Is affordability/ money standing in the way of you getting that cool, premium WordPress theme that you fell in love with? If so, fret no more because you’ll discover (in this post) where and how you can download them free and legally too. Note that the Free WordPress themes featured in this post are NOT from Warez sites BUT offered freely, to the public, by the original legal owners who are either developers or A-List bloggers. This post was scheduled to be published later than now. However, I decided to turn it in as my link post type, as part of my participation in the “31 Days to Building a Better Blog” Challenge.
Want Premium WordPress Theme but Cannot Afford it? Get These Free Premium WP Themes
How about if you’re building your new (or old) business online on a teeny-weeny tight budget or none at all but you’re a lover of all things good looking, including costly, premium WordPress themes?
Here’s my story of searching and finding lots of premium free WordPress blogs. Before I started my blog, I was on a tight budget to build it and my best bet was free WordPress themes. I did a sketch on paper, of a “look and feel of my to-be blog theme, with a kind of floor plan diagram of how I wanted my blog to look like – the sidebars, crispy clean design and good white space on the theme. I got WordPress theme design inspiration ideas from some of my favourite blogs then (including Katie Freiling’s blog) and then I went to to check out the available free themes at WordPress.Org.
Every time I saw a Free WordPress theme, I compared its layout and design against my sketched prototype if they matched closely but unfortunately most did not.
It turned out that every WordPress Blogging Template I really liked was a premium theme AND not free…
In my search for giveaway WordPress free themes by theme developers, I found Woothemes to have some of the best looking themes – crispy clean look and feel. However, their free WordPress themes did not have some of the elements in my sketch prototype diagram (for my to-be-blog, then). I really loved their Premium WordPress Themes but… they were not free.
Of all the good WordPress themes I found, that are legally free, I decided to use the “Thrilling Theme” by Cody McKibben- which was the Woothemes Freshnews (in my wish list but not free) theme which Cody customized for his own blog and due to popular requests by his readers, he got the permission of Woothemes to offer the customized theme for free. Finding Cody’s ‘Thrilling Theme’ was an a-h-a moment for me, and ended my search for a legally free premium WordPress theme; I also loved that Cody has optimized the theme for search engines.
Now you don’t have to rummage through the Internet looking for a good, free WordPress blogging template, when you’re on low budget…
Just before I launched this blog, the whole process of finding a legally free WordPress theme that I really liked took me about four weeks of Google-searching and demo testing various themes. It was a time consuming exercise especially as I discovered that not all free themes were legal and that some free themes have hidden scripts that can hurt a blog in many ways, sooner or later.
In this post I will share with you where to get a copy of the same WordPress theme I am using here PLUS some other remarkable and great, and legally free WordPress Theme that I discovered along the way. Also, some bloggers may want to use any of these themes to give their blogs a makeover this year or use on a new niche / affiliate site.
Top 10+ Best Legally Free Premium WordPress Themes To Rock Your Blog
NOTE: These are not the entire collection of free or premium WordPress themes that I found in my scavenging online for non-paid themes, but these ones got my attention. Some of these premium WordPress themes are direct from the e developers while the others are from A-List bloggers who changed their old themes. For any theme you decide to download, ensure to get the user notes, where available, as they will come in handy after you install it on your blog.
5 Free Premium WordPress Themes From A-List Bloggers
1. Thrilling Heroics SEo’d ‘Thrilling Theme: This is the same WordPress theme on this blog. Cody, the developer, updates it from time to time to make it compliant to WordPress upgrades . So if you decide to get this WordPress theme, ensure to subscribe to be in the know when there’s an updated version
2. Clean Copy, 2 and 3 Column Free Premium WordPress Theme: This is the previous WordPress theme used by top copywriter, Michel Fortin.
3. Wpshoppe Minii Lite: This is a really clean and crisp, minimalist WordPress theme, with a lot of white spaces and good looking footer design. this guy (Chandra Maharzan) is a cool WordPress theme developer. It’s funny that I was a a blog reading a post and I got ‘seduced’ by the blogger’s theme and so I followed the footer link to the developer site. I didn’t even know it was a free theme but that’s how I got to know about this particular free WordPress theme. Feel free to look at his other themes and bookmark his site too, as he usually gives away some pretty clean theme for free. I encourage you to support his work if along the way you find other paid themes you like in his theme gallery.
