Best WordPress Themes for News Sites And Magazines

15 themes compared · Updated August 2026 · News & Magazine

All Free only 15 Premium only 15

Choosing a WordPress theme for news sites and magazines comes down to a few things: whether it is still actively maintained, whether real users rate it well, and whether it does the specific job you need without dragging the rest of the site down.

We ranked 15 themes using our WPScore, which weighs the user rating (adjusted for how many people actually rated it), how many sites run it, how recently it was updated, and which WordPress version it is tested against. 15 of them have enough public data to be scored; the rest are listed below the ranked block, clearly marked, rather than being given a number we cannot justify.

How this list is funded. Some links here earn us a commission if you buy. It costs you nothing extra, and it does not move anything up the list — the order comes from the WPScore, which is calculated from public ratings, install counts and update history. See the method.

At a glance

1. OceanWP Best overall 87/100
2. ColorMag 83/100
3. Zakra 83/100
4. Twenty Twenty-Five 82/100
5. Twenty Twenty-Four 82/100
6. Phlox 82/100
7. Newsup 81/100
8. Newsmatic 80/100
9. News Magazine X 80/100
10. MoreNews 80/100
11. News Portal 80/100
12. BlogHash 79/100
13. Page Builder Framework 79/100
14. Blogus 79/100
15. Donovan 79/100

Best overall Free by oceanwp

OceanWP

OceanWP is the perfect theme for your project. Lightweight and highly extendable, it will enable you to create almost any type of website such a blog, portfolio, business website and WooComm...

4.9★: from 5,713 ratings
500k+: active installs
Updated: Aug 2026

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org

Free by ThemeGrill

ColorMag

ColorMag is a fast, flexible WordPress theme built for news portals, online magazines, personal blogs, and publishing sites. Trusted by 50,000+ publishers worldwide, it's the #1 news &a...

4.9★: from 1,566 ratings
40k+: active installs
Updated: Aug 2026

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org

Free by ThemeGrill

Zakra

Zakra is a powerful and versatile multipurpose theme that makes it easy to create beautiful and professional websites. With over free 40 pre-designed starter demo sites to choose from, you c...

4.9★: from 599 ratings
30k+: active installs
Updated: Aug 2026

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org

Free by WordPress.org

Twenty Twenty-Five

Twenty Twenty-Five emphasizes simplicity and adaptability. It offers flexible design options, supported by a variety of patterns for different page types, such as services and landing pages,...

3.9★: from 13 ratings
1M+: active installs
Updated: May 2026

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org

Free by WordPress.org

Twenty Twenty-Four

Twenty Twenty-Four is designed to be flexible, versatile and applicable to any website. Its collection of templates and patterns tailor to different needs, such as presenting a business, blo...

3.8★: from 38 ratings
500k+: active installs
Updated: Aug 2026

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org

Free by averta

Phlox

Phlox is a modern, lightweight and customizable theme perfect for almost any type of website including, blog, portfolio, business, agency, news & magazine, food & restaurant, travel,...

4.8★: from 865 ratings
30k+: active installs
Updated: Aug 2026

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org

Free by themeansar

Newsup

Newsup is a fast, clean, modern-looking Best Responsive News Magazine WordPress theme. The theme is fully widgetized, so users can manage the content by using easy to use widgets. Newsup is...

4.8★: from 188 ratings
20k+: active installs
Updated: Aug 2026

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org

Free by blazethemes

Newsmatic

Newsmatic is complete solution for your news website with full Elementor compatibility. By integrating the News Kit Elementor Addons plugin on your site, you can now customize any part of th...

4.8★: from 86 ratings
10k+: active installs
Updated: Jul 2026

WPScore

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Free by WP Royal

News Magazine X

Easy to use Personal and Multi-Author Free WordPress Blog Magazine Theme - Suitable for WordPress Beginners and for Professionals as Well. Perfect for bloggers, journalists, and online magaz...

5★: from 29 ratings
8k+: active installs
Updated: Aug 2026

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org

Free by AF themes

MoreNews

MoreNews is a dynamic, ultra-fast, and highly versatile WordPress theme built not only for News, Magazines, and Blogs but also for Business, eCommerce, and any kind of Website thanks to its...

4.9★: from 66 ratings
6k+: active installs
Updated: Aug 2026

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org

Free by Mystery Themes

News Portal

News Portal is the free ultimate magazine theme with creative design and powerful features that allow you to quickly and easily create a newspaper & blog style website to suit your needs...

5★: from 163 ratings
5k+: active installs
Updated: Aug 2026

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org

Free by peregrinethemes

BlogHash

BlogHash is the perfect pick for bloggers seeking a lightweight, customizable theme that suits them just right. With plenty of options to adjust colors and typography, making your site uniqu...

4.7★: from 12 ratings
10k+: active installs
Updated: Aug 2026

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org

Free by David Vongries

Page Builder Framework

Page Builder Framework is a super fast, lightweight (less than 50kb on the frontend) and highly customizible WordPress theme made to work with all page builders such as Elementor, Beaver Bui...

4.9★: from 131 ratings
10k+: active installs
Updated: Apr 2026

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org

Free by themeansar

Blogus

Blogus is a fast, clean, modern-looking Best Responsive News Magazine WordPress theme. The theme is fully widgetized, so users can manage the content by using easy to use widgets. Blogus is...

4.7★: from 15 ratings
10k+: active installs
Updated: Aug 2026

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org

Free by ThemeZee

Donovan

Donovan is a flexible, yet easy-to-use blogging theme with a clean and modern design. It features an elegant mobile-first design, three different blog layouts and extensive post settings. Do...

4.8★: from 24 ratings
9k+: active installs
Updated: Aug 2026

WPScore

Read review View on WordPress.org