6 Web Hosts with Free WP Themes (Feb. 2024)

So you’re creating a WordPress site and searching for a theme that not only looks nice and functions well, but really resonates with your target audience. Most of us running a website have been at this point as we all want the same thing: a design that packs a punch (in a figurative sense) and achieves the primary goal for your site.

After all, a WordPress theme is the basis for every piece of the frontend design puzzle, from the color palette and typography to page layouts, sizing, and so on. Hence, picking the right one that effectively highlights the type of information you want is important, although the choice may not be easy.

The good news is that there is a range of web hosts with free WP themes for you to give a spin before making an investment. Variety is the spice of life, they say, so we curated a list of hosting providers that offer the most options and deliver a consistent hosting service.

No list of WordPress-friendly hosting is complete without mentioning Bluehost. The reasons for this are many, most stemming from a finely-tuned WordPress-centric experience featuring one-click installations, simple account management, Cloudflare CDN, and more. The fact that Bluehost is one of only three hosting providers recommended by WordPress itself has got to count for something, right?

There are more than 200 free WP themes to choose from, along with various customizations. In the Bluehost Marketplace, you can filter out Bluehost-Certified themes that have been vetted based on specific guidelines like design quality, responsiveness, compatibility, quick load times, and so on. In other words, these themes meet the company’s criteria for support and functionality so you can’t go wrong.

Another great aspect is the level of support you get, from technical to full-service design advice. This is particularly useful for first-time site owners and those who want to try a few different looks but don’t have the know-how to deal with broken themes and all the commotion they cause.

See our full review of Bluehost >>

With more than 200 free templates, InMotion Hosting is one of the web hosts with free WP themes that offers the most just by sheer numbers. It’s a no-hassle affair to implement and edit them, and since the selection covers most niches, you’ll have more than enough choices to find a suitable look for your site. You can also add a WordPress plugin with ease.

The large number of free themes is just a small part of its charm. WordPress comes preinstalled with automatic updates to boot, and there’s a free BoldGrid page builder included with every shared hosting plan that eliminates the need for shortcodes or coding skills. You also get a free domain name with ample features to scale as you see fit.

The WordPress-optimized server stack, free SSDs, and multiple datacenters, together with free data backups are big pluses for performance-focused users or indeed anyone looking for swift WordPress page loads and numerous style possibilities.

See our full review of InMotion >>

Whether you aim to take full control of your server or let a team of experts handle everything for you, Dreamhost has you covered. With a hosting service specifically optimized for WordPress, the company rounds off the trinity of hosting providers officially approved by the world’s most popular content management system.

It’s easy to see why. You get the 100% uptime guarantee included with each WordPress hosting service and reliable and speedy managed WordPress hosting plans that deliver security, auto-updates, and top-notch support. You also get a 97-day money-back guarantee (arguably the longest in the industry) in case you find something is not up to snuff.

When you factor in 200+ themes at your disposal, you’re hard-pressed to pass up what Dreamhost offers. As is the case with SiteGround, themes come with industry-specific text and images. To customize them further, you can use the drag-and-drop website builder that’s been recently retooled to further simplify getting started and makes it easier to edit and manage your site as it grows.

See our full review of Dreamhost >>

There is a lot to like about what Hostinger brings to the table. Let’s start with a one-click installation, fast load times (courtesy of LiteSpeed web servers), and a bunch of freebies that include a website builder and domain. Among notable prime hosting features is the all-in-one server security from BitNinja that contains anti-malware, a web application firewall, and DDoS detection.

The provider is commonly associated with affordable shared hosting plans, and that’s exactly what you get with WordPress hosting too. Pair that with extra optimization features aimed at boosting WP performance and you end up with a package that is hard to beat in terms of price-to-performance ratio.

When it comes to free themes, you have some 130 or so to choose from (including a Hostinger-inspired blog theme), divided into various kinds of business niches. The in-house website builder makes it easy to switch out and give a few test drives before you settle on a particular style.

Hostinger also provides plenty of tutorials on all things themes in case you want to export a theme, delete it, or modify it to your heart’s content.

See our full review of Hostinger >>

A staple at top web hosting companies, GoDaddy offers a whole lot of goodies aimed at all kinds of WordPress users. It makes WordPress hosting easy and offers complete management of your site, built-in 24-hour malware scanning and removal, free SSL, daily backups, and automatically updated WP software.

