To create your website on WordPress, you don't need much — just purchase a domain name and order hosting, install the CMS using an auto-installer, and start publishing content. However, choosing a WordPress theme can feel like wandering through a dense forest — there are thousands of good templates. In this article, we'll explain how to choose a WordPress theme for your blog and what to look out for, as well as review the 8 best themes relevant in 2024. Most of them are classics that have been updated in 2024 and continue to stay current.
Read also: How to create your website for business: independently, easily and relatively cheaply
But first, let's remember what a WordPress theme is.
A WordPress theme is a collection of files and styles responsible for the website's appearance in the browser. It provides the browser with information about how and where posts, pages, categories, recent posts, banners, and social media widgets will be displayed. Therefore, you should choose your theme very carefully. Take your time, try different options, and study their features and reviews. This way, even a lack of technical skills won't be an obstacle to creating and promoting a WordPress blog.
Criteria for Choosing a WordPress Theme for Your Blog
A ready-made website template is useful for beginner site owners and those who need a resource with simple administration and minimal functionality. Using a template allows you to create a regular website without investing time and money in developing from scratch. However, you should pay attention to several key points:
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Niche and Theme: What is your blog about? Choose a theme that matches your niche and target audience. What content will you be publishing? It should be relevant and useful. Additionally, it's important that all articles create a beautiful storefront and attract users.
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Design and Functionality: The theme should be visually appealing and align with your brand. Is it user-friendly? Ensure the template is easy to set up and use, especially if you lack technical skills and experience. Moreover, the theme should have all necessary options, such as page templates, widgets, and customization tools.
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SEO and Performance: Is the theme optimized for search engines? It should have clean code and SEO optimization so that the blog can rank well in search results. Also, check the site's loading speed. The faster the loading speed, the better the user experience.
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Support and Updates: It's important to choose a theme that is regularly updated to remain compatible with the latest versions of WordPress and contain up-to-date security mechanisms.
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Price: How much does the theme cost? There are both free and paid options. Additionally, find out which features are included in the price.
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User Reviews: Study reviews from webmasters to learn about their experience with the theme.
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E-Commerce Support: Do you plan to sell digital or physical products in the future? If so, you need to ensure that the chosen theme is compatible with WooCommerce, the main e-commerce plugin for WordPress.
If you have no experience working with websites, a simpler theme might be more suitable. However, remember that paid options can offer more features and possibilities, especially if you want to create a top-tier blog. Only paid themes have premium features that allow for fine-tuning the site, attracting more users, and monetizing the blog.
TOP-8 Best WordPress Themes This Year
In this section, we will review the best themes that are most popular among WordPress users. These themes are frequently installed from the admin panel and purchased in stores, and they have the highest ratings and reviews.
Divi Theme
Divi by Elegant Themes is a multifunctional theme that allows you to create beautiful and functional websites without any programming knowledge. It comes with a powerful visual page builder that lets you drag and drop elements to create page layouts in real-time. Divi also includes a library of pre-made page layouts that you can use to quickly set up your blog. This is particularly useful for those who aren't ready to spend weeks developing a site and paying third-party developers.
Divi is available only through a paid subscription; there are no free options — except for a 30-day trial period. However, there's a plus: once you subscribe to the theme, you can install it on an unlimited number of sites. Currently, the basic subscription package costs $89 per year.
Try the website builder from Divi, the main pride of the developers, by following.
Features of the Divi Theme:
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Powerful visual page builder
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Library of layouts
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Variety of features and options
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Frequent updates and technical support
Cons of the Divi Theme:
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Not the lowest cost
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Can be challenging to master without preparation, as the theme offers a lot
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The website builder is only available with the theme
Astra Theme
Astra is a simple and fast WordPress theme that is perfect for blogs and websites of various types. It is optimized for fast page loading and SEO, helping you improve your search engine rankings. Astra is also compatible with many popular WordPress plugins, making it versatile.
Astra is a WordPress dinosaur that is considered one of the best time-tested themes. It is ideal if you want a very easy-to-manage, lightweight, and functional website. Despite its age, it remains modern and constantly receives updates — the developer announced the latest version updates on May 23, 2024.
