Clean design was a huge web design trend in 2016. Closely related to minimalism, the emphasis is on functional design and plenty of space. Less on frills.
For those wondering how to start a WordPress blog, with a clean WordPress theme, there are no distractions from the quality of your content and your images. Both need to be top-notch to impress your visitors and work for you as a lead-generation tool.
Here are 17 of the best clean WordPress themes for your next website.
1. The Essence
The Essence is a beautiful and chic theme. While it is designed to be used for a magazine or a blog, it is versatile enough to be put to any use. It especially shines for content-rich sites.
The Essence boasts over 17 layout options, which run the range from simple to complex. You can easily customize your layout too using the Meridian Styler, a powerful front end styler.
Key Features
- Unlimited customization options with the Meridian Styler
- Fully mobile responsive for a better browsing experience
- 17+ layout options to choose from
- Custom widgets for your About me and social media
Price: $49
2. The Traveler
The Traveler is a simple, clean theme based on an elegant grid. Although it’s designed for blogging, it also uses large featured images so your site won’t lack on visual impact.
This theme has multiple post types, such as image posts and gallery posts that make it perfect for travel bloggers, craft bloggers, or for graphic designers or artists to display their portfolio.
The Traveler also has custom widgets for About Me and social sharing. You’ve also got control of the layout, fonts, colors, spacing, and more with the Meridian Styler. You can easily customize the appearance of your site.
Key Features
- Designed to be mobile responsive
- Customizable layout options
- Meridian Styler gives you unlimited options to customize the appearance of your site
- Custom widgets for Social Sharing and About Me
Price: $49
3. My Blog
My Blog is a theme created by WPKube. It’s a simple, minimal blogging theme that can be adapted to any use.
You have a choice of two layouts and various post options. You can also easily customize the theme to your liking with the Theme Options panel.
Other features include custom About Me, social media, and recent post widgets. You can also have a featured post slider to attract your reader to your most important content.
Key Features
- Two simple and clean layout options
- Custom widgets
- Featured post slider
- Mobile responsive design looks great on all screens
Price: $49
4. Noah
Noah is a bold, modern theme for those looking to display images in a stunning, visual display.
This theme uses an elegant grid-based layout to great effect. Combined with large, striking images and a full-screen slider header, you can display your work in a powerful way.
Noah also boasts animation and transition effects to add a layer of modern flair to your site.
Key Features
- Designed to look great on mobile devices
- Grid-based layout that’s adjustable
- Customize fonts and colors to your liking
- Full-screen slider header option
Price: $225
5. Solopreneur
Solopreneur is simple, no-frills theme. Its clean and elegant design mean it can easily be adapted for almost any kind of site.
Solopreneur is easy to customize to your liking. The sidebar is widgetized to give you drag and drop control over the elements you want your readers to see.
This simple theme has inbuilt landing page options to help you convert your visitors into subscribers or customers.
Key Features
- Landing page options
- Simple design
- Fully mobile responsive design
Price: $59
6. Owl
Owl is a simple and elegant theme that will make your site stand out from the rest.
To start you off, Owl comes with 3 different blog layouts and various post types with an easy drag and drop function so you can change the order of your posts. These layouts can easily be customized to make them your own using Theme Options powered by the WordPress customizer.
Owl is packed with features to help your blog shine. There are 9 custom widgets, featured sliders, shortcodes for Drop Caps, Font Awesome, and a stunning full-width Instagram feed for the footer.
Key Features:
- Powerful Theme Options powered by the WordPress customizer
- Stunning Instagram feed in the footer
- Multiple shortcodes
- Drag and Drop function to change the order of posts
Price: $39
7. Wright
Wright is a clean and minimalist theme that puts the spotlight on your images. To show off your photos even better, Wright gives you thumbnail to lightbox gallery view options so your visitors can see your images up close.
The theme features top navigation with a cascade menu style, keeping the main body of your site clean and uncluttered. Wright also comes with integrated Google Fonts and typography color options as well as customizable background colors.
Key Features:
- Thumbnail to lightbox Gallery View
- Cascade menu style
- Top navigation style
- Fully mobile responsive design
Price: $100
8. Wintersong
Wintersong is a clean and simple theme that’d suit any content-focused site. Powered by the Genesis Framework, it’s easy to get started with Wintersong. With just a few clicks you can begin creating your own unique site using the powerful Theme Options and Theme Customizer.
This theme comes with multiple custom page templates which makes things even easier for you. Wintersong also has a fully customizable header and two widget areas.
Key Features:
- Powered by the Genesis Framework
- Multiple custom page templates
- Powerful theme options
- Fully mobile responsive theme
Price: $99.95
9. Neo
Neo is a clean and elegant theme powered by the Genesis Framework. It boasts endless customization options through the Theme Options and you’ll be able to customize the theme to your liking.
With extra templates and shortcodes provided, you can get a headstart with your site and also put your own stamp on things.
