75 Clean and Simple WordPress Themes

Simple WordPress themes are very popular, good for usability and lucky for you there are many high quality themes available to pick from. This is why we keep updating this resources with news themes all the time. Website and blog designs certainly can be complex, colorful and overwhelming and many themes for WordPress belongs to that category. Some web-masters and bloggers on the other hand prefer simple and clean layouts for their sites leaving more space for the text itself to be in focus. Minimalistic designs generally help user find what they are looking for easier and typically they are more inviting and easy to navigate compared to heavy loaded web designs. If you are looking for simple wordpress themes that help your design comply with basic elements of minimalistic design I’m sure the list of simple WordPress themes below will be a real time saver and a source of good inspiration. You will find both premium and free minimal WordPress themes organized into two sections. One of the hot and current trends in web design right now is responsive design. The WordPress community have picked this up and there are already some interesting responsive WordPress themes available now and they are worth considering to make sure your site looks great on all platforms including mobile devices. This article have been updated and will show if themes are responsive.

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and I will earn a commission if you purchase through those links (at no extra cost to you). I recommend that you do your own independent research before purchasing any product or service. This article is not a guideline, a recommendation or endorsement of specific products.

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Article Index

To let you quickly locate the type of theme you are looking for I have created a index allowing for fast navigation. While it is tempting to skip the premium themes to save a bit I recommend you go through the entire post scrolling slowly to have a look at the screenshots. Remember that if you are building a site with a long term business strategy the support and flexibility typically found in premium themes are sometimes worth it. Let’s get started!

• Premium Simple WordPress Themes
• Free Simple WordPress Themes

Premium Simple WordPress Themes

The simple wordpress themes below are good for many purposes as they are clean and have good space for content. Remember that most premium themes are supported, documented and typically well coded by the theme vendors and they are often updated quickly when WordPress is taking large steps in its development. There are many and finding the best WordPress premium themes can be a challenge.

EVOLUTION (Responsive theme)

Evolution is our first fully responsive design. What makes the theme so special is its ability to adapt to various screen sizes. Evolution come with 4 distinct layouts, each meant to improve your user’s experience when browsing on mobile phones and tablets. No longer will they need to zoom and scroll to view your site, as the theme’s layout will adapt to the small screen and serve your content in an intuitive way automatically. Just try reducing your browser’s window size when preview the theme to see the magic in action!

MORE INFO / DEMO – by ElegantThemes (Premium theme)

ELIST

eList is a verstile clean and simple Directory WordPress Theme. Using eList, you can create an online directory of any type, and allow your visitors to submit new listings from the front end. The theme also comes with eCommerce integration, allowing you to charge your visitors for new or featured listings.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by ElegantThemes (Premium theme)

I LOVE IT

I love it! is a content sharing WordPress theme suitable for different posts formats. E.g image posts, video posts with automated thumbnails creation, self-hosted videos, audio posts, posts with attachments, combination of all content types. The theme offers many unique features like for example letting your registered users upload posts directly from front-end. The front-end submission permits users to choose their post format: image, video, audio, text and attachment. Each and every single format can be enabled or disabled.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Themeforest (Premium theme)

SWAGGER (Responsive theme)

Swagger is built on top of the all-new version 2 of the Theme Blvd framework. Use the layout builder to accomplish just about anything you could ever think of. Use the slider manager to create as many sliders as you want. Use the widget area manager to create as many widget areas and sidebars as you want. With just the right amount of theme options and flexibility, the power is all in your hands. And with a sleek, responsive HTML5 design, you’ll be sure no one will miss out on your new website built with Swagger.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Themeforest (premium theme)

ARES – Blog Magazine Newspaper Template

Ares is The Clean Magazine, News and Blog Template built with latest WordPress features.

MORE INFO / DEMO by theme forest (premium theme)

AWARE (Responsive theme)

Aware is a clean and simple interactive, responsive portfolio theme perfect for freelancers, web designers, photographers and videographers alike. Its user interactive interface delightfully enhances your most loved portfolio pieces. Now, you can take your portfolio with you, in your pocket.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Themeforest (premium theme)

SIMPLEPRESS – Corporate Simple WordPress Theme

SimplePress is a simple and clean page-based corporate WordPress theme. It is great for anyone looking to give their website professional look and feel. The theme features a business style homepage with a beautiful well integrated JavaScript slider and clear hierarchy, as well as fully functional Blog and Gallery sections.

