The free vs premium battle is not a new issue in the WordPress theme industry. One question that comes to the mind of many people who are just getting started with WordPress is that, if there are free themes that can work perfectly, why would anyone pay for premium themes? We will try to answer this question is this article by giving you the pros of premium themes.
Free themes can be used for start-up periods or during the learning phase. But eventually free themes probably shouldn’t fall into your long-term strategy. Free themes are rarely updated, poorly coded and lack support. Not all but some free themes have security issues, loopholes and vulnerabilities that can cause serious damage. Most themes are simple and common and lack the extra functionality to be used for bigger projects.
Obviously, there are tons of customers willing to buy premium theme creating the marketplace for premium themes. Now let’s take a look at some of the good things you can get using a premium theme.
1. Support System
All the premium themes offer support of some kind which can be through the forum, email or phone. Premium themes also have a very good documentation to help its users easily customize and use their theme. The dedicated support is even more necessary if you don’t know how to fix general issues that will show up time and again on your website.
2. Regular updates
Premium themes constantly keep improving themselves with regular update and maintenance. The updates will include small fixes to big security issues. The premium theme will protect you from all the problems that can arise due to the outdated theme.
3. More Features and Customization Options
Due to rising competition, theme shops are trying to offer more things at lower prices. Premium themes will give you more features and customization options. They support all the advanced functionality and plugins to create mega projects. Extra admin panel for easy configuration, drag and drop builders, multiple layouts and templates, unlimited colour choices etc are some of the things that you will rarely find in a free theme.
4. Great Design
Premium themes offer multiple template and layouts to choose from. Their design is catchy, pixel perfect and strongly coded. Even the backend admin pages/menus will have the appealing look. If your website is good looking it can generate more traffic, lower the bounce rate and increase conversion rate.
5. Quality
Any reputed premium WordPress theme will offer much superior quality than their free counterparts. The premium themes will be responsive, unique and compatible with current web standards.
6. Secure with Fewer Vulnerabilities
Premium theme shops pay high attention in making their theme secure. Authors spend their high time, resources and money in filling the security loopholes. A premium theme has to pass through tight security checks before they appear in the theme market. 90% of the premium themes do not pass the review or approval process upon submission. So any premium theme appearing in the reputed theme market will have high-security standards.
Where to Find Premium Themes
The following are the 3 biggest marketplaces for premium WordPress themes:
- Theme Forest
- Ink Themes
- Creative Market
Also, another source of great themes are WordPress Theme clubs that offer a large collection of premium themes for a one time purchase:
Conclusion
Free and premium theme both have their own advantages and disadvantages. Choosing any theme depends on your website’s needs and the website owner’s budget. If you are thinking of doing some serious business through your website then it is a no-brainer to invest in a premium theme. Even if you have started your website with free WordPress theme, sooner or later the need to upgrade to premium will arise.
