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30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

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Free professional WordPress themes always come in handy. Whether you are looking for some design inspiration or professional coding solutions — in both cases you can learn a lot, you can apply them and you can build customized designs upon them without reinventing the wheel all the time.

In this article we present over 30 fresh free high-quality WordPress themes. All themes can be downloaded, customized and used for free — in personal or/and commercial projects. Please read license disclaimers carefully before using the theme in commercial projects — they can change from time to time.

You might also want to take a look at our previous selections:

[By the way, did you know there is a brand new Smashing Wordpress Book? Push WordPress past its limits and take the basic blog into an entirely new blogosphere.]

30 Free Professional Wordpress Themes

1. Colourise
A two-column Wordpress theme with an ultra large header image, a dark backdrop and a fat footer.

10 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

2. Twilight Saga WordPress Theme
“There are so many books that hit the shelves these days that covers just start to blend together into one big mottled wallpaper. So it was a mild surprise when I encountered the stark black and minimalist cover designs.”

40 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

3. NewsWeek Wordpress Theme
“The theme is originally inspired from Business Weeek website. This is a three column theme having spots for advertise block, a featured video, and other functionalities. I might improve the theme in future but for now, you will have to do with this.”

48 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

4. Superfresh
“SuperFresh is a 3-columns theme based on natural green color. It contains 2 widget-ready sidebars, custom templates, with a featured post section on the main page. It’s compatible with WordPress 2.6 and has been tested in Firefox, Internet Explorer 6 & 7, Opera, and Safari.”

Superfresh2 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

5. Our Rights WordPress Theme
Tested with WordPress 2.5, gravatar ready, widget-ready sidebar, valid CSS/XHTML, tested in IE6Win, Firefox 2, Opera 9 and Safari 3.

11 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

6. Thunderbolt WordPress Theme
Thunderbolt is a savvy, grid-aligned, magazine-style Wordpress theme with plenty of white space, impressive typography and sensible use of images. The theme has a beautiful custom archives page, showcasing the images attached to each post (to appear properly, the theme relies on the author to add images to each post).

Th in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

7. WP Imagination

Straw in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

8. Resurrection

18 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

9. StudioWordpress Theme

24 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

10. Ashford WordPress Theme
“It is a theme for WordPress that makes building, customizing and maintaining a web site as simple as possible. A free WordPress theme that extends WordPress software with premium features making it as simple as possible to manage a web site.”

25 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

11. Vikiworks V5 theme

26 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

12. Lady In Green

27 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

13. The “Charred” WordPress Theme

Charred in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

14. MassivePress WordPress Theme

Massive in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

15. Portfolio Wordpress Theme

28 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

16. Outdoorsy Theme

29 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

17. Guzel Magazine WordPress Theme

32 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

18. Free Premium Themes Check Mate

33 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

19. Miniml – Free WordPress Theme

37 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

20. Ultimate Baseball Wordpress Theme

44 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

21. Arthemia 2.0

47 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

22. WP CODA Orange

49 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

23. Firebug WordPress Theme

14 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

24. Refreshed Wordpress Theme

15 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

25. Lightning Wordpress Theme

16 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

26. Dirty Girl Theme 1.0
The theme is not available any longer.

17 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

27. Elegance WordPress Theme

39 in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

28. Leon Paternoster » Posts » Introducing the “Into the White” theme for WordPress

White in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

Smashing Magazine’s Free Themes

29. Infinity: A Free Wordpress Theme
The theme has 3 fixed columns, thumbnails integration, Flickr, Delicious and Twitter integration as well as an attractive visual design. The theme was designed by Zhang Yichi, the creative mind behind Vikiworks Studio from Shanghai, China.

Preview in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

30. Wordpress.fun
The theme has 2 columns, thumbnails integration, a “featured” post section as well as a nice grungy design. The theme was designed by Maleika Attawel from Germany, purchased by Smashing Magazine and is now released as a gift for our readers.

Wp-fun in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

31. Fervens: A Free Wordpress Theme
The theme has 3 columns of fixed width, comes in 3 flavours and is supposed to be a starting point for your projects. The theme was designed by Elena Gafita especially for Smashing Magazine and its readers.

