About a year ago, premium WordPress themes started appearing on the market. At the time, that meant themes that were a cut above the rest. But now it just means a theme with a price tag latched onto it.
There are still great premium themes out there, and well worth paying the money for. Unfortunately, there’s also a lot that aren’t worth paying the money for now.
With that in mind, we’ve searched through all the premium themes we could find to bring you our 55 favorites.
And lastly, there are no affiliate links here. So if we recommend a theme, we really do recommend it.
Wood World – $15 // Demo // More Info
eGallery – $19.95 // Demo // More Info
Polaroid Press – $49 // Demo // More Info
Our Community – $30 // Demo // More Info
CSS Gallery – $20 // Demo // More Info
Portfolio Press – $49 // Demo // More Info
Influx – $19.95 // Demo // More Info
Fresh News – $70 // Demo // More Info
Omni Theme – $79.99 // Demo // More Info
Golden Green – $29 // Demo // More Info
Gridline News – $24.99 // Demo // More Info
Grunge Music – $59.95 // Demo // More Info
GrungePress – $49 // Demo // More Info
Communizine – $40 // Demo // More Info
Joy – $29 // Demo // More Info
Cat Eat Fish – $20 // Demo // More Info
Mimbo Pro – $89.99 // Demo // More Info
Showcase – $30 // Demo // More Info
Arthemia – $70 // Demo // More Info
One – $99 // Demo // More Info
Tauren Pro – $69 // Demo // More Info
The Other Blog – $15 // Demo // More Info
Revolution Magazine – $59.95 // Demo // More Info
Citrus – $79 // Demo // More Info
Gabfire NewsPro – $59 // Demo // More Info
Video Elements – $50 // Demo // More Info
Influence – $39 // Demo // More Info
Vengeance – $29 // Demo // More Info
Creation – $25 // Demo // More Info
Ecstasy – $29 // Demo // More Info
Pro Media – $59 // Demo // More Info
Suvi Magazine – $59 // Demo // More Info
Business – $39 // Demo // More Info
PicPress – $20 // Demo // More Info
MagLive – $47 // Demo // More Info
Music – $59 // Demo // More Info
Newsden – $47 // Demo // More Info
Cion – $19.95 // Demo // More Info
On Demand – $75 // Demo // More Info
Vibrant CMS – $70 // Demo // More Info
News – $59.95 // Demo // More Info
DeepBlue – $50 // Demo // More Info
Thesis – $87 // Demo // More Info
Bluesky – $19.95 // Demo // More Info
JobPress – $59 // Demo // More Info
YourFolio - $25 // Demo // More Info
NewsPlus – $75 // Demo // More Info
Magazine-News – $75 // Demo // More Info
Quommunication News – $75 // Demo // More Info
Real Estate – $30 // Demo // More Info
Ecommerce - $49 // Demo // [More Info
Design Showcase – $30 // Demo // More Info
Image Hunter – $30 // Demo // More Info
Bluemist – $19.95 // Demo // More Info
Aurora Borealis – $15 // Demo // More Info
Plenty of great themes to choose from, right? If you could get one for free, which would you choose?
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George - LogoDesign.org (8 comments)21 October 08
Those are some very nice themes. I’m actually a Joomla fan but have been considering using WordPress for a couple of upcoming projects as it seems to becoming more and more versatile. I really like the Ecommerce theme, I’ll definitely be referring to this list in the future, thanks for sharing!
WP Cult (2 comments)14 December 08
Very nice collection..
-I must have hit reply, oops, nice thread though..
dinu (9 comments)21 October 08
quiet !!! I am waiting for brian’s new set of FREE revolution themes
I will come back and look at it this list again, after that … 
Mark (13 comments)21 October 08
Nice set. Although I won’t be buying any of these, they are a good inspiration to create my own.. Nice find.
matt (9 comments)21 October 08
May I make a suggestion. Why not add a more option before displaying the website captures? This way if people are not interested in this topic but are feed subscribers they won’t have to look at all 55 pictures they are not interested in
Michael Martin (1286 comments)21 October 08
George,
I’ve never used Joomla before. I remember choosing between it and WordPress as the CMS for a site about 2 or 3 years ago, and WordPress just about won out. And since then I’ve been a WordPress addict, using it for everything.
Dinu,
Hehe – I’m looking forward to that as well! I think Revolution has been succeeded slightly by various themes since then, but it was the original, so it couldn’t not be in here!
Mark,
Haha, I know the feeling! But actually finding the time to sit down and create…
Matt,
Sorry, I know you feel. I’ve thought the same thing about a lot of my feeds. But there’s no real way around it. The “More” option you mentioned means that only part of my feeds are sent to the feed reader. I want the whole thing sent so that if someone wants to read the post, they can read it there and then, and they aren’t forced to click through to my site. I’ll see if I can do something with smaller images next time so it’s easier to scroll past.
Sumesh (39 comments)22 October 08
Many of those themes look nice – I recognize Our Community being featured on ThemeForest blog as one top seller.
I really liked Arthemia and Thesis. Revolution looks a bit dated, doesn’t it?
Simon (4 comments)22 October 08
I don’t think anyone would have judged you for using affiliate links on these Michael…very cool collection anyhow.
Sakib (1 comments)22 October 08
great collection at all. thanks
Amelia Smith (1 comments)22 October 08
I love the Magazine News theme. Gorgeous layout. I’ve been looking for a new blog theme for my blog and this would just be perfect to attract people into reading more about the blog and what stories I’ve added.
