The Genesis Framework by StudioThemes is the most popular WordPress framework out there. It’s a lightweight and designed with the end-user in mind. The best way to customize the look and feel is with child themes. So, we curated the best free options to help you get started.
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Best Free Genesis Child Themes: Our Shortlist
To use any of the child themes listed below, you need to buy the Genesis Framework–it’s $360 per year. However, if you host your website with WP Engine, you get access to it and all StudioPress themes at no cost.
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What Is the Genesis Framework?
Genesis is currently used on more than 6,000 of the top 1 million websites. It’s a powerful, secure, search engine optimization (SEO)-friendly, and mobile-responsive framework designed to be used with a child theme — one of the StudioPress premium child themes or a third-party premium or free child theme.
What Is a Genesis Child Theme?
The Genesis Framework is the parent WordPress theme, and the Genesis child theme is a WordPress one built on top of the framework; the child theme inherits the functionality from the parent theme.
Using a child theme lets you quickly and safely update the framework.
When a new upgraded version of the Genesis Framework comes out, you can safely update it because all your customizations are saved in the child theme, as it automatically inherits the parent theme’s features, styles, and templates. You don’t need to touch the core files in the parent theme (nor would you need to).
Free Genesis Child Themes
Here is our collection of free child themes for Genesis Framework that are elegant, responsive, and modern looking (i.e., “fit” for 2023 and beyond). Please note the child themes below require the Genesis Framework to function.
- Genesis Sample (StudioPress)
- Journal (Rafal Tomal)
- Fresh (Restored 316)
- Kimi (Andrei Chira)
- Tote (Themedy)
- Mobile First Adoption (Art of Genesis)
- Diligent (Claro Themes)
- Equilibre (Claro Themes)
- Hello Minimal (Tonya Mork)
- One Pager (Sridhar Katakam)
- Latitude (Aaron Hartland)
- Center (MagikPress)
To use any of the child themes listed below, you need to buy the Genesis Framework, which is $360 for an annual subscription.
1. Genesis sample theme
The Genesis sample is a starter theme included for free when you buy the Genesis Framework. It features six page layouts; a custom background, header, and menus; footer widgets; threaded comments, and more.
2. Journal theme
Journal is a free Genesis child theme for WordPress from Rafal Tomal (the former lead designer at Rainmaker Digital). The very lightweight design is intended primarily for simple personal blog sites. Its home page has one content area above the recent posts.
The theme doesn’t have visible sidebars, but the primary sidebar is hidden behind the screen, which can be accessed by clicking the Menu button.
Download / learn more (Note: You must join Rafal’s newsletter before you can download the theme)
3. Fresh theme
Fresh is a free feminine Genesis child theme for WordPress made by Restored 316. The design is modern, fresh, and light — perfect for blogs.
Download / learn more (Note: You must join the Restored316 newsletter before you can download the theme)
4. Kimi theme
Kimi is a free business child theme for Genesis created by Andrei Chira. This theme is perfect for business — the homepage is set to full-width-template and columns are made with the Genesis Columns Advanced plug-in.
5. Tote theme
Tote, a free Genesis child theme, is inspired by Tumblr and its infinite scrolling themes. The theme is perfect for showcasing your blog and comes with a range of styles, features, and clever backend options.
6. Mobile First Adaptation theme
Mobile First Adaptation theme WordPress is created by Art of Genesis. This is a free, mobile-responsive and HTML5 theme built for the Genesis Framework.
7. Diligent theme
Diligent is a clean and simple Genesis child theme designed with consultants, coaches, and entrepreneurs in mind. The theme includes six color styles; four page layouts; featured image auto-display; custom theme options, backgrounds, and menus, plus much more.
8. Equilibre theme
Equilibre is a clean, minimalist free Genesis child theme perfectly suited for small businesses and freelancers that like to keep their sites simple. The theme includes HTML5 markup; custom theme options, background, and menus; four Page layouts; a built-in Font Awesome toolkit, and more.
9. Hello Minimal theme
Hello Minimal is a simple Genesis-powered child theme from Tonya Mork. The theme is clean and modular — perfect for personal blogs.
Live demo
10. One Pager theme
One Pager is a free parallax website child theme for Genesis. Created by Sridhar Katakam, this theme is primarily meant for single page websites that have several horizontal sections with the nav menu items scrolling smoothly to their corresponding sections.
11. Latitude theme
Latitude is a free news/magazine child theme for the Genesis Framework, from Aaron Hartland. The theme is two or three column widget ready. It comes with a slider; portfolio page template; six page layouts; custom background, header, and menus; footer widgets; threaded comments, and much more.
12. Center theme
Center is a free blog child theme for the Genesis Framework. The theme comes with two color schemes, light and dark. It also has customizable footer text, two footer widget areas, one header widget area, and one widget area below primary navigation.
