November 15th, 2007
Battle of the Joomla! Template Houses - 10 Designers: Who’s great, Who sucks…
I've spent a tremendous amount of time researching various Joomla! extension developers and template designers. It's tough to determine where to go for your membership… sure, there's lots of places providing free Joomla! templates, but at the end of the day, the quality is far superior with a fee-based membership company. Here you'll find a pretty straight forward review of the top template houses… as well as the places to avoid.
UPDATED
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$49 - $439 /membership Joomlart has been great to me. The memberships provides 2 templates per month. The continue to provide fresh, new tools with their templates and always have me excited around the 15th and 30th of the month. Joomlart also offers custom design/development as well as provide thier members forums for support. They have recently implemented "JoomlaJobs" on their site, which makes sense because these are the guys behind "Joomlancers." Free extensions available. |
Overall: Best for : Corporate-style themes Great for: Quality, easy installation, support, extra tools/extensions. Themes for: 1.0 & 1.5 |
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$75/year I tend to go back and forth between RocketTheme and Joomlart. Sometimes I like Joomlart better, sometimes RocketTheme. RocketTheme kicks serious ass. They provide only one template per month, but I definitely anticipate the 1st of every month. RocketTheme tends to be very "colorful" as well as creative. They frequently include new extensions with every template which makes their monthly release that much better. Rockettheme provides forums to their users and has a "RocketLabs" site for their extensions. They recently opened their "Rocket Tutorials" section… this should be a GREAT resource. Free extensions available. |
Overall: Best for: Creative/Colorful Themes Great for: Stability, easy installation, extra tools/extensions/support Themes for: 1.0 & 1.5 |
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$39.95/template Another top-notch company for Joomla! Templates. I originally gave these guys a 4.5 out 5 rating, but decided they totally deserve more than that… why? Well, they're a bit more expensive than the Joomlart and RT. The quality is great though, so penalizing due to cost is unjust. Barry North, from Compass Design is part of this team, which adds tremendous value. JoomlaShack has forums for thier users, provides phenomenal support, has tons of tutorials and more…. These guys optimize thier code for SPEED! |
Overall: Best for: Speed Great for: Learning, stability Themes for: 1.0 & 1.5 |
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$60/year (+/-)/ membership JoomlaDesigns is a great place to get a TON of templates for a low cost. The quality isn't anywhere near Joomlart, RT, or JoomlaShack, but they do have some good stuff. Included in their membership is about 300 templates to download.. some great, some not-so-great. The rating on these guys is strictly based on cost/value. |
Overall: Best for: Cost Great for: Variety Themes for: 1.0 (claim 1.5 available) |
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$100/year (+/-)/ membership These guys could easily find themselves in the number one position pretty soon… The 4.5 rating is really based on the time they've been around. As far as quality, Gavick produces KILLER templates. They're fresh and clean and always come with great extensions. The designs are very professional and they're reasonably priced. I'm anxious to see how far they go… They too provide a forum as well as quick response regarding support. Free extensions available. |
Overall: Best for: Overall Design Great for: Professional look, integrated modules/components Themes for: 1.0 & 1.5 |
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$40-$75/template (+/-) These guys get an average rating. The templates are nice… and colorful, but that's really about it. The cost is very high and I really don't see the value, comparitively speaking. Their site is rather slow, making me question their templates. As well, their site doesn't seem to be very well organized, and they havn't initiated SEF Urls, making me question their knowledge of Joomla! and/or standard web practices. They don't seem to have any user-driven support like the others, but on the positive side, they've been around for quite a while, which clearly means they deserve a decent rating. |
Overall: Best for: SubPar Value Good for: Overall Design Themes for: 1.0 |
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$15-$30+ /template Chris is a great guy… with good things in mind. They have a lot of potential. Upon review… I must say that I really like JoomlaJunkie templates. They SLICK! In fact, I'd say that design-wise, they're on top… Good job. And for those of you reading this from the beginning, I'd like to apologies to JoomlaJunkie… they really are awesome. FOR MORE, CLICK |
Overall: Best for: Vibrance and Overall Design Good for: Support Themes for: 1.0 |
