Shopify

Oct 2, 2024

27 best free Shopify themes for designing your Shopify store

Instant Team

27 best free Shopify themes for designing your Shopify store

In the world of e-commerce, setting up your online store is just the first step. You need to attract and convert visitors into customers, which is where Shopify conversion rate optimization comes in. Free Shopify themes can make a big difference here, allowing you to create a professional-looking store without breaking the bank. But with so many options, how do you choose the right one? This post will guide you through the best free Shopify themes, helping you find the perfect fit for your store.

Instant's Shopify product page builder can also help you achieve your goals. It's an intuitive tool that makes it easy to customize your store's product pages, giving you more control over your customers' shopping experience.

What are Shopify themes?

shopify app on laptop - Free Shopify Themes

Picture Shopify themes as the wardrobe for your online store. They're design templates that shape how your shop looks to visitors. Different themes come with distinct styles and layouts, allowing you to tailor user experiences.

You've decided to go digital. That's the easy part. Your theme choice can set the stage for success by offering a built-in template to guide your store's organization, features, and style.

Why not stick with the default theme?

Shopify offers over 90 themes, both free and paid, as well as third-party options. Why settle for default when you have so many choices? A theme aligns your store with your brand and helps you build an eCommerce site that's unique, functional, and user-friendly.

How do themes facilitate store design?

Themes simplify the design process. They provide a structure, so you’re not building from scratch. By selecting a template that mirrors your brand and store features, you can fast-track the creation of a unique online shop.

Why does theme selection matter for your Shopify store?

man discussing ideas - Free Shopify Themes

First impressions matter

Your Shopify theme is like the opening scene of a movie. It’s the first thing your visitors notice, and you only get about 50 milliseconds to make a good impression. A well-chosen theme that aligns with your brand's identity through layout, color, or fonts can create a wow moment that encourages customers to stick around and explore.

Setting the tone for your brand

Think of your Shopify theme as the theme music for your brand. It visually communicates what you’re all about:

Luxury
Eco-friendliness
Innovation

Just as a movie’s music sets its genre and energy, your theme should signal to your audience what kind of experience they can expect. It's more than a design; it’s your visual voice.

Enhancing user experience (UX)

A great theme doesn’t just look good; it works well, guiding customers effortlessly through their shopping experience. Like a well-crafted video reel, it should blend visuals and functionality to keep users engaged. If visitors find what they’re looking for easily, they’re more likely to purchase and spend time exploring your store.

Standing out from the competition

A unique theme can be your secret weapon in Shopify stores. This distinct presence can help your brand remain at the top of customers' minds, encouraging them to return.

Adapting to seasons and trends

Just like a retail store changes its playlist to match the season, your Shopify theme should evolve, too. Whether for a holiday promotion or a seasonal sale, updating your theme keeps your store relevant and engaging. A fresh look can cue customers into your latest offers, creating a more immersive shopping experience.

Enhancing Shopify store performance with customizable landing pages

Instant is a user-friendly Shopify landing page builder that allows eCommerce teams and agencies to create fully customizable and advanced pages without any coding knowledge. With its intuitive drag-and-drop interface, users can quickly design and publish:

High-converting landing pages
Product detail pages
Sections

Instant also offers seamless integration with Figma and other eCommerce tools, making it a versatile choice for enhancing online store performance and increasing conversions.

Try Instant's Shopify landing page builder today!

Why use free Shopify Themes?

team looking at free themes - Free Shopify Themes

Premium themes have their perks, but free Shopify themes are no slouch. They’re crafted by Shopify experts and undergo rigorous testing to ensure they’re up to snuff.

These reliable and stable themes offer a great starting point for any store. They’re also free, so you won’t break the bank before you’ve even started.

Customization freedom without the price tag

You might think a free theme means limited options. Think again. These themes offer a surprising amount of customization. You can:

Tweak colors
Fonts
Layouts

To match your brand’s vibe. Add some creativity, and you’ll end up with something unique. And you don’t need to be a coding whiz to make it happen.

