Best Premium WordPress Themes

Why pay for WordPress Themes?

Anyone with a basic understanding of WordPress will have come across the WordPress Directory. This directory provides a huge collection of templates free of charge for WordPress users. All of these and more are available through our managed WordPress hosting service, EasyWP. As well as these no-cost options, WordPress website builders can use themes from third-party marketplaces. These paid themes are known as premium.

At this point, you’re probably wondering: Why pay for something you can get for free?
Premium WordPress themes are superior as they include a whole host of benefits compared to their free counterparts. In most cases, the web designers behind them focus on more than design. They provide the best user management, support, SEO and much more.

If your free theme isn’t cutting it anymore, or you want to go straight to the top with your first theme, premium themes are worth checking out. Follow our guide to the best Premium WordPress themes on the market. Our short reviews will help you decide which is the best fit for you. Discover where to find them, and how to avoid buyer's remorse by properly reviewing a theme before purchase.

Of course, it’s possible to install a free theme for your new website, but the premium option might be a better fit for your needs. The WordPress developer community is sophisticated and produces some amazing stuff. Premium themes are favorable because they tend to focus on adding to the features given away for free. These extras are a challenge for developers and warrant paying extra.

In most cases, paying for a theme gives you more than just a template. Programmers provide detailed documentation with premium versions. They explain the possible settings in detail, making it easier to set up and customize a theme to your liking. They also put you in contact with developers and support for ongoing development advice.


Premium vs Free themes

Premium themes tend to differ from their free counterparts in the following ways:

Settings

The options available to users of premium themes generally greatly outweigh those available with free ones. In most free themes, you can play around with the color scheme, but that’s about it. Choose premium themes for different menu forms to change the appearance of your site and make many other important settings changes affecting SEO for example.

Usability

In most cases, premium themes are created by top designers who consider more than good-looking design when creating a theme. They keep SEO and responsive web design in mind. Remember: bad code can’t be read properly by search engines, so your site can’t rely on their users.

Design and functionality

Free themes can limit the room for customization. Your site might come close, but it might never appear exactly how you imagined. Premium themes include endless design features and functions. Insert a logo, high-resolution images and play around with text size and type. Without plugins, you have more access to social media accounts, authors, and comments in the article overview. Premium themes allow you to make something truly unique. They allow search functions in the menu and alternative arrangements of widgets in the sidebars and footer, amongst other things.

Security and updates

Using a recent version of a theme, or something recently developed is extremely important. Your theme must be adaptable to new technologies, operating systems and WordPress updates. The development of new programming languages and versions of WordPress bring related vulnerabilities. Premium themes commonly update with the latest version of WordPress and new programming languages, so your website is up to date and protected.

Developer support

An important advantage of premium themes is the extra support offered, including the opportunity to further develop a template. Most premium themes put you in direct contact with the developer. This contact is extremely helpful if you come across a problem and the documentation doesn't help.

Value

Premium themes cost money, yes but you don’t just get a theme. They come with plugins. These plugins are free to use and are purposely integrated into the theme. Free and integrated plugins save you money and the time taken to search for the plugins compatible with a free theme.

Free themes can include many of the mentioned perks of paid versions. You’ll be hard pushed to find one with as many options available with a premium theme or the amount of support. Tapping into a premium themes and using the complimentary plugins included will balance out costs while the security and updates guaranteed with premium themes will future-proof your site.


What makes a great premium WordPress theme

A great premium WordPress theme is one that offers a perfect blend of design, functionality, and performance. Here are some key factors that make a premium WordPress theme stand out:

Customization options

A standout feature of any premium WordPress theme is its extensive customization options. These themes are designed to be flexible, allowing users to tailor their websites to their specific needs and preferences. Key customization features include:

  • Customizable layouts and templates – Premium themes often come with a variety of pre-designed layouts and templates that can be easily customized to fit your brand’s aesthetic.

  • Drag-and-drop page builders – Tools like Elementor and Divi Builder make it simple to create and modify page layouts without any coding knowledge.

  • Custom widgets and sidebars – Enhance your site’s functionality with custom widgets and sidebars that can be placed anywhere on your site.

