Creating an education website has never been more important with the massive rise of remote and hybrid learning. The global e-learning market is projected to grow over $370 billion by 2026 as schools rapidly adopt education technology.
With this huge shift, choosing the right WordPress theme is critical for delivering effective online instruction, showcasing your expertise, and engaging students. But with thousands of themes out there, how do education professionals know which one is best?
In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll compare the top 20 education WordPress themes based on over 15 years of experience building and managing WordPress sites. You‘ll find options for schools, universities, tutors, coaches, and instructional bloggers.
Contents
- Figuring Out Your Education Website Goals and Requirements
- 1. Astra – Most Customizable Free Education Theme
- 2. GeneratePress Premium – Best Paid Education Theme
- 3.Education Hub – Best Free Education Theme
- 4. Salient – Most Versatile Premium Education Theme
- 5.skillshare – Free Online Course Theme
- 6. Schoool LMS – Most Complete LMS Theme
- 7. Best Plugins to Enhance Education Themes
- 8 Key Factors in Choosing the Best Education WordPress Theme
- 9. Key Takeaways on Finding the Best Education Theme
Figuring Out Your Education Website Goals and Requirements
Before diving into themes, it‘s important to know your key goals and requirements for the site. Here are some questions to ask:
- Will you offer online courses or in-person classes?
- Do you need to collect payments or membership fees?
- Will you have student logins and profiles?
- What types of content like video or documents will you share?
- Do you need to integrate with school management systems or tools?
- How many pages and sections will the site have?
- How tech savvy are you for managing and updating the site?
Once you‘ve outlined your must-haves, this will help narrow down the theme options. Advanced features like course delivery, assessments, communication, and data integration require a robust platform.
For example, K-12 schools often benefit from a managed WordPress solution like WP Engine that handles hosting, security, updates, and scale. The built-in StudioPress themes are purpose-built for education.
Online course creators may opt for a self-hosted WordPress site with premium themes that enable memberships and course sales. Tutors can get by with an affordable theme with fewer bells and whistles.
There are great options at every level. Now let‘s look at the top themes for education sites.
1. Astra – Most Customizable Free Education Theme
Astra is one of the most popular free multipurpose WordPress themes with over 1 million active installs. It‘s lightweight, fast, and very customizable for education sites.
Astra has built-in features that come in handy for schools, universities, and coaches like:
- Responsive design
- Custom page templates
- Sample demos and starter sites
- Drag and drop page builder compatibility
- WooCommerce store integration
- Events calendar display
- Custom widgets
- Typekit font integration
Education sites can take advantage of the header, footer, blog, and sidebar layout options. The colors, backgrounds, menus, and typography are also adjustable.
The free version has all the core features you need, and extras like video backgrounds and advanced headers are available in Astra Pro starting at $59 per year.
Pros:
- Very customizable without coding
- Lightning fast performance
- Free version available
- Active community support
Cons:
- Will need add on plugins for advanced education features
- Less page builder flexibility than some themes
Overall, Astra is the best free WordPress education theme for schools, universities, tutors, and coaches who want design flexibility without a hefty price tag. The customizations make it easy to match your brand.
2. GeneratePress Premium – Best Paid Education Theme
GeneratePress Premium adds robust education features to the highly extensible free GeneratePress theme. It‘s an affordable premium solution for schools and coaches.
Some of the key education features includes:
- Full course management system
- Lessons, quizzes, assignments
- Student reporting and analytics
- Membership options
- Achievement badges and certificates
- Group messaging and forums
- Multi-instructor support
- Mobile friendly courses
It also includes the core GeneratePress theme features like drag and drop blocks, responsive design, and WooCommerce store integration.
Education sites can really customize the design with color palettes, typography, layouts, and the custom CSS editor. It‘s a very well-rounded theme.
Pros:
- Full course management capabilities
- Trusted theme provider
- Very customizable design
- Affordable pricing starting at $59.95
Cons:
- Locked into GeneratePress course ecosystem
- Some support delays reported
For schools and teachers who want out of the box education features paired with design flexibility, GeneratePress Premium is a strong choice at a reasonable price.
3.Education Hub – Best Free Education Theme
Education Hub is a free WordPress theme designed specifically for schools, universities, and eLearning sites. It has a clean, modern design well-suited for education.
Here are some key features that make Education Hub stand out:
- Responsive course hub with video trailers
- Teacher and course directories
- Events display with calendars
- Student testimonials and reviews
- Custom widgets for messages, notices, etc
- Social media menu
- Teacher profile pages
- Customizer settings
The layouts and homepage make it easy to showcase your educational offerings. The blog-focused sections lend themselves well to class announcements.
