Last year I published a list of independent WordPress theme shops ordered by Alexa rank. Since then a number of new ones have opened up, a few have closed doors, and a couple have rebranded or changed hands.
I thought it would be interesting to look at these numbers again to see how the independent theme market has changed over the year. I updated the ranking table and posted the new information at the bottom of this post.
Alexa data isn’t necessarily correct as it is based on traffic estimates. It also doesn’t indicate anything about actual revenue numbers. So the “data” here should definitely be looked at with skepticism. It is, however, one of the few independent measures we have to rank websites.
The biggest takeaway for me is that the Alexa ranking for all the top theme shops improved significantly. Every single shop in the top 25 is doing better than last year. I think this shows a continued interest in commercial themes and that well established shops are likely benefiting the most.
It’s probably worth mentioning that the large theme marketplaces still far outrank independent theme shops. ThemeForest is ranked 94, CreativeMarket 3,904, Mojo 3,996. However, they operate on a completely different scale and isn’t really something I looked at with this data.
In terms of independent shops, WPMU Dev jumped 5 spots to claim the first position. The Alexa rank is based primary on traffic, so it makes sense that a theme shop like WPMU Dev which posts a lot of content would rank highly. But overall there wasn’t too much movement at the top. A few new shops are listed in the top 20 (Yi Themes, ColorLib and Athemes)- but they’re all well-established sites, I just wasn’t aware of them a year ago.
ThemeGrill is one new entrant that managed to rank highly (#34). It’s looks like they launched in February 2014. I’m surprised to see them above established shops like Theme Foundry, Obox, Press75, etc., but they do have a number of popular themes on wordpress.org, so perhaps that’s a way to get recognized quick. CyberChimps also seems to benefit from this approach. (Again, Alexa just measures traffic, not revenue.)
Elmastudio, Engine Themes, Tesla Themes, Theme Foundry, CPO Themes, and Blu Chic are all shops now in the top 50 that had a 20k+ ranking improvement. They each have great sites and good collection of themes, so this looks well-deserved.
WP Bandit, DevPress, Press75, and Gorilla Themes were previously in the top 50 but declined this year (10k+). Interestingly enough, two of those shops also changed ownership this year. Press75 is now being run by Travis Totz (of WestWerk) and DevPress was taken over by myself (Devin Price). My educated guess is that these shops didn’t market or release enough new work in the last year to maintain existing traffic, but it will be interesting to see where they stand next year.
If you know of any shops I missed please mention them in the comments. If you have any other thoughts based on rankings, I’d also love to hear them.
| Theme Company | Alexa Rank 2014 | Change Since 2013 |
|---|---|---|
| WPMU Dev | 850 | -4339 |
| ElegantThemes | 851 | -1059 |
| WooThemes | 902 | -1015 |
| StudioPress | 1494 | -1327 |
| Theme Fusion | 2834 | New |
| Yoo Theme | 3202 | -955 |
| RocketTheme | 3354 | -882 |
| MyThemeShop | 3388 | -5950 |
| Templatic | 4244 | -2507 |
| AppThemes | 4365 | -3624 |
| iThemes | 4645 | -5309 |
| Themify | 4809 | -6787 |
| Ink Themes | 4944 | -3210 |
| Yi Themes | 5482 | New |
| Colorlib | 5719 | New |
| PremiumPress | 6515 | -5039 |
| DIY Themes | 6696 | 0 |
| ThemeFuse | 6898 | -3021 |
| Theme Junkie | 7488 | -2545 |
| WPZOOM | 7797 | -1615 |
| ATHEMES | 8507 | New |
| Cyber Chimps | 8519 | -7128 |
| Elmastudio | 9606 | -31883 |
| Bavotsan | 10163 | -9033 |
| Engine Themes | 11709 | -39727 |
| Magazine3 | 11896 | -3589 |
| PageLines | 12228 | -2199 |
| ColorLabs | 12915 | +604 |
| Headway Themes | 13054 | -4699 |
| Graph Paper Press | 13468 | -5367 |
| TeslaThemes | 13636 | -163044 |
| CSS Igniter | 13740 | -6741 |
| Dessign | 15308 | +938 |
