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100 Amazing Free Wordpress Themes for 2009
In January last year (2008), we put together a list of 100 Excellent Free Wordpress Themes, over a year has passed and Wordpress development has progressed very fast and gained even more in popularity. We felt it was the right time to put together an updated post and offer our readers the best free themes that Wordpress can offer.
High quality free Wordpress Themes have become harder and harder to find in the past year, with the influx of premium themes, more and more designers and developers are selling themes (and rightly so, they do amazing work). But, that aside, the quality is certainly there, and we are sure you will be impressed with this Wordpress theme compilation for 2009.
Blog & Portfolio Themes
Magazine & Corporate Themes
Photoblog & Gallery Themes
Futurosity Aperio Prototype [Demo]
Minimal & Clean Themes
Smashing Magazine Themes
Something different…
Paul Andrew is a freelance Web designer. He is chief admin for Speckyboy - Design Magazine, a Web design, Web development and graphic design resource blog.
- 155 Comments
- 1
- 2May 18th, 2009 1:12 am
Awesome selection of themes, many good one to pick from, Great job on sourcing them :)
- 3May 18th, 2009 1:28 am
Wow, thank you a zillion ;)
It’s neat to have quality free themes gathered in one article…Good job, once again !
- 4May 18th, 2009 1:28 am
Super collection. Thanks!
- 5May 18th, 2009 1:31 am
Nice List Paul !!
Here’s one more magazine style theme http://www.instantshift.com/2009/01/02/wordpress-christmas-v11-a-free-wordpress-theme/
- 6May 18th, 2009 1:34 am
Simply stunning list!!
Can’t wait to change mine, but I don’t know which one to choose now.. - 7May 18th, 2009 1:46 am
Thanks for that! I’ve been planning to change my blog design for a while now, but could not decide on the design, an this has brought me even more headache… Thanks a lot! It’s exactly what I needed ;-)
- 8May 18th, 2009 1:47 am
Great article! Just for your information, the link to Speckyboy is not correct…
- 9May 18th, 2009 1:56 am
Thanks for that awesome collection!
- 10May 18th, 2009 2:05 am
great list!!!!
- 11May 18th, 2009 2:13 am
Great collection! Thanks! ;)
- 12May 18th, 2009 2:16 am
100 more reasons for SMASHING MAGAZINE.
Great article. - 13
- 14May 18th, 2009 2:30 am
Yay, thanks for being featured! (Linquist)
- 15May 18th, 2009 2:45 am
WoW… Nice One.. !
- 16May 18th, 2009 2:51 am
Great selection, thanks a lot :)
- 17May 18th, 2009 2:51 am
Good selection!
Two themes are the same (Meta-Morphosis)
- 18May 18th, 2009 2:55 am
this is the goods!!!! pure gold. thanks again for all the great design ideas
- 19May 18th, 2009 2:56 am
Colonthree~! :3
Some nice reposts, some nice ones I haven’t seen, but sadly a lot of mediocre… Colourise is still beautiful, though. :’3
- 20May 18th, 2009 3:01 am
Cool list as always, we will get inspiration from them, but I can ask why you do the same for blogger, I mean a list of great blogger templates.
- 21May 18th, 2009 3:02 am
Sweet, Thanks guys! :)
- 22May 18th, 2009 3:06 am
amazing selection ! very nice for inspiration… ;)
- 23May 18th, 2009 3:08 am
Really great !
Quality investment ! - 24May 18th, 2009 3:11 am
Outstanding! 5 star post! thank you so much!
- 25May 18th, 2009 3:16 am
Nice collection. I especially like the City Dreams theme, any theme which features a topless chick has to be good!
- 26May 18th, 2009 3:18 am
An alternative title for this post would have been:
“100 Amazing Free Wordpress Themes for 2009…you’ve probably already seen (here or somewhere else)…in 2009 or earlier!”
;)Although some of them are (still) amazing…
- 27May 18th, 2009 3:18 am
Nice, nice. But why titled “2009″ as it is a long way until the end of the year. As most of these designs were done in 2008, I would better say 2008/2009 or 2008. However, really great article. Keep up the good work.
- 28May 18th, 2009 3:34 am
“Gallery” – my favor
- 29May 18th, 2009 3:40 am
thank you so much… some themes are very amazing
- 30
- 31May 18th, 2009 4:08 am
Nice ;)
More themes ;) - 32May 18th, 2009 4:19 am
WOW
thank so much!
is a great compilation - 33May 18th, 2009 4:20 am
Very nice collection! I always get inspiration by the themes you collect and publish. No question about it, the WOO themes are really the best free themes!
