21 Best WordPress Blog Themes 2020

Whether your topic is food, travel, the latest fashion, – it’s never been easier to get your own digital presence up and running. Using WordPress, an affordable hosting provider like Bluehost, and an awesome theme (like the ones we are about to present) you could have a blog up and running in a matter of days, at under $100.

However, a blog can also be a powerful business tool. Google loves content and the highest-ranking sites are mostly those that frequently post new high-quality content. Similarly, if you run an e-commerce website, a blog can be a great way to funnel business to your online store.

To ensure that we only curate the best WordPress blog themes, we rate themes according to the following metrics:

• Page load speed
• Ease of use
• Attractiveness of design
• Mobile responsiveness, and
• Extensiveness of functionality

If you want to know why we think these factors are important, check out our article on how to choose a WordPress theme.

The metrics allow us to rate themes with consistency and to give you the best recommendations.

Without further ado, let’s jump into the top 21 WordPress Blog themes to help craft your online presence.

The 21 Best WordPress blog themes

1. Squaretype WordPress Theme
2. Soledad WordPress Theme
3. Ultra WordPress Theme
4. Monstroid2 WordPress Theme
5. Typer WordPress Theme
6. Relive WordPress Theme
7. The Essence WordPress Theme
8. TheBlogger WordPress Theme
9. Malina WordPress Theme
10. Divi WordPress Theme
11. The Voux WordPress Theme
12. It’s a Wrap WordPress Theme
13. BuzzBlog WordPress Theme
14. Once WordPress Theme
15. Olsen WordPress Theme
16. Foodica WordPress Theme
17. Writing WordPress Theme
18. MyBlog WordPress Theme
19. Brixton WordPress Theme
20. Rosemary WordPress Theme
21. Paperbag WordPress Theme

Top 3 WordPress blog theme reviews

Measuring the page load speed, ease of use, attractiveness of design, mobile responsiveness, and extensiveness of functionality, we have ranked the top 20 best WordPress blog themes. Below are the themes that made the top 3.

Squaretype is a blogging tour-de-force. It comes with 9 full website demos, called “concepts”, each of which are extremely good-looking, functional, and easily adjustable. While some come with niche demo content for technology, travel, etcetera, they can still be repurposed for any related type of blog.

Squaretype makes use of a number of innovative elements and layouts to suggest related content to readers. It’s also a very practical theme with highly legible fonts and a very organized structure, like the exceptional mega menu.

Squaretype also provides highly customizable header elements which is great as this is the main graphical element of your entire site. The same goes for backgrounds and sidebars, not to mention all the custom widgets and content blocks. Squaretype’s performance and mobile responsiveness is equally impressive. There’s no question that it should be at the top of this list.

Summary statistics

• Speed: 8
• Ease of use: 9
• Design: 9
• Mobile experience: 9
• Functionality: 9

Soledad comes with a massive collection of nearly 200 full blog demos, many of which are specifically meant for blogs. While there’s obviously a ton of variety and a lot of layout options, Soledad’s travel, magazine, and solo entrepreneur themes are arguably its strongpoint.

You can find nearly any type of navigation menu or header style as well as light and dark versions of some templates. Soledad also comes packed with the WP Bakery page builder, Revolution Slider, and Pencidesigner plugins so that you have all the tools you need to build out your blog. The themes also feel alive with plenty of hover states and animations. The only complaint is the default text sizes are quite small.

Although Soledad translates superbly to smaller screens, the performance isn’t as impressive with average scores.

Summary statistics

• Speed: 7
• Ease of use: 8
• Design: 9
• Mobile experience: 10
• Functionality: 10

Themify’s flagship, multi-purpose WordPress theme, Ultra comes with just about everything you could need. For one, there are over 30 full demo websites as well as over 60 individual page layouts. Nearly all its demos come with predesigned blogs while the rest could easily accommodate it.

You can find a demo website for nearly any personal or business blog. The designs also vary dramatically in their overall look and feel. Ultra’s page builder is also incredibly powerful and easy to use. Ultra is one of the best themes in terms of allowing you to customize your headers, footers, and other parts of your pages.

Despite how fully-loaded with features it is, Ultra still has great page loading speeds, particularly on mobile while the mobile responsiveness doesn’t leave anything to complain about.

