Best WordPress Themes Of 2020 : Paid, Free, And For Business
The WordPress platform is one of the simplest ways to create colorful and well laid out webpages. Setup is usually performed with a few mouse clicks, so no coding knowledge is required.
The platform supports thousands of various designs known as themes, some of which are suited to specific users such as small businesses, whilst others have a more general appeal.
Many Wordpress themes are designed for blogs, but there are more specialist ones, such as for art and photography portfolios. There are also premium Wordpress themes available for those who want to invest extra in their website, and there are also ecommerce themes for business users.
When starting out you may feel overwhelmed by the choices available, especially if you’re not sure if a theme is worth buying. Also, do check that any theme you do consider will work properly with any Wordpress plugins you have also installed.
In this guide, you’ll discover five of our very favorite free and paid WordPress themes. Whether you’re a freelancer on a tight budget or an established business, rest assured there’s a theme for you.
The simplest of the best Wordpress themes
Free and Premium tier
One-click install
Integrations
Hestia is the perfect theme for those with small businesses, startups, online agencies and firms due to its multi-purpose functionality. Users do not have to pay to download this theme. Installation and setup is designed to be user friendly.
This theme is best suited to users who want to setup an ecommerce platform. Hestia integrates with WooCommerce, allowing users access to beautifully designed product listings. There is an easy to use drag and drop feature suitable.
This theme comes with custom background settings which aid in adding photos to your site and making it your own. It has a multi-purpose one page design, a widget designed footer and a blog or news section.
It integrates with Travel Map, Photo Gallery, Flat Parallax Slider and Elementor Page Builder. Hestia is responsive and uses Material Kit for design.
As with most WordPress themes, there is a demo for users to sample before downloading.
The best Wordpress themes for features
Highly customizable
Integrates well with WordPress
Variety of designs
X is a paid WordPress theme suitable for all types of websites.
The theme comes with four categories of built-in demos. Each of these themes cover a wide variety of potential projects. This means that no matter what you have in mind, X more than likely has a design suited to your needs.
Cornerstone is included with X. This is one of the most popular WordPress web page builders. The drag and drop feature is easy to use. Users are able to see exactly what their page will look like live as they are building. This enables users to change and edit while building their site.
There are a huge number of customization options, with which users can build a unique webpage. It's also constantly updated and you get features like the custom font or inline editing. In the early 2019, X introduced Dynamic Content which helps a lot when building out content throughout your site.
X comes with a feature called ‘the customizer’. This is a handy tool as many premium themes come with their own theme options page that is not entirely compatible with WordPress. ‘The Customizer’ is highly intuitive. It integrates seamlessly with WordPress. It will help you to customize the look and feel of your website.
The regular license for X is $29 which includes future updates and 6 months customer support. Users can opt to extend support to 12-months for an additional $6.38.
The most customizable Wordpress theme
Free
Highly customizable
Slight learning curve
Allegiant is a highly customizable WordPress theme that is most suited for small businesses that are just starting out.
The theme itself is simple and well laid out. Across the top there is a large header to highlight your most popular services or products. The slides on the homepage can be displayed in any order.
The theme offers several feature blocks which can be easily inserted onto your page with details about your business team or your past endeavours amongst others. These blocks come with the theme’s plugin ‘CPO Content Types’. The plugin is free and installs very quickly.
These pre-built blocks also come with testimonial section. It is very easy to copy and paste information into the blocks.
Allegiant integrates with other free popular WordPress themes such as WooCommerce, Yoast SEO, WPML and Contact Form 7.
It’s also free to download from the WordPress website.
Some online commentators mention that while the theme is customizable it is not easy to figure out how to do so. They don’t recommend Allegiant for newer users.
The best Wordpress theme for freelancers
Free
Huge variety of fonts
Feature rich
Sydney works well for freelancers and companies who want to create a strong online presence.
It is highly customizable with many options to choose from such as Google Fonts and logo uploads. The theme has more than 600 Google fonts to choose from.
For users who want to show off, there is a full screen promotional banner that can be edited to suit your needs.
The custom elementor blocks can be designed as you see fit and to suit your promotional needs. Sydney can also display social media icons at the bottom of your page.
The theme is translation ready and provides the necessary tools for a smooth translation process.
Users have access to full color control, sticky navigation, header image and a full screen slider. Sydney also offers Parallax background affects. Users can add this to any row in the theme layout.
The theme is free to download, and costs $59 for a Pro licence.
The best multi-purpose Wordpress theme
Multi-purpose theme
Fully adaptive
Variety of premium plugins
Uncode is a multi-purpose theme suitable for most users.
The theme offers users a huge variety of website demos. These include classic, portfolio, blog and ecommerce layouts.
