Top 10 Free and Responsive WordPress Themes for 2019 and Beyond

A website built using WordPress is one of the best ways to tell your customers about your brand, as well as the value, products, and services it offers. This is because WordPress comes with features that make building and customizing a website, as well as making it visible to your intended audiences, easy. Responsive themes are among these features and making full use of them will help you achieve your goals, whether you aim to raise awareness about your brand or sell your products online.

How do you find the best free responsive theme?

In a world where people access the internet and shop online through different screen sizes and resolutions, responsive WordPress themes ensure that your site looks and functions optimally no matter what device or browser users view it on. Because it plays such an important role, it’s essential that you are careful in picking the right WordPress responsive theme. Here are eight tips to help you make the right choice:

• Understand your needs. Do not settle for a theme just because it’s pretty or sleek. Choose one that helps you meet your goals.
• Match the site’s content and personality. Choose a theme that will highlight the products in your e-commerce site or one that matches the content of your blog site.
• Ensure customizability. A great theme is one that gives you plenty of customization options so your site doesn’t end up looking like everybody else’s.
• Make room for change. Keep in mind that you may have to alter your site in the future. Therefore, the theme must be able to evolve with the rest of the site.
• Plan for SEO. Page loading speed affects your site’s ranking in search results, so choose a theme that loads up fast and is optimized for SEO.
• Ensure plugin compatibility. If your site requires specific plugins, make sure your theme of choice is compatible with them.
• Think of language. If you plan to cater to international audiences, make sure the theme you use is translation-ready.
• Make it social. Social media is a powerful force in business, so be sure the theme you choose supports social media widgets, making it easy for users to share your content.

Are free themes worth using?

Where should you get your responsive WordPress themes then? You can find customized themes from third parties, but their cost may not be within your budget. WordPress’ large selection of free themes could be a low-cost solution to this issue, but are they right for you?

Pros

• Free. This is, without any doubt, the biggest benefit you can get. Because you won’t have to spend a single cent on your theme, you can allocate your budget for other needs, such as necessary tools for your website.
• High-quality. Just because the themes are free doesn’t mean they’re low-standard. Each of WordPress’ free themes is put through a strict review process to ensure their quality.
• Flexible. Using a free theme means your mistakes will not cost you a lot of money. This is especially important if you are new to running a website. It’s okay to trade for a better theme later on as you never spent on your old one anyway.
• User-friendly. Free WordPress themes tend to be simple, but that’s not necessarily a problem. Their simplicity means they are straightforward and easy to use.

Cons

• Limited support. You can find support from free theme developers in the WordPress forums, but they are not required to answer your queries.
• Limited functions. The standard features that come with free themes could be enough for a conventional site, but they may turn out lacking if you want varied functionality.
• Limited customization. A free theme is not specifically tailored to your brand. You will most likely find a site that uses the same theme as your site does.
• No warranties. Developers are not obliged to help you out when anything goes wrong with the theme.

Free themes are not a bad choice at all. In fact, they may be ideal if you’re just starting out. To get around the issues of variety and customization, you can combine your free theme with WordPress’ free widgets. With this strategy, you’ll grasp the nuances of running your site in no time. You may also come up with a combination that truly works for your brand without spending a single penny.

What are the 10 best free WordPress responsive themes today?

The answer to this question would, of course, differ from one person to another. At the end of the day, which theme you choose for your site will depend on your goals, needs, and preferences, among other factors. If you’re having a hard time deciding, here is a list of the top 10 free and responsive WordPress themes you can apply to your site this 2019 and beyond.

• Neve

Neve is a fast and versatile theme with a clean and professional look. It comes with multiple demos and is compatible with Elementor, Beaver Builder, and WooCommerce, so shaping it into the website you need, whether it’s a blog, corporate page, portfolio, or an online store, is easy. The theme is remarkably fast, responsive, and is translation friendly, which is great if your goal is to reach a wide audience.

• eStore

eStore is one of the best WordPress themes designed for e-commerce shops. Its most remarkable feature is its deep integration with WooCommerce that allows you to create all the elements required in an online store. These include categories, product pages, a checkout page, and a cart. It is even compatible with WooCommerce Wishlist that allows buyers to make wishlists with products they want to buy in the future. The theme comes with standard features – color options and live customizers – and access to more than 12 custom widgets.

• Enigma

Enigma possesses a simple but beautiful look that’s perfect for image-heavy websites and pages. Use it to showcase your portfolio, create a gallery of your favorite visual content, or highlight your creativity. It is compatible with all browsers and is even Retina-ready for an unmatched visual experience. Enigma was designed to look exceptional when viewed through mobile phones, but it looks no less stunning when accessed through other devices.

• Cenote

Visuals are powerful marketing tools, especially when they are shared via social media. Cenote provides you with a beautiful platform on which you can share your social media-ready images and videos, although you can also use the theme even for blogs and other types of website. It features minimalistic but gorgeous typography that looks good across all browsers and devices. Better still, this WordPress theme is optimized for speed and SEO, helping ensure that your content reaches a remarkably wide audience.

• Root

Root is a clean WordPress theme whose beauty lies in its apparent simplicity. It carries a lot of potential applications – use it for your blog, corporate pages, or portfolio – which makes it great no matter what your business plans may be. The theme boasts a plethora of features and the highest compatibility with the most commonly used plugins. It’s also SEO-friendly and offers excellent multi-channel customer support.

• Suffice

If you are looking to build a clean, minimalistic website for your business or e-commerce site, this WordPress theme will more than suffice. Beneath its light and simple appearance are powerful features, including a custom plugin called Suffice Toolkit. This plugin gives you ample control over your content through custom widgets that you can drag and drop throughout the page. Its seamless integration with Page Builder by SiteOrigin further adds to Suffice’s customizability.

• Ember

Ember is a theme that’s easy to use and transform into an impactful website, even if you don’t have any coding skills. It is designed to amaze, which is great if your goal is to create a positive first impression on your site’s visitors. Customizing it to suit your preferences is easy, thanks to its real-time preview. Ember is fully responsive and adapts to any screen size or resolution, whether you’re viewing it through a laptop or mobile phone.

• Gist

This is the kind of theme that’s perfect for telling memorable stories. Whether you want a blog, an online magazine, or a news site, this theme will highlight your posts through its simple but beautiful design. Gist may not seem like it, but the degree of customization you can do with it is amazing. The theme allows you to choose from various typography options and modify everything from your header to the specific sections of the site. If you want to secure your content, the theme also offers a copyright option.

• Make

Make enables anyone to build a professional-looking website even when they don’t know how to code. Build your portfolio, blog, or e-commerce site using the theme’s user-friendly drag-and-drop page builder. This same feature can be used to manage and organize your content. Make also allows you to customize various elements, including fonts, colors, and layouts, among others.

• Bizlight

Bizlight is a powerful WordPress theme that uncannily combines stylish and modern aesthetics. It is simple and customizable, allowing you to alter elements like the tagline, logo, and its pagination, to name a few. Because it is powered by the Bootstrap network, Bizlight is flexible enough to adapt to your needs.

Takeaway

The free themes from WordPress are not perfect, but they are excellent solutions for those who are starting out and those who do not want to spend on customized themes. As long as you are discerning and are ready to experiment, you should be able to find a theme that answers your needs and those of your brand.

What is your favorite theme? Tell us in the comments.

Author bio: 

Aaron Chichioco is the content editorial manager of designdoxa.com. His expertise includes not only limited to the topics about Web/mobile design and development, but digital marketing, branding and eCommerce Strategies as well. You can follow Aaron on twitter at @Aaron_Chichioco