When it comes to building a professional news or magazine website, not just any WordPress theme will do. Unlike general-purpose themes, WordPress newspaper themes are purpose-built to handle the unique demands of content-heavy sites.
From managing large volumes of articles and media to ensuring optimal performance, reader engagement, and monetization, these themes are specifically engineered to support digital publishers. Whether you’re launching a media brand or revamping an existing site, choosing the right news theme can make all the difference in readability, speed, SEO, and overall user experience. In this article, we’ll explore the best news WordPress themes available, each offering powerful features tailored for modern journalism and online publishing.
What are the Best WordPress Themes for News Websites?
1. Newspaper
The best WordPress news theme is Newspaper by tagDiv. It’s a top-selling WordPress theme specifically built for news, magazine, and blog websites. It positions itself as the “#1 Selling” theme in this category and seems to be a go-to solution for various types of users, including those creating business websites, e-commerce sites, and membership platforms. It’s highlighted as being suitable for both beginners and professionals, emphasizing the ability to build everything on the frontend without needing coding skills. The overall aim appears to be providing a complete solution packed with features and designed to make my site look professional.
Main features
One of the standout features for me is the Live Visual Builder, powered by the tagDiv Composer. This seems to be the core tool for building and customizing the website directly from the front end using a drag-and-drop interface. I can use it to design everything from scratch or modify existing elements for different parts of the site, including headers, footers, homepages, single posts, categories, and other page templates.
To help get started quickly, the theme offers a large number of Prebuilt Websites – over 155 of them, which I can import with a single click. There’s also access to a tagDiv Cloud Library containing more than 2000 additional templates and elements that I can easily import and customize.
For specific site functionalities, it includes tools like a Paywall Subscriptions Management system (called tagDiv Opt-In Builder) for handling memberships or premium content. It also features Smart Popups for user engagement and a built-in Directory and Listings System. The theme has strong WooCommerce integration, providing specific drag-and-drop elements tailored for building online shops.
Based on testimonials, users seem very happy with the customer support and the theme’s versatility.
The focus is on providing a comprehensive, visually-driven platform for publishing websites and beyond.
2. Jnews
JNews is presented as a comprehensive WordPress theme specifically designed for creating news, blog, and magazine websites. It aims to be an all-in-one solution for publishers, offering a wide array of built-in tools and features that cover everything from design and content management to monetization and reader engagement. It’s created by a Power Elite Author on Themeforest, which suggests a level of expertise behind it. It’s highlighted as being suitable for a variety of users, including writers, agencies, marketers, and creators. I see that it’s built with a strong focus on performance, speed, and SEO-friendliness, alongside high customizability.
Main features
Looking at the features, JNews is packed with capabilities tailored for publishing:
- Extensive Visual Builders: I find the emphasis on visual builders particularly useful. It seems I can design my header, footer, homepage, single post layouts, category pages, and even mega menus using intuitive drag-and-drop interfaces compatible with Elementor or WPBakery, or using JNews’s own visual editor.
- Monetization Tools: For generating revenue, JNews includes Enhanced Ads & Affiliates features with built-in Google AdSense support. More advanced options like a Paywall System for subscriptions, a Pay Writer System to manage payments for authors, and a Pay-To-Submit feature are also mentioned. It even integrates a Review System with affiliate links.
- Performance and SEO: The theme is designed for Fast & High Performance, aiming for perfect scores on Google Page Speed with proper setup. It’s built with full concern for SEO performance on both mobile and desktop, including features like Schema markup and Lazy Loaded Images. AMP compatibility is also supported.
- Reader Engagement: To keep visitors hooked, the product offers Infinite Scroll and Autoload Next Post features. It includes built-in Like & Dislike buttons, social sharing counters, user bookmarking, and review systems. Features like Dark Mode, a Reading Progress bar, and Live Search Results are also available to improve the user experience. It also supports video posts and Web Stories.
- Content Flexibility: I see options for different Multiple Post Layouts, managing multiple authors (Co-Author support), and using Custom Sidebars. It also includes a Split Post feature for long articles.
- Prebuilt Demos: The inclusion of 67+ Prebuilt Demos and templates with one-click import seems like a major time-saver for getting started quickly.
- Support and Updates: JNews promises Dedicated Support from its authors and offers Lifetime Free Updates with a single purchase, ensuring the theme stays current.
Overall, it appears JNews bundles a significant amount of publishing-specific functionality directly into the theme, aiming to reduce the need for numerous extra plugins while providing extensive customization and optimization features.
