35 best free WordPress blog themes

Whether you want to start your first blog or drive more organic traffic to your company articles, WordPress has you covered. It’s simple to use, scalable, and highly customizable.

In other words, WordPress is suitable for any type of blog.

You just have to choose the right WordPress theme for your blog to get the functionality you need and make the right first impression on your visitors.

In this article, we’ve rounded up the best free WordPress blog themes to help you find the one that suits your style and goals.

35 best WordPress themes for blogs

The following free WordPress blog themes offer the perfect balance of design, functionality, and performance to boost your site’s speed, improve readability, or add a touch of personality.

Note that the themes available on the official WordPress repository have a 4.4/5 or higher rating.

Need inspiration for your blog?

Check out these 55+ blog examples and 50+ blog post ideas to get started.

1. Hostinger Blog Theme

Theme stats

  • Notable features: pre-made styles, AI content generator, stock images
  • Best for: Hostinger customers

If you want a simple and affordable way to start a blog, the Hostinger Blog Theme is a great choice.

Available for free with Managed WordPress Business or any of the Cloud hosting plans, you can install it during onboarding or through WordPress overviewRecommended installations in the hPanel dashboard.

Starting at ₹249.00/month, our hosting solutions offer lightning-fast performance with advanced WordPress acceleration, daily backups, and enhanced security features like automatic malware scanning and DDoS protection.

The theme comes with five ready-to-use styles, each with its own color scheme for site elements like the background and buttons. You can preview each style to see which one best suits your website.

The AI content generator can help you quickly fill pages with unique, SEO-friendly content and even add relevant stock images based on your brand.

2. Astra

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 1,000,000+
  • Notable features: lightweight, various starter sites, developer tools

Astra is one of the best WordPress themes for customization and versatility, fitting any website type, from business sites to personal blogs. It also works seamlessly with popular builder plugins like Divi.

This theme is great for both beginners and developers. Beginners can use its wide variety of starter sites to get set up quickly, while developers can add more functionality using hooks and filters.

The theme focuses on performance, using just 50 KB of resources for faster loading times. If you want a lightweight, flexible theme that’s easy to use, Astra is a solid pick.

3. OceanWP

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 600,000+
  • Notable features: 200+ demos, full-width hero, free extensions

OceanWP is a versatile WordPress theme ideal for blogs, portfolio sites, and online stores. It comes with over 200 pre-made demos and full-width header images, making it perfect for showcasing featured stories on your blog.

You can easily customize OceanWP using the WordPress Customizer, from adjusting the overall layout to tweaking the header padding for different screen sizes. For a better experience, consider adding the Ocean Extra plugin, which enhances the Customizer with a search feature for easier navigation and quicker editing.

OceanWP also integrates well with page builders like Brizy, Thrive Architect, and Divi. It provides a range of free add-ons to enhance your blog’s features. Overall, OceanWP is a great choice if you need extensive customization and flexibility.

Expert Tip

Some WordPress themes, like OceanWP and Astra, offer companion and suggested plugins to import pre-made templates and add customization options. While useful, consider the effect on your website’s performance. In most themes, you can either skip installing the plugins or select which ones you would like to install.

Editor

Leonardus Nugraha

WordPress Content Specialist

4. Hestia

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 100,000+
  • Notable features: retina-ready layout, one-page layout, code-free Material Kit design tools

Hestia is one of the best one-page WordPress themes for bloggers who want a simple setup with detailed customization.

You can get started quickly with Hestia’s pre-made designs and easily customize them using the Material Kit tools – no need to touch any code. This includes features like box-shadows on buttons and cards, adding a modern touch to your blog.

Built with the material design style, Hestia offers a clean, vibrant look and is retina-ready, making your blog look sharp on high-resolution screens.

With its bright design and easy-to-use Material Kit tools, Hestia is perfect for those seeking advanced customization without any coding hassle.

5. Zakra

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 40,000+
  • Notable features: highly customizable, 80+ demo sites, search-engine-optimized

Zakra is a versatile WordPress theme with a responsive design and advanced typography options. It comes with over 80 pre-made demo sites, making it easy to set up your blog quickly. The theme also works seamlessly with the Gutenberg editor.

