Among many content management systems, WordPress has indisputable dominance. Despite its simplicity and user-friendliness, WordPress is able to produce amazing websites. Themes are among the most appealing aspects of WordPress and they allow us to obtain usable features and beautiful design with literally a few clicks. Among the most common issues related to WordPress themes is whether we choose premium or free themes. It is often argued that why we should use premium themes if there are tens of thousands of good WordPress themes our there. There advantages of using free WordPress themes is quite clear. They are obviously free and we don’t have any financial obligations for using them. There’s zero investment and if we decide that we don’t like it anymore, we can always switch to a different theme.
There is a huge library for free WordPress themes and it is available directly through WordPress.com. There are so many choices available that we can get easily overwhelmed by the wealth of selection. We often a problem of choosing between multiple beautiful-looking WordPress themes. However, despite their appeals, there are also disadvantages related to the use of free WordPress themes. It becomes apparent quickly that we have limited instruction on how to modify the theme. Also, not all free theme designers allow people to change their themes. Even if we can get open source free WordPress themes, we would need to be a coding and design expert to make more than minor changes. Also, once we choose a free WordPress theme, we can’t expect regular updates. Some free WordPress themes are updated, but not as often as the paid ones.
We should also know that there’s limited or practically no help available. Downloading, installing and configuring free WordPress themes are usually quite straightforward. However, there are a number of details that may not be mentioned in help files. This can be a significant once we have fully committed with a free theme. We may face an issue that we can’t easily solve. If we contact the developer, he may not be willing to provide direct support for something that he provides for free. So, we shouldn’t set high expectation if we plan to use free WordPress themes. Another common issue with free themes is that quality varies. We could easily find high quality free themes, but they may not be appropriate for the main topics of our website. We could be forced to use low quality free themes, because they visually more compatible with our products and services.
The development team may not have an actual quality control team to ensure good quality. There could also be a number of features that are missing from free WordPress themes. Often, it is mandatory to leave the name and email address of the developer. In some cases, the footer is encrypted to prevent users from removing details. There are also reports that some free WordPress themes contain questionable codes that may be intended to gain entry to the server. Most free themes are intended only for personal purposes and they are often inappropriate for professional uses, except for specific small businesses. For many companies, it is better for them to choose premium themes that can provide them with various reliability improvements.