  • Advanced typography and color options – Choose from a wide range of fonts and color schemes to ensure your site looks exactly how you want it.

  • Support for popular plugins – Seamlessly integrate with essential plugins like WooCommerce for e-commerce functionality or Elementor for advanced page building

With these customization options, users can create a unique and professional-looking website that reflects their brand and style.

Performance and speed

Performance and speed are critical factors for any website, and premium WordPress themes are designed with these in mind. Key performance features include:

  • Clean and optimized code – Premium themes are built with clean, efficient code that ensures fast loading times and smooth performance.

  • Fast loading times – A well-optimized theme will load quickly, providing a better user experience and improving your site’s search engine rankings.

  • Mobile responsiveness – Premium themes are designed to be fully responsive, ensuring your site looks great on all devices, from desktops to smartphones.

  • Compatibility with major plugins and browsers – Ensure your site works seamlessly across different browsers and with essential plugins, enhancing both functionality and user experience.

A fast and responsive website is essential for providing a good user experience and improving search engine rankings.


Advice before buying premium themes

We’ve discussed the perks of going premium; value for money, support, security, and updates. You can be a bit easier going choosing a free theme, but when you’re paying you need to be a bit savvier.

Before choosing, make sure the paid-for theme will turn into a successful website. Don’t get your head turned by all the bells and whistles. This stuff comes at a price, namely the speed of your website. A slow site is attractive to neither search engines or your users.
Whichever theme you choose, free or paid, make sure you do your research.

Whichever theme you choose, free or paid, make sure you do your research.

Adding themes is simple but changing them once your site is up and running adds unnecessary steps to your website development process. Most importantly, before you hit Buy, consider if a theme is worth purchasing:

  • Check against the criteria above, do they include premium extras?

  • Look for free versions and compare what’s on offer against your needs.


Finding premium themes

Navigating the premium market doesn’t have to be difficult. There are two main avenues you can go down to buy a theme; theme vendors, and theme marketplaces

Theme Vendors

You can buy a theme from small groups or individuals. WordPress provides a directory of commercial themes; this is their curated list of quality themes from theme vendors. There are some notable omissions from the list which is why many people turn to theme marketplaces.

Theme Marketplaces

There are plenty of online market stores (theme marketplaces) you may buy a theme. In exchange for exposure in the marketplace, developers pay a commission per sale. Unlike the WordPress commercial themes directory, these aren't strictly tested against WordPress standards. Even so, the marketplace does a good job of keeping the high-quality themes at the top through user ratings and a download counter.

  • Themeforest includes a huge collection of WordPress themes and website templates from the largest global community of creatives.

  • Elegant Themes is the home of Divi, the most popular premium WordPress theme in the world. Great features, fair pricing and a money back guarantee explains why Elegant Themes customers have built over 400,000 sites and counting.

  • Premiumwp.com has a great system of organizing themes into precise categories for all businesses and blog types.


Premium WordPress templates for websites

There are many great themes designed with specific industries in mind, as well as multi-purpose themes which are useful for any type of website. In the following paragraphs, read about the most popular Premium WordPress templates for websites.

Multi purpose themes

  • Divi is a much-hyped theme from Elegant Themes. It’s extremely customizable with all types of features and options to give you complete creative control to build a website exactly the way you want.

    Key features and benefits: 20+ premade layouts, create your own layouts, lots of header and Navi options, stunning portfolio, and product page layouts, WooCommerce ready, solid security, drag and drop page builder, video background options, unlimited color options, 300+ icons, and fully translated.

  • Brizy is an intuitive and modern WordPress page builder that makes creating beautiful websites fast and easy, even for beginners. With its clean interface and real-time drag-and-drop editing, Brizy allows users to build responsive websites without touching a line of code. Ideal for freelancers, agencies, and business owners, Brizy simplifies the design process with powerful tools and pre-built templates.

Business Premium WordPress themes

  • Balance is a feature-rich WordPress theme designed with business and e-commerce in mind. Wow visitors to your site with this feature-rich theme, powerful enough for any size inventory. Suitable for emerging businesses and established brands, WPZOOMs balance is a great theme for displaying your products.

