If you’re giving so much of your time and effort to building a website, why not make it accessible for your visitors to view it, irrespective of their device and screen size? Why not create a website that’s mobile friendly?
That’s what the article is all about. We are going to share what we consider to be the best mobile friendly WordPress theme to help you build a responsive website.
By the end of the article, you will know what mobile responsiveness is, why it is necessary to create a mobile friendly website, and what to look for in mobile responsive WordPress themes.
We’ll also share 16 examples of free themes you can use for your own website.
Quick summary of the best mobile responsive WordPress theme
Here is a quick summary list of the best mobile-friendly WordPress theme that will ensure that the website layout adapts to smaller screens, navigation is easy to use, and the website loads quickly on mobile devices.
- Astra – Fastest, most flexible, and free WordPress theme
- Hestia – Mobile first approach and Adaptive design-focused theme
- OceanWP – Famous for its flexible grid-style blog layout
- Neve – Mobile optimized, responsive design theme
- Sydney – Clean, fast loading responsive WordPress theme
We will go through these themes in detail but before let’s understand.
What is mobile responsiveness?
Mobile responsiveness in a website refers to whether the site is optimized to be functional and pleasing on devices of different sizes.
In the past, web developers designed websites with a fixed width for desktops. But people started browsing websites with different screen sizes and fixed screen sizes were no longer ideal.
A mobile responsive website has a layout that adjusts to the screen size of any device. All the structure, header, images and content on a website change automatically, fitting the screen being used.
The elements on the page of these sites are flexible, and unnecessary details are hidden to provide a better browsing experience to users.
Why should you create a mobile friendly website?
Statistics show that there are 5.1 billion people using the internet and they’re increasingly turning to mobile devices to browse and shop online.
Let’s view the underlying reasons to create a mobile friendly website using an infographic to help visualize the information.
More people use mobile than desktop
Mobile browsing has grown more common since the increase in sales of smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices.
Around 55% of the worldwide online visits come from mobile, 43% from desktop, and 2% from tablet.
Image source: https://gs.statcounter.com/
The reason for the increase is that mobile devices are portable and can be carried around conveniently, while desktops require you to be seated in place and browse.
Convenience always wins, which is why we’re seeing the increase.
Easy to read and navigate on smaller screens
As mobile devices become more sophisticated, audiences are shifting towards reading on a small screen.
A mobile responsive website makes it simple for visitors to browse a website on any device.
Better SEO results
As the number of mobile users browsing websites has increased, search engines, including Google, now prioritize mobile-friendly websites.
Statistics show that around 92% of internet users search on Google. As it’s the main search engine, you need to deliver what it looks for, including mobile responsiveness.
You can run a quick test to see if your website is mobile responsive or not.
Google identifies if a website is mobile-friendly or not and favors it in search results. And it’s not just limited to Google and other search engines too.
So, if your website is fully responsive and uses mobile-first design, you’ll rank higher than a website that isn’t.
Easily accessible
Since mobile users are increasing rapidly, having a mobile responsive website makes your site easily accessible. They can open your website from any device and enjoy viewing the content.
The key here is convenience. The easier it is for someone to visit your website and achieve their goal, the more likely they are to do it.
People want instant satisfaction, from anywhere, at any time. Responsive websites help deliver that satisfaction.
Better user experience
Creating a mobile-friendly website ensures that visitors have a seamless experience irrespective of the device and screen size.
Users do not expect to have a second class experience just because they use a mobile or small screen.
If users can achieve their aim on a phone, you’re providing a good user experience. If you don’t provide that, users will quickly find a website that does!
What is a mobile friendly WordPress theme?
Mobile friendly WordPress themes offer good readability and accessibility, fast loading images, a proper layout system, easy navigation, and excellent user experience irrespective of the device and screen size.
The theme automatically adjusts itself to the user’s screen making your site appear correctly on desktops, mobile phones, and tablets.