4. Copyblogger Theme: This is the old design of CopyBlogger.Com, which looks a lot similar to the current one.
You can get it here: http://www.pearsonified.com/theme/copyblogger/
5. Download SeoBook.Com Theme: Although this free WordPress theme looks similar to the current one at SEOBook.Com, it is the old design and version.
6. Matt Carter’s Affiliate WordPress theme: This is a crisp, clean, ads-ready premium WordPress theme that (Matt uses this for his affiliate site – this theme has in-built ad manager you can use to manage affiliate Amazon ads placement). Matt Carter is a top, successful affiliate marketer and creator of the popular Affiliate Marketing course for physical products and clickbank. Matt Carter also has a detailed video instruction on how you can use his free premium WordPress Theme. By the way, I love this Matt Carter’s affiliate theme and will be using it on a new niche site, some time soon.
Over 5 Free WordPress Themes Direct From The Theme Developers
7. Mimbo Free WordPress Theme is a magazine WordPress theme with a clean look and feel, yet simplistic in design and customizable. This is the same
8. Unique Blog Designs Free WordPress Themes Gallery: Here you’ll find WordPress themes that this theme developer originally sold for as much as $79, now offered free. UBD Moneymaker Theme (in the image here) is one of their most popular WordPress themes.
9. Atahulupa WordPress Theme: On it’s own, this is a clean and really simple looking magazine WordPress theme but it is highly customizable; I have seen it transformed to look very beautiful, by some top bloggers, including David Wood (of WorkWithDavidWood.Com). If you can get a graphic designer to tweak it for you to look in a particular way and add some particular features, you’d be good to go ELSE, it’s still a great theme. By the way, the Atahulupa WordPress Theme developer has a help forum where users meet to discuss and get help.
10. Woothemes Gallery of Free Themes: Woothemes has a lot of really beautiful and professional looking WordPress themes that – a lot are even free, all great designs.
11. Flexibility Theme For WordPress : This free WordPress theme is SEO’d and is built in in with Adsense, so they are great for affiliate sites. I like that the developer also has a support forum, where you can go ask questions and get help for customization if you decide to download the Flexibility 3 WordPress Theme.
12. WordPress Free themes Gallery: This WordPress.Org free themes Gallery has quite a lot of pretty looking themes, if you can be patient to comb through it. Some top WordPress Developers have donated some free versions of their clean, crisp WordPress Themes.
How to Test Drive Any WordPress Theme Without Installing On A Live Site
Want to check out all the above free premium WordPress themes to see which one looks best on your blog? Thankfully, with a free little plugin, you do not have to install any theme to see how it will look on your current website or blog.
With Theme Test Drive free plugin by Vladimir Prevolac, you do not have to install any WordPress Theme (free or premium) on your live blog or website, in order to see exactly how the theme will look on your site.
According to Vladimir, “Theme Test Drive WordPress plugin allows you to safely test drive any theme on your blog as administrator, while visitors still use the default one. It happens completely transparent and they will not even notice you run a different theme for yourself”.
What Will You Do With All Those Legally Free WordPress Themes?
Now you have an array of legally free premium WordPress themes to download and give your new website a professional look and feel or give your existing website or blog a design makeover. . Or you can use them on a new niche affiliate site.
To ensure that you do not go jumping around and scavenging the WWW the next time you want to start a new blog/ website project, I suggest you save or bookmark this post. If I did not save the places I found those themes, I would not have been able to present to you (now) the best of available legally free premium WordPress themes.
Why You May Want A Paid Blog Theme
If you’re starting out on a tight budget, it’s okay to use a free them BUT ensure to only download it from the developers’ sites, NOT anywhere else. You can see that the themes in this post link directly to the source.
When you start making money, you can get a premium theme as theme developers do not provide updates and support to their free themes.
However, Elegant themes is one of the cheapest premium WordPress themes available. They have pretty good looking themes for any type of business, and bundled as $39 for over 70 themes. That’s less than $2 for one theme.
