The Best WordPress Themes for Beginners

Thanks to the thousands of free and paid themes in the official WordPress theme repository and other theme-centric websites, it’s never been easier to build a beautiful blog or website.

Since most multipurpose WordPress themes provide common page templates, you can build a stunning website in short order.

Choosing a single theme from the thousands upon thousands available online shouldn’t have to be a challenge, which is why we’ve created this list of the best WordPress themes for beginners in 2023.

Comparison Table

Theme	SEO-Friendly	Page Builder Support
Astra	Yes	Yes
OceanWP	Yes	Yes
Kadence WP	Yes	Yes
Elementor Hello Theme	Yes	Yes
Neve	Yes	Yes
Divi	Yes	Yes
Tusant	Yes	Yes
Hestia	Yes	Yes
Simple	Yes	Yes
Travel Way	Yes	Yes
Foodica	Yes	Yes
Flatsome	Yes	Yes
Blocksy	Yes	Yes

The 13 Best WordPress Themes for Beginners

The themes listed below are among the best WordPress themes for beginners out there.

Each one will make launching your blog, online store, or any type of website a piece of cake.

1. Astra

Astra is a WordPress theme you’ll see topping many “best WordPress themes” lists, and ours isn’t any different.

With over seven million downloads and thousands of five-star reviews (over 5000 at our last count), it’s obvious we aren’t the only ones who think it’s the best WordPress theme overall. Still, what makes this theme our number-one pick?

For one thing, Astra is fast.

The theme’s developers built it with loading speed in mind, making Astra a lightweight theme that loads in less than a second.

Since loading speed is among Google’s many ranking factors, you can also consider Astra to be search engine optimization friendly. And this theme was built with accessibility in mind.

Also, Astra provides customization options for non-tech-savvy bloggers.

You can bend this theme to your will and craft the look and feel of your website without knowing how to code.

And this WordPress theme provides over 180 starter templates, meaning you can easily build a website in any niche.

Finally, Astra boasts the largest library of pre-built websites (over 230).

Key Features at a Glance:

• Ultra-quick half-a-second loading speed means it adheres to SEO standards
• Customizability makes this theme accessible to users with non-tech backgrounds
• 180+ starter templates let you build any type of website imaginable
• Over 230 pre-built websites
• Built with accessibility in mind

Bottom Line

Astra is the safest option for anyone who wants a widely acclaimed theme.

And its starter templates and library of pre-built websites mean you can build websites without a design background.

2. OceanWP

OceanWP is a free WordPress theme that’s customizable and beginner-friendly.

This theme integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce, meaning it’s excellent for building online stores.

For example, you can create a multi-step checkout that helps increase your store’s conversions by making the process distraction-free.

Also, this theme is powered by Freepik and Flat Icon, two well-known sites for sourcing icons, pictures, and other multimedia assets.

The partnership means you can access the two sites’ massive library of assets.

And you can use them without attributing the copyright to the original creators.

OceanWP is one of the most straightforward themes to set up.

The theme’s “one-click template imports option” makes it convenient to import demo templates.

And it has Elementor widgets that’ll make your site’s pages more interesting.

Key Features at a Glance:

• Seamless integration with WooCommerce makes building an online store possible
• Partnership with Freepik and Flat Icon provides access to a massive library of digital assets
• One-click template imports option makes importing demo templates convenient
• Multi-step checkout feature helps facilitate e-commerce site conversions
• Elementor widgets for interesting web pages

Bottom Line

OceanWP has some unique features e-commerce entrepreneurs will find appealing.

And the theme’s Freepik/Flat Icon partnership means you’ll never be short of assets when building your site.

3. Kadence WP

Kadence WP is a fast-loading WordPress theme that’s easy to use and highly customizable.

It’s packed with amazing features like a global color palette that lets you change the colors of your site with a few clicks, custom layouts, and breadcrumbs for easier page navigation.

This theme can build a commercial WordPress site, thanks to plugins that let you include sliders and image galleries on your website.