It can either be an eCommerce theme for an eCommerce site or a blog theme for a blog website, the key function lies in that it adjusts depending on the device being used.
WordPress mobile friendly themes focus on improving the user experience and play a significant role in search engine optimization.
What to look for in a free mobile-friendly WordPress theme
Responsiveness being a key consideration, there are a few other components to consider when looking for a mobile responsive WordPress theme.
Customization
Before publishing your website, you might want to customize it to fit your needs. A theme that offers customization features allows you to make changes on your site quickly and easily.
It is necessary to ensure that the theme you’re using is feature-rich and can easily be customized to add more content and updates over time.
The theme compatible with drag and drop page builders makes the customization process simpler.
Speed
Nobody enjoys a slow-loading website. Especially if you’re browsing from a mobile device!
This affects the user experience and increases the bounce rate reducing the conversion on the site.
Google and Facebook emphasize the importance of a fast-loading website.
Stats show that the bounce rate of a site increases by 40 to 50% for each additional 1 second increase in page load times.
That makes page speed a significant search engine ranking factor.
Source: Cloudflare
Compatibility
Your website will likely require forms, a page builder, optin plugin, and other conversion-focused plugins to add new features.
It requires WordPress plugins such as Yoast SEO for SEO, WP Rocket for caching, and so on.
It is advisable to experiment with responsive themes that are not only customizable, but also compatible with the plugins you use.
Active installations
The more active installations a WordPress theme has, the more popular it is. There’s usually a good reason for that popularity.
To view the active installation of the theme, you can visit the WordPress repository and search for the theme in the theme category.
16 best free mobile responsive WordPress themes
Mobile responsiveness is a significant factor for a website, and all themes in this post deliver great mobile-friendly functionality.
Discover the top 5 WordPress themes designed to be mobile-responsive in this informative infographic.
Even though this is a post about free mobile responsive themes, we’ll mention if there’s a premium version, just in case you want to try it.
| Theme name | Pricing | Our rating |
| Astra | Free / From $47 €45 per year | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Hestia | Free / From $69 per year | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| OceanWP | Free / From $49 per year | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Neve | Free / From $69 per year | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Sydney | Free / From $69 per year | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
1. Astra
Astra is one of the most popular WordPress themes globally, with 1 million+ active installations.
The theme is easy to use and has been designed to be accessible to those new to WordPress and those with more experience.
The theme has a selection of high-quality free Starter Templates and a wide array of premium templates, allowing you to build any website quickly. It is fully compatible with Gutenberg, Elementor and Beaver Builder page builders. Building a website is simple with a drag and drop page builder and one click demo installation!
Astra is known for being fast loading and ideal for SEO. The theme itself and all the templates are fully mobile responsive and adapt beautifully on different screen sizes, making your site appear beautiful on desktops, mobiles, tablets, and any device.
Recommended Astra’s templates:
Pros of Astra:
- Fully responsive WordPress theme
- Compatible with drag and drop page builders
- Designed for conversion
- Provides excellent user experience
- Easy to learn and use
- Professional looking Starter Templates
Cons of Astra:
- Selecting a template can be difficult as there’s a lot of choice
Astra Pricing
Astra has a free and a premium version starting from $47 €45 per year.
2. Hestia
Hestia is a top performing responsive WordPress theme that always appears in our recommendations. The theme is SEO friendly, works well with WordPress customizer, supports WooCommerce, and is fully compatible with leading page builders.
The theme’s design is simple but effective with the correct balance of content, color, white space, images, and layouts. It appears equally great on your mobile device. It is a competent theme with a multipurpose template that fits the needs of most websites.
Pros of Hestia:
- Attractive and responsive demo template
- Easy to use and offers complete customization
- Drag and drop page builders compatible
- WooCommerce support to power eCommerce stores
- Speed and SEO optimized
Cons of Hestia:
- Demo design is a little plain
Hestia Pricing
Hestia is a free theme. It also offers a premium version Hestia Pro starting from $69 per year.
