If you’ve had to search for a WordPress theme recently, you’ve probably realized how many are available. Thousands of premium themes claim to be the best for your site, but many are relatively unproven. With all those themes vying for your attention, some names will seem more familiar. The best WordPress premium themes typically become popular because they work for many customers and are well-supported, so you can generally be more comfortable laying out cash for them.
This article will look at some of the best premium WordPress themes based on various factors and highlight some of their top features.
Why Choose Premium WordPress Themes?
Before we select the most popular premium themes, let’s address the big question: why choose a premium theme when there are so many free themes available? For many people, a free theme seems sufficient and has the advantage of being free; however, premium themes have some advantages.
Firstly, premium themes are often better quality than free ones because the revenue generated gets funneled back into future iterations. Additionally, premium themes typically come with support, which can help you get the most out of the theme and its features. When you add in the more advanced functionality, higher security standards, and more responsive updates found in premium themes, the advantages are clear.
Once you decide to go with a premium theme, you need to find one. You have two main options to choose from: marketplaces and theme shops. Marketplaces like ThemeForest and Creative Market have a variety of themes for sale, often categorized and with reviews and ratings to help you find the perfect theme. Theme shops like Elegant Themes (hello!) and StudioPress are more focused but usually provide excellent support.
Choosing a premium theme requires more thought than just looking at the price to avoid making a mistake. It would be best to consider the reviews and reputation of the developers or theme shop and the support offered. Ensure the theme provides the features you need but doesn’t lock you in, so you can’t change themes in the future.
We’ve previously written a more in-depth discussion on choosing between free and premium themes.
How We Chose Our List of the Best Premium WordPress Themes
First, there is no standard definition of “popular” when it comes to WordPress themes. A theme can be considered popular based on the number of downloads, installs, or sales (i.e., quantitative) or based on reputation or brand awareness (i.e., qualitative).
Both measures of assessing a theme have their challenges. Using numbers seems like it would be the most objective method, but in many cases, those figures are not available. While marketplaces like ThemeForest do show the number of sales, private theme shops often do not share their figures, making comparisons difficult.
The other route of deciding on the most popular themes based on name recognition, brand awareness, or reputation is not an exact science. You could try to measure search engine queries for theme names, but some bias is still likely to be introduced.
Ultimately, there is a significant element of unavoidable subjectivity in identifying popular themes. We’ve used a combination of available figures, other rankings, and overall reputation to create this list of our picks for the most popular premium themes.
11 Best Premium WordPress Themes
We capped our list at 11 to keep the post manageable, but many other themes could be included on this list, so your picks might be different. Let’s look at our list of the most popular premium themes without further ado!
1. Divi
While we admit to being slightly biased, there isn’t a better premium WordPress theme on the market better than Divi. With the no-code Divi Builder, you can build your pages on the front end, allowing you to see your design changes in real-time. There’s also the powerful Theme Builder, which lets you create gorgeous templates for any aspect of your site, including headers and footers.
If you’re short on time or lack the expertise to build your own layouts, you can choose from more than 2300+ beautifully crafted layouts that are easily imported with one click. Along with these fantastic features, Divi has the best support, the most integrations, built-in ecommerce capabilities with WooCommerce, and so much more.
Pricing: Paid plans start at $89 per year
2. Genesis Pro
The Genesis Framework from StudioPress is a robust theme framework that enables novices and advanced developers to build websites with WordPress. The framework provides a secure, search-engine-optimized platform for severe websites, making it one of the best premium WordPress themes. The variety of child themes (such as the very popular Foodie Pro theme) provides unique starting points for custom sites.
Pricing: $360 per year
3. OptimizePress
While you could use this theme to create general websites, OptimizePress has made a name for itself in high-converting landing pages, sales pages, and membership sites. This makes it one of the best premium WordPress themes for marketers and conversion-conscious website builders. The live page editor lets you view changes immediately, starting from 30 pre-tested templates. You can also get OptimizePress as a plugin, so if you’re interested in another theme, you can still add the OptimizePress magic.
Pricing: Paid plans start at $179 per year
4. Responsive Pro
Built on the popular free Responsive theme, Responsive Pro adds powerful customization features to one of the best free WordPress themes on the WordPress Theme Repository. You can modify colors, typography, and other options using the Theme Customizer. The theme includes in-built support for major plugins such as bbPress and WooCommerce. This simple and flexible theme offers a good starting point without all the complexity of some of the other themes on this list.