Fervens-pr in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

32. Notepad Chaos
The theme has 2 columns, a quite vibrant design including “personal” design elements such as handwritten headings, stick-it-notes, clips and pins. The theme was designed by Evan Eckard.

Notepad-preview in 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

The Co-Founder of Smashing Magazine. Former writer, web designer, freelancer and webworker. Author of several books. Runs the business.

Post Rating
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  1. 1
    ArtHack
    August 25th, 2008 4:20 pm

    Sum up the very good!

  2. 2
    wy
    August 25th, 2008 4:23 pm

    cool

  3. 3
    rafael tosta
    August 25th, 2008 5:00 pm

    foda!

  4. 4
    MikeWhoBikes
    August 25th, 2008 5:05 pm

    Terrific post as always; there’s plenty of these I haven’t come across before that I’m eager to take a closer look at.

  5. 5
    Pat
    August 25th, 2008 5:06 pm

    I have just released the first free child theme based on the Thematic Theme Framework. It can be found at http://www.patdryburgh.net/junction/

  6. 6
    didut
    August 25th, 2008 5:24 pm

    cool .. thanks :D

  7. 7
    FreeMarketingGraphics.com
    August 25th, 2008 5:27 pm

    Those themes are nice,

    however I think we need another 5 months for some real cool themes to come.

  8. 8
    Nick
    August 25th, 2008 5:35 pm

    Wow, some awesome themes there!

  9. 9
    kevin
    August 25th, 2008 6:07 pm

    I really like Infinity. I set up my blog using it and changed lots of.

  10. 10
    Rick
    August 25th, 2008 6:08 pm

    WordPress themes are nice but…. how about some Joomla or Drupal stuff for a change.

  11. 11
    Chad
    August 25th, 2008 6:23 pm

    lol at Joomla or Drupal

  12. 12
    Jason
    August 25th, 2008 6:27 pm

    sad to see that none of my WordPress themes made it. :(

  13. 13
    Brandon Cox
    August 25th, 2008 6:36 pm

    I love these posts, if for no other reason than to analyze and learn. Thanks again!

  14. 14
    ifender
    August 25th, 2008 6:40 pm

    yes!it is cool

  15. 15
    Ginmini
    August 25th, 2008 6:43 pm

    Oh~i like~ cool!!!Thanks : )

  16. 16
    purewebdesigner
    August 25th, 2008 6:46 pm

    Awesome list, I love the 1st one!

  17. 17
    Me
    August 25th, 2008 6:48 pm

    Very nice list, Thanks!

  18. 18
    JONxBLAZE
    August 25th, 2008 6:53 pm

    Glad to see more Wordpress designs are coming out beautifully.

  19. 19
    Abner
    August 25th, 2008 7:29 pm

    Found a perfect “one post at a time theme” here. Love u guys!

  20. 20
    Adam
    August 25th, 2008 8:06 pm

    Why would you promote a theme that actively rips off a high profile design (Dirty Girl, ripping off Subtraction).

    I expect it from them, but this just proves that you guys have no filter whatsoever.

  21. 21
    kailoon
    August 25th, 2008 8:29 pm

    Thanks for including my theme. BTW, wrong screen shot ….

  22. 22
    CHia
    August 25th, 2008 8:52 pm

    How do you guys created it ?

  23. 23
    anish trehan
    August 25th, 2008 9:21 pm

    coooool coooooooooooooooooooooool cooooooooooooooooooooooooooool supercoooooooooooooooooooooool man!! very good

  24. 24
    Daus
    August 25th, 2008 9:34 pm

    Thanks for mentioning my theme (Refreshed theme).

  25. 25
    Adam Kirkwood
    August 25th, 2008 9:40 pm

    26. Dirty Girl Theme 1.0 looks like a rip off of Khoi Vinh’s Design at his site, Subtraction

  26. 26
    锐风
    August 25th, 2008 9:50 pm

    very cool!

  27. 27
    Hinduismnet.com
    August 25th, 2008 10:07 pm

    So much of free themes will make many of us web designers jobless in a few months from now. Small businesses who have someone who is computer savvy at top will surely update content and maintain the website.

    I am not all that happy about these developments.