Enhance your store with apps and plugins

A basic theme can feel pretty basic, but that’s where apps and plugins come in. With the right combination, you can enhance the functionality of your free theme to meet your business needs. Want to add a countdown timer? There’s an app for that. Need advanced filtering options? Plugins have got your back.

Tap into a wealth of community knowledge

When you’re using a free theme, you’re not alone. Plenty of resources and forums are available for seeking advice, finding tutorials, and connecting with other entrepreneurs who have used the same theme. Got a question? Someone’s probably already asked it and gotten an answer.

Turn a free theme into a custom design with page builders

Page builders are game-changers for Shopify store owners who don’t know how to code. With drag-and-drop functionality, you can create entire pages or specific sections without touching the code editor. With tools like Instant, you can easily turn a basic free theme into a fully customized Shopify store.

Where to get Shopify themes for free?

Start with Shopify’s theme library. It houses various ready-to-use themes, each catering to different industries and catalog sizes. You can apply specific filters like layout and design. Want to see just the free options? Simply tick the “Free” checkbox and browse all the themes that won’t cost you a dime. This is one of the simplest ways to find a free Shopify theme that fits your needs.

Explore free and paid options with Apollo Theme

Apollo offers a mix of free and premium themes, complete with feature introductions in infographic format and live demos. Unlike Shopify’s library, Apollo has no filter system to narrow your choices. Exploring other themes outside of Shopify’s ecosystem is still a solid option.

Get a wide variety of themes with Colorlib

Colorlib offers various free and paid themes for both Shopify and WordPress. No filtering or categorization system to help you find the right theme faster. On the plus side, you can get full support and discuss with other users in its support forum if you encounter any problems or issues.

Find minimalistic designs with Athemes

Athemes specializes in clean, modern designs, making it an ideal option for eCom stores that want a minimalistic, aesthetic theme layout. You can also compare different themes on their website to find the best one for your store. Keep in mind that Athemes offers both free and paid themes.

Check out elegant templates with Template Monster

Template Monster offers free themes for Shopify users, ranging from basic, clean templates to elegant, responsive designs. Before deciding, you can check out live demos to see exactly how each theme will look and feel in your store.

27 best free Shopify themes for designing your Shopify store

1. Instant's Shopify landing page templates

High-converting landing pages
Product detail pages
Sections

Instant also offers seamless integration with Figma and other eCommerce tools, making it a versatile choice for enhancing online store performance and increasing conversions.

Try Instant's Shopify landing page builder today!

2. Dawn

Dawn is about a modern, minimalist design that enhances online shopping through speed and simplicity. It’s built for efficiency and provides a user-friendly interface on all devices, ensuring a seamless journey from browsing to buying. With customizable sections, Dawn caters to diverse brand needs, making it ideal for small and medium-sized businesses in the fashion, beauty, and home decor sectors.

3. Taste

Taste is a sleek, professional store theme focused on visually appealing products like food, fashion, and art. It features a large hero area for impactful visual storytelling, a grid-style layout for organized product display, and customizable fonts and colors to match your brand. It’s a great pick for small to medium-sized businesses looking to create an engaging online store.

4. Boundless

Boundless offers a minimalist design with clean lines and an emphasis on photography. It’s optimized for large images, making it ideal for brands with striking visuals. The theme is well-suited for those in the clothing, fashion, and apparel spaces, as it allows brand photos to shine and help sell products.

5. Refresh

Refresh delivers a visually stunning and user-friendly eCom experience. Designed for businesses prioritizing clarity and modern aesthetics, it offers a responsive design that ensures seamless browsing on all devices.

Dynamic sections like featured products and blogs allow for extensive customization, making it a top choice for stores selling health and beauty products with small to medium catalogs.

