Want to create an online magazine with WordPress? If yes, then you need to prepare an appropriate theme. There are a bunch of WordPress themes out there that are developed specifically for online magazines. We have curated some of the best ones.
Today, most WordPress themes come with a default page builder that you can use to create the base pages of your website such as the homepage, about page, contact page, 404 page, and so on. tagDiv Composer is one of the best page builders to create the homepage of an online magazine.
It comes with several design elements (called shortcodes) that make it easy for you to add elements such as grid and list to display articles on your website, news ticker, and several shortcodes to display articles in a wide range of styles. Elementor is also great (with a very intuitive interface), but you need to install an add-on to create a grid layout to display articles.
Here is the list of the recommended WordPress themes that you can use to create an online magazine.
1. Newspaper X
We said that tagDiv Composer is one of the best page builders to create the homepage of an online magazine. We said so because this page builder has some design elements — called shortcodes — that make it easy for you to add a grid element on the homepage (or any page) to display your articles. The articles on the grid element are filterable. You can filter articles by certain parameters. From categories, tags, authors, and so on. The grid shortcodes are great to display articles from certain categories. You can also use them to display featured articles or headlines. In addition to displaying articles in a grid style, tagDiv Composer also comes with shortcodes to display articles in a wide range of styles.
tagDiv Composer is the default page builder of Newspaper X and Newsmag. These themes — as well as tagDiv Composer — are developed by the same developer, tagDiv. tagDiv Composer is built exclusively for Newspaper and Newsmag.
Every part of the Newspaper X theme is customizable. You can create a custom header, custom footer, custom category template, custom single post layout, custom 404 page, and other parts using tagDiv Composer. In Newspaper X, you can use a different template for a different category. You can also use a different layout for different articles. By default, Newspaper X offers about 10 different single post layouts and you can create a new one using tagDiv Composer. Newspaper X comes with website demos to allow you to have a beautiful website in minutes.
2. Extra
Extra is a WordPress theme developed by Elegant Themes. Unlike Divi (another theme developed by Elegant Themes), Extra is designed specifically for online magazines. On the homepage of your website, you can add elements such as post slider, post carousel, tabbed posts, and so on. There is a category builder feature that you can use to create a custom layout for the category pages on your website. Extra, just like Divi, is powered by Divi Builder.
What is Divi Builder?
Divi Builder is a page builder that is also developed by Elegant Themes. It is an integral part of Extra and Divi, instead of a separate plugin. You can use Divi Builder to create a beautiful page on your WordPress site without having to deal with HTML or CSS. Divi Builder comes with a theme builder feature that you can use to create a custom category page, custom author page, custom single pots layout, custom header, and custom footer on your online magazine.
3. Jupiter X
Unlike Newspaper X and Extra, Jupiter X is not designed specifically for online magazines. Instead, it is a multipurpose WordPress theme that you can use to create a wide range of website types, including an online magazine. Jupiter X theme itself is powered by the most popular page builder plugin, Elementor. So, if you love the Elementor intuitive interface then this theme is a great fit. To streamline your workflow in creating a website, Jupiter X comes with premade website templates. A website template is a set of templates (homepage template, about page template, contact page template, and so on) that you can import in a single click. A website template also comes with demo content. Jupiter X has several website templates for online magazines.
Artbees bundles Jupiter X with several premium Elementor add-ons from Crocoblock, including JetBlog, which you can use you add grid element to your homepage to display your featured articles. JetBlog also allows you to create a YouTube playlist if you have a YouTube channel and want to display your videos on your website. Jupiter X also comes with an Elementor add-on developed exclusively for the theme, Raven.
Same as the first two themes above, every part of the Jupiter X theme is customizable. You can create a custom theme part using the visual editor of Elementor. A feature offered by Jupiter X that is not offered by Newspaper X and Extra is a white label. This feature allows you to remove the Jupiter X attributes on your WordPress dashboard and replace them with your own brand. A great feature for agencies.
4. Soledad
- Developer: PenciDesign
- Price: $59
- ThemeForest Rating: [usr 5]
Soledad is a WordPress theme developed by PenciDesign. This theme is also designed for online magazines. So, if you want to create an online magazine with WordPress or a personal blog with a magazine-style, this theme is worth considering. Soledad is compatible with Elementor.