  28. 28
    mark rushworth
    August 25th, 2008 10:43 pm

    any free themes that could be used for corporate sites – not using the standard blog style templates with date etc, but with banner and bucket layouts?

  29. 29
    femetal
    August 25th, 2008 10:48 pm

    I think that the thumbnail of the theme #4 (Superfresh) is wrong!

    Anyway, thanks a lot for the themes!!

  30. 30
    Jon Aizlewood
    August 26th, 2008 12:20 am

    Wow. Great themes, great designs. Wordpress is taking over the world!!!

    Compare this set with those from about a year ago – is it just me or are the calibre of WP theme designs is only going up?

    My only gripe… Notepad Chaos IS WDW… I know it was inspired, but it’s a bit too close for comfort.

  31. 31
    Carlton Dickson
    August 26th, 2008 1:23 am

    Really like the firebug theme, a lot like the “Elite” theme I am using now but better, definitely time to upgrade my theme :)

  32. 32
    emanuele
    August 26th, 2008 2:19 am

    grandioso!!!! davvero fantastico!!!!

  33. 33
    Design Bliss
    August 26th, 2008 4:35 am

    “Dirty Girl” is no longer available.

  34. 34
    Jason
    August 26th, 2008 4:45 am

    That rainbow stripe effect in the Colourise theme has been so overused in the past couple of months.

  35. 35
    Flavio Mendes
    August 26th, 2008 5:19 am

    Very good!

  36. 36
    Anthony Bruno
    August 26th, 2008 5:50 am

    These themes are pretty amazing. I cant believe how far WP has actually come.

  37. 37
    gagahput3ra
    August 26th, 2008 6:55 am

    I really recommend Refreshed!!!! I use it in my own blog, and it’s AWESOME!!!!

  38. 38
    Danesh
    August 26th, 2008 8:14 am

    Awesome themes. Thanks

  39. 39
    Sheena
    August 26th, 2008 9:35 am

    These are great…and I have only come across a few of them before! Very cool.

  40. 40
    Make Design, Not War
    August 26th, 2008 10:00 am

    Wow those are hot – it’s amazing what a huge improvement has been made to Wordpress themes just over the last 3 months… it feels like the demand for high quality WP themes is finally being met. I remember having to hunt for templates just 4 months ago for a client project and genuinely having problems finding good starting themes… now, there’s a theme prebuilt for just about any type of blog/site you could ever need; a great little tool for freelancers who don’t want to start from scratch.

    I’m using FreshNews as a base for my design blog, Make Design, Not War, but each of these is a damn good starting place for any creative looking to launch a new blog. Thanks for another helpful list. I wonder if this type of massive template growth will ever translate to ExpressionEngine or similar services.

  41. 41
    MD
    August 26th, 2008 10:40 am

    hey! great post :) thnx

  42. 42
    Angela Quattrano
    August 26th, 2008 2:28 pm

    I tried to install “Twilight” and it’s not widget-ready, doesn’t even have a sidebar template. Beautiful, but hardly useful

  43. 43
    Reşit
    August 26th, 2008 2:43 pm

    Nice… Thanks

  44. 44
    Gabe Diaz
    August 26th, 2008 3:06 pm

    Great list. Makes me question if I should just release the theme I was working on as a freebie or put it up on a site like: ThemeForest.net

    It’s a magazine style theme called ScatterBrain. Feel free to get a peek at the preview and leave some advice.
    gabediaz.com

  45. 45
    bssn
    August 26th, 2008 5:51 pm

    I ever used some of them. Amazing.

  46. 46
    Planet Malaysia
    August 26th, 2008 7:18 pm

    Somehoe I’m still using wordpress default theme.

  47. 47
    Dirk
    August 26th, 2008 9:07 pm

    Nice list. I like those new magazin themes like NewsWeek.

  48. 48
    Robert
    August 27th, 2008 1:41 am

    very nice

  49. 49
    sav.bz
    August 27th, 2008 2:15 am

    Nice… Thanks

  50. 50
    hello
    August 27th, 2008 4:55 am

    yo check http://www.mirsab.nl/

  51. 51
    smear
    August 27th, 2008 7:21 am

    wow…. so many of these are direct rip-offs of existing sites…. it sucks that as a designer your stuff can get blatantly stolen and handed out for free by someone else and you have no recourse…. now i know how musicians feel….