3. Kadence
Kadence is a comprehensive solution for building WordPress websites, essentially combining a theme and a plugin (Kadence Blocks). It’s a very good alternative to other popular builders like Elementor and even the native Gutenberg editor. The theme is suitable for a wide range of users, from beginners to those building sites for clients, and is recommended as a safe and good starter or do-it-yourself theme for essentially any user. It is well-coded for a solid foundation.
Main features
Looking at the key features, Kadence offers a lot:
- Speed and Performance: This is a major strength. Kadence is very fast, lightweight, and minimal. It’s even significantly faster than Elementor, leading to quicker page load times and a smoother user experience. If speed is a priority, I strongly recommend it.
- Customization Flexibility: Kadence offers extensive customization options, including in its free version. It features dedicated Header Builder and Footer Builder tools in the customizer, allowing me to visually design these areas with elements like logos, navigation, and social icons. I also get detailed control over typography, colors, and layouts.
- Kadence Blocks Integration: The accompanying Kadence Blocks plugin extends the functionality of the Gutenberg editor. These blocks are great for creating flexible page layouts and content sections using a variety of block types like Row/Layout, Button, and Info Box.
- Starter Templates: To help get started quickly, Kadence includes pre-built demo sites or starter templates that I can import with a single click. These are well-designed and help establish a website structure quickly.
- WooCommerce Support: It has strong integration with WooCommerce, making it a suitable option for online stores. There are specific customization options for shop elements, and a paid add-on (Shop Kit) provides even more detailed control over product and archive pages.
- Pricing and Value: While there are free versions, the premium bundles offer a significant amount of functionality. The pricing structure, especially the options for using the theme on multiple sites with the paid bundles, is providing amazing value and is very cost-effective.
Structured Building Approach: Kadence’s approach to building, particularly its handling of full site editing where the theme acts as a container, is seen as beneficial for average users who might find raw Gutenberg FSE overwhelming, providing a more structured environment.
4. Jannah
Jannah is a theme that puts a lot of emphasis on being visually appealing and flexible for news, magazine, and blog websites. It’s both powerful and beautiful, suggesting it’s not just about looks but also includes robust features. It is particularly well-suited for someone who wants to build a site that looks great and is easy to manage without needing to write code.
With a high rating (4.8/5) and a solid number of active installations (22,000+), it’s a popular and well-regarded choice in this category. The is providing a comprehensive package that lets you create a professional-looking site quickly and easily.
Main features
Jannah offers a wide range of features designed specifically for publishing websites:
- Design Flexibility & Customization: A major highlight is the inclusion of over 50 pre-made demo layouts that I can import with just one click. This sounds like a great way to get a head start. It integrates with Elementor for drag-and-drop, no-code customization and has an Advanced Theme Options panel to easily tweak colors, fonts, and backgrounds. I see there are also unlimited header styles and many preset styles to mix and match.
- Content Organization: To manage a lot of content, it offers multiple post layouts like grid, list, and masonry. It also includes category grid widgets, subcategory sections, and built-in mega menus to organize articles effectively for readers.
- Monetization Options: For earning revenue, Jannah supports inline ads even in the AMP version and provides ad spaces in various locations like sidebars and archives. It even includes an ad-block detector.
- Reader Engagement: Features to keep visitors interested include a review box that displays ratings, a built-in Google search option for easier navigation, and custom widgets for things like weather and social feeds. The navigation is also designed to be mobile-friendly.
- Support and Updates: A big plus is the promise of lifetime free updates and the inclusion of six months of dedicated support with the purchase, which is reassuring, especially when getting started. It also includes the Taqyeem plugin and is designed for quick setup.
Overall, Jannah is a feature-rich theme focused on easy, visual design and comprehensive tools for running a news or magazine site, with strong monetization and engagement features built in.
5. Mow
Mow is positioned as an ideal theme for creating a professional, fast-loading news portal. It’s presented as a solution that requires no coding skills, aiming to make the process of building a news website simple and user-friendly. I gather that it’s designed to be responsive across all devices, including mobile, tablet, and desktop. The theme emphasizes a focus on both speed and an elegant, cohesive design. It appears suitable for publishers looking for a straightforward setup process and reliable, consistent updates. It also highlights the opportunity for monetization.
Main features
Looking at the features, it offers quite a few things specifically for news and magazine sites:
- Easy Customization: A big point is its compatibility and integration with Elementor, and importantly, it states that the free version of Elementor is sufficient, meaning I wouldn’t necessarily need to buy Elementor Pro to use it fully. There’s an emphasis on real-time preview during customization, allowing me to see changes instantly without reloading. The theme includes customizable headers and offers unlimited color options and access to over 1,700 Google Fonts and custom fonts. It also supports both light and dark modes.