Also, Kadence WP integrates with different WordPress plugins like bbPress, Elementor, and LearnDash.

Additionally, this theme has dozens of starter templates you can use as a source of inspiration for your eventual site.

You can select templates for e-commerce sellers, influencers, online courses, and more.

And a fully customizable header lets you place elements (logo, navigation links, icons, etc.) wherever you want.

Key Features at a Glance:

• Global color palette lets you set and change your site’s colors from one place
• Compatibility with plugins for sliders and image galleries
• Dozens of starter templates for sites selling online courses, e-commerce products, etc.
• A fully customizable header allows for personalization
• Integrates with popular WordPress plugins (e.g., Elementor and LearnDash)

Bottom Line

Kadence WP is an excellent theme for anyone who wants loads of features that simplify the customization process.

In addition, the theme’s global color palette feature makes it a must-download.

4. Elementor Hello Theme

Hello is a forever-free theme created by the developers of the Elementor website builder.

As such, this WordPress theme works well with Elementor.

Also, it’s lightweight and fast, requiring no more than 6kb of resources and taking a quarter of a second to load.

The above qualities make it one of the most SEO-friendly WordPress themes available.

You can use this multipurpose WordPress theme to build different websites, including portfolio sites, e-commerce sites, landing pages, corporate websites, and more. In addition, this WordPress theme supports right-to-left languages (e.g., Arabic).

And as a responsive WordPress theme, it looks great on mobile, tablet, and desktop orientations.

This theme provides over 100 widgets that make building your WordPress website straightforward.

Out-the-box, the theme features minimal styling that encourages you to customize it to your specifications.

It’s no wonder Hello has over one million active downloads and tons of five-star reviews on WordPress.org.

Key Features at a Glance:

• The use of only 6kb of resources makes it an ultra-lightweight theme
• Excellent theme for building multiple-page templates
• Includes 100+ widgets for a straightforward site-building experience
• Minimal styling encourages customization
• Supports right-to-left languages like Arabic

Bottom Line

Hello is one of the most versatile free WordPress themes available.

The support for right-to-left languages and an ultra-light build make this theme a must-have.

5. Neve

Neve is another versatile WordPress theme.

This super-fast theme is mobile responsive out-the-box and compatible with almost any well-known page builder you can think of. Elementor, Brizy, Divi Builder, Visual Composer—Neve integrates with them all.

The team behind Neve aimed to create a theme that makes “website building accessible for everyone”, and it shows because Neve is easy to use and requires minimal setup.

Thanks to features typical of a drag-and-drop builder, you can put a website together in no time.

For example, the theme’s customization options let you easily change the header and footer.

Also, Neve has a Starter Site library that lets you import ready-made websites quickly and painlessly.

You can choose from over 100 starter sites, with more added to the library monthly.

And you can customize your blog’s layout using layout presets and add effects like typed headlines and flip cards using animations in the theme’s Elementor Booster module.

Key Features at a Glance:

• Minimal setup is required, thanks to the development team’s goal to make the theme accessible to all
• Drag-and-drop makes the theme easy to customize
• Quick imports of ready-made templates, thanks to the theme’s Starter Site library
• Built-in effects like typed headlines and flip cards via the theme’s Elementor Booster module
• Compatible with page builders like Visual Composer, Divi Builder, etc.

Bottom Line

Consider getting Neve if you want a theme that you can set up and customize easily.

Also, it’s an excellent theme for anyone who wants their site to have cool effects.

6. Divi

Divi might be an option worth considering if you’re looking for an elegant WordPress theme that makes website building quick and easy.

The aptly-named Elegant Themes built this website-building platform so web design professionals and newbies alike can create elegant-looking websites easily.

So you can build beautiful sites without any coding knowledge.

Divi emphasizes its drag-and-drop page-building functionality, meaning site-building is as straightforward as moving, adding, or deleting the elements on your potential blog, site, or online store.

And you can choose from over 2000 pre-made layouts if you’d rather not start from scratch.

All layouts are responsive.

