The choice of a WordPress template for your site is similar to the choice of hosting for WordPress. Surely you will take your time and consider your needs before making a choice. However, the wide selection of free templates in the market, both in the WordPress Template Directory and in third-party sites, makes it difficult to reduce the options to the best.
Although we certainly can not show you all the available templates for your site, we can highlight some of the best free WordPress templates. Our selection offers variety and functionality. You can find templates for almost any niche in this list, including e-commerce, news, business and photography.
In this post, we will discuss the importance of choosing the right template. Next, we’ll take a look at more than thirty templates you might consider for your WordPress site in 2019. Let’s start!
What to look for in a WordPress template
In a nutshell, a theme or template is a collection of files that control the way the contents of your site are displayed. Without a template in place, your website would essentially appear as a skeleton. It would include the main components, such as its content and characteristics, but it would not have any “skin” that controls its appearance.
You can find appropriate website templates for many niches and purposes, especially for WordPress sites. Some are free (like the ones we’ve included below), while others are premium (they contain more advanced features at a cost). Choosing a template can seem overwhelming, however, especially with the thousands of options available. To give you some guidance, here are some things you should look for during your exploration:
• Main characteristics and functionality. While you’re looking for WordPress templates, keep in mind the various features and functionality that your site will need. For example, an e-commerce site requires integration with shopping cart plugins. For a business template, including a powerful landing page would be very useful.
• User reviews and ratings. Reviews of past and current users can give you an idea of each template, including its benefits and disadvantages. Although you should not take each revision as the final word, it helps to consider as many as possible before making a decision.
• Developer support and frequent updates. Without the proper backing in place, a template may become obsolete. The choice of a template with frequent updates and the consistent introduction of the developer is important if you want to maintain the integrity of your site.
Before starting your search, it is better to make a list of the features you need.
The best 40 free WordPress templates for 2019
Taking into account the aforementioned criteria, the following forty templates have been chosen for their wide variety of features and functionality. In addition, all have ratings of at least four out of five stars, and have been updated in the last six months.
1. Sydney
This template is ideal for freelancers, agencies, and companies looking for a highly personalized business template, Sydney is an excellent choice. Incorporating a full screen slider, simple navigation and logo upload feature, this template offers a lot of elements that cater to professional looking websites. However, with access to all Google sources and full control over the design and color options, there are also a lot of customizations to help you match your design to your specific brand.
Additional features include mobile responsiveness, integration of social icons and complete translation capabilities, essentially everything you will need to run a complete and functional business website.
2. Flash
if you need a WordPress template filled with premium features, including custom widgets, a drag-and-drop page generator and an integrated wallet, but without the price, Flash should beat your list. This unique free template offers multiple pre-built demonstrations that you can easily install on your site with the ThemeGrill demo importer. Of course, you also have the option (and the necessary tools) to build your own site. With Flash, you can create a blog, a business website or a one-page portfolio site to highlight your work.Si eres un principiante o desarrollador experimentado, también te beneficiarás de la documentación gratuita. Destaca las diversas características y opciones de diseño de la plantilla, y puedes hacer referencia a ella para que tu sitio funcione lo más rápido posible.
3. Shopera
Sometimes all you need is an online store that is simple to show your products and make sales. With Shopera, you get this. It is a modern and responsive store template that integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce. It incorporates a number of e-commerce benefits, including an optional scroll button to the top and the ability to upload your own logo.
Starting with Shopera is simple, so it is a great template for those who start with an online store. However, the design and development options available are also complex enough to be suitable for more advanced WordPress users and developers.
With Llorix One Lite, you can create an elegant website with a modern and minimalist touch. This template incorporates a full-screen image on the cover and is integrated with a variety of popular plugins (such as WooCommerce, MetaSlider and bbPress).
Llorix One Lite offers premium features, so you can create a functional website quickly. However, you can also take the time to customize the site according to your needs. In the end, you will have created a premium looking site with minimal effort and investment.
5. Spacious
A clean and minimalist design can impress the visitors of your website and potential clients. That’s where Spacious stands out, although minimalism is not its only point of sale.
