How to Choose the Most Secure WordPress Theme?: 9 Secure Themes in 2024

WordPress is the most popular content management system in the world, and it’s also the most secure. The themes that are built on this platform have a lot of features and security options to ensure your website is protected from hackers.

In this article, we’re going to talk about what makes a WordPress theme the safest to use. Then we’ll let you know how to find high-quality options, & offer two tools that can assist you to test your themes to ensure they’re safe.

How to Choose The Most Secure WordPress Theme?

Finding a great WordPress theme is a hard nut to crack. That’s because the alternative is infinite, and there are several factors to consider when picking the right one. 

Selecting the right & secure WordPress theme for your site is one of the most important decisions you’ll have to make.

But, even if you get a theme that’s beautiful & offers all the features you desire, you’ll still need to make sure it’s ‘secure for you to use. If you can find a secure WordPress theme that meets your entire criterion, you’ve landed on a winner.

Must-Have Theme Features

No matter your personal requirements, you’ll need to look for a theme that has these necessary features.

Security

Presently, website security is at the front position of world news. As a WordPress site owner, it must be at the forefront of your priorities, as well. Just take a look at weekly WordPress vulnerability reports to see how many themes have new risks every week.

Because of the risk of new cyberattacks & zero-day vulnerabilities, you’ll need a WordPress theme that is ultra-secure. No theme is 100% protected, but you need to ensure the theme has active development to maintain the code base to keep it free of safety vulnerabilities.

(This is also why you must keep the theme updated when a new update is available to use. You’ll be notified of new updates right in your WordPress dashboard.

Certainly, you’ll still want to run a WordPress Security Plugin like iThemes Security to completely lock down your site from hackers.

Responsiveness 

An excellent theme will acclimatize to diverse platforms, devices, & browsers so that every single visitor has an outstanding experience.

You’ll need a design that moves content around on lesser screens to create a single-column layout — which is much clear on mobile and necessary for excellent search engine optimization.

Even better: search for a theme that is “mobile-first,” meaning that intended especially for smaller screens. With more than half of traffic coming from phones & tablets, you’ll be catering to the majority of your viewers. 

Performance

A quick-loading website is also excellent for your SEO & improves your guest’s experience. In general, the additional built-in features a theme has & the more customizable it is, the slower it is to load.

Design basics like animations & sliders can also include weight to your website. Select a theme that only includes the features you’ll really use.

Compatibility 

Like it or not, the outlook of WordPress is the WordPress block editor, also recognized as Gutenberg. WordPress has moved out all-in with a block-based approach to page & post-editing, so your theme must utilize what’s happening with WordPress core.

The final thing you want to ensure is to be left behind with a theme that isn’t companionable with the future of WordPress. So be certain to look for integrations with WordPress blocks.

Accessibility

Building a reachable website is not just good — it’s a must. Beyond limiting your reach by excluding those with particular needs, an inaccessible site can open you up to lawsuits & even official trouble.

Most contemporary themes contain code to ensure your site is completely accessible, but it’s an excellent idea to check the theme’s level of compliance before accomplishment.

Support and Maintenance

Seek a theme with an active developer. You need to make sure that your theme is updated frequently, which makes sure that it works with the newest WordPress releases & keeps your site protected.

When viewing a theme in the WordPress library, there must be a date showing when it was last updated.

Several third-party themes also offer a support package, which can be mainly helpful for beginners. Focus on what you’re trying to achieve and how your website can assist you to get there. Don’t be distracted by attractive designs and fancy tools.

How to Check The Security of a WordPress Theme?

WordPress themes are a popular choice for many websites. Themes are the building blocks of any website, so it’s important to make sure that they’re secure. Here are some ways to keep your WordPress theme safe from hackers.

Find out if your WordPress site is running an outdated version of its theme. If your WordPress website is running an outdated or insecure theme, then it’s in the hands of hackers!

It’s best to update your WordPress theme when you can if it isn’t already updated. To check what version of your WordPress theme is installed, click on the Tools tab in the sidebar.

In this tab, you’ll see a section called Theme Info that lists all of the themes that are installed on your website.

The WordPress theme security checker is a free tool that checks your website for potential vulnerabilities.

The tool scans your site to identify themes and plugins that may have been compromised and could be used to hack into your site.

It also provides you with information on the latest updates and plugins you should use for better web security.

Most Common WordPress Theme Vulnerabilities

However, not all themes are secure and some have security loopholes that hackers can exploit to gain access to your website and steal sensitive data.

This article will discuss how to identify if your website is vulnerable to a WordPress theme vulnerability and what steps you can take if it is.

If your site has been compromised by a WordPress theme vulnerability, it’s imperative that you reset the site back to its original settings so you can mitigate the damage done by hackers.