Also, Divi is fast. You can attribute this WordPress theme’s swiftness to functionality that keeps bloat to a minimum by automatically removing unused resources.

It has a multi-select feature that allows you to adjust multiple elements on your page at once.

And the theme’s WooCommerce support makes it excellent for building an online store.

Key Features at a Glance:

• Over 2000 pre-made layouts are included to provide an excellent starting point
• Automatic removal of unused resources makes your website load quicker
• Multi-select feature lets you adjust more than one-page element simultaneously
• WooCommerce integration makes it an excellent theme for building online stores
• Elegant design

Bottom Line

Divi is the WordPress theme to get if you’re not confident about your design skills.

The theme’s 2000+ pre-made templates it provides take the trial-and-error out of site design.

7. Tusant

As far as premium WordPress themes go, Tusant is unique.

This WordPress theme is aimed at people who want to build websites where music streaming and video are at their core.

So if you’re a podcaster, band member, vlogger, or other entertainment professional, Tusant may be worth checking out.

You can install it with one click, and it’s responsive from the outset.

Also, it has many features that make it highly customizable, including support for over 900 Google fonts, multiple layouts, and integration with plugins.

We like that you can use Tusant with a translation plugin, as it means your site can cater to non-English speakers.

In addition, it has a podcast audio player that’s compatible with all major browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Edge).

And it’s constantly updated, meaning the theme’s developers support it well.

Key Features at a Glance:

• Easy setup, thanks to the theme’s one-click install feature
• Tailor-made for music on video-oriented content
• Podcast player compatible with every major web browser
• Supports over 900 fonts from Google’s library
• Updated frequently and supported by developers

Bottom Line

Tusant is an excellent theme for aspiring podcasters, musicians, and related entertainers.

Consider using it to set up a site around your podcast or promote your band.

8. Hestia

If you need to build a small site, Hestia is the theme for the job.

This premium WordPress theme can help you build stylish, performant sites.

Thanks to the integration with the Gutenberg page builder (one of many page builders it integrates with), you can put a site together in record time.

Additionally, Hestia makes site building easy with starter sites you can import.

All you’ll need to do to get a site up and running is add your content (pictures, site links, etc.).

And the theme has a built-in slider and video header, which help liven up a website in a way static pictures can’t.

This theme has a fully-customizable homepage, meaning you can reorganize elements, delete them, and so on.

Also, you get advanced blog options like a selection of grid layouts that help to create a masonry effect for posts on the homepage.

Key Features at a Glance:

• Fast website building, thanks to integrations with popular page builders
• Importable starter sites help to shorten design time
• Built-in slider and video headers make site homepages more dynamic
• The fully-customizable homepage lets you exclude and reorganize elements
• Grid layout design helps create interesting blog homepages

Bottom Line

Although Hestia can handle complex sites, this theme excels at helping you build small sites.

Download this WordPress theme if you want to make a one-pager or landing page.

9. Simple

The Simple theme is a masterclass in minimalism, featuring a no-frills presentation that beginners and aspiring bloggers with no design background will appreciate.

This theme includes developer Themify’s theme builder, which allows you to customize it using drag-and-drop functionality.

This is one of the best themes for personal blogs, as design takes a back seat in favor of content.

The developers coded Simple carefully, so it’s optimized for search engines.

And it comes with social icons out of the box, meaning you don’t have to fish around for them when needed.

Also, it has a sticky navigation menu for easier navigation.

Crucially, Simple features a Back to Top.

If you plan to make a content-rich blog with this WordPress theme, you need one of these to help your readers scroll to the top of the page easily.

And the theme’s design enables you to build unique page title headers to differentiate your site’s pages.

Key Features at a Glance:

• The minimalistic design allows for more customizability
• Carefully coded to adhere to SEO best practices
• Social media icons are included for convenience
• Includes a “Back to Top” button that improves site visitor’s experience
• The theme’s design helps you build unique page title headers for page differentiation

Bottom Line

If your WordPress site emphasizes content over design, consider Simple.

This theme’s minimalist presentation makes it suited for people who want to build a personal blog.

