Did you know that there are more than 31000 WordPress themes available in the market, that are sold by more than 210 companies? (source)
When you are starting your blog or website, it becomes very tough to choose the perfect theme from too many available options. I spent countless hours researching the best free themes and their functionalities.
Choosing a perfect theme for your blog out of more than 31000 available themes is not an easy task. When I started my blogging journey, I thought of trying as many themes as possible to have a hands-on experience.
For the same purpose, I even registered a dummy website. Very soon realized that I may have to spend my whole life experimenting with the themes.
What Is A Theme In WordPress?
A theme is a collection of files called templates that control the way your site’s contents are displayed.
Without a theme, your website will look plain and boring. You may have features, images content, and other components on your website, but without a proper theme, you cannot control or modify how your site should appear to your audience.
Why do you need a theme for blogs?
A WordPress Theme is a collection of files that work together to produce a graphical interface with an underlying unifying design for a website.
A Theme modifies the way the site is displayed, without modifying the underlying software. Themes may include customized template files, image files (jpg, png, gif), style sheets (.css), custom Pages, as well as any necessary code files (Php).
You can modify the theme appearance by adding plugins or adding code to the functions.php file.
For example, let’s say you write about travel and food. Through the use of the template files, you can customize your Travel category posts to look different from your Food category posts.
With this powerful control over how your site and different pages should look, you are limited only to your imagination.
How to Choose the Best Free Themes for Your Blog?
When you visit the WordPress theme gallery, you will be overwhelmed by the option available there. No matter what your niche is, you will find suitable free themes for WordPress in its gallery.
There are more than 3800 free as well as paid themes available in the WordPress directory itself.
Free themes are often basic, simple, and easy to use so that they can be used by normal(non-coding) users. Some free WordPress themes provide simplicity and a smooth user experience. Premium themes can be a bit complicated for non-coding WordPress users.
To help you narrow down your search, I listed out 10+ best themes for WordPress in this article.
Without further ado let’s begin.
10+ Best Free WordPress Themes for Blogs in 2022
1. OceanWP
OceanWP is one of the best free WordPress themes available with a wide variety of uses. It can be used to build an eCommerce website, business site, blogging site, or portfolio website.
This is one of the professional and flexible themes out there, with several demo options and more than a dozen extensions.
Key Features.
- Lightweight and highly extensible.
- Responsive design. That means it works great on mobile and tablet screens.
- Multiple widget regions and many options to personalize your site.
- Woo-commerce support.
- Best suitable for both professionals and non-professionals.
2. Neve.
Neve is a multi-purpose WordPress theme that can be used on any type of website. Maybe it is blogging, a startup, an online store, or a personal portfolio website, Neve theme fits best for all.
The best thing about Neve is that it is packed with many features, yet it is super light. That means you don’t have to worry about your website speed when you have this theme.
Key features.
- The SEO-optimized and fast-loading feature makes it easy to rank in search engine result pages.
- Neve works well with WordPress editors like Divi, Elementor, etc.
- Because of its constant update, you can keep your site up to date with the latest features.
3. Astra.
Astra is one of the robust themes that comes with many pre-built websites that you can pick and publish fast. Its flexible customization option allows you to edit your website without even touching a single line of code.
Key features.
- You can use it with any popular WordPress page builders like Elementor, Divi, etc.
- It has many features to give you full control for customization.
- This theme is also lightweight and SEO-friendly.
- It also has its own knowledge base to guide you to get started.
4. Generate Press.
You can ask any of the bloggers on the internet about Generate Press and they review it as one of the outstanding themes available on the internet. It can make wonder when used with drag-and-drop editors like Elementor.
Its super simple and modern features allow you to customize your site’s look as you wish, whatever your skill set may be. Even a complete beginner can install this theme and start blogging within minutes.
Key Features.
- It is a super-fast, lightweight, and highly customizable theme.
- This theme is compatible with all types of plugins.
- Generatepress is a responsive theme. So you don’t have to worry about how your site may appear on small screens.
- This theme is known for its customization options, its page builder support, and great layout control features.
5. Zakra.
Zakra is a flexible, fast, lightweight, and modern multipurpose theme that comes with many starter-free sites that you can use to make your site beautiful and professional.
It is suitable for a personal blog, portfolio, WooCommerce stores, business websites, and niche-based sites (like Cafe, Spa, Charity, Yoga, Wedding, Dentist, Education, etc) as well. This theme is responsive, Gutenberg compatible, SEO friendly, translation ready, and major WordPress plugins compatible.
Key Features.
- Works with Elementor plus other major page builders so you can create any layout you want.
- This SEO-friendly theme is compatible with all major WordPress plugins.
- It is also a responsive theme, that works well with all types of editors.
6. Hestia.
With its multipurpose one-page design, Hestia is best suitable for any kind of professionals.
Because of its modern design, you can use this theme for any business like firms, agencies, startups, corporate businesses, portfolios, eCommerce, etc.
Key Features.
- This theme is responsive, retina ready and SEO friendly.
- Easily customizable and editor friendly.
- You can access the video tutorial for any guidance.
7. Sydney.
Sydney is a powerful business theme that provides a fast way for companies or freelancers to create an awesome online presence.
Being fully compatible with Elementor, Sydney brings plenty of customization possibilities like access to all Google Fonts, full-color control, layout control, logo upload, full-screen slider, header image, sticky navigation, and much more.
Also, Sydney provides all the construction blocks you need to rapidly create an engaging front page.
Key Features.
- Mobile friendly, social icon integration, and full translation abilities.
- Provides all the construction blocks you need to rapidly create your site.
- Compatible with woo commerce.
8. ColorMag.
ColorMag is a perfect responsive magazine-style WordPress theme suitable for newspapers, magazines, publishing, business, and any kind of site. It is a flexible theme that allows you to import the demo account that is available for free in one click.
Key features.
- It’s a responsive theme with retina-ready and SEO optimized.
- Works perfectly with any of the page builders.
- Along with custom colours and headers, the ColorMag theme integrates with just about any plugin you can imagine.
9. Customizr
Customizr is a clean, simple, and fast WordPress theme designed to help you attract and engage more visitors. This responsive theme provides a perfect user experience on smartphones.
Key features.
- Customizr is closely compatible with powerful plugins as well as all famous page builders and editors.
- Best theme out there which is designed specifically with mobile devices in mind.
- You can make use of its documentation feature if you are not sure of how to work with this theme.
10. Flash.
If you want a free, responsive, multipurpose, and versatile WordPress theme with the features like drag and drop page builder, custom widgets, multiple blog layouts, WooCommerce support, multiple header styles, multiple color options, etc, then Flash can be a perfect choice for you.
Key Features.
- Its free documentation provides you with all the necessary details to begin customization.
- The full, filterable portfolio comes along with the Flash theme.
- Pre-built demos.
Conclusion
Free WordPress themes can provide you with most of the features that are available in premium themes. You don’t have to pay a single buck extra for these amazing themes.
But it is better to look for some of the features like user review and the main functionality that you require in your site before selecting a particular theme.
I have highlighted the best free WordPress themes after having some hands-on experience with all of these so that it can help you in choosing the right theme for your website.
Also, do let me know if you have any particular favorite theme that I missed here. I will keep updating this list after working on other themes as well.
Check these 2 articles to know the best free Google fonts for blogs and Why you shouldn’t start a free blog in 2022.