With access to premium features, Spacious can be used to seamlessly create a professional looking site for businesses, agencies, freelancers, and much more. This is a WordPress template with great versatility, including pre-built page layouts and 13 custom widget areas. In addition, you can use the customizer to add a logo, incorporate social links and even customize the first page slider. You will be impressed with everything you can do with Spacious.
6. Striker
While you may be tempted to choose a template with all the bells and whistles, sometimes it is very simple is the way to go. Striker is one such template, perfect for novice website owners and bloggers looking for a solid start.
Striker offers a clear design that you can use as is, or customize as you would like. Personalization options include the ability to add your own logo, header, background and social links. You can also incorporate the color scheme of your brand, and you even have the option to add in the highlighted areas. A built-in slider tops the pages, and the responsiveness of the template means that it looks great on all devices. If you are a total beginner, you can also find extensive documentation of the template very useful.
7. Virtue
Both beginners and advanced users will appreciate the simplicity and customization options offered by this Bootstrap-based template. You can create virtually any site you want with Virtue, be it a vendor, agency or blogger. It allows you to create a complete ecommerce store (or incorporate smaller items from the store on your site), display your latest and best projects, or simply keep the focus on your blog.
Perhaps one of the most useful features of this template is the integration of Schema microdata. This will not only help search engines track your site more efficiently, but, as a result, you will rank better on search engine result pages.
8. Shapely
Shapely is a one page WordPress template that allows you to create impressive landing pages, portfolio sites or personal websites with the help of flexible widgets. Essentially, Shapely is designed as a single window for WordPress templates.
As users move down the page, bits of bite-sized information can be fed through widget sections. Options include testimonials, portfolios, information on services and products, and more. This free template also includes a lot of documentation that will teach you how to properly install the template, configure your page, and incorporate each widget section effortlessly.
9. Customizr
As the name suggests, Customizr is an easy-to-customize template that is suitable for both beginners and professionals. With it, you can create beautiful and mobile friendly websites, whether for your blog, e-commerce store or business. You can also incorporate premium features on your site, including blurbs (which include an icon and descriptive text) and social media icons, and integrate the template with popular plugins such as WooCommerce and bbPress.
Do not know where to start? Customizr offers documentation that facilitates learning to use the template correctly – and its wide range of features – to the fullest.
10. iFeature
Although created with the owners of online stores and business agencies in mind, iFeature is a versatile template that you can use for almost any purpose. If you can drag and drop, you can create a website with iFeature. The design options can be applied globally or you can customize your site page by page, which offers you almost infinite possibilities.
In addition, iFeature responds fully through popular touch-sensitive devices, including smartphones and tablets. Users can fully interact with all the elements of their website, and can make sure that their experience is as smooth and compelling as possible.
11. Optimizer
Optimizer is a free WordPress template that allows you to essentially create any website – full-width or boxed – without the need for prior experience. Built with HTML5 and CSS3, this template is responsive, SEO-friendly, and mobile-optimized is ready out of the box. In addition, you can use the live editor to fully customize your site.
For a beautiful landing page, you can incorporate the image slider or use the powerful template options to create a portfolio site that shows your best work. Anyone can benefit from the features that the Optimizer has to offer, including small businesses, agencies, freelancers and more
12. IsleMag
It offers a carousel type slider, a place to place ads, and even a review system, IsleMag can help you create the modern and eye-catching magazine website you require. With its standard magazine home page model, this template allows you to create a powerful site dedicated to your industry of choice.
In addition, you can add your own social links to encourage visitors to interact with your content. What’s more, this template easily integrates with many other popular add-ons, such as SiteOrigin Page Builder, Jetpack and Contact Form 7 (just to name a few). These add-ons will further expand the functionality of your site.
13. MH Magazine Lite
Another option for magazine style sites is MH Magazine Lite. By using its practical categories tabs, ad placements and the first page slider, you can easily take your website to the next level.
This WordPress template allows you to create a dynamic and versatile site with its drag-and-drop design modules and 13 widgets areas (including the locations within the footer and the sidebar). You can create almost any design you can imagine, for virtually any niche. If you wish, you can upgrade to the Premium template, MH Magazine, but we find that the free version has almost everything you need for your magazine site
14. Moesia
The modern is combined with the traditional in this fully customizable template for your business website. Moesia offers much in the way of flexibility and professionalism, and is a great template for beginners who have just started.