  52. 52
    Libor Fikr
    August 27th, 2008 8:54 am

    And 30 Free High Quality Drupal Themes? :-D

  53. 53
    Curtis Henson
    August 27th, 2008 9:34 am

    Thanks for including my theme Checkmate, didn’t expect to see one of my own on the list. If anyone is interested there is a lot more info at my blog about Checkmate and it’s next release.

  54. 54
    Straderade
    August 27th, 2008 12:45 pm

    WoW – these are beautiful! Thank you so much for taking the time to put together this list. I always enjoy finding list like this that compose lots of cool and related stuff – keep up the great work!

  55. 55
    lee
    August 27th, 2008 4:13 pm

    what happened to dirty girl theme?
    i So wanted that ..

  56. 56
    Roschelle Nelson
    August 28th, 2008 1:11 am

    my blogs are currently listed on blogger. I have changed the templates enough times to know Wordpress themes are so much nicer than most templates offered for blogger based sites. Occasionally you’ll find some wordpress themes that have been converted to blogger friendly ones. This is a real bummer.

  57. 57
    arfandia
    August 28th, 2008 9:05 pm

    i like wordpress.fun
    cool template, thanks

  58. 58
    Danilo
    August 30th, 2008 11:30 am

    WordPress Premium Themes FREE !!

    Look–> http://www.meutema.com.br

    Temas premium de graça pro seu WordPress

  59. 59
    Danilo
    August 30th, 2008 11:31 am

    WordPress Premium Themes FREE !!

    Look–> w ww.meutema.com.br

    Temas premium de graça pro seu WordPress

  60. 60
    Sofhal Jamil
    August 30th, 2008 9:58 pm

    Wow. I think I have to change my blog’s themes. Terima kasih. Salam.

  61. 61
    WP-MagaNews
    August 31st, 2008 7:59 am

    Wow, nice themes !

    WordPress Theme for Magazine & News => WP-MagaNews

  62. 62
    oscar
    August 31st, 2008 10:32 am

    great themes…!!!!

    http://www.epidemicdesign.com.ar

  63. 63
    jd7
    September 2nd, 2008 11:24 am

    Very nice list, thanks for the share.

  64. 64
    Campusvill
    September 3rd, 2008 6:53 am

    This is a very lovely, nice theme for wordpress

    http://www.campusvill.com

  65. 65
    Gebalatomasz.com
    September 4th, 2008 4:51 am

    Thanks for showing my template here ;]
    cheers,
    Tom.

  66. 66
    Wulmin
    September 4th, 2008 2:18 pm

    Your blog is really great..
    Check mine..

    http://www.healthmad.com/Alternative/Eight-Health-Benefits-of-Stinging-Nettle.222373

  67. 67
    Jason
    September 8th, 2008 7:31 am

    Just thought you guys should add this one on the next list. Found it Sunday. its a portfolio theme for Wordpress

    http://wpjunkie.com/2008/09/07/junkfolio-wordpress-theme/

  68. 68
    Tinh
    September 10th, 2008 7:24 pm

    Excellent collection, thanks

  69. 69
    Kudungga
    September 11th, 2008 5:17 am

    Great info and Excellent collection, thanks for share

  70. 70
    party
    September 12th, 2008 9:22 pm

    Awesome..cant say thankyou enough times:-)

  71. 71
    Dudinha
    September 27th, 2008 12:56 pm

    WordPress Themes PREMIUM FREE !!!!

    LOOK >> W W W . M E U T E M A . C O M . B R
    (Write..)

    The best themes.. !!

  72. 72
    wordpressranch
    September 28th, 2008 7:23 am

    nice collection.
    thanks for posting. :)

  73. 73
    program
    October 2nd, 2008 9:05 am

    Thanks you

  74. 74
    Viv Singh
    October 7th, 2008 1:29 pm

    I hope you will add my theme too in your next collection.
    can be seen here: http://prologic.vivsin.com/

  75. 75
    manshurin
    October 19th, 2008 3:57 am

    thanks so much

  76. 76
    Rewolve44
    October 26th, 2008 3:58 pm

    Großartiges Themes für WordPress, einfach schön zum ansehen.
    This themes is fantastic, it’s very great.

