Tuesday 16 July 2019

WordPress Free vs. Paid Themes: Which is The Best?

It is one of the most asked questions. Many times it is asked by the beginners whether to choose a free WordPress theme or premium theme. Many WordPress developers and designers ask what the difference between free and premium themes is. If you too have these questions, don't worry you will get the answers and then you will be able to decide which theme is right for you.

Free themes are pre-installed in WordPress and can be used by the users for free which are listed in the official WordPress.org themes directory whereas premium or paid themes are the ones for which you will have to pay a certain amount in order to use that theme.

In this blog, we will discuss the Free WordPress Theme vs. Premium WordPress Theme and its pros and cons.


Let's First Discuss The Pros of Free WordPress Themes


1.  It's Free


The most basic pros of the free WordPress theme is that it's free. The biggest benefits of a free WordPress is its cost, free. Although many people have questions regarding the free theme. When people hear free, they begin to doubt their quality. Often people think that free themes are low quality but that's not always the case. Free themes are quite good in quality and those who don't want to spend a lot such as small business owners or beginners can definitely go for this.

2. Easy to Use


Free themes are preferred mostly for the beginners and therefore are simple and easy to use. Before approving any theme, WordPress developers should make sure that the themes can be used by a beginner as a part of their testing process. These free themes are also compatible with most of the plugins.

3. Strict Review Process


Free WordPress themes are actually held to a higher quality standard. All the themes in the official WordPress theme directory go through a strict review process. There are very talented people in the theme review team who examine these themes before they are included in the directory. Free WordPress themes are tested for their quality, standard code, quality HTML and CSS, security, privacy, etc. Free WordPress themes are built by expert WordPress developers.

4. Speedy WordPress Design


WordPress usually comes with a limited number of features and minimal design. When the website does not have a lot of plugins, the site will be leaner and therefore quicker to load. This could make for a speedy WordPress website which will eventually improve the technical SEO of your site.

Although there are many pros of WordPress free themes for many small business and newbies just like anything, it has some limitations as well.

Some of The Cons of Using Free WordPress Themes Now


1. Limited Support Options


Free WordPress theme developers offer support through WordPress forums, but they fail to reply to the support queries. Free themes offer no support if there is an issue and this can be troublesome for some webmasters if they need any assistance or solutions, they will not be able to find one because of the lack of strong support.

2. Limited Features and Functionality


Even though free themes do support most of the standard WordPress features, sometimes it's just not enough. Many features don't offer extra functionality like creating buttons, using shortcodes, create landing pages, etc. Free themes fail to provide the best of the features that a website requires.

3. Free Themes are Not Unique 


Even though free WordPress themes are considered preferable for many small businesses but free WordPress themes are not as unique as premium WordPress themes. Since free themes are downloaded by everyone without any barrier, many websites will make the use of the same themes and the themes become common and repetitive and themes lose their uniqueness.

Unlike free themes, premium themes have to be bought from various third-party WordPress theme shops and marketplaces

Let's Discuss The Pros of WordPress Premium Themes Now


1. More Features and Customization Options


The biggest advantage of a WordPress premium theme is that you get many more features and customization options. There is a tough competition in the premium theme industry and therefore theme stores are always trying to offer more features at lower prices.

2. Better Support and Updates


Premium WordPress themes have a better support team and it also comes with regular updates. The main reason behind such great support is because they are actually making money from their services and not providing for free and where there is money, they will offer proper services.

3. It is More Unique


Since you have to pay for premium themes, these themes are not downloaded by many people as compared to free themes. Premium themes also have customization options and give you the ability to personalize your theme. By using premium themes, your website will stand out and look unique. 

Premium WordPress themes have some great features but not all the premium themes are perfect.

Some of The Disadvantage of WordPress Premium Themes


1. Poor Code


Sometimes even the most beautiful looking premium themes have poor coding standards which could make it incompatible with some of the plugins. This could be because these themes don't go through a review process.

2. Few themes are expensive with a monthly license fee


Premium themes are quite expensive sometimes. The cost of some themes are very expensive and on top of it, they also charge a licensing fee every month. This might be a little too much for small and medium businesses as they cannot afford to spend this much. Only those who have a big budget and large business can afford the premium themes.

3. Unnecessary features


In order to sell themes, the WordPress theme developer sometimes adds too many features in their WordPress Premium themes even when they are not necessary or important. Users will not even use these many features into their themes. They will probably never use all these features and they make your website slow unnecessarily.

So, You Decide!


WordPress without a doubt is a leading website developing platform which is popular worldwide. It is suitable for all kinds of businesses. WordPress themes are very important for the overall look of the website and WordPress has many free pre-installed themes. Although these free themes are great for small businesses and work just fine it does not have all those functions that you require for a great theme. WordPress premium themes have some outstanding features and its features surely outweigh its cons.

If you are a beginner and have a small budget at the beginning, you can go for free WordPress themes but if you have a large business, you can go for premium WordPress themes. But again, it depends completely on the users. Only the users can make a decision based on their business and preferences. A specific website developer of the project should also be able to make such a valuable decision. 

If you have any other ideas to share, please share them in the comment section below. We would like to know more from different perspectives. If you have any other questions or queries, do ask us. Feel free to call or mail us, we will assist you in whatever means possible.

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