10 Best Free WordPress Themes for Affiliates in 2025: (Expert Pick)

A lot of Eastern philosophy revolves around the fact that with every good thing, there is a bad thing hidden deep within. 

This article is not about that. But it certainly comes in handy.

Many people choose WordPress as their first platform, or they love it so much they are using it for their next project. It may have been a chance, or it may have been through the experience.

One key reason people convert from the first group to the second is their themes. 

WordPress offers a lot of themes. To put a number on that, ThemeForest, one of the famous WordPress theme marketplaces, currently has an impressive 11,000 themes to offer. 

That number shows how much developers have faith in the WP community and how much the WP community is looking forward to new themes.

But this creates a problem and brings us to the start again.

With so many options to choose from, it can get very tiresome to find which theme to choose. In addition to the many themes from ThemeForest, several other top websites offer their unique themes, making it worse.

It can get quickly tiresome to look for the best ones in the crowd. 

We have been there. That is why we have compiled the seven best free WordPress themes that stand out from the crowd to help you out. 

If you are new to WordPress, this list will come in handy. It will give you a rough idea of the best the theme industry has to offer.

On the other hand, if you have been in the game for a long, you should still give it a look to keep up with the best trends.

Before we dive into the post, it is essential to know the criteria for choosing a good theme. You may or may not like any of the themes on the list, but having a criterion always helps you choose the theme for your blog or website. 

What Should Be the Criteria for Choosing a WordPress Theme? 

What is one of the best things about WordPress Themes can quickly turn into one of its nightmares.

WP's themes are very flexible and can be quickly adapted for different purposes, such as building e-commerce, forums, and social networking websites. 

This flexibility brings power to its theme, which in turn brings complexity. There is so much complexity that even if you have been in the game, you will have your head-scratching out how your theme leads to search engine penalties (that happens) and plenty more issues. 

So here are some off-the-thumb rules that can help you choose a good WordPress theme.

#1. Good User Interface

Asking what a good user interface is like, asking who the best cricket or football player is.

Sure, you will get some answers, but they are going to be very contradictory. You won't be able to figure out objectively who's the best in the end. 

It's a subjective question to answer. To counter that, I always use the minimax strategy. Here, you try to minimize your maximum loss.

To do that, you have to understand one thing first. Your theme probably won't be liked by all the people. After all, they have their taste buds catering to different needs. 

You can choose your theme so that even people with different tastes can find it acceptable and usable. Choosing a fancy theme that takes time to load will only make people leave.

If you use the same fancy theme with so many design elements that it becomes hard for an ordinary person to navigate around the website, that can contribute greatly to your users' inability to stay long.

Just make sure that your theme is such that any layperson using it for the first time can easily navigate around the website without any problems.

You might want to have your friends try the demo theme you selected to get an idea of whether they find it user-friendly. 

#2. Ongoing Development

Anything related to design ought to change. For example, the fashion industry thrives on changing trends. And if you are not in tune with the times, you will be left out. 

Similarly, it goes for themes. Major design elements change over time. Sites are more responsive and mobile-friendly now.

If you were to use a theme from 2013 without any development history, you would have to select a new theme and adjust it to your requirements. This would take both your time and energy. 

If you had a theme with a solid development history, the developers would provide constant updates to ensure that your theme was in tune with the times.

Moreover, adding themes can be risky because of security loopholes. Loopholes are discovered periodically; your developer must fix them as soon as possible.

This service is only provided for a theme supported by a good track record of updates and development.

#3. Compatibility: Browser, Plugins, and Page Builders

The theme you choose has to appear consistent across different devices. It should look the same if you are viewing it from Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Chrome.

Usually, theme developers provide information under the listing on whether the theme is multi-browser-supported. But you should also test it to get a hands-on confirmation. 

If your theme is not multi-browser compatible, it can lead to a loss in potential traffic.

Another good thing about WordPress, besides its theme offerings, is its plugin offerings. There are many plugins to choose from. Theme and plugins go hand-in-hand. 

Make sure your theme supports a wide variety of plugins, such as Yeast SEO. Plugins like those fully unlock WordPress's potential.

Lastly, it is a good measure to see whether the theme is compatible with various page builders or not. Usually, almost all the themes are compatible with WordPress's default page builder “Gutenberg.

But Gutenberg is not as powerful as a page builder. There are several other advanced page builders, like Elementor, which gives you more room to customize.