10. Travel Way

Travel Way is an excellent theme for anyone building a travel business site.

Think travel agencies, tour operators, and other businesses in the tourism industry.

This theme lets you show booking forms, testimonials, services, and so on.

Being a responsive theme, it looks good when viewed on desktops, tablets, or mobile devices.

You can also use Travel Way if you’re a digital nomad or solo traveler who needs a portfolio site to promote yourself.

Meanwhile, the theme’s WooCommerce integration gives it a unique online booking feature that lets Travelers book travel packages through your site.

And its over nine advanced custom widgets make customizing your site’s homepage straightforward.

Additionally, this theme has social media integration, letting you include social icons where needed and the link to your social media account.

You also get a booking form and live previews when editing since it’s built with the live WordPress theme customizer.

And its built-in blogging section and Gutenberg integration round out this theme’s core features.

Key Features at a Glance:

• Built specifically for operators in the travel industry
• Provides an online booking option, thanks to integration with WooCommerce
• Easy homepage customization, thanks to 9 + widgets
• WordPress customizer functionality means you can view your edits in real time
• The theme’s built-in blog section lets you promote your business with content marketing

Bottom Line

Travel Way is one of the best WordPress multipurpose themes for online entrepreneurs operating in the travel niche. Consider downloading it if that’s you.

11. Foodica

Based on its name alone, you can tell we’re about to discuss a lightweight WordPress theme built with food bloggers in mind.

However, just to be clear, Foodica is perfect for anyone operating in the food niche.

You can use it to build a recipe website, food blog, magazine, and other food-focused websites. 

This responsive, SEO-friendly theme features recipe index templates, six food-related color schemes, and a straightforward installation process that makes it accessible for beginners and experts alike.

Customization is as easy as tweaking the fonts and colors right from the theme’s customizer.

And you can upload your logo with a quick button press.

Handily, Foodica has four built-in banner ad locations, meaning you can easily monetize your website with Google AdSense or another advertising network like Ezoic.

It’s compatible with the official WordPress editor Gutenberg, so you can build your recipe pages fast and easily.

Key Features at a Glance:

• Recipe index templates help you build recipe sites
• Six food-inspired color schemes take the guesswork out of color scheme customization
• One-button press logo input makes personalizing your site a breeze
• Built-in banner ad locations let you monetize your site via advertisements
• Compatibility with Gutenberg for quick page building

Bottom Line

Aspiring food bloggers will appreciate how easy Foodica makes building a food-related website.

Also, consider this theme if you plan to monetize your food blog with ads.

12. Flatsome

Flatsome is one of the best WordPress themes for building commercially-oriented websites.

This multipurpose theme is fast and offers incredible customizability right out of the box.

It features a huge library of templates, page layouts, pre-made mockups, and starter pages, meaning you can quickly build an online store, blog, or any type of website.

In addition, if you prioritize speed, you’ll appreciate this theme’s extensive elements library.

It has built-in elements like video buttons, Google Maps, sliders, galleries, and the like, which speed up the building process.

And this theme supports language translation.

Flatsome has an excellent range of header options.

When you use its drag-and-drop header builder, you can expand your header design options infinitely.

You might also appreciate this theme’s built-in slider, which saves you the energy of looking for a slider plugin to use on your site.

And its support for over 700 Google fonts gives you full typographic control.

Key Features at a Glance:

• A massive template library makes the building process quicker
• Support for multiple languages means you can speak to a wider audience
• Drag-and-drop header builder for unlimited header designs
• Built-in slider negates the need for downloading a separate slider plugin
• Full control over typography, thanks to Google Font integration

Bottom Line

If you need to build a commercial website quickly, consider Flatsome.

This stylish WordPress theme has a huge library of tools for the job.

13. Blocksy

Few WordPress themes sync changes in real-time, and this feature alone makes Blocksy one of the most impressive ones.

During customization, you can see your changes update live, making the creative process flow more freely.

