20 Beautiful Minimalist WordPress Themes
Minimalism in web design seems to be the new trend lately, and WordPress is the perfect candidate to put simplicity to good use. Good minimal design is more than white backgrounds and text-centered design — it requires the same balance, elegance, and purpose that good web design does.
You’ll find 20 minimal WordPress themes below that embody both simplicity and enlightened design. Most of the themes are free, though some of them require a small fee. When using a WordPress theme, be sure to read the license information and give the proper credit to the original designer when offered.
1. Simplicity
2. Clean Home
3. Grid Focus
4. Modio
5. Carrington
6. FotoFolio
7. Enormous
8. Modern Clix
9. Empty Canvas
10. iA3
11. Documentation
12. Simplr
13. Modern
14. Structure
15. Undedicated
16. Satorii
17. Vostok
18. Smart Portfolio
19. min
20. Manifest
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About the Author
93 Comments
Jai
March 15th, 2010
I have tried QuickChic and its a cool minimalistic theme.
Michael Struwig
March 15th, 2010
A list I’ve been waiting for for a long, long time! Thanks!
Altaf Sayani
March 15th, 2010
Minimalist rocks, this list have some of my favorite Clean themes.
Kawsar Ali
March 15th, 2010
Looks Great. No hibbyjibbies… just plain and simple. Great post
Jhon
March 15th, 2010
Take a look at this: http://themeforest.net/item/saganowsky/83281
David Bradley
March 15th, 2010
Very nice. I like a few of these. :D
David Bradley
March 15th, 2010
Also, smartfolio has to be my favorite.
Chris
March 15th, 2010
Nice List. Here is my List “30. Free Minimalism WordPress Design Themes“.
BBL
March 15th, 2010
Thanks Kurt for this list ;)
Awesome
March 15th, 2010
I love a good minimalist theme. I like to keep my blogs simple and lightning fast. I like most of the examples you posted.
JC
March 15th, 2010
Great collection…I wish I could sell more of my clients on minimalist approach…cleanliness is a step below godliness!
adone
March 15th, 2010
Very good list, thanks.
John Paul Aguiar
March 15th, 2010
Smart Portfolio is pretty cool, simple, with a lil design, nice.
David Swinstead
March 15th, 2010
I do like SixRevisions, but I wonder if posts like this are examples of list articles being taken too far.
A few of these are really nice but most are nothing special at all. Conclusion – a list just for the sake of lists?
Amberly
March 15th, 2010
wow…very minimalistic themes I like it very much.
I’m a huge fan of simple wordpress themes.
Thanks for sharing.
Rob
March 15th, 2010
For anyone looking to start a WordPress design with a COMPLETELY cleaned slate, try Elliot Jay Stocks Starkers Theme (http://elliotjaystocks.com/starkers/)
I understand that this post was not about stripping WordPress of all style and building it yourself, but this can give you a nice start towards building your own beautiful minimalist theme.
Susan
March 15th, 2010
This is an extensive list of simple wp themes. It’s a good collection.
Logobird
March 15th, 2010
Love it when content takes center stage. Excellent (very) minimalist designs. Thank you!
Gonzo the Great
March 15th, 2010
Hi Kurt,
thanks for putting a list together of the most beautiful white and clean WP-themes I’ve seen in a long time! Well, except my own white and clean gonzoblog ofcourse, haha!
And best past, they’re for free! Thanks for sharing, Cheers & Ciao …
Heidi
March 15th, 2010
Thanks for this list – I’m looking for something different for my site – I like minimalist because I’ve got so many photos.
Heidi
CA
March 15th, 2010
I think this is a good list and it seems like a lot of people on here are fans of minimalist themes. I understand the appeal, but I personally like WordPress themes that stand out a little bit more.
Frank
March 16th, 2010
Please – the link to theme Documentation is very old, please link to http://bueltge.de/documentations-theme-fuer-wordpress/469/ for the actually version. The demo-link is also bad, this is a test-blog of an other people.
