Cloning popular websites into WordPress Themes has become a popular phenomenon. Possible that this is due that many are interested in such type of themes. Everyday you can see a lot of requests on different forums like: “I want a WordPress Theme like this site …”, and which led to the specialization of some WordPress Market Places, such as StyleWP, which are dedicated in creating WordPress Themes inspired by popular websites.
WPSN Theme – clone of ESPN
Theme info Demo View Original Site
The New Yorker Theme – clone of NYTimes.com
Theme info Demo View original site
One News Theme – clone of popurls.com
Theme info Demo View original site
Facebook theme Theme – clone of Facebook
Theme info Demo View original site
Cry Book Theme – clone of Facebook
Theme info Demo View original site
iBlog Theme – clone of Apple
Theme info Demo View original site
Coda Blue Theme – clone of Coda
Theme info Demo View original site
The Beeb Theme – clone of BBC News
Theme info Demo View original site
tumblelog Theme – clone of tumblr.com
Theme info Demo View original site
Digg-like Theme – clone of Digg
Theme info Demo View original site
WP Max Theme – clone of Digg
Theme info Demo View original site
Fresh Tweet Theme – clone of Twitter
Theme info Demo View original site
Sharp Theme – clone of Creattica Daily
Theme info Demo View original site
Shade Pro Theme – clone of WordPress.org
Theme info Demo View original site
Gmail Theme – clone of GMail
Theme info Demo View original site
If you know any other examples of Cloned WordPress Themes, please leave a comment! I will be very thankful!
February 1, 2009 6:40 am
This list have great looking. I think, people uses this themes more than old. Because they saw this list.. :)
February 1, 2009 7:16 am
Haha, the funny thing being that a lot of the themes are better designed than the original!
February 1, 2009 8:37 am
Those are really clever. Some of them are pretty good clones, I doubt they would be good blog platforms mind.
February 1, 2009 9:56 am
creating copy of another is too hard then making new one ….
nice design done by them..
February 1, 2009 11:13 am
I think this is copyright infringement issue. Imagine if you buy such a theme and then get a multimillion lawsuit from the original copyright owner.
Too bad these themes providers don’t care about their clients.
February 1, 2009 12:06 pm
I like to stop by and say hi to those who mention any of the WP CODA templates, so hi :) Obviously it isn’t really a clone, but I get the point.
On another note, the Shade Pro theme should probably be the default WordPress theme. I’m so sick of K2 it hurts.
February 1, 2009 1:50 pm
I am pretty sure that the creattica daily theme is the sharp theme dude, not a clone.
February 1, 2009 1:54 pm
@chris: Everyone knows this :)
February 1, 2009 2:12 pm
it’s unfortunate so many people would rather copy than create their own unique identity.
February 1, 2009 2:40 pm
Great list. WPSN was an exact clone until EPSN changed their design a few weeks ago.
I remember there were a couple of wp themes which were inspired by the wp 2.5-2.6 admin area.
February 1, 2009 7:34 pm
so let me get this…..you copy a well known theme and then charge 40 bucks for it?
Ok.
February 2, 2009 2:50 pm
Great post :)
I see your point. Original design creators must be disapointed to see some of these “lack of inspiration” themes…
but I agree with Laura too, there is a lot of effort in most of them to make it somehow better than original
February 3, 2009 10:54 pm
impressive collections! nice work!
February 4, 2009 4:34 am
Ha! Great themes, but you forgot to mention your theme is a lot similar to the themes of envato network ;)
Anyway great job!
February 4, 2009 4:42 am
@Camillo: you’re right! my theme is a modification from a tutorial by Collis Ta’eed. I mentioned about this in footer :)
February 4, 2009 1:24 pm
tmblg is not tumblr, nor is it a default theme of tumblr. it’s a custom design done by andrew for his own purposes.
just saying.
February 4, 2009 1:55 pm
@Aja: I know that tmblg is not the default theme of tumblr, but I liked his design very much, that’s why I’m showcased it.
Take a look on the source code of his website, and you’ll understand that this is a tumblr powered website. I also have a FF addons, that automatically shows on what engine is based that site ;)
February 5, 2009 8:09 am
VPSN looks awesome, thx dude
February 5, 2009 1:14 pm
Great, thanks.
February 5, 2009 9:56 pm
Nice ;-)
February 7, 2009 8:48 pm
I try to learn cloning theme for wordpress.
I create Babeku WP-Magz inspirated by Eramuslim.com.
But, the theme is still not finished, so, costumize still limited.
February 11, 2009 1:04 pm
Even your theme looks like a clone of http://psdtuts.com :P
February 19, 2009 3:24 am
WP Max is awesome.
Thanks for the post.
April 19, 2009 11:38 pm
There’s this Chrome theme and the Deviant art theme :-)
November 23, 2009 4:58 am
is there a clone of mtv for wordpres? anyone?
December 12, 2009 3:13 pm
I wonder if these familiar “cloned” themes have an impact on how long readers stay on the site.
If they stay longer, that would probably have an positive impact on SEO as far as Google is concerned.
Has anyone tested this?
January 17, 2010 4:29 pm
well,
i was aware of all themes, except 2 of them.
Nice article.
February 1, 2010 8:05 am
Apparently, you forgot Smells Like Facebook by me :)
February 2, 2010 2:21 pm
@Nazieb: and WordPress said your theme is “An exact clone of Facebook layout”..
LOL
March 2, 2010 3:56 am
I agree with Laura, not just because she looks cute :-)
March 21, 2010 4:10 am
@Themen: Yes, I agree with you. Unless or untill these clones themes have any positive SEO results, it is of no use to discover such cloned themes.
Have anyone tested for posivtive results?
August 1, 2011 1:37 pm
Are these themes 100% legal to use? Isn’t there a ‘copyright’ on the design?
September 5, 2011 12:51 pm
There is one more. An RSS Feed Reader based on wordpress at http://www.my.infonary.com. It not only lets you follow your favourite Rss feeds but news from any topic. It also offers a RSS Mixer which lets you follow everything on your page with a single RSS feed.
October 28, 2011 11:55 am
I also like mashlife clone of mashable
January 6, 2012 9:03 pm
Like Facebook theme :)
April 8, 2012 7:58 am
Where is the link? can i download it for free?
April 23, 2012 9:37 pm
Any WordPress themes that are clones of Elance or Freelancer? Project bidding type sites. Already found Sitemile, but looking for others..
Thanks!
May 23, 2012 9:44 am
I think the best Engadget clone theme is : http://colorvila.com/themes/engadgetclone/
July 2, 2012 9:41 pm
nice themes. thanks for this context
July 23, 2012 5:30 pm
Now there are almost hundreds of clones in the wordpress market
August 5, 2012 3:30 pm
Hats off to the designers..
February 6, 2013 3:24 pm
Thanks for sharing these nice collections. The WPSN Theme is amazing, I like it.
March 20, 2013 8:54 pm
I liked the new york and face book theme… awesome work by developers…