What is a WordPress Theme Vulnerability? A vulnerability in a WordPress theme can be caused by several different attack mechanisms, such as malicious visitors or hackers.

A vulnerability may also arise from external factors such as third-party plugins or code issues. It can also be caused by failure to implement security throughout the theme design and development.

There are several ways to check whether your site has been compromised by a WordPress theme vulnerability, including:

• A hacker exploiting the specific vulnerability in your theme

• Your website was attacked in a distributed denial-of-service attack

• Your website was hacked and keylogger (keyboard logging) or phished (hacking & phishing)

• One of your users developed a malicious script, plugin, or style sheet.

• Your servers have been breached and your site has been taken over

• One of your users is intentionally trying to hack you.

9 Most Secured WordPress Themes in 2024

1. Neve WordPress Theme

Neve is a WordPress theme that has been created with the purpose of simplifying the design process. It comes with a lot of features that make it easy to use and manage.

This theme is perfect for websites that are focused on content rather than aesthetics. This theme is also optimized for SEO so your website will get the best results possible.

Neve is not just about good looks – it also comes with an extensive set of features such as custom widgets, responsive layout, WooCommerce compatibility and more.

Neve is a minimalist and clean WordPress theme. Its design was built in order to give you a professional website with amazing content.

Themeisle has made the theme a mobile-first approach, compatibility with AMP and Gudenberg ready.

Businesses like this theme because it offers

• Fast and lightweight
• Flexible and easy to use
• Easy setup and sleek designs
• Reliable updates
• New features coming up
• Quality code and full support

It is a lightweight theme and has been performed excellently in speed tests like

• Google Pagespeed Insights: 100% Speed Grade (Super fast performance)
• GTmetrix Website Performace Testing & Monitoring: Loads in Less than 1 Second
• Pingdom Website Performance & Availability Monitoring: 28KB File Size (Reduced Weight)

Create a Professional looking Blog with add-on features like

• Custom Design of Header and Footer
• Control the Website Layout Options
• Lightning Fast and Fully Customizable

Features that are exclusively for this theme users are

• Content Editing and Design
• Global color palettes
• 100+ Ready to Import, Starter Sites A Growing Collection
• Beautiful Blog layouts (Pro)
• Custom Layouts (Pro)
• Enhanced WooCommerce (Pro)
• Header and Footer Builder (Pro)

Multiple HTML header components
20+ Components including Cart and Socials
Advanced styling options
Mobile headers and much more
Page header builder

• Elementor Booster (Pro)

Flip Card
Review Box
Typed Headline
Progress Circle
Content Switcher
Content Protection
Particles and Animations

It has a complete bunch of additional features like

• Mega Menus
• Video Tutorials
• Mobile Ready and AMP Compatible
• SEO Friendly
• 1-Minute Setup & Demo Import
• Optimized for speed
• 1-Click Updates & Fast Support
• White label
• Adobe Typekit Fonts

More than 3 lakh WordPress sites run on the Neve theme

2. Astra WordPress Theme

Astra WordPress theme is a responsive and customizable theme that is perfect for any business website.

It has a clean design, with built-in features such as WooCommerce support, unlimited color schemes, and an easy-to-use interface.

Astra WordPress theme is one of the best choices for any business website. It offers a clean design with built-in features like WooCommerce support and infinite color schemes. 

Currently, 1,653,898+ sites run on this theme and 5,678+ Real Users have given 5-star ratings.

The most popular theme of All Time has the following features

• Pre-Built Websites
• Customize Without Code
• Made for Page Builders
• Seamless WooCommerce Integration
• Super Fast Performance
• Gutenberg Blocks Compatibility

Customize everything in the theme easily with

• Layout Settings
• Header Options
• Colors & Typography
• Blog & Archives

Seamless integration with the following plugins

• Elementor
• Beaver Builder
• Woo-commerce
• Learn Dash Toolset
• Yoast

Superfast Performance in the speed test results

• Pingodom: 100% Speed Grade
• Google Developers: 95% Speed Grade
• GT Metrix: 400ms Load Time
• YSlow: 91% Speed Grade
• Additionally, it doesn’t have jQuery, needs less than 50 KB resources and loads in Just 0.5 seconds

The Header Footer Builder

• Drag and Drop Builder
• Live Editing
• Advanced Styling Options

Few more reasons to consider Astra’s theme are given below

• Accessibility Ready
• Hooks & Filters
• SEO Friendly Markup
• Translation & RTL Ready
• Developed on GitHub
• Made for Page Builders​

3. GeneratePress WordPress Theme

GeneratePress is a WordPress theme that helps users create content with ease. It provides many content-generation features that are usually only available to premium WordPress themes.