This theme is part of the very interesting Theme Club at ElegantThemes where everyone can get access to around 70 very professional themes at around half the price of most Premium themes. This is in particular interesting for web designers as they will be able to deliver great websites to their clients. It is even possible to get the PSD files also if some changes will be needed. Check out the video showing the ElegantThemes options framework enabling high flexibility with no-coding needed.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by ElegantThemes (Premium theme)

DEEP FOCUS

With Deep Focus you can turn your WordPress blog into a fully functional online photo gallery while still maintaining all of the features of a normal blog. Along with the gallery layout, DeepFocus comes with a robust blog and CMS-style homepage as well, making it an amazing solution for artists/photographers looking to build an online presence. This is a great pick among the many Simple WordPress Themes available.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by ElegantThemes (Premium theme)

CROSS APLE – Clean Business WordPress Theme

Cross Apple is a elegant and clean theme which suits both, users with no programming background as well as advanced developers. It will help you build your site in no time to your liking with minimal effort. It empowers you to set color to elements such as links, text, menu links, etc. The theme also features 4(Four) Default Home page and single page layout for you to choose from.

MORE INFO / DEMO by theme forest (premium theme)

MODEST – Simple WordPress Theme

A minimal WordPress theme with beautiful typography and subtle gradients from Elegant Themes and it certainly belongs in this list of Minimal WordPress CMS Themes.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by ElegantThemes (Premium theme)

STRIKING CORPORATE & PORTFOLIO WP THEME

Striking is one of the most in-demand simple wordpress themes available right now. It has tons of extraordinary features which are not found in ordinary WordPress themes. It is the theme you buy when you want to create a website in every way you imagined possible. One of the features that this super theme has is its Cross Browser Compatible including IE 9 and and latest, Firefox 4. It also boasts of 4 Different Sliders! Nivo slider! Anything Slider! 3d flash Image Rotator! Accordion slider! Each has a complete control set. With Striking sliders you can display images, video, text, captions, iframes, and more. These are just few of the features that this theme has in its long list of features and capabilities.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Themeforest (Premium theme)

SEVEN WONDERS (Responsive theme)

SevenWonders is a clean and modern wordpress theme that Fully Responsive, which mean the layout will adapt depending on the device screen size.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Themeforest (premium theme)

VOLT – Magazine / Editorial WordPress Theme

Volt theme for WordPress is designed for magazine, news and editorial ventures. With content and readability being the primary goal, the theme is designed with flexible layout pattern and decent space for advertisements. The theme introduces a layout swapping option that will let you move the content in desirable location, and is helpful when you are experimenting with visual hierarchy and user eye pattern. Backed with custom widgets, visual short codes, exclusive widget areas and custom page templates, the theme is envisioned to provide you more flexibility and ease-of-customization for your next editorial project.

MORE INFO / DEMO by theme forest (premium theme)

PURITY

Purity is a Clean and Minimal New WordPress Theme with a ‘BOLD’ feel that can be easily used as a personal portfolio or a business website. With an extensive documentation and a demo content you won’t have any problems setting your page up.

MORE INFO / DEMO by theme forest (premium theme)

INSPIRATION

Create your own web site without any effort! On each page among 7 specially created main pages you may find the most suitable and eye-catching one. And it is not the end, but just the start to implement your own ideas regarding content, because these templates deliver such rate of flexibility that enables you to modify without any problem due to just one click the whole design of the potential web page. Do not waste your brilliant time to technical issues as you are absolutely not requested to deep into the tangled web development world, you only need to be interested in what you do and to wake up your fantasy. Change via simple operation the color spectrum of your future web page. Texts, pictures, scripts, keys, icons and other elements can vary upon your desire. Friendly documentation which is delivered along with the template will provide you with necessary information and simple steps that are to be taken to manage it.

MORE INFO / DEMO by theme forest (premium theme)

FOLIOWAY SIMPLE WORDPRESS THEME

Folioway is a perfect pixel minimal wordpress theme, not only its clean and elegant, it also comes with tons of features like amazing slider, unlimited colors, etc. It’s incredibly powerful and flexible and easy to use! It is just the best wordpress theme for your or your company’s work presentation!

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Themeforest (Premium theme)

MINIMAL WORDPRESS THEME

Minimal is a great theme for those who want to give their blog a truly simple and elegant feel without sacrificing any of the advanced features you have come to expect from ElegantThemes. The colors are easy on the eye, and the overall minimalist approach to the design makes for a relaxing and user-friendly experience for your visitors. This is one of the best simple wordpress themes available – at least that is my opinion.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by ElegantThemes (Premium theme)

NEW HORIZON – Blog & Portfolio WordPress Theme

New Horizon – is perfect for design/fashion orientated blogs or for creative people who’s tired of regular thumbnails grids layouts.

