16 Best Simple WordPress Themes: Both Free and Paid

Nowadays, once you get your hands on some quality WordPress themes, creating a website is not an uphill task anymore ⛰️. In fact, it can be as easy as downloading ready-made starter designs that come with many of the best themes, and then replacing the demo content with your own. Going further, you can choose to keep the theme simple or customize it endlessly, turning features on/off and selecting from a multitude of options in the theme options panel.

These simple WordPress themes can either be minimalist or pack in a whole lot of features. While choosing a theme for your website, it helps greatly to be clear about the features you need. This will help you narrow down the list. What’s important is that your theme should allow you to share information effectively and make it look good on your site.

Blocksy

If you’re a WordPress beginner and feel intimidated at the thought of building your own simple website, then Blocksy’s tagline will speak to your soul: “Build your next web project visually in minutes, without coding skills.” Blocksy doesn’t only make you feel at ease, but also offers plenty of features for both beginners and seasoned WordPress users to get excited about. Check them out below.

Features:

• Built to work with popular WordPress page builders like Elementor, Brizy, and BeaverBuilder
• Hyper-intuitive options to customize and change every part of your website in real-time
• Ability to manage and access color and background options where and when you need them
• Freedom to change the typography in each part of your website – globally or locally
• Five types of modern and clean archive layouts for your blog posts
• SEO ready right from the first line of code
• Modern page hero/title sections with parallax effects and more
• Related posts section to reduce the bounce rate by displaying more recommended content

Neve

If Neve isn’t your favorite WordPress theme, then you probably just haven’t used it yet. There aren’t many who have and who consequently haven’t fallen in love with it. That’s not hyperbole, it’s speaking factually – just check the 94% rating from WordPress.org for validation. With its mobile-first approach and user-friendly functionality, Neve is sure to make your simple website shine.

Features:

• Lighting fast (can load in less than one second)
• Simple to set up and easy to use
• Seamlessly integrates with all popular page builders
• Extremely lightweight (Google will love you)
• Customizable header and footer
• Quality code and full support
• Reliable updates
• Over 100 ready-to-import starter sites

Genesis

The word genesis signifies the beginning, birth, or creation of something. It’s a fitting name for a tool that you may end up using to build your new simple site. Notice the choice of words: tool, not theme. That’s because that’s what Genesis is and isn’t. It was created to augment the family of themes made by StudioPress. One of its unique features is that it was built on top of WordPress’ own native site builder, which is in contrast to what you’ll typically see with external WordPress site builders. Get into it.

Features:

• Get started with 20+ pre-made page layouts or make your own to share with others
• Modify the layouts with a few clicks to delete blocks you don’t want, and add ones you do want
• Additional content blocks were intentionally built on top of the block editor to future-proof the code
• Custom layout option allows you to have a full-width page or a slimmer page with a sidebar
• Control how many columns you want to use to display your content
• Very easy to have either list view or grid view, with no coding required
• Mailchimp integration so you can stay connected with your email list
• Role-based editing permissions ensure that each user has the specific control that he or she needs
• Share your custom library of templates and easily ensure that they stay on-brand
• Arguably the most accessible support program with 24/7 chat assistance
• Transferability option so you can use Genesis and the StudioPress themes on any site you host
• Embed your Google Maps location if you want foot traffic for your local business

Pricing:

• $360 per year, which includes access to all themes from the StudioPress family and a 60-day money back guarantee
• alternatively, you can get the same catalog of all StudioPress themes (and Genesis) included for free if you decide to host your website with WP Engine – the pricing of that starts from $20.00 / month.

Jadro

Jadro is our first official foray into the world of theme development. While we’ve been writing about and reviewing WordPress themes for years now, we left the development side of things to our flagship brand (Themeisle). That is until now. We’re confident that you’ll be able to build an impressive simple website using Jadro. Its capabilities are on par with some of the finest WordPress block themes on the market and its minimalist feel will allow you to easily mold it according to your needs. Learn more below:

Features:

• Lightning-fast loading time (only fractions of a second in speed tests)
• Comprehensive collection of pre-designed patterns and layouts to speed up your site building process
• Library of pre-installed Google fonts, advanced options for font family, size, appearance, etc., for your entire website
• Sleek, modern color choices that are easily adjusted to match your branding for a unique and professional website look
• Fully compatible with FSE (full site editing) so that very element of your simple website can be customized how you want
• Fully responsive so your website will look great on any size device
• Translation ready with RTL language support as well, so you can target audiences in whichever language(s) you’d like
• Supports threaded comments to allow for interactive and structured discussions among your site visitors

Astra

“Ad astra” is a Latin phrase meaning “to the stars,” and with the type of numbers this WordPress theme has put up on the board, “to the stars” is fitting. With over a million active installations on the internet, it’s no wonder that the official Astra page braggadociously bills itself as the most popular theme of all time. If you want your simple website to reach the moon, Astra might be just the theme to get you there.

