Premium Themes: What’s Wrong With Pricing?
Based on 53 Premium Theme Stores Minimum Pricing Plans…
- 62% have “No Pricing Pages”
- 31% have “Pricing” in their Navigation Bar
- 10% are “Subscription Only” models
- 33% mentioned “Footer Removal Rules”, of which 6 restricted removal!
- 40% allowed uploading to “Unlimited Domains”
- 21% included .PSD’s (In some cases, getting the .psd meant an increase of $100)
- 17% didn’t offer or didn’t define whether or not they offered Support
- 42% offered “All Theme Packages”, though in many cases, there were limits set.
(*These findings can be seen in further detail via the graph later in this article.)
A Little Background Information: Why This Matters?
Now more than ever, the threat of malicious code in free themes is growing when you head outside of the dedicated WordPress Theme Gallery, and the same holds for poorly coded themes. Quoting Ryan Imel of WPCandy.com, it’s “easy for devs to jump in before they really know what they’re doing, creating a nasty situation”.
I’m hunting through themes on a daily basis, assisting clients on how to locate the perfect theme for their business, and while there’s somewhat of a standard for what determines a well-coded theme, price remains a constantly changing variable. The goal of this article is to help give Theme Shops a better idea of what they are up against in 2011 in terms of Pricing Models! Hopefully, by reviewing their competitors pricing options, there may be some level of a standard among all theme stores. Ryan said it best, “There are a number of options, both free and paid, with varying levels of complexity and support. How do you even begin to choose?”
What Do WordPress Developers and Theme Developers Have To Say About Pricing?
In January, WPCandy Author/Founder, Ryan Imel, covered The future of WordPress Themes in 2011. He posed the following question:
“Where do you think WordPress themes are headed in 2011? What will be the new innovations and techniques that everyone will be talking about in 2011?”
With responses from big names in WordPress, including,Matt Mullenweg, Jason Schuller, Adii Pienaar, and more, I was surprised to see that none of them covered pricing. I decided to “Ctrl+F” the page for the word “Price” just to be sure…and discovered only 1 use of the word, out of context.
Really? Nothing about pricing changes? I can understand that for WordPress (being a free platform) it’s hard for community members to talk numbers, profits and more, but the truth of the matter is simple: Premium Themes cost money, and what’s included is a determining factor for many buyers!
Where Premium Theme Sites Are Missing The Mark: Pricing!
After spending countless hours going through them all, I’m beginning to realize a common trend with Premium Theme sites. They can’t seem to agree on a pricing model and what to include. There’s a lot you need to watch out before buying a theme, making it that much harder to decide. You may buy one thing and end up having to pay more for the “whole package”. Here’s a rough description of my experience.
Before reviewing the statistics below, bear in mind that my goal is not to target any specific company as doing something wrong. I’m simply trying to show you what competitors are doing and I leave it up to you to decide whether or not their methods are hurting or helping their sales numbers and overall user experience.
Premium Theme Stores & Their Minimum Pricing Plan:
- 62% have “No Pricing Pages”
- 31% have “Pricing” in their Navigation Bar
- 10% are “Subscription Only” models
- 33% mentioned “Footer Removal Rules”, of which 6 restricted removal!
- 40% allowed uploading to “Unlimited Domains”
- 21% included .PSD’s (In some cases, getting the .psd meant an increase of $100)
- 17% didn’t offer or didn’t define whether or not they offered Support
- 42% offered “All Theme Packages”, though in many cases, there were limits set.
