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Top 12 FREE BigCommerce Themes (Detailed Review)

April 11, 2024
Written and researched by experts at AvadaLearn more about our methodology

By Sam Nguyen

CEO Avada Commerce

This article will provide 12 best free BigCommerce themes, so we hope that you will find one that is the most suitable for your eCommerce business with these free themes.

Key Takeaways

No.Theme DesignDescriptionWho It’s Best for
1Cornerstone LightBright, clean, invitingBusinesses seeking a modern, welcoming vibe
2Cornerstone BoldDramatic, impactful, boldBrands desiring a strong, memorable presence
3Cornerstone WarmCozy, welcoming, softShops aiming for a friendly, approachable feel
4Vault BrightFresh, energetic, lightE-commerce sites wanting an upbeat atmosphere
5Vault CoolSleek, modern, professionalBusinesses looking for a contemporary edge
6Vault NaturalWarm, comforting, earthyStores with an organic, natural focus
7Fortune MinimalSimple, clean, elegantMinimalist brands focusing on clarity
8Fortune BrightPositive, vibrant, livelyStores wanting to exude warmth and energy
9Fortune ContrastBold contrasts, strikingCompanies seeking strong visual impact
10Fortune HighlightHighlighted, spotlightingBusinesses highlighting specific products
11Roots OriginalClean, adaptable, efficientMedium to large stores with extensive catalogs
12LifeStyle DefaultVersatile, customizable, stylishBrands prioritizing unique style and identity

12 Best Free BigCommerce Themes

1. Cornerstone 

Quick Look

Cornerstone is known for its versatility and ease of customization, making it a standout choice among BigCommerce free themes. This modern theme combines a clean and modern design with a feature-rich package, offering an optimal balance of aesthetics and functionality. Its straightforward customization allows businesses to tailor their site’s look without any coding knowledge, offering a unique blend of simplicity and personalization.

3 Theme Designs

Cornerstone includes three distinct styles:

Cornerstone Light: A bright and clean look, ideal for creating an airy and inviting online space. Perfect for businesses wanting a fresh, modern theme to attract a wide audience.

free bigcommerce themes Cornerstone Light

Cornerstone Bold: Offers a more dramatic and impactful visual presence with strong colors and bold typography. Suited for brands aiming for a bold, memorable identity.

free bigcommerce themes Cornerstone Bold

Cornerstone Warm: Features a cozy and welcoming color palette, suitable for brands looking for a softer aesthetic. Ideal for stores desiring a friendly, approachable look.

free bigcommerce themes Cornerstone Warm

These BigCommerce free themes allow extensive customization without the need for coding. Using the Theme Editor, merchants can quickly adjust fonts and colors, ensuring their site aligns with their brand identity.

Key Features

Cornerstone Light comes equipped with several key features to enhance your online store:

  • Fully Responsive: Ensures your site looks great and functions smoothly across all devices, making it a smart choice for online stores targeting mobile device users.
  • Mega Navigation & Multi-Tiered Sidebar Menu: Facilitates easy navigation, allowing customers to find what they’re looking for efficiently. Perfect for online stores with large product catalogs.
  • Masonry Design & Frontpage Slideshow: Displays products in an attractive layout, capturing customer attention right from the homepage.
  • Quick Add-to-Cart & Switchable Grid/List View: Offers a seamless shopping experience, enabling customers to easily add items to their cart and view products in their preferred format.
  • Product Comparison Table & Complex Search Filtering: Assists customers in making informed decisions by comparing product features and filtering search results based on specific criteria.

2. Vault

Quick Look

Vault distinguishes itself with its advanced Store Design capabilities, allowing for a quick and easy way to create an inviting and interesting storefront. Also, it has a clean and accessible design, ensuring better readability through a clear layout, timeless fonts, and strategic use of color highlights.

3 Theme Designs

Vault offers three distinct styles:

Vault Bright: A light and airy design that brings a fresh and energetic feel to your store. E-commerce sites looking to create an optimistic, vibrant atmosphere will find this style particularly appealing.

free bigcommerce themes Vault Bright

Vault Cool: A sleek and modern look with cool tones for a professional appearance. Businesses seeking a clean, contemporary edge will benefit from this design.

free bigcommerce themes Vault Cool

Vault Natural: A warm and inviting style that creates a comforting and down-to-earth vibe. Shops aiming for an organic, approachable feel will be well-suited to this theme.

free bigcommerce themes Vault Natural
Vault Natural: A warm and inviting style

These options provide flexibility to align your website’s appearance with your brand identity without needing to delve into coding.