Uncode’s images are fully adaptive so that they adjust automatically to whatever screen size they are being viewed on.
Users can edit their demos through the WPBakery Page Builder Plugin. They can also access to the handy drag and drop content editor. Uncode is compatible with most third-party plugins.
The themes large media library makes it easier for users to embed any type of media to your WordPress site.
Uncode has over 6 different menu types with advanced options. These include top right, justify, left, center, overlay, offcanvas and lateral.
The theme is WPML certified and offers RTL (Right to Left) support. The premium themes included are VC Page Builder, VC Clipboard, VC Particles, LayerSlider, Slider Revolution and iLightBox. In the recent updates, new features are available like animated headlines, highlighting effects and frontend editor, among other things.
You can purchase for $59 and includes future updates and 6 months support. If you want to extend support to 12 months, an additional $17.63 is needed.
The best Wordpress theme for food websites
Detailed tutorials
Uses Genesis Framework
Expensive
Foodie Pro helps users to create a beautiful blog based around all sorts of culinary delights.
It is created by the Genesis Framework. This means your website will have a solid combination of this Framework along with WordPress. The theme comes with a huge amount of typography and color options.
Users can build their site using up to 3 homepage and 5 site wide widget areas. These can be customized to fit around your brand.
The theme allows users to upload their own logo with one click. There is also full support for text-based logos.
Foodie Pro’s ‘Theme Customizer’ allows users to customize the theme’s settings, colours and backgrounds images.
The ‘Foodie Pro Theme’ can be purchased for $129.95 for one year. This includes the Genesis Framework, Foodie Pro Theme, instant access, unlimited updates, supports, sites and access to detailed tutorials.
If this is not enough, users can choose the ‘Genesis Pro’ for $360 (£279.5). This includes all the ‘Foodie Pro Theme’ has to offer plus access to every theme the company makes including future themes.
The best Wordpress theme for ecommerce
Highly customizable
WooCommerce compatible
Learning curve for new users
Shopkeeper is a user-friendly WordPress e-commerce platform. The homepage consists mainly of one large slider, designed to catch the eye of any potential clients. This is part of the Slider Revolution plugin which is included. Various optional plugins like "Shopkeeper Portfolio Addon" can also be installed.
The theme integrates completely with WooCommerce, and translation is supported with the WPML plugin. Shopkeeper is Retina-ready and fully responsive, making it perfect to view on both tablets and smartphones as well as your desktop computer.
The theme is easily customizable. Users do not need knowledge of complex codes in order to use it. There are a huge array of pre-built layouts to suit your needs, but failing this, users can create their own layout from scratch.
Users can also upload their own logo, change fonts and colors. Visual Slider and Revolution Slider plugins are included with the Shopkeeper theme; these cost around $26 (£19.5) each. Shopkeeper itself sells at $59 for a regular license. Users can upgrade to 12-months support for a further $17.63.
Some online commentators have noted that the huge amount of customizable settings contained within Shopkeeper can be overwhelming for newer users.
10 Best WordPress Free Themes
Do you want to make money in the WordPress world? Then, instead of using an HTML editor, you can use a page builder like Elementor. You will achieve the goal of creating professional websites much faster with this tool.
Redesigns and revamps can cost you a 4-digit figure. The more you adapt a website to the customer needs, the more the customers can attract towards you. Great for everyone who makes a profit, but if you invest a 4-digit figure for a redesigning and revamping and your customer still does not like it, you will feel devastated.
It is better to stay flexible and supple with a ready-to-bake WordPress theme. The search for the good themes is of course time-consuming, the selection seems infinite, and you may realize that they all look the same anyway.
So, let us look at the trendiest and excellent free WordPress themes. Wadav described step by step guide on how to setup a WordPress blog quickly and easily. Some themes are designed for Page builder, i.E. For adaptability and speed, and those that can be fully customized even without a Page builder.
It would help if you mainly focused on the functions, speed, and adaptability of the selected theme.
What Criteria Should I Use to Choose My Theme? File Size of the ThemeAccording to the expert opinion, one of the most important criteria to judge the theme is to analyze the quantity of trivial coding present within the theme. If the theme contains too much garbage (trivial stuff), it will have a significant impact on the theme and will slow it down dramatically after you are done with the designing. No user likes to wait, so the theme should not be the bottleneck of the loading time.
Support/Who is the Developer?If the developer has no long-term interest in regularly updating your website or work with it for Search Engine Optimization, he will have no interest in selecting an appropriate theme that caters to all technical issues. Or, perhaps, web designing is his hobby, you will be left with your problems.
Fast loading times are important. Google and the reader consider this factor. With “Generate Press” (WordPress free theme) you make your WordPress website a racing car.
