Your WordPress theme affects every aspect of your site, from design to site speed to SEO, so it’s important to choose the right one — a task that can feel overwhelming when you’re faced with the 14,000 free themes in the WordPress.org database and the countless free and paid themes available elsewhere. This is where I come in, bringing the lessons I’ve learned from 16 years of building websites to teach you how to choose the best WordPress theme for your website.
I’ll explain the different types of WordPress themes, the pros and cons of free and paid themes, how WordPress themes contribute to site speed and more. I’ll also share some of my personal favorites so you can jump right into testing them out when you finish reading.
There are multiple types of WordPress themes
There are two main types of WordPress themes: standard WordPress themes and block themes. Standard themes are built with the scripting language PHP and can be modified in the WordPress Customizer, a design tool that lets you view changes in real time. What you can modify here varies based on the individual, but there are some consistent limitations to how you can edit areas like your site’s header. You’ll need to learn PHP — or hire a web developer — to get past them.
Block themes use HTML and the full Site Editor — a visual website builder-style tool — to provide more extensive customization options. For example, a block theme will let you insert any content block into your header, whereas most standard themes limit you to adding a logo and choosing the menu you want to display.
I personally prefer working with standard themes. I enjoy working with the WordPress Customizer more than using the full Site Editor, and the best standard themes offer enough versatility to create many different types of websites. However, the advanced customization tools available through using block themes in conjunction with the full Site Editor can make it easier to build a fully unique website.
How to choose a WordPress theme
Choose your price
The vast library of free WordPress themes includes options for every type of website you can imagine: hobby sites, blogs, portfolios, community sites, e-commerce sites and more. You can build a great website with many of these themes — I personally use free themes, like the free version of Total, on all of my sites. I usually tell my friends to stick with free themes, too, especially for sites they don’t intend to monetize (or don’t expect to bring in significant income from) since it’s the cheapest route.
Paid themes (and premium versions of free themes) can unlock more flexibility. For example, the premium version of Neve — a free theme I use on some of my own websites — lets you hide the header menu on certain pages, a tactic known to make product landing pages more effective. Paid themes are also more likely to include custom blocks for things like reviews or event calendars. I often recommend these themes for business websites, as they can improve monetization potential.
Some paid themes charge a one-time fee of as little as $20, while others charge as much as $300 or even more per year. I recommend deciding what you’re willing to pay, and whether you want to pay a one-time fee or purchase an annual subscription, before you dive into theme selection. You should also consider the features, such as advanced design options or custom blocks, you’re willing to pay for.
Consider your focus: industry-based themes vs functionality-based themes
Next, you’ll want to narrow down your search by choosing what you want your theme to focus on. There are three options here: industry-based themes (for specific niches like fashion), functionality-based themes (for specific types of websites like blogs) and multi-purpose themes (designed to work for a broad range of websites).
Industry-based themes are built for websites in specific niches, such as photography or publishing. These themes include specialized page templates, content areas and sometimes custom blocks for sites in those industries. For example, the Legacy Book Club theme includes specialized e-commerce blocks that display books’ ratings. These industry-specific features make it easy to tailor your website to your needs. However, they may not provide great options for building other areas like an aesthetically appealing blog.
Functionality-based themes emphasize features for a specific type of website, like a blog or an e-commerce store. These themes are defined by page templates, content areas and, in some cases, custom blocks for displaying relevant content types in unique ways. For example, the Original Blog theme uses a homepage template with blocks designed to display blog posts in a variety of ways.
Like industry-based themes, functionality-based themes can give you the tools to build the exact site you want. However, if you want to add other sections later — like adding an e-commerce store to your blog — you might find the options rather lackluster.
Multi-purpose themes solve the limitations of industry- and functionality-based themes by providing page templates and other tools for a wide range of websites. Neve, for example, has numerous Starter Sites you can use to build the bones of any type of website. Neve also offers advanced integrations with plugins like WooCommerce to help you create an attractive online store.
Multipurpose themes often lack unique blocks tailored to your industry. However, they can give you control over the appearance and functionality of new areas you add to your site, like a blog or e-commerce store. There are also many free plugins with additional content blocks and even specialized plugins for things like customer review displays that can help you make the most of a multipurpose theme.
Personally, I prefer — and generally recommend — multipurpose themes for most websites, as they give you the most opportunity to grow and change your site without having to switch themes. However, you may want to choose an industry- or functionality-based theme if you’re confident your site will retain its current focus for years to come.
Look for a clean, minimalist layout
Your theme should exist to serve your content, not the other way around. To achieve this, choose a theme that:
- Emphasizes functionality: Every part of the design should serve a purpose, whether that’s helping users navigate your high-level pages, displaying information about you and your brand or selling a product.
- Minimizes clutter: Your theme should give you white space between elements — from the header to the sidebars to the central site area — so your visitors don’t feel overwhelmed. This can also reduce the load on your servers, potentially improving site speed to provide a better experience for your visitors.
Pro tip: The choices you make when designing pages can create cluttered pages even when you started with a minimalist theme. Pay close attention to functionality and creation of white space when building every page to create a consistent site experience.
Choose responsive design — and make sure you test it
Responsive design changes visual parameters to fit the screens your visitors are using, ensuring that your website looks good on mobile devices. Choosing a theme with responsive design is essential to success, as 53.5% of all internet traffic comes from mobile devices.
Luckily, most modern WordPress themes use responsive design. However, not all responsive design is created equal. Some themes may squish certain visual elements or lose some functionality when viewed on a mobile device. I recommend using WordPress’s built-in view switcher tool to test what your site will look like on desktop, tablet and phone screens.