Features:

• Lightweight theme with excellent performance based on test results
• Pixel perfect website demos available in the Astra library to reduce web design time
• WordPress Customizer so you can customize your simple site without relying on code
• Seamless integration with Elementor, BeaverBuilder, Yoast, LearnDash, and other popular tools
• Ability to turn off the page title and sidebar to create full-width pages with design freedom
• Several header layout options built-in (Pro version has even more)
• Full control over width, content and even the meta of blog posts & archive pages
• Brand continuity through global color and font settings to maintain a consistent look

Poe

Even if your parents didn’t name you Edgar Allen, you will surely appreciate the Poe theme for its clean design, full site editing options, and incredibly fast loading time. In a nod to its namesake, Poe’s default appearance is a stylish white on black color scheme with yellow accents and clean sans-serif typography. However, Poe is designed to be flexible, so you’re not obligated to keep that look when building your simple site. Adjust it to suit your needs accordingly.

Features:

• Includes ten different theme styles to choose from
• Uses the site editor, which allows you to change the header, footer, and all other parts of the theme
• Supports global styles so you can customize the colors, typography and spacing on your site
• Has ten pre-built color schemes that you can pick from in the global styles panel
• Contains over 30 block patterns to get you started – including multiple header and footer designs
• Uses only 13K of CSS and no JavaScript at all (translation: it loads very, very quickly)
• Offers a “sticky post” option to enable you to keep your most important post at the top of your blog
• Comes “translation-ready” so you can load it up in the language of your choice

Tove

Tove is a fun and colorful block theme built entirely around the concept of full site editing. Full site editing (or FSE for short), is a collection of WordPress features that focuses on using blocks to style all parts of a website, not only the content. Thanks to the layout features offered by FSE, you can use the Tove theme to create your simple website exactly how you want it. Learn more below and get into it.

Features:

• Jumpstart your simple site with over 40 pre-built block patterns
• Access six different header designs and seven different footer designs
• Keep visitors from waiting for your site to load because Tove is only a smidgen over 200 kilobytes
• Modify the structure of your blog archive and blog posts easily
• Change the colors in the theme, adjust spacing, and tweak the typography with just a few clicks
• Add a sticky post to the top of your blog to highlight what you want visitors to see
• Translate the theme into whatever language you’d like
• Customize the menu and upload your logo

Hestia

What happens when high performance takes a great user experience out to lunch and they fall in love? Hestia happens. This stylish one page theme is sure to make your simple website stand out in a crowded, competitive space. Not only will the search engines and your visitors be fans, but you’ll also feel right at home when using it. Take a peek at all the wonderful features below.

Features:

• Slick material design to impress site visitors
• Seamless integration with the block editor and all popular page builders
• WooCommerce online store capability
• SEO-ready structure, plus a clean and optimized source code
• Live customizer (see changes in real-time as you make them)
• Ultra-fast loading times
• One-click updates and fast support
• Powerful, responsive, and user-friendly mega menu (arrange and organize submenu content)

Sydney

With thousands of active installations across the internet, there’s a reason that WordPress lovers continue to put their faith in Sydney. Actually, there isn’t a reason, there are many. Sydney offers a plethora of customizations, including full control over layout and color schemes, logo uploads, sticky menus and lots more. If that’s not enough, you can import one of their templates to get your simple website up-and-running in no time.

Features:

• Stunning design options (control the color, text, buttons, etc)
• Multiple menu choices (static, sticky, inline, centered, transparent)
• 18 professionally designed starter sites (three are included in the free version)
• 11 footer widget layouts with editable footer credits
• Full WooCommerce integration
• Optimized for Core Web Vitals
• Compatible with the most popular language translation plugins
• Recommended by and fully integrated with the Elementor site builder

OnePress

If you’re planning on launching a one-page simple website, you really need that one page to demand your visitor’s attention. OnePress was designed with you in mind. It’s simple and straightforward, yet within its simplicity, you’ll find a theme that’s highly functional, SEO-optimized, and with an aesthetic design. There’s no need to look at one more theme, OnePress is the one for you.

Features:

• Responsive design that adapts to several devices and screen sizes
• Parallax backgrounds so visitors can enjoy your aesthetic content in parallax scrolling sections
• Built-in customizer so you can quickly change aspects of the design
• HTML5 and CSS3 compliant coding
• Optimized for speed because loading time matters
• Tested for browser compatibility for a consistent visitor experience
• Paid version includes one year of free updates and priority customer support
• Option to translate the theme into the language of your choice

Inspiro Lite

If you want to inspire your simple site visitors with a theme that’s light on weight, but heavy on features, then Inspiro Lite is your choice. It’s a photo and video-focused WordPress theme with a modern design that is sure to please a crowd. The Lite version comes with plenty, but for those looking for even more, there are two upgrade options that unlock additional inspiration. Check out the Lite version features below.

