Paid or Free Theme

[Hulk]

Would you rather go for a paid or free theme?

I think some free themes are cool so long as they're easy to customize.

 

[Jay™]

I use paid themes on all the sites I have, they are easy to work with and most of the theme devs will work with you.

 

[PGen98]

I tend to just modify the default theme for most software, both because I'm cheap and because I have fun tinkering

 

[Cedric]

Free themes often lack functionality.

 

[Cpvr]

I prefer a paid theme customized to my own liking.

 

[Arantor]

I usually get someone to do a design then I’ll implement myself, or at the very least get a paid theme.

For me it’s never about the functionality but simply whether it looks nice, because I can do all the dev work myself on it.

 

[Rey619]

Paid them anything Premium is usually better in the long run

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I usually pick up a paid theme. I use PixelExit for XenForo and Sultan Themes for vBulletin.

Most of the time, you can customize premium themes easier and make them feel like your own.

I considered getting a custom theme by PixelExit. It starts at $1,500 a theme, and that's not the amount I wish to pay. But I'm not knocking them. I'm sure it's worth that but I just don't want to invest that much into a forum when their regular premium themes are good enough.

I'd love to learn how to make a theme myself. I need to do that.

 

[Num7]

I paid for 2 themes over the past 15 years. Both were worth it, served us well and were much better than a lot of the free themes available at the time. Most free themes look good, but lack features here and there, as others have suggested.

Nowadays, I tend to stick to the default XenForo theme with a couple of tweaks. Mostly colors, icons and little details to keep my site's identity. It's way easier to maintain and ensure compatibility over the years, instead of relying on the theme developers to update their themes following a XF update.

 

[Rey619]

I usually pick up a paid theme. I use PixelExit for XenForo and Sultan Themes for vBulletin.

Most of the time, you can customize premium themes easier and make them feel like your own.

I considered getting a custom theme by PixelExit. It starts at $1,500 a theme, and that's not the amount I wish to pay. But I'm not knocking them. I'm sure it's worth that but I just don't want to invest that much into a forum when their regular premium themes are good enough.

I'd love to learn how to make a theme myself. I need to do that.

I seen Prices worse when i was looking there were quotes starting at 2500. Jeeez why so much.