Zakra offers various header and layout choices and allows you to customize the primary color palette. You can also adjust typography settings like font family and line height, helping you create a blog that matches your style and brand.

As one of the lightest and fastest WordPress themes, Zakra enhances user experience and helps your site rank higher on search engines.

6. Blocksy

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 200,000+
  • Notable features: header and footer builder, ultra-performance, one-click demo importer

Blocksy is a flexible multipurpose theme designed to work seamlessly with Gutenberg and other popular page builders, such as Beaver Builder and Brizy.

It comes with six demo versions, including a blog starter site featuring clean code, a minimalist design, and smart use of white space for better readability. You can easily import posts, widgets, and starter sites with just one click.

A standout feature of Blocksy is its drag-and-drop header and footer builder, which includes nine menu elements and a sticky navigation option. Blocksy is a great choice for blogs with multiple categories that require a highly customizable header and navigation setup.

7. Neve

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 300,000+
  • Notable features: 100+ pre-built websites, drag-and-drop editor, speed-optimized

Neve is a great choice for beginners, especially for eCommerce businesses and corporate blogs. It offers a growing library of ready-to-import websites and works well with Gutenberg and various page builders.

This theme is designed for speed and efficiency. The base theme is only 28 KB, and even with a pre-made homepage of 532 KB, it loads in about 0.7 seconds without any additional optimization.

Neve’s drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to customize your blog, archive pages, headers, and footers. If you want a fast, easy-to-customize blog theme, Neve is an excellent option.

8. Kadence

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 300,000+
  • Notable features: optimized for speed, feature-packed, customization flexibility

Kadence is a versatile multipurpose theme known for its clean and modern design, enhancing readability and usability for WordPress blogs. The free version is fully compatible with Gutenberg, Beaver Builder, and WooCommerce.

It includes starter templates and a Gutenberg design library, both of which you can activate with a single click. The library offers a variety of pre-made block patterns, making it easy to customize layouts using block-based editing while keeping the classic theme feel.

Despite its many features, Kadence remains lightweight, with a pre-made starter site homepage size of just 574 KB. This keeps loading times fast and provides a better user experience.

9. Sydney

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 100,000+
  • Notable features: custom widget, various layouts, page templates, and headers

Sydney is a flexible WordPress theme designed for professionals who want to build a strong online presence.

It comes with various header styles, including a full-width image or slider, and supports custom widgets for showcasing contact details, testimonials, and services.

With plenty of customization options, you can easily adjust colors, fonts, page templates, and layouts to match your brand using the WordPress Customizer.

The free version is compatible with popular plugins like WPForms and WooCommerce, and the theme is responsive and SEO-friendly.

If you need a theme that supports a professional look, Sydney is a great choice for building blogs within business, agency, or photography websites.

10. Garfunkel

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 1,000+
  • Notable features: mobile-friendly and retina-ready design, masonry layout, multiple post formats

Garfunkel is a stylish WordPress theme featuring a masonry layout and a responsive, retina-ready design, making your blog look great on all devices and high-resolution screens.

This free, user-friendly theme is Gutenberg-ready and offers various page templates, such as archives and full-width pages. It supports multiple post formats like quotes and galleries, perfect for blogs with diverse content types.

Garfunkel also includes custom widgets for displaying recent posts and comments with thumbnails and avatars. Additionally, it integrates with Jetpack Infinite Scroll, allowing for seamless continuous scrolling, which you can easily active from the Jetpack settings.

11. Minimalistique

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 1,000+
  • Notable features: speed and search-engine-optimized, flexible customization

Minimalistique is a perfect WordPress theme if you prefer a clean design that emphasizes your content. It’s well-suited for blogs on food, fashion, travel, and lifestyle.

This freemium theme is optimized for speed and SEO, which is crucial for digital marketing success. It offers flexible customization options, allowing you to adjust colors, fonts, and layouts to match your style.

Minimalistique is also compatible with popular page builders like Divi, Beaver Builder, and WPBakery, making it easy to create a unique and engaging blog.