Features:

• Compatible with popular page builders such as Elementor and Beaver Builder
• Works with WooCommerce so if you want to sell on your simple site, then you can do so
• Includes a fullscreen area that supports Vimeo, YouTube and self-hosted video backgrounds
• Easy to manage, with a drag-and-drop interface so you don’t need to know any code
• Fully customizable using the Theme Customizer
• Accepts CSS snippets to give you even more control over the design
• Option to add WP Rocket or JetPack plugins to increase speed
• Add social icons widget or Instagram widget to convert your site visitors into followers

Hello

The simple greeting “hello” can often be the start of a great conversation. It’s no surprise then, that a theme named Hello can be the start of a great simple website. Its “blank canvas” concept will let you build your website exactly the way you want it using the Elementor page builder. Keep in mind, though, that this theme is meant mainly for Elementor users. If you’re not a fan of the page builder, you might want to check out other themes on this list. Say hello to some of its features below.

Features:

• Designed by the good people at Elementor, so it works quite well with this popular page builder
• Using Elementor’s Theme Builder, create custom headers, footers, page layouts, and more
• Colors, typographies, and logo are under your control
• Kickstart your simple site with designer-made templates, from page blocks to entire websites
• Customize specific aspects of your site by device, because Hello is responsive by default
• Works seamlessly with popular WordPress plugins
• Built with lean, non-intrusive code and has zero unnecessary styling
• RTL supported and written in clean code, so you get to shape and expand Hello if you so choose

Lavander Lite

If you’re sniffing out a clean and polished WordPress theme with a minimalistic feel, then Lavander Lite might be exactly the scent you’re looking for. Its overall design follows the latest industry trends, making it a great choice if you plan to give your simple site visitors a smooth content consumption experience. Check out the features below.

Features:

• Retina ready and fully responsive so your site will look amazing on any size device
• Six pre-built demos that you can install with one simple click of your mouse or trackpad
• Social media icon links to turn your site visitors into devoted followers
• Three different post formats (standard, gallery, video) to give variety to your content
• Various double and triple column presentation options to display your text or images
• Clean, stylish typography that transports you back into the world of print magazines
• Search bar so visitors can find exactly what they want on your simple site
• Google Maps embedding option if you have a physical location and want local visitors

Zigcy Lite

Zigcy Lite is a WooCommerce focused theme built to create attention-grabbing online stores. It offers the full range of WooCommerce features so you can create your simple store in the most customizable way possible. It also contains three stunning pre-built demos that you can import with just one click. Along with being fully SEO optimized, the theme is also fast loading and translation ready. Get into the features below.

Features:

• Fully compatible with Elementor page builder
• Built using Customizer so you can preview in real-time as you build your simple store
• All home page components are configurable to your liking
• Deep WooCommerce integration to leverage the full power of WooCommerce to your advantage
• Import a demo you like in just one click and start adding your own products to your store
• Product and content search options to allow customers and visitors to find what they want
• A beautiful CTA (call-to-action) section that features the description of the latest product
• Four layout options for both pages and posts – no sidebar, right sidebar, left sidebar, both sidebars

Cenote

The word cenote is derived from a Yucatec Maya word and refers to any location with accessible groundwater. The same way that access to water is necessary for life, access to a fast, customizable, and user-friendly theme is necessary to build a successful simple site. The Maya trust cenotes to provide what they need, and with all of the powerful features that this theme offers, you can trust Cenote to meet your needs as well. Take a sip from the offerings below.

Features:

• Compatible with all major browsers for a consistent visitor experience
• Optimized for both speed and SEO
• Choose the width and layout of your page with a sidebar on the left or right, or no sidebar at all
• Multiple widgets included, with the option to add custom widgets
• Over five ready-to-use starter sites to get your simple site up and running
• WooCommerce integration with additional features to help you create a well managed store
• Works with many popular page builders so you can create a layout to your liking
• Add your social media links to convert your visitors into followers

Storefront

If you’re craving blueberries, you don’t go to the market and buy bananas. You buy blueberries. By the same token, if you’re looking to build a WooCommerce-based storefront, why would you not install the Storefront? It only makes sense. This theme is specifically designed to work with WooCommerce so that you can build a successful simple store faster than you can eat a carton of blueberries.

Features:

• Designed and developed by WooCommerce Core developers
• Integrates with many of the most popular customer facing WooCommerce extensions
• Offers several layout and color options to personalize your shop
• Contains multiple widget areas
• Comes with a responsive design so that your simple store will shine in any format
• Features a lean and extensible codebase (don’t hold back your developer drool)
• Hundreds of thousands of active installations across the internet
• Hyper-focused homepage layout with ecommerce as the backbone