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$50-$200/ membership At first, I was a bit unsure about these guys… They appeared a bit young - and I hadn't had the opportunity to jump into their themes, but upon review, I'm very impressed. They have some great looking tempaltes.I liked that their templates are very unique compared to most… it's almost hard to tell it's Joomla!. They clearly have some talent working on design. They too have some very cool extensions integrated within their releases and seem reasonably priced. They main site is also very easy to get around… simple is better sometimes. I gave a 4.5 rating, but will likely bump that up to 5 very soon. |
Overall: Best for: Unique designs Great for: visual appeal, integrated modules/components, color Themes for: 1.0 & 1.5 |
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$40+/template Is this for real? For a review on these guys, just refer to the JoomlaJunkie review. I can't even muster up a .5 rating for these guys. The templates suck.. you can easily find free templates much better than these… FOR MORE, CLICK |
Overall: Best for: Non Joomla! users Themes for: themselves |
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$40+/membership Not too sure yet… They seem to have some talent. I know they have some quality extensions as well as designs. I gave them a 3.0 rating for now, but will update with more information. All in all, they seem pretty good… Free templates and extensions available. |
Overall: Best for: TBD Themes for: 1.0 & 1.5 |
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$35 - $180/membership Template Plazza has some great stuff. I'm not a huge fan of their site, but they have some killer templates. Template Plazza is membership based and has pricing a bit lower than the competition. TP also develops some pretty good extensions, which they typically provide free of charge. You can also find back-end admin templates here which really sets them apart from the rest. I definitely recommend using these guys… |
Overall: Best for: Site-specific design. ie, directory templates, store templates. Themes for: 1.0 & 1.5 |
Comments
Nice reviews and I agree with most of your opinions.
I do think that Gavic, Rockettheme, Yootheme, and Shape5 are on the top of my lists. (I use these)
RT has always done great stuff. The community there is as valuable as the templates. They do seem to make templates for a “younger crowd”. They seem to fit game/clan sites more than business templates.
Gavic’s stuff is always polished, fast, and very up to date as far as design and functionality. I’d say these are the best business professional templates made for Joomla.
Shape5 is really shaping up. They are doing a great job of providing a mix of templates. From game specific, a merchant ecommerce template, and a few smart business templates. The mix is a good one. The talent is definitely there.
Yootheme is just some of the greatest templates I’ve seen. They definitely have some talented designers there and the creativity is amazing. Every month brings a nice surprise, and the modules are outstanding.
The rest of the clubs have some great stuff too. I think you summed them up very nicely. I just wanted to add my $0.02 based on my experience with the ones I’m a member of.
James.Mc
November 15th, 2007
Ah… thanks for your comments! Yes, I agree about YooTheme… I’ve seem their stuff a while back, but definitely overlooked the talent. They really are good… thanks for commenting!
Jason
November 15th, 2007
i agree with most you say. rockettheme are the best of these and yootheme are very good too.
i dont like that joomla designs. templates all the same and you can pretty much the same for free. all very basic
but i never know shape 5 so i go look now ..
Hej
November 16th, 2007
JoomlaDesigns… yes, you’re right… they pretty much suck… Thanks!
Jason
November 16th, 2007
What about Template Plazza?
anshell
November 24th, 2007
Template Plazza is good too.. In fact, I would say their up there with the best… I’ll be updating the original post with that information…. thanks!
Jason
November 26th, 2007
Template Plazza has now been included!
Jason
November 26th, 2007
I dont see how you can give Joomlajet a shit rating. They are overpriced but if you want clean ,css type sites then these are far superior then most bloated templates out there on the market.
Other themes have the bells and whistles but sometimes you cant beat a fast loading, clean style site.
Joomla Junkie is better then JoomlaDesign by far. Your other opinions I aggree with - But compare some of the early Gavick sites to Rocketthemes and they look like blatent copies to me. I did like Youtheme but their latest november template resembles an abortion clinics floor.
Just my opinion.
Putts
November 29th, 2007
you forgot about the neo joomla and the bonus themes
sumit
December 2nd, 2007
Hi Jason,
I just stumbled across your review and was interested to see your comments about our site, JoomlaJunkie. I am not sure why you say “we rub you the wrong way”. Can you elaborate to why you feel this way? If you dont like our work that is fine - last time i checked we weren’t forcing anyone to use any of our templates?
I really think that publicly bad mouthing us is not only unwarranted, but also highly unprofessional. Don’t get me wrong, constructive feedback is a good thing, but i cant see any trace of anything constructive in your mention of us.
May i also clarify that your “average template price” is a tad inaccurate. The only thing we have for sale on our site for $45 is a double template pack. The rest of our templates are between $15 - $30.