- Prebuilt Demos: To get started quickly, the product provides 35 pre-built news demos, which are described as instantly usable and fully customizable.
- Performance and SEO: The theme is promoted as being fast and optimized for performance. It’s also search engine-optimized with clean code, aiming to help improve search rankings and attract more organic traffic. Features like automatic next post loading are included, which could help reduce bounce rates and improve user engagement by keeping visitors on the site longer.
- Monetization: Monetization is a clear focus, with six specific ad placement locations mentioned. These include ad wallpapers and banners, with options for full-width top leaderboards, ads between sections, inside sections, in sidebars, and in-line ads. It supports both custom banners and Google AdSense code.
- Content Handling: It offers versatile options for archive and post layouts, support for different WordPress post formats, and includes an estimated reading duration feature. There’s also an elegant post sharing toolbar and seamless social media integration.
- Support and Updates: With a purchase, I understand I would get lifetime access to updates and six months of dedicated support. It’s also noted that updates are tested to ensure they don’t break the site.
Overall, Mow is a robust, speed-focused theme designed for ease of use and effective monetization for news and magazine websites, leveraging Elementor for visual building.
What to look for in a Newspaper Theme?
The key qualities of a news design should have are listed below:
Customizable layouts and design
Newspaper themes include layouts specifically designed for presenting large amounts of content, such as headlines, articles, images, and videos, in an organized and visually appealing way. This flexibility creates a unique and professional look and is a benefit of using a newspaper-specific theme.
Themes like Jannah offer over 50 demo layouts with one-click import. Astra provides various blog layouts like Grid, List, and Masonry. NewsMarks Pro allows customization of branding, logos, and colors within the WordPress Customizer. Newspapers also offer different post layouts and header styles.
Custom widgets
Themes often include custom widgets (like weather, social media feeds, trending posts) to enhance site functionality and user engagement.
Astra connects with the Ditty News Ticker plugin. JNews includes premium widgets.
Excellent readability
Organizing content well with customizable layouts contributes to excellent readability. Themes often offer features like advanced typography options with many font choices to ensure unique branding and readability.
Advanced ad management/ built-in monetization options.
A good newspaper theme includes features to seamlessly integrate ads and earn revenue. Many themes feature built-in ad spaces, affiliate links, and advanced monetization tactics.
Jannah allows for inline ads in the AMP version and provides ad spaces in sidebars, archives, and near content. Astra allows seamless ad integration without disrupting the reading experience. Mow offers six monetization placements and supports custom banners and Google AdSense. JNews includes Enhanced Ads & Affiliates features and integrates a Review System with affiliate links.
SEO and performance optimization
News sites need to load fast and be visible in search results to attract visitors. Newspaper themes are often optimized for search engines and speed. This includes features like clean code, compatibility with SEO plugins (like Yoast), Schema markup for rich snippets, and AMP compatibility.
Astra is highlighted as lightweight and optimized for performance. JNews is built with concern for SEO performance and supports JSON-LD as website schema. Mow is described as very lightweight and not loaded with unnecessary code, supporting fast load speed and SEO optimization.
Mobile responsiveness
Readers access news on various devices, so themes are designed to look and perform well on smartphones and tablets. Many themes are listed as mobile-responsive, RTL-ready, or AMP-compatible.
Plugin compatibility
Compatibility with popular WordPress plugins extends the theme’s functionality.
Astra is compatible with popular plugins. JNews supports many popular plugins and is fully compatible with Yoast SEO, WooCommerce, bbPress, BuddyPress, AMP, and Instant Articles for WP. Mow does not require Elementor PRO, as the free version is fully compatible. Kadence Blocks plugin is compatible with any WordPress theme, but is best used with the Kadence theme.
Support
Good quality support is important, especially for beginners or for long-term use. Newspapers offer a 24-hour service response time.
Mow includes six months of dedicated support, and customer reviews praise its outstanding and fast support. JNews is developed by a Power Elite Author and offers dedicated support.
FAQ
Can you use WordPress for a news website?
Absolutely. WordPress is noted as being perfect for building news websites due to its flexibility, ease of use, and large collection of themes and plugins. It supports various content types, making it ideal for publishing articles, managing multimedia, and efficiently organizing news content.
Is it required to use a newspaper theme?
While not mandatory, it’s considered a good idea because these themes are optimized for news content, offering easy article management and reader-friendly layouts.
Are newpaper themes free?
Some themes, like Astra or KadenceWP, offer a free version that might be sufficient for simple sites. However, premium themes generally provide more advanced features, better support, and greater customization, which may be necessary for a more complex news website