The heart of Moesia is the home page. You can choose from 11 dedicated, pre-built blocks – which can be individually designed – and organize them as you wish. In addition, you have two blog designs to choose from and access to a selection of Google sources. Finally, this template comes with social integration options so that your visitors can connect with you through their social network profiles. Of course, this also means that there is no need for an independent social icon plugin.
15. Corporate Plus
The ultimate template for your business or professional portfolio, Corporate Plus is an attractive option for all your business website needs. You can incorporate a full-width slider, section, service section and contact section on your home page for a fully functional page site. Alternatively, you can add these features to different web pages for a multi-page experience.
If you are looking to expand your business offers, you will also be happy to learn Corporate Plus, it is compatible with WooCommerce. That means you can sell physical and digital products, all from the comfort of your own site.
16. Vantage
f you want to create a portfolio or a site for your company, you will want a clean and professional template to work with. That’s where Vantage comes from, offering a crisp, modern look to creatives and business owners alike. Perhaps the most powerful feature of Vantage is its close integration with powerful plugins, such as Page Builder and Meta Slider, which allows you to create an attractive and interactive site.
In addition, business owners can benefit from the seamless integration of Vantage with WooCommerce. Other notable features include a filtered grid display option for photographs, illustrations and published works, as well as threaded comments so your visitors can easily participate with you and each other.
17. Storefront
With the growth in online sales, it’s never too late to jump on the car and create your own e-commerce store – and Storefront can help. Since this template comes from the WooCommerce developers, you can effortlessly integrate the e-commerce platform into your site and start selling immediately.
In addition, with the large number of WooCommerce extensions available, you can add subscriptions or reservations to your product lists, create a dynamic price table and much more. In addition, you can incorporate an impressive parallax background on the cover and create customized product galleries using the various options at your disposal.
18. Writers
Writers is a blog style template that is perfect for bloggers, journalists and aspiring authors who want to let their creativity flow. It is a minimalist template that makes use of ample blank space for a clean look. This style also means that it is mobile and easy to optimize for fast loading of the page.
The template also allows you to add widgets to your sidebar, such as files, search and categories, to make your site easier to use. In addition, the template is optimized for search engines, so your site can be found more easily on the Google results pages.
19. OceanWP
OceanWP is a versatile template with a wide variety of uses, including for e-commerce, business, blogs and portfolio sites. In particular, developers will enjoy the flexibility offered by this beautiful and professional template. It has a static full-width header and a prominent image of the cover, as well as 13 demo options and more than a dozen extensions. As such, OceanWP is perhaps the most flexible option on our list.
If you need to incorporate product screens, highlight your latest blog posts or describe the products and services you offer, this template is an option you may wish to explore more thoroughly.
20. One Page Express
One-page templates are becoming increasingly popular, and for good reasons. By choosing this template, you will have total control over what visitors see, as well as when and how they experience it.
One Page Express offers a pre-designed homepage, as well as the option to add more than 30 content sections. In addition, you can use the drag-and-drop editor to further customize your site. Although you can use a page template like this for virtually any purpose, it is ideal for landing pages, business sites and portfolio pages.
21. Athena
If you are looking to bring your website to life, check out Athena. It’s a parallax WordPress template, loaded with features, ideal for businesses, creatives and bloggers. It incorporates a prominent image slider and animated notes, along with a useful grid style blog layout, and has many additional customization options (including color options, widgets areas, menus, and social networking links) at your disposal .
However, perhaps the most useful feature that Athena offers is the live customization. This saves you significant time during editing, since it allows you to see the changes in real time, and is a valuable addition to a free template.
22. Edge
edge is a responsive and minimalist template that can help you turn your blog into a beautiful website worthy of envy. It offers a simple and tidy look, and customizable templates help you create a site that is professional and well designed. There is also an intelligent use of white space that adds to the overall aesthetics of the template.