Any who, no hard feelings - we are all entitled to our opinions and hopefully the people reading this post will make up their own minds.
Cheers,
Chris
Chris
December 3rd, 2007
Hello,
I was wondering if you could help the readers understand how you arrive at the ratings.
By what criteria is a designer measured?
for the record, I’m not a designer, but curious because of some of the comments you posted.
thank you
vscribe
December 3rd, 2007
I think you could have some opinion but you come and make easy judgement of hard work for each team.
Is it your way of life ?
Joomla is an open source but you don’t understantd the meaning of “Open”.
The community of Joomla is rising because of people who helps each other, not by striking anyone.
Your opinion make nonsense and still stay yours.
Benjistik Studio
December 3rd, 2007
Regarding NeoJoomla… Yes, you’re right. I did not include them on this post, will certainly add soon. I suspect they’ll get a pretty good rating… I haven’t had the opportunity to use many of their templates, but they make some pretty good extensions. Thanks!
About JoomlaJet and Joomla Junkie… will have a response within the next few hours… thanks.
Jason
December 3rd, 2007
All true about template rating, all true.
In my opinion first five are:
1. - Joomlart
2.- Templateplazza
3.- Rockettheme
4.- Gavick
5.- Yootheme
seno
December 5th, 2007
Cheers! Good choices… All of these place are great, putting out some good stuff. My top five are probably the same, but the ordering changes all the time…
thanks!
Jason
December 5th, 2007
I agree with Chris your article review is highly unprofessional.
clare
December 6th, 2007
Clearly you haven’t read the comments following the article.
Nonetheless, let me reiterate that this is my personal WEB-LOG, or blog, if you will. This isn’t intended on being professional, as it contains my personal opinions… well, if you read the comments, you’ll see that several other people have the same opinions.
Commenting and saying this is “unprofessional” is like going out of your way to tell the sheep that it’s a donkey… makes no sense.
Thanks for taking time to give me your opinion….
Jason
December 6th, 2007
Came across your post you make me laugh..LOL
Before openly criticizing members of a community make sure your own web design work is of a high quality. Looking at your blog design and your commercial site daynger.com its a bit rich attacking other design firms.
Mike
December 6th, 2007
Hi Mike. Thanks for your post.
First off: Will you please point out where I’ve openly criticized any community member? Nobody has been criticized….
Did you read the post or the comments?
Now, which members of the community do you refer? I’d love to know… If you’re talking about JoomlaJet, then that’s a completely different subject. See, I CARE ABOUT THE JOOMLA COMMUNITY. And if I feel like some high-priced, low quality template shop is out there raping the community, I’m going to step in and say something.
Outside of that… Where do you get that I, or we, are designers? Nowhere on this blog does it make claims of me, Jason, being a designer. As well, nowhere on the Daynger site does it say I am a designer. There’s a design department at Daynger, but as you can see, the site is still in its infancy.
So, that being said… will you please point out where I’ve made claims of being a designer?
I appreciate the feedback, but clearly you haven’t read the post, the comments, or anything about this blog or the Daynger site…
Jason
December 6th, 2007
Jason,
When you get a chance, please review the company I work for. We sell Joomla templates too, and we’d (frankly) love the (hopefully good) publicity.
Penar
December 10th, 2007
Penar - not a problem… hang tight and we’ll get’r done!
Jason
December 12th, 2007
I don´t agree with you about RT, they tend to make there templates boxy and too much squared.
had a membership at them, but not for more.
TP seems much more orientated towards there customers, where RT dosent listen (as they dosen´t listen to users of Joomla, yes, they are some of the developers of Joomla)
But, your review is very good, and takes us a lot around the different clubs.
Thumbs up for that work.
Erik Madsen
December 17th, 2007
Honestly guys Yootheme seems to win the battle out there, acording to the design interface. First time i saw there demo site i thought i was in a wrong place, like flash or something. There are little more expensive but i think its worth it.
Cheers
koulis
February 28th, 2008
Gavick’s templates may be great, but their support is lacking and they are vindictive. I bought a 4 month membership in July 2008, I only got a 3 weeks of access, they cut off my account when I complained that I wasn’t getting any help and they won’t issue a refund! NONE of my many requests for help via e-mail or the forum have EVER been answered. NONE! BEWARE They are theives and only answer what they want to answer. Their tabs module conflicts with their drop-down navigation menu. They have YET to answer this and many other issues posed by me and other posters.
Valeri
September 27th, 2008