    Liebe Grüße,
    best regards,
    Rewolve44

  77. 77
    HowToMakeMyBlog.com
    October 27th, 2008 1:53 pm

    Thanks for this great WordPress theme collection! I have included a link to you at: http://www.howtomakemyblog.com/how-to-set-up-a-blog/choose-your-free-wordpress-blog-theme/

  78. 78
    didi
    October 30th, 2008 2:32 pm

    Look premium Themes FREE !!!

    meutema.com.br/index.php

  79. 79
    unilifemalaysiaboleh
    November 3rd, 2008 3:42 am

    Awesome!!!

  80. 80
    hitesh
    January 22nd, 2009 2:10 am

    All are very nice

  81. 81
    Octavian
    January 28th, 2009 12:26 am

    I modified Guzel to work on my site.

    It looks great – badday. in. ua

  82. 82
    jefferson faudan
    February 4th, 2009 2:37 pm

    i really loved “infinity” among all themes… i guess i have always been a very visual person and am very much attached to colors and combination… the content would matter but still… the more colorful it gets the better it is for me… with my blog i preferred a torn jeans concept… i wish wordpress will have more beautiful themes though and a more drag and drop concept for easy usage…

  83. 83
    Tash
    March 10th, 2009 7:25 am

    Thanks for all the linkies! My tab box is full.

  84. 84
    len
    March 11th, 2009 10:49 pm

    Wow! Nice templates, I love them :D

  85. 85
    Leonardo
    March 13th, 2009 8:20 am

    Are subjects with extremely high quality!
    2 of those already used in some of my blogs

  86. 86
    Vlad
    April 26th, 2009 10:46 am

    Theme #14 is linked to the main storefront and the theme is $75 – not free as far as I can tell

  87. 87
    Eeuwbiri
    May 14th, 2009 6:18 am

    P63KFb comment1 ,

  88. 88
    jumps bond
    May 22nd, 2009 12:24 am

    some of themes are old but still are really good

  89. 89
    An Kim
    June 2nd, 2009 4:34 pm

    wow these themes are bomb!

  90. 90
    Steve Patterson
    June 6th, 2009 8:59 am

    Thanks, I already have a blog on my site, adding a 2nd one for my sisters MS Support Group and found one to use. Thanks.

  91. 91
    Sha
    June 27th, 2009 2:38 am

    i cant see the download link. how can i download these?

  92. 92
    Kevin
    July 6th, 2009 1:49 am

    Nice post! I like most of the themes featured here. ;)

  93. 93
    Rahul Ramesh
    July 20th, 2009 11:07 am

    Amazing collection indeed! Theme No.30 is awesome!

  94. 94
    mehrdad
    August 6th, 2009 12:13 am

    [>> ممنون قشنگن <<]
    Thanks

  95. 95
    Webmaster
    August 18th, 2009 11:50 am

    google is here fantastic .. webmaster is seo is ı love smashing magazine .. thanks ..

  96. 96
    consacepo
    August 23rd, 2009 6:14 am

    Thanks, I already have a blog on my site, adding a 2nd one for my sisters MS Support Group and found one to use. Thanks.

    consacepo

  97. 97
    consacepo
    August 23rd, 2009 6:17 am

    Hey that’s an awesome idea… until now, I’ve been moving functions and pieces of code from one functions.php to another… this is way better. Thanks for the tip!

    Link [http://consacepo.blogspot.com]

  98. 98
    TomTom
    October 31st, 2009 1:36 pm

    Wirklich sehr gute Templates, Thanks

  99. 99
    RadCradt
    December 22nd, 2009 5:07 pm

    Who can helps me to customize 16. Outdoorsy Theme on my flower seeds site?

  100. 100
    f.
    January 30th, 2010 12:11 pm

    i can´t download “portfolio theme”… supposedly is free but said that cost me $ 39 … can you tell me what to do?…thanks!

  101. 101
    mailce
    February 8th, 2010 12:27 pm

    güzel temalar var harika hepsi bayıldım

  1. 00

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