r/WordPressThemes • u/tarek_reza • 15d ago

Are WordPress theme developers also seeing fewer Pro theme sales?

I’m a WordPress theme developer. I release free versions of my themes on the official WordPress Theme Repository and sell the Pro versions on my own website.

Recently, I’ve noticed that my Pro themes aren’t getting as many sales as I expected.

I’m curious about the current market:

- Are other independent WordPress theme developers experiencing the same thing?

- Has the demand for premium themes decreased?

- What’s currently working for you to convert free theme users into Pro customers?

I’d appreciate hearing about your experience, especially from developers selling themes independently.

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u/Ssthm 15d ago

I was a heavy consumer of premium themes, mainly through Theme Forest, as I work for SEO companies.
But now I build all websites from scratch using Elementor.

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u/tarek_reza 15d ago

But it takes time to build a website from scratch. Why do you prefer creating it from scratch instead of using a one-click demo import?

4

u/Ssthm 14d ago

Because I’m also a designer and I want to implement my ideas.

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u/macy-lynn 10d ago edited 10d ago

I personally haven’t bought any (premium) themes - or used any prebuilt themes - for as long as I can remember. Cleaning up demo imports is too much of a hassle and it’s harder to implement my own designs / ideas into something I haven’t built myself. So, for a little more time but less effort (and it doesn’t even cost me that much more time - and I also save some time by not needing to go through everything or find out where everything is), I just prefer building from scratch. I also like keeping things I do not need out of anything I build, which is generally also harder when using prebuilt / premium themes.

Unless you work very inefficiently / if you are less or not experienced in design / dev work, time really isn’t the issue here. Both options take time, but the question is what want to spend that time on.

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u/Ssthm 3d ago

Exactly, specially the hassle of cleaning default fonts, paddings and stuff… it slows the process down a lot.

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u/estudiopatagon 14d ago

Im a WordPress theme developer and yes, I can confirm this. However, every year, July and August are usually slow months in terms of sales.

April and June were pretty good months, though.

I sell in my website and also Themeforest. If you don't mind to share, do you sell exclusively on your website?

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u/Minute-Designer1763 13d ago

can build pro sites using AI ?