Key Features

Vault comes loaded with features to enhance your online store:

  • Fully Responsive: Looks great on any device, from mobile to desktop.
  • Mega Navigation: Ideal for online stores with large menus, offering an efficient way to navigate both large and small catalogs alike.
  • Masonry Design & Frontpage Slideshow: Showcase your products in an attractive, dynamic layout.
  • Quick Add-to-Cart & Switchable Grid/List View: Makes shopping easier and more interactive for customers.
  • Product Comparison Table & Complex Search Filtering: Helps customers make informed decisions by comparing products and filtering search results efficiently.

3. Fortune

Quick Look

Fortune shines among free BigCommerce themes for its captivating hero area and unique product grid, designed to command attention and convert shoppers. In fact, Fortune excels in showcasing brands and products in a striking manner and is ideal for small-to-medium-sized catalogs.

3 Theme Designs

Fortune offers four distinct styles to match your brand’s vibe:

Fortune Minimal: Provides a streamlined, elegant appearance focusing on simplicity and cleanliness. Therefore, it is best suited for minimalist brands emphasizing clarity and usability.

free bigcommerce themes Fortune Minimal
Fortune Minimal: Provides a streamlined, elegant appearance

Fortune Bright: Features a dynamic, vibrant design, radiating positivity and energy. Thus, it is perfect for stores looking to create a lively and welcoming atmosphere.

free bigcommerce themes Fortune Bright
Fortune Bright: Features a dynamic, vibrant design

Fortune Contrast: Delivers a visually striking presence with bold contrasts. So companies aiming for a robust visual impact and memorable branding shouldn’t miss it.

free bigcommerce themes Fortune Contrast
Fortune Contrast delivers a visually striking presence with bold contrasts

Fortune Highlight: Specializes in drawing attention to specific products or features through strategic highlighting, ideal for businesses looking to spotlight their best offerings.

These styles and templates enable businesses to choose the most fitting aesthetic for their store, making customization straightforward and effective.

Core Features

Fortune is packed with functionalities designed to enhance user experience:

  • Fully Responsive: Provides a seamless shopping experience on any device.
  • Masonry Design & Frontpage Slideshow: Showcases products in an engaging, dynamic layout.
  • Quick Add-to-Cart & Grid/List View Options: Offers customers a convenient way to shop and compare products.
  • Advanced Product Filtering: Helps shoppers find exactly what they’re looking for with ease.
  • Customizable Product Selector & Cart Suggested Products: Guides customers towards making a purchase by suggesting related items.
  • High-Res Product Images & Videos: Enhances product listings, allowing customers to see detailed views.
  • One Page Check-Out & Google AMP: Streamlines the checkout process and improves mobile loading times for pages.
  • Enhanced Security & Analytics: Comes with Storefront CSRF Protection and Google Analytics Enhanced Ecommerce integration for improved security and market insights.

4. Roots Original

Quick Look

Roots Original is a particular theme tailored for medium to large-sized product catalogs, emphasizing search functionality and versatile navigation to stand out among free BigCommerce themes. Also, its clean design adapts well across various business types, instantly professionalizing any online store’s appearance.

Theme Design

Roots Original: Offers a clean, adaptable design that focuses on streamlining navigation for large catalogs, ideal for medium to large stores requiring robust search and navigation tools.

free bigcommerce themes Roots Original

Core Features

The theme is equipped with a suite of features to improve site usability and customer engagement:

  • Fully Responsive: Ensures your site looks great on any device, enhancing the mobile shopping experience.
  • Mega Navigation & Multi-Tiered Sidebar Menu: Offers easy navigation across extensive product ranges, improving site accessibility.
  • Frontpage Slideshow & Quick Add-to-Cart: Highlights key products and allows for swift purchasing actions, directly benefiting sales.
  • Product Comparison Table: Lets customers compare products side-by-side, aiding in informed purchase decisions.
  • Complex Search Filtering: Facilitates the narrowing down of products based on specific criteria, making product searches more efficient.
  • Advanced Quick View & Product Showcase: Provides detailed product previews, helping customers make decisions without navigating away from their current page.

5. LifeStyle

Quick Look

LifeStyle sets itself apart by focusing on showcasing brand and style through flexible navigation and easy-to-manage Store Design settings. What makes LifeStyle unique is its intuitive design that enhances the user experience while allowing for deep customization options, such as fonts, colors, headers, and footers. What’s more, this theme platform is particularly suited for businesses that prioritize brand identity and seek a straightforward way to express their unique style and values through their online store’s design.