Summary statistics

• Speed: 9
• Ease of use: 8
• Design: 8
• Mobile experience: 8
• Functionality: 10

Additional business WordPress theme reviews

Below are the WordPress business themes that made the top 21, but missed out on our top 3 spots.

Monstroid2 also gets top marks for keeping their templates engaging and unique. It’s definitely not a case of quantity over quality. With Elementor as well as a number of Elementor plugins, like JetBlog, included for free, you’ll also have a great time building your website.

That being said, the default post designs can be a bit bland, although the fonts are super legible. Monstroid has also clearly been optimized, scoring well above average when it comes to page loading times and mobile browsing.

Summary statistics

• Speed: 6
• Ease of use: 7
• Design: 9
• Mobile experience: 9
• Functionality: 10

Typer is a self-styled all-in-one publishing platform. In line with that, it comes with a number of demos for sites to publish stories (like Scribd), tutorials, or articles like Medium or Dev.to. Some of these demos are quite unique and can be hard to find elsewhere.

Most designs focus on putting as much content in front of the user as possible. While this does mean pages can be very busy, it still feels organized. The designs themselves are also unique and memorable with highly legible fonts. Typer even comes with user pages to allow profiles on your site.

The Stax header builder and a number of custom Gutenberg editor elements also ship with the theme. This gives seasoned and new website owners a variety of ways to build out their blogs. Outstanding desktop loading speeds and average mobile loading speeds top off this theme.

Summary statistics

• Speed: 8
• Ease of use: 7
• Design: 9
• Mobile experience: 9
• Functionality: 10

TeslaThemes are known for their gorgeous designs, but Relive takes it to the next level. It’s not easy to pull off stacking images without borders, but this theme gets it right. Visually, it’s the most memorable theme on this list. However, it may take some careful consideration to get the look right with your own images and look and feel.

The layout variations are very limited with only a fullwidth and sidebar option for both categories and pages. However, you probably wouldn’t want to deviate too much from the original design anyway.

Although it’s intended purpose is for a travel blog, it could just as easily double as a photography blog with a few gallery or image plugins. It’s also clear a lot of work has gone into polishing this theme with a great mobile experience and top-3 performance.

Summary statistics

• Speed: 10
• Ease of use: 9
• Design: 10
• Mobile experience: 9
• Functionality: 5

The Essence is an unmistakably feminine theme tailor-made for a personal or small business blog in the women’s beauty, fashion, or lifestyle niches. Although it’s a single theme, there are just under 20 home and category page layout variations. It’s one of the more colorful themes, using toned-down pinks and greens to add some cheerfulness.

The demo content is exceptionally niche-appropriate but still generic enough to be used if you can’t source all of your own. Unfortunately, it doesn’t come with a shop which would’ve been nice for beauty products. However, the theme does highlight social sharing.

It’s also a blazingly fast theme with one of the top three-page loading speeds. Similarly, the mobile experience is well-thought-out and authentic.

Summary statistics

• Speed: 9
• Ease of use: 9
• Design: 9
• Mobile experience: 10
• Functionality: 5

In TheBlogger’s creators’ own words, it’s a shape-shifting WordPress theme. With a regularly expanded library of over 15 full demo websites, it’s getting there. TheBlogger’s demo relies on a minimalist and neat design with modern, sans serif fonts, easy-on-the-eyes demo content, and restrained use of color.

Despite this, the designs aren’t boring but do feel relaxing to scroll through. What really makes TheBlogger a shape-shifter is its massive number of post layouts. Most of the templates feel like they cater to individuals, but some can be used for a small agency.

There aren’t too many extra features, but TheBlogger is all about creating an easy to use experience for website owner and visitors alike. It also means TheBlogger is an exceptionally lightweight theme with solid page loading times. The mobile experience is nearly faultless.

Summary statistics

• Speed: 7
• Ease of use: 10
• Design: 9
• Mobile experience: 10
• Functionality: 6

Malina comes with 13 beautifully designed and balanced demo websites. Although it’s mostly focussed on men’s or women’s fashion and lifestyle, there are even architecture, travel, recipe, or juice bar templates. The visuals are soft and pleasing with neat layouts and just enough hover states and movement to make things feel alive.