3. OceanWP
OceanWP is a business-oriented responsive theme offering a header image, service blocks, and a series of content elements to present yourself and your business.
The theme offers an attractive, modern, and professional template that is fast, translation ready, and optimized for SEO. OceanWP provides excellent value and can be the ideal option if you enjoy modern designs.
Pros of OceanWP:
- Select from a wide variety of templates
- Fully responsive, offering fast loading pages
- Functions well with leading page builders
- Extensions to add additional features
- Easy to use and great support
Cons of OceanWP:
- Free version might not be the best for creating a website quickly
OceanWP Pricing
OceanWP offers both free and premium versions with the premium ones available for $49.
4. OnePress
OnePress is a responsive one page WordPress theme designed with business in mind. It is a free theme with a calm design and great use of white space and fonts. It offers a smooth header image and a wide range of page elements.
The theme is known for its ease of use. OnePress offers modern fonts with the alternative of white and gray backgrounds that work equally well. You can customize the whole website in a few seconds with easy drag and drop. The graphics and the animations in the theme add a little interest to the optional parallax element character.
Pros of OnePress:
- Free version offers lots of features to create a beautiful website
- Mobile responsive and loads quickly
- Easy to use
- Fully compatible with popular page builders
- Modern, crisp design that works anywhere
Cons of OnePress:
- It offers only one template
OnePress Pricing
OnePress offers free and a premium version starting from $99 per year.
5. Neve
Neve is a popular WordPress mobile friendly theme offering free and premium templates. The theme comes with vast options of demo templates covering the needs of every business. Each template makes excellent use of color, white space, and layouts to suit any business.
The theme is fully compatible with all the popular page builders like Elementor, Brizy, Beaver Builder, Visual Composer, SiteOrigin, Divi Builder, and others. Neve is also compatible with WooCommerce and other plugins too.
Pros of Neve:
- Flexible theme compatible with most page builders
- Offers a wide variety of templates to select from
- Designed to load quickly
- Mobile responsive theme
- Compatible with most plugins
Cons of Neve:
- Most of the templates look the same
Neve Pricing
Neve offers a free and premium version costing $69 to $259, depending on your plan.
6. BuddyX
BuddyX is a free WordPress theme built around engagement. It’s intended for social networking, but could work for forums, membership websites, online learning websites and other types of sites that prioritize community.
The design is light, easy going and laid out similar to Facebook. It includes all the features you might expect from Facebook too, profile areas, a member sidebar, update section and a post-style section in the center. It’s a great option if you’re trying to build your own social network-style website.
Pros of BuddyX:
- Fully responsive design with a nice layout
- Ideal for social, course or membership websites
- Flexible and easy to customize
- Integrates with popular LMS and store platforms
- Compatible with the Elementor page builder
Cons of BuddyX:
- Support for the WordPress Site Editor would be nice
BuddyX Pricing
BuddyX is free. There’s also a premium version, BuddyX Pro priced from $59 per year.
7. Sydney
Sydney is a highly rated multipurpose WordPress theme from aThemes. The theme offers a wide range of demo websites covering most niches. It is fully compatible with most WordPress plugins, including WooCommerce.
Sydney comes with its customizer to help you build the pages of your website with ease. It covers most niches’ needs and presents a high standard of designs with attractive aesthetics.
Pros of Sydney:
- Beautiful and responsive demo covering most niches
- Simple to use
- Compatible with most plugins
- Compatible with most page builders
- Great support
Cons of Sydney:
- Most suited to business websites
Sydney Pricing
Sydney is a free theme. It also has a premium version – Sydney Pro costing $69 per year.
8. Ultra
Ultra is a responsive WordPress theme that delivers everything you’re likely to need to build a beautiful website. The theme uses Themify Framework, offering drag and drop functionality and offers many design features and page elements.
Ultra is compatible with most WordPress plugins, including WooCommerce. It offers a wide range of demo designs that you can install with a single click. It provides a flexible customization option and allows you to do more than build a website, which is a nice bonus.