12. ColorMag

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 60,000+
  • Notable seatures: magazine-style layout, one-click demo importer, customization flexibility

ColorMag is a popular WordPress theme featuring a magazine-style layout. It has a library of starter sites with various blog templates and flexible customization options, such as a custom logo and sticky menu.

You can assign different colors to each post category to make your site well-organized and help visitors easily find the content they’re interested in.

ColorMag is ideal for news blogs and online magazines, thanks to its layout and features. It also integrates with WooCommerce, helping you monetize your site with subscriptions or other models.

Want to make money with your blog?

Read our guide on how to make money blogging to discover 12 simple ways.

13. Ashe

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 40,000+
  • Notable features: optimized for search engines, post sliders, promo boxes

Ashe is a lightweight blog theme packed with features and customization options. It supports multi-author sites and includes a full-width header image and an interactive slider for showcasing featured posts.

Ashe is versatile enough to suit various blog niches, such as fashion, travel, food, and photography. It is also translation-ready and supports right-to-left (RTL) languages, making it great for global audiences.

You can feature advertisements or highlight popular posts with the theme’s promo boxes. Ashe is also compatible with WooCommerce, which is useful if you want to sell products or merchandise directly from your blog.

14. Simple Nova

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 3,000+
  • Notable features: minimalist design, post sliders, RTL support

Simple Nova is a clean and minimalist WordPress theme designed to keep the focus on your content. Its clutter-free layout is perfect for personal, lifestyle, and business blogs, as your posts will stand out without any distractions.

The theme comes with flexible layout options and a customizable header, giving you control over your blog’s appearance. It also includes multiple widget areas and a footer widget to help you display additional information or calls to action.

Simple Nova is lightweight and easy to set up, making it an excellent choice for bloggers of all levels looking for a straightforward and stylish theme.

15. Context Blog

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 1,000+
  • Notable features: multiple post formats, featured slider, sticky sidebar

Context Blog is a stylish and user-friendly WordPress theme, ideal for personal, lifestyle, and professional blogs. With its clean design and easy navigation, you can easily create a visually appealing and engaging blog.

The theme supports multiple post formats, enabling you to present content in a variety of ways, such as standard posts, galleries, quotes, and more. It also features a customizable featured slider to highlight your best or latest content at the top of your blog, capturing visitors’ attention immediately.

Additionally, Context Blog includes a sticky sidebar for easy access to important widgets and menus, enhancing the overall user experience. It’s a great choice for bloggers looking for a theme that’s both versatile and straightforward to set up.

16. Zita

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 2,000+
  • Notable features: flexible design, various header and footer styles, Blog and Archives

Zita is a versatile WordPress blog theme suitable for various purposes, including business and eCommerce blogs. It is Gutenberg-friendly and comes with a live theme customizer, making it ideal for beginners.

The theme provides free customizable demo sites and eight different layout options for the blog header and footer, allowing for a quick and easy blog setup. Its Blog and Archives feature offers flexibility to adjust the blog page layout, modify columns, and select the desired elements.

17. SiteOrigin Unwind

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 3,000+
  • Notable features: clean code, CSS editor, posts slider, crisp typography

SiteOrigin Unwind is a free WordPress blog theme that integrates seamlessly with the SiteOrigin Page Builder plugin. It features multiple header and blog layouts, and its built-in post slider and clean typography can create a unique reading experience.

The theme is built with optimized coding practices to ensure faster load times and improved SEO performance.

As it supports Jetpack Portfolio, you can easily create and display portfolio projects, making it a great choice for photography or travel blogs.

18. Mission News

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 3,000+
  • Notable features: newspaper-style layout, widget areas for advertising

Inspired by the New York Times, Mission News has a classic newspaper-style layout with a responsive design. This free WordPress theme is well-suited for content-heavy blogs like magazines and news sites.

Mission News uses a modular scale for font sizing and maintains 75 characters per line for optimal readability. It also provides several blog layouts you can apply across different pages to enhance user experience.

With seven widget areas ideal for ads and compatibility with WooCommerce, Mission News is a great option for blogs looking to integrate an online store or display advertisements.