Theme Design

The LifeStyle theme is intuitive, featuring a flexible fly-out and top menu system. These elements ensure customers can easily find what they’re looking for, enhancing user experience. The theme’s default style is crafted to be visually appealing, supporting high-resolution product images and a clean layout to showcase your product pages and offerings effectively.

LifeStyle theme
LifeStyle is ideal for brands that wish to showcase their unique style and values.

Key Features

LifeStyle is equipped with a comprehensive set of features to boost functionality and aesthetics:

  • Fully Responsive: Ensures your site looks and performs well on any device.
  • Mega Navigation & Multi-Tiered Sidebar Menu: Facilitates easy access to all parts of your store.
  • Masonry Design & Frontpage Slideshow: Offers a dynamic way to display products and promotions.
  • Quick Add-to-Cart & Switchable Grid/List View: Enhances the shopping experience by allowing customers to quickly add items to their cart and view products in their preferred format.
  • Product Comparison Table & Complex Search Filtering: Helps customers make informed decisions by comparing features and filtering search results.
  • Advanced Quick View & Product Showcase: Allows detailed product examination without leaving the current page.
  • Persistent Cart & One Page Checkout: Streamlines the checkout process, encouraging faster purchases.

How to Select and Set Up the Perfect Free BigCommerce Theme

To ensure you make the best choice and effectively set up your chosen theme, follow these steps:

  1. Evaluate Your Store’s Requirements: Consider the size of your catalog and the type of products you sell. BigCommerce free themes like Roots Original, with advanced search functionalities and versatile navigation, are particularly beneficial for stores with large catalogs.
  2. Match Theme to Your Brand’s Identity: Decide if your brand’s aesthetic is modern, bold, or natural. For a modern look, Cornerstone Light, a modern theme, might be the ideal new BigCommerce theme. For boldness, Cornerstone Bold might be your premium theme choice, and for a natural vibe, Vault Natural could be perfect.
  3. Confirm Theme Responsiveness: It’s vital to choose a theme that offers a great shopping experience across all mobile devices, ensuring your BigCommerce store is accessible to everyone, everywhere.
  4. Investigate Customization Options: Utilize the Theme Editor to see how easily you can modify theme aspects like colors, fonts, and layouts to fit your brand without needing custom development.
  5. Identify Essential Features: Make a list of must-have features such as fast loading times, effective product filtering, and easy checkout. Check if the theme supports these features, as they are crucial for a successful ecommerce platform.
  6. Utilize the Theme Preview: Before finalizing your decision, use the “Preview” option to see how your products and branding align with the theme. This step is crucial for visualizing the customer experience on your ecommerce platform.
  7. Check for Ease of Customization: In the Theme Editor, experiment with basic customization options to assess the ease with which you can adjust the theme to meet your needs without extensive custom design.
  8. Examine Support and Update Frequency: Reliable support and regular updates are key to ensuring your theme remains compatible with the latest ecommerce platforms and web standards.

By carefully following these steps, you’ll be well-equipped to select and set up a theme that not only meets your business needs but also enhances your online store’s appeal and functionality. Besides the default functionalities of the theme you choose, you might also love to maximize sales by adding BigCommerce apps.

Why Choose Free BigCommerce Themes Over Paid Themes

Opting for a free theme on BigCommerce rather than investing in paid themes can be a wise decision for many businesses, especially those just starting out or operating on a tight budget. 

BigCommerce free themes offer a cost-effective solution without compromising quality, providing online stores with a user-friendly, responsive, and aesthetically pleasing theme at no additional cost. 

Moreover, free BigCommerce themes come with a range of customization options, allowing you to tailor your site to your brand identity using the Theme Editor and other built-in tools without the need for custom development.

Conclusion

Choosing the right theme is crucial for the success of your online store. Our review of the top 12 free BigCommerce themes provides a comprehensive guide to help you make an informed decision. From sleek and modern designs to cozy and welcoming layouts, there’s a theme for every type of business. So, let’s elevate your online presence today with one of these outstanding free options.


Sam Nguyen is the CEO and founder of Avada Commerce, an e-commerce solution provider headquartered in Singapore. He is an expert on the Shopify e-commerce platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems. Sam loves talking about e-commerce and he aims to help over a million online businesses grow and thrive.