Picking a suitable starter theme can set the tone for your entire site. The perfect starter theme can make your web-building process smoother, faster, and downright enjoyable.
But where do you begin?
In this roundup article, I’ll help you discuss and review the top WordPress starter themes for you. From simple designs to feature-rich platforms.
Effortlessly Design and Customize Your Website’s Appearance for Maximum Impact.
Highlights
Easy-to-use WordPress plugin
Offers drag-and-drop page builder functionality
Includes a wide variety of pre-designed templates
Provides seamless integration with popular eCommerce platforms
Optimized for speed and performance
Supports customization through advanced theme options
Kadence WP is a game-changer if you are looking to create modern, high-performance websites. It has great customizable features and a user-friendly interface. You can learn more in my Kadence Theme review.
Key Features
Header Builder: Easily create and customize your website’s header using a drag-and-drop interface. This means no more struggling with code or complicated design software.Â
Footer Builder: Design a responsive footer for your website with a simple drag-and-drop interface. You can create a customized footer that looks great and provides important information and links for your visitors.
Custom Layouts: Define the layout of your website with options for sidebar, no sidebar, full width, or narrow width.
Global Color Palette: You can choose your desired color scheme and easily change it throughout your entire website. No more manually editing every element of your site to update its colors.
Global Typography: Select from a wide range of Google fonts or Websafe fonts and customize the size, style, and text transform.Â
Pros
Easily create and customize your website’s header and footer with a simple drag-and-drop interface.
Define the layout of your website with options for sidebar, no sidebar, full width, or narrow width.
Choose from a wide range of Google fonts or Websafe fonts and easily change the color scheme throughout your entire website.
Create visually stunning hero areas with a transparent header that overlaps your content.
Cons
Limited design options compared to other website builders
It can be overwhelming for beginners due to the amount of features and settings
Pricing
Kadence WP is considered one of the best WordPress themes. You can apply its advanced features to create a beautiful and professional website.
Try building the perfect website today with Kadence WP!
Build beautiful websites quickly, with no coding required.
Highlights
WCAG 2.0 standards compliance for easy accessibility
Clean and extendable code for developers
SEO – friendly markup following best practices
Easy translation into any language for multilingual websites
Seamless integration with popular page builders
As a WordPress theme trusted by millions globally, Astra stands out with its pre-built websites, which are visually appealing and functionally robust.
These designs drastically reduce your site setup time and simplify the design process.
Astra allows you to tweak every aspect, from color schemes to typography, using simple yet powerful options in the WordPress Customizer.
Key Features
Pre-built websites: Astra provides you with 240+ stunning templates ready to use. With their pixel-perfect design, your website will look professional and visually appealing right off the bat.
Customize without code: You don’t need to be a coding expert to create a beautiful website with Astra. Their user-friendly interface allows you to easily change the design using various options in the WordPress Customizer.
Made for page builders: Take control of your website’s layout with Astra’s page builder compatibility. Turn off the page title and sidebar to create full-width pages with complete design freedom.Â
Superfast Performance:Â It is designed to be the lightest theme on the market, ensuring unmatched performance and lightning-fast load times for your visitors.
Seamless Gutenberg Compatibility: Gutenberg is WordPress’ new block editor that offers improved ease of use when creating content. Astra’s extensive library of free starter templates is specifically designed for Gutenberg, so you’ll have all the tools you need at your fingertips for seamless content creation.
Pros
Ready-to-use website templates with pixel-perfect design
Easy customization without the need for coding
Ability to create full-width pages with complete design freedom
Unmatched performance and fast loading times
Cons
Limited customization options may not meet the needs of advanced users.
Some features require additional payment for access.
Technical support can be slow to respond and resolve issues.
Pricing
Astra is free for everyone. For additional features, there are affordable packages available.
Astra is perfect to create a beautiful website quickly and easily without writing any code.
You can build a professional website quickly with powerful features, tons of customizing options, and lightning-speed performance.
The lightning-fast, customizable theme for high-performing websites.
Highlights
Trusted by thousands of happy customers
Available in multiple languages for global use
Compatible with popular plugins for seamless integration
Accessibility compliant for an inclusive user experience
Offers a wide selection of professionally designed websites
Flexible subscription options with a money-back guarantee
GeneratePress prioritizes performance, stability, and accessibility. Whether you’re building a personal blog or developing websites for your agency, it’s a great choice.