Checking whether it is compatible with such page builders can be helpful, especially if you decide to use it in the future. It would be a hassle-free experience. 

Now that we have our criteria, let's jump right into the list.

Best Free WordPress Themes for Affiliate Marketing in 2025

Here are some of the best themes for affiliate marketing. These are blogging-optimized themes, so you can easily set up a blog, write some quality articles, and start making money with affiliate marketing.

1. GeneratePress

GeneratePress is one of the most popular free themes available. It has some crazy numbers to back that statement: GeneratePress has over 1600+ 5-star reviews.

The reason behind it is that it is very lightweight in design, making your theme load faster than other WordPress websites. It takes so little space that it takes less than 10kb of your page size. 

The developer behind the theme wanted to build a lightweight theme that is both fast and highly customizable. While we talked about how fast it is owing to its lightweight nature, it's impressive that despite that, it offers a lot of customizable options to choose from.

You get lots of color options, custom widgets and widget areas, custom backgrounds, and social icons. As Brownie points out, the theme is responsive and SEO-friendly. 

The theme works amazingly well with the default WordPress block editor and is also compatible with other major builders like Elementor. However, to use it, you have to buy the premium version of the theme.

Other Essential Features: Retina-ready theme, WooCommerce integrated, and WPML ready.

2. Astra

Site owners will tell you how hard it is to make a website fast, especially as the content grows. Equally important, speed is something they can't afford to overlook due to its significant role when it comes to ranking on search engines, especially Google.

However, thanks to Astra, such efforts have been eliminated. Besides simplifying the process of creating a professional site quickly, it guarantees a fast site and the benefits of having such a website make all the difference.

One can't fail to mention how easy it is to customize the site. Therefore, regardless of your niche or nature of business, Astra is a theme worth a shot. You don't need a customized code to tune it to your liking.

Various users use different devices with varying screen sizes, but Astra facilitates a user-friendly experience regardless. Moreover, it is responsive and hence accommodates your visitors conveniently, which is something we highly appreciate.

No one wants to use a frustrating website unless it has something to do with governmental services, most likely but only because of a lack of an alternative. Never forget that when choosing a WordPress theme.

It allows you to configure various aspects, such as global scroll to the top, buttons, containers, colors, and typography. As a result, it saves time and also guarantees a uniform site that is easy to navigate.

If you need an e-commerce site, the Astra theme is compatible with WooCommerce without any alteration. You don't have to be a pro to customize it, either.

The free plan is definitely enough, but rest assured that the paid one is much better with extra features and add-ons.

3. OceanWP

More than 400,000 websites have used the free version of this WordPress theme so far, which speaks volumes about OceanWP. One of the main reasons for such a massive adoption is its wide compatibility with page builders and plug-ins.

That doesn't mean it is insufficient on its own. You can customize the theme extensively without using a page builder. If you need diversity, you can also customize each page and post individually.

It is also fast, which improves your site's performance, boosting engagement and ranking in the long run. You don't need to worry about responsiveness either, as its display is perfect irrespective of the device being used.

It is easy to use regardless of whether you are an expert or a beginner. You only need a short period to set it up, even when not using a page builder.

Its compatibility with WooCommerce makes it ideal for an e-commerce site. Furthermore, since it was developed considering the best SEO practices, off-page SEO optimization isn't a bother at all.

It also allows you to translate your website content from its original to other languages, which is how you can easily increase your fan base worldwide.

If you get stuck, customer support will help you out immediately. Depending on your budget, you can choose between free and premium plans.

4. Kadence

It is intriguing to realize that all other themes except Kadence haven't implemented one crucial feature: a globally linked color palette. This feature is one of the reasons why this theme is quite popular.

It is not slow either, and the fact that its capacity is 50 KB only, its JavaScript files, and the use of inline SVG icons make it light. If a theme guarantees fast loading time, at least you have one less thing to worry about.

The theme is also compatible with various page builders and plug-ins, including SEO plug-ins. Its code is also SEO-friendly for off-page SEO optimization.

It is responsive and excellent for use across devices. Its starter templates get you started fast, saving you the time you would need to get started. It is also easy to customize, even for a beginner.

Its compatibility with WooCommerce makes it suitable for anyone planning to start an e-commerce site. Equally important, it has a header and footer builder.

Other features include scrolling to the top and bottom, footer widgets, sidebar widgets, and built-in social links. It also easily integrates with various LMS plug-ins, including Tutor LMS, LifterLMS, and LearnDash.