GeneratePress is a super lightweight WordPress theme for content creators and bloggers with 4,134,694+ downloads & 90k happy customers.

This theme was built with performance focussed speed, usability, & accessibility and was the first to introduce a block-based theme builder.

Accelerate the workflow of your blog with

• Theme Builder
• Site Library
• More Styling Controls
• WooCommerce
• Advanced Hook System
• Mobile Header
• Secondary Nav
• Off-Canvas Panel
• Advanced Layout System
• Sticky Navigation
• Infinite Scroll
• Masonry
• Archive Columns
• Import/export
• Copyright control
• Smooth scroll

GeneratePress also has a one-click installer, which makes it easy to get started with the theme without having to spend hours installing and configuring plugins and widgets. 

GeneratePress will work with some of the most popular plugins in the market such as Comment Lanes, Yoast SEO, Instagram Feed, WordPress SEO by Yoast, Jetpack, All in One SEO Pack, Contact Form 7 & WooCommerce Plugins

4. OceanWP WordPress Theme

OceanWP is incredibly fast, and modern and has a lot of functionality for creating professional websites. Its powerful features make it easy to create websites with excellent loading times.

OceanWP is a perfect choice for anyone who wants to build a website in minutes, without having to learn how to code or design.

This theme is a perfect choice for designers, agencies, freelancers and developers who want to build a website in minutes.

OceanWP theme is the favorite choice of thousands of WordPress developers because of the following reasons:

• Beginner-Friendly
• Ocean Simple Icon
• Developer-Friendly
• Ocean Simple Icon
• Quick Customization
• Ocean Simple Icon
• Fully Responsive
• Ocean Simple Icon
• Fully Customizable

OceanWP is the best multi-purpose and versatile theme because it has the following inbuilt features like

• Accessibility Ready
• Ocean Simple Icon
• Best SEO Practices
• Ocean Simple Icon
• Complete & Flexible
• Ocean Simple Icon
• RTL & Translation Ready
• Ocean Simple Icon
• Lightweight & Fast

• This theme has been installed on 700,000+ WordPress sites
• Offered a 100% Money-Back Guarantee by the developers
• 5,105,219+ Downloads from the official WordPress repository
• World-Class Support for the theme purchasers
• Choose your favorite template from 220+ modern Elementor and Gutenberg-ready templates

Build Beautiful Custom Pages & Sections with ease by using the following options

• Custom Sections
• Custom Page Layout
• Ocean Elementor Widgets

Complete control over your website

• No coding skills required
• Global fonts & typography
• Global site layouts

Your website deserves good-looking header options with

• 7 customizable header styles
• Top bar
• 3 mobile menu styles

Build an awesome online store

• Shop & product page styling
• Regular or multi-step checkout
• Off-canvas filter

OceanWP bundle provides the below extensions for free

• Elementor Widgets
• Sticky Header
• Footer Callout
• Side Panel
• Woo Popup
• Cookie Notice
• Full Screen
• Popup Login
• Instagram
• White Label
• Portfolio
• Ocean Hooks

5. Divi WordPress Theme

Divi is a popular WordPress theme that has been downloaded millions of times by bloggers. It is developed by Advanced Visual Builder Technology that gives you the power to create eye-catching designs with surprising ease and efficiency.

It has an intuitive interface, good documentation, and great support. Divi has been used by many companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Nike, Air Canada, and many more.

It is also available for purchase on Code Canyon. Elegant Themes created Divi and it provides intuitive interfaces, good documentation, and great support.  

It provides 40+ website modules like the call to action, sliders, blogs, galleries, forms, testimonials & many more.

This theme comes with 800+ Pre-made Designs and 100+ Full Website Packs like Business, eCommerce, Technology, Events, Beauty, Services, Health and along with royalty-free photos, icons, and illustrations.

The Divi theme comes with pre-made layouts that can be customized to an extent, but you will still have to do some customization as well.

The themes are also available in a variety of colors and include a

• Powerful drag-and-drop page builder,
• True Visual Editing,
• Custom CSS Control,
• Responsive Editing,
• Design Options Galore,
• Inline Text Editing,
• Save & Manage Your Designs,
• Global Elements & Styles,
• Undo, Redo, & Revisions

You can change the colors of the site, use a pre-made layout or an entirely custom design, and change the colors of the text.

Many websites also use Divi in their WordPress designs, which makes it an easy choice for newbies who want to get into WordPress development.

6. Avada WordPress Theme

Avada is a premium WordPress theme that was created to help users build their own WordPress websites.

It has a clean and minimal design that’s perfect for use as an online portfolio or blog, but it offers options for developers to customize the theme.