19. Lemmony

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 1,000+
  • Notable features: optimized for speed, 30+ block patterns, animation library

Lemmony is a lightweight WordPress theme designed with speed in mind. Its unique feature is the built-in hero auto slider block, which adds an animated hero slider. This block is great for showcasing featured posts using images without additional WordPress slider plugins.

This free WordPress blog theme offers multiple block patterns and custom-built blocks, providing you with flexibility and control over your blog’s design. The combination of the Plus Jakarta Sans font face with a geometric sans serif style contributes to its visual appeal.

20. Abisko

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 900+
  • Notable features: bold typography, various theme styles, 30+ block patterns

Abisko is another free WordPress blogging theme with a stylish design, bold typography, and abundant white space.

While designed for photography blogs, the theme suits various blog niches, including travel and fashion.

Abisko offers over 30 block patterns, ranging from hero section to media showcase, enabling you to create visually engaging layouts. This pattern will help you quickly build most website pages, including About, Portfolio, and Testimonial pages.

21. GeneratePress

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 600,000+
  • Notable features: lightweight and fast, over 60 color controls, available in over 25 languages, compatible with WooCommerce

GeneratePress is a popular WordPress blog theme that’s fast and easy to use. It’s small in size, which helps your blog load quickly.

GeneratePress supports multiple languages and offers many customization options, including over 60 color controls and various typography and navigation options.

The theme is compatible with WooCommerce and popular page builders, such as Beaver Builder and Elementor. It also offers responsive design, ensuring your website looks good on all devices.

22. Zino

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 4,000+
  • Notable features: simple design, highly customizable, accessibility-ready

Zino is a lightweight theme that ensures fast loading times and optimal performance for your blog. It offers simple full-site editing, so you have extensive control over the layout and design of your entire blog.

To ensure your blog is inclusive for all readers, Zino supports RTL scripts and is accessibility-ready.

One downside of Zino as a block-based theme is that it doesn’t have built-in patterns. However, if you’re just looking to build a simple blog with great accessibility and performance, Zino is a solid choice.

23. Spacious

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 30,000+
  • Notable features: 16 starter demos, compatibility with page builders, SEO optimized, RTL-ready

Spacious is a free WordPress blog theme for bloggers in any niche. It’s lightweight and built to load blogs quickly, keeping visitors engaged.

The theme gives you 16 different pre-made designs to choose from, making it simple to get your blog up and running.

Spacious supports Gutenberg and popular page builder plugins like Elementor, Brizy, Beaver Builder, and SiteOrigin, allowing for simple customization.

The theme also supports multiple languages, including right-to-left languages.

24. Hueman

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 30,000+
  • Notable features: multiple layout and post format options, responsive design, flexible color controls

Hueman is a free WordPress blog theme offering immense flexibility with multiple customization options.

The blogging theme supports ten WordPress post formats, including quotes, gallery, video, and audio. This is perfect if you want to start a blog with multiple types of content, such as magazines, online journals, or news blogs.

You can also add a widget area to specific pages, posts, or sections and include a full-width header for an advertisement banner.

25. Inspiro

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 70,000+
  • Notable features: fully GDPR-compliant, supports Vimeo, YouTube, and self-hosted videos

Inspiro is a photo and video-focused theme with a modern design, ideal for portfolio and photography blogs. It offers a fullscreen area that supports Vimeo, YouTube, and self-hosted video backgrounds, allowing for impactful visuals.

The theme has multiple page templates to help you quickly create your blog. You can customize it by adding the top slider and adjusting various sections below the fold.

In addition, Inspiro is GDPR-compliant, so you don’t have to worry about data protection and privacy. It’s a great option if you want to start blogging on a portfolio site.

26. Blossom Travel

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 4,000+
  • Notable features: 200+ Google fonts, 20+ custom widgets, translation-ready

Blossom Travel is a free WordPress theme designed primarily for travel bloggers. However, the theme’s elements are highly customizable, so it can also work well for other niches, such as lifestyle, beauty, and fashion.

Using the theme’s customizer, you can easily edit the hero image, upload a video banner, adjust featured images, and highlight blog posts.