IntegrationDoes the theme have a good integration for WooCommerce or Page Builder like Elementor or Beaver Builder?
A Page Builder allows you to completely customize a website without having to know the code behind it. So, you can design the page as you want, and you do not need any technical knowledge.
Some themes offer good integration for Page Builder and are even geared towards it. Other themes, however, have integrated a page builder directly.
The disadvantage of the integrated page builders is that they are often slow or not always up to date. Therefore, it is usually a better choice to use a separate page builder.
The Best Free ThemesSince the free themes restrict the user, it makes sense to use Elementor. This free Page Builder can bypass many of the restrictions imposed by the theme.
1. Generate Press: The developer Tom Usborne has created a super-fast theme designed for Page Builder. In the free version, you already have all types of functions and features available.
It is great for customizing a website with Elementor. There is a site library that contains dozens of templates for finished pages. Since Tom is only working on this project, the support is excellent. Even without Premium, you can get help with your problem within 24 hours.
It ranks second place when it comes to page speed.
2. Neve: Neve is a theme that sets new standards around adaptability. You can completely customize your header and footer.
There is also a free template, which you can adapt to your needs in a short time. In addition to its speed, it also has integrations for WooCommerce.
3. Astra: Astra is also designed for Page Builder. In the free version, there are several templates available. Thanks to this, the basic framework can be set up in a few minutes in combination with Elementor.
Astra’s USP (unique selling point) is the integration of LifterLMS and other plugins for managing online courses. The adaptability is also very good. In the free version, however, adjustments for blog, layout and the header are missing.
4. OceanWP: Of course, there are reasons to consider OceanWP as one of the best popular themes. The customizability of this theme is the best of all free ones. Colors, fonts, spacing and much more can be customized without having to buy a full version. Loading times are still pretty good. Although there is no premium version, only some plugins are paid.
5. Hello Elementor: The Hello Elementor theme is very minimalist. It should be the perfect basis for designing individual pages faster. It ranks on the first position as far as page speed is concerned. One of the reasons for this is that it is only made for integrating Elementor.
6. Optimizer: The optimizer uses the variant of a built-in page builder. I would not call it a complete Page Builder, but rather to customize the theme.
As a result, the theme is in a strange situation, because without a Page Builder it is easily customizable but much slower than another theme with Elementor.
7. Fukasawa: Fukasawa is a minimal blog theme for collectors, photographers or any other site operator who needs a lot of photos. It displays your articles in a Pinterest-like manner. Fukasawa offers 5 widgets and supports the Jetpack plugin, which can be used to activate the so-called “Jetpack Infinite Scroll”, a lazy load variant. This means that more and more posts are shown as you scroll down. You can change the link color and, of course, logo.
8. Miyazaki: Miyazaki is a stylish, high-contrast theme with a striking design, suitable for portfolios and, magazines and blogs.
With high-contrast colors and large titles, Miyazaki makes an impressive impression without compromising legibility or user-friendliness. The posts in Miyazaki are arranged in an image-heavy grid, which makes them perfect for portfolios or blogs about design or photography.
9. Chaplin: Chaplin was created from scratch with the new Gutenberg editor. Creating attractive layouts with multiple columns, media and texts are quick and easy to go with.
All the fonts and colors in Chaplin can be changed in the WordPress Customizer, making it easy to give your website a unique look. Chaplin supports all fonts in Google Fonts.
10. Hamilton: Hamilton is a minimalist WordPress portfolio theme for creative people and businesses. Whether you want to present illustrations, graphic works or just blog posts with lots of pictures, the minimal layout and the fine-tuned typography put the focus where it should be on the content.
Author: Vinod JanapalaVinod Janapala is Senior Product Marketing Manager at piHappiness - Customer Feedback App & Survey Software. PiHappiness is a top customer feedback software designed to collect customer feedback on Web, iPad & Android tablets. Vinod is keen on such topics as marketing, SaaS challenges, and Personal Growth.… View full profile ›
WordPress 5.5 XML Sitemap Details Emerge
WordPress released more details about the WordPress 5.5 XML sitemap feature coming in August 2020. There’s a lot of good news about the coming WordPress sitemap. Yet despite all the good things, some feel it could be better.
The truth is somewhere in that muddled middle zone.
WordPress Sitemap Offers Lots to Cheer AboutFirst off, the default address for the WordPress sitemap will be:
/wp-sitemap.Xml
Secondly, the site map will be able to accommodate an astounding number of web pages.
“The sitemap index can hold a maximum of 50000 sitemaps, and a single sitemap can hold a (filterable) maximum of 2000 entries.”
Unless my math is wrong, that’s one hundred million pages.