Pros of Ultra:
- Wide variety of templates covering most niches
- Fully compatible with most page builders
- Mobile responsive theme offering faster load page
- Easy to use
- Offers a wide range of layout options and page elements
Cons of Ultra:
- Need to learn Themify Builder to use the theme
Ultra Pricing
Ultra offers a free and premium version starting from $59 to $89 per year.
9. GeneratePress
GeneratePress is a lightweight WordPress theme that focuses on page speed and user experience. It is a mobile-friendly theme that follows WCAG 2.0 standards ensuring your website is accessible by all.
GeneratePress is optimized for SEO, making your site search engine friendly. The theme offers an extensive library of professionally designed templates and pages so you can build your whole website without touching a single line of code.
Pros of GeneratePress:
- Fully responsive
- It offers lots of pre-built templates to select from
- Compatible with most WordPress plugins including WooCommerce
- Easy to use and customize
- Uses the WordPress customizer
Cons of GeneratePress:
- WordPress customizer not as powerful as page builders
GeneratePress Pricing
GeneratePress offers a free and premium version costing $59 per year and $249 for a lifetime license.
10. Foodica Lite
Foodica Lite is our favorite food blog theme when it comes to choosing a theme for a food blog website. It is a mobile responsive WordPress theme with a nice appearance, modern handwritten fonts, and minimal layouts.
The theme offers a post slider, widgets, a sidebar, and a contact form. It offers an awesome responsive template with fast loading pages and delivers smooth performance. Foodica Lite offers white space, simple fonts, and borderless content areas with excellent images.
Pros of Foodica Lite:
- Beautiful layout with minimalism in mind
- Fully responsive
- Simple but effective colors
- Recipe card and index features
- Fully compatible with most page builders
Cons of Foodica Lite:
- Quite a simple layout that will require work to make it stand out
Foodica Pricing
The theme has a free and a premium version costing $69 per year.
11. Deep
Deep is a multipurpose free WordPress theme with dozens of professional quality templates. It covers the needs of many business types and is fully responsive. It offers light, fluid pages and has a relaxed, inviting feel. The theme is also fast and loads quickly.
Deep includes all the elements you need in your modern website with the convenience of importing a demo in one click. It has 28 free templates and 45+ widgets to select from and supports both Elementor and WooCommerce.
Pros of Deep:
- Variety of templates to select from
- One-click demo import
- Responsive and fast loading pages
- Compatible with popular page builders
- Easy to use
Cons of Deep:
- All the templates are minimal so will require imagination
Deep Pricing
Deep has a free and a premium version costing $59 per year.
12. Flash
Flash is a free responsive WordPress theme designed with business in mind. It offers header images and service blocks along with a great look. It uses color, font, and simple design to create a site that feels reassuring.
Flash comes with a selection of demo templates that are elegant, minimalistic, and impactful. It covers different niches with a keen eye for design and user experience.
Pros of Flash:
- Fully responsive
- Wide selection of pre-built templates
- Smooth performance
- Easy to use
- Compatible with most WordPress plugins
Cons of Flash:
- There’s no support available for the free version
Flash Pricing
Flash offers a free and premium version starting from $69 per year.
13. OnePage Lite
OnePage Lite is an attractive solution if you’re looking for a responsive single page WordPress theme. It is a lightweight theme that can be used to create any website, either personal or business. The theme features a drag and drop, fully customizable homepage layout.
OnePage Lite offers several theme options. These options are neat and clean with the parallax effect, allowing you to use multiple backgrounds on your site. You can further include CSS3 animations. It consists of a floating menu, one-click install, Twitter-feed integration, and much more.
Pros of OnePage Lite:
- Responsive design
- Unlimited colors options
- Optimized for speed
- Easy customization
- Portfolio section to show off your work
Cons of OnePage Lite:
- It is only suitable if you want to create one page website
OnePage Pricing
OnePage has a free and premium version starting from $49 per year.