This template is a great option for a corporate or agency blog, especially because it includes contact and gallery templates, which can be used to optimize your company’s website. In addition, support for this free template is easily available and responds. That’s not something you’ll see for many non-premium templates!
23. Make
Many free templates are built with a single design in mind. However, Make is a template that allows you to customize your site to your exact needs. Offering a powerful drag-and-drop page editor and countless customization options, this template is truly yours to customize as you see fit. You can take full control over the layout of the page, and organize your content to match your vision.
With Make, you can create a professional portfolio, create an e-commerce store, or even design a minimal blog focused on the content. In addition, Make provides numerous design elements that you can use to distinguish your site, such as full-width banners, columns and galleries.
24. ShopIsle
If you are looking for a free WooCommerce template compatible with WordPress, you will not find much better than ShopIsle. With Shop Isle, you can have a professional-looking e-commerce store without the price tag, and incorporate features such as parallax effects, customizable content sections, and full-screen images.
ShopIsle allows you to dress your template up or down. For example, you can use the template as a one-page website, either to highlight your products or to create a landing page, or to create a fully functional online store. You can even integrate this template with dozens of plugins that improve the website, including Jetpack and SiteOrigin Page Builder.
25. The Minimal
Just like its name implies, The Minimal is a clean and simple WordPress template. As such, we recommend it mainly for bloggers, journalists and authors (although many sites can benefit from its clutter-free design). With The Minimal, you can put your content completely in the spotlight.
By taking advantage of the friendly widgets with this template’s blog, such as those of recent publications, popular publications and social links, you can organize your website as you wish and make your best content visible to your readers. In addition, it also has a friendly search engine structure, making it easy for your site to rank highly.
26. Pictorico
Pictorico’s unique and elegant single column design allows you to showcase your latest work, be it art, photographs or published articles. An online wallet does not have to be loaded or crispy. Instead, you can focus on your work with this template based on the grid that shows your publications and media in an elegant way.
What’s more, Pictorico gives you a lot of options to customize the rest of your site. With custom headers, backgrounds and an icon display area, you can create a beautiful website in a matter of minutes.
27. FlatOn
With minimalism on the rise, it’s no wonder that flat design websites have become the rarity in recent years. After all, they offer simplicity and elegance while ensuring that the focus is maintained only in its content. FlatOn is a template designed with this same style, and can be used to create a variety of websites with little effort.
Using a grid structure and incorporating it perfectly with the Jigoshop plugin, FlatOn is an excellent choice for business owners, agencies and freelancers. The template options panel also opens a number of other possibilities, such as the use of this template to create a blog site. Advanced developers can even incorporate custom CSS into the template. Simply go to the template options panel, where you can add code without having to move with the style sheet.
28. Freesia Empire
There are plenty of multi-purpose templates available, but it can still be difficult to find a really quality option. However, Freesia Empire conforms to the law. It offers a lot in personalization mode, and its seemingly limitless options support many different styles of websites.
Freesia Empire allows you to create a website with a light but functional design. The template works effortlessly with many popular plug-in options, such as WooCommerce, bbPress, Newsletter and Breadcrumb NavXT, which means you can sell, connect and offer the best user experience for website visitors. This WordPress template also offers several models for pages such as contact information and image galleries. Each offers special widgets and sidebars with their specific niche in mind, so you can design your audience.
29. Accelerate
Accelerate is a good combination with your name, since it allows you to accelerate the process of website design. This multipurpose template can be used to create almost any website, including business sites, e-commerce stores, blogs and portfolios. Your options allow you to display images through your site as prominent images, and the use of white space is refreshing and keeps the focus on your content.
In addition, Accelerate offers many useful support options and easy design tools. Both beginners and advanced developers can benefit from the ease of use and flexibility of this template.
30. Portfolio Lite
For artists, designers, photographers and other creatives looking to put their best foot forward online, the Portfolio Lite template offers a minimal and modern website style that comes highly recommended. You can show your best work with the template slide show template, for example, or use a multi-column portfolio design for a more traditional look. You can even incorporate both approaches.
31. TheFour Lite
In addition to the usual template customization options, you will also have full control over your background, headers and menus. This allows you to create a site that truly complements your work.