Pricing: Paid plans start at $47 per year
5. Avada
Currently the top-selling WordPress theme of all time on ThemeForest, Avada is described as a Swiss army knife of a theme. It includes powerful, easy-to-use tools via its Fusion Core plugin, including a visual page builder, shortcode generator, and mega menus (to name a few). Combine those with advanced theme options, and you can create unique layouts without touching a line of code.
Pricing: $138 per year
6. Flatsome
This list wouldn’t be complete without throwing an eCommerce-specific theme in the mix. Flatsome is the top-selling WooCommerce theme on ThemeForest. The included page builder lets you create any layout for your store’s pages. The theme also includes e-commerce-specific features to make your website stand out, such as multiple product grid styles, sale bubbles, and quick-zoom product images.
Pricing: $118 per year
7. BeTheme
BeTheme, like several of the other themes on this list, includes pre-made layouts for a quick start. But it claims to be the “biggest theme ever,” with over 190 layouts available. You should have no trouble finding a design to start your project, which you can customize using the in-built page builder.
Pricing: $120 per year
8. X and Pro by ThemeCo
X The Theme and Pro are premium sister themes created by Theme Co. The themes rely on the Cornerstone page builder, another creation of Theme Co. The builder is a live page builder which prides itself on being a true “build in browser” experience. The themes have integrations with the top plugins of WordPress including Modern Events Calendar, ACF Pro, and LayerSlider, to name a few. If you are tired of the page builders out there and are looking for a different way to build websites in WordPress, X, and Pro are the best premium WordPress themes for you.
Pricing: $158 per year
9. Bridge
Bridge is a beautiful multipurpose theme and is currently a top seller on ThemeForest. With over two dozen layout concepts and over 100 demos, you can choose a starting point to fit any website project. With full typographic control, including font packs and access to custom CSS, you can create a unique design to meet your needs.
Pricing: $138 per year
10. Enfold
Enfold is another top-selling and highly-rated theme on ThemeForest. The high rating is mainly due to the theme’s focus on user-friendliness. From the drag-and-drop page editor to the outstanding support and step-by-step tutorials, Enfold is easy for those just starting. Features like an integrated form builder and advanced options ready it to provide you with a beautiful site in no time.
Pricing: $118 per year
11. Salient
Salient aims to provide you with the platform to create beautifully responsive designs with their theme. With over 1,000 icons, over 600 fonts, and unlimited color possibilities, your theme will be unique without touching code. A powerful theme options panel and an advanced page builder enable you to modify your site and page layouts further.
Pricing: $120 per year
What are the Best WordPress Premium Themes?
| Themes | Price | Free Version | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Divi | $89/year | ❌ | Visit | |
| Genesis Pro | $360/year | ✔️ | Visit | |
| OptimizePress | $179/year | ❌ | Visit | |
| 4 | Responsive Pro | $59/year | ✔️ | Visit |
| 5 | Avada | $138/year | ❌ | Visit |
| 6 | Flatsome | $118/year | ❌ | Visit |
| 7 | BeTheme | $120/year | ❌ | Visit |
| 8 | Bridge | $138/year | ❌ | Visit |
| 9 | X and Pro | $158/year | ❌ | Visit |
| 10 | Enfold | $118/year | ❌ | Visit |
| 11 | Salient | $120/year | ❌ | Visit |
Divi is one of the best premium themes to work with for the person who wants absolute control over their website. The Theme Builder and customer support provided make it a world-class theme for those new to WordPress and those who have been building websites for a long time. Genesis Pro is for the web designer looking to use full site editing and wants to stay true to the block editor. Genesis Pro allows you to use any page builder you see fit. Or, you can stick with Gutenberg, the new WordPress standard, and build a powerful website without learning a single line of code.
Finally, if you want to build high-converting, powerful landing pages and marketing sites, OptimizePress is your premium theme. Creators, entrepreneurs, and marketing professionals tired of using multiple platforms to do the job will love the tools that OptimizePress provides within their premium theme.
In Conclusion, You Choose the Best Premium WordPress Theme!
When you need to choose a theme for a WordPress website, and you’ve decided on using a premium theme (which we advise!), the most popular ones are often an excellent place to start your selection process. We have provided you with our list of the best premium WordPress themes based on several factors. The list should give you a headstart for your projects this year if you feel overwhelmed by the number of themes.
What has your experience been with the themes featured in our list? Please let us know and subscribe to the comments section below!
The post 11 Best Premium WordPress Themes in 2023 (Reviewed & Compared) appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.