14. Zakra
Zakra is one of the best free mobile-friendly WordPress themes and is a beautiful theme with an elegant contrast color and gray background. The free version of Zakra uses an agency layout to deliver a solid, helpful template for a wide range of businesses and provides ten free demos.
The theme includes all the page elements required to build a responsive site. The theme has you covered throughout the site-building process with the series of professional demo sites, compatibility with most page builders, and comes with excellent support.
Pros of Zakra:
- Well designed demo templates ready to install and use
- Compatible with leading drag and drop page builders
- Fast loading pages
- It supports WooCommerce and most WordPress plugins
- SEO friendly and RTL ready
Cons of Zakra:
- There’s no demo site so you cannot preview the templates in action
Zakra Pricing
Zakra has a free and a premium version available for $69 per year.
15. Phlox
Phlox is a popular responsive WordPress theme that offers a series of beautiful demos that can be installed with one click. It is compatible with most page builders enabling you to build a site simply using drag and drop.
You can start quickly by installing the demo and editing the content. The theme is fully customizable, allowing you to place your logo and adjust texts and photos to suit your website. The theme offers fast loading pages too, which is a bonus.
Pros of Phlox:
- Fast setup with one click demo import
- Tons of customization options
- Fully responsive and relatively fast
- Seamless installation process
- Social media buttons included
Cons of Phlox:
- It includes lots of elements that might not be necessary
Phlox Pricing
Phlox has a free and a premium version starting from $59 per year.
16. ColorMag
ColorMag is a responsive theme perfect for any publishing website. It is optimized for speed and offers 25+ pre-built starter templates that you can import with one click. It is fully compatible with leading page builders such as Gutenberg, Elementor, Beaver Builder, SiteOrigin, and others.
The theme allows you to build a fast loading website in just a few steps. ColorMag includes the main headline block with the main story and supplementary stories. There are also various category sections with space for ads, colors, backgrounds and images.
Pros of ColorMag:
- Flexible and easy to use
- Responsive and mobile-friendly
- Offers 25+ pre-built templates
- Compatible with most popular page builders
- WooCommerce integration
Cons of ColorMag:
- It might not fit the need of many business websites
ColorMag Pricing
The theme has a free and a premium version costing $69 per year.
Wrapping Up
What are your thoughts on this list of the best WordPress mobile responsive themes of 2024 so far?
We think the list consists of some superb themes covering every imaginable niche. While the designs are predominantly business layouts, they are flexible enough to be customized to fit just about any need you can think of.
Do you think we are missing out on any free mobile responsive WordPress themes on our list? Do you use any of these themes? Tell us about it below if you do!
Sujay Pawar is the co-founder and CEO of Brainstorm Force. He brings a one-of-a-kind fusion of tech brilliance, business savvy and marketing mojo to the table. Sujay has consistently spearheaded the development of innovative products like Astra, CartFlows, ZipWP and many others that have become market leaders in their respective niches.
Disclosure: This blog may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these links, we may receive a small commission. Read disclosure. Rest assured that we only recommend products that we have personally used and believe will add value to our readers. Thanks for your support!
I’m glad you like the website and article. It’s been a lot of work, but it’s worth it when people appreciate it.
So, in looking every theme has a cost, I was searching for FREE, thanks for taking the time.
The thing here is all of these themes are free but also has a premium version. You can start with free and move to pro or not move, it’s totally up to you 🙂
I was very much delighted to read your article. Creating a responsive and mobile-friendly WordPress site is crucial in today’s mobile-driven world. Here are some steps to help you achieve that:
1.Choose a mobile-responsive theme
2.Install a mobile optimization plugin
3.Optimize images for mobile
4.Use a responsive design framework
5.Test your site on mobile devices
6.Simplify navigation
7.Optimize loading speed
By Implementing above points we can create a Responsive and Mobile-Friendly WordPress Site. Readers, if you want to develop your wordpress website, you can visit an IT company like Alakmalak technologies. They have 17+ years of experience in this field.