WordPress will be able to handle all public-facing web pages:
“By default, sitemaps are created for all public and publicly queryable post types and taxonomies, as well as for author archives and of course the homepage of the site.”
The robots.Txt automatically generated by WordPress will reference the WordPress generated XML sitemap. There will be no need to manually add that into the robots.Txt file.
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SimpleXML PHP Extension NecessaryWeb hosts will be required to install the SimpleXML PHP extension.
The WordPress sitemap will require the SimpleXML PHP extension.
The sitemap will not function without it.
Every web host that hosts WordPress publishers will need to consider installing this PHP extension.
According to WordPress:
“Rendering sitemaps on the frontend requires the SimpleXML PHP extension. If this extension is not available, an error message will be displayed instead of the sitemap. The HTTP status code 501 (“Not implemented”) will be sent accordingly.”
Do Hosting Providers Support SimpleXML?WordPress solicited feedback from the hosting community regarding the SimpleXML PHP extension to see if this was already integrated.
Failure to integrate this PHP extension would cause the WordPress sitemap functionality to fail.
GoDaddy, IONOS (formerly 1and1) and other hosts responded that this was already implemented into their servers, including in shared host environments.
An employee at IONOS responded:
“On IONOS side, SimpleXML is permanently available on all Linux- and WordPress SharedHosting tariffs and also on Managed Linux Servers with versions supported by the PHP community (7.2 / 7.3 / 7.4).
SimpleXML is also available for our new WP Pro product.”
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Someone from GoDaddy responded:
“Just to update everyone:
I checked with folks, and heard back that SimpleXML is widely available across GoDaddy’s services. Feedback is that it seems reasonable to make it a requirement for the sitemaps feature.”
Customizing WordPress Site MapsWordPress provides a way for third parties to add more features to the basic sitemap features provided with WordPress. In other words, the sitemap functionality will be plugin friendly.
WordPress provides filters that can remove certain parts of the sitemap, like removing sitemap generation for tags.
There will also be filters that will do things like exclude specific posts (for example, posts that are noindexed).
This is something that can be edited by hand but I suspect that plugins will surface to make it easier to deal with through a graphical user interface (GUI) as opposed to editing code.
Related: How to Optimize XML Sitemaps: 13 SEO Best Practices
WordPress Sitemap Lacks Modern Sitemap FunctionalityA notable gap in the WordPress 5.5 sitemap implementation is that it will not generate site maps for images, video or Google news sitemaps.
A sitemap for images is very important.
For others, the Google News sitemap is almost as essential as air is for breathing.
Some may find it disappointing that these other kinds of sitemaps are missing and may interpret that omission as a critical failing.
One of the responses to the WordPress announcement reflected disappointment:
“I have the utmost respect for all contributors and anyone who has helped to build this and I really don’t mean to sound condescending, but it feels like WordPress is very late to the party here.
This stuff has been around for decades.
…why would there be any need to put this (partial) feature into core? Plugin and theme developers will probably just disable it since it doesn’t come near to what’s been possible for years through any of the plugins that enable it right now.”
A person associated with an SEO plugin remarked:
“If you don’t have a SEO plugin to automatically disable this native sitemap, it will be a massive disaster for your sites.”
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Another member of the WordPress community offered support for the new XML sitemap.
He explained why native support for a sitemap is important:
“Users sometimes ask, why should I have to add a (big) plugin for something basic like a sitemap? Well, they have now got an answer, from now the answer is no, you don’t.”
Related: How to Use XML Sitemaps to Boost SEO
Will the WordPress 5.5 XML Sitemap Be Useful?A WordPress sitemap integrated into the core of WordPress will be useful because extensibility is built into it.
That means third party plugin makers will be able to innovate on top of the basic functions of the WP 5.5 XML sitemap.
A native WordPress sitemap will also be useful for publishers who want to keep the number of plugins to the minimum.
It might be more attractive to install a dedicated sitemap plugin to extend the WordPress sitemap functionality than install an SEO plugin that contains bells and whistles they don’t need.
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Yet a case can be made that the upcoming WordPress 5.5 XML sitemap functionality falls short of attaining the levels of usefulness necessary in 2020.
Overall the News About WordPress 5.5 Sitemap is PositiveThe missing image sitemap function could be a deal-killer for many publishers who understand that to be an essential and fundamental part of a sitemap.
Yet even that complaint is mitigated by the fact that a third party plugin maker can add that function into WordPress, as well as extend sitemaps to be more customizable than current plugins allow.
So overall, the integration of a site map into WordPress 5.5 looks to be a positive development.
Look for WordPress 5.5 to be released in August 2020,
CitationRead the official announcement at WordPress:
New XML Sitemaps Functionality in WordPress 5.5
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