It also supports localization in different languages, which is excellent if you want to share your traveling experience across various countries with a global audience.

27. GuCherry Blog

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 3,000+
  • Notable features: live customizer, RTL-ready, extensive widget library

GuCherry Blog boasts a minimalist design with a clean and uncluttered layout. This free WordPress theme is best suited for fashion, beauty, or personal blogs.

The live theme customizer enables real-time modification of your blog. Showcase your blog’s personality by adjusting the page’s background or uploading a custom logo and banner. You can also add widgets, like a map, calendar, and audio player.

This mobile-first theme also ensures a pleasant viewing experience on various devices.

28. Namaha

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 2,000+
  • Notable features: zen-inspired minimalist design, fully responsive, Polylang integration

Namaha has a zen-inspired design that is calm and understated, making it the best theme for blogs in the wellness or spiritual niche.

This blogging theme is simple to set up, making it user-friendly for beginners and experienced website owners. Namaha is also fully responsive, ensuring your website looks great and functions well on different devices.

With Namaha, you can also extend your blog’s functionality using plugins like Polylang, WooCommerce, and WPForms.

29. BlogHash

Theme stats:

  • Downloads: 9,000+
  • Notable features: SEO-friendly, multilingual support, WooCommerce-compatible, responsive design

BlogHash is a free WordPress theme designed for bloggers seeking a lightweight and flexible solution.

It offers extensive customization options for colors, typography, and layout, allowing users to create a unique online presence.

The theme is SEO-friendly, responsive, and compatible with popular plugins like WPML, Gutenberg, Elementor, and WooCommerce.

With support for various post formats and multilingual capabilities, BlogHash caters to a wide range of content creators.

30. Author

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 3,000+
  • Notable features: fast and responsive, accessibility-ready, optimized for readability, versatile

The Author WordPress theme is an excellent option for bloggers looking to captivate their audience. It combines speed, accessibility, and readability to create an engaging user experience.

With full Gutenberg and WooCommerce compatibility, it caters to blogging in various niches and meets most online selling needs.

Author’s minimalist design and its functional approach create a powerful platform for engaging readers and effectively showcasing content.

31. Tracks

Theme stats:

  • Downloads: 3,000+
  • Notable features: minimalist design, dark color scheme, 50+ social media icons

Tracks is a free WordPress blog theme with a responsive, minimalist design and dark color scheme. The design effectively showcases text and images, making it suitable for bloggers in various niches.

The theme is compatible with major WordPress features and plugins, including Gutenberg, WooCommerce, and Elementor.

Tracks also provides a range of customization options, with key features including over 50 social media icons, comment display controls, and versatile layouts.

32. Enwoo

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 8,000+
  • Notable features: modern design, flexible customization, one-click demo import

Enwoo is a fast, modern-looking, multipurpose theme that works great for blogs. Enwoo supports popular page builders like Beaver Builder, which help simplify the blog design and customization process.

This theme’s user-friendly customization interface lets you easily change colors, fonts, layouts, and other design elements. It also has the one-click import feature, which helps you quickly set up your blog in the travel or photography niche.

In addition, you can easily set up an online store on your blog, as Enwoo works well with WooCommerce.

33. Creative Blogger

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 200+
  • Notable features: SEO-friendly, easy social media integration, content calendar, advertising placements

With a name that speaks to every blogger’s heart, Creative Blogger is a versatile theme that supports multiple content styles.

It features customizable templates, built-in SEO functions to improve rankings and seamless social media integration.

The theme offers content management tools like a content calendar and monetization options like advertising placements to support bloggers’ growth and income generation.

34. Martanda

Theme Stats

  • Downloads: 200+
  • Notable features: various demo templates, speed-optimized, translation-ready

Martanda implements a minimalist black-and-white style, offering your blog a visually appealing and elegant look. It’s suitable for various art-focused projects, including photography and design.

The theme provides two different header options: full-width and split. You can also explore the demos to discover its design variations.

Martanda is translation-ready and speed-optimized, ensuring optimal performance for a global audience.

35. Kushak

Theme stats

  • Downloads: 50+
  • Notable features: 25+ customizable widgets, search-engine-optimized, developer tools

Kushak is a free WordPress theme tailored for bloggers and publishers seeking a unique design.