MORE INFO / DEMO by theme forest (premium theme)

PROPULSION (Responsive theme)

Propulsion is a responsive WordPress Theme (try resizing your browser), suited for users who want to create a business, portfolio or eCommerce site. The Theme is built on top of the fabulous woocommerce shop plugin as well as the bbPress Forum plugin. It comes with a plethora of options so you can modify layout, styling, colors and fonts directly from within the backend. 3 Slideshows, 21 predefined skins (which are easy to modify from your backend), font and color options as well as dynamic template builder will help you create the Website you need in no time.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Themeforest (premium theme)

VULCAN – BUSINESS SIMPLE WORDPRESS THEME

Vulcan is a modern and minimalist template best suited for any business website. It is available in five color options, and has three variation slider. Vulcan is also coded to improve capability of the WordPresss 3.0 features.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Themeforest (Premium theme)

WP-CLEAR

Solostream recently released version 2.0 of their popular simple WordPress theme, WP-Clear. This updated version includes numerous new features and layout options with magazine, business and blog layout styles. Other features include 2 content sliders, multiple post and page layout options, integrated banner ad spots, options panel for easy customization and more. This simple WordPress theme is a “must see”.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Solostream (premium theme)

REFINED WP – Simple Portfolio / Business WordPress Theme

Refined WP is a WordPress 3.2+ Ready Premium WordPress Theme specifically designed for corporate / business websites, portfolios, designer or agency websites etc. With a clean minimal design and numerous portfolio layout options it offers a lot of ways to display your portfolio / services and enables you to send a clear message.

MORE INFO / DEMO by theme forest (premium theme)

CAP CLEAN WORDPRESS THEME

Every element of Cap is highly customizable through its Theme Options. You can build page-based website or usual blog.

DOWNLAOD by Natty WP (premium theme)

WP-CLEARPHOTO

WP-ClearPhoto is a Premium WordPress theme designed mainly for photography enthusiasts or anyone who has a portfolio of projects to show the world. With its clean, elegant design, it’s the perfect container to show off your great work. Its built-in versatility and added features also make it suitable for a business blog, website or online magazine.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Solostream (premium theme)

AIRLOCK – Portfolio WordPress Theme

Airlock is the project made for creative designers and interactive agencies. Simplicity, flexibility and attention to detail is the main asset of the design.

MORE INFO / DEMO by theme forest (premium theme)

YOURFOLIO SIMPLE PORTFOLIO THEME

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Themeforest (Premium theme)

AUTOMOBILE

Automobile – is one of the themes for WordPress CMS with a sleek and clean design. This is perfect for companies who want to showcase their vehicles and get inquiries about them. Among others, it features Fully customizable front page, Custom Taxonomy, Car Detail Page, Car Listing Page, and Custom Control Panel.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Templatic (Premium theme)

COLT

Colt is a feature-packed simple wordpress theme. Thanks to extremely customizable layout and number of additional widgets you can create modern website to represent any company. Packed with all the goodness of a proper WordPress business theme, Colt template will most definitely make the impact you need. Change any of background and text colors, insert images and build your alternative unique style.

DOWNLAOD by Natty WP (premium theme)

FLEXISTORE

Clean and minimal WordPress estore theme. This theme has some really nice jQuery effects and should fit for any eshop.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Themeforest (Premium theme)

PERSONAL PRESS

While niche theme that push the boundaries of WordPress are great and pop up all over the Internet, the initial and still core focus of WordPress still blogging. With PersonalPress ElegantThemes certainly returned to the roots, and created a traditional blog-style theme with a personal touch. PersonalPress WordPress blog theme is a great simple design for those looking to give their blog a fun and light hearted feel. PersonalPress is a great design for those looking to give their blog a fun and light hearted feel.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by ElegantThemes (Premium theme)

STRUCTURE

The Structure Theme is a set of premium WordPress themes masterfully created with a modern and minimalist design aesthetic.

MORE INFO – by OrganicThemes (Premium theme)

STUDIO960

This 960 Grid based site is built from the ground up to be powerful, customizable and extremely flexible. Each of the custom page templates has options that can be controlled independently and reused to achieve the results you want. Use the same gallery template for a photo blog, grid of type-only posts and a gallery of vacation photos!

