There are many WordPress themes that you can use for your business or websites that you might be creating for your clients. Deciding which ones are the best themes for your businesses needs can be a task in hand. Below I will show you all the best WordPress themes that a lot of the top developers use. Then it’s up to you to decide which WordPress theme you want to invest in.
Best Paid WordPress Themes For Your Business
Headway
Headway is one of my all-time favorites because it’s a nice framework that was created for the DIY WordPress niche. Meaning that you can drag and draw out exactly how you want your website to look. This framework allows you to mimic anything that you might want to do with a website.
There are two elements which are grid mode and design mode, which allow you to make changes without having to have any HTML or coding knowledge whatsoever. The Grid mode allows you to drag and draw your website’s design however you see fit. The design mode allows you to make style changes to your site by clicking on the element you want to change.
I personally use Headway for my business website. I have been using it for over 2 years and love it. The price for this framework is $59/year (personal), $99/year (business), and $199/year for developer. If you’re looking for information on this framework, you can check out my full Headway review.
Genesis
Genesis is the framework I use for tbwhs.com. It is one very lightweight WordPress framework that is created by StudioPress and one of the most trusted names in the WordPress theme niche. This framework is used by over 164,000+ websites.
Newbie webmasters might find making changes to Genesis a little confusing at first, but there are lots of plugins and child themes that you can purchase with your Genesis framework. The support with this framework is amazing, though, and if you’re ever unsure on how to update or customize something on your site, the folks at StuidoPress will guide you through it on their forums. It usually takes them less than 8 hours to help you out.
As mentioned above this framework is used on the very site you’re reading now. I have been using Genesis for over 7 years and really do like them. I do like how the price for the Genesis framework is a one time fee. You can purchase the framework for $59.95. Also, you can purchase any of their child themes for $99.95, or purchase a one-time license for $499.95 for all of them. This is a highly recommended WordPress framework for any webmaster that wants to pay a one-time fee for their website development clients. Great investment!
Elegant Themes
Elegant Themes is another WordPress framework that is a powerhouse with WordPress developers. I have used Elegant Themes for over 6 years and find them to be very dynamic and easy to use for creating websites. They currently have over 307,000 customers that have purchased their WordPress framework. I am proudly one of them! They have one of the best customer support teams that will help you modify any changes and customizations you will need to make on your website.
Currently, Elegant Themes offers 87 different themes for you to choose from. Whenever you sign up with them, you get access to their premium plugins which you can use for opt-ins, drag and drop page builders, social media sharing, responsive designs, shortcodes, etc.
I have used them for years and really love working with websites that use their framework. The price tag for these themes is moderately priced at $69/year (personal), $89/year (business), or $249 for a lifetime access to all their themes and plugins. I personally own the lifetime license, and this small investment has made me lots of money over the years. I would recommend that you start with a yearly plan and then you can always upgrade to a lifetime plan. To read more about what I have to say about Elegant Themes, please check out this article.
iThemes
iThemes.com is a website where you can buy many different WordPress themes. Over the years I have toyed around with their themes and have found them to be quite dynamic. iThemes offers hundreds of unique themes to choose from. They have become very well known from trusted developers over the years. I have talked to their developers many times, and they are outstanding at handling technical issues.
What I really like about iThemes is they are not just a WordPress theme developer site. Instead, you can purchase WordPress training videos, plugins (like Backup Buddy, iThemes Security, LoopBuddy, etc.), and toolkits for your web development needs.
iThemes is really a one stop shop for all your web design needs since they offer such a plethora of WordPress development tools. The prices for their WordPress themes are reasonably priced. You can purchase a single license for $80/year, all 90 of their themes for $150/year, or 80 of their classic themes and 90 of the builder themes for $197/year. I have used many their themes over the years and really like working with them.
Avada
Avada is a WordPress theme that was created by Theme-Fusion.com. Over 160,000 webmasters have used Avada for their WordPress developed websites. Avada is the highest selling theme on Themeforest.net.
I like how Avada is 100% responsive, uses “Fusion Builder” a drag and drop page builder, an admin panel for quickly adjusting the colors of different elements of your website, retina ready, a shortcodes generator, Magamenus, Parallax, sliders, etc. With Avada, you can easily adjust every part of your site with ease.
The price tag for Avada is amongst the lowest I have seen for a premium WordPress theme. It cost $59 for the theme. This comes with 6 months of support from the developers. You can also purchase additional support for a year for $17.20. A lot of webmasters are in love with this WordPress theme.