6. Spotlight

Spotlight is a modern eCommerce theme that highlights products through impactful visual storytelling. Its large, high-quality images create a striking visual impression, making it ideal for brands focused on aesthetics. The theme is fully responsive across devices and includes features like a dynamic homepage slider and advanced product filtering.

7. Origin

Origin is tailored for brands that prioritize immersive storytelling. Its responsive design ensures a seamless shopping experience across devices. A narrative-driven layout allows businesses to engage customers through compelling storytelling on product and home pages, making it a great fit for artisanal, heritage, or mission-driven brands.

8. Minimal

Minimal is a classic free Shopify theme known for its clean and straightforward design. It’s ideal for stores wanting a minimalist look without sacrificing functionality. The theme’s responsive design ensures it looks great on any device and includes features like product image zoom, product filtering, and customizable content sections.

9. Brooklyn

Brooklyn features a stylish, grid-based layout designed for modern apparel stores. It excels in visual storytelling, allowing your store to shine with large product images and a clean, minimalist interface. Key features include a dynamic product grid, a slide-out cart for easier checkout, and social media integration.

10. Narrative

The Narrative is explicitly built for storytelling. It’s perfect if you have a brand story or a special product to highlight. The theme includes a vertical slideshow, built-in image galleries, and a fixed navigation bar, helping create a seamless user experience for boutique brands and creators.

11. Supply

Supply is perfect for stores with extensive catalogs. Its clean and straightforward layout is designed to handle a variety of products, making it an excellent choice for larger stores. It offers advanced product filtering, a fully responsive design, and a homepage slideshow, ensuring customers can easily find what they want.

12. Ride

Ride is designed to focus on visual storytelling, making it ideal for brands with rich imagery. It features a mega menu and a sticky header for easy navigation and is best suited for lifestyle, sports, and recreation brands.

13. Sense

Sense is tailored for wellness and beauty brands, featuring a serene layout. It’s ideal for health, beauty, and wellness products focusing on a tranquil shopping experience, encouraging longer visits.

14. Debut

Debut is designed to showcase both your brand and products beautifully. It includes pickup availability, customer testimonials, slideshows, promotional banners, and product recommendations, making it a great fit for those selling jewelry, accessories, and apparel.

15. Simple

Simple is a clean and minimal theme that draws attention to product images. Its product image zoom feature allows customers to look closer while browsing. It suits businesses with small and image-oriented catalogs like clothing and accessories.

16. Venture

Venture is tailored for high-volume stores, especially those specializing in outdoor activities or sports. Its bold and dynamic layout is designed to attract attention and encourage exploration. It offers a multi-column menu, promotional bar, and product filtering.

17. Pop

Pop is designed for small catalogs, particularly in fashion and beauty niches. Its playful design and clean layout make it attractive without being overwhelming. It features a sidebar navigation menu, a product zoom feature, and a clean grid layout for products.

18. Jumpstart

Jumpstart is geared towards crowdfunding campaigns and single-product stores. It’s designed to get your store up and running quickly with a professional look. It features a goal tracker, a product slideshow, and a video section.

19. Beauty

Beauty, also known as Simple, is aimed at stores selling beauty-related products. It’s a free Shopify template optimized for mobile devices and includes social media icons and specific widgets.

20. Publisher

Publisher is a good recommendation for simple product stores. It prioritizes brand narrative with minimalist navigation, offering contextual links to products and categories throughout the page.

21. Crave

Crave has a bold and fun design, making it perfect for food brands with vibrant personalities and a younger target audience. It’s responsive and user-friendly on mobile devices.

22. Studio

Studio is a great online gallery showcasing curations with stylish typography, colorful accents, collection-based navigation, and creator filters. It’s suitable for art and entertainment, handicrafts, and designer products.

23. Colorblock

Colorblock is designed to share your brand’s story with bright hues, colorful icons, and cropped images. It’s suitable for brands with large catalogs, offering advanced product filtering capabilities.

