Free vs Paid WordPress Theme

As you already know there are two types of WordPress themes, one is paid (premium) and other one is free. Both are from WordPress community but they possess some differences in their functionality. For some users free themes may be suitable and for some users premium themes may be suitable. It all depends upon their need. A huge number of WordPress themes are available as free but still people go for premium themes. There are multiple reasons why one should go for paid one.

Let's have a look on some of the functions of free as well as premium themes. It will help you in choosing a theme for you.

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Cost

Free themes of course as name suggests are absolutely free. You can use them any time without any money.

For premium you have to pay. Its range starts from $1000 which varies depending upon the designing of theme. It is good when you are earning enough from your site but if you are using your site just as a hobby then it may cost you a lot.

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Quality

If you want your site at a good rank then you need to improve its quality.

Free theme will not make your site unique. Same theme will be used by other sites because it is free for everyone.

To make your site unique go for the premium one. There are some other qualities which need to be fulfilled. Like your site has to be responsive and should support different browsers. Free theme is not guaranteed to provide these qualities.

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Support

In free themes if you need any type of help, you have to search for help and ask on forums. If someone will be willing then you may get your answer but it will take some time.

Premium themes designer offer some support system. You will get timely support from reliable developers. Your problem will be solved very quickly.

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Update

WordPress is constantly updated in every few months, so your themes and plugins need to be compatible with the updated version.

Free themes may not be updated regularly. If you are using a free theme and an updated version comes, then you have two options. Either don't update your site or install a new them. Both the options are not right.

Premium theme developers update it on a regular basis to make it compatible with the new WordPress version. So if you are using a premium theme, then it is the responsibility of company to update it. You don't have to worry about it.

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SEO

SEO plays an important role in the ranking of your website. It is important for your site to have an SEO options and clean code.

In free themes there are many structural bugs and they don't provide inbuilt SEO options.

Premium themes provide better coding which helps to load your site faster.

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Features

Theme developers have to offer latest features for their customers according to the trend.

Free themes provide limited features. Their developers do not update their theme. They are more compatible to the plugins than premium themes.

Premium theme developers provide latest features and much more functionality than free themes. They provide an easy user interface that allows users to make any type of changes in the design of their site.

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Encrypted Links

In free themes there are some unwanted links in the footer area. These links are irrelevant from the content of your website. It seriously affects the SEO of your site.

Free themes developers add some links at the footer of their themes which is very annoying.

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Security

Security should be of a high level in order to prevent your site. wordPress provides a better security by updating it every few months. An out dated theme may cause a lot of security issues.

Free themes generally have high security threat.

On the other hand, premium themes give high security standards to their customers.