10 Best Free WordPress Themes in 2023

You have decided to start your blog or eCommerce site on WordPress. It’s great news but now it’s time to do the hard work of developing your website. You will start by choosing the right name for your website and hosting service. Now it’s time to choose the free WordPress themes for your website.

The theme is an essential component and can make a difference between a good and a bad WordPress website. You are a starter and don’t have the budget to get a paid theme so, you decided to get a free theme. The “Free” filter will reduce the options but still, you are looking at more than 10000 options. Choosing the right one out of 10k themes can take months. To make your job easier we have vetted and tested the 10 best Free WordPress themes in 2023 that are ideal for both Blog and eCommerce websites.

Let’s dive in.

10 Best Free WordPress Themes in 2023

Alpus

Our first pick is the Alpus Free Theme. It is a multipurpose theme with a ton of powerful features that can help you build a premium website. It is an excellent option for both blog and eCommerce websites. Alpus is known for its easy customization options and fast speed. Features like full-site editing and a pre-built block library allow you to design the website’s appearance and functionality with pre-built blocks which makes it easier even for novice users to build their website.

Moreover, optimize wizard improves website performance by optimizing the images, fonts, and other design elements of your website. Alpus also has an intelligent feature called lazyload that only loads the picture when you reach the section. It reduces loading time and enhances the website’s performance.

Alpus is an excellent free WordPress theme that will make sure your website not only looks great but also performs exceptionally fast for better SEO performance.

Astra

Surely Astra is one of the fastest-growing themes on WordPress but the Astra Free is not the greatest of all. It has a nice performance-oriented minimalistic theme but with only the basic features. You will also find many customization options using layouts, headers, typography, and other similar options. Another nice thing about the theme is that it is using Vanilla JavaScript instead of jQuery which is significantly lighter and helps in faster loading.

Overall, it is a nice theme with easy WooCommerce integration but out of the box, Astra Free is not much until you import a stater site on top.

On the other side, Astra has no in-built eCommerce options on the free plan and we have also sensed some bugs with the sticky header option.

Neve

Neve is another excellent free theme that has quickly gone popular. It is a super-fast and easy-to-customize multipurpose theme that is ideal for small businesses, blogs, and small eCommerce stores. Moreover, freelancers can also use it to create a personal portfolio. Neve is an optimized theme, fully responsive with a fast loading speed for better SEO score and ranking.

Overall, it has a minimalist and simple design but the theme is highly extendable. Moreover, it is compatible with all the popular page builders including Gutenberg, Elementor, Beaver Builder, and more.

OceanWP

OceanWP is one of the few free WordPress themes that are great for eCommerce websites. It is the second most installed theme in WP Repository. Like our earlier two themes, OceanWP also has a similar set of features with an emphasis on minimalism and performance.

The customization options are simply great, it has a variety of options for blogs and eCommerce websites. In addition, you also get general options like page layouts, title settings, website background, menu, button sizes, color options, typography, etc.

The downside of the theme is its complex setup process and old and outdated interface.

Sydney

Sydney has been a permanent part of the Top Free WordPress theme chart for quite some time and it’s also one of the themes that is recommended by Elementor. Unlike other minimalistic designs, Sydney is known for its modern and professional theme that perfectly suits all kinds of businesses.

The multi-purpose theme has a nice responsive design with WordPress Customizer Integration, Google Fonts, and Custom Elementor Blocks. As mentioned above it is a great theme for businesses to showcase their products and services.

Kadence

Kadence is also a very popular free WordPress theme, it is lightweight, fast, and elegant, making itself an excellent option for blogs.

Moreover, the theme also offers a dedicated header and footer builder and extensive theme customization, and global colors.

Another great thing about Kadence is blog customization. It allows you to make changes to a great extent by letting you edit the title layout, position of elements, enable or disable sidebar, featured image, tags and much more.

The things that I did not like about Kadence are, there is no in-built eCommerce feature and it supports two popular page builders.

Storefront

The seventh on our list is the perfect eCommerce store theme made by WooCommerce. The official theme has basic features and customization options. It has several layout and customization options and multiple widgets to personalize your websites. Moreover, the design is very responsive and works perfectly with every device.

The best thing about Storefront is the seamless integration with WooCommerce as it is made by the company itself. So, you will not face any issues or glitches with the integration and in case anything happens WooCommerce support will be with you.

The only downside is the customization and addon options are minimal.

ColorMag

ColorMag is another excellent theme designed for magazines and news-style websites. It is a niche-specific theme on which you can post multiple posts every day. It allows you to create modern and elegant websites thanks to its bunch of customization options and various layouts.

One thing that I really liked in the layout is there are multiple spaces for ads like we usually see on news websites which allows you to easily monetize your website without compromising the design of your website.

ColorMag is an excellent theme for WordPress but it can get slow with the increasing amount of published content.

GeneratePress

Generate Pass is a free theme designed with a focus on speed and usability. It has more focus on performance that’s why its page only adds 10kb to its size the small size allows you to freely create content as you are not worried about the page size and speed.

Moreover, Generate Pass is also compatible with all the popular plugins like Elementor, WooCommerce Yoast, EDD, BuddyPress, etc. The design range is also very dynamic with its unique typography, multiple navigation locations, sidebar layouts, color controls, and widget areas.

One thing I would have loved to see is Elementor drag-and-drop implementation. It is not possible in the free theme which makes the design process a little slow.

Phlox

Phlox is a highly versatile and visually impressive free WordPress theme that has gained popularity in recent years. It offers a wide range of features and customization options, making it suitable for various types of websites, including blogs, portfolios, business sites, and online stores.

Due to the extensive customization options and features offered by Phlox, there might be a learning curve involved, especially for beginners who are new to WordPress. Exploring all the available options and understanding how to effectively utilize them may take some time and effort.

Overall, Phlox is a feature-rich and flexible WordPress theme that offers stunning design options, extensive customization capabilities, and compatibility with various plugins. Its versatility makes it an excellent choice for individuals, businesses, and organizations looking to create visually appealing and functional websites.

Conclusion

Here are the 10 Best Free WordPress themes in 2023. All of the themes are perfectly designed for a specific purpose and all of them do a pretty good job. If you are still confused about the absolute best then Alpus is an excellent all-purpose free WordPress theme. It has excellent features to design exceptional blogs and eCommerce websites.