Is it worth paying for WordPress themes?

WordPress users have it both ways. We can choose from hundreds of free themes or buy thousands of them. When there are so many free themes to choose from, do we have to buy one? Is it worth the money?

There is variety in free themes

I am an avid user of WordPress and have experimented with many themes. There is a misconception among many WordPress users that there are only a couple of free themes available and they are rudimentary at best. This misunderstanding creeps in because WordPress offers only two basic free themes with the installation. However if you go through the WordPress site, you would realize that they offer many excellent free themes.

Why buy if you can get them free?

Is there a case for buying themes when you can get them free? I have deliberated over this issue for a long time. The conclusion I have reached is that there can be situations where you may go for paid themes. Incidentally paid themes don’t cost all that much and most are priced below 100 US Dollars. I have seen professional bloggers, I mean those who are using their blogs to earn an income , opt for paid themes. Moreover, WordPress developers are often asked by clients to install and customize specific WordPress themes. In such circumstances developers have no choice but to buy the themes.

What to look for when purchasing themes?

I am in favor of those who provide a range of themes than being one theme wonders. If you buy from a vendor who has only one theme in his stable, you are stuck with it, whatever may be your end use requirement. You must also look carefully at the license agreement. Many are restricted to single user. Some even bind you to blogs whose domain name registration is linked to license. I wonder why vendors go for such restrictive practices but I would avoid them for sure.

Vendors selling multiple themes

There are many vendors who have upwards of hundred or more themes. Some even sell the entire lot of themes for a small sum. Some include future themes as part of license agreement. I would go for such vendors mainly because once a blogger always a blogger. You may think of launching a new blog or blogs in future and any license agreement which bundles themes can prove to be useful. For example, I have an existing professional photography blog which I might supplement with a holiday and resorts blog. Here a choice of themes would be extremely helpful, each theme built for specific requirement. Thousands of WordPress bloggers have multiple blogs. It’s better to plan in advance and go for a robust vendor who has a bouquet of themes you can use. Even cost wise they are economical in the long run.

Conclusion

I would first try and choose a free theme from a long list made available by WordPress. If you really need and have identified a theme you really can’t do without, you can go ahead and buy. Happy blogging with WordPress.

Victor Solovey  is the owner of crazyxhtml , where they do crazy stuff including ‘psd to html’ and ‘psd to css’ conversion. Victor is passionate about his work and also likes to write.