I love the Scarlett theme!
- 34May 18th, 2009 4:25 am
This is crazy! Wow 100s of them. Bookmark for sure!
- 35May 18th, 2009 4:51 am
Thanks so much great work
- 36May 18th, 2009 4:53 am
Thanks a lot for that awesome collection!
- 37May 18th, 2009 5:02 am
Wow! What an awesome collection! Can never have too many!
- 38May 18th, 2009 5:24 am
Fantastic Themes … Thank You for this Collection …
- 39May 18th, 2009 5:28 am
@Tschai: very funny
I’m using Irresistible on a couple of sites right now. It has some nice features but some quirks too.
- 40May 18th, 2009 5:54 am
Was really hoping to see Eventina in this list… oh well… guess I gotta work more :))
- 41May 18th, 2009 5:59 am
Thanks for adding Absynthe and Gallery to the list.
- 42May 18th, 2009 6:24 am
This is fantastic !! Thank you SM! Great work!
- 43May 18th, 2009 6:26 am
great list, good job smashingmagazine :)
- 44May 18th, 2009 6:51 am
What is so amazing about those plain and regular templates ?!
- 45May 18th, 2009 6:52 am
Best freebies post I’ve seen
- 46May 18th, 2009 7:01 am
Paul –
Awesome set of free themes, I have used of couple of these and the quality is excellent, the set up was super simple. I see a few that I am looking forward to incorporating into my online businesses and presence.
Thank you!
James
- 47May 18th, 2009 7:05 am
Magaling is my favourite! :-)
Many of those themes are somehow “over-designed” in my eyes. But I suppose this is more or less a matter of taste! ;-)
Thanks a lot for this smashing overview anyway! :-) - 48May 18th, 2009 7:34 am
Nice collection! Just wished I had something to blog about to use one!
- 49May 18th, 2009 7:40 am
Some great themes there and some nice ideas too. Keep them coming!
- 50May 18th, 2009 7:45 am
bookmarked !!!
- 51May 18th, 2009 7:46 am
I love One Room (the Second in the List) Theme and used it (modified by me) on my Site.
- 52May 18th, 2009 7:47 am
What a f*cking great list! Thank you!
- 53May 18th, 2009 7:53 am
Smashy M., I love you so much.
- 54May 18th, 2009 7:54 am
Thanks for featuring Arras Theme! Though the screenshot for the theme doesn’t give justice it lol.
- 55May 18th, 2009 8:16 am
Thanks wow
- 56May 18th, 2009 8:48 am
Wow! sweet thanks gotta try them all :)
- 57May 18th, 2009 8:56 am
Nice, quite a few I haven’t seen yet. I really like the simplicity of the 5Thirtyone theme. Thanks SM!
- 58May 18th, 2009 9:08 am
All themes are great but I’m still not able to find one for me :(
It seems that number of creative web designers have increased a lot now.
- 59May 18th, 2009 9:26 am
wooow, wonderful theme.
thankyou so much. - 60May 18th, 2009 9:39 am
Dugg ! Nice, infact Aaaasum Post ! :)
- 61May 18th, 2009 9:47 am
hello wordpress addict !
I’m looking for a good plugin for autocomplete search but by title. Do you know one like this ?
- 62May 18th, 2009 10:09 am
I thought I had seen a lot of good WP themes in my day, but you’ve just shown me a whole bunch of cool new ones.
Smashing FTW!
- 63May 18th, 2009 10:24 am
To have all these great (and free) themes in one place is both exciting and inspirational for a WP newbie. I’ll definitely bookmark and refer to often!!
- 64May 18th, 2009 10:26 am
2 of my designs are there! :P
Irresistible and Meta-Morphosis =)Thx to Woothemes and SmashingMagazine!
- 65May 18th, 2009 12:37 pm
Very nice. Wordpress Rocks!
Thank you for the post
- 66May 18th, 2009 1:16 pm
Thanks so much. And some free wordpress and PDS thems I found on this site: http://www.chosenthemes.com/ about 30 free items.
Good luck!
- 67May 18th, 2009 2:39 pm
Very nice collection
- 68May 18th, 2009 3:14 pm
Wow, really great collection.
- 69May 18th, 2009 3:28 pm
I was waiting for this post!!! Thank you SM!