This lightweight theme stands out with its 100% PageSpeed score compatibility due to its modest 7.5kb page size and minimal HTTP requests.
It’s clear why this product has garnered trust from over 100,000 satisfied customers worldwide.
Key Features
Performance Focused:Â The free version is designed with performance in mind, ensuring your website loads quickly and smoothly for visitors. This means improved user experience, lower bounce rates, and higher chances of converting leads into customers.
Add More with Premium:Â You can access a wide range of customization options, professionally designed starter sites, and the ability to build your unique themes using blocks.
100% PageSpeed Scores:Â With its lightweight design and minimal dependencies, GeneratePress helps optimize your website for lightning-fast page loading speeds. Achieving 100% PageSpeed scores improves user satisfaction and boosts search engine rankings, driving more organic traffic to your site.
Unrivaled Support:Â GeneratePress stands out from the crowd when it comes to customer support. With over 98% of requests answered on the same day, you can feel confident knowing any issues or questions will be resolved promptly.
Compatibility at its Core: This theme has been built to adhere to the highest coding standards, ensuring it works seamlessly with all top-rated plugins.Â
Pros
Optimal performance for visitors and search engines
Extensive customization options with GeneratePress Premium
Achieving 100% PageSpeed scores with a lightweight theme
Fast and flexible support with a high response rate
Cons
Limited customization options with the free version
Some advanced features are only available in the premium version
It can be overwhelming for beginners without technical knowledge
Customizable design: Blocksy allows users to easily customize the design of their website with its flexible and powerful theme options.
Lightweight and fast: With optimized code and a minimalistic approach, Blocksy ensures that websites load quickly and provide a seamless user experience.
Versatile compatibility: Blocksy is compatible with popular page builders such as Elementor and Beaver Builder, enabling users to create stunning layouts effortlessly.
WooCommerce integration: Blocksy seamlessly integrates with WooCommerce, making it easier for businesses to set up an online store and manage their products.
Mobile-friendly: The responsive design of Blocksy ensures that websites look great on various devices, providing visitors with an excellent mobile browsing experience.
SEO friendly: Blocksy follows best practices in search engine optimization (SEO), helping websites rank higher on search engine results pages.
What sets Blocksy apart from its competitors? Apart from being e-commerce-ready—it also maintains clean code lines without hardcoded strings, making translation ready in any language!
Key Features
Lightning Fast: Experience lightning-fast loading times with Blocksy. Your visitors will love how quickly your site responds, which can result in lower bounce rates and increased engagement.
Gutenberg Ready: Seamless compatibility with this popular block editor allows you to effortlessly create and customize your website’s design without any hiccups or limitations.
Code Splitting: With Blocksy’s code-splitting feature, JavaScript behavior is only loaded when it’s actually needed, thanks to Webpack’s support for dynamic imports. This means faster page rendering and improved performance across the board.
Ecommerce Ready: Turn your website into an online store within minutes using Blocksy’s easy-to-use e-commerce features. Build and customize your shop exactly how you want it, with no coding skills required.
SEO Optimized: From clean code that search engines love to built-in schema integration for valid structured data markup – everything is set up for maximum visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Pros
Lightning-fast performance for a seamless user experience
Compatibility with Gutenberg editor and blocks for easy customization
Easy and quick setup of an online store without any hassle
Support for multiple languages and adherence to GDPR requirements
Cons
Limited customization options
Some features may require additional plugins or integrations
Advanced WordPress developers may find the interface too simplistic
Pricing
Blocksy offers the following reasonable plans:
Personal: $49/year for 1 site license
Professional: $69/year for 5 license
Agency: $99/year for unlimited licenses
Blocksy is your go-to solution if you’re looking for an innovative, ultra-fast WordPress theme that prioritizes user experience and website performance. You can read more in my Blocksy theme complete review.
Build stunning websites quickly with OceanWP‘s intuitive customization.