Malina also comes with around 8 different header and menu options as well as a few custom widgets, post layouts, and predefined footers. On top of this, it’s generally just a very easy theme to customize and repurpose for your needs.

Malina also transforms itself to work perfectly on tablet or mobile screens. Unfortunately, the performance needs some extra work with just below average page loading speeds.

Performance is a bit of a two-way street with a solid desktop but below average mobile speeds.

Summary statistics

• Speed: 7
• Ease of use: 10
• Design: 9
• Mobile experience: 10
• Functionality: 6

Divi is one of the most popular multipurpose WordPress themes. It features a massive collection of over 100 full website demos – all of which can accommodate a blog. Nearly all niches are accounted for from juice shop to handyman to life coaching, but digital agencies are Divi’s focus.

Divi ships with nearly every feature and element you can think of. However, the star feature is the Divi page builder which is extremely powerful while remaining fun and easy to use. If we had to highlight something negative, it’s that Divi’s designs aren’t the most memorable although they are modern, attractive, and easy to use. However, this will make them easier to customize for your needs.

Because of all it’s features, Divi’s page loading times are just above average. However, the mobile responsiveness is solid.

Summary statistics

• Speed: 7
• Ease of use: 9
• Design: 7
• Mobile experience: 8
• Functionality: 10

The Voux features 17 elegant full blog demo websites. Although most templates have a fashion magazine-type feel there is still a decent amount of variation when it comes to the fonts, demo content, and overall look and feel.

The Voux comes with 9 header styles (including a mega menu), various footer styles, 10+ widgets in different styles, and all Google Webfonts to ease the website design process. There are also a large collection of sliders, carousels, and grid layouts.

Fashion designers with merchandise will have a great built-in store and the post layouts even includes recipes or “shop-the-look” layouts.

If you’re new to WordPress, you’ll be happy to hear about the free 1-year subscription to SideKick which provides WordPress and The Voux tutorials to help you get started. The mobile responsiveness is top-notch and we like the swiping mobile header. It also can’t be faulted in terms of page loading times.

Summary statistics

• Speed: 7
• Ease of use: 9
• Design: 8
• Mobile experience: 10
• Functionality: 7

As the name suggests, It’s a Wrap is the perfect theme for videographers, film critics, or any type of blogging in this niche. The fullwidth design gives this theme a widescreen, cinematic feel that’s backed up by its striking demo content. It uses big images in horizontal and vertical orientation to resemble movie posters.

Because it’s focussed on video, it doesn’t come with as many post layouts. However, there are a number of category layouts as well as a submit your video page which we think is pretty handy.

This theme is very image-dependant, so make sure you have gorgeous ones ready to paginate your site. It’s a Wrap’s mobile responsiveness and page load times are decent while the desktop performance is excellent.

Summary statistics

• Speed: 7
• Ease of use: 9
• Design: 10
• Mobile experience: 8
• Functionality: 7

With over 15 full demo websites, BuzzBlog is one of the best themes in terms of finding the right starting design for your blog. However, almost all the demos cater to those in the fashion or lifestyle industries with a single food and travel demo thrown into the mix. The themes have a similarly classy and sophisticated feel, perfect for luxury those in the luxury niche.

Most of the templates also feel designed to function as an effective sales funnel for your online store, which is a big part of BuzzBlog’s draw. With a mega menu and tons of page layouts and features, it’s one of the most extensive themes on this list.

To round it off, BuzzBlog features solid, above-average page performance as well as some of the best mobile browsing.

Summary statistics

• Speed: 7
• Ease of use: 9
• Design: 7
• Mobile experience: 8
• Functionality: 8

The Creators’ own description of Once as an “clean and elegant” WordPress blog theme is right on point. It comes with 6 full website demos that all feel light as a feather with minimal designs and pastel colors. While they have a similar look and feel, each design has something that makes it slightly different.

Once uses a smart mix of fonts breaks up and organizes the content nicely and are legible while still contributing stylistically. Once also comes with unique sliders, video thumbnails, and other design elements, although it could do with some animations and hover states.

Despite its apparent simplicity, it still features a decent number of layout options and a shop. Both in terms of mobile responsiveness and page loading times, Once is also an above-average choice.