- 70May 18th, 2009 4:55 pm
once more, lovely post
- 71May 18th, 2009 5:17 pm
Great post! Thanks a lot!
- 72May 18th, 2009 6:15 pm
Good stuff, nice to see a lot of ones suitable for portfolios/photo blogs.
- 73May 18th, 2009 6:43 pm
Thanks for putting together this great collection. We use IsoTherm News and have really enjoyed it.
- 74May 18th, 2009 7:28 pm
This is really cool
- 75May 18th, 2009 8:14 pm
I wish you could put nav links for each section of the huge list. Otherwise, terrific.
- 76May 18th, 2009 8:36 pm
Nice themes selection.
- 77May 18th, 2009 9:29 pm
Great selection – several that I would consider, and easy to compare when all in a list – thank you!
- 78May 18th, 2009 10:07 pm
Wow great collection. Thanks!
- 79May 18th, 2009 10:30 pm
Great post! Thanks a lot!
- 80May 18th, 2009 11:41 pm
Sketchy theme had an error in it that did not allow it to be used. I wonder what the general quality of most of these templates is (behind the glossy looks)!
- 81May 18th, 2009 11:46 pm
thx 4 sharing these r great!
- 82May 19th, 2009 12:15 am
Thanks for including my Minimal theme in your list!
- 83May 19th, 2009 12:16 am
I love Manifest! Great work all round though.
- 84May 19th, 2009 12:20 am
I’m pleased that the guys at Woo Themes have featured because not only are their designs great, their support is fantastic and Gazette must be one of the best magazine themes ever.
- 85May 19th, 2009 12:35 am
My portfolio is based on Sharpfolio :) sweet collection!
- 86May 19th, 2009 1:18 am
Nice List..Thanks
- 87May 19th, 2009 2:17 am
Another great list from Smashing Magazine. Every time I need to look for free themes, your site is the first place I go!
- 88May 19th, 2009 4:34 am
Cool selection, good for design inspiration too!
- 89May 19th, 2009 4:37 am
Nice one
- 90May 19th, 2009 4:38 am
Very impressive collections and I like the fact that is hows how much vareity of deisgn you can have using one syste.
- 91May 19th, 2009 6:01 am
Thank you for including 3 of our best WordPress themes in your collection. It’s an honor!
Magaling
Masinop
Matatag - 92May 19th, 2009 6:48 am
Great compilation, thanks for sharing!
- 93May 19th, 2009 8:10 am
Tanks for add my themes :)
- 94May 19th, 2009 8:48 am
Great line-up !
- 95
- 96May 19th, 2009 2:16 pm
Infinity – its really great!
- 97May 19th, 2009 2:43 pm
This is great Thx
- 98May 19th, 2009 4:01 pm
Great list. Thank you!
- 99May 19th, 2009 8:22 pm
Kind of disappointing to see WP SMASHING not in the list. It is after all a Smashing Magazine theme…
- 100May 19th, 2009 8:27 pm
Thanks guys! that was amazing!
- 101May 19th, 2009 8:33 pm
this amazing wordpress theme list
thanks
- 102
- 103May 19th, 2009 10:59 pm
I can see this article topping web hit ranks for a long time to come!
- 104May 20th, 2009 1:13 am
excellent!
- 105May 20th, 2009 3:11 am
good collection but u can check out some more http://slatchdesign.com/blog/2009/05/50-amazing-free-wordpress-themes-of-2009/
- 106May 20th, 2009 6:06 am
Great collection with lots of usable stuff; also inspires the creative side of me.
Thanks for the article.
- 107May 20th, 2009 6:09 am
Thank you, I’m trying out some of them now…
- 108May 20th, 2009 7:41 am
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii…………….!!!!!!
Great themes, and a lot of them….
great post
Thank you - 109May 20th, 2009 8:33 am
A great set of themes, I keep coming back for another and another and……
Thank you!
Jamess
- 110
- 111May 20th, 2009 10:04 pm
for CryBook you added the image from Compositio :)
great list :)
- 112May 20th, 2009 10:28 pm
Cool list.
Thank you very much - 113May 21st, 2009 4:57 pm
Thanks guys, great useful post!
- 114May 21st, 2009 6:39 pm
awesome list
- 115May 23rd, 2009 1:22 am
Thank you for this entry, i’ve chose miniblog themes for my blog ;)
- 116May 23rd, 2009 6:48 am
I’ve been looking for a good wordpress theme for a while… so this is very useful! Some really beautiful designs here. Thank you!