The developer of this theme — PenciDesign — also develops an Elementor add-on that is exclusively available on Soledad. The add-on allows you to add elements like the latest articles, YouTube playlist, whether, and slider to the homepage of our website.
Soledad comes with a bunch of homepage demos with you can import with a single click. You can take look at the homepage demos offered by this theme on this page.
Same as Jupiter X, Soledad also comes with a white label feature to allow you to rebrand this theme with your own brand.
5. Pixwell
- Developer: Theme-Ruby
- Price: $29
- ThemeForest Rating: [usr 5]
Pixwell is a great solution if you are looking for an affordable magazine WordPress theme. You can get this theme for only $29. Regardless of its cheap price, Pixwell offers lots of features to make it easy for you to build an online magazine. Pixwell comes with a default page builder called Ruby Composer which you can use to design the homepage of your online magazine.
There are several grid styles as well as sliders that you can use to display features articles or articles from certain categories on the homepage of your website. There are also premade homepage templates you can import to save you time in creating the homepage of your website. Although Pixwell has its own page builder, this theme is also compatible with Elementor. The developer even develops an exclusive Elementor add-on to embrace those who love Elementor.
Pixwell comes with some unique features, including Read It Later which allows your visitors to bookmark an article to read it later. Another unique feature is Post Ractions. This feature allows your visitors to leave a reaction over an article (represented by an emoticon).
6. Jannah
Jannah is another great WordPress theme that you can use to create an online magazine. This theme comes with a default plugin page builder that you can use to create the homepage of your website. The Jannah’s built-in page builder comes with elements to add post slider and grid layout on the homepage.
There are over 15 premade slider layouts you can choose from. Jannah comes with handy features like estimated reading time and views number. Furthermore, Jannah comes with over 10 customizable single post layouts. You can also add a YouTube playlist to your homepage without needing to install an extra plugin.
7. JNews
When installing JNews on your WordPress site, you can choose whether you want to use Elementor or WPBakery as your page builder. Whichever the page builder you choose, you can use JNews modules (add-ons) to add slider and a grid element to the homepage of your website. The best thing offered by JNews is that you can try its backend (Elementor or WPBakery). This way, you can really figure out if the modules and features offered by this theme really meet your needs. You can visit the official website of JNews to try its backend. You can login to the backend whether to try to edit the header, create the homepage, edit the footer, edit the category page, and so on.
The modules offered by JNews include Ads Block to display ads, YouTube Playlist to display YouTube playlist, News Ticker, Social Counter, and so on. If you prefer to use Elementor instead of WPBakery, you can also create a custom single custom post layout since JNews also offers the following widgets:
Some other features offered by JNews include built-in mega menu, live search results, Facebook & Disqus comment, Lazy Load, and so on.
8. ZoxPress
Same as most themes above, ZoxPress also comes with premade demos to streamline your workflow in creating an online magazine with WordPress. There are over 100 homepage demos offered by ZoxPress.
Features like megamenu, infinite scroll, threaded comments, Facebook comments, and Disqus comments are available in ZoxPress. Other key features offered by this theme include 50 header options, 14 single post layouts, built-in ads manager, sticky featured videos, and so on.
9. InHype
InHype is another great solution if you are looking for an affordable theme to create an online magazine with WordPress. You can get this theme for only $39. InHype comes with a visual homepage builder to create the homepage of your online magazine.
There are 34 blocks that you can use when creating a homepage. Or, you can also import a homepage if you have no idea about the homepage design. There are more than 8 homepage demos offered by InHype. In addition, there are 11 blog layouts, 13 single post layouts, and 11 header layouts offered by this theme.
Some handy features offered by this theme are:
10. CheerUp
Another theme that you can use to create an online magazine with WordPress is CheerUp. This theme also comes with website demos to streamline your workflow. CheerUp is especially a great theme if you love Visual Composer as this theme uses Visual Composer as the default page builder.
When creating the homepage for your online magazine, you can add elements like a slider (there are 17 different slider styles offered by this theme), grid, and list. To customize the header, there are 10 different header styles you can choose from.
Here are some handy features offered by CheerUp:
- Sticky sidebar
- Sticky header
- MailChimp integration
- Native Gutenberg support
- LazyLoad