These findings can be seen in further detail via the graph below – [*KEY: THEME STORE (Name+Link To Commercial Theme Store), PRICING PAGE (Link To Pricing Page), PIN (Pricing In Navigation), MP (Minimum Pricing Package), RF (Ability To Customize Footer and Remove Theme Branding), UNL (Upload Them To Unlimited Domains), .PSD (.PSD Included), SUP (Support), ALL THEMES (All Themes Package)]
| THEME STORE | PRICING PAGE | PIN | MP | RF | UNL | PSD | SUP | ALL THEMES |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aloha Themes | - | - | 77 | - | Y | Y | Y | - |
| Band Themer | bandthemer.com/pricing | N | 59 | Y | - | Y | Y | 99/yr |
| Bavotasan | - | - | 39.97 | Y | - | N | Y | 299 |
| Bizz Themes | bizzthemes.com/pricing | Y | 69 | N | - | N | Y | 99+199/yr |
| Blog Oh Blog | - | - | 49 | - | N | - | Y | - |
| Chimera | chimerathemes.com/pricing | Y | 37 | N | N | Y | Y | 127+15/mo |
| *ElegantThemes | elegantthemes.com/join.php | Y | - | - | - | - | Y | 39 /yr |
| *FlexiThemes | flexithemes.com/join | N | - | - | Y | - | Y | 19.95/mo |
| Gabfire | - | - | 59 | Y | - | - | Y | - |
| Gorilla Themes | - | - | 39.95 | Y | Y | N | N | - |
| GraphPaperPress | graphpaperpress.com/pricing | Y | - | - | Y | - | Y | 49/qtr |
| iThemes | - | - | 79.95 | - | Y | - | Y | 297/.5 yr |
| Kadom | - | - | 35 | Y | N | N | Y | - |
| Kreative Themes | kreativethemes.com/pricing | Y | 29.9 | Y | Y | N | N | - |
| Magazine3 | - | - | 49 | - | N | - | Y | - |
| Mosaic | - | - | 89.95 | - | - | - | Y | 259.95 |
| Obox Design | obox-design.com/pricing.cfm | Y | 50 | - | Y | N | Y | 125+15/mo |
| Organic Themes | - | - | 69 | - | - | Y | Y | 249 |
| Organized Themes | - | - | 30-45 | - | - | - | - | 95 |
| PageLines | pagelines.com/pricing | Y | 79 | N | N | - | Y | - |
| PremiumPress | premiumpress.com/buy | N | 79 | - | Y | - | Y | 249 |
| PremiumThemes | premiumthemes.com/pricing | Y | 20-39 | - | - | N | Y | 49/yr |
| *Press75 | press75.com/pricing | Y | - | Y | Y | - | N | 50/2 mo |
| PressCoders | presscoders.com/fitpro/#buy | N | 97 | - | - | - | Y | - |
| PrimoThemes | primothemes.com/prices | Y | 75 | Y | Y | Y | Y | 175 |
| Pro Theme Design | - | - | 79.99 | - | N | N | Y | - |
| ProudThemes | - | - | 59 | - | Y | N | Y | - |
| RichWP Themes | - | - | 127 | - | Y | - | Y | TBA |
| Solostream | - | - | 79 | N | N | - | Y | 129 |
| StudioPress | - | - | 79.95 | - | Y | - | Y | 249.95 |
| Templatic | - | - | 65 | - | N | N | Y | 299/yr |
| Theme Foundry | - | - | 68 | Y | Y | - | Y | - |
| ThemeFuse | - | - | 49 | - | N | N | Y | 249 |
| Theme Galaxy | - | - | 49-89 | N | N | - | - | - |
| Themify | themify.me/pricing | Y | 39 | - | Y | N | Y | 150+20/mo |
| ThemeJam | - | - | 59 | - | Y | Y | Y | - |
| Theme Junkie | - | - | 29.95 | - | Y | - | Y | 49.95 |
| Theme Shift | - | - | 39 EU | - | - | - | - | - |
| Themes Kingdom | - | - | - | - | - | - | Y | 19/yr |
| Theme Warrior | themewarrior.com/pricing | Y | 29 | Y | Y | N | Y | - |
| ThemeWeaver | - | - | 30 | - | Y | Y | Y | 50 |
| Tokokoo | - | - | 59.99 | - | N | N | Y | - |
| UpThemes | upthemes.com/pricing | Y | 50 | - | Y | N | Y | 99 +9/mo |
| Viva Themes | - | - | 40-50 | - | - | Y | Y | 160 |
| Voosh Themes | - | - | 35 | - | - | Y | Y | 125 |
| WooThemes | woothemes.com/pricing | Y | 70 | - | Y | N | Y | 125+15/mo |
| WPCrunchy | - | - | Free | - | - | - | - | - |
| WPMadness | - | - | 5 | - | - | Y | Y | - |
| WPNow | wpnow.com/pricing | Y | 49 | - | Y | N | Y | 99+99/yr |
| WPRemix | wpremix.com/purchase | Y | 75 | N | N | - | - | - |
| WPYuzu | - | - | 24 | - | - | Y | Y | 79 |
| WPZoom Themes | - | - | 69 | Y | N | N | Y | - |
| XTreme Theme | - | - | 99.99 | - | - | - | - | - |
Locating The Premium Theme That’s Right For You!
There are simply too many Premium Theme websites to track. (Believe me, I’m trying). The list can go on and on, and I’m increasingly growing concerned for anyone trying to do this on their own for the first time. I found the Premium WordPress Theme Guide by iThemes to be very helpful, but a guide isn’t what we need. Graphs like the one above are necessary for individuals trying to locate a theme and I’m doing my best to track them all. I have a constantly updated “Premium Themes” listed which includes, Frameworks, Marketplaces, Shops & search advice to better assist you to locate the theme of choice. Dedicated theme searching sites like WordPressThemes, ThemeFinder & PremiumWP are very helpful, but still stand to improve their search functions. WP Hell is getting closer to what we need and, while I’m not sure of the relevance to Hell, this is a great Premium Themes Directory (search).
