Having a unique and functional website is important when trying to stand out in a competitive market. While it’s a great idea to try and create it from scratch, using a template offers many benefits too, both for a business and an individual.
Today, there are many websites that offer amazing templates. But, you need to pick carefully while strongly considering your needs: blogging, ecommerce or an official product website. If you are looking for the best blog templates, you need to make sure that they are is reliable, customizable, and frequently updated.
Luckily, there’s no need to spend hours on research, in this article, I have picked the nine best HTML blog templates that you can choose from. Why HTML templates? They allow you to perform various customizations that will make your site truly unique!
What You Need to Know About HTML
HTML — stands for HyperText Markup Language — is, as the name implies, a markup language used for structuring content on web browsers.
Along with CSS and JavaScript, HTML is a core language used for creating a website. HTML builds the website’s fundamental structure, CSS handles the visuals, and JavaScript livens it up with interactive behavior.
These three languages are part of front-end development with the main focus of creating a functional website that provides a great user experience. To achieve this, all websites should conform to certain standards.
Today, the latest version of HTML is HTML5. Released in 2014 and recommended by W3C, HTML5 offers many features that improve upon the previous versions of HTML.
For a developer, HTML5 is a great version that can handle syntax errors incredibly well. Not only that, HTML5 allows local storage like saving data on the client’s device while HTML uses browser cache memory.
In addition, here are some other advantages of HTML5:
- Native multimedia support (no need to download additional plugins).
- Cross-browser compatibility.
- Mobile-responsive design ready.
- Geolocation support.
Thanks to these advantages, using the latest version of HTML is highly beneficial.
Why You Should Use HTML Blog Templates
You don’t need to create everything from scratch.
There are many pre-built HTML blog templates available and most of them are customizable. Furthermore, utilizing templates gives some more great benefits.
Faster development
Instead of requiring you to allocate time for designing and testing, templates ensure everything works well out of the box. Using ready-made templates lets you focus on other business-related affairs.
Affordable
There are many places that offer HTML blog templates with an affordable price tag like Themeforest. Most templates are reusable, so you can cut down expenses for upcoming projects.
Customizable
Having a ready-made template is handy as little customization might help you create a professional looking site, especially if it is under the same category.
Top 9 HTML Blog Templates
Here are the best blog templates you can choose for your personal or business site based on price, features, and customizability.
1. NewsPoint
As its name suggests, Newspoint is a great template for online publishing, similar to newspapers, magazines or a blog.
From the homepage, you will see how great the parallax effect it presents looks. It will give a good first impression suitable for a professional website. What’s more, all animations throughout the template are amazing, combined with a clean three-column design.
You don’t need to worry about targeting mobile users as this template is mobile-responsive and supports retina displays. In addition, it boasts a slider that will make it easy to customize it.
This template costs $15 for a regular license, with the extra benefit of six months of support and updates.
The Good
- Plenty of Google fonts to use, letting you add that extra personal touch to your site.
- Unlimited colors, allowing you to customize the theme’s scheme exactly how you want it to be.
- Google Maps customized elements that open up a powerful feature for any travel blogs, or sites that specialize in local areas.
The Bad
- Might not be suitable for other purposes than online publishing.
The Verdict
This template is great for building an online publishing website at a very affordable price. All the must-have features are there, while the wealth of customization options will help create a site that will look unique.
2. Sault
If showcasing your work is the goal of your site, this template is one of the best choice available.
Sault offers a standard light and a dark version. If you are in the business of advertising or marketing, the standard version will represent you well. But, for individual freelancers with lots of photos to show, the dark version is more recommended, as it’ll help keep the focus on your work.
This template boasts its minimalist design which focuses on images. In turn, you get to enjoy faster load times which is good for your visitors and SEO.
The price for Sault’s regular license is $18. Along with it, you get 6 months of support and future updates.
The Good
- Great for online visual portfolios. This template focuses on a design that puts your uploaded images front and center.
- Minimalist design with fast load times – keep your visitors focused while upping your chances of getting to the top of the SERP.
- Mobile responsive, making your content look great on any kind of device.
The Bad
- Requires great images to make it beautiful. Without your own visuals, the theme might look pretty plain.
The Verdict
Designed for startups and freelancers, the theme requires you to have great images to get a nice and professional website.
3. Optimistic Blog
Another responsive HTML blog template with great animations – Optimistic Blog.
It has a clean design with a great slideshow upfront combined with aesthetic boarding. Compatible with most browsers and devices, Optimistic Blog is perfect for any kind of personal site you want to build.
This HTML blog template offers amazing features such as multiple homepage layout variations, multiple widgets, and different types of post formats (regular, video, or gallery post).
Optimistic Blog costs $14 for a regular license with 24/7 support for six months.