Features of the Astra Theme:
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Simplicity
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SEO optimized
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Compatible with numerous popular WordPress plugins
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Free version with extensive functionality
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Paid versions with additional features
GeneratePress Theme
Another minimalist and fast WordPress theme, GeneratePress comes with a powerful framework that allows for easy site customization without the need to write code. GeneratePress is also compatible with various popular WordPress plugins and major page builders, including Beaver Builder, Elementor, and Gutenberg. This makes it suitable even for those without prior experience in website creation. Additionally, the theme offers its own block builder, GenerateBlocks, available with the paid plan.
The main advantage of the theme is its speed — it has a very small size, just 7.5kB, and a minimalist architecture that allows for excellent PageSpeed scores.
Features of the GeneratePress Theme:
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Minimalism and ease of use
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Powerful framework
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Compatibility with various plugins
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Availability of a free version
Neve Theme
Neve is a minimalist WordPress theme that is perfect for blogs and magazines. It has a clean and modern design that allows you to focus on your content. Neve also comes with a range of features to enhance your blog, including font, color, and layout settings.
It, like Astra, is very old and trusted by many users, but it is constantly updated — the latest update at the time of writing this article was on April 27, 2024.
Neve Features:
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Ideal minimalism
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Modern appearance
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Many features to enhance your blog
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Free version with a wide range of options
Kadence Theme
Kadence is a highly popular WordPress theme that helps create beautiful and functional websites or blogs. It features a powerful visual page builder that allows you to drag and drop elements to create page layouts in real-time. Kadence Theme also includes a library of pre-made page layouts that you can use in your work.
The theme has its own page builder, Kadence Blocks, which is free and open source.
The theme is frequently updated — the latest update was on May 20, 2024.
Kadence Theme Features:
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Excellent visual page builder
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Library of ready-made layouts and templates
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Many useful options and features
Cons of Kadence Theme:
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Fewer starter templates compared to other free themes
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Many additional plugins and add-ons that can be confusing
OceanWP Theme
OceanWP is a WordPress theme that is ideal for blogs, small business websites, and portfolios. In addition to its easy setup, it features a minimalist and modern design. OceanWP provides access to various features to enhance your site. For example, you can customize shades, fonts, and more in detail.
One of the advantages of the theme, according to developers, is that it can be edited from any device, including tablets and phones.
This is another classic theme, with the latest update on May 24, 2024.
Read also: How to protect a WordPress site and not become a victim of open source vulnerabilities
OceanWP Features:
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Modern appearance
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Easy customization
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Many features to enhance your site
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Many useful options even in the free version
Soledad Theme
Soledad is a theme designed specifically for magazines and blogs, featuring a beautiful and elegant design. It has a wide range of features to help create stunning blog posts. For example, with Soledad, you can easily customize logo images, fonts, and headers of various elements in just a few clicks, choose colors from a rich palette, and more. With over 1000 interactive WordPress customization parameters, you can see changes in real time before publishing. You can also upload your own fonts or use one of the 800 available Google Fonts.
Soledad is highly compatible with various WordPress plugins, making it suitable for most blogs, regardless of their focus.
Soledad Theme Features:
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Excellent visual appearance, stylish look
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Many options for creating interesting blog posts
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Compatibility with various WordPress plugins
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Both paid and free versions available
The7 Theme
The7 is perfect for blogs, e-commerce sites, and creating personal portfolios, such as for web designers. Its features include minimalism and cleanliness. If you are interested in detailed customization and advanced functionality, then this theme is what you need.
The7 offers over 60 ready-made website layouts and provides easy integrations with WPBakery Page Builder, Gutenberg, and Slider Revolution. However, this theme particularly integrates well with Elementor. The7 has made Elementor its primary builder, strongly recommending its integration into the theme, and has even enhanced it. For example, you can create floating headers that change color when scrolled.
The theme contains over 1000 customization parameters, numerous headers, and a "Mega Menu" option, allowing you to create complex navigation layouts.
The7 Theme Features:
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Concise design
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Powerful integration with Elementor
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Many customization options to create a unique website design
When choosing a theme, it is important to consider your needs and budget. It is best to familiarize yourself with different themes first and choose the one that best suits your website.
Choosing a theme for your WordPress site is a responsible step. There are many options, and making the wrong decision can lead to disappointment, as changing the theme later will be difficult. In addition, you need to choose colors, fonts, sections, headers, widgets, menus, buttons, and settings. It's easy to get confused in all of this. So, it's definitely not worth rushing. Consider the criteria described above and try out the themes from the top list.
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