If you are looking for a modern and elegant WordPress template for your business website, then TheFour Lite is the right choice. TheFour Lite helps you create your portfolio website, your business website or even the site of your personal blog quickly and easily.
TheFour Lite has a wide and attractive hero area, in which you present your business to your visitors. It also supports three integrated sections on the home page to highlight what you have to offer: portfolio sections, testimonials and our customers.
The template is very simple to configure and customize. It provides flexible customization options to modify the site the way you want.
32. EightyDays Lite
EightyDays Lite is an excellent choice for personal and travel blogs. The name “eighty days” comes from the novel “Eighty days around the world.” You can use this template to show the places you visit, the food you eat or the memories you have.
EightyDays Lite has a beautiful design with an impressive grid gallery on the main page, where you can show your most important publications. The template also focuses on typography, and allows your readers to enjoy reading content long comfortably.
EightyDays Lite is responsive and works perfectly on all devices. It is very fast, light and very easy to use.
33. Yosemite Lite
Yosemite Lite is a clean and minimalist WordPress template for personal blogs. It has a classic design, elegant typography and is a perfect choice for personal, lifestyle, fashion or travel blogs.
With the minimalist design, Yosemite Lite gives relevance to your content, where you can show text with photos in a great way.
In addition, the template is totally responsive and works very well on all devices. It also has excellent documentation that shows you how to install and customize the template.
34. Riba Lite
Riba Lite is a simple and elegant template for blogs or story-telling websites. If your main focus is the posts in your blog or stories, this WordPress template will present them in a great way on the homepage. It also supports deferred loading of images and many other functions that will improve speed and performance.
Finally, this template simplifies the integration with social networks. If you depend a lot on social networks, linking them to your website will be like taking a walk!
35. Orfeo
Orfeo is an elegant template with a minimalist design. This will give you a lot of freedom and options if you decide to personalize it. Blogs, restaurants, personal portfolios are just some of the uses of this WordPress template.
In addition, the Orfeo template is optimized for SEO and is suitable for mobile devices, which will help boost your online presence. You can even use it with WooCommerce and implement a store.
In general, Orfeo is a worthy template to try due to its simplicity, easy customization and fluid appearance.
36. Zerif Lite
Zerif Lite is a free one-page WordPress template. It has become quite popular and has more than 100,000 active installations so far. The template is updated and constantly improved to obtain a better performance.
This WordPress template is suitable for corporate businesses, personal portfolio, freelance and photography sites. It is also compatible with WooCommerce, so you can always monetize your site if the need arises. Finally, it is optimized for SEO, which guarantees that it will be easier for your website to gain in positioning in the search engines.
37. Ashe
Ashe is an elegant option that deserves a place in this collection of the best free WordPress themes. It is a wonderful subject for websites that focus on content, such as fashion blogs, travel, food or photography.
It is a theme that presents a responsive design, clean and elegant and, in turn, makes your content more striking and unique. You just have to worry about publishing as much as you can!
38. Kale
Kale is a simple and elegant WordPress template. With a clear interface, minimalist and, most importantly, multipurpose. Use it for blogs, recipes, fashion tips or even shopping sites. With a simple integration of WooCommerce you can monetize the website in a short time.
What makes this template even more versatile is that it easily integrates with social networks. And to that add optimization and SEO, and you have a solid foundation to build an impressive website.
39. Freddo
Freddo is another worthy participant to appear in our list of the best free WordPress templates. It is a multipurpose template that you can use to create a fully functional website on a page. This theme is an excellent option for any blog, be it photography, food, travel or lifestyle.
Besides everything, Freddo is compatible with WooCommerce, therefore the option to create a virtual store and monetize your site will always be at hand. You can even customize it with creators of sites (like SiteOrigin or Beaver Builder) to create something really remarkable and eye-catching.
40. Elara
Elara is a template for an awesome and elegant blog. It is best suited for food, clothing or fashion blogs because of its elegant design and presentation. However, you can also use it for several different purposes.
This template has built-in social networking icons and easily integrates with several “feeds”. This serves to ensure that your visitors can quickly join your circle of social networks, which in turn will further increase your influence online. In general, Elara covers all the essential features that a successful blogger needs.