- 117May 24th, 2009 3:50 am
Some great themes, Good source, only downside is no mention of WPMU themes, or at least compatible themes.
- 118May 24th, 2009 5:02 am
Magazeen and Gallery are premium themes, really premium! Amazing they are free 0_o
Cheers from Poland
- 119May 25th, 2009 3:29 am
I have tested Masinop for my blog
- 120May 25th, 2009 10:36 pm
I love it!
All in one place with screenshots! What a great reference.
-Christina Hills
- 121May 26th, 2009 8:55 am
Thanks for this! I just re-launched CreativeXpert using Viewport, and I love it!
- 122May 26th, 2009 9:53 pm
Awesome collection, completely inspiring, thank you so much, I can’t stop studying these!!
- 123May 27th, 2009 2:25 pm
gergous themes
thanks a lot for this collection! - 124May 28th, 2009 7:17 pm
Huge and great collection, complete with screenshot. Thanks for sharing this!
- 125June 1st, 2009 1:20 pm
crazy question….
First day this list was out there was a design with a plaid background. The link was not set correctly and it linked to the designer – not the template in demo. Anyone remember the theme name or designer? (I should have copied both down) Humpf…. - 126June 1st, 2009 11:45 pm
wow!
- 127June 2nd, 2009 5:06 am
Yet another great list, very timely too!
- 128June 2nd, 2009 12:30 pm
Muy muy bien. Difícil decidir
- 129June 3rd, 2009 7:12 am
wOw! superb collection.
- 130June 5th, 2009 5:46 am
Excelente. Gracias.
- 131June 5th, 2009 12:17 pm
thanks for the themes! Really amazing work.
I just installed the “Gamezine”
- 132
- 133June 11th, 2009 10:27 am
Really good! Don’t forget to download the theme called “Cellar Heat”. It’s fantastic, and inspired by my web site actually. ;) Bye from Sweden!
- 134June 12th, 2009 6:03 pm
中国访客到此一观
diumen.cn - 135June 21st, 2009 9:55 am
thanks for the another awesome collection,
- 136
- 137June 28th, 2009 10:02 am
:O woow… amazing.. tnks a lot
- 138
- 139July 12th, 2009 8:19 am
ha ha ,a lot of thems !!
- 140July 20th, 2009 6:28 am
almost of themes had posted ever….
- 141July 21st, 2009 1:20 pm
Great Word press themes list. Thanks for sharing!
- 142July 23rd, 2009 11:32 am
Really awesome list! There are some very premium-isc free temps here!
- 143July 23rd, 2009 10:56 pm
thenx
- 144July 27th, 2009 8:12 am
TYVM!
- 145July 29th, 2009 1:50 am
its amazing themes. thanks for sharing
- 146August 4th, 2009 10:49 am
I’ll be using this more for inspiration to design my own blog rather than using these templates.
Brilliant never-the-less.
- 147August 5th, 2009 8:27 am
City Dreams is a copy of http://www.ringvemedia.com/ -the third link in the theme is a testament to that. It seems all the developer can do is rip other people’s designs: http://digitalmash.com/journal/articles/ripped .
- 148August 18th, 2009 11:12 am
google seo,search engine optimization,google adsense for thanks sharing ..
- 149August 23rd, 2009 11:13 am
Goodness Gracious.
Paul if you can share the process of writing such a post that would help me understand you are able to find the sites and the themes. It must be lots of hours of work.
Thank you for the effort.
- 150September 5th, 2009 11:10 am
I hate huge lists but this one is actually quite good. A few old “favourites” but a couple of new themes that I didn´t know. Respect for the research you put into this.
- 151October 7th, 2009 11:49 am
How are the free themes found for inclusion? I would like to see what people think of the one I created. It is on Wordpress right now. THAT Simple Any comments would be appreciated.
- 152October 10th, 2009 9:10 pm
This is a great collection of Wordpress themes, that I reference often. Thanks Smashing Mag!
- 153November 1st, 2009 9:19 am
i am newbe, for me this is great colletion from wordpress themes
- 154November 1st, 2009 1:09 pm
Wow! I’m really impressed, it’s a very nice collection, thanks :)
- 155November 2nd, 2009 1:29 am
looks like premium templates…
- 00
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Love that “Irresistible” theme. Nice post.