Best Premium WordPress Themes

The last few years have seen the development of a number of very good versatile premium WordPress themes with an excellent array of design and layout options and features. The healthy competition between these themes ensures that they continue to evolve and improve over time. The only downside is that with so many features packed into the themes, some can be a bit overwhelming to start with.

A few things to consider when looking at themes:

check out the demos for each theme to see if they meet your requirements – many will have a number of demos showcasing what the theme can do
design and layout options, including header, logo and font options.
types of gallery/portfolio/blog layouts available
menu options – side, top, transparent, mega etc
type of page builder included e.g Visual Composer
special effects or features such as animation effects or video backgrounds
inclusion of sliders and other plugins – Revolution slider is probably the best slideshow plugin in my opinion but other sliders such as Layer Slider are very good too.
support for other plugins if important – buddypress, gravity forms, WPML (multiple languages) etc
documentation & support – read reviews
all themes listed are currently compatible with WooCommerce & are currently being updated regularly

Avada is the top selling theme on Theme Forest but I’m not never quite liked it somehow. It’s not included below but in recent updates it has included some nice contemporary features so you may want to check it out.

At the time of writing, these themes will typically set you back about $59-69. So here’s a quick round up.

Theme Forest ratings and sales statistics are as at 1st October 2016

Salient

This is a great intuitive theme, and integrates well with the included Visual Composer, for excellent aesthetics. I’ve used it on several sites and like it very much.

Theme Forest Rating: 4.81 after more than 4000 ratings and over 50,000 sales (created March 2013)

Divi

The flagship theme from Elegant Themes, Divi continues to improve and is becoming a really excellent theme, incorporating the Divi page builder, and an excellent choice of design and layout settings.

Available from Elegant Themes – not available on Theme Forest – and for continued access to updates, you’ll need to pay an annual subscription (created Dec 2013).

The 7

An impressive theme with a great choice of layout designs and styles. A good choice for many sites. Includes Visual Composer.

Theme Forest Rating: 4.81 after more than 400 ratings, and almost 40,000 sales (created Sept 2013)

The X Theme

With great flexibility and design, and a choice of the 100% front end Cornerstone page builder or Visual Composer, the X Theme is excellent.

Theme Forest Rating: 4.73 after more than 5000 ratings, and 120,000 sales (created Nov 2013)

BeTheme

The BeTheme is not afraid to make bold assertions, and why not? With 130+ pre-made layouts, you are not short of options. Includes a choice of Visual composer or Muffin Builder.

Theme Forest Rating: 4.79 after more than 3000 ratings, and 45,000 sales (created May 2014)

Bridge

The best selling new theme of 2014, Bridge has a choice of over 20 layouts for a modern aesthetic design, includes Visual Composer.

Theme Forest Rating: 4.79 after more than 3000 ratings, and 55,000 sales (created April 2014)

Enfold

Another theme with a host of options, and excellent reviews, Enfold features its own intuitive drag and drop page editor, to help build beautiful pages.

Theme Forest Rating: 4.85 after more than 7000 ratings, and almost 100,000 sales (created April 2013)

Jupiter

Another theme with a great choice of well-designed layouts and styling options, which also includes Visual Composer. Includes Edge Slider, which is easier to use but more limited than Revolution Slider

Theme Forest Rating: 4.73 after more than 3000 ratings, and nearly 45,000 sales (created July 2013)

The Fox

The Fox is a modern well rated theme, with plenty of options and Visual Composer included.

Theme Forest Rating: 4.74 after more than 460 ratings, and more than 6500 sales (created May 2015)

Stockholm

With 9,000 sales in a year, Stockholm is proving a popular choice. Describing itself as a ‘multi-concept’ theme, there’s a good choice of design options, and Visual Composer is included.

Theme Forest Rating: 4.76 after more than 800 ratings, and more than 14,500 sales (created Sept 2014)

Uncode

Great creative theme with many layout options for portfolios, blogs and galleries. Includes own tailored version of Visual Composer plus Revolution Slider and layer Slider. A theme I’m likely to recommend in the future for many projects.

Theme Forest Rating: 4.86 after more than 550 ratings, and 11,500 sales (created Nov 2015)

Flatsome

Multi-purpose theme with great features for WooCommerce. Includes the front end UX Builder with built-in slider.

Theme Forest Rating: 4.81 after nearly 2500 ratings, and 55,000 sales (created Sept 2013)

Consulting

2016 theme with clean look aimed at consultancies and business. Visual Composer and Revolution Slider included.

Theme Forest Rating: 4.75 after more than 100 ratings, and 3000 sales (created Feb 2016)

Photography

Very versatile theme for photography and creative websites with its own content builder, Revolution Slider and loads of layout choices. Looks to be leading the way when it comes to photographic and artistic websites