Highlights
Highlights
Offers a 100% money-back guarantee for customer satisfaction
Provides access to millions of high-quality photos, illustrations, and icons for enhanced website visuals
Fully accessible and compliant with accessibility standards for inclusivity
Allows easy customization of global site layouts to create a unique and visually appealing website design
Provides options for both regular or multi-step checkout in WooCommerce, accommodating different customer preferences
OceanWP fully integrates with Elementor and Gutenberg editors, offering over 220+ ready-to-use demos and 22 extensions that make site-building a breeze for both beginners and developers.
Key Features
Elementor ready and Gutenberg ready: You have ultimate flexibility in designing your site exactly how you envision it.
Over 220+ demos and 22 extensions: Say goodbye to building your theme from scratch! OceanWP offers a vast library of pre-built website templates (demos) covering various industries and niches.
Allows building custom eCommerce sites with OceanWP and WooCommerce: Whether running a small online shop or a large-scale e-commerce business, OceanWP seamlessly integrates with WooCommerce.Â
Seven customizable header styles: Your website’s header is often the first impression visitors get of your brand. With seven customizable header styles in OceanWP, you can effortlessly create a unique and captivating visual identity that reflects your business’s personality.
Optimized for best SEO practices: In today’s competitive digital landscape, ranking high on search engine result pages is crucial for driving organic traffic to your website. OceanWP understands this importance and has meticulously designed the theme to be lightweight and fast-loading – optimizing it for best SEO practices.
Pros
Easy website customization with Elementor and Gutenberg
Wide range of ready-to-use demos and extensions
Seamless integration with WooCommerce for building eCommerce sites
Optimized for fast loading speed and improved SEO performance
Cons
Limited free features compared to other similar themes
Some users may find the customization options a bit overwhelming
It can be slower and less optimized for speed compared to other themes
Pricing
OceanWP is the ideal solution for any creative entrepreneur, designer, or developer looking to create a beautiful and engaging website.
Create and grow professional websites quickly with Neve.
Highlights
Fastest speed: Neve loads in just 1 second, providing a seamless browsing experience.
Lightweight file size: With just 28KB, Neve ensures quick loading times and minimal resource consumption.
Versatile customization: The live customizer feature allows you to create unique designs with custom backgrounds easily.
Enhanced navigation: Neve offers mega menus for effortless organization and navigation across your website.
Mobile-friendly design: Neve is fully mobile-ready and compatible with AMP, ensuring optimal device performance.
SEO optimization: Built with SEO in mind, Neve helps boost your website’s visibility and search engine rankings.
Neve, a premium WordPress theme, delivers impressive performance that’s fast and lightweight. You’ll hardly believe the speed – it loads in less than one second!
Key Features
Fast and lightweight performance: Neve’s fast and lightweight performance ensures that your website loads quickly, providing a seamless user experience.
Flexible and easy to use for creating and growing websites quickly: You don’t need to be an expert developer or designer to create stunning websites. Its intuitive interface allows you to easily customize your site’s layout, colors, fonts, and more in just a few clicks.
Easy setup and sleek designs for a professional look: Neve offers pre-designed templates that give your website a polished and professional appearance right from the start.
Reliable updates and new features coming up: Neve consistently provides reliable updates that ensure compatibility with future versions of WordPress while also offering exciting new features for enhanced functionality.
Quality code and full support for a seamless experience:Â Neve is built on quality code standards that guarantee smooth operation across different browsers, devices, and screen sizes. Additionally, their dedicated support team is always ready to assist you whenever any issues arise during setup.
Pros
Fast and lightweight performance
Easy setup and sleek designs for a professional look
Customizable header and footer design via drag-and-drop components
Seamless integration with popular page builders like Elementor, Brizy, and Beaver Builder
Cons
Limited design customization options beyond header and footer
It may not be suitable for complex or highly customized websites
Some users report occasional bugs or glitches
Pricing
7. Sydney
Customize your website’s design with ease using Sydney.
Highlights
Regular updates: Sydney is regularly updated to ensure compatibility and functionality with the latest software versions.
Large user base: With over 100,000 active installs, it has a strong community of users who trust and rely on its performance.
Free theme support: Enjoy free support from the developers, ensuring that any issues or questions you have are promptly addressed.
Online documentation: Access comprehensive documentation online, making it easy to find answers and guides whenever you need them.
