If you read our guide on how to blog on WordPress, you know that a great theme is pivotal. It will ensure that content is appealing and organized neatly and that images illustrate the point perfectly. Besides making for a desirable User eXperience (UX), both are crucial for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Further, good themes must be clean, responsive, mobile-friendly, and load fast. Though we said this multiple times in the past, you only have a few seconds to capture visitors’ attention. If those are consumed by page loading, even readers that would be captivated by your content will bail. Thus, let’s dive into the best WordPress themes for blogs.
1. Astra
Lots of bloggers are familiar with Astra, a lightweight but beautiful product and, according to their claims, the fastest-growing among WordPress blogs themes out there. While we have to warn you it’s paid ($59 at the time of publication for 1 license), it justifies the investment. Users can start with a minimalistic design or pick one of the intricate templates. Astra can help you customize every detail: color palettes, typography, blog post appearance, layouts, headers, footers, archived pages, and more. Plus, it was built for SEO. You can expect a neat eye-catching design, inbuilt WooCommerce integration, and to never write a line of code.
2. Elementor Kit Library
It seems like Elementor is out of place as the leading page builder WordPress plugin at the time of publication. However, since you may already have it installed, you should know about Elementor Kit Library, a collection of over 100 templates that fit nearly any niche. Even if they are not an ideal fit, you won’t find a bigger assortment of kits, meaning premade page content, header, and footer, single or multipage blog, one or multi-column homepage, a variety of global settings, and more. Access to templates depends on the subscription to Elementor, many free ones are premium-looking yet fully customizable.
3. OceanWP
You must have heard of OceanWP since it is among the most used free themes on the WordPress repository. It can be modified to fit many niches, including blogging, due to the presence of advanced elements reserved for premium themes. There are multiple layouts to pick front, some with full-width page support, built-in galleries for images, multiple sidebar choices, and top navigation menus. It’s flexible and compatible with nearly all leading page builder plugins, including Elementor. Besides being responsive, it’s lightweight, fast, follows the best SEO practices, and comes with WooCommerce and translation support.
4. Neve
Neve is similar to OceanWP in many ways. It’s equally easy to modify, has WooCommerce storefront ready to go, is responsive, fast, and boasts a clean design. Further, it is compatible with Block/Gutenberg Editor, though it works with Elementor, Divi, SiteOrigin, Beaver Builder, and other page builders. Unsurprisingly, it’s lightweight and optimized according to the top SEO practices, and is ready for RTL (right-to-left) and translation. The primary difference is its default home page is more suitable for businesses, portfolios, or selling or showcasing personal projects, products, or services.
5. Newspaper
Newspaper nearly topped our list of the top news site WordPress themes, but nothing is stopping you from using it for blogs. It has all the right qualities if your site is the multiauthor type that bombards users with content. Visitors will see lots of posts on one page, meaning something will likely catch visitors’ attention. Plus, you can always move blog posts to a separate page and keep a teaser on the main one. Further, you can integrate pages for an online WooCommerce-compatible store, columns, or social media posts aggregation. The fact that over 120K sites purchased the paid version only on ThemeForest.com shows its immense potential and popularity.
6. Hestia
Hestia stands out for being primarily a one-page representative among the most popular WordPress themes for blogs. Its design, an easy setup wizard, and included plugin that lets you add services and testimonials, alongside support for a WooCommerce store, make this a versatile, flexible, responsive, SEO-friendly, and lightning-fast theme superb choice. Plus, it’s compatible with Live Customizer, Block Editor, and a wide array of well-known page builder plugins. Therefore, you can click to edit, drag and drop, and import sections and elements to make it unrecognizable without losing the benefits it brings.
7. Poseidon
Poseidon is an ideal theme for bloggers who must post daily and accompany each post with images. It comes with an inbuilt full-screen carousel and allows a variety of sizes for featured images on the home page. Plus, it features small, crisp, easily readable adjustable fonts, and is free, minimalistic, and optimized for owners that want to make the best of negative space. Therefore, it’s suitable for anything but journal-like, large periodical blog posts. A premium version brings extra features, elements, and professional customer care.
8. Olsen Light
Do you plan to blog about lifestyle, fashion, wellness, fitness, photography, or anything that involves connecting with visitors? If so, Olsen Light is the go-to choice, since it boasts a clean white minimalistic design with thin, crisp fonts, fast loading speed, and an optimized reading experience. The reason we mentioned those niches is the prominence of images. They are a story-telling tool rather than an accessory to text. The theme has a single and two-column homepage (with a large slider), an image carousel, social media elements, and even pre-built unique widgets you can apply immediately.
9. Cenote
Cenote is another clean theme with a focus on images and videos that work to enhance titles and content. Despite looking like it’d be sluggish, it loads quickly, and, like others, supports WooCommerce and importing products and services. Further, it features a demo importer, letting you use nine (at the time of publication) demos, of which three are free. They focus on niches like technology, interior design, charity, and lifestyle, fashion. Finally, it works with renowned page builders and has a premium version for $59.
10. Akea
Akea by GoodLayers is a minimalist representative among the paid WordPress themes for blogs. Its framework is overhauled regularly and is in its third generation at the time of writing. Since the company follows a “less is more” concept, you will only find 14 blog layouts. However, the amount of tweaks you can do is outstanding. You can make it unique by playing with typography, image sizes, adding previews, theme color palette. Adjusting the spacing and modifying the floating bar is also easy, as is adding a header, footer, and unlimited sidebars.