The theme follows best coding practices so your blog can load fast, and it has built-in optimization tools to rank your site higher in search engine results.

Kushak offers over 25 customizable widgets that allow you to add and arrange content easily. These widgets can create unique layouts and effectively present your content.

Factors to consider when choosing free WordPress blog themes

Selecting the right WordPress theme for your blog starts with understanding your needs. Here are some essential characteristics to consider:

  • Responsiveness. More than 60% of website traffic comes from mobile devices. This means having a mobile-friendly website is crucial as it gives visitors an optimal user experience across multiple devices.
  • SEO-friendliness. A great theme can influence your blog’s performance by boosting site speed, enhancing content structure, and improving user experience – all vital factors in search engine rankings. Make sure to install a lightweight and SEO-friendly blog theme that is compatible with multiple browsers.
  • Features. Choosing a feature-packed free blog theme can minimize costs and simplify website management. Consider features such as one-click demo import, pre-made page templates, and compatibility with page builder, marketing, and SEO plugins.
  • Flexible customization options. The best free WordPress blog themes offer extensive customization options. They also enable you to easily modify and add functionality to their demo sites or pre-made templates.
  • Ease of use. Your theme’s front end should be simple to navigate, and its back end should be easy to manage. Therefore, everything from installing and setting up the theme to customizing and configuring the elements should be convenient.

Want to know the easiest way to install a WordPress theme?

Check out our article on how to install WordPress themes to discover five simple methods.

Conclusion

Free WordPress blog themes offer a range of possibilities for bloggers on a budget. Whether aiming for a clean, minimalist look or a bold, eye-catching design, there’s a perfect theme to match your vision.

Our selection of themes caters to a wide range of styles and preferences. Let’s recap some of our top picks.

  • Hostinger Blog Theme. One of the best themes for WordPress blogs due to its ease of use, customization options, and overall value. The theme also features AI tools to help elevate your content creation process.
  • Astra. In the freemium category, Astra offers great value. Aside from being lightweight and having various starter sites, the theme is suitable for beginners and developers alike.
  • Garfunkel. This free WordPress blog theme offers a beautiful design with flexible customization options, making it perfect for beginner and budget-conscious bloggers.

When selecting a WordPress theme for your blog, focus on essential features, ease of use, SEO optimization, and mobile responsiveness. The right theme should enhance your content and help your blog stand out.

Free WordPress blog themes FAQ

What is the best free theme for a WordPress blog?

We highly recommend Hostinger Blog Theme, Astra, and Garfunkel among the best free WordPress blog themes available. All three themes have high-quality code, design, and performance across devices.

How do I choose a WordPress theme for my blog?

When choosing the right theme for your blog, it’s important to look for one that is mobile-friendly, search-engine-optimized, and flexible to match your branding. You also want to ensure the free WordPress theme offers extensive features and is easy to use so you can quickly get your blog running.

Which WordPress blog theme is best for beginners?

Hostinger Blog Theme is one of the great free WordPress blog themes for beginners. Aside from its ease of use and customization options, Hostinger Blog Theme has AI tools to help ease your content creation process. Astra and Garfunkel are also great for beginners as they’re simple and elegant.

Are all WordPress themes suitable for blogs?

No. It is essential to evaluate each theme based on your specific blogging needs, content focus, design preferences, and technical requirements. One tip to identify blogging themes, among others, is to look for the blog tag in the description.

Author
The author

Matleena Salminen

Matleena is a seasoned Content Writer with 5 years of content marketing experience. She has a particular interest in emerging digital marketing trends, website building, and AI. In her free time, Matleena enjoys cups of good coffee, tends to her balcony garden, and studies Japanese. Follow her on LinkedIn

Author
The Co-author

Simon Lim

Simon is a dynamic Content Writer who loves helping people transform their creative ideas into thriving businesses. With extensive marketing experience, he constantly strives to connect the right message with the right audience. In his spare time, Simon enjoys long runs, nurturing his chilli plants, and hiking through forests. Follow him on LinkedIn.