Next Steps…
With all those collection of beautiful premium WordPress themes, you may run into a problem of choice. I did too. However, I will write you a follow-up to this post on: 7 Factors to consider before choosing a best-fit WordPress theme. That post should get you to narrow down to one single theme in that collection.
As always, thanks for your time to read this post, that’s the joy of writing a blog post. Before you leave, I need your help:
Share this post: Kindly help me spread this post so that a friend can find legal sources of premium WordPress themes. Stumble this post, Tweet it Facebook it, Digg it, Email it… Look down below or to your left and you’ll find the one click, easy share buttons.
Comment: Now, this is how I’ll know that you really were here:) The comment box is right down below – go now and leave your footprint (comment) behind…
Again, thanks for your time, reading.
Your partner in Freebie Premium WordPress Themes
Stella
P.S: No blog yet? By the way, if you’re reading this post and thinking of how (steps) to setup your own WordPress blog using any of those free premium WordPress themes, don’t worry I’ve got you covered. Here’s my post on: “How to Create A New WordPress Blog From Scratch”
P. P.S: Are you in my V.I.P notification list yet? If not I suggest you click here to Get on Board my V.I.P readers’ train Now. It’s FREE. You’ll be the first to know when that follow-up post is published on this blog PLUS you’ll receive my eBook for free, as a special welcome gift from me AND, from time to time you’ll receive free exclusive contents, eCourses, time-sensitive tips and tricks not shared on this blog and lots of free reports and eBooks.
39 replies on “The Best Legally Free Premium WordPress Themes – Download Direct From These Theme Developers”
All these are beautiful themes with wonderful features. The best part is that they are free which should give new comers an easier task when starting up a website.
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Good and excellent post! The information gives excellency in posting details about the Free Premium WordPress Themes. All these themes are well designed and very attract that drives the attention of the visitors. Thanks for sharing a lot and keep sharing more.
Thanks – glad you like them
Hi Stella, appreciate your collection here, very useful! I have been meaning to change my theme, make it more professional. What do you think? Could you please suggest some particular theme that would be useful for my freelancing business?
Thanks!
Hi Neeraj:
Good to see you around. I’m glad you like the WordPress themes featured in the post.
There’s no doubt that the look and feel of a theme contributes to bloggers getting more visitors who feel ‘at home’ and stay longer. You know, one man’s best looking theme, may not be another man’s. What I did was to test many themes and see if I really liked how they look on my blog. You can do that without touching your blog, by using the free “Theme Test Drive” plugin – the link is in the post. Test one theme after another – only you will be seeing the theme changes and your visitors will be seeing your current theme.
Since your blog is about writing, clean, minimalist Blog themes are clutter-free and would be good. I’ve seen a couple of writing blogs use “the copyblogger theme” – some changed the color to blue. I also like the “WPShoppe Minii” – it’s clean and minimalist in design. Personally, I like Woothemes – they allow you to test-drive each theme to see how it will look on your blog. They also have many free themes to choose from.
I just read and commented on your post – liked it.
Stella, you are awesome! I am spellbound by the detail of your response. Thank you so much (and for dropping by!)
I will go back and use the plugin soon! Thank you so much.
You’re welcome, Neeraj. I’m happy that you’re happy.
If you took the time to come read and comment on my post, the little I can do is to provide you with my best tips, where you asked for it.
All the best and be sure to let me know your new blog theme choice.
(Well, it still is nice of you 🙂
In terms of selection, I am inching towards Flexibility3. I like its structure (the boxes in toolbar). Though I am hoping I can remove the big banner at the top of the page? Even when I loaded my own website using the plugin you mentioned, the banner still stayed there!
I will most likely make the transition next week, but compared to the rest, flexibility3 looks the best!
You’re welcome, Neeraj:)
I also like Flexibility, it’s pretty and got cool sidebar design. The banner at the top should go when you place your own blog header, I should think so. I think it’s just a temporary one – even my own blog theme had one and I over-wrote it with my own desired header.
I look forward to seeing your new design. Hope to hear from you again. Cheers.
Hi Stella,
This is an amazing list of FREE premium wordpress themes. ^^ Every time I search for free wordpress themes, Google always gives me sites that do not really offer themes for free. Maybe they just put free on their tags or post titles. Well, glad to have found your post. 🙂
You’re welcome, Alex. I’m glad that you found exactly what you wanted in my post.