Thanks for sharing
Jhon
March 16th, 2010
What about saganowky ? http://themeforest.net/item/saganowsky/83281
lava360blog
March 16th, 2010
i know clean home theme and i love it. thanks for this great list
dave miers
March 16th, 2010
simple. beautiful.
Neil Andrew DuPaul
March 16th, 2010
Just downloaded smart portfolio. I’ve been needing an easy theme to throw up as a homepage, this fits the bill perfectly.
Valeraz
March 16th, 2010
thanks very simple and beautiful themes !!!
downloaded portfolio and structure .
Nikos
March 16th, 2010
I think that these are to minimalistic to stand out. I’ m all in with minimal design but something has to exist there to make you wanna visit/read/click
Nelspruit
March 17th, 2010
Minimalist is not so in here in SA, but then again we are a bit behind the times – ;)
Cudazi
March 17th, 2010
Thanks for featuring my Smart Portfolio and Min sites sites Kurt, I’m proud to be a part of that great list. – Curt
adone
March 17th, 2010
I love structure theme.
Desigg
March 17th, 2010
18. Smart Portfolio | Amazing!
ben
March 18th, 2010
an indexhibit-like theme and tutorial (fr) :
! you need to select a static page as home !
http://jaiunblog.com/2298/construisez-votre-theme-wordpress/
screenshot :
http://jaiunblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/g1.png
Netchunks
March 18th, 2010
I like GridFocus from them all
Naeem Noor
March 18th, 2010
Modio is Awesome!
5D Mark II
March 18th, 2010
I am going to try some
Amanda Larrinaga
March 18th, 2010
These are great.
Hans Hamid
March 18th, 2010
Repost?!
CMS Themes
March 18th, 2010
Awesome list mate :)
James Karinejad
March 19th, 2010
Brill! been looking for a list like this, thanks
Mark Simon
March 19th, 2010
These all look like nice themes for the most part.
FYI… the picture and links you have for FotoFolio are very misleading. The picture & demo link are not the site you get from installing the theme.
The colors & layout are completely different.
Thanks for posting
Bryan Helmig
March 22nd, 2010
Check out Magatheme. It’s clean and easy to use too.
Unni
March 24th, 2010
Checkout Kasrod – http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/kasrod
Agilworld
March 25th, 2010
thanks for sharing…
reference to study and make WP themes for newbies
Mr. Juegos
March 31st, 2010
Thanks for this awesome collection, “min” theme rocks.
Jason Fonceca
April 7th, 2010
Woo! Talk about beautiful free minimalist themes! Kurt, what a great and useful collection to share. Thanks so much man… totally appreciated. I’m psyched to play around with some of them :)
I may be wrong but, it seems to me that Smart Portfolio is no longer free, but a pay-for theme on ThemeForest (not that its not utterly worth its price!)
Rock on.
facebookcafe
April 14th, 2010
Wow amazing themes! Thank you very much! :-)
maxdi
April 30th, 2010
Theme superr
RSA Online
May 7th, 2010
Thanks I am getting Smart Portfolio! Cheers. 8-)
Aphrodite
July 12th, 2010
Quality, been looking to start a blog from our website for customer interaction, so looking for something like this. Thanks for sharing.
Mohamed
July 15th, 2010
These are great themes! I run the Frugal theme on my personal site but really like these other minimalist themes. Just looking at them, and without having tried any yet, Simplicity and Clean Home look really nice.
Satya Prakash
August 11th, 2010
I checked structure theme and it looks good. have not checked whether it is free or what
andimazlan
September 20th, 2010
i love minimalist theme. But why most of them are in black and white? Good list anyway.
Irwan
September 29th, 2010
Thanks for the list..
Loves the Grid Focus themes
Wordpress Theme NL
October 14th, 2010
Last week I made a brand new minimalist wordpress theme. I love them. Just look for “Friendly Fast” and you will find it.
Juegos
November 9th, 2010
Thanks for sharing. Greetings
Little Geek
November 9th, 2010
Well, thank you for this great collection, i have collected more 35 clean and minimal templates here: http://www.alittlegeek.com/35-clean-fresh-minimalistic-free-wordpress-themes/. i hope they will be useful for you too.
