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Why You Should Use a Premium WordPress Theme
In this post I’ll be covering why you should use a premium WordPress theme over a free one. Now, before diving in, I want to say that we know hosting isn’t affordable for everyone. If you’re trying to save money on hosting and a domain name the best cheap option out there is Hostinger. If you’re on a budget a free theme might be the way to go at first, but in the future a premium theme is the way to go. Let’s get into exactly why now!
The Problem With Most Free Themes
There are several big problems with most free themes that you should be aware of. The key word here if you’re on a budget is most. There are some free themes that are still worth using up until you can afford a premium theme. If you’re serious about your website, a premium theme is a must.
Support
The first problem is support. Many times free WordPress themes from the repository are created by independent developers. These are often hobbyist or people learning how to create themes for the first time. I’m not saying that they all lack support, but obviously an independent developer providing support isn’t going to be as good as an agency that can provide a support team for their users.
Poor Code
Another aspect related to independent developers creating themes is poor code. Again, not all themes will be created poorly, but there is a drastic difference between an average developer and Tom Usborne, the creator of GeneratePress for example. Poor code can cause issues with your entire website and ruin user experiences if part of your website breaks.
Security
Often times there are more security issues related to poor code and lack of updates from independent developers as well. This is vitally important because if the theme that you built your entire website on is out of date it can be hacked more easily. Luckily, you can view when the themes were last updated within the repository.
Features and Functionality
With a free theme you’re generally not going to get all the bells and whistles that you’ll get with a premium one. This is pretty obvious, but something you shouldn’t overlook. Only a couple free themes like Astra or OceanWP for example come with a lot of features and functionality out of the box. However, even those themes come with significantly more powerful features within their premium versions.
Recap of Benefits of Premium Themes
Premium themes on the other hand offer much better overall features. For example, support for premium themes is generally much better. Additionally, they come with more features and functionality as well. Something they also feature is ongoing development and improvement over time. Many times free themes are just left to die, and never get updated within the repository. This is generally not an issue with premium themes, which often improve what they offer over time. Lastly, I should mention that these regular updates help with the security of the theme overall.
My Final Thoughts
I wanted to leave you with some final thoughts about why you should use a premium WordPress theme if you’re not sold yet.
However, I first want to note again that it’s worth using a free theme to get started and you’re on a budget. In particular, I think it’s a good idea to start with a freemium theme. This is generally a theme that is regularly updated and maintained by a real company, but includes a free version and a premium version. This allows you to get more familiar with the theme itself and it allows you to save some money in the meantime. These companies have a lot more incentive than an average independent developer to maintain their free theme as well as their premium one.
A premium theme is just worth it at the end of the day. Not having to worry about whether the theme will have major issues alone makes it worth it in my opinion. Additionally, if you put money up front into a theme you can get ongoing updates for years at no additional costs in some cases. This is what I’ve done with the Divi theme, and it has been absolutely amazing as I’ve been able to create hundreds of websites with this theme over the years. The amount of value I’ve received combined with how much the theme has earned me is unbelievable.
I hope you found this post to be helpful. Feel free to let me know if you agree or disagree with me in the comments below. Also, if you’d like to read more posts about my thoughts you can check that section of the site out as well!