I know what you mean – I had also experienced those sites whose titles are different from what they actually have in their posts, especially when they say free – turns out they only wrote about paid WordPress themes.
Hi Stella, thanks for Sharing these Themes just like you knew what was on my mind.
I already installed atahualpa theme since but the theme is kinda clumsy may be i will try to customize it a bit and I also used flexibility but I discovered about 8 hidden links in the Theme anyway thanks for the great list.
Hi Joseph:
You know why you have the hidden links? That’s because you got your themes from third party sites. All the themes mentioned here have download links direct from the developers – not from my blog.
I also had that experience – hidden links PLUS difficult to customize theme; I mentioned that in my story in the post. WooThemes is the easiest to use premium themes I found and they have lots of free themes at their site. I also mentioned that Atahulpa needs tweaking and you only get it if you can get a designer to tweak it.
So you have lots to choose from the links in my post.
Yeah you right, I think I got flexibility from a third party site and I think am gonna give it a try again cos I love its design and adsense options or probably switch to Woo themes cos of the good stories have been hearing about their themes.
There are lots of developers offering a few of their premium themes for free, so why not get it from them directly. That’s why I have only direct links to them. Before this post, I made a compilation of these WordPress themes for my future use but later on, I thought to share with my readers.
You’re right, Flexibility is good looking and flashy – I like it too.
I also wrote a follow-up post to this on: Top 10 Things to Consider When Choosing A WordPress Theme. You should read it; I pointed out a couple of what to avoid, based on my own experience.
You know, this post on sources of Free premium WordPress Themes (direct from Developers) is entirely based on my own frustrations with finding a good theme at zero budget. The themes I featured here are only a fraction of my findings during my search (I have lots more). I also experienced the hidden links from third party sites – that’s the reason I made sure to only download direct from the developers.
The theme I liked and struggled with is one of the first StudioPress (Genesis) Themes (Revolution Church) – I spent over a month trying to tweak it. The sidebars were impossible to tweak. Later on I found hidden codes. Unfortunately, they were offered legally free by StudioPress when they just started, and a few people still had those copies.
I’ve seen a couple of big sites using the CopyBlogger and SEOBook theme but with a different color schemes – those are also good themes.
I guess the best thing is to use the Theme Tester tool to see how each of the themes will look on your main site, without having to install it first. Personally, I found Woothemes a plug and play and I stopped my search (I hate the experience I went through tweaking without success). Moreover, I liked their crisp, clean themes everywhere I saw them. My blog theme is also a Wootheme variant BUT check their collection of free themes at their site.
I see you’re using Mystique right now.
A fantastic list of free premium wordpress themes. They are good and I shall consider using them on my future blogs.
By the way, thanks for stopping by to comment on my blog, I’m grateful. It’s a great way to know that I’m not wasting time.
Hi Stella, I found this information quite informative..thanks for sharing but can you please explain more on the theme test drive plugin…
Thanks Ola.
About the Theme Test Drive – it’s a plugin, the link is in that post. When you go to the plugin download page, you should read the user instructions but basically you need to install it first to enable you test how any theme can look on your site without having to affect your live site.
Let me know if I explained it well for you:)
[…] (in this post) for choosing your own best-fit WordPress theme. This post is a follow up post to “Over 10 Legally Free Premium WordPress Theme Sources – Direct From Theme Developers”. By the way, that post featured sources of some of the best premium and professional looking […]
Nice to meet you. I’m already following you on Twitter.
And yes I’m a Web Developer and love PHP. Just started blogging with WordPress.
Let’s remain connected 🙂
Hi Stella!
Thanks for inviting me back to your Blog…from The Blogging
Mastermind Comment Tribe’s page. 🙂
We must be on the same vibe because I’m in the process of
‘cleaning up’ my Blog a bit via a MyLeadSystemPRO webinar
featuring David Wood.
If you have time, I’d love to hear what you think about it
so far.
Have a highly inspired day…your tribal friend Steven Suchar
Hi Steve:
Thanks for taking the time off your busy schedule to come, read and comment. I highly appreciate it.