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Themeforest (Premium theme)

GOOD MINIMAL (Responsive theme)

Good Minimal is a responsive HTML5 & CSS3 , clean and minimalist style theme that is good for portfolio, blogs and businesses. This theme is flexible and is used media queries to adapt screen sizes, whether it is iPhone, iPad and wide screens.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Themeforest (premium theme)

MINIMALISTICO – Clean WordPress Theme

Minimalisto is a clean and minimalist business Premium WordPress Theme suitable for business, corporate, company and any kind of websites. Minimalisto is fully customizable using the theme options page! This is a good pick among the many clean wordpress themes available.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Themeforest (Premium theme)

DEADLINE

Deadline is a Powerful, Professional, Premium WordPress News or Magazine theme. It comes packed with an impressive array of custom options and widgets allowing you to control the look and feel.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Themeforest (Premium theme)

NOVA

Nova is a sharp, simplistic design that makes for an intuitive user experience. Nova’s biggest strength is its homepage, which allows you to organize your content into two areas. The Featured Slider is perhaps the most versatile slider we have built, and comes with multiple slider variations that breath new life into the design.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by ElegantThemes (Premium theme)

SILVERIO

Silverio was designed to be easy to set-up and quick to update. Its clean design, time-saving features, customized admin, and Jquery enhancements make it the perfect way to showcase your work.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Themeforest (Premium theme)

THE PAPER CORE – Clean WordPress Theme

“The PaperCore” is an unique, elegant and minimal WordPress theme and it is here to present your business and work in the best way. There are 4 different professionally designed and unique styles. There are 2 stylish Portfolio/ News/ Featured Item sliders that are great to emphasize and present your products. The PhotoShop files are easy customizable and well organized.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Themeforest (Premium theme)

8CELLS – Minimalist and Clean WordPress Theme

8Cells is the WordPress theme for Portfolio, Creative built with latest WordPress features. Custom Post Type, Shortcodes, Extensive admin panel etc.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Themeforest (Premium theme)

GALLERY – WordPress Portfolio Theme

Gallery is a premium WordPress theme which can be used for many purposes, including a Photoblog, Portfolio, Personal Blog, Product Reviews, and more!

MORE INFO / DEMO – by WPZoom (Premium theme)

RT-THEME 11 – Business Theme with Product Showcase

WordPress business themes have the tendency to adopt lightweight and minimal design. This is true for the RT series from ThemeForest. One of RT’s five star gems is this clean and elegant corporate template. It has awesome features and sports a very pleasing and professional look that exudes the message that you mean business for your clients.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Themeforest (Premium theme)

MINIBUZZ

This theme offers a valid html5 code and unlimited color that you can easily change color in theme options. It has 2 Home page slider variations and is compatible with WordPress 3.0. Its simple, clean and minimalist business wordpress theme is not only suitable for business but also portfolio, other blogs.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Themeforest (Premium theme)

Adventure – Clean & Simple WordPress Theme

Adventure is an awesome clean & simple WordPress Theme which could be suitable for almost all kinds of business .You can use it as Business template, Your personal portfolio or even a Blog. It’s comes with valid well written code, working contact form, google maps and much more.

MORE INFO / DEMO by theme forest (premium theme)

CLASSICA – Minimalistic WordPress Portfolio Theme

Classica is a beautifully minimalistic portfolio theme, free from gimmick and trend, making your talent the focal point of your portfolio – the way it should be. Present your work in a professional manor with a timeless design.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Themeforest (Premium theme)

ECHO

Echo is a clean and simple WordPress Theme, but a very powerful and a highly customizable portfolio theme, aimed at anyone who needs a showcase. If you’re looking for a gorgeous portfolio theme, then you’ve just found it.Echo comes with an excellent customer support and a bulletproof documentation file that discusses every aspect of the theme in details, ensuring you don’t face any difficulties in setting up the theme and maintaining it. This is one of the Simple WordPress themes you should check out!

MORE INFO / DEMO – by Themeforest (Premium theme)

PULSE

A magazine-styled new wordpress theme, with a unique and flexible layout. The homepage contains multiple widgetized areas, so you can organize the content as you like.

MORE INFO / DEMO by wpzoom (premium theme)

IMPULSE

Impulse is a Premium WordPress Theme suitable for portfolios, showcases, galleries, photoblogs, personal sites, and more. The possibilities are endless!