You may also want to perform additional testing by visiting your site on your phone or tablet after you’ve installed a theme. This can give you a more practical and specific view of how your site works on these devices.
Consider customization
While block themes are more customizable than standard themes, there are also many variations on what can be customized within individual themes. At a minimum, you should be able to select the following:
- Fonts for headers and text — most themes come with preselected fonts, and some let you upload your own fonts too
- Color schemes, including background color and the colors of key elements like your header and footer
- The appearance of your site’s top menu
- What content appears in your header/footer, and where this content is displayed (as in, logo on the left or right side)
- Whether your homepage URL (https://yoursite.com) leads to your blog or a static (not changing frequently) homepage you’ve created
These options will help you create a unique, branded feel for your website.
Understand weight
Some themes are bogged down with poor or extraneous code, putting unnecessary strain on your server and slowing down site speed. Others, referred to as “lightweight” themes, are optimized to minimize the impact on your server and improve site speed. These themes often state their lightweight status up front and may highlight things like streamlined code and simplified visual elements.
Start by reading the description of the theme you’re considering with an eye toward descriptions of how its creators have optimized the code. You can then search for “(theme) speed” to find out if anyone’s performed speed tests on it or install it and run speed tests yourself using a tool like WebPageTest (which we use for all of our web hosting reviews). Or you can check out this collection of the fastest WordPress themes based on hands-on testing.
Pro tip: There are many other ways you can improve WordPress site speed, like installing a caching plugin and integrating a content delivery network or CDN.
Verify active development
The best WordPress themes are updated regularly to improve functionality, fix security issues and ensure compatibility with WordPress updates. Your theme should at least have been updated when the most recent WordPress theme was released. Ideally, it should be updated at least once a month.
If you’re using a free theme from the WordPress.org database, you’ll be able to see the date of the last update — and the most recent version of WordPress this theme has been tested with — on the right side of the theme page:
WordPress also places warnings on themes that haven’t been updated for an extended period of time. You’ll find this at the top of the theme page:
For paid themes, you can search the company’s blog for posts about recent updates. You can also look at creators’ social media pages and read customer reviews to find out if there are any issues around failure to update/incompatibility with recent versions of WordPress.
Optional: Consider translation readiness
If you want to serve audiences in multiple languages — or think you might want to down the line — you can choose a translation-ready theme. These themes will typically have a list of languages they support, so you can find one that works with the languages you want to use for your site.
However, you don’t need to choose a translation-ready theme even if you know you’ll want to support multiple languages. You can use a plugin like Weglot to translate your site instead.
WordPress themes I recommend
Searching the WordPress.org theme database can be overwhelming even when you know what you’re looking for. I’ve selected three high-quality, deeply versatile themes you can start with — or use as a foundation to help you understand what a good theme looks like.
Neve
Neve is a standard WordPress theme with both a free version and a paid version. The free version is ultra-lightweight, ensuring good site speed, and offers fairly extensive customization options, making it suitable for many types of websites. I’ve used the free version of Neve on my Weeknight Writers site for two years and been consistently pleased with its flexibility and performance.
Neve premium costs $139 per year and unlocks advanced customization tools for headers, footers and other areas of your site, bringing it more in line with block themes than with other standard themes. You’ll also get access to custom blocks and starter sites you can use to build a stronger foundation for your website.
Both versions of Neve are fully compatible with all popular page builders (like Elementor) and WooCommerce. They also have some built-in translation options and full compatibility with a variety of translation plugins.
Total
Total is another freemium standard WordPress theme with a wide variety of customization options available for both versions of the theme. Total is fully compatible with several popular page builders, WooCommerce and numerous translation plugins. These features, along with several free industry-specific site templates, make Total a great choice for many different types of websites. I’ve used Total on many of my own websites, including every WordPress test site I’ve created for my web hosting reviews here at CNET.
Total Premium costs a one-time fee of $59 and gives you access to more industry-specific website templates, 30-plus custom widgets and tools for customizing how your site appears on tablets and phones. You’ll also get access to an advanced version of the WordPress Customizer with functionality closer to the site editor, plus the ability to save and reuse elements of your design.
GeneratePress
GeneratePress is a freemium block theme, offering full compatibility with both the block editor and the full site editor to maximize customization options. The free version offers numerous layout options, including 60-plus color controls, advanced typography control and five menu location options. GeneratePress is also optimized for speed and SEO, and has translation options for 25 languages. Like the other themes recommended here, GeneratePress is compatible with all page builders and popular plugins like WooCommerce.
GeneratePress premium costs $150 per year and includes access to dozens of starter sites and advanced customer support. You’ll also get access to numerous custom blocks, plus the ability to create a block pattern library with prebuilt blocks (such as an FAQ block with preset questions and answers). You can then store these personalized blocks in cloud storage provided by GeneratePress and quickly pull them from the cloud for reuse.
Final thoughts on choosing a WordPress theme
The right WordPress theme can make it much easier to build an attractive, functional website that matches both industry expectations and your personal vision. You’ll need to consider many things when choosing a theme, from its purpose to its range of customization options to its weight and impact on site speed. Luckily, many resources such as this one can help you understand these factors and recommend high-quality themes to simplify your choice. And if you don’t like your first choice, you can easily change your theme at any time.
While the right theme serves as the foundation of your website, there are many other things to choose, from your web host to the plugins you’ll use to expand WordPress functionality. For more guidance on the full process, check out our step-by-step guide to building a WordPress website.