24. Debutify

Debutify is a simple yet functional theme with customizable slideshows, autoplay product slides, a customizable header, and a fixed navigation panel. It’s suitable for businesses with large catalogs.

25. Fashe

Fashe is a simplistic and minimalistic design theme focusing on product images. Its dynamic product grid layout includes a zoom-in function to highlight product details.

26. Voonex

Voonex is ideal for organizing events like:

Conferences
Exhibitions
Concerts

It’s designed to present event information clearly and systematically.

27. Surprise

Surprise is a minimalistic theme with a professional yet modern layout. It presents products neatly with an informative header on the home page. It is suitable for home furniture and garden, art, and lifestyle.

How to choose the best Shopify theme for your store

a developers meeting - Free Shopify Themes

The matchmaker: Product category and theme style

Choose a Shopify theme that aligns with your product category. Clothes and accessories shine with visually stunning themes. Tech products call for a sleek, modern look. Your target audience is key. A theme that resonates with them can enhance engagement and conversions.

Catalog size: One size does not fit all

A minimalist theme can work well if you’re offering just a few products. But, a larger catalog demands more functionality. Look for themes with extensive filtering and categorization options. This way, users can easily find what they’re looking for.

Features first: Know your needs

Think about the features you need. Slideshows, opt-in forms, and embedded videos can be great for the homepage. Mobile responsiveness is a must. Customizability is important, too. Look for themes that let you tweak elements without needing to code.

The competitor playbook: Learn from others

Analyze your competitors. Check out their store designs for insights into effective layouts and features. Tools like BuiltWith can reveal their themes, giving you ideas for your store.

The budget-balancing act: Free vs. Premium

Free Shopify themes can be great, but premium ones often offer better functionality and support. Consider your long-term investment. A premium theme may cost more upfront but could provide better returns over time.

Technical support: Ease of use matters

Consider how easy it will be to manage the theme yourself. Some themes come with extensive documentation and customer support. If you’re not tech-savvy, choose a theme known for its user-friendly interface.

Customization: Make it yours

Look for Shopify themes that offer drag-and-drop functionality and customizable sections. If you have coding skills or plan to hire a developer, consider themes that allow deeper customization through code.

How to customize your Shopify theme

team in disucssion - Free Shopify Themes

Shopify themes are a lifesaver for creating your online store without coding. Start by picking a theme that aligns with your brand. Once you've got that, dive into customization using Shopify's theme editor. You can tweak your theme's layout, colors, fonts, and content blocks here.

Think of it as a digital makeover. You can edit page templates to control layout and structure or change theme settings like colors and typography. Both methods help tailor your store to your brand.

Perfecting the header: It’s all about first impressions

The header is prime real estate. It’s where your logo, navigation menus, and sometimes even your search bar live. Upload your logo to the header section and adjust its size and position.

Sort out your navigation menus. Add links, categories, or pages that matter to your store. Use an Announcement Bar for promotions or critical messages. Customize its text, color, and alignment for maximum impact.

Craft a captivating homepage: Make it memorable

Your homepage is your store's welcome mat. Use Shopify's block system to organize content. High-quality images, featured products, and testimonials will keep visitors engaged. Sections can highlight product categories, value propositions, or trending items. Keep it engaging and professional to set the right tone for your brand.

Optimize product pages: Where decisions get made

Your product pages need to be detailed and user-friendly. Consider creating custom product templates for different product categories. Add elements like size charts and product reviews to help customers make informed decisions. Related items can also enhance the user experience.

Nail those additional pages: Don’t overlook them

About Us, Contact Us, Terms & Conditions, and Shipping & Returns are important pages that need your attention. Some templates come with Shopify themes, but you might need to create custom pages for others.

Personalize these pages with content and media relevant to your brand. Clear policy pages build trust with customers.