X The Theme
X The Theme is a WordPress theme that was developed by Theme.co. They are the second highest selling WordPress framework on the Themeforest.net marketplace. X The Theme has become the fastest growing WordPress theme according to the Envato Marketplace.
What I really like about this WordPress framework is it uses Cornerstone (version 4). This is a front end editor that allows you to make changes to your website on the front end. This means you don’t need to have any coding knowledge. X The Theme is mobile-friendly comes with over 600 Google ready fonts, shortcodes, megamenus, fluid designs, 400+ icons, social media integration, etc.
The price tag of X The Theme is pretty cheap for a one-time licensing fee. It cost $64. This comes with 6 months of support from the developers. If you want, you can purchase an extra year worth of developer support for $19.20. This theme is certainly a great theme that is fully customizable.
Thanks for the great information. My only concern would be if I were buying a WP theme, I would not know which one to choose. Are some themes more suitable for a certain business? Affiliate marketing versus your own product lines, or perhaps why each theme has some element which would appeal to a certain type of market. They are all pretty competitive going by your review so it is really a matter of which is most suitable for what I am trying to accomplish with my site. You provide a great starting point for us to research from. Thanks.
This is some great info for premium WordPress themes. One trend that I’ve noticed the past few years is that a lot of websites are starting to employ infinite scroll. Are there any good themes that support that? I’ve found a few that do but the setup and administration always seems a little kludgy to me.
Yes with all of the WordPress plugins mentioned in this article you can easily install some custom CSS inside the theme to get an infinite scroll. The developers can show you the code that is needed for that 🙂
For businesses, I tend to lean towards Genesis, Elegant Themes, and Headway. Headway is better if you don’t know any coding and like DIY frameworks. However, Genesis is a little tougher to make changes, but the support is amazing. With Elegant Themes I really like the $250-lifetime membership. It’s a one-time investment that you can earn your money back by completing one site for a client.
To answer you affiliate website question; I would play around with the themes on this list and see which one you like the best.
Obviously, if you’re on a tight budget you need to make sure there isn’t a yearly fee.
Some of these themes look really cool, but do they offer that much more than the free themes? I use the Cryout Creations themes a lot, and they are fairly customizable. Do you think it is worth it to pay extra for themes like these?
Yes!
I have the twenty twelve theme. I chose it because of its simplicity but elegance. Its easy to navigate for someone like me who is about average knowledge in the tech department. Do you have contact information for Word Press help desk in the event I have a problem I can’t resolve? Thanks.
Free themes are ok if you’re on a really tight budget, but that theme is kind of basic and limited to what you can do with it. It’s always great to invest in a paid theme.
You can contact Twenty Twelve on their forums at https://wordpress.org/support/theme/twentytwelve
I use the Hiero theme since it is fairly easy to use. Maybe in my next site I will use a more advance paid theme and hopefully I will be more computer savvy so I can make it work well. It’s amazing how you can do so many things with themes. Great post.
James
I really like the info here, just a suggestion, maybe create a page on the best free themes, i myself am starting up my online business and am on a tight budget, but very nice website!! im impressed, thanks for all the information, i might have to keep this in mind when i think about buying a theme 🙂
Hi Garen,
I truly do appreciate all the themes you present here. But my question would be what are the advantages of going with a paid theme? I mean, what do you get that you would not get with a free theme? I get that you might get to personalize it more but like Rawl, I use the twelve twelve theme and I am really satisfied with it. I honestly do not know what else I could do with a theme. If I were to pick one out of the ones presented here, I would go with the X The Theme one, as I like the layout.
Thank you for posting all the choices of themes. I prefer to be able to drag and drop my website and set it up exactly how I want it. Which one of these themes do you think it the easiest to make changes too?
The quality of the theme is usually a lot better. Meaning you’re not just relying on something that might not update next week. Support is hit or miss with free themes. Some free themes offer excellent support, but premium ones will show you how to make changes to your site. This could be mean stuff you don’t know much about like HTML, PHP, etc. Really support is more direct, and it’s their duty to help you since you are a paying customer.
Security is also using a lot more secure on paid themes. Updates are done more frequently too. This goes hand and hand with security as well. Hopefully, this help you out 🙂
Hey Jesse,
I like that suggestion. I will be doing that shortly 🙂
Headway is very easy to make changes to.