| Theme Grill | 15466 | New |
| Organic Themes | 16224 | -5690 |
| Gabfire Themes | 16801 | +185 |
| SM Themes | 17385 | New |
| ThemeTrust | 17885 | -6219 |
| Solostream | 18031 | -172 |
| Themes Kingdom | 18489 | -3063 |
| Theme Horse | 19016 | New |
| SiteMile | 19480 | -4716 |
| Theme Foundary | 22123 | -29164 |
| Obox Themes | 23296 | -2116 |
| Catch Themes | 23650 | +10837 |
| Astoundify | 25109 | -39216 |
| MH Themes | 26216 | New |
| Code Stag | 27527 | New |
| ThemeZilla | 28182 | +11571 |
| CPO Themes | 29830 | -49660 |
| Simple Themes | 30161 | -12745 |
| ThemeHybrid | 30828 | -10364 |
| Alien WP | 34776 | -11722 |
| Blu Chic | 35013 | -61819 |
| WPShower | 35109 | +8767 |
| Themedy | 35726 | -10584 |
| Contempo | 35988 | New |
| HeatMap | 38364 | -12536 |
| ThemeBeans | 41902 | -14026 |
| Theme Furnace | 43120 | -32947 |
| MarketPress | 43641 | -100009 |
| Gorilla Themes | 46899 | +10599 |
| Template Express | 47086 | New |
| Towfiqi | 47709 | New |
| Frogs Themes | 49076 | -33351 |
| Tokokoo | 50006 | +19857 |
| Press75 | 52345 | +11858 |
| PressLayer | 52901 | -88442 |
| Theme Isle | 54009 | New |
| RichWP | 54096 | +8459 |
| WPLook | 55980 | -54764 |
| UFO Themes | 58450 | -58682 |
| Organized Themes | 60607 | -49465 |
| Designer Themes | 61252 | +10800 |
| Press Coders | 63538 | +20342 |
| Theme In Progress | 65418 | New |
| Photocrati | 66717 | +3009 |
| Nimbus Themes | 70711 | New |
| Think Up Themes | 71620 | New |
| Themekraft | 72820 | +15094 |
| ThemeShift | 73083 | +3472 |
| Styled Themes | 75682 | -43304 |
| DevPress | 76603 | +26326 |
| ThemeLab | 77438 | New |
| WPCasa | 79601 | -17909 |
| WP Bandit | 79629 | +58998 |
| Authentic Themes | 79645 | -78926 |
| Gents Themes | 82033 | New |
| HermesThemes | 83196 | -37077 |
| BragThemes | 84520 | -36217 |
| Zappy Themes | 85271 | New |
| Slocum Themes | 86,357 | New |
| DesignOrbital | 88763 | New |
| Array | 89049 | +14953 |
| Design Orbital | 90115 | -3656 |
| Compete Themes | 90520 | New |
| Icy Pixels | 90827 | New |
| Mint Themes | 95714 | +31039 |
| DX Themes | 96365 | +38148 |
| Up Themes | 97477 | +47411 |
| ThemeBoy | 100152 | New |
| BizzThemes | 101425 | +32712 |
| Appendipity | 101547 | New |
| Pro Theme Design | 101779 | +15294 |
| Themes4all | 104102 | -362482 |
| Acosmin | 110498 | -470808 |
| Dev4Press | 111725 | +12481 |
| Shaken and Stirred Web | 115762 | +21006 |
| Imon Themes | 117400 | New |
| ViVA Themes | 118441 | -23058 |
| Anariel Design | 124916 | -22383 |
| Storefront Themes | 125458 | +20842 |
| ThemeWarrior | 137937 | +1453 |
| Audio Theme | 145794 | New |
| Splashing Pixels | 154902 | +47644 |
| DolcePixel | 155572 | -10651 |
| Nice Themes | 160424 | +4559 |
| NattyWP | 193328 | +48082 |
| Panda Themes | 193783 | +75788 |
| Rockable Themes | 199256 | +109211 |
| Der Prinz | 203146 | +33569 |
| Captain Theme | 249989 | -243473 |
| Flexithemes | 255443 | +131183 |
| Just Good Themes | 306951 | New |
| WP Arcade | 310552 | +106414 |
| cr3ativ | 316070 | New |
| Theme Spectrum | 328187 | +66590 |
| Theme Weaver | 343057 | -274256 |
| Theme of the Crop | 347996 | New |
| Aloha Themes | 351246 | +154408 |
| Themes Zen | 353014 | +57058 |
| eFrog | 367863 | +67275 |
| Clover Themes | 374496 | +153579 |
| Museum Themes | 377415 | -131420 |
| Church Themes | 377536 | +14695 |
| Chimera Themes | 392279 | +239803 |
| WPshoppe | 415130 | +178544 |
| Simply WP | 415433 | +214560 |
| Studio 164a | 420246 | New |
| Foxnet Themes | 451580 | -158529 |
| Serene Themes | 484712 | New |
| ThemeLoom | 514251 | +268099 |
| SkyThemes | 533889 | -197437 |
| WP for Church | 546521 | +56429 |
| Theme Supply Co | 598200 | +304879 |
| ThemeJam | 641158 | -205429 |
| Bluz Themes | 760244 | +305629 |
| Legend Themes | 804619 | +19911 |
| Skematik | 1024024 | +761791 |
| Templatica | 1095766 | +807895 |
| Peaxl | 1156439 | -1243562 |
| Lean Themes | 1246232 | New |
| Theme Fit | 1247356 | +507566 |
| Theme Sumo | 1585884 | +935360 |
| Monster Themes | 2702662 | +1247855 |
| WinPress | 2897786 | +2096363 |
