55+ Best Dark WordPress Themes 2024 (Free + Premium)

Bright and colorful websites are all well and good. However, sometimes your project calls for a more muted design. When that happens, only one of the best dark WordPress themes will do.

If this applies to your current project and you need a template with a more subtle color scheme, you will find plenty of options in this collection of the best dark WordPress themes. (And it goes hand-in-hand with our tips on how to choose a dark or light WordPress color scheme!)

The themes in this collection cover a wide range of purposes, from blogs and business homepages to creative online portfolios and e-commerce stores. However, one thing they all have in common is their dark and shadowy color schemes.

A good number of these dark WordPress themes can be classed as multi-purpose options and can, therefore, be used for many different types of projects. Some even have multiple pre-defined color schemes that can be instantly applied to your website. Others feature detailed theme options panels that give you full control over the individual colors used throughout your website. You might even find that your theme of choice includes a powerful page builder tool like the commercial Visual Composer plugin.

While these themes share a common color palette, they’re a varied bunch. Therefore, no matter what type of website you’re planning, you’re sure to find something suitable in this collection of the best dark WordPress themes (along with our tips for making an effective dark website).

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5 Tips for Making an Effective Dark Website

If you’re not sure how to approach a dark website design, these simple tips will help you make the right decisions.

1. What Type of Website Are You Making?

Websites with dark backgrounds and color schemes tend to stand out from the crowd. They usually display a sense of wealth and luxury or create a more relaxed environment for content related to entertainment. However, it’s not suitable for all types of websites.

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The color black is recognized as a sign of authority, power, and elegance. As a result, dark color themes are most suitable for entertainment blogs, magazines, as well as luxury brand websites, jewelry websites, and high-end product landing pages.

2. Use a Minimal Content Layout

When using a white background for a website, you have all the freedom in the world to create a content layout of your choice to arrange images, text, icons, and more however you like. This is not the case with dark website themes.

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When using a dark color background, be careful not to stuff too much content into the website layout. To improve readability and the overall user experience, try to use a minimal content layout with larger images.

3. Pick Your Color Palette Carefully

Coming up with the right color palette is one of the challenging tasks for making a dark website. Mainly because most colors aren’t clearly visible on a dark or black background.

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This can be especially troublesome when you’re trying to use brand colors in a website design. In such cases, it’s always a good approach to use a black and white color scheme. Or pick a color that easily highlights in a dark background.

4. It Doesn’t Have to Be Black

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A dark website’s background doesn’t always have to be black. You can use other dark colors as well. In fact, if you’re having trouble finding the right color palette for your dark website, using a different background color will solve the problem.

5. Use Images With Transparent Backgrounds

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Even though it’s not a requirement, using images with transparent background can drastically improve the overall look of your dark website and make it look more professional. It’s highly effective, especially when making websites for luxury brands and products.