User-friendly experience: With clear instructions and an intuitive interface, Sydney provides a hassle-free experience for both beginners and experienced users.
One of Sydney’s best features is its customizable header presets, which let you tailor your site’s look on both desktop and mobile platforms. Its pre-set color palettes are attractive and versatile enough to suit any brand aesthetic.
Key Features
Customize your website’s header using different presets: You can stand out from the crowd by selecting from a range of unique and professional designs, ensuring your website reflects your brand identity.
Choose from a variety of beautiful color palettes for your website’s design: You can select colors that align with your brand or personal style. You can easily create a cohesive and attractive design with Sydney’s wide range of customizable color options.
Easily modify the fonts throughout your site to match your brand: You can effortlessly ensure every page on your website maintains the same professional and branded look.
Select from different layouts for your footer to enhance the overall look of your website: Choose from various layout options to add that finishing touch to every page on your site.
Enhance your blogging experience with intuitive layout options and flexible controls: From grid layouts to classic magazine styles, you can effortlessly customize each blog post’s appearance while maintaining consistency throughout all articles.
Pros
Easily customize your website’s header, color palettes, and fonts for a personalized design.
Enhance the look of your website with different footer layouts and intuitive blogging options.
Access pre-built sections, elements, and layouts through Sydney Studio for easy page creation
Seamlessly integrate Sydney with WordPress plugin tools for a smooth user experience.
Cons
Limited customization options for certain elements of the website
Users may need some technical knowledge to fully utilize all features and settings
With easy-to-use tools, pre-built layouts, and flexible design controls, Sydney makes it simple to create an eye-catching website that stands out from the crowd. Get started now to transform your online presence!
Pricing
What is A WordPress Starter Theme?
A WordPress starter theme is like a basic theme for WordPress—a pre-designed website template. So, instead of starting from scratch, you can use this template as a foundation to build and customize your website. It’s a time-saver.
Benefits of Using WordPress Starter Themes
Using WordPress starter themes offers several benefits:
Easy customization
Starter themes like Kadence WP, Astra or Blocksy make it remarkably simple to customize your WordPress site. You don’t need intricate coding knowledge or professional expertise.
These themes come with user-friendly options that allow every change you wish, from color schemes and typographies to layouts and widgets.
Time-saving
Utilizing a WordPress starter theme can truly accelerate your web development process.
These themes provide pre-built designs that eliminate the need to create everything from scratch, allowing you to kickstart your project immediately.
SEO-friendly
These WordPress starter themes are not only popular and developer-friendly but they are also designed to be SEO-friendly.
This means they come with built-in features and optimizations that can help improve your website’s visibility on search engines.
With these themes, you can easily optimize your website’s meta tags, titles, headings, and URLs for better search engine rankings.
Furthermore, you can also install popular SEO plugins such as Rank Math SEO or Yoast SEO to boost your traffic.
Wrap Up
Choosing the right one for you shouldn’t be too difficult.
When picking a starter theme, always look for one built with clean code and well-designed in terms of layout, typography, graphics, and overall user experience.
Ensure the theme is compatible with any plugins you may have or plan to use, as they can make or break your website’s functionality.
Lastly, consider how easy it is to customize the theme to make it your own.
With these considerations, your WordPress website will be ready to go in no time! Best of luck! 🙂
FAQs
1. What is the best WordPress starter theme of 2024?
The best WordPress starter theme of 2024 could vary depending on your specific needs and preferences, but several popular WordPress themes exist.
2. Can I find a free WordPress starter theme?
Yes! There are numerous popular WordPress starters, and you can also find lists of the best free WordPress starters online to help make your decision easier.
3. How do parent and child themes relate to theme development?
A parent theme provides a basic design for your website, while child themes allow developers to customize or add features without disturbing the parent theme’s core functionality.
4. What is a responsive theme in terms of WordPress websites?
A responsive WordPress Theme automatically adjusts its layout based on different screen sizes, enhancing user experience across varying devices.
5. Can I create my page templates with these starter themes?
Many of these best-starter WordPress Themes offer options to build custom page templates, allowing users to give their site a unique look.
Franky Budijanto is a full-time remote graphic designer since 2016, specializing in web design and logo design. On aNerdsStudio.com, he shares his knowledge and strategies.