Thanks to load-balanced servers, the platform is optimized for WordPress, with additional site optimization tools to improve search rankings and site speed available for good measure. More than 200 server locations guarantee your site will be in great hands, ready to load at a moment’s notice and handle traffic spikes if needed.

Moving on, 70+ free themes spread across a dozen categories, see to it that you’ll have enough alternatives to capture your audience’s attention. These come prebuilt, so all you have to do is pick one and let the platform do its magic. Naturally, an easy-to-use interface allows you to perform a few modifications here and there to make the theme truly your own.

See our full review of GoDaddy >>

SiteGround, another provider endorsed by the good people at WordPress, caters to a broad spectrum of users, from newbies to web owners who like to tinker around and delve deeper under the proverbial hood. For the latter, there are custom software solutions, three layers of caching for performance, and pre-installed Git.

The platform is endearingly beginner-friendly thanks to an automated WP installation that makes everything easy, while a special WordPress Starter wizard delivers a fully functional website in mere minutes without the need for previous tech expertise. It’s worth mentioning that all plans come with single-click installations, automatic updates to the WordPress Core, and command line management (WP-CLI), to name a feature or two.

SiteGround offers 40-something free themes for your perusal via the aforementioned WordPress Starter. These come pre-populated with industry-specific sample content, which makes it a bit easier to launch your piece of digital real estate or, at the very least, get a feel for a specific look.

See our full review of SiteGround >>

A WordPress theme is a combination of elements that include website template files, stylesheets, graphics, and code that make up the design of your WordPress site without altering the core software. Besides the aesthetic side, a WP theme also controls certain parts of your site’s functionality. Simply put, a theme takes charge of how colors, typography, page layout, widget placement, occasional plugin, and any other design element and functionality are displayed to your visitors.

Generally speaking, there are three ways you can install a free WordPress theme:

1. Download and install from the official directory or hosting provider
2. Manually upload a theme .ZIP File
3. Install via FTP

We’ve written a detailed breakdown of all three options so be sure to take a look if you need assistance.

Of course, but you should be aware of all the limitations of free hosting. There’s usually some kind of trade-off (it’s free, after all), which usually means contending with ads, low uptime, limited pages and bandwidth, no customer support, and so on.

Free WordPress hosting is fine for students and people who need a test WordPress website or simple sites for basic purposes. In pretty much every other case, shared hosting is a far better and, dare I say, sensible choice as it only costs a few dollars each month (as evidenced in the link above). The competition in the web hosting landscape is huge, which is why even the cheapest hosting plan from virtually any web host has an enticing offer replete with benefits.

See cheap WordPress hosts >>

While it’s hugely beneficial to have options with no strings attached, free themes (like free hosting plans) also come with a few disadvantages.

For starters, the level of support for a free WordPress theme is minimal to non-existent in some cases. This is very important because it’s not uncommon for WordPress to release an update that’s incompatible with certain themes. If the authors of these themes don’t follow suit, especially if they designed paid themes that require more of their attention (it’s a business, after all), the end result is a broken website. Some themes have dedicated community forums that provide guidelines on how to fix the issues, but typically, it’s up to you to implement them whether you have the know-how or not.

Then, there’s the stripped-down functionality. Premium themes generally come with more features and regular support and updates. These are essential for users who require more out of their site, whether in terms of capabilities, finesse, or something else. Free themes tend to have limited customization possibilities, which may result in a generic design and require a page builder or some coding on your behalf to personalize it.

One of the first steps in creating your WordPress site is to select a theme that ticks all the boxes. Free themes generally do the trick, more so if you’re on a tight budget and every dollar counts. You get nice looks, a bit of flair, and decent functionality. In case you need more, the web hosts with free WP themes in this post offer affordable plans that are sure to fill the gaps you may have.

A word of advice: Take your time in researching the winning theme. Read reviews, check the ratings, and if possible, consult with other site owners to verify it’s easy to make changes to the site and that every feature works as advertised. You want a theme that has the general feel you’re looking for and is comfortable to use.

Otherwise, the lack of support will be a major pain in the behind if a theme breaks your site. But hey, that’s what premium themes are for!