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If you are serious about building a new WordPress website, you’ve likely faced the dilemma of whether to use a free theme or a full-fledged premium solution, such as Avada.

To understand whether or not you should choose a premium theme, you must first understand the benefits. In this post, you’ll learn what factors make a premium WordPress theme valuable, compared to what you might receive for a free, ‘freemium’ and whether or not you feel it’s the right choice for you. Let’s get started!

Overview

What Is a Premium WordPress Theme?

A free WordPress theme is available at no cost for WordPress users to create basic websites. The WordPress community, individual developers, or theme companies develop and share these themes. They can be downloaded on the WordPress theme directory. Here’s a breakdown of what makes a free WordPress theme:

  • Zero Cost: Free WordPress themes are available without cost, making them an attractive option for beginners, bloggers, and small businesses with limited budgets.
  • Limited Basic Features: While many free themes come with essential customization features (such as color schemes, header images, and layout adjustments), however, they will lack the advanced options and flexibility found in premium themes such as Avada.
  • Basic Design: Free themes often have simpler and more basic designs than premium themes. However, many well-designed free themes are clean, responsive, and suitable for personal blogs, portfolios, and small business sites.
  • Limited Support: Unlike premium themes that typically include professional support, free themes often come with limited or community-based support. Users may need to rely on online forums, documentation, or other users for assistance.
  • Limited Updates: While some free themes are regularly updated for compatibility with new versions of WordPress and security purposes, others may not receive frequent updates. Choosing free themes from reputable developers who maintain their themes is essential.
  • Security And Reliability: Free themes from the official WordPress Theme Directory are reviewed for quality and security standards. However, downloading free themes from untrusted sources can pose security risks.

What Is a Premium WordPress Theme?

A professionally designed premium WordPress theme offers more advanced features, customization options, and support than free WordPress themes. Here’s a more detailed breakdown of what makes a theme “premium”:

  • Quality Design and Features: Premium themes often have more sophisticated, modern, and attractive designs. They come with additional features such as page builders, sliders, custom widgets, and pre-built websites, allowing for greater customization and functionality.
  • Regular Updates: Premium themes are typically updated more frequently than free ones, ensuring compatibility with the latest versions of WordPress, third-party plugins, WordPress coding standards, and security practices. Avada includes a highly detailed and extensive changelog.
  • Advanced Support and Documentation: When you purchase a premium theme such as Avada, you will get access to world-class professional customer support and comprehensive documentation, which can help you resolve issues and learn how to use the theme effectively.
  • Customization Options: Premium themes often include more extensive options for customizing the layout, colors, fonts, and other design elements, allowing users to create a unique website without coding. Avada includes a flexible website builder with an intuitive Live Visual Builder interface.
  • Improved Performance and Security: Developers of premium themes usually put more effort into optimizing the theme for faster load times and enhanced security.
  • Licensing: Premium themes come with a license that allows their use on one or multiple sites, depending on the type of purchase (one license per domain install or a subscription plan that allows multi-domain usage). The license will include clear terms of use.

4 Key Benefits Of Using a Premium WordPress Theme

Choosing a premium WordPress theme can be a worthwhile investment, particularly for businesses and individuals looking to create a professional, high-functioning website with minimal hassle. Here are four key benefits of choosing a premium WordPress theme, explained in detail:

1: Advanced Customization Options

One of the main benefits of using a premium WordPress theme such as Avada is the ability to customize your site extensively without writing code. Premium themes often come equipped with powerful theme options panels or integrated page builders (e.g., Avada, Divi, OptimizePress, Genesis Pro, and more).

Avada Customization Options

These tools enable users to modify layouts, change color schemes, update typography, and easily adjust Design Elements. The level of customization allows you to create a website that aligns perfectly with your brand’s identity, making it distinct and visually appealing.

2: Regular Updates and Compatibility

Premium themes are maintained by professional developers who prioritize the security and compatibility of their themes. With a premium theme, you can expect regular updates that address potential vulnerabilities and ensure compatibility with the latest versions of WordPress and popular plugins.

Avada Updates And Compatibility

Furthermore, regular updates keep your site secure, ensure it runs smoothly, and allow you to benefit from new features as they are introduced. Avada provides a unique maintenance addition to standard theme updates called the Avada Patcher.

This maintenance tool allows the Avada team to deploy fixes and enhancements directly to all registered Avada installations without needing a full update. If multiple patches are available between major updates, they can be applied in bulk.

3: High-Quality Design and Performance

Premium themes typically feature modern, high-quality, well-coded designs to optimize performance. This attention to design detail results in responsive layouts on all devices and screen sizes. Using Avada for your website also means access to 109 professionally designed Avada pre-built websites that can be imported with a few clicks. Additionally, there is full access to pre-built Avada Studio creative content.

Avada Design And Performance

Additionally, premium themes often incorporate best practices for SEO and speed optimization, ensuring your site looks good and performs well in terms of load times and search engine rankings. High performance can lead to a better user experience, reduced bounce rates, and improved search engine visibility, all of which contribute to your website’s overall success. Avada users can utilize the Avada Performance Wizard to optimize their website for optimal performance.

4: Professional Support and Documentation

With a premium theme, you pay not just for the product itself but also for the support and documentation that come with it. Most premium theme providers offer customer support through various channels, such as a dedicated help center , email, ticket systems, and forums, which can be invaluable when encountering issues or having questions.

Avada Help Center

Detailed documentation and video tutorials help you set up and customize your site effectively. This level of support can save you time and frustration, making it easier to build and manage your website without needing to hire additional help.

Pros and Cons: Free vs. Premium Themes

Even when you understand all the benefits of choosing a premium WordPress theme, it’s always good to evaluate your options. In this article, we have discussed the differences between free and premium WordPress themes, and below, we have broken down some of these alternatives’ essential pros and cons for your analysis.

Free Themes: Pros

  • Cost no money (up front)

  • Some free support from the WordPress community
  • May offer one or two strengths
  • Work well with a plethora of plugins

Free Themes: Cons

  • Can cost time and money in bug-fixing and customization

  • Lack of solid support framework
  • The back end code is sometimes (often?) not maintained in the long term
  • Does not offer as wide a range of features and customizability as premium frameworks
  • Requires the extensive use of alternative plugins for any of your desired features

Premium Themes: Pros

  • Better theme functionality than free themes

  • More reliable support
  • Regular and reliable updates

Premium Themes: Cons

  • Does not include plugin functionality

  • Often costs the same as a premium framework, without all of the same features
  • Is only designed for one type of user

Summary

When building a WordPress website, you are faced with a choice: Choose a free theme because of the low-cost entry, or decide whether to step it up a notch and go with a premium WordPress theme like Avada for ultimate design and creative flexibility, world-class support, and futureproofing your creative workflow.

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