This WordPress theme has other impressive features, like the child theme feature, which lets you edit without worrying about breaking the original theme, and a built-in lazy loading system that search engines will love.

And the theme’s one-click importer means you can import posts, widgets, and more with a button press.

Blocksy makes it easy to build an e-commerce store.

This WordPress theme has built-in translation functionality, so you can cater to non-English speaking audiences.

It works with the most popular page builders (Gutenberg, Elementor, Brizy, etc.).

Key Features at a Glance:

• Live customization updates speed up the design process
• The child theme feature lets you design without worrying about breaking the original
• One-click importer lets you import widgets and posts
• Built-in lazy loading system saves resources, making sites load quicker
• Translation functionality for increased content reach

Bottom Line

Blocksy is an excellent choice, thanks to its live customization updates.

Consider it if speeding up the building process ranks high on your priority list.

Choosing a WordPress Theme: What to Look for

When choosing a WordPress theme, you need to consider the following factors:

Responsiveness

Responsiveness is one of the most important factors you need to consider when choosing a WordPress theme.

When a theme is said to be responsive, it means your WordPress website looks good when viewed on a mobile, tablet, or desktop screen.

An unresponsive WordPress theme can hurt your visitors’ browsing experience, resulting in people bouncing off your site.

Therefore, responsiveness is important from an SEO perspective.

Customizability

If you’re particular about how your site looks, you’ll likely take a hands-on approach to building it.

After all, who else, if not you, can make your vision a reality?

So prioritize a theme you can customize easily.

The theme should let you freely adjust the header, footer, main content area, and other elements on your website’s page.

When you can adjust an element’s height, width, background color, color, border thickness, and so on, without struggle, you know you have a winner.

Lightweight 

Free and premium WordPress themes need to be lightweight, as the theme’s file size determines how quickly it’ll load.

A slow-loading website is a big no-no in SEO, as it’ll increase your site’s bounce rate.

WordPress themes that weigh under 50 kilobytes are your best bet.

They’re lightning-fast, performant, and a fantastic option from an SEO standpoint. Avoid anything heavier.

Page Builder Support

Choosing a WordPress theme compatible with popular page builders is important because it’ll make putting your website together quicker.

Page Builders like Divi Builder, Elementor, and the like feature drag-and-drop functionality that makes building a website accessible to beginners who don’t know how to code.

When combined with a compatible WordPress theme, these drag-and-drop page builders will save you time and money spent on a web developer.

Customer Support

Most good WordPress themes have extensive documentation and concise instructions on how to get them up and running.

Since site design isn’t exceptionally high on the list of SEO ranking factors, you don’t want to spend too much time fiddling with a theme’s functionality.

Also, it’d help if the theme’s developers update it frequently, as that’s a good indicator they care about their product and how effectively it solves users’ problems.

And if you run into any issues, you can be sure the theme’s developers will respond with solutions.

Templates

If you’re not the creative type, you’ll want to prioritize a WordPress theme that provides many templates and custom widgets.

These features cut down the time you’d spend tweaking the theme to look the way you want, allowing you to focus on the most important aspect of your online business: content creation.

Some themes include custom widgets for social media, layouts for different pages (e.g., “About Us”, “Contact Us”, etc.), and other pre-built page designs.

In addition, you can find themes whose design works well with your niche out-the-box.

Additional Features

If you want to build a website that has more than one function (e.g., an e-commerce site with a blog), you’ll need a theme with extra features like multi-step checkout.

Also, the theme will need to integrate with e-commerce plugins like WooCommerce.

In addition, it’d help to consider a theme with image sliders and video headers built-in when building a site intended to wow visitors.

And lazy loading functionality will make a site load quicker.

FAQs

Wrap Up

Whether you’re willing to shell out the dollars for a premium theme or want something free, the best WordPress theme for your site will be lightweight, responsive, customizable, and able to integrate with a drag-and-drop builder.

Also, multipurpose themes are an excellent option if you want a theme you can customize to make any type of website imaginable.

In any event, ensure your chosen theme enjoys adequate developer support and has a generous selection of templates.