If you have been thinking about building your website using a WordPress theme, you've probably done a bit of research on the available WordPress themes, and on your search for “The One”, you may have seen that there are premium (paid) themes, as well as free WordPress themes out there.
Premium WordPress themes are professionally designed and coded themes that are sold for a fixed price. They come with advanced features, additional functionality, and support from the companies that created them. Free themes, on the other hand, don't come with superb features; they are usually plain in design, and the only support you'll get for them is if you reach out to people on WordPress forums. If you are not interested in investing in a premium WordPress theme, you can opt for a free one.
But what if we told you that there is a way to get a premium WordPress theme for free or at a lower price? Yep, you've read that right.
You could get one of the nulled WordPress themes 一 pirated copies of the premium WordPress themes that are sold illegally at lower prices or offered for free. Thousands of nulled themes are downloaded every day for WordPress sites, so such a theme just might be the solution you were looking for. Right? – Wrong!
We would strongly suggest you NOT to get a nulled WordPress theme for your website. Sure, by doing so, you could save some money on the side, but the risk you would put your website through makes nulled WordPress themes not worth it. After all, they do say that you get what you pay for.
Here are 5 reasons why nulled WordPress themes are a hard pass.
Reason #1:
Your site will be prone
to security breaches.
If you have read our article in which we covered WordPress security tips, you might remember that we said that WordPress, as a platform, is not entirely hacker-proof and that random hack attacks happen all the time. In that post, we also mentioned that it is important to find a trustworthy theme maker that creates well-coded WordPress themes (that are often updated). And guess what? Nulled WordPress themes are anything but well-coded and secure.
Knowing that third party companies and individuals pirate these WordPress themes and give them for free (or at lower prices), you really don't know what exactly you are paying for. Additionally, oftentimes, these themes contain malicious code that is added so one can get third-party access to your Dashboard, steal data (your customers' data 一 names, emails, credit card information, etc.), or to crash your site.
Just imagine all your customers' data being stolen in a matter of seconds, and you can't do absolutely anything about it.
Reason #2:
Your site won't be
able to rank properly.
No one can argue that WordPress is SEO-friendly. A significant number of theme makers nowadays are creating responsive, SEO-friendly themes that can help your site get traffic and rank higher in the SERPs. Theme makers know how hard it is to rank on Google 一 it takes (a lot of) time and effort 一 and they are willing to do anything to help you.
Knowing this, you might be thinking that, if the nulled WordPress themes are just copies of premium themes, they could help you create a Google-friendly site. But, the truth is, no matter what you do (which plugins you install to make your site even more SEO-friendly) and how much effort you put in, if you use a nulled WordPress theme, there is no guarantee that you will be able to rank high on search engines. Here's why.
As we have previously mentioned, nulled WordPress themes are NOT hacker-proof at all. They often contain malware that hackers can use as tools to get to your site so they can place unwanted links and malicious content. Why would they do that, you may ask? Because, by putting spam links, attackers are trying to rank their websites higher on Google. The worst part is that hackers don't choose just the sites that are ranked higher 一 they often attack small ones to help them rank. It's sad, but it's true.
Reason #3:
Your site will run
on an outdated theme.
Here's the thing you need to know about WordPress updates: the guys behind WordPress release the new version of WP every few months. Each WordPress version comes with improved security and performance 一 the developers take care of all security vulnerabilities and add new features and functionalities. A WordPress website regularly checks for updates and displays them under the Dashboard, in the Updates section. Not long after a new WordPress version is out, a theme update becomes available (there's a notification in the Appearance section, on the Themes page). To update a theme, you need to click the Update now button.
All of the previously mentioned things don't apply for the nulled WordPress themes. Nulled WordPress themes don't receive any updates, and you won't even be notified when there's a new WP version available. Not updating your site can affect your website's performance (you won't get the newest features) and security, making it an easy target for persistent hackers.
Reason #4:
Your site won't
have proper support.
If you haven't dabbled into buying a premium WordPress theme, then you probably don't know that once you purchase such a theme, you have access to support from the theme developers/makers that built the theme. That's what their support is for!
But, this isn't quite the case with the nulled WordPress themes. Since you, technically, got a pirated WordPress theme, you can't reach out to the developers that built the theme and ask for their help. Sure, you can reach out to developers on the WordPress forum, but there is no guarantee that they would be willing to give you a hand and help you resolve your issue. So, if you want to get the full support, better buy a premium WordPress theme.
Reason #5:
You could face a lawsuit.
If this is not the reason that will stop you from getting a nulled WordPress theme, we don't know what is.
Nulled WordPress themes are STOLEN from authors, and the third parties that stole them took out any premium-related resources and content and are offering these themes either for free or less money. This means that if theme developers notice that you are using a pirated version of their theme, they have the right (and probably will) sue you. So, if you want to avoid a lawsuit, you better stay away from the nulled WordPress themes. Everything comes with a price; even free nulled WordPress themes. Nulled WordPress themes are just bad news.
They can affect your site's security, performance, SEO, and drain your money if an original theme maker decides to press charges on you. If you do the math, you'll realize that it is a way better option to buy a premium WordPress theme than to get a free pirated nulled WordPress theme and pay for the legal bills later. If, however, you can't afford a premium theme, you can always opt for a free one (you check out our free WordPress themes).
