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There are so many templates to choose from but I don't understand the difference between a free, a paid and a premium template. I also couldn't find any independent reviews. As I'm new to Magento I do need some help to make a decision for my sport website. Hopefully you can help.

ladle3000
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Bobby
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2 Answers2

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I think it doesn't depend on wether it's a free, paid or a premium template. You should consider the features and your requirements to satisfy your needs.

Customization

Do you want to install a template that will only get minimal customization (for example via configuration options via backend) or do you need the template as base for some bigger changes/adaptions?

Responsive vs. mobile template

Do you want a responsive version or do you like to provide a seperate mobile version?

Build tools

Does the template come with SASS/LESS, gulp, bower support built in? Do you want to use this tools?

Configuration via backend

Do you need/want the possiblity to adapt certain features, colours,... via backend?

Features

Are there any special features you would like to have such as a sticky header, slideshow,...? If you don't a lot of features, don't go with a template that provides a lot of them, otherwise it's to overloaded. Some of these things can be implemented pretty smooth by good developers with less overhead.

Don't use a template with a lot of features you don't like/want/need.

cost

Free our paid: Depending on how much money you like to spend (if so).

My personal opinion on this: If you don't want to put too much time and effort on your design and template, go for a well-prepared design where you only have to adjust colours and your logo.

If you'd like to do some customization regarding positions, features, blocks, the layout, etc. better go for basic one with less features. They will (most likely) be better for adaption as you don't have to deal with a lot of unneeded/unwanted features and code.

From my point of view, basic templates provide a better performance in general, as there's less overhead on features spent. Some of the bigger templates I've seen which have a lot of stuff built in tend to break performance sometimes.

Anna Völkl
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I would recommend using a responsive template so that you are basically keeping one template up to date rather than separate desktop and mobile themes. But it is a matter of preference.

My two favorite responsive themes are Ultimo and the built in rwd theme.

I agree with Anna about keeping it basic. As rwd is built in, you are apt to stay more upgrade proof if you do your research going into it. Look into child themes and/or sub-themes. Ultimo also does a good job of staying up to date and providing good support of child theming to keep you more upgrade proof.

ladle3000
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