Selecting a WordPress theme for your blog is quite a lengthy and time consuming process, there is a huge variety of free WordPress themes along with Premium themes available.

Many people, specially beginners, think that they can start with a free wordpress theme and may later upgrade to a premium wordpress theme.

If you are really on a tight budget, you can download free themes from WordPress theme directory but downloading them from other sources may put you at risk, crippled your webiste or destroy it completely.

Free WordPress themes do have some attractive feature and biggest one is “FREE”, lets discuss why you should Avoid Free WordPress Themes.

Disadvantages of Using Free WordPress Themes

1. No Support and No Updates

Usually there is no support, if you have any problem, you need to solve it on your own. There is no update, so if there is a bug in theme code or you like to make something differently, you are stuck with it. Some companies do offer updates but it is not mandatory and may not solve your particular problem.

2. Not SEO-optimized

In free WordPress themes, there will be hardly any in-built SEO options. An SEO-optimized theme may have clean code, faster loading time, optimized images, minimized javascript and many other similar features. On the other hand, theme developers take care of all these aspects in their Premium version.

3. Has Encrypted Links

The most hated thing about free WordPress themes is that they often have encrypted links and code blocks, usually in the footer. You can not remove theme developer’s webiste link without editing code. This has bad impact on Search Engine Optimization and it may effect your rankings if you have such encrypted code. Some developers, add a back-door or malicious code to scan your website.

4. Lesser number of features

Free themes have lesser number of features integrated into the theme. For example, a Premium theme has Premium slider plugins, contact forms, ticket support plugins, etc integrated into the theme. Without advance features, your website may look dated. However, free WordPress themes do not have these features and you need to integrate these features separately, yourself.

5. No theme options panel

Many bloggers who are starting a blog may not have any technical knowledge. Most of the free WordPress themes do not come with a theme options panel so you need to play with the codes to create any custom design whereas Premium themes always have an options panel and you don’t need to edit any code. You can change everything through themes option panel.

So, if you are a new to wordpress and not willing to spend money now, you can start with a free wordpress theme from wordpress.org and upgrade to a premium theme once your blog starts growing to get the maximum features.