Starting a blog from the very beginning can be very challenging. One of the best blogging platforms out there is WordPress, but there are a lot of options for various themes to choose from. Suddenly you must become a web designer, but you don’t know where to start!
What is the Best WordPress Theme for Blogging? Here are some of the best WordPress themes:
- Bento (free) – Great for those on a budget that want most premium features for free.
- Acabado (premium) – Perfect for beginners and anyone that wants lightning-fast load times, limited need for plugins, and a simple design.
- Soledad (premium) – Good for those that do not know website design.
- Verbosa (free) – Easily customizable for those who want more options.
Choosing just one theme can be hard and you have to decide between premium or free. Will free give you the extras you need or will you have to go premium?
Top 4 Free WordPress Themes
Here are the best 5 wordpress themes that are free!
#1 Bento
(found here)
Bento is a fully customizable theme for free. Even though it is a free theme, it has a ton of customization options, such as using the theme’s drag and drop style content builder to build your blog’s website.
You can choose from many different colors for your blog, the multiple combinations will never end. If you want to put your blog all on one page, Bento is a theme that offers this option.
Other great free features include:
- Converts from computer to tablet to smartphone with ease.
- Offers the free e-commerce plugin WooComerce.
- Optimized for SEO, which will get your blog seen by many readers.
- Has over 500+ fonts to choose from via Google Fonts to give your theme variety.
- Optional paid expansion pack that is best for sellers and businesses.
#2 Modernize
(found here)
Modernize is a minimalist free design, that is simplistic and great for readability. Specifically made for bloggers everywhere, Modernize allows you to choose from one to two columns for your website when you are posting content to your blog. It also offers a few templates to choose from along with a customizer to help you build your website.
Other free features include:
- Social menu icon
- Logo additions
- Full width template
Being a free and simple design, the options for customization are not as great as the premium themes and Bento still ranks the highest. However if you are not looking to go knee deep into customizing your theme, this simple design would be great for you.
#3 Astra
(found here)
This theme gives you the freedom to fully customize your blog page, and any other pages that come after it. Astra allows you to use the WordPress customizer, so you do not have to learn how to code your own blog. Very useful for those of you that have not learned HTML or CSS coding.
Other great features include:
- Changing your blog’s layout via theme customizer.
- Organizing your blog the way you like it.
- You can turn off the sidebar and build a full width page for your blog, making your blog easier to read.
- Includes many various layouts, with the ability to pay for more custonmization options.
- Like Bento, Astra also offers the free WooCommerce plugin for your blog.
#4 Verbosa
(found here)
This theme is perfect for a blogger, reviewer, or any other type of writer. There are over a hundred options available to customize this theme for your blog, so anyone else using this theme will not look identical to your blog. Verbosa allows your viewers to see your blog seamlessly from computer to phone. This theme is easy to customize for a beginner starting their blog from scratch.
A few more features include:
- Verbosa supports Google translatation services for your blog.
- Readers around the world can view your blog in their native language.
- Allows for readability for languages that read from right to left.
- Offers over 700 Google Fonts for your blog.
- Fonts can be customized by size, style, and typeface.
Top 5 premium WordPress themes
As of 2020, our new number one pick is the Acabado theme! More information will be available soon.
#1 Soledad
(found here)
Soledad is one of the best premium themes for customization. They offer over 5,000 demo homepages that you can choose from to build your blog from the start.
This theme is perfect for any bloggers or writers from all genres of writing. You do not need to know coding to use this theme, as they use a one click installation for your blog. This theme offers Gutenberg elements support and is compatible with WordPress 5.
A few other features include:
- Offers thousands of layouts to choose from.
- Has a layout combination of sliderss and a blog/magazine theme which gives you endless possibilities for design.
- Supports AMP, which allows your blog to load quickly on smartphones and other devices.
- Offers SEO support from various plugins available for your blog.
- Integrates Google translate into your blog, or you can build the website in multiple languages.
- You can use either the WPBakery Page Builder or you could use parts of Soledad to build any homepage, including the ones from their demos.
#2 Kalium
(found here)
Kalium is a theme great for a younger audience. Whether your audience is young, or you are, this theme appeals to both sides. It also can bring in younger people while still showing a professional layout for older readers. There are a variety of demos available for your blog, which allows you to build your website quickly and efficiently.
Some other features included are:
- Has over 15,000 fonts to choose from, including Google and Adobe Fonts.
- Offers a variety of plugins for no extra cost.
- Supports right to left languages and can be translated into 20 or more different languages.
- Compatible with the WPML plugin so pages can load with any language
- Has over 30 types of portolios to choose from, so you can show your work to an employer or just build it to showcase all of your hard work.
#3 Johannes
(found here)
Johannes offers usability as a personal or magazine themed blog, by making your website unique to you while also keeping a professional look. It just takes three easy steps to set up on your blog, but you can also go further into customizing this theme in the theme options.
As you customize your blog, you can see live updates to it as you work on it, so you do not have to keep refreshing the website while you wait for your pages to update.
More great features include:
- Allows you to view your blog easily on mobile or in any browser.
- Is compatible with multiple popular plugins.
- Fast page loading with SEO optimization.
- Has ad slots prebuilt in the theme, so you can place ads in multiple areas on your blog.
#4 Newspaper
(found here)
Newspaper is the perfect theme for blogging, writing news articles, or hosting a magazine. They offer more than 60 demos for your website, using just one click and your pages are set up. Being able to design your website without coding is great for those with little to no knowledge of it.
This theme is great for anyone new to blogging and website building, but also works well for veterans.
More about this theme:
- Perfect theme for smaller screens, including mobile which gives your readers the ability to read on the go.
- Offers over 800 elements and templates that install for you with just one click.
- You can build your own headers for your blog, regardless of how many you may need.
- Fully customizable theme for every type of writer.
- Includes 8 premium plugins at no extra cost, giving you a great deal.
#5 Typology
(found here)
Typology is a theme with a minimalist design and is perfect for any genre writer or blogger alike. Their theme allows you to go without pictures and still achieve a professional and elegant design, while still looking simplistic.
You can switch between two different styles, giving you the ability to change the look of your blog. Your homepage is fully customizable, including changing each section of the website to suit your blog.
- Ability to change your post layout at any time, giving you the option to redesign with a single click.
- Unlimited number of font types and colors to choose from.
- Works with SEO plugins which enables you to get your blog seen by multiple readers.
- Viewable on any device or browser.
The creators of this theme have partnered with Codeable, which will help you to go beyond customization of your theme. They will help with the heavy lifting; you just explain to them what you want for your blog. However Codeable does cost money for their services, but you are free to post for help and see what they can do for you and your blog.
Out of all the themes listed, you can use your own judgement on which one to pick, but Bento seems to be the best free theme that can also double as a premium theme. Some free themes offer less than half of what Bento does without having to pay for it.
Even if you do decide to upgrade and get their premium benefits, it has even more options to better serve your needs, especially if you are looking to market or sell a product. From blogger to writer to journalist, Bento has a fit for everyone.