David Siddall
November 9th, 2010
I’ve personally used MidMo. It’s a great template for a portfolio style website and blog.
Markus Dan
November 13th, 2010
Great themes!! Thanks a lot
Markus
Fitri Mandiri
December 14th, 2010
nice themes.. AMAZING!!! thanks..
Zach Lysobey
December 20th, 2010
9. Empty canvas – broken links…
Likes
December 31st, 2010
I several of these themes, Superb taste ;)
Ronald Redito
January 2nd, 2011
I use Smart Folio for one of my clients in dental industry. She liked the look of the page.
syam
January 13th, 2011
Im newbie in WP and thanks for sharing. i’m about to buy a limited minimalize theme from http://www.12designsproject.com/
but now i think maybe i should try a free one 1st..
ari giduk
January 21st, 2011
very minimalist I find the template in the category elegant minimalist but memorable, if there is I would definitely replace my wordpress template
bangkit
February 8th, 2011
I like this template, although I am not using wordpress based website and I will wait hopefully will come out based templates blogspot template similar to this minimalist
Fabrizio Van Marciano
February 15th, 2011
Wow, Simpr couldn’t get any more minimalist than that huh, great selection thanks for sharing.
Tech
February 19th, 2011
Very nice collection :) i thing the Carrington is the better, great list, thanks.
hans hs
February 22nd, 2011
i like this coll themes, i like minimalist, thanks
Juegos
March 9th, 2011
The best Minimalist WordPress Themes!!!
Greetings!!
Peter
April 18th, 2011
Would have been great if each of your examples included a photo sample instead of just mostly text.
Chandana
May 4th, 2011
Simple but powerful wordpress themes.Thanx
v7web
May 6th, 2011
Perfect, undedicated was just what O was looking for.
many thanks
Awake
May 14th, 2011
I’m looking for something like this. White and simple, great.
Justin Freid
May 16th, 2011
I like Grid Focus, thanks for putting this post together.
rox
May 17th, 2011
I like this template, although I am not using wordpress based website
Robert
May 27th, 2011
Thanks. like “6. FotoFolio” ;-)
Oleg
June 9th, 2011
My personal favorite minimalist theme is Barecity
http://shaheeilyas.com/barecity/
Perfect for hacking to blend into an established website
Paul
June 22nd, 2011
I love minimalist themes, but could do with a bit more colour, minimalist doesnt have to mean white. Great list BTW
Kurt
June 22nd, 2011
Another great minimalist theme for the list is Space. It does a good job of removing both unnecessary design elements and WordPress features, leaving users with clear and easy to read comment.
You can see Space in action here:
http://www.getspace.org/
Elektric
June 28th, 2011
Great themes! Thanks, thanks, thanks
Robert
yoyo
July 5th, 2011
cool.. im going to trying one of those… thanks and many thanks..
Amit
July 11th, 2011
Thanks for the great list of these wordpress themes
Josh Harris
July 14th, 2011
Have to say I really like Smart Portfolio, top quality theme.
Bill
August 2nd, 2011
Simple & attractive.. i found some cool themes here.
SquidoS
August 10th, 2011
yes… i verry verrrrry like this themes.
Alex
August 14th, 2011
Smart portfolio is certainly on top of all those listed here.
Yobento
September 8th, 2011
best theme i will be download for my blog
Wiloooo
September 11th, 2011
great theme thank’s :-)
Javi @ JuegosDeMario
September 16th, 2011
In Germany we say “weniger ist mehr” like “less is more”… That´s my principle in relation to webdesign. Great theme, therefore :) .
San Fernando
September 27th, 2011
Nowadays with websites getting cluttered, or over-animated, I prefer a minimalist theme. Thank you for the suggestions!
Vikram Kamath
October 1st, 2011
You forgot melville!
samrat kafle
October 15th, 2011
great themes listed here really thanks for sharing this :)i am gonna use it for sure…
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