I would definitely make the investment and purchase this one!
lovetheme (1 comments)22 October 08
So many nice premium wordpress theme. I think you have taken a lot of time to collect that themes. Thank you for your collection. Here is some Beautiful wordpress theme, too. http://www.wontip.com/?page_id=122
pablopabla (50 comments)22 October 08
I have contemplated buying the Thesis theme
John (6 comments)22 October 08
Wow, some of those themes REALLY aren’t good enough to be ‘premium’. It amazes me how many themes are knocked together with less care than most free themes and are sold for hard cold cash! Woothemes is at the complete opposite end of the spectrum, I bought one premium theme for them and was so impressed I bought 3 more – they really really put a lot of hard work into them and it shows.
Armen (9 comments)22 October 08
John hits the nail on the head.
Many premium themes are worse than freebies, which is why I said what I did in my latest post.
However, in answer to your question, I’d take Thesis if it was going free.
Graphic Entrepreneur (1 comments)22 October 08
Hi,
Amazing list!
I agree that Woothemes is one of the best premium themes out there – 3 extraordinary WP designers – I don’t expect it to be less than perfect in quality!
Cheers!
Susan (3 comments)22 October 08
This is the first I’ve heard of Communizine…it looks nice!
Chris (18 comments)23 October 08
Most of these are ‘magazine’ style themes… would love to see a list for premium personal blog themes. Keep up the good work!
goldfries (81 comments)23 October 08
I tried free themes, they leave much to be desired but they’re free for many reasons.
I wanted to make free themes since last year but it’s coming to end of this year and I’ve yet the time do to so.
Олег Хамутовский (1 comments)23 October 08
Некоторые из этих видел в инете бесплатно.
Salwa (2 comments)24 October 08
Awesome stuff. Great list. Thanks!
alart (1 comments)24 October 08
most liked to me “The Other Blog” )
Dainis Graveris (9 comments)25 October 08
man that’s amazing – nice inspiration also..:) Appreciated list -thanks!
Jeremy Newton (9 comments)25 October 08
Awesome job on going through and coming up with a great list of premium themes, it was actually cool to see some elegant wordpress themes cause you can just sign up for their club and get some good themes. I’ve been looking into buying a premium theme so this will help me, I just have to get the money to do it, I don’t make any money blogging just cause I don’t want to hassle the readers with adsense and ads.
Mustardamus (1 comments)26 October 08
Thanks for featuring PicPress!
Jeremy Newton (9 comments)27 October 08
@ goldfries: I agree alot of free themes have a lot of stuff lacking but for me it’s also been fun cause I’ve gotten to learn about how wordpress is coded and works. I’ve only used free themes on my blog for the purpose of not having money to buy premium or have someone design for me and it’s been a good experience. I’ve been able to take arthemia and totally change it to my tastes, like adding a different background, adding twitter, i actually added adsense but i hate adsense so I took it off.
I think if you first start blogging you should go with a free theme just to learn how wordpress works and if something isn’t there that you want you know how to add it instead of spamming up the internet asking a billion questions when you never took the time to learn.
Jeremy (6 comments)30 October 08
Great list, having worked with several of these themes in the past I can vouch for at least a few saying they are at the top of their game for both design and code. You also opened my eyes to several new themes that are well worth having a look at for both inspiration and future projects.
This is definitely the type of research that needs to be put out there when it comes to a booming market like this because as mentioned in the comments above there are several lurking around out there that cost a lot more than they are worth.
Arjen (13 comments)30 October 08
Nice list of really amazing themes. I might buy a premium theme in the future, but I rather design my own theme from scratch, but I don’t have the skills for that yet.
Umar (2 comments)1 November 08
I love the wood world theme buddy, this collection is very nice.
Dainis Graveris (9 comments)1 November 08
Wow, this is really amazing list – first five themes..jumm…:))) thanks
Sarah (7 comments)2 November 08
Thank you for featuring “The Other Blog”
dawnprofies (1 comments)2 November 08
I’ve recently used the Vibrant CMS theme to build http://www.rebekahkeat.com. So I can vouch for this as a quality theme, with sound coding, multiple colour options and a modern, not-too-bloggy feel.
This is a great list of themes you’ve put together Pro Blog Design. Good job. I’ve found a few new themes here that I’m really keen to try out.
rizzy (1 comments)3 November 08
This was an amazing list, I wish I could buy one.
Danh ba web 2.0 (8 comments)7 November 08
Great collection. Thanks you very much !
Jeff SEO Scotland (1 comments)19 November 08
I really appreciate the designs here I think i will be tempted to purchase a few.
Jeff
Brian D. Hawkins (5 comments)15 December 08
The only problem with your list is there is no way to pick one. I really like Arthemia but then there are about a dozen other themes I like a lot. When I’m ready for my next blog I’ll definitely be back here to find the theme. This post is going on our next issue’s ‘Great Reads’ section.
Michael Martin (1286 comments)15 December 08
lol – That’s a good point. Still quite a lot of sorting and choosing to do within the list!
Thanks in advance for the link though!
Ralph (9 comments)4 January 09
Thank you for this great list about premium wordpress themes. .Ralph
Daniel (10 comments)9 January 09
Nice themes, good work!
Evgeniy (1 comments)18 January 09
quiet !!! I am waiting for brian’s new set of FREE revolution themes
I will come back and look at it this list again, after that …
izwan00 (1 comments)27 January 09
That was a great premium theme collection you have here. Keep up the good work.
Deepak (4 comments)26 February 09
These themes are awesome and i want to learn creating these types of themes after seeing these.Thank you.
Grisha (1 comments)26 March 09
This was an amazing list, I wish I could buy one.
Aleg (1 comments)15 June 09
Thanks for opportunity!
Mary Kay (1 comments)20 July 09
Very.. very nice. You did excellent work gathering these themes. Moreover links go to sites where more themes I find. Thanks mate.
.-= Mary Kay´s last blog ..Acrylic Nail Tips =-.