Hopefully this area of WordPress will improve in 2011 and I look forward to meeting the company that stands up to the task!
*UPDATE – Looks like somebody is up to the task: ThemeSorter.com – Launched in February, owner Steve and his wife are working non-stop to get every premium/commercial theme from the major sellers indexed in detail.
About the Author
Joshua ‘Red’ Russak is the founder of First Time Online™. Now known by many as “Red”, Joshua continues to grow his knowledge of online technologies and hopes to continue spreading the word that "We Get It Right The First Time!"
19 Comments to “Premium Themes: What’s Wrong With Pricing?”
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This is very informative. Great chunk o’ research! This makes me like sellers like StudioPress even more because they have an “Unlimited Everything” philosophy. PSDs, all themes, multiple sites, etc. One price, written very clearly.
I don’t know if you have been to RocketTheme. They have great themes but their pricing is very confusing to me.
Then there is Elegant Themes which we (probably) all recognize as great, but did you know that their $39/yr multiple use license is only for “your own” sites? There is a one-time $89 fee to use theme on client sites! No big deal but it’s not all that apparent until after you’ve joined at $39 (it is in the terms for sure though).
Steven, I appreciate the response and that was my goal: TO GET THESE SHOPS TO UNDERSTAND
It may be easy for me because I’ve been WordPress long enough to know, for a lot of “newbs” out there, finding the right theme only to be confused by pricing is a good way to lose potential customers. I look forward to more feedback and helping this list grow!
Hey Red, great job putting this together – this entire theme thing can be a nightmare for a beginner. And as I have found, I have had personal experiences with certain theme sites that others have raved about. But this is a good starting point for someone.
With as many classes that I teach, even some specifically on themes, an additional great tip for beginners is to ask someone they trust. There is nothing better than that first-hand experience, especially if they are looking at specific themes they already like.
Again, you time is appreciated pulling it all together.
[...] Premium Themes: What’s Wrong With Pricing explains what Joshua “Red” Russack found when investigating WordPress theme pricing. 62% do not having a “Pricing” page. [...]
Hi Red,
I wonder if you’d update the list with any new theme providers in the future. If yes, here is another two theme providers whom themes I personally use. They are BioThemes, and eFrogThemes. And, AllureTheme is just around the corner.
On ElegantThemes, one can remove the footer credit too.
(I’ve been using them for more than a year)
Great list for anyone looking for an in-depth analysis on all these things.
Hi Pothi, I will be working on doing another updated review in the next month or so. Thanks for the heads up on Elegant Themes, but unless they explicitly say “you can remove the footer”, as an average user, I can’t assume. My goal was to show that most shops really don’t care to talk about the footer b/c it’s assumed you can remove it, but some shops go the extra mile to say YES or NO and I’m curious as to why.
Nice information Red, I sell my own wp themes, and yes pricing is hard to come up with. There is so much competition and free wp themes, that people don’t want to spend too much on premium themes. I think what separates a great wp theme shop is customer service more then price. “Price” is old, “Care” is where we are heading in 2011.
[...] suggested paying up is the way to go it should be noted that area is messy as hell – this little research show that as well. Unclear convoluted stupid licensing is also part of the great paid themes
[...]
Great article, Red.
I noticed a while back that even some of the theme stores that are listed in the official wordpress directory offered themes that went against the GPL.
Since it’s a requirement to sell GPL themes to get listed in that directory, I found it slightly troubling.
I think the companies that put the customer first will win out. I have to say that I love Studiopress simply because they understand good customer service and what it means to offer something of value to their customers.
Thanks for all of your research!
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[...] Premium Themes: What’s Wrong With Pricing? What to look for in a commercial WordPress theme provider. [...]
[...] Premium Themes: What’s Wrong With Pricing? What to look for in a commercial WordPress theme provider. [...]
[...] Premium Themes: What’s Wrong With Pricing? What to look for in a commercial WordPress theme provider. [...]
[...] Premium Themes: What’s Wrong With Pricing? What to look for in a commercial WordPress theme provider. [...]
[...] Premium Themes: What’s Wrong With Pricing? What to look for in a commercial WordPress theme provider. [...]
[...] Premium Themes: What’s Wrong With Pricing? What to look for in a commercial WordPress theme provider. [...]
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[...] Premium Themes: What’s Wrong With Pricing? What to look for in a commercial WordPress theme provider. [...]
[...] Theme Pricing article was recently featured as a resource in a Smashing Magazine article by Steven Gliebe, [...]