Wow, what a coincidence of ‘vibes’ and right timing – I’m glad that you you’ve already started your blog design makeover. I just went over and was wow-ed by what I saw (good). A complete new blog design that is impressive yet inviting. You’re really a fast action taker – only after the recent webinar by David Wood. This new design should score you more visitors stay:)
I’m also a big fan of David Wood. He’s one of the best ‘new school network marketers’ that is realy driving his MLM business with the power and tools of internet marketing. You’re in the right hands:)
Nice themes..I would like to suggest swift theme and Arthemia free theme…
These two are totally customizable themes with lots of functions..
Thanks for your comment and also for suggesting 2 more free WordPress themes. I’ll check them out and see if I can add it somewhere as an update to the post.
Thanks for coming around and hope to see you again some more:)
I just went to your blog and read your Samsung phone review – left you a comment:) Nice site you’ve got there and cool reviews.
I’ve been trying to find new themes for a new site I’m launching soon. You’re the best, Stella!
Hey Sis Tee (M.I.A.):
I’m so happy that this post ‘brought you around’ today. You know I’d been wondering whatever happened to you.
Wow, new site! Good to know. Please keep me updated, to celebrate your new site in a good looking premium WordPress theme from that list.
Hey girl, don’t be a stranger anymore:) I’ll come read your new post – I like the title.
I promise I will. I won’t be a stranger. <3
That’s nice, Tee.
I look forward to seeing you and also visiting your new site when it’s up.
Stella, you did your homework. What an awesome post!! Very helpful at any level of expertise. Kudos to you 🙂
Hi Diana:
Thanks for taking the time to come over, read and comment. I really appreciate it and I’m glad you liked the post. Hope to see you around again – lots of other interesting posts you’d also like:)
I like the title of your recent post – sounds inviting. I’ll come read it soon.
Great assistance to the blog world, here, Stella!
Not only do you describe the problem, you give explanations, and links!
Kudos to you.
Hi Roy:
Always a pleasure to see you around. Thanks for taking the time to visit and comment.
I’m glad you liked the post, and hopefully the collection of legally available premium WordPress themes. You know it took me over a month to find a professional looking blog theme, at the price of Free and I reckoned that a couple of people may be in that same position – why not share my collection and help them avoid the trouble PLUS some of us are now moving into setting up niche affiliate sites, we can save the cost of blog themes for other essential tools until we start making big money:)
I like your new post, it’s in my lane (project management). Just tweeted it and will leave a comment soon. Thanks again for coming by.
This is just fantastic!!
I cant say any more & don’t need to!
I’m off to add this to StumbleUpon, Google Buzz, Digg etc, etc
Great work and something I have really been needing!
Thanks so much, Peter
Thanks so much, Peter. I appreciate that you took the time to come over to read and comment.
I’m glad you liked the post:) I ;look forward to seeing the new look of your blog, and it’s amazing that this post came out just same time you announced a redirection for your blog. So, a new look and feel will compliment it. I look forward to the new design.
By the way, I am one of the happiest for your redirection – best fit move you found. I saw it long ago but wasn’t sure if you did. Thank God you’ve moved. left you a comment and looong Facebook message:)
Great list of nice Word Press themes! Thanks to you for your hard work to let us know about these great free themes. I’ve tried Atahulupa and Mimbo in the past. Currently I’m using Elemental Theme for my blog.
Nice to meet you, Stella.
Thanks Sumon:
I’m glad you liked the free WordPress themes in that post.
Wow – you’ve used Atahulpa and Mimbo, That’s great. Your current theme looks very cool. I like it.
I could not comment as your blog was giving a 404 error message and ‘Powered By LiteSpeed Web Server’. You should check it.
I think it’s okay now! I think there was a redirect problem. Now it is fixed 🙂 Thanks for your response.
Hi Sumon:
Glad you fixed that – you must be a real WordPress tech wizard to have fixed it that fast. I’ll come visit you to read some posts and leave you a comment.
Thanks for being at my blog, and I look forward to seeing more of you – lots of posts you’d find interesting to browse, read and use to build a better blog and online business.
Feel free to add me on Facebook and Twitter – that’s where I interact daily with my readers.