Key features:
- Multiple templates provided
- Powerful Theme Options
- Powered by Genesis
- Designed to be fully responsive and look great on all screens
Price: $49
10. Jason
Key Features:
- Custom Logo, Styles, and Widgets
- Endless customization options using the Theme Options
- Fully responsive design
Price: $75/year limited access or $112 / one-time purchase
11. Beautiful Pro
Beautiful Pro is a clean and customizable theme that runs on the Genesis Framework.
This theme comes with multiple custom page templates which can be customized with the powerful Theme Options and Theme Customizer tools. To further personalize your page the header is fully customizable and there 10 widget areas you can use to add content to your site.
Key Features:
- Custom page templates
- 10 customizable widget areas
- Responsive design
- Powered by Genesis
Price: $99.95
12. Portfolio
Portfolio is a clean and minimal theme designed to showcase your work with style.
This theme boasts advanced portfolio filters to help your visitors find what they’re looking for. You can also customize the number of columns and change the image size. Portfolio features Ajax loading so your images will load smoothly. And with social media integration, you can share your works easily.
Portfolio comes with many customization options such as Google Fonts, unlimited color and background options, and custom widgets.
Key Features:
- Advanced portfolio filters
- Ajax loading for smooth image loading
- Fully responsive design
- Designed for portfolios
Price: $59
13. Uncode
Uncode is a clean and stylish theme that is easily customized.
The theme boasts 30+ layouts you can import with a simple click, or you have the option to build your own from scratch using the Visual Composer. For extra customization, there are 6+ menu types, 16+ portfolio layouts, and infinite layout and font options.
Uncode has full WooCommerce integration and comes with carousel options that work well if you have an online store. Revolution Slider, LayerSlider, and iLightbox are also included in the box.
Key Features:
- Infinite layouts and fonts
- Revolution Slider, LayerSlider, and iLightbox included
- Visual Composer enhanced
- Fully mobile responsive design, looks great on all devices
Price: $59
14. X | The Theme
X is a powerful and clean WordPress theme that is endlessly customizable. This theme comes loaded with multiple pre-made unique designs you can use as a jumping-off point for your own content.
X can be fully customized using the WordPress Customizer and you can choose between Cornerstone or Visual Composer to use as your drag and drop page builder.
To make your life easier there are 40 custom shortcodes built for X to make your website stand out. X also comes packed with features such as WooCommerce integration, bbPress forum software, BuddyPress, Slider Revolution, integrated social media sharing, iLightbox, custom post formats and custom widgets.
Key Features:
- Multiple unique designs
- Cornerstone or Visual Composer for page building
- 40+ custom shortcodes
- Mobile responsive design
Price: $65
15. Adios
Adios is a clean and stylish multipurpose theme. It comes with numerous page templates you can use to create stunning pages with Visual Composer. With the live preview customization, you can see your changes in real time.
This theme is loaded with 33 custom shortcodes which allows for more personalization within the theme. With various post formats, header and footer layouts and advanced blog, and portfolio layouts you can show off your content in style. For your portfolio, there is a filtering option and you can add parallax layouts.
Key Features:
- Page building powered by Visual Composer
- Live preview customization
- Advanced Blog & Portfolio layouts
- 33+ shortcodes
- Responsive design
Price: $39
16. Trendomania
Trendomania is a stylish template with a tender feminine design. Beautiful slider, well-though layout with lots of white space, simple typography make it a perfect fit for fashion and lifestyle blogs.
The template runs on the latest version Cherry Framework 5, which provides you with smooth installation, and maintenance process. The customization process is simplified due to the Power page builder and Live Customizer. Multiple widgets and content modules allow you editing your layout in WYSIWYG mode.
The theme is licensed under GPL v3.0 which means that you can use it for unlimited number of projects and edit its source code.
Price: $39
17. Sondos
If you’re after a clean WordPress theme, Sondos is a great choice. It is fully customizable through the WordPress customizer which gives you access to unlimited colors, Google fonts, and more.
Sondos boasts 3 home page layouts, 7 post formats, and 2 archives templates, giving you a great base to create your own unique site. The theme also comes with 6 custom widgets as well as social media button integration and author box and related posts box support.
Key Features:
- 3 home page layouts to choose from
- 7 post formats and 2 archive templates
- Social media integration
- Responsive design, looks great on any device
Price: $39
Wrapping It Up
If you’re looking for a modern theme with clean and elegant design, look no further. The themes on this list are versatile and any one would be a great choice for your next website project.
Over to you – which of these themes is your favorite?
Snap! I’m so happy X is included in this roundup, out of the box it’s lightweight. With some heavy customization you can get a minimal feel going in no time.
quick question….
would you mind sharing where you get all the “cartoonish” images for your posts featured images? They kind of look like flat icons or something… I have tried, in vain, looking everywehre but cant find a source with this type of images…
thanks