WordPress blog themes: the best templates

To create a WordPress blog, you’ll need a suitable WordPress theme. There are thousands of themes out there for WordPress bloggers (also called templates). Many are free, but depending on your requirements, you should also take the cost of your theme into account when calculating the costs of your WordPress project.

To help, we’ve put together an overview of suitable WordPress blog templates.

An overview of the best WordPress blog themes

Theme

Basic version

Premium version

1-time payment

Subscription

The Blogger

–

✔

$

–

Davis

✔

✖

✖

✖

Black and White

✔

✖

✖

✖

Bloggr

✔

✖

✖

✖

OceanWP

✔

✔

$$

$

Dérive

✖

✔

$$

$$

Weta

✖

✔

$

$

MH Magazine lite

✔

✔

✖

$$

(Status: November 2021)

The free CMS WordPress lets you create, manage, and rank blog pages without much programming know-how. If you don’t want to continuously update your page, you can learn more about WordPress Hosting from IONOS.

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The overall look of a WordPress blog is ultimately based on the chosen theme, which can be customized – either through a paid, premium version or with a little know-how of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Our guide on the best WordPress themes will put you on the right path.

The WordPress community has made thousands of helpful materials available in the form of WordPress plugins. This will save you a bunch of work, for example by:

• Providing WordPress backups,
• integrating your Instagram account,
• creating stunning WordPress image galleries or
• by designing simple WordPress contact forms.

Chat modules are also becoming ever more common on webpages and blogs. These, too, can be integrated with the help of WordPress chat plugins.

Tip

A good blogs needs the perfect domain. With IONOS, registering a domain is easy and simple, and is even included in the price with WordPress Hosting for original domain extensions.

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• .com
• .net
• .org
• .biz
• .info
• .online
• .shop

A closer look at 8 WordPress blog themes

With small exceptions, you can access the full range of functions of themes for WordPress blogs with paid premium versions. Before choosing a theme, you should take a close look at the often plentiful demos available to make a qualified decision. Changing a theme involves a workload that should not be underestimated.

The use of paid templates for WordPress blogs is almost always bound to special license conditions. For example, to the specification, for how many websites a theme may be used or whether you can also sell your own products on the site. A close look at the license agreement before buying can save you subsequent (legal) trouble.

TheBlogger

The name says it all: TheBlogger offers layout versatility and 15 premade layouts. Source: pixelwars.org.

The name TheBlogger already tells you who the template is geared towards. All demos feature a very appealing design but still convey a sense of minimalism. A video on the provider’s page illustrates the possibilities of the so-called live customizer – an overall helpful resource. In the premium version, an online shop is supported with WooCommerce, but ups the license cost by $2,000.

Key features

Advantages

Disadvantages

More than 200 options to customize

Plenty of layout options

Variety somewhat confusing

Multilingual

Very detailed documentation

Extended license for online stores

Slim code

Good demo video

Very expensive

Davis

The Davis theme shows us the benefits of a small and compact layout. It also invites you to consider the possibilities of further developing a theme. Source: andersnoren.se.

Swedish designer Anders Norén has programmed an exceptional portfolio of WordPress templates not only for blogs. The themes are all free of charge. If you like, you can show your appreciation with a donation – and most of these themes are worth it!

The WordPress blog theme Davis is probably what comes to mind when you consider an extremely “clean” and “lightweight” theme. The functionality is based on only three PHP files! No frills, no overloaded colors, no typographic extravagances – the ZIP file has a size of only 71 kilobytes. Adjustments are possible via “Additional CSS” in the customizer. As such, this theme is intended as a kind of basic template to expand on and customize, a blank canvas so to speak – open-source at its best!

Key features

Advantages

Disadvantages

Very minimalistic

Entirely free

Only a handful of settings in the customize

Made for developers

Requires little storage space

CSS know-how needed

Supports the block editor

Responsive

Black and White

The WordPress blog template Black and White proves that free themes can also be effective. Source: modernthemes.net.

The features that this WordPress blog template offers is really something to behold. It includes an appealing****Masonry layout and impressive hover effects for the images. The layout can be set with sidebar or as full-page width. Besides SEO support, free WordPress blog theme updates are also included. This can be used to create an appealing blog, especially if you like to work with images a lot. All relevant social media channels can be integrated effortlessly.

Key features

Advantages

Disadvantages

Lean, clean code

FreeMany color options already integrated

Documentation only includes FAQ section

Very responsive

Multilingual ready

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Bloggr

The WordPress blog template Bloggr offers variety, the feel of a digital magazine, and is entirely free. Source: modernthemes.net.