Pros:
- Designed for education out of the box
- Easy to customize without coding
- Actively maintained and updated
Cons:
- Lacks built-in course management
- Limited templates
For a free theme option with education-centric design, Education Hub is tough to beat. You can use free plugins to add more functionality over time.
4. Salient – Most Versatile Premium Education Theme
Salient is a popular premium multipurpose WordPress theme with a drag and drop builder that‘s great for education sites. The versatile design options make it a top pick.
Here are some key benefits of using Salient for online education:
- Responsive course builder with video lessons
- Quizzes, assignments, forums
- Student logins and profiles
- Membership site functionality
- 25+ homepage layouts and templates
- Customize colors, fonts, menus
- 1000+ icons available
- WooCommerce integration
Salient lets you sell courses, take payments, gate content by membership, and track student progress. The flexible design options let you match your brand.
Pros:
- Very versatile for education sites
- Drag and drop builder ease of use
- Great customization options
- Well-supported by ThemeNectar
Cons:
- Expensive at $59 for single site
- Require hosting plan that handles resource demands
For maximum design flexibility paired with education features, Salient is worth the investment. Make sure your hosting can handle the resource demands.
Skillshare is a clean, modern WordPress theme tailored for online course marketplaces like Udemy. It’s free and easy to set up for your tutoring business.
Here’s what you get with Skillshare:
- Instructor profiles and bios
- Course creation tools
- Membership and coarse pricing
- Student ratings and reviews
- Video integration
- Subscription payment options
- Forum and messaging system
The blog-style layout is great for regularly published tutorial content to draw in students. Extend it with plugins.
Pros:
- Purpose-built for online courses
- Minimal, clean design
- Free open source theme
Cons:
- Lacks some premium course features
- Limited customization
If you want to sell online video courses, Skillshare provides the design and base features at no cost. Add premium plugins to extend the functionality.
6. Schoool LMS – Most Complete LMS Theme
Schoool LMS is a premium WordPress theme focused on education sites with robust course management tools. It‘s complete and customizable.
Schoool LMS enables you to:
- Create and sell online courses
- Manage curriculum and multimedia
- Enable student enrollment
- Schedule live or pre-recorded classes
- Track student progress
- Issue certificates and badges
- Maintain gradebook
- Forums and messaging
It also has lead capture integrations, email marketing, and community building features. The modular design is focused on education.
Pros:
- Complete course management tools
- Purpose-built for education
- Good customization options
Cons:
- Expensive at $249/year
- Steep learning curve
Schoool LMS is one of the most fully-featured education WordPress themes available. The price tag matches the robust tools.
7. Best Plugins to Enhance Education Themes
The WordPress themes above are great starting points, but plugins can add key functionality like:
- LearnDash – Award-winning LMS plugin to build online courses
- LifterLMS – Another robust course builder with quizzes and certs
- WooCommerce – Add membership portals and digital sales
- BuddyPress – Build student social networks and class communities
Most education themes listed here either integrate with these plugins already or give you the flexibility to add them. The right combination of theme and plugins can enable all the features on your wish list.
8 Key Factors in Choosing the Best Education WordPress Theme
Beyond the specific themes covered, use this checklist of factors when evaluating any education WordPress theme candidate:
🔎Education-specific design – It should feel more academic than a basic blog
🔎Responsive and mobile-friendly – Students access sites on all devices
🔎Security – Themes must receive ongoing updates and vet code thoroughly for vulnerabilities.
🔎Accessibility – Consider ADA compliance and making content digestible for all.
🔎Performance – Fast load times keep students engaged, so optimize images and files.
🔎Ease of updates – Push button updates are essential for maintaining security and features.
🔎Support channels – Check theme customer support reviews and forums.
🔎Budget – Determine if free, freemium, or paid fits for features needed.
Prioritizing these factors will help you zero in on a theme that creates the best experience for your students while streamlining site management.
9. Key Takeaways on Finding the Best Education Theme
The education themes and recommendations above aim to provide a starting point to find the perfect platform for your tutoring, coaching, school, or university website.
Here are some closing takeaways:
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Audit your must-have features before selecting a theme so you pick the right balance of design and functionality.
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Managed WordPress solutions like WP Engine enable enterprise-grade education sites, while self-hosted sites give you more theme control.
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For free themes, you‘ll need to add plugins over time to enable premium features as your site grows.
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Carefully evaluate course management systems built into premium themes, since changing later is difficult.
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Make sure to budget for required web hosting resources which increase with traffic, multimedia usage, etc.
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No matter what theme you choose, focus on creating stellar educational content that engages learners.
Ready to get started on your education website? Check out our guide on launching a learning site for step-by-step instructions from domain to deployment. Feel free to reach out if you need any guidance in bringing your online education vision to life!