MORE INFO / DEMO – by WPZoom (Premium theme)

OLD SCHOOL

Old School is a grungy, flexible, beautiful, magazine-style WordPress theme with lots of options and ad zones, making it easy to build a blog from scratch!

MORE INFO / DEMO – by UpThemes (Premium theme)

BASE

Base is a minimally-styled, feature rich, theme framework built specifically to power child themes. It includes an application framework, a theme options framework and a robust set of options for customizing your site.

MORE INFO / DEMO – by GraphPaperPress (Premium theme)

DAILYNOTES

The purpose of DailyNotes is to make the simplest and most elegant medium possible through which you could share your daily life. The theme is very minimal in its design, and has been trimmed down to the bare essentials. For anyone looking to create a fun and inviting personal blog, I’m confident that DailyNotes will serve you well!

MORE INFO / DEMO – by ElegantThemes (Premium theme)

Yin & Yang

Yin & Yang is a light, minimalistic, simple to use portfolio theme. Quick to setup and easy to customize, thanks to the powerful admin panel, and the detailed documentation, Yin & Yang is the perfect theme for showcasing your most important work directly in front of your potential clients. Yin & Yang has got you covered on all fronts, so if you ever get stuck on anything, rest assured that you’re going to get the help of a professional, if and when you need it, because Yin & Yang comes with excellent customer support.

MORE INFO / DEMO by theme forest (premium theme)

CUMULUS PRO

Cumulus is a cool simple and clean theme for a portfolio style blogs.

MORE INFO / DEMO by theme forest (premium theme)

Work A Holic Pro

Workaholic Pro is a modern and clean portfolio theme for WordPress created by Graph Paper Press designer Chandra Maharzan. Workaholic Pro allows you to separate your portfolio from your blog, without editing a single line of code. This colorful child theme for Modularity comes with preset three color palettes, variable sidebar content, jQuery-powered image-hover effects, plus much more.

MORE INFO by graphpaperpress (premium theme)

Elegant Estate

ElegantEstate – one of the great themes for WordPress CMS – is a full-feature WordPress CMS theme for real estate websites. The theme makes browsing your listings easy, and adds special integration features for property info, photos, Google Maps and more. Help increase sales by establishing an elegant and professional online presence today.

MORE INFO / DEMO by Elegant Themes (premium theme)

Reason

Reason is a powerful professional WordPress theme. It comes with an extremely customizable layout and jQuery homepage slider with 28 different staging effects. Theme packed with advanced contact form, 20 custom Shortcodes, custom post type, lots of jQuery and 9 page templates.

MORE INFO by NattyWP (premium theme)

GridFolio WP

GridFolio is a clean, minimal, single page grid-based WordPress theme. Perfect for a porfolio site but can be used for any number of purposes.

MORE INFO / DEMO by theme forest (premium theme)

Vimes

Vimes is a simple & elegant theme for WordPress, designed especially for design agencies, photographers and artists, but which can be easily used as a traditional blog theme.

MORE INFO / DEMO by WPZoom (premium theme)

Simple Portfolio

The Simple Portfolio is the ultimate solution for a powerful, yet minimal portfolio based theme. The theme is designed with an unobtrusive, minimal approach that focuses the viewers attention to the artwork displayed on the site.

The Simple Portfolio displays imagery and text beautifully in a clean layout. Portfolio’s are manged as categories, and can be displayed in a 1, 2 or 3 column layout. The theme utilizes custom post types to manage featured slides and blog entries, while all portfolio content is added using traditional WordPress posts. Creating a beautifully simple and professional portfolio site has never been easier than with the Simple Portfolio.

MORE INFO  by Organic Themes(premium theme)

Free Simple WordPress Themes

If you are looking for a clean and minimalistic design then the free simple wordpress themes below are worth looking through. Keep in mind however that typically free themes are not supported and they may not be updated when WordPress is taking large steps in its development.

Work-a-holic

Work-a-holic is a free minimalistic two and three column WordPress theme that focuses mainly on showcasing portfolios for artists, web designers, photographers and illustrators.

f8 Lite

F8 Lite can transform your site or blog into a fully functioning photography or multimedia portfolio site.

WP-DEV Dojo Minimalist WordPress Theme

Minimalist WordPress Theme

Minimo

Buddymatic Minimalist WordPress Theme

Thematic Minimalist WordPress Theme Framework

Manifest

Modern Clix

Hybrid Minimalist WordPress Theme Framework

Oulipo

The Journalist

Information Architects

Modicus

Simpla

Hemingway

Stilbruch

Lead