From the same provider as Black and White comes the blog template Bloggr for WordPress. The name (almost) says it all. This WordPress blog theme is also free of charge and has a similar look to a colorful well-presented magazine. The full-width layout for posts ensures a reader-friendly display, and the blogger can “blow off steam” with Google Fonts. Many available shortcodes allow the insertion of layout columns (!), accordions, buttons, sliders, and much more. An appealing and impressive variety.

Key features

Advantages

Disadvantages

Lean, clean code

Free

Documentation only includes FAQ section

Responsive design

Expansive shortcodes for many elements

Multilingual ready

Many color options

OceanWP

The WordPress blog template OceanWP offers a versatile digital magazine style, and is entirely free with the imported layout blogger. Source: oceanwp.org.

There’s a reason why the WordPress theme OceanWP is one of the most popular, even among bloggers. Basically, the theme is already a page builder but with an unsurmountable variety of customization options. Demo content for a page can be directly imported into the basic template. The individual elements of the blog layout can be defined with various settings. For example, for the page header there are eight different modes. The theme impresses with fast loading times and WooCommerce support. The provider also holds a large portfolio of free and paid extensions, of which many bloggers use the free Ocean Extra plugin. The available lifetime licenses for various modules are more intended for digital agencies.

Key features

Advantages

Disadvantages

Very large design variety

Basic model is free

A lot of settings in the customizer

Fully responsive

Many premium features come included

Slightly confusing

WooCommerce supported

Compatible with Gutenberg Editor

Dérive

The WordPress blog template Dériv is both visually appealing and offers a variety of design options. This also comes at a price. Source: wpzoom.com.

This paid WordPress theme is a good choice especially for photo, video, and/or travel bloggers who value good design. Dealing with the theme in the WordPress backend is not quite as intuitive as with other themes, but you’ll get the hang of it, especially with the good demo content and really fast support that usually helps within hours. The live customizer supports fast and responsive results.

Key features

Advantages

Disadvantages

For travel/photo/video blogs

Photo and video integration

Not all features are intuitive

Very responsive design

Extensive live customizer

More expensive than other templates

Gutenberg compatible

Simple license handling

very good support

Weta

The template Weta is perfect for food and travel bloggers. Source: elmastudio.de/en.

Minimalism and tidiness combine with very clean programming in this theme. For undisturbed legibility, there are full-width pages and extensive design options and font variety. However, the colors can only be adjusted via the individual CSS.

Key features

Advantages

Disadvantages

For food/travel bloggers

Cost-effective

A lot of white space in the template

Responsive design

Store compatible

Only influenceable via CSS

Short loading times

Detailed documentation

MH Magazine lite

MH Magazine lite is a WordPress blog template that offers plenty of variety with its digital magazine-look, and is even available free of charge. Source: mhthemes.com.

The WordPress blog template MH Magazine lite is very popular for a reason. It’s an almost perfect solution for bloggers who want to maintain an editorial standard. Subject areas like news, politics, sports, travel, or lifestyle can all be catered to. The layout offers space for advertisers – this can become a source of income not to be underestimated as a blog grows. Then, it may also be worth upgrading to the premium version with many additional features.

Key features

Advantages

Disadvantages

Wide range of functions Suited for editorial team blogs

Free

Full functionality requires paid Premium version

Mobile optimized

Appealing look for a news source

Suited for editorial team blogs

WordPress blog themes for individualists

If you know exactly what the design of your blog should look like, then you customize your template yourself with so-called page builders. Page builders let you design web pages by positioning various prefabricated elements at the desired positions via drag & drop. The extensive programming work required by developers for this kind of creative freedom comes at a price, though.

You should also keep in mind that creative freedom isn’t automatically associated with a perfect result. Page builders are well suited if you already have a corporate design that you can “shimmy along” for your blog. Examples of themes that offer this include Divi, Elementor, or Beaver Builder. Our guide on WordPress page builders gives you further insights into the technical and design possibilities of a customized WordPress blog.

Blogging, according to the rules

Rules also apply to bloggers, especially if legally required disclosures apply to you under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):

• an Impressum or Imprint should be included,
• a Privacy Policy is a requirement,
• as well as a clear notice, when a user visits the blog, of how cookies are handled.

WordPress blog themes already incorporate these legal requirements into their page designs. The cookie notice issue can also be solved with a WordPress cookie plugin.

To build trust, it’s a good idea to have an About Me page – or an About Us page. This builds up sympathy and is an easy way to present your competencies. So: Let’s blog!