Streamline the shopping cart: Make checkout a breeze

Your shopping cart should be optimized to increase conversions. Use Shopify’s cart template editor to add upsell opportunities or discounts. Be cautious when using third-party apps for added functionality; they can affect site performance if not coded well.

Tweak the checkout page: Consistency is key

Shopify’s checkout pages are standardized, but you can customize them to match your brand. Modify the logo, color scheme, and fonts to keep things consistent. Custom messaging can enhance the user experience and reassure customers during checkout.

Footer done right: Keep it simple and informative

Your footer is static across all pages and usually contains links to privacy policies, FAQs, or contact details. Add or modify blocks for features like social media links or newsletters. Consider removing the "Powered by Shopify" text for a more professional look.

Best practices for customization: Keep it clean and functional

Don’t overload your store with too many features or blocks, as this can slow things down and confuse visitors. Use high-quality images to create a compelling shopping experience. Make sure your customizations are mobile-responsive, as many shoppers use their phones. Use analytics tools to track user behavior and refine your design.

Page builders: Your secret weapon for customization

Page builders have made designing Shopify stores a breeze, especially if you don’t know how to code. They offer drag-and-drop functionality for creating entire pages or sections.

Like Instant, it lets you create custom sections that can be used anywhere in your store. These can be edited directly in Shopify’s theme editor, providing a seamless design experience.

Enhancing Shopify store performance with customizable landing pages

High-converting landing pages
Product detail pages
Sections

Instant also offers seamless integration with Figma and other eCommerce tools, making it a versatile choice for enhancing online store performance and increasing conversions.

Try Instant's Shopify landing page builder today!

Five best practices for using a theme for your Shopify store

1. Design with mobile users in mind

Over half of website visits come from mobile devices, so your Shopify store needs a responsive design. Start by creating a mobile-friendly layout that adapts to various screen sizes.

Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to evaluate your site’s performance and gather suggestions for improvement. Electro is an excellent option for those seeking a mobile-first theme. It’s been tested to deliver a 90+ Google Pagespeed score on mobile, ensuring a smooth user experience.

2. Pick a unique color scheme

Choosing the right color scheme is one of your most critical design decisions. A distinct color palette enhances accessibility, shapes brand identity, and elevates user experience. Research from Loyola indicates that a signature color can boost brand recognition by 80%.

Select hues that align with color theory and psychology rather than settling for a template’s default colors. This approach creates an aesthetically pleasing design and influences how customers perceive your brand.

3. The free Shopify themes are all practically the same theme – Dawn

Since July 2021, Dawn has been the starting point for Shopify themes. While Shopify has released other free themes like:

Crave
Sense
Craft
Refresh
Ride
Colorblock
Taste
Studio

They share nearly identical codes and settings. The primary difference lies in their default configurations. By adjusting settings in the theme editor, Dawn can easily resemble any of these themes, giving you flexibility without additional costs.

4. Keep it simple

With easy customization options, it’s tempting to overload your Shopify store with animations, images, and widgets. This can lead to a cluttered layout that overwhelms visitors.

Focus on presenting clear information and options. Simplify navigation, make call-to-action buttons stand out, and write concise copy. These steps enhance user experience and guide customers toward making a purchase.

5. Look for Shopify 2.0 themes, Don’t buy outdated themes (If you decide to buy)

The 2021 Shopify 2.0 update brought significant improvements to theme architecture. Themes designed for Shopify 2.0 are labeled with a green "OS 2.0" badge on the official theme store.

Avoid purchasing outdated themes, as they need more flexibility and new architectural features. Embracing Shopify 2.0 themes allows you to create a unique store design and easily add content. If launching a new store, prioritize these themes to future-proof your business.

Optimize your Shopify store for conversions without breaking the bank with Instant's Shopify landing page builder

High-converting landing pages
Product detail pages
Sections

Instant also offers seamless integration with Figma and other eCommerce tools, making it a versatile choice for enhancing online store performance and increasing conversions.

Try Instant's Shopify landing page builder today!