The Good
- An amazing template at an affordable price.
- Responsive grid layout that’s vital for targeting mobile device users.
- Built-in slider variation which is perfect for media-rich websites.
The Bad
- Limited font choices keep you from customizing your website extensively.
The Verdict
One of the best choices for those who want to have great templates with a built-in slider at an affordable price.
4. OSRU
Designed for online publishing, the fully responsive OSRU is one of the best HTML templates available.
OSRU comes with six homepages and ten layouts which will help adjust the theme to your needs. So, whether it is a big image upfront or a collage of photos it is up to your preference. What’s more, you are free to choose from seven types of category page designs to fit in your website type: magazine, newspaper, or blog.
Having multiple types of post and news publishing systems, OSRU is a beautiful template for building a great mobile responsive website. Not only that, the animations and the hover effects throughout the website are lovely too.
You can get OSRU’s regular license for $14 to enjoy six months of support and updates.
The Good
- A template with W3C validated HTML code will have fewer issues.
- At an affordable price, you can get a bundle of great design.
- Cross-device compatibility promises wonderful visuals on any device.
The Bad
- Limited to online publishing, meaning you cannot reuse it for other purposes of your next project.
The Verdict
If you want an online publishing template that comes with beautiful designs, OSRU can be a great choice, especially if clean code templates are what you look for.
5. NewsEdge
You can use NewsEdge for almost any type of website, from fashion, sports, to politics. This template comes with seven homepages to accommodate your needs.
From the homepage, the hover effect and layout will make your blog stand out from others. Its transition effects and carousel slider will definitely look attractive. The four posts and three news detail styles allow you to be more creative in managing how your content presented.
Offering the same modern and clean design as Sault, NewsEdge has more positives like clean code and fewer files included. This will boost its overall performance.
NewsEdge is RTL supported so changing the layout from right-to-left will be effortless.
You can get NewsEdge’s regular license for $18. Along with it, you can get free lifetime updates and six months of support.
The Good
- This is the only template that provides 15 hours of real-time support.
- With the AJAX powered contact forms, you can get a better way of engaging with your visitors.
- As a W3C validated template, you will encounter fewer issues using this template.
- Well documented code, meaning that you will have enough information about the template design to modify it and troubleshoot it yourself.
The Bad
- The template is quite expensive, and you will be able to find a theme with almost identical features for cheaper.
The Verdict
If you want a great template with lots of options and W3C validated code, and don’t mind the price tag, NewsEdge will be a good choice.
6. MINIMAG
As its name suggests, MINIMAG offers a minimalist design for your magazine or newspaper blog. However, you can use this template for other types of websites too.
Boasting its great readability and stylish look, you will be impressed by how great the layout can showcase your content. If you want a nice HTML blog template with awesome animations both on images and text, look no further than MINIMAG.
Apart from appearance, this template has other great features too. It is RTL supported and W3C validated.
In addition, you can get other handy options such as a slider which will make your overall design more attractive, integrated contact forms for better engagement, and mobile responsive design to make it look nice on any kind of device.
MINIMAG costs $16 for a regular license with six months of support and future updates.
The Good
- Built with the latest Bootstrap version making this template lightweight and customizable.
- You will get an abundance of unique homepages.
- This template is flexible and can accommodate any type of websites you want to build.
The Bad
- You might want to get a cheaper option if the price is a deal-breaker for you.
The Verdict
While it costs a bit more than others, this multipurpose template comes with many unique homepages that would look great on many different projects.
7. Axobiz
Axobiz is a minimalistic responsive HTML blog template that comes with two variants: light and dark.
Unlike Sault, Axobiz offers bigger images that make its dark version more appealing. If you look for a unique template that looks clean but professional, Axobiz can be one of the best choices.
This template comes with free fonts so changing your website’s typography is a breeze. Not only that, but this template is W3C validated and supports syntax highlighting – improving code readability. As it implements a four grid system, customizing the website will be easier.
This template costs $24 for its regular license. You will get 24/7 support for six months.
The Good
- A unique template with two variants of light and dark that will help you build your personal brand.
- Easy to customize, thanks to the implementation of the four grid system.
- The lightweight design will help you gain better performance.
The Bad
- The template has a pretty hefty price tag.
- Limited options for homepages will hinder you from customizing more.
The Verdict
If the price doesn’t matter and you prefer to have fewer, but well-designed options, this unique template is an easy pick.
8. Pofo
If you are looking for a fully responsive HTML blog template that offers an abundance of homepages, Pofo is a good shout.
Designed for creative and modern types of business such as agencies and freelancer sites, Pofo is visually attractive with more than 211 pages and awesome ready-to-use elements you can modify to fit your requirements.