Avada is also SEO optimized, so you can be sure your website will rank well in search engines. 

806,091+ people trust this theme and 24k+ 5-star reviews on different platforms

For Beginners it offers

• Visual Builder
• Documentation
• Pre-Built websites
• Support

For Marketers (Lead generation & Conversions focused templates)

• Design
• SEO
• Shop Builder
• Form Builder

For Professionals

• All-in-one
• Patcher
• WCAG
• Dynamic Data

Design anything and everything with

• Live Visual Builder
• Layout Builder
• Header Builder
• Footer Builder
• Form Builder
• Performance Wizard

All-in-one website builder has the following features

• 87 Prebuilt Websites
• 120+ design elements
• Built For Performance
• Mobile Friendly
• Dynamic content
• Online Store Builder

7. Schema WordPress Theme

Schema is a WordPress theme that is designed to make your website look beautiful. It has a lot of features and customization options that can help you create websites with a modern, clean, and professional appearance.

Offering a great user experience, Schema makes it easy for your users to find what they are looking for on your website. This theme is built with the latest web design trends in mind, so it will always look modern and fresh.

Schema is the perfect theme for people who want to create a blog or online magazine website using WordPress.

With Schema WP theme you can easily set up your website without having any coding knowledge or skills as it comes with an extensive set of out-of-the-box features like widgets, sliders, galleries, etc.

The main features of this theme are:

• SEO Features
• Design Features
• Functionality
• Performance Options
• Styling Options
• Header Customization Options
• Homepage Options
• Footer Options
• Single Post Settings

8. StudioPress Theme

StudioPress is a WordPress theme platform that allows users to build their own websites without coding. StudioPress themes are designed to be easy to use and customizable. They have a large library of themes available for purchase.

StudioPress themes are the perfect choice for bloggers and small businesses who want a professional-looking website at an affordable price.

The StudioPress themes come with demos, tutorials, and support from the team at StudioPress. 

Genesis provides ready-to-use tools like

• Genesis Framework
• Genesis Themes
• Genesis Blocks
• Genesis Custom Blocks

More than 600,00+ WordPress sites are using this clean and optimized theme

9. Kava WordPress Theme

Kava is a WordPress theme that is built with a focus on design and quality. It was released in 2016 and has been updated regularly with new features.

Kava is a responsive, Google-friendly, SEO-ready WordPress theme that focuses on design and quality. Kava has an abundance of premium features such as unlimited colors, unlimited widgets, sectioned pages and more.

Key features of this theme are:

• Perfect Match with Crocoblock & Elementor
• Powerful Blogging Theme
• Clear and Fully Customizable
• 50 stylish blog page layouts
• Flexible single post page layouts

Reasons to consider Kava’s multi-purpose theme are

• Developer-friendly
• Translation & RTL Ready
• WooCommerce-ready
• Elementor Compatibility
• Live Customizer
• Responsive

How do I Make Sure My WordPress Site is Secure?

There are many security vulnerabilities in WordPress that can be exploited by hackers. Here’s how you can protect your site against these attacks and stay protected.

There are different ways to protect your WordPress site from cyber-attacks such as:

• Using strong passwords

• Using a firewall

• Use an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption

• Using a security plugin

Using strong passwords to your account will make it harder for a hacker to break in and steal your WordPress site.

It is important that you use a password that’s at least eight characters long. You should also change this password every 90 days and never share it with anyone if possible.

The following are some tips about creating a strong password on your WordPress site:

• Use a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers, punctuation marks and symbols.
• Make sure your password doesn’t contain the words “password” or “administrator.”
• Avoid using your first name (e.g., Kevin), unless it’s not too common (e .g., KevinJames).
• Avoid using the same password for multiple accounts. For example, don’t use the same password for your WordPress account as your email or social media accounts.
• Consider using a password manager to help you create and store secure passwords for all of your online accounts.

Trustworthy Sources For Secure WordPress Themes

In our experience, your top bet is to be with platforms that have an extended track record of selected themes. WordPress’ official Theme Directory, for instance, is a remarkable source for free themes, & it only lists those that pass through a severe review process.

Checklist for Choosing the Most Secured WordPress Theme

The most secure WordPress themes are those that are regularly updated and have inbuilt security features that it is safe from security threats.

This checklist will help you to make sure that your WordPress theme is secure and safe for the users.

The checklist before choosing a secured WordPress theme for your blog:

• Security plugins

• Security updates

• Hosting security

• Database security

• Malware scan

• SSL

• Hacker scans

• Update WordPressSecurity plugins: These are the plugin that adds extra layers of security to your WordPress installation.  

They can help to prevent malware, protect your website from hacking and even monitor your website for updates automatically.

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