    Key features and benefits: Visual customizer, drag and drop page builder, advanced theme options panel to easily personalize the layout, responsive design, shopping cart widget in headers, full-width background sections, multiple blog layouts, and much more.

  • Avada is a great all rounder for creating a business or corporate website. It’s practical, flexible and fast performing. This RichWP theme combines the classic design with the latest theme development features creating powerful and attractive websites.

    Key features and benefits: Fully widgetized front page, custom page templates, widget areas, doesn’t slow your site down with too many page builders and options pages, WooCommerce support, responsive, let’s you use your favorite plugins, and more.

Video and Multimedia

  • VideoBox is a powerful theme from WPZOOM design to showcase video content on any device. This premium theme is clean, bold and modern, and is also highly customizable to make exactly the site you have in mind. Embed video from 99% of video sharing sites including YouTube, DailyMotion, Vimeo, Facebook and more.

    Key features and benefits: Customizable widgetized homepage, customizable layouts including headers, colors, fonts, background and logo, carousel widget, popular video tab, automatic video thumbnails, and more besides.

  • Big Video is a fantastic WordPress theme from Press75. Create perfectly fluid, full-screen video pages using a simple single-page design to showcase your content in style. For a product promo, feature film, landing page, or anything else it’s fantastic.

    Key features and benefits: Display play count, 'loves', integrate MailChimp, free support, awesome parallax effects, youtube video homepage, includes many free plugins, perfectly responsive design, updates with WordPress, and more.


Benefits of using a page builder

Using a page builder can offer a range of benefits, including:

  • Easy drag-and-drop functionality – Create complex layouts with simple drag-and-drop actions, making it accessible for users of all skill levels.

  • Customizable layouts and templates – Choose from a variety of pre-designed templates or create your own unique layouts.

  • Advanced design options – Access a wide range of design tools and options to customize every aspect of your site.

  • Fast and efficient website building – Build and modify your site quickly, saving time and effort.

  • No coding required – Create professional-looking websites without needing to write a single line of code.

Some popular page builders for premium WordPress themes include:

  • Elementor – Known for its user-friendly interface and powerful design capabilities, Elementor is a favorite among WordPress users.

  • Beaver Builder – Offers a robust set of tools and an intuitive interface, making it easy to create stunning websites.

  • Thrive Architect – Focuses on conversion optimization, making it ideal for business and marketing websites.

These page builders offer a range of features and customization options, making it easy to create a professional-looking website without coding.


Premium WordPress blog themes

  • Extra is a stylish theme from the reliable Elegant Themes catalog, designed for bloggers and online magazines. This highly customizable theme lets you build countless custom page and category layouts. Extra users can create story-driven posts easily with their drag and drop interface.

    Key features and benefits: Completely customizable layouts, category builder, post and page builder, eCommerce ready, premium support and perpetual updates to ensure your website will always work with the latest version of WordPress.

  • Olsen is a professional blogging theme from CSSIgniter. Olsen’s templates deliver a beautiful, minimalist designbuilt with fashion and lifestyle bloggers in mind. Nevertheless, it’s a great fit for any blog with an emphasis on stylish content. This theme has lots of customizer settings to create your blog just as you like including infinite style variations and multiple layouts to choose from.

    Key features and benefits: 80+ customizer settings, 11 unique layouts for blog pages, five post formats, SEO optimized, custom widgets, over 20 style variations including color and typography settings, translation ready, and much more.

  • Rich Modern brings a fresh and contemporary style to your WordPress blog. This RichWP theme is ideal for any blog wanting a fresh and creative design. Its design is bold, clean and simple with big images for your posts and a massive header logo. Rich Modern has heaps of great features and options.

    Key features and benefits: Fully widgetized, premium support, WooCommerce ready, custom page templates, theme customizer, super easy install and setup, SEO friendly and fully mobile responsive, and much more.

Still undecided? Try Freemium themes

If you’re still on the shelf about investing in a premium theme, Freemium might be a good choice for you. Freemium themes are both free and premium. Use the theme for free and upgrade for advanced features and functionalities when you are ready. This option saves migrating to a new theme when you want extras and lets you test the basic features for free.


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