adding features like contact forms, newsletters, social media icons, etc. GeneratePress is responsive, translation-ready, and SEO-friendly.
Conclusion
These are some of the best free WordPress themes of 2024 that you can use to create your own website. They are all reliable, fast, responsive, and customizable. They also have premium versions that offer more features and support.
We hope this article helped you find the best free WordPress theme for your website. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment below.