You get to choose between free and pro versions. Free is good, but the pro version is also worth every penny.

5. Rishi Theme

Rishi Theme is a core vital optimized theme with lightning-fast speed and performance. It has several built-in features that are beneficial to affiliate marketers, including Sticky Promo.

Rishi Theme integrates with popular plugins like AffiliateX to create engaging affiliate blogs using different components such as a Product Comparison Table, Pros and Cons, Notice, Call to Action, Specification, Button, and more.

Sticky Promo allows you to promote ads or affiliate products on your website, resulting in a significant increase in click-through rates (CTR). Similarly, adding affiliate disclosure improves website trust and honesty among consumers so they can make informed decisions before clicking those buttons.

Rishi Theme has 85+ pre-designed starter templates that can be imported with a single click. The templates are highly customizable and easy to use so that you will love them in action.

It is fully compatible with Elementor Page Builder and Gutenberg Block Editor.  With its intuitive drag-and-drop header and footer builder, you can easily customize your website’s look and feel in no time.

Rishi Theme offers tons of color options and advanced typography options. In addition, you can choose from multiple layout options to create a unique website that suits your needs.

Rishi Theme comes in both free and pro versions, so you can try it out before deciding to purchase.

6. BlogWay

As the name suggests, this theme is made for bloggers. The thing about blogging websites is that a lot of owners complain about the theme.

The theme must match their expectations. Customizing it to display your personality is essential for brand building. 

To help people with that, they have made the theme highly customizable. It is minimalist in design, focusing more on the content and giving users more options to change its look according to their needs.

For example, you have unlimited options to change the website's color scheme. The theme is built such that there's a focus on the author, and readers find it easy to navigate.

It comes with a clean author widget with links to all of your social media profiles. You can highlight your philosophy and vision and your blog. 

The theme offers your readers the option of threaded comments on all of your pages and posts. This encourages conversation among your readers and helps build a community around your blog.

Other important theme features are a full-width layout, options to use left and right sidebars, and pagination options for better navigation.

WooCommerce is also integrated. It can be convenient if you want to sell products straight from your blog. 

BlogWay has a pro version available. It offers you additional customizable options such as on places like site footer and layout options. 

7. Writee

A great theme does not need to have lots of features. It should be one that quickly draws attention to the content and makes users stay on the website for a long time. Writee is an excellent example of such a website.

It is minimalist in design, with proper white space and a black top bar, making the website look clean and professional. Writee also comes with a built-in image slider so that you can use the theme for both content-focused and image-focused with ease. 

Let us discuss the image slider for a second here. The image slider is included in the free version of the theme, but many themes package it under their pro version.

But with this image slider, you can select the number of slides, whether you want it to display posts from a specific category or recent posts, and choose a fluid or non-fluid layout.

That's not it when it comes to customization. You can select background images and colors, select primary theme color, and easily upload favicon and logo image files. You can even select any Google web font and adjust its letter spacing, line height, etc. 

If you feel lost when customizing your theme, the developers also provide extensive documentation to help you.

8. Hestia

Hestia is a modern WordPress theme for professionals. It is suitable for creative businesses, small businesses (restaurants, wedding planners, sports/medical shops), startups, corporate businesses, online agencies and firms, portfolios, eCommerce (WooCommerce), and freelancers. 

Multi-purpose designs for portfolios and blogs make this theme one of my favorite themes.

9. Placid

Placid is a highly crafted WordPress theme for Blogs and magazines. It is simple, easy to use, modern, creative, and user-friendly.

In addition, Placid is responsive, cross-browser compatible, and child theme-ready. It comes with added custom widgets for social and author, sticky sidebar options, footer widget, sidebar options, meta option, copyright option, search option, etc.

10. Neve

Neve is an AMP-compatible theme. This Fast and lightweight theme is a perfect choice for bloggers who are just starting their careers and searching for a professional-looking theme.

Easy customization settings make this theme perfect even when you don't know how to do the customization.

Conclusion: Best Free WordPress Themes 2025

Choosing a theme can be challenging. There are many options to consider, which can quickly become confusing. Sometimes, it even leads to choice paralysis, where you cannot figure out what to do.

One way to avoid it is to define your website first. Know your audience and what you want to do with traffic (like drive affiliate sales).

Once you know that, you can look for several top authority websites in your niche, which theme they are using, and how they make use of content.

This can help you figure out what themes usually work and what you should go for.

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