Summary statistics

• Speed: 8
• Ease of use: 9
• Design: 9
• Mobile experience: 8
• Functionality: 6

Olsen is a contemporary and fashionable WordPress Theme by CSSIgniter. The best use for this theme would be for either a fashion or lifestyle blog, but it could also be fashioned into a travel blog.

Although it’s only a single theme, it does come with a decent, if not extensive, number of page layouts. There are a number of posts types with built-in sliders, galleries, or even audio.

The overall design is superb with good use of whitespace and attractive demo content. However, the default post text size is too small and the theme does feel hard to reimagine without wholesale changes.

Olsen is an above-average theme when it comes to page speed, however, the mobile responsiveness is excellent.

Summary statistics

• Speed: 6
• Ease of use: 10
• Design: 8
• Mobile experience: 10
• Functionality: 6

Yup, you guessed it, Foodica is all about… well, food. Like many others on this list, this theme makes the best of the white space around its delectable demo content. In terms of design, this theme is very straightforward which makes it an incredibly accessible theme for any visitors.

This theme also uses larger, more legible fonts to improve the user experience even further. The highlight of this theme is its range of recipe post layouts with space for videos, galleries, and checklists for ingredients.

While it’s one of the top themes on this list for foodies, it’s not really suitable for anyone else. There are also a limited number of other page layouts although it does come with a decent store. A flawless mobile experience and average mobile responsiveness tops off this blog theme.

• Speed: 6
• Ease of use: 9
• Design: 8
• Mobile experience: 10
• Functionality: 6

If you want as pure a blogging experience as possible without any distractions, then this is the theme for you. Thanks to its minimal design and the use of serif fonts, this theme has a slightly vintage feel and the demo content supports this. Writing gets top marks for the option of a fullwidth page that comes with a sidebar toggle – giving you the best of both worlds.

Although the theme is simple, it does provide post layouts for any type of content from normal articles to gallery to video to music posts as well as category pages. The theme also just feels highly personable, making it the perfect platform for a personal blog.

Thanks to its minimalism, Writing has the fastest page loading times on this list. There also isn’t anything to complain about when it comes to the mobile experience.

Summary statistics

• Speed: 8
• Ease of use: 10
• Design: 8
• Mobile experience: 8
• Functionality: 5

MyBlog comes with one of the more diverse template libraries on this list. It has full demo websites for gaming, tech, food, travel, lifestyle, and even celebrity tabloid blogs. There is also a predesigned store as well as a generic blog that you can repurpose for any niche.

It’s also one of the more feature-rich themes on this list with a handy options panel that easily you to easily customize the look and feel of your website. However, it doesn’t come with that many actual page variations to choose from. The designs, while all using appropriate fonts and color schemes, are also some of the least exciting on this list.

In terms of performance and mobile responsiveness, it’s a solid theme without any obvious complaints.

Summary statistics

• Speed: 8
• Ease of use: 9
• Design: 6
• Mobile experience: 8
• Functionality: 6

Brixton is a suave, yet bold, theme with 12 full demo websites mostly aimed at men’s lifestyle or fashion. However, there are some women’s, travel, and cafe themes as well. Dark content contrasting light backgrounds and earthy colors set the tone for its overall design.

Strong, bold sans serif fonts are mostly used for headers and text with a more elegant, cursive font used every now and then. The template also makes use of various image and post galleries to liven up the pages.

It’s not the most comprehensive theme in terms of layouts or features but does cover the basics. The theme maintains its high readability on mobile but the loading times are lackluster. However, the desktop performance is in the top half.

Summary statistics

• Speed: 7
• Ease of use: 9
• Design: 8
• Mobile experience: 8
• Functionality: 5

Rosemary is a WordPress theme built specifically for those in the construction industry. The design features plenty of blue, orange, large robust sans serif fonts, and straightforward designs. Although it’s a niche-theme, it still features a few demos for specific use cases such as architecture, real estate, investment, etc.

It’s a very attractive theme with lively colors and user-friendly layouts. It also features useful elements like accordions, counters, progress bars, pie charts, and separators – all vital to a modern business website.

The theme also has dedicated blog and shop pages as well as the essential header styles.

This theme does struggle a bit when it comes to performance with less-than-stellar scores, especially on mobile. However, the overall mobile experience is pretty solid.

Summary statistics

• Speed: 6
• Ease of use: 9
• Design: 7
• Mobile experience: 8
• Functionality: 7