Pofo also has robust features to make it easy to customize like a slider and Google fonts. What is more, it comes with Magnific Popup, a lightweight lightbox plugin that supports retina displays and is mobile responsive.
Not only that, Pofo comes with Ajax contact forms for better visitor engagement, speed optimization, and brilliant a parallax background. All of these features will guarantee an attractive website that works well.
This template costs $17 for the regular license along with six months of support and updates.
The Good
- SEO optimized code, beneficial for earning free traffic from search engines.
- An attractive design with parallax scrolling that makes your website look modern and professional.
- An abundance of unique home pages and elements means it would be easier for your website to look distinguished and stand out.
The Bad
- Too many files included might cause performance issues.
The Verdict
One of the best multipurpose templates with many features for those who demand versatility, at an affordable price.
9. Deep Soul
Deep soul is a perfect template for any kind of website, from technology to entertainment.
Offering many different blog layouts, Deep Soul is a great template for hosting images. It comes with six responsive homepage styles that would look amazing on desktops and mobile devices.
If you want to build an online store, don’t worry, Deep Soul is optimized for ecommerce too.
One of the handy features the theme offers is Ajax live search that will improve user experience as they can quickly search for anything on your site. Equipped with UiKit, this template promises a robust and fast website interface using a lightweight framework.
You can get Deep Soul for $16 including six months of support and updates.
The Good
- Online store ready, offering a great advantage for those who want to jump into ecommerce.
- Mobile responsive with a lot of layouts, meaning you can target mobile users with the help of attractive designs.
- Cross-browser compatibility makes this template looks great on any browser.
The Bad
- Not the cheapest option on this list by far.
The Verdict
Deep Soul is an amazing minimalistic theme with many useful features to guarantee great performance and an attractive look that fits different types of business.
What You Should Consider Before Choosing a Blog Template
Choosing a blog template can be overwhelming. Luckily, there are a few guidelines to make it easier.
Type of Website
Before you go into the details of each HTML template, you should first decide what website you want to build.
The needs of a personal blog will be different from an ecommerce website. So, knowing the type of website you want will all help to choose a template.
Also, if you want to build a portfolio blog that showcases your work, you might need an image-focused template like Sault or Axobis. If your target audience mostly consists of mobile users, you should choose a template which is mobile friendly.
Priority (Free vs Paid)
While there are many free templates that work well out of the box, for professional use, a paid version is definitely recommended. Not only will it give you more features, but most paid templates also offer technical support and future updates.
Even if you intend to use a free template just for a personal blog, you still need to make sure that it is reliable. As for paid templates, you can play it safe by choosing a multipurpose option, especially if you are undecided. A multipurpose template is easier to reuse for a different project.
Customization options
Using a template is a good option to cut development time. But, it doesn’t mean that it hinders you from making something unique.
That is why choosing a customizable template is a must. The templates I presented in the list above are all deeply customizable.
Responsiveness
If you are targeting mobile users (and you should), choosing a mobile-ready template is vital. Responsive blog templates will provide a better user experience for all devices.
SEO Friendliness
To drive more organic traffic to your website, you need an SEO-friendly template. A good template will help you rank higher on the search engine results pages (SERP).
As the crawling process happens under the hood, choosing a template with an SEO-friendly label will ensure that the code is clean and SEO optimized.
Page Load Time
A fast page load time will help you rank higher on the SERP. As for visitors, a faster loading page gives a better user experience.
Basically, the average load time should be less than three seconds. To check it, you can go to Pingdom and enter the URL of the template demo to get the result.
Conclusion
Choosing the best blog template is not as hard as it seems if you know the guidelines. You have learned what are things to consider when choosing one:
- Type of website you’ll use it for.
- Free or paid – if it’s worth the money.
- Customization – how far you can adjust it to your needs.
- Responsiveness – the ability to have your site look and work great on all screens.
- SEO-friendliness – how impactful will the template be to SEO.
- Page load time – how fast the page loads.
Here are the best HTML blog templates I have picked for you:
- NewsPoint — focuses on online publishing.
- Jevelin — a great multipurpose template with RTL support.
- Sault — great for online portfolios.
- Optimistic Blog — clean design for any kind of blog with an affordable price.
- OSRU — Lots of customization options for online publishing.
- NewsEdge — Well documented with 15 hours of customer support.
- MINIMAL — Offers 11 unique homepage designs built with the latest Bootstrap.
- Axobiz — Unique template with syntax highlighting support.
- Pofo — Multipurpose and responsive template with lots of ready elements.
- Deep Soul — Equipped with a lightweight framework and online store ready.
Keep in mind that a good first impression will greatly encourage visitors to stay on your website. Having a nice and functional website that’s using a modern template is